breast/bottle feeding

bananey · Feb 6, 2007 7:24PM

Now don't get me started!!! lol I wanted to breast feed right from the start and all the midwives kept on about how breast is best etc when it came to me breast feeding i just didn't get any milk i didn't get the "full" feeling nor did i get any leaking and i cried for days agonising over putting him on formula. I even tried expressing to get the milk flowing. on his first weigh in, the first words out of the midwives mouth Are you breast feeding? and yes i was at that point but after weighing him and him losing a pound a was distraught because i was feeding him properly i'm a bad mother cant even feed my own child!!! etc the midwives advice............ keep trying!!! yes and i'll starve him in the process!!! I lasted for two weeks then cried every time he had a bottle for three days because he wouldn't take it from me cause he could smell what little milk i did have so only my husband could feed him. There wasn't any support because i'd tried to breast feed it was huh so your bottle feeding......... and i can now see why new mums are made to feel inadequate and get depressed because there is really no support system in place

EnglebertW_nkface · Jan 31, 2007 6:22PM

Suziejayne it sounds like you had a really bad time of it, glad that your little one is thriving now. I agree that there isn't enough support for new mums, I was lucky, my mum and my huby both supported my descision to breastfeed completely which made a huge difference, especially when I had mastitis for the second time in three weeks. I think it is sad that people judge each other based on the choices that we make for our babies, whatever the circumstances the most important think is that the baby is fed and healthy. I am still breastfeeding at 22 weeks and plan to carry on as long as possible (I am too lazy to make bottles:lol

, however I haven't been to my local breastfeeding cafe as the thought of all those die hard breastfeeders scares me!Kerry

suzanneHolden · Jan 31, 2007 7:15PM

Thanks kerry but i've learned to deal with it now and i'm normally pretty laid back Hormones!!! A friend of mine had her baby a fews weeks before and she breast feeds and i hate to say it but i get jealous it is her third tho, but i get her back by telling her my littley sleeps through and hers doesn't all in jest of course but even so we both have support from each other. I used to work for her as her childrens nanny so you would think i would be ok with everything but emotion is a strong thing and it's different when it's your own so we reasure each other

dawnie359 · Feb 5, 2007 4:13PM

I too was desperate to breast feed in fact I took it as a given that i would and felt contempt for mothers who said that they had tried to breast feed but had given up after a matter of days. I mean its natural isn't it, and even if its difficult you just keep trying coz it's what's best for baby, besides you cant really even say you've tried at all after a couple of days. I really should have thought about the whole pride, falling from great height scenario shouldn't I. I lasted about three days. Three days of being too sore from my caesarean to position my baby properly, of having unsympathetic midwives thrust him at me as I cried. Three days of my darling little boy trying desperately to latch on to my crappy flat nipples, which apparantly they were not that I ever thought they were anything other than normal. Of trying to express only to be met with the tiniest droplets of colustrum. And worst of all three days of my baby not being able to feed from me and having to have heel prick tests after every "feed" to make sure he didn't starve, especially with him just being a little chap to start (5lb 14oz), and then having to be cupfed formula by midwives with talk of tube feeding if things didn't improve. I remember waiting desperately for my milk to come in convinced that it would be easier when it did, but in the end I couldn't hold out that long. It may have only been three days but it felt like forever anD I wanted to enjoy my baby's first few days not spend them indread of feeding time. I too cried when he had his first bottle and a day later when whilst bottlefeeding him my milk came in with gusto. But it was all worth it for the look on my boys face when he suck on the bottle and actually got milk out. So apologieds to any women who I judged so unfairly.

Grace_and_Ruby · Feb 6, 2007 12:11PM

I bottle feed my 15week old daughter and have done since day one, as she was having feeding problems and was in Neo natal from day 1 to day 4, they started her on formula and so I carried on. We had decided anyway that we would bottle feed, as both my partner and I wanted to share the experience. I felt during my antenatal classes and from reading various literature, that bottle feeding is a big no-no and in fact, I was made to feel a 'bad mum' for asking about bottle feeding during my antenatal classes (something I did complain about).
I think breast feeding is great if you can do it and if you feel you cannot get the 'closeness' with your baby from bottle feeding, but I do feel close to my daughter and feel she gets all the nutrients and benefits from bottle feeding.
There is lots of support for breast feeding mums, but no support and information for bottle feeding mums, I feel that pressure on new mums is very great and the negativity towards bottle feeding can add extra pressure.

suzanneHolden · Feb 6, 2007 7:24PM

I was speaking to a community nursery nurse today who is also a friend and she said that they are not supposed to encourage in anyway shape or form bottle feeding and are not allowed to show new parents how to make a feed or sterilize a bottle. I think this is outrageous whatever happened to freedom of choice in this country i know that theoretically breast is best but for those whom it is medically impossible or just don't want to where is the support!!!!! I always wanted to breast feed but couldn't and when speaking to certain midwives i was made to feel incompetant it's no wonder why so many new mums get PND

breast/bottle feeding

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