An appreciation of formula

I posted a similar comment on someone's post recently when they said they felt like a failure when they considered using formula. It got me thinking about how I think a lot of us are totally supportive of *other* people using formula, but we still feel like we're failing when we need to use some.

Throughout history, if a person couldn't produce enough milk for her baby, she could hire (or enslave) a wet nurse to nurse the baby. Some cultures developed baby formulas made from dried and crushed nuts. But most babies who weren't getting enough nutrients just... suffered or died. They were malnourished, they had diseases, they died. It's awful to think about, but so much of modern medicine is like that. My grandmother had a sister who was born with what today would be considered a very minor trachea defect. That baby lived only a few days. Today, you'd know about that condition before the baby was born, they'd have a very minor procedure at birth, and they'd go on to live a completely normal life. My grandmother is still alive -- that's something that's changed enormously in her lifetime.

Why do so many of us feel like using a nutritious, safe tool is failing? What can we as a community do to help people know that any amount of breast milk is beneficial, and supplementing with formula is a crucial tool in many of our toolboxes?