Formula feeding and motherhood
Sadly, this is a feeling shared by most mothers who have recently given birth and whose milk has not come in, has not been enough, or who cannot breastfeed for some other reason. Because the society we live in equates motherhood with breastfeeding, mothers who cannot or do not breastfeed inevitably carry the thought that they are not a good enough mother. Add to that the criticism that comes from those around you when you say you are giving your baby formula, and what we are left with is a new mother who feels inadequate, lacking and guilty. Yet research has found that mother-baby bonding does not develop through breastfeeding alone; bonding is established through the hormone oxytocin.
Oxytocin has been found to be released through breastfeeding, through making eye contact with your baby, through playing games with them and through cuddling them - in other words, through being in a relationship with your baby. As a result, when breastfeeding mothers and formula feeding mothers were compared, no difference was found in their oxytocin levels, and no difference was found in mother-baby bonding scores either. In other words, feeding a baby formula did not disrupt mother-baby bonding.
Of course, the benefits of breast milk are countless, and if breastfeeding is possible it should always be the first choice. But where it is not possible, giving formula does not damage the relationship and communication between mother and baby.
Constantly criticising and judging a mother about this can lead to postnatal depression, and so may do far greater harm to the mother-baby relationship.
About the author
Clinical Psychologist Orlit Linet Haklı — After completing a double major in Psychology and Sociology at Koç University, I graduated from the Clinical Psychology programme at Bahçeşehir University. For three years I worked with the Solidarity Association with Refugees and Migrants, a UNICEF project, conducting individual psychotherapy and group art therapy sessions with refugee children and adolescents. I currently provide parental counselling at a private practice in Kadıköy on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, working with children, adolescents and adults using psychodynamic psychotherapy, play therapy and art therapy.