Re your feature on lab-grown breast milk (‘I want to give my child the best’: the race to grow human breast milk in a lab, 14 November), we would like to point out that the majority of UK babies are thriving on formula. The article acknowledges the harmful stigma around bottle-feeding, but perpetuates it by referring to formula as “good enough” and describing it as being made of “sugars, proteins and fats best suited to calves”.
While the feature acknowledges some reasons why women bottle-feed, it underplays the severity of breastfeeding difficulties and the real suffering and mental health risks associated with pain and sleep deprivation. As parents who fed our babies in different ways, we have had enough. It’s time to turn from fanatical devotion to breast milk towards accepting that babies need feeding and families need to do what best allows them to thrive.
Sue Haddon, Dr Ruth Ann Harpur and Catherine Roy
Infant Feeding Alliance
