For the BF mums, why did you choose to BF, esp if you found it tough at first?

[Lightworker]

Also I am abit annoyed that some of you ladies have not had periods lol I BF exclusively on demand and still they show up at 3 months post delivery GRRR

 

[Surreal]

All the things listed above, but especially the closeness and bonding it allows between momma and baby. I love the fact that I'm providing for my LO, and it gives the perfect excuse to cuddle up with him!

And in all honesty -- BFing is so much cheaper then FFing, and allows me to save money, or contribute that money to something else I could buy for LO. I'm a bit of a frugal spender.

When I first started BFing, it hurt *SO* much, the hospital staff had a lot of babies born that day, so I didn't see a lactation consultant until later. So, being a first time mom I was latching him poorly -- and though he was eating fine, I was ripping up my nipples and it hurt like hell! I spent a month gritting my teeth and cussing when I fed him, after I figured out how to latch him correctly, because my nipples were attempting to heal.

Though I personally plan to BF and EBF with this child and any child I have in the future -- I have nothing against those that FF. Your taking care of your LO, and being the best mommy you can be. That is a positive experience, in my book.

 

[Lover]

Love this thread!

Hope no one minds me posting... I'm pregnant with my first LO and can't wait to breastfeed! I'm expecting the first few weeks of my baby's life to be some of the hardest of my own life but I'm full of determination that I'll be able to pull through and hopefully add my own experiences and advice in the BF section eventually.

I think every single mummy on this thread is so brave and inspiring and you should all be so proud of yourselves

 

[eddjanuary10]

I bf because imo, its just the most natural thing in the world and it makes complete perfect sense. There were days in the beginning when I thought this is sooooo hard/painful etc and I have to admit on a few occassions there were even tears! I thought with bf'ing being the most natural thing it would be easy peasy all the way, but it was a learning experience that lo and I conquered together I love bf'ing and being so close to lo, hopefully if dh and I have another baby I will be able to bf again. x

 

[chetnaz]

My partner didn't feel left out. There are so many other ways partners can bond with their babies other than feeding. Bathing, changing, playing, taking for a walk, massage ... the list goes on!

Also I am abit annoyed that some of you ladies have not had periods lol I BF exclusively on demand and still they show up at 3 months post delivery GRRR

Dont worry you are not the only one. I exclusively BF DS1 and still had periods, which started back after he was 6 weeks old. I was actually quite shocked that I hadnt been having periods with the twins (until this morning!)

 

[anna matronic]

Also I am abit annoyed that some of you ladies have not had periods lol I BF exclusively on demand and still they show up at 3 months post delivery GRRR

I have been getting a few signs from my body thatthe witch might be coming back. I bloody hope not. My last period was exactly a year ago on Wednesday

 

[aob1013]

I think the no periods thing applies to women exclusively breastfeeding for those first 6 months. Of course people are lucky or unlucky

 

[53xym0m]

Here's another reason why Bf'ing is a good idea.

https://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/05May/Pages/Breastfedbabiesaremoreintelligent.aspx

 

[xnmd1]

I wanted to do it because it's so much healthier for baby. We had loots of problems at first, but instead of giving up, and switched to formula .. I resorted tp exclusively expressing my breast milk. Its been extremely hard but every time I get tired of pumping and want to give up, I remember I'm doing what's best for my LO and keep going.

Plus, it's a hell of a lot cheaper

 

[xnmd1]

Also I am abit annoyed that some of you ladies have not had periods lol I BF exclusively on demand and still they show up at 3 months post delivery GRRR

I have been getting a few signs from my body thatthe witch might be coming back. I bloody hope not. My last period was exactly a year ago on Wednesday

I got my period already

 

[shel030785]

My reasons were
*Cheaper
*quicker to whip the boob out when baby is hungry rather than prep bottles
*and a good excuse to sit and have cuddles!

xxx

 

[lizzieredrup]

Well for me when I was pregnant with my eldest at 18, BFing is just what I was told would happen lol the midwives were very full on, when he was born though I lost alot of blood after and was very poorly so they ended up giving a bottle to start off with, then when I tried to BF I didn't have a clue how to latch or even hold him properly, they gave me no support and I ended up with really bad Mastitis and went on to FF him I felt like a failure as I did really want to BF!

When I was pregnant with my 2nd I did everything I could to find out more about BFing, from reading articles, websites and even forums to get womens personal expereiences, I was very determined to give it another go and not rely on the midwives to help me, when he was born I was able to have skin to skin straight away which helped so much, BFing was VERY tough to start with but I don't give up easily with anything lol im very head strong and determined and knew it would get better and easier eventually and I was soooo right, once I got past the sore, cracked nippples stage it was heaven, I loved every minute of it and I fed him until he self weaned at about 18 months

From then on I just couldn't imagine doing it any other way! Obviously if for any reason such as medical then I would happily FF but if I was able to BF then that is what i'd do lol I fed my 3rd little man for 20 months and now im BFing my new little guy

BF just feels right to me, I love the closeness and everything about it, I know this has turned out long lol but I don't really talk about me BFing much, I don't see what im doing as special, im just feeding my baby just like women who FF are! Everytime I see a thread about feeding I stay well away usually as I hate that some mums feel they have to explain why they don't feed a certain way, we are all amazing mums doing what feels right for us and our babies

I also wanted to add on the end, I saw somewhere that someone mentioned about feeding with a toddler about, I have actually had no problems when it comes to that, my boys are so used to seeing me BF lol they will usually either sit with me or just get on with what they are doing.

 

[summer rain]

With me I wanted to BF because severe allergies and bowel disorders run in my family, also I have a tendency towards depression and the thought of preparing bottles and having to sit up feeding at night in the early days, was extremely daunting. With BF I can co-sleep and sleep while feeding. With my eldest the support for BF from the NHS wasn't as it is now (still isn't great) and my area had extremely low BF rates, the hospital staff were not supportive at all and when he was readmitted to hospital with jaundice the SCBU staff told me to just give up and switch to formula and they gave him virtually all formula while he was in there. It didn't get rid of the jaundice (which was due to genetic reasons, not lack of feeding) and he had it for 12 weeks in the end, still I persevered with BF and was glad I did. In the end he fed for 7 months and is very rarely ill. My husband was FF and so were all his siblings and they all have allergies and health problems, he used to still support FF and think BF was too hard and a bad idea; but now he is really supportive of it.

With my two middle boys I exclusively BF from birth and they did much better; the second eldest developed allergies and malabsorption but I was encouraged to continue BF at that time the habit was still to prescribe soya formula in those cases and the paediatrician said I should try to avoid that like the plague; also his allergies were so severe that he said even the other hypoallergenic formulas there was no guarantee they'd be safe for him. So I BF him until just over 1 year, hes now a very healthy 5 year old with no allergies. According to research over 80% of babies with the allergies he had go on to develop asthma, he does get slightly wheezy sometimes when he gets a bad cold, but is not asthmatic. I do believe BF him protected him from longer term health issues. My second youngest I had to switch him to formula as he also had allergies and I got no support with diagnosing him, still I wish I'd been given the help to continue with him as he is 3.5 now and still has allergy problems.

My youngest started showing signs of a dairy allergy from a week old. If he was to be FF his only option would be a fully hydrolysed or elemental formula but in the UK they are loathe to prescribe these as they cost a lot for the NHS and many doctors require you to try a whole gamut of normal formulas first. I'd much rather the safer option of eliminating dairy from my own diet, which is working so far, and continuing to BF.

 

[Dragonfly]

My youngest started showing signs of a dairy allergy from a week old. If he was to be FF his only option would be a fully hydrolysed or elemental formula but in the UK they are loathe to prescribe these as they cost a lot for the NHS and many doctors require you to try a whole gamut of normal formulas first. I'd much rather the safer option of eliminating dairy from my own diet, which is working so far, and continuing to BF.

Sorry can I just ask was he throwing up when you have dairy? I think Alex does this and I have cut out milk and he dosnt spew up whole feeds if i dont go near milk or mayo. He seems sensitive to dairy I think.

 

[summer rain]

Also there are many other ways for daddies to bond with baby aside from feeding. I actually find my LOs bond with my OH better as they give him more eye contact from the start; start cooing at him earlier and sleep far easier for him, than for me who they see as a big walking boob at the start; to be quite frank. My eldest never once made eye contact with me until he stopped BF! Also very few dads would be willing to give every other feed at the start and many would be unable to if they wanted to, due to work commitments.

 

[mystika802]

My youngest started showing signs of a dairy allergy from a week old. If he was to be FF his only option would be a fully hydrolysed or elemental formula but in the UK they are loathe to prescribe these as they cost a lot for the NHS and many doctors require you to try a whole gamut of normal formulas first. I'd much rather the safer option of eliminating dairy from my own diet, which is working so far, and continuing to BF.

Sorry can I just ask was he throwing up when you have dairy? I think Alex does this and I have cut out milk and he dosnt spew up whole feeds if i dont go near milk or mayo. He seems sensitive to dairy I think.

I cut out milk protein, so anything dairy or with milk products (even deli meat has milk protein) and the spitting up and gassy got a LOT better.

 

[mystika802]

I pumped for 8 mo nths with my first and had to combi feed, I felt this time like I really wanted the experience mothers talk about when breast feeding their child. It was so hard at first but I kept going and after lots of crying we are doing great today
I am SO glad I didn't decide to switch to formula when the going got rough, it seems as if he has a milk protein intolerance and if I hadn't have breast fed I would have gone broke affording the formula he needed!
Honestly, I love love breast feeding now other than when Im in public lol. I love that when over bearing family is over I can always have an excuse to take Charlie and sit alone with him I love the closeness of it all and of course I love that its FREE!

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

it wasn't really a choice for mw before ds1 I never considered ff. however after 4.5 month of feeding 2 hours day and night I made the switch for my own sanity.

knew i'd bf baby to and will do for as long as I cam, felt guilty giving up last time.

for mw its besr, cheaper, less hassle. hate stabilizing and making bottles

 

[funny_face]

Bloodbinds - do you mind me asking why you'll FF next time? Is it so you have more freedom? That's definitely the only downside I've found to BF so far.

Well i'm hoping my circumstances will be different.

I was single when i had Bella and jobless for almost a year, so i had the time to sit around at home and breastfeed. If she wanted to cluster feed i could be up all night doing it as i could sleep in all day the next day, and also breastfeeding is a lot easier than FF, no bottles to sterilse and heat up, so with being on my own it was easy to just flop out the boob when she was hungry! Lol.

Next time though i'm hoping i'll be in the prime of my career, with a gorgeous husband and Bella running around wanting to be played with! So i will have someone there to sterilise bottles for me, or get up and give her a feed, and i'll have the freeddom to play with Bella and put her to bed etc.

I was lucky i got to breastfeed for a year, just think it would be more convinient for our family if i FF next to (IF my life plans out the way i want it to!! Lol)

I haven't read all the pages, this was as far as I got lol! I just wanted to say it might not be as hard as you think BF another baby when you go back to work, we've been doing it for a year and I went back to work in October I only expressed at work for a month or maybe 2, so we've just been feeding when I'm here!

I don't remember spending lots of time in the house feeding, and remember you'll still have maternity leave for the cluster feeding / sleeping in! I found that most of the cluster feeding had stopped by 5/6 months

I don't know how I'm going to stop BF, it's so handy

 

[summer rain]

My youngest started showing signs of a dairy allergy from a week old. If he was to be FF his only option would be a fully hydrolysed or elemental formula but in the UK they are loathe to prescribe these as they cost a lot for the NHS and many doctors require you to try a whole gamut of normal formulas first. I'd much rather the safer option of eliminating dairy from my own diet, which is working so far, and continuing to BF.

Sorry can I just ask was he throwing up when you have dairy? I think Alex does this and I have cut out milk and he dosnt spew up whole feeds if i dont go near milk or mayo. He seems sensitive to dairy I think.

With him he wasn't (though my two elder ones with multiple allergies were very sick due to it), his main symptoms were a red bumpy rash, a bit of smelly wind (he farts a lot normally but it doesn't stink like that) but the main sign is a few hours after I have dairy and also it happened the one time he had formula, he will have very very dark green, mucusy, sludgy poo with spots/streaks of fresh blood in it. Although this can happen due to a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance the mucus and blood usually only occurs with that after quite a while, weeks or months, of the problem not being corrected. With allergies and intolerances it can occur within a few hours of eating the offending food. As soon as I cut out dairy by the next day his poo is back to yellow again but it can take two weeks for it to be completely back to normal texture etc. With my second eldest he'd have an anaphylactic reaction to dairy (if it touched his skin or ingested directly) and a sandpapery rash and diarrhoea from eggs. Via my milk he had excessive possetting with a lot of reflux symptoms though he didn't seem to be in discomfort, eczema and extremely slow weight gain. He stopped reacting to things via my milk at around 6 months but had to avoid having the offending foods in his own diet until around two when he outgrew pretty much all his allergies. I'm moderately lactose intolerant myself and virtually everyone in my immediate and extended family has a dairy sensitivity of some type; or IBS which is made particularly worse by dairy products. One of my sisters also has Crohns and the specialist reckons the first trigger was her having formula as a baby.