Living withroommatesrequires making many compromises. You may not be able to play your music out loud late at night, and there’s always a possibility that you’ll go to the kitchen and find a pile of dishes in the sink that you never used. But for a living arrangement to work, it’s important that everyone in the house respects one another and keeps their hands off personal items that don’t belong to them.
One woman recentlyreached outto Reddit for advice after getting into an explosive fight with her roommate. Below, you’ll find the full story of what sparked this roommate rift, as well as a conversation with the author and insight from Registered Dietitians and mothers Jess and Nita, ofHappy Healthy Eaters, and Chair of theAmerican Academy of PediatricsCommittee on Nutrition, Mark Corkins, MD, FAAP.
RELATED:
This woman has been feeding her newborn formula since she came into the world
Image credits:Toa Heftiba / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
But when the mom came home to find all of her formula in the trash, she ended up in a huge fight with her roommate
Image credits:Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Blake Cheek / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Infinite-Minute2004
“Formula is the most rigorously monitored food in our supply chain, and it’s important for parents to know and trust it’s safe”
To find out more about this situation, we got in touch with the mother who shared this story online, Reddit user. She was kind enough to have a chat withBored Pandaand explain what’s happened since she made this post.
“I’m trying to save up to move out of the apartment,” the mom said. “We are as okay as we can be, but I don’t have the funds to [pay for the] first and last month deposits, security deposit, utilities, etc. and all of thatotherstuff you need to be fully self sufficient and on your own.”
Finally, the mother shared her Venmo with us, if anyone would like to help her get into a new apartment faster: @emit13.
First, we wanted to know if it’s safe for babies to start drinkingformulafrom birth. “Yes, it is absolutely safe,” Jess and Nita shared. “There’s also a wide range of reasons why an infant may need formula or why a parent may choose this route. Formula is the most rigorously monitored food in our supply chain, and it’s important for parents to know and trust it’s safe.”
“Some families feel that it allows the caregivers to be more involved in feeding, especially when breastmilk isn’t available”
We also asked the experts if they could break down some of the pros and cons of feeding an infant formula instead of breastmilk.
“Breastmilk also changes depending on the child’s need – for example, if they are sick, the milk may change to provide more specific immune benefits. Other cons may be it takes time for preparation, it can be costly and some specialized formulas are in fact cost prohibitive for families,” they continued. “The shortages that were experienced several years ago also shines a light on how accessibility can sometimes be challenging.”
“It does not contain all the growth factors and immune protection factors of breast milk,” Dr. Corkins shared.
But when it comes to the pros of using formula, Jess and Nita say, “It’s right for some babies and parents. Some families feel that it allows the caregivers to be more involved in feeding, especially when breastmilk isn’t available,” they explained. “As clinicians, we also utilize formula for specific cases where weight gain (poor growth) is an issue – for example, we may concentrate breast milk with formula (this should always be done with a medical team).”
Dr. Corkins also pointed out that anyone can give formula, and it is very portable.
So are there any misconceptions about formula that these experts would like to dispel? “It contains ‘growth hormone’ and antibiotics,” Dr. Corkins told Bored Panda. “Bovine growth factor won’t activate the human growth hormone receptor anyway. Also, the milk is not allowed to contain antibiotics, and the milk is tested to ensure none is present.”
Jess and Nita shared that there’s plenty of misinformation often spread about formula. “There is a growing amount of people who want to prepare homemade formula, which is really unsafe and certainly not best practice,” they warned.
“Many folks are also really worried about the ingredients in a formula – people often think if they can’t pronounce a specific word that it’s ‘bad’ or ‘toxic’, but this isn’t the case,” Jess and Nita continued. “All formula must meet specific requirements and prove that it supports optimal growth and development, especially since it’s the sole source of nutrition for infants 0 to 6 months of life.”
Image credits:Rainier Ridao / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
“Formulas are complete from a nutrition standpoint, and the kids will gain and grow just fine”
We also wanted to know what parents need to consider before choosing a formula for their children.
“Is it an FDA approved formula? Infant formula is the most highly regulated food of all,” Dr. Corkins shared. “If FDA approved, it must contain all of the required nutrients and be shown to support normal infant growth. Via the internet, there is access to all sorts of unregulated and foreign formulas without those safeguards.”
“If [aparenthas] decided to cease nursing, just make sure that this decision is yours – for example, some women cease nursing because of return to work or maybe because of perceived low milk supply, but may not realize that they can still combination feed!” Nita noted. “This worked for me, as a I returned to work at 9 months postpartum. We found a way to nurse and offer bottles of formula.”
The experts also pointed out that there is absolutely no reason to judge a parent for choosing to use formula. “Sometimes choice isn’t an option – support can look differently, so asking parents what they’d like is important (not tossing out their formula).”
Finally, Dr. Corkins added, “Breast milk is the ideal because of the immune factors. However, the formulas are complete from a nutrition standpoint, and the kids will gain and grow just fine.”
And if you’d like to learn even more about this topic from Jess and Nita, they’ve shared their own nursing stories on theirblog, as well as the411 on Formulaand a list of11 Things We Wish We Knew About Breastfeeding.
Many readers urged the mother to get police involved, and she shared some more details about her situation
However, a small minority thought that the mother should bear some of the blame
Thanks! Check out the results:You May LikeGuy Faces The Biggest Crisis Of His Life After Discovering Roommate Hasn’t Paid Rent In MonthsMindaugas BalčiauskasColleague Wants Woman To Cook Delicious Homemade Lunches For Everyone, Confused, She RefusesDenis KrotovasSchool Wants To Accommodate One Student’s Condition At The Expense Of The Other’s, Teen Vents OnlineJustinas Keturka
Mindaugas Balčiauskas
Denis Krotovas
Justinas Keturka
Social Issues
