I was inundated with them with both of my babies. And yes, I kept them in my cupboard "just in case". But thankfully, I was able to resist those urges when the newborn just wouldn't latch and never used a single grain of the stuff. I donated it all to my local food bank.

I agree! I had major problems with my daughter and so from weeks 5-8 of her life she had to get a small amount of soy formula (I didnt get soy samples, but I chose to buy soy when I needed to supplement as she was loosing weight and I didnt want to introduce cows milk formula). LUCKILY , after 4 lactation consultants and 4 pediatricians and lots of work I was able to get her to nurse well by month 4 (I had been pumping for 2 months and bottle feeding her breastmilk exclusively @ this point; lots and lots of work!!) It makes me mad and sad to hear moms say they tried breastfeeding for 1 week and then quit because it just wouldnt work. What wouldnt work exactly? It is easy when you have those tempting samples @ 2am after little sleep and your "support" person suggests it because you think you are @ your wits end. Perhaps if the samples were not there, you would look up something helpful on the internet @ 2am and succeed @ breastfeeding, not giving your child 43.6% corn syrup solids. eew!

I have a can that came "free" with a diaper bag, and a can a friend gave me "just in case", I kept them originally just in case I did need them, but after reading the ingredient list I keep them as a reminder of why I NEVER want my to feed it to my daughter. She'll be 5 months at the end of May, and the just in case never happened :)

I nursed my older daughter for 13 months and my younger daughter is almost 5 months old and neither have ever had any formula. My formula samples went straight into the trash can and I never was tempted at the store. Actually, the most motivating thing about staying 100% breastmilk is keeping money out of the formula companies' pockets. With #2 I found that not registering at Babies R Us, Motherhood Maternity, and having a home birth kept me off the formula mailing lists and I didn't get any in the mail.

I kept them.. It was nice to have an emergancy fall back on. And when I had cans unopened sitting around still good, I donated them to a crisis center for moms who didnt bf.

This is a great article and I wholeheartedly support breastfeeding mothers everywhere...HOWEVER, we would all benefit from remembering that formula is far from poison and while breastmilk is the "gold standard" for infant nutrition, we all have one goal only and that is caring for our baby. Formula feeding moms aren't lazy and don't make choices without thinking about it. For some, breastfeeding is very difficult (for me it was due to lack of assistance, something I will know to ask for next time around) but as for my baby's health and his bond with me, I can say without a doubt he has not suffered from being formula fed. He is healthy, active and engaged with us, smiling ear to ear all day long :)

That said, kudos to all of you nursing moms and enjoy your beautiful little ones!

With my first, we kept the free formula basically because it was in my bag when we left the hospital, and I simply did not bother getting rid of it. It was unpacked and set on my bedroom dresser (I don't remember who unpacked my bags), but every time I walked passed it I would sneer at it! Eventually, it went to the crisis pregnancy center. Wouldn't it be nice if the hospitals sent home breast feeding paraphernalia so that we could send that to crisis centers instead of formula?!? I suffered a bit of pain for the first month or two- LCs were never able to fix the problem, but blamed it on a lazy latch. No matter how many times I went to the lactation consultants and followed their advice, the pain stayed. *shrug* just a few months of pain before it went away on its own, and the kiddo weaned just a few months shy of 4 years.

Second baby was born at home, never received a bottle (kid #1 had a few bottles of pumped milk, never formula), never had a pacifier (kid #1 was given a "breastfeeding" pacifier in the hospital and used it for the first few months). Same nipple pain issues for the first month or so. Kid #3 is due in around a month, I wonder if I'll have the same pain.

Anyway, I never felt threatened by the formula, but then again it never really occurred to me to feed him formula, that was something that other people did (in the same way that other people might paint a nursery and buy a crib with matching bedding and curtains- just not our thing).

My mother came to help us with our first child. She was told when she was a new mother that her milk was bad, and has always had this fear that it would be true for my sister and me as well. With that mentality, also, came the belief that formula is just as good as breast milk. So when I started having a painful time breastfeeding she grabbed one of those samples and made a bottle. I, on the other hand, sent my husband out to get a pump, figuring the pain had more to do with the baby and I not knowing what we were doing yet, and assuming it was worth the $200 for a good pump to use until the cracking healed instead of letting my breastfeeding determination be overcome by formula. That one bottle is all my baby had, and the pump worked great. I never thought of comparing the price of the pump to how much I would have spent on formula, but what a difference! Especially when I think about our second baby who has never tasted formula because this time I was able to get through the early stages almost pain-free. If I had used formula on both children I don't know how we would have made ends meet!

I am so lucky to have delivered in Canada and in a very breastfeeding friendly hospital. I had zero interventions and was not offered a pacifier, formula or bottle of any sort.

My son will soon be three, still nurses and is a fantastic boy.

Used them with my first--it was an emergency (15% weight loss) but if I had to do it over again I would have handled it in a slightly different way. Just stopping and taking a few deep breaths would have helped! The method we used for supplementing did major damage to our BF relationship. I don't regret feeding her in a moment she needed nutrition, but in the future I would take greater pains to avoid artificial nipples, etc. I have never used formula with my second daughte.r

Another way that formula is not free is the fact that it is advertisement. I have heard it argued that women in the hospitals deserve those formula "gifts" because formula is expensive and moms need all the breaks they can get. Usually adding that some women can't breastfeed, anyway, so they NEED that formula. I think one thing people lose sight of is that it is LITERALLY not free. The money Enfamil spends on distributing gift bags and coupon is part of its advertisement budget, which is surely well into the millions of dollars every year. And who do they pass that cost onto? Their customers. They build it into the price of a can of formula. It is an effective advertising method or else they would not use it. They have a high rate of return in the form of customers who will use the product for the next 12 months and maybe longer, or with other children. So really, if you're a formula feeder, you should not want Enfamil to give me a can of formula that I'm not going to use.

Great post, Gina. I remember eyeing those "free" samples one especially trying and exhausting night. Fortunately, I never went as far as opening them and was able to work through my struggles without them. I went on to donate them to a food drive.

I had trouble nursing, and trouble establishing a supply. I pumped ALL THE TIME at first, and then four times a day when I went back to work. I nursed too, when I wasn't at work. Over the course of her first year, I'd guess that she got 75% breast milk, and 25% formula, and I'm not at all ashamed of that. Further, I totally gamed the formula system and didn't pay for more than a couple of cans of formula - all the rest was freebies.

And, after that first year, she continued to nurse until she was three.

We never would have made it work without a little formula.

I donated our "free" formula to the women's crisis center, and a family support center we have that provides emergency care for children of all ages (among other much needed services)