What is the most common reason that women choose to formula feed rather than breastfeed?
I understand that some women cannot breastfeed.
It is obvious to me the reasons a woman would choose to breastfeed:
Breastfeeding is the optimal method of feeding all infants, sick as well as healthy, preterm as well as full term. In addition to the myriad health benefits provided to mother and infant, breastfeeding provides significant economic and environmental benefits for families, employers, and society by reducing health care expenses, eliminating the need to purchase expensive formula, and reducing absenteeism from work to care for sick infants. Excess health care costs totaling more than billion must be paid by the U.S. health care system each year to treat otitis media, gastroenteritis, and necrotizing enterocolitis–childhood diseases and conditions preventable or reduced by breastfeeding. When prevention of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic conditions is factored in, the potential economic benefits of breastfeeding are significantly greater.
It is not so obvious the reason a woman would choose to formula feed her child. Could someone give me a good reason?
It is known that these working mothers who can’t take the time to pump are going to miss time from work to care for a sick infant.
For the moms I knew, it was lack of support. Either from the workplace – time, privacy to pump. The spouse – wanting to bond, or even those reasons where people still think its "gross". Or even relatives, where they give the ‘formula was good enough for me" reasons.
On the other end, then you have me, who would rather pump extra than workout to burn calories