Your experiences formula feeding in public

@eilightened My LO is only 4 months but we’ve been doing formula since week 4. No one has ever looked at me while mixing a bottle of formula, not that I know of anyway. No one really cares what you’re doing. The only people who have ever commented on it are my husbands dad and grandma lol, and he told them to F off
 
@eilightened No one has ever confronted me and I’ve fed 3 babies on bottles from birth. If someone does confront you, I would just say that your choices are what is best for your family, they have no say. Don’t let others bother you, and keep being awesome!
 
@eilightened No one has made a negative comment to me in public. Multiple people have been impressed with the ready to feed bottles convenience when on the go - specifically planes and sporting events and did comment as such.

Overall, most people will pay no attention.
 
@eilightened I just think it’s crazy reading these comments and seeing how moms are ashamed of even mixing up a bottle of formula in public.

I definitely have the same worries/thoughts of being judged, but I just think it is very sad.
 
@eilightened I formula fed both of my kids. I only ever had one comment that rubbed me the wrong way. We were at a museum and I was sitting on a bench holding my newborn and feeding her a bottle. An older woman who worked there approached and said, "if you need to actually feed your baby we have a nursing room."

I said, "thank you, she's actually eating as we speak!"

It just reaffirmed to me that IDGAF what people think. It's actually none of their business.
 
@eilightened If anyone says anything just tell them you’re a breast cancer survivor and your boobs don’t work.

Or that he’s your late sister’s kid that you had to take in after her brutal shark attack.

That’ll make em feel bad and mind their own fucking business.
 
@eilightened I think you're spot on with your comment: no matter what you do or how you feed your babies, mothers will get judged for being mothers in public. But it's not by everyone, really just the people rude enough to say something. Realizing that those people are being incredibly rude helps me not feel ashamed, because I'm doing nothing wrong by feeding my baby, while they're going out of their way to try and make me feel bad for... Making sure my child gets fed?

We never really fed our older daughter out in public, because she was born just before the pandemic. So when she was tiny, we were too scared to take her to any indoor places for too long because of "an unusually bad cold/flu season". When she was bigger, all the indoor places were closed or restricted. 🫠 By the time things had improved enough to feel comfortable taking her out, we were onto solids.

With my second, I'll admit it feels a little weird, but I just take the formula out and make the bottle and focus on looking at her and engaging with her. I'm also combo feeding, so I get the best of being nervous about both things! 😂 AND we're going through a bit of breastfeeding aversion, so it's a struggle to try and nurse, and then follow up with a bottle while she's crying. But I just focus on being a calm and patient parent for her, not on how much of a scene she's making.

Honestly, my game plan if anyone makes any comments is to start out with a very stern "oh, no thank you", and if they insist on carrying on with it I'll move onto, "What kind of person tries to ruin a stranger's day because they're feeding their baby?"
 
@eilightened No one has ever said shit. My first was a COVID baby and so far I've only had #2 about 3 months, but I've whipped out the bottle in public on more than one occasion with both.

I got weirder looks for talking too long to get the travel disc out of the bottle while a baby was crying than anything else. Felt like people were like "Hurry up and get the bottle to that baby already!" Never "Ew it's a bottle."
 
@eilightened No one has ever said anything to me about formula feeding. I have fed straight from ready to feed bottles when it would be obvious and am on my second kid, both exclusively formula fed from day 1. If it matters, I'm in a Northeastern progressive area of the US and everyone I know with kids has breastfed their kids. I was also the only mother in my mom's group that was formula feeding, but everyone was supportive when I would talk about it.
 
@eilightened I had the same experience -- I thought I wouldn't care about breastfeeding or not and then became obsessed with being able to breastfeed. We combo feed now with little one getting way more formula than breast milk.

I feed him in public with formula and people only care about how cute he is. I think the majority of people who haven't been exposed to the crazy Exclusively Breastfeeding Women of the Internet (who, I came to the conclusion, are up there with the Beehive and Swifties) don't care whether children are breastfed or formula fed.
 
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