As a mother who formula feeds..

[madasa]

^^ that's put me off getting my nipples pierced :-/

 

[cherryglitter]

^^ that's put me off getting my nipples pierced :-/

I had mine done and my boobs are okay I think it's just one of those things! xx

 

[Dragonfly]

I think educating school age may be a better way to go about it maybe as part of thier sex education or child development class at 16 sort of age.

Pregnant women and new mums have a hell of alot going on and its understandable to get deffensive when you feel someone is hammering at you "this is how you have to do it"
So maybe if girls where educated on the pros and cons of both side and educated on the true facts then they would be better prepared for the choice and more informed about what to expect and have an idea in mind befor the time comes.
Of course things can still go wrong but hopefully they may be more educated on the emotional impact of it all.

I agree, being pregnant you have a lot to take on and can be overwhelming. I only say this from guessing the info poeple get which seems to be thrown at them where as I havnt experienced that. think in school education on the human body like breastfeeding needs to be taught. Even in sex ed (which we never had in our school or science for that matter) most the girls where preg when I was at school I seem to be the last one to have kids at 28 here.

 

[moomin_troll]

Can I ask the people who tried bf but failed, does it put you off having more kids

its the giving birth part thats put me off and the treatment i got in hospital from my mw who delievered zane, but i wont go into that.

if i do have another i will try to bf again, so that side of it hasnt put me off wanting more children. as i believe that the cicumstance that surrounded me after having zane wouldnt be there again next time round so i hope to be succseful

 

[madasa]

Can I ask the people who tried bf but failed, does it put you off having more kids

its the giving birth part thats put me off and the treatment i got in hospital from my mw who delievered zane, but i wont go into that.

if i do have another i will try to bf again, so that side of it hasnt put me off wanting more children. as i believe that the cicumstance that surrounded me after having zane wouldnt be there again next time round so i hope to be succseful

My first birth wasn't great and my treatment in hospital was less than stellar by some of the staff. It put me off birthing in hospital again. My bfing has also been easier since the home birth, but I'm sure there are other factors influencing that...

 

[BlackBerry25]

^^ that's put me off getting my nipples pierced :-/

Very rare to happen.

 

[moomin_troll]

Can I ask the people who tried bf but failed, does it put you off having more kids

its the giving birth part thats put me off and the treatment i got in hospital from my mw who delievered zane, but i wont go into that.

if i do have another i will try to bf again, so that side of it hasnt put me off wanting more children. as i believe that the cicumstance that surrounded me after having zane wouldnt be there again next time round so i hope to be succseful

My first birth wasn't great and my treatment in hospital was less than stellar by some of the staff. It put me off birthing in hospital again. My bfing has also been easier since the home birth, but I'm sure there are other factors influencing that...

its very suprising how ur treated in hospital can effect u so much.
zanes birth was queit good compared to most so i no i cud do it again, but even tho i no ile never have to go to the same hospital again its still put me off.
think im too much of a wimp to birth at home lol altho i do really like the idea of it

 

[madasa]

Birthing at home is easier for most women. Now that I've done both I'd say "I'm too much of a wimp to do it in hosp again!"

 

[HannahGraceee]

Can I ask the people who tried bf but failed, does it put you off having more kids

Not at all, i breastfed for 4 months, then my milk dried up bcos i decided to combo feed so i know where i went wrong

 

[dani_tinks]

Can I ask the people who tried bf but failed, does it put you off having more kids

Nope not at all. My labour and spd has put me off having more. But failing at BF has made me more determined to BF if we ever have one again

 

[lesleyann]

i tryied to bf and could not but that would not put me off infact i blame the hospital for some of the reasons i could not.

1. he had tongue-tie they did not even look in his mouth till he was almost 24hours old and had not eaten
2. once they found that out i was just handed a bottle
3. it took almost a week for the snip on the tongue-tie meaning a whole week of bottles trying to just get some food into him
4. once it was snipped the BF'ing lady never came round liek she said she would.

And the staff at the hospital just put me off ever having a hospital birth again so my plan would be to have a home birth next time and insist on them checkign out next Lo's tongue. I no they say its not something you get from yoru parents however my Oh had tongue-tie as did his sister as did my Lo so i think there is something in that

 

[NIfirsttimer]

ok... after reading EVERY post in this thread, im ready to add my tuppence...

firstly, dragonfly... as a fellow NI'er ive often been astounded when i read your posts about the disgusting lack of support you recieved, compared to the excellent support i had (albeit at a different hosptial) however, ive googled the name of your hospital tonight, along with the words 'breast feeding' and its thrown me up countless pages with the details of the BF peer workers based there 24/7, and the BF support available on discharge.... along with details of all the BF support groups within that NHS trust....
im not doubting that you had a bad experience, but i just had to point out that we actually have (usually) fab healthcare here in NI, and that we arent stuck in the dark ages etc when it comes to things like this....

now... just to give you some background, i wanted to BF, ruby had serious problems holding a latch, (which we now know was due to an attached upper lip frenulum) and despite lots of help from midwives, and the birthing units lactation consultant, we were unable to do anything to help... her jaundice was becoming serious and she required phototherapy, so it was formula or pumping. she had one bottle of formula to relieve the immediate concern, and I began to pump. I pumped exclusively for around 5 months, then combi fed for a few more months, and she has been exclusively FF since around 7/8 months old.

in repsonse to the posts about FF'ers and *failed& BF'ers not getting support from BFers, i have to disagree. i had SO much support in the BF room in those early days, and if it hadnt been for some of the advice i had at that time, i doubt i would have been able to pump for as long as i was, and again, when i decided to quit the pumping and go over to fully ff, i also felt supported in that decision. Similarly, i have had support in the FF rooms, as an EX BF'er..... i agree that there are a small number of people on here, and in real life also, who are SO passionate about BFing, that they come across as patronising, offensive, etc to people like me, but i dont let it get to me, its a very small few, and i just think 'more fool them' and hope that any further BFing that they do is as successful as their current experience, likewise when i read (which i have!) comments about how EVERYONE can do it if they just try hard enough / persevere/ smile thru the pain... blah blah blah.. you walk a mile in my shoes, and ill walk a mile in yours, ya'know?

im not denying that i felt guilty when i stopped giving ruby breast milk, but i soon realised that she was continuing to be the same happy, healthy, bright, engaging, sociable, thriving baby that she had always been, and that anything that could sustain that (ie, formula) was a good enough alternative for me. I know that breast milk is superior, and in an ideal world id probably still be breast feeding her, but trust me, there is NO fun in pumping 3, sometimes 1.5 hourly day and night, while feeding forumla every 3/4 hours, and washing steralising and preparing bottles.. its a totally endless cycle, and for me, and for Ruby, that time was better spent together rather than her strapped into a bouncer while i constantly carried out all of the above!

i think what we need to be encouraging is a greater empathy with each other, and the knowledge that not everyone finds it easy / difficult / natural / offensive etc.... you can never, ever truely understand anyone elses choices without being them.

 

[Blah11]

I bow down to anyone who can exclusively pump! omg.

 

[Tiff]

No kidding eh? I have a friend who BF didn't work for, and she exclusively pumped for nearly 8 months. She went back to work early and would get up at like 3am to pump enough for her son.

That is impressive!

 

[Dragonfly]

i tried pumping, didnt last more than a few ounzes before I got peed off at it and couldnt get what I wanted out. So hats off (or boobs out) to anyone that can do it.

 

[Missy86]

good on you, I couldt cope with pumping

 

[moomin_troll]

Out of curiousity did any of you that had problems with breast feeding find breast size, shape and nipple position any contributing factor towards it?

my boobs were huge lol and zane refused to open his mouth enough to get my nipple in, even tho its not that big itself. altho for some reason he hated bf from my right boob more then the left, its the smaller side so dont no if that made a difference. so only feeding from the one side became very difficult.

 

[HannahGraceee]

I bow down to anyone who can exclusively pump! omg.

i second that! finding the time to feed, wash and serialize the bottles plus pump and then pump enough milk! WOW

 

[madasa]

i tryied to bf and could not but that would not put me off infact i blame the hospital for some of the reasons i could not.

1. he had tongue-tie they did not even look in his mouth till he was almost 24hours old and had not eaten
2. once they found that out i was just handed a bottle
3. it took almost a week for the snip on the tongue-tie meaning a whole week of bottles trying to just get some food into him
4. once it was snipped the BF'ing lady never came round liek she said she would.

And the staff at the hospital just put me off ever having a hospital birth again so my plan would be to have a home birth next time and insist on them checkign out next Lo's tongue. I no they say its not something you get from yoru parents however my Oh had tongue-tie as did his sister as did my Lo so i think there is something in that

If you're unlucky enough that something similar happens again, maybe try avoiding bottles? There are lots of alternatives... Cup, syringe, spoon, SNS...

Some of the stories on thus thread are making me really appreciate what I've got... Thank you ladies, for sharing

 

[Dopeyjopey]

I've just read this whole thread and it's late and i'm on my phone so sorry if this gets jumbled!

Firstly, i BF and have been lucky enough to have no problems and i feel for those of you that it didn't work out for i know some of you went through horrible things and i admire you for trying and then making the decision to do what's best for YOU. After all, a happy mummy makes a happier baby!

If i had trouble feeding and knew someone didn't even try, i would feel a bit sad... i have difficulty understanding it but would never judge anyone for doing it (or not doing it as the case may be). Having said that, if i speak to someone who is pregnant i do encourage them to give it a go. I tell them why i love it so much and the benefits for both mum and baby. I still believe it is up to them but would like to see a culture of every woman at least seeing if it works for them.

FF/BF debates always seem to get heated so quickly, imo because sometimes hearing an opinion that's different to yours feels like a judgement on your parenting. I've been accused of being elitist or patronising which hurts a lot as i'm just not that kind of person! However i try not to rise to it as i don't feel that anyone should have to defend their decisions.

With regard to the 'i chose' section of the article, although it is written in quite an accusatory tone, it is true when talking about those who make the decision to ff without trying to bf whilst knowing all the benefits of BF. I would like to give an example... if your child was poorly and there were two types of medication available, one of which you were told is ideal and made to combat that illness and one which doesn't quite do as good a job but was made to mimic the actions of the ideal one, surely you would choose the first? Of course, if that wasn't available you would obviously choose the latter over letting your child remain poorly. Add into the equasion that the ideal medicine is free and the substitute requires you to pay to a corporate company and i can't understand why anyone would prefer the substitute. This is how i see the choice of BF or FF.

We all want want is best for our children and when it comes down to it, generally a mummy's gut feeling is right and not one person should be ashamed of following that instinct!