dilemma ~ formula sample (WWYD?)

1398 Views 43 Replies 32 Participants Last post by monkaha, Jun 22, 2004

Aura_Kitten

Discussion Starter · Jun 20, 2004

i filled out a consumer survey a few months ago about feeding + care of newborns...

consequently a few days ago i received a "Gift" from a major formula manufacturer... that had a whole can of powdered formula in it ~ the new kind, with DHA and ARA.

"great," i thought, "i can donate this to the women's crisis shelter or the local food bank."

then i started thinking about why i chose to breastfeed...

and how breast is really best...

and then i read part of the package's enclosed booklet that said that in the "long-term" studies that had been done babies showed increased brain development with these chemicals, and noted that their usage of "long-term" only meant babies up to 39 months.

so THEN i thought, "hahaha (sardonic mental laughter) ~ yeah in thirty years all these kids are going to be getting cancer because the corporations didn't do any REAL long-term studies ---"

uh oh. enter the moral dilemma.

i don't believe these formulas are good for babies. i don't think they have been tested or researched enough to be giving them to infants. i believe that every mama out there feeding her babies this "food" is letting the formula companies use their babies as guinea pigs.

so now i'm thinking, do i throw it out and waste the whole can of usable formula (when i am so against wasting anything)? or do i donate it anyway because i know there are mamas out there using formula who need the help?

ACK!

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1 - 20 of 44 Posts

punkprincessmama

· #2 · Jun 20, 2004

it is a dilema, isn't it.... I can see both sides...

stupid long story i dont want to rehash, i was sent home with a sample of this crap too, from my midwives. It sat in the cupboard for like 15 months, unused and forgotten about until we were moving.

I threw it out.

I'm not sure this was helpful, but it's my btdt

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LavenderMae

· #3 · Jun 20, 2004

I had the same dilemma after my ds was born. I got 4 cans of the stuff. I put off doing anything for awhile. I kept going back and forth about it. I finally donated it because I hate to waste and I figured the mama that got it would have already decided to use formula anyway.

Leatherette

· #4 · Jun 20, 2004

I would donate it. You don't know why any other mama isn't nursing. Maybe it will go to a baby who is not with their birthmother, for some reason or another.

L.

georgia

· #5 · Jun 20, 2004

Breast isn't just best---it's what's normal. This, to me, is such an important distinction. Breastfeeding isn't superior---it's how babies eat! Anyhooo----

IMO, nothing is going to change by throwing something away that could actually be put to use (whether the use is something we support or not). It's not the baby's fault that mama didn't choose/was unable for whatever reason to breastfeed her/him. I think about the waste of just throwing it away (the aluminum of the can, the inks, the paper, the cows, all the natural resources that were involved and exploited in getting the product from cow to can......I'd definitely donate it. Yes, it is not even close to being what human babies *should* be consuming, but....since babies who aren't breastfed do need to eat, whether mama can afford it or not......

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boysrus

· #6 · Jun 20, 2004

donate it. If a woman is poor and ffing, she needs formula.
I ask everyone to please be careful and considerate of the ffers on this board(I am not one, not by a long shot, just trying to be sensitive to others

)

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punkprincessmama

· #7 · Jun 20, 2004

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by boysrus
donate it. If a woman is poor and ffing, she needs formula.
I ask everyone to please be careful and considerate of the ffers on this board(I am not one, not by a long shot, just trying to be sensitive to others

)

are you referring to my post?

i did not mean to offend, I was in a hurry earlier, and from my negative experience of that particular formula being forced upon myself and my child i considered that can to be crap and threw it away. I hope that makes things clearer.

I did think, later, that perhaps I should have donated it. At the time I was in the very midst of moving when I found it and it was a split second decision.

I am feeling very conflicted right now, and am not sure why I just clarified myself to the degree that i did............ maybe it's time i go to bed

:

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IntoTheRoseGarden

· #8 · Jun 20, 2004

I can't be sure, but I think to OP was concerned specifically because of the new additives to these formulas - DHA and ARA.

I would still donate it. It seems to me that all the formula samples handed out at hospitals and such have these additives now, so that is probably what the baby is already getting....in other words, you probably wouldn't be encouraging a mom to switch to that specific type of formula.

I would leave out all the promotional materials, though.

Aura_Kitten

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 20, 2004

2

Quote:

I finally donated it because I hate to waste and I figured the mama that got it would have already decided to use formula anyway.

that's what i was thinking about too.

but on the other hand, i hate that these babies are being used as test subjects, you know?? i just feel like it's going to weigh on my conscience if i'm right, and 30 or 40 years from now they find out that these additives are actually doing babies harm...

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Aura_Kitten

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 20, 2004

byronssister74, i didn't see your post before i posted.

you're right, the additives are what i'm concerned about (in case that wasn't clear in my last post or my original post).

i was just going to donate the can, not any of the other "information" that came with it.

annethcz

· #11 · Jun 20, 2004

Donate it.

It could mean the difference between a 'decent' meal and watered down crap for an innocent baby.

punkprincessmama

· #12 · Jun 20, 2004

I would like to apologize for my posts to this thread last night. I am not sure where my head was, and I am sorry for my tone. Please forgive me.

:

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pilesoflaundry

· #13 · Jun 20, 2004

Donate it either to aid for orphans or to a shelter or other type of center. Someone somewhere will use it and need it. Especially Aid for Orphans, please don't pitch it no matter what you think of it.

And I really hope my baby doesn't can cancer in 30 years

.

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MPJJJ

· #14 · Jun 20, 2004

I would donate it, just dont donate the 'coupons' and 'info sheets' with it.

kamilla626

· #15 · Jun 20, 2004

I would donate it. There are many foster placement homes and children treatment facilities that use TONS of formula for babies who had to be taken from mama's care immediately after birth, or who's mama is in the hospital for mental health issues, or died, or abandoned them. For many situations, formula is the only option.

bwylde

· #16 · Jun 21, 2004

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by punkprincessmama
it is a dilema, isn't it.... I can see both sides...

stupid long story i dont want to rehash, i was sent home with a sample of this crap too, from my midwives. It sat in the cupboard for like 15 months, unused and forgotten about until we were moving.

I threw it out.

I'm not sure this was helpful, but it's my btdt

I did this too because the expiry date was about a year past the date when I noticed it. I guess who ever gave it to me expected me to use it right away

:

I haven't signed up for anything with this baby but if I happen to get anything, I'll give it to the food bank or someone I know who FF's because I won't need it.

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mamagranola

· #17 · Jun 21, 2004

Next time you get a sample (and there probably will be a next time), don't open the package. Refuse delivery. The post office will return it to the sender at their expense. It sends a message to the formula company.

anothermama

· #18 · Jun 21, 2004

3

well a couple of thoughts........
1. I'm one of the failure/freakish/horrible mothers who formula feeds here at MDC. So.......I agree with boysrus.......I know I'm in the severe minority, but I found the original post to be a *tad* offensive, but I know Klothos probably didn't mean it that way.

:

2. Klothos, you mentioned this in a thread to me and I did some basic research on this issue and found out that DHA and RHA have been used for years in other countries with no detrimental effect (aside from basic formula effects that happen with any formula). So I don't believe that my child or any kid in the US for that matter is being used as a guinne pig. I thought what you did.......since it's so new and all. But I found out that apparently these addatives aren't that new, just new to us.

3. Alllll that said,

I would donate it. I've been working in a crisis preg center for a few years and we get donations of formula all the time. It's so nice to be able to have them than to have women steal it, try to make their own, or worse, you know? It may not be what the baby SHOULD be eating, but in an even where there may be nothing else a mom can get other than donated formula, I'd rather have it go to her then be trashed.

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ebethmom

· #19 · Jun 21, 2004

With ds, we filled out those stupid surveys and gave our info to Motherhood Maternity. So we got tons of formula samples. We had early nursing issues, so unfortunately, we used some of those samples.

We never had to supplement enough to open those huge cans, so we donated those to Mountain Mission. Not every mother is educated on the benefits of breastfeeding. Not every mother has the support she needs to get through breastfeeding difficulties. Everyone has their own situation.

I personally dislike formula, but there are mothers out there who could use a little help. Donating freebies could be a real help for them.

ombra*luna

· #20 · Jun 21, 2004

We did receive samples and donated them to the food pantry. And they were big samples, like cans of powder that would last a long time.

What I found to be weird though, was someone I knew who filled out the survey saying they would be formula feeding, and then didn't get any samples. I wonder if they only send it - or send more - to breastfeeders, to try to win them over? Or so it will be there if they consider it for a moment when having difficulties w/nursing?

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