Why Not Formula?

After reading our breast-feeding story I'm sure some of you are wondering, "why didn't they just use formula?" 

I can plain and simply tell you one simple reason: cost.

We had planned on breast-feeding since it was for all intents and purposes, free. All the other benefits were mere bonuses. It was even more of a great plan seeing as I got laid off when the baby was five months old.

I had no real passion or experience in regards to breast-feeding.  The closest I had come to it was a girlfriend who had a baby three months before me. I didn't even take the breast-feeding preparation class. Maybe that's where we went wrong? If only I had taken the class!

This got me to thinking about the ultimate cost of pumping. The equipment itself didn't come cheap ($250) and it seemed as if we were constantly having to purchase something for it throughout the year. Not to mention that towards the end we wound up renting a hospital grade pump since I used mine beyond its limitations.

I wrote it all down to compare to the price formula would've cost.

Cost           Supplies
$239         Medela Pump And Style Breast Pump
$108        Lactina Select Hospital Grade Pump Rental - 2 months
$10           Replacement tubing
$20           Replacement membranes x 3
$10           Replacement valves
$30          Pump Bra
$100        Nursing Tank Tops x 5
$517  Total cost of excusively pumping

From the research I did (a la Google) it looks like formula on average costs $1500-$2000 for the first year.

So there you have it ladies and gentleman, it was cheaper. I can now sleep a little better because that was a legitimate concern of mine. Imagine! A year of my life spent slaving over breast milk under the notion that formula would be more expensive to have it not be? I am proud to say this is not the case.

Sweet dreams!