There are few parenting topics that stirs the pot as much as the debate about
breast 
Vs bottle. 
The crux of the issue is the question of best. Dictionary.com defines best as
1. of the highest quality, excellence, or standing: the best work; the best students.
2. most advantageous, suitable, or desirable: the best way.
By this definition, best is what is most advantageous for the infant, what gets the infant to grow and thrive. Breast, bottle, or a combination of both would all be suitable feeding methods to obtain that goal.
New studies have been very reassuring that breast is not better than formula and that breast fed babies don’t have an advantage over formula fed babies after all. And, new studies support that a parent’s background and education level are more at play in later intelligence than how that infant is fed early on in life.
I read Ursula Furi-Perry’s article The Fuss Over Formula in this month’s Parents and Kids with interest. Ms. Furi-Perry gives a great overview on the breast vs. bottle debate from a real-world perspective. Her stance is interesting and very similar to my own. She discusses the guilt factor and that recent ads have actually accused parents who opt to use formula of child abuse.
She writes:
Breast v. Bottle has been a long-standing battle in today’s Mommy Wars. Breastfeeding advocates of recent years have stepped up their efforts at promoting nursing over bottle, so much so that many formula-feeding moms have found themselves fiercely defending their choice to zealous advocates of nursing. Just visit an online message board for moms and you will witness the battles fought over what we feed our babies. I’ve seen nursing advocates question formula-feeding moms’ abilities to raise kids based on their decision to formula-feed; I’ve seen them come down hard on moms desperate to make nursing work for “not trying hard enough.” Though just decades ago, doctors were telling women that bottle was best, new moms today are getting a very different message: Nurse or bust.
In light of recent studies, such tactics are unfounded and misplaced. Moreover, our society in the United States doesn’t support breast-feeding mothers. Even as a pediatric resident, it would have been impossible to breast feed my daughter given my rigid work schedule and long hours. Looking back on her 12 years of life, infant feeding was a very small part of her growth and development. And, in her 6th grade class, we’d all be hard pressed to pick who was breast fed and who was bottle fed 12 years ago if we just look at achievement and intelligence.
Life is complicated enough. Parents should feed their infant in whatever way works for their overall lives and feel comfortable with that choice guilt-free. Best is in the eye of the beholder. If it is working for the baby and the parents are comfortable that is what’s best. It really is that simple.
Why was I not surprised to get to the end of this article and see that you’d formula fed your own child. Vested interest?
What a brutal work schedule that had you up and working minutes after giving birth and not thereafter having five minutes to sit with your child. Ever heard of colostrum, pumping and partial breastfeeding?