Breast milk can expose babies to chemicals
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...Did you read the article? They're talking about chemicals that have polluted the environment, not chemicals from booze and narcotics. They're talking about chemicals usually linked to industrial areas but they're now being detected in everyday things. Some might even be in drinking water so people going "oh I'll just give my baby formula instead" isn't a solution. And at this point there is so little information about the long-term effects of these chemicals on infants, while knowing the significant long term health benefits breast milk is to infants, that even contaminant-free formula might still be worse for a baby.
Yeah I said the 'forever chemicals' such as industrial byproducts, that's also why I said
Forget just breastfeeding or long term effects to kids, if that shit is so pervasive in the water table then why the fuck are we focused on this part!? Why are we going 'you might not want to breastfeed' not starting a reclamation of a contaminated area as it sounds like they fucked up and turned perfectly good water into the River Ganges
Because baby formula makes bank, and they want more dosh.
And the solution just happens to be giving the government even more control over our lives. I'll pass. I would rather have cancer.
I acknowledge it may be the case that breast milk may be contaminated and that some sort of formula may be a preferable alternative.
When the formula shortages were going on about a year ago I did a simple search for a homemade baby formula out of simple curiosity (I had no direct need for this information since I didn't know anyone with a baby). All I came up with was a WHO recipe for "emergency formula (not to be given for longer than a month)" and a bunch of medical universities which flat out stated "there is no safe homemade baby formula; you must buy FDA approved formula (for all the good that does because you can't actually buy FDA approved formula right now)."
But you wouldn't be asking the question if you didn't have a need for an answer to this question. And it is an answerable question, otherwise commercial baby formulas couldn't exist. So where are the "medical experts" with the courage to provide an answer? As many issues I have with the WHO, at least they provided an answer with the caveat to not use it long-term.
Wouldn't it be nice if the people most qualified to give an answer would actually do so?
Just one of the problems with trying to make home made baby formula is that newborns need a very specific, narrow balance of electrolytes. They're not nearly as capable of managing fluctuations as even a 6 month old, it's also why they don't recommend giving them more than a few sips of pure water until they're older. The range is narrow enough that even careful measuring isn't going to be reliable enough to be considered "safe". You'll need accurate chemical analysis on the final product to confirm, which you just can't replicate at home.
Plus there's a whole slew of other micronutrients and sterilization concerns to make something that isn't slightly risky. There is no "safe" way through a shortage if you don't have breast milk, only lesser risks. Just necause newborns are fragile as fuck in some ways and the whole period is inherently risky.