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

[xUniquex]

I taste everything I give Emma too! I'm just far too curious. DH has tried it too. I would offer it to anyone if they wanted to try it. Not straight from 'the tap' of course, but if someone was super curious I wouldn't mind pumping a little into a cup. It's just milk after all.

Oh I'd love to see someone's face if you did actually offer it straight from the tap!

On a different note, my mum has this habit of popping out her boob and giving it to one of the twins if they are waiting for a feed and crying. She thinks its quite funny and I have to say, it stops them howling straight away, they just use their nan as a dummy. My mum thinks this is perfectly ok as her mum did it to us aparently, but I have to say, I was freaked out by it at first! I don't say anything to her cos I dont want to upset her, but would any of you ladies be against this? She doesnt always do it, only if they are really screaming

it only seems weird in the western society...i must be the only one who thinks that this comment is fabulous!

I actually had no problem with that either. It seemed like a nice way to calm a baby to me.

totally agree!! and it's her mother comforting them,not like a complete stranger!
i think that to call it 'wrong on so many levels' is a bit of a blinkered opinion,
isn't it amazing how quickly society and it's 'norms' change? not so long ago wet nursing etc was the complete norm...

 

[aob1013]

We use my milk regularly in our house. In our cooking, tea. It's also a magical medicine! It has so many uses! It's amazing!

 

[aliss]

I taste everything I give Emma too! I'm just far too curious. DH has tried it too. I would offer it to anyone if they wanted to try it. Not straight from 'the tap' of course, but if someone was super curious I wouldn't mind pumping a little into a cup. It's just milk after all.

Oh I'd love to see someone's face if you did actually offer it straight from the tap!

On a different note, my mum has this habit of popping out her boob and giving it to one of the twins if they are waiting for a feed and crying. She thinks its quite funny and I have to say, it stops them howling straight away, they just use their nan as a dummy. My mum thinks this is perfectly ok as her mum did it to us aparently, but I have to say, I was freaked out by it at first! I don't say anything to her cos I dont want to upset her, but would any of you ladies be against this? She doesnt always do it, only if they are really screaming

it only seems weird in the western society...i must be the only one who thinks that this comment is fabulous!

I actually had no problem with that either. It seemed like a nice way to calm a baby to me.

totally agree!! and it's her mother comforting them,not like a complete stranger!
i think that to call it 'wrong on so many levels' is a bit of a blinkered opinion,
isn't it amazing how quickly society and it's 'norms' change? not so long ago wet nursing etc was the complete norm...

My boy is not comforted by the breast due to his problems in delivery but I would totally be open to it next time. My mom was totally confused on how to bottle feed mine, LOL, as I had apparently never used one. The breast is much more than food to a baby, many don't realize it.

 

[Srrme]

I chose to breastfeed because it was the best thing for my baby (who also happened to be a preemie) and I wanted the bond that came with it.

 

[xUniquex]

I taste everything I give Emma too! I'm just far too curious. DH has tried it too. I would offer it to anyone if they wanted to try it. Not straight from 'the tap' of course, but if someone was super curious I wouldn't mind pumping a little into a cup. It's just milk after all.

Oh I'd love to see someone's face if you did actually offer it straight from the tap!

On a different note, my mum has this habit of popping out her boob and giving it to one of the twins if they are waiting for a feed and crying. She thinks its quite funny and I have to say, it stops them howling straight away, they just use their nan as a dummy. My mum thinks this is perfectly ok as her mum did it to us aparently, but I have to say, I was freaked out by it at first! I don't say anything to her cos I dont want to upset her, but would any of you ladies be against this? She doesnt always do it, only if they are really screaming

it only seems weird in the western society...i must be the only one who thinks that this comment is fabulous!

I actually had no problem with that either. It seemed like a nice way to calm a baby to me.

totally agree!! and it's her mother comforting them,not like a complete stranger!
i think that to call it 'wrong on so many levels' is a bit of a blinkered opinion,
isn't it amazing how quickly society and it's 'norms' change? not so long ago wet nursing etc was the complete norm...

My boy is not comforted by the breast due to his problems in delivery but I would totally be open to it next time. My mom was totally confused on how to bottle feed mine, LOL, as I had apparently never used one. The breast is much more than food to a baby, many don't realize it.

i think it must of been so difficult for you (and appreciate that it probably still is!) to have WANTED to be able to do that but it not work out that way.
i sincerely hope that next time you can do it .. and you are TOTALLY right in saying a breast really IS a LOT more than just food!

 

[chetnaz]

I taste everything I give Emma too! I'm just far too curious. DH has tried it too. I would offer it to anyone if they wanted to try it. Not straight from 'the tap' of course, but if someone was super curious I wouldn't mind pumping a little into a cup. It's just milk after all.

Oh I'd love to see someone's face if you did actually offer it straight from the tap!

On a different note, my mum has this habit of popping out her boob and giving it to one of the twins if they are waiting for a feed and crying. She thinks its quite funny and I have to say, it stops them howling straight away, they just use their nan as a dummy. My mum thinks this is perfectly ok as her mum did it to us aparently, but I have to say, I was freaked out by it at first! I don't say anything to her cos I dont want to upset her, but would any of you ladies be against this? She doesnt always do it, only if they are really screaming

it only seems weird in the western society...i must be the only one who thinks that this comment is fabulous!

Totally agree with this. YOu see from where my mum comes from, it's perfectly normal. my gran did it to us aparently and my gran also BF a relative's baby who didn't have enough milk of her own. In those days it was the norm. If you couldn't BF then you either got a relative to do it for you or you paid a wet nurse if you could afford it. I'm guessing that they either didnt have dummies available then either, or maybe couldnt afford it, so the alternative was for gran to step in if mum was busy!

I too was grossed out with it to begin with to be honest but listening to my mums stories of how it was in her day and also having baby go instantly quiet when he had been hysterical 2 seconds earlier, and I know my mums clean, so how can I be grossed out. She's not trying to take over and be a mum to then, she knows her role in their lives perfectly well, but she doesn't see the big deal in it and when I had a think about it, I guess I stopped seeing it as a big deal too. After all, it was good enough for me!

 

[chetnaz]

I taste everything I give Emma too! I'm just far too curious. DH has tried it too. I would offer it to anyone if they wanted to try it. Not straight from 'the tap' of course, but if someone was super curious I wouldn't mind pumping a little into a cup. It's just milk after all.

Oh I'd love to see someone's face if you did actually offer it straight from the tap!

On a different note, my mum has this habit of popping out her boob and giving it to one of the twins if they are waiting for a feed and crying. She thinks its quite funny and I have to say, it stops them howling straight away, they just use their nan as a dummy. My mum thinks this is perfectly ok as her mum did it to us aparently, but I have to say, I was freaked out by it at first! I don't say anything to her cos I dont want to upset her, but would any of you ladies be against this? She doesnt always do it, only if they are really screaming

I wouldn't be okay with that at all, it seems weird to me that she'd want to. But whatever you are comfortable with is what matters. Could you not maybe give them a dummy or something?

They do take dummies but when they want booby really badly, esp if I'm feeding one and the other sees, he goes hysterical and will scream the place down, so only when my mum can't quieten him down any other way does she do this. It's not like she does it all the time

I wasn't comfortable with it to begin with either, but for the reasons I stated in my previous post ^^ I've stopped seeing it as such a big deal.

 

[louandivy]

When I actually thought about it and got past my initial Western society-brainwashed shock then I realised its a really lovely thing for your mum to be willing to do Chetnaz!

 

[CocoaOne]

When I actually thought about it and got past my initial Western society-brainwashed shock then I realised its a really lovely thing for your mum to be willing to do Chetnaz!

Ditto

 

[chetnaz]

Just wanted to share this with you lovely ladies. The boys have gone from the first pic, to the second, all on mummy milk! I have to say, this is the thing I'm most proud of

 

[Kalah]

I did it because I knew it was really healthy and I wanted to do what I knew was best for my baby. I didn't know anyone else who ever breast fed so I was a bit scared of being different. I didn't know it was going to hurt, no one told me, so that was a huge shock. I kept going in the hospital because I was alone and I had no other option. I kept going at home because I knew I could do it and I made sure we had no formula in the house. Eventually it stopped hurting and that was great!

7 months into it LO's teeth started poking through and she somehow managed to bit a hold at the base of each nipple. For a week I had horrible pain like how it was when I first started. The recommended 6 months was up so I attempted to switch to bottles this time but it was too late to introduce them now, she wouldn't drink from a bottle and wouldn't settle without boob so I had to keep on.

With the next one I'll still breastfeed, but I'll be buying a hospital grade electric pump and make sure to express everyday in addition to actually breastfeeding so I can have ample supply and introduce one bottle a day from the start so if I ever have to switch I can. I'll also be donating my extra milk since I know how good it is for babies and it could make some women who weren't lucky enough to be able to BF very happy.

 

[littlepne]

I hadn't really thought about it before I got pregnant. During pregnancy, I thought about it and decided to give it a try - but I did get a sterilizer (99p off ebay!) and a few bottles just in case, but no formula.

Luckily, we had very few problems establishing bf - information on here that I read before birth helped me.

It's free and it's convenient. I don't think I'm organised enough to deal with making bottles up - I don't like expressing and she fed little and often so it was difficult to find time to fit it in anyway. When I go out, I don't have to think about taking enough formula and bottles - it's all good to go. To me, the health benefits are a bonus! I also like the way I could calm her quickly.

When LO was born, and started feeding I was hooked. The first few days were uncomfortable but I kept telling myself, one more week and we'll see how we're going.

There are things I'd possibly do different next time, I would feed more often in the first few days - I know now that yes, they can be hungry again after just half an hour. I'll probably try and express a bit more as well - after all, I'll have another child to deal with next time!

Yes, it can be hard work and it took a while before I could leave her with anyone for longer than 20 minutes (and even now, it's only ever a 3-4 hours at the most) but I didn't go out before I got pregnant - so I'm not missing anything! And I want to be with her!

That's my ramblings

 

[Nimyra]

I did struggle with BF at the beginning -- LO had a very small mouth (born a month early) and didn't latch well. BF hurt for the first 5 or 6 weeks due to the latch and I had vasospasms (ouch!!!) due to the poor latch.

I kept going because
1) I was confident that once my LO got bigger, her latch would improve and the pain would stop
2) In my mind I always imagined myself as a mom who breastfeeds. It was a pride thing to some extent - that was what I wanted for us, so I was stubborn about it.
3) I'm really frugal/cheap and formula is expensive!!!
4) I'm really lazy and didn't want to wash any more bottles
5) I had heard a lot of stories about babies getting sick a lot more often once weaned so I wanted to give LO's immune system some help.

 

[Midsomer]

I just always knew that I wanted to BF, after all that is what they are there for lol.

But it is amazing how many people just presume that I would be FF, and are shocked when I tell them no I am BF.

Also the amount of people that tell me it is time consuming and haven't I given up on that yet because they would have. I do think you have to be very strong mined in some cases to carry on BF due to pain and the opposition that you can come up against, how you are expected in some cases to just disappear off into another room, so can feel like you are missing out.

At the end of the day I just did what I thought was best for my LO and myself.

 

[New Mrs W]

[/QUOTE]i'm in floods reading this back because i'm feeding charl as we speak and remembering how desperate i felt that night compared to how accomplished we both are now, well, it's mind blowing. In regard to the bond being different, i met with one of the mummies and her little man from bnb last weekend, and the bond she has with her boy is incredible, clear for anyone to see and he's not breastfed for reasons personal to this mummy (not my place to go into), and to put her baby next to mine, both are gorgeous and strong and alert and bright. You couldn't pick out the bf baby in a line up! Xx[/QUOTE]

Sarah-Jane, I am in floods reading this. I was avoiding this thread as I still feel so sad that I couldn't feed my own baby, even though he is so happy and healthy now and it has all worked out fine in the end. Thank you for such lovely words. xx

 

[sjminimac]

i'm in floods reading this back because i'm feeding charl as we speak and remembering how desperate i felt that night compared to how accomplished we both are now, well, it's mind blowing. In regard to the bond being different, i met with one of the mummies and her little man from bnb last weekend, and the bond she has with her boy is incredible, clear for anyone to see and he's not breastfed for reasons personal to this mummy (not my place to go into), and to put her baby next to mine, both are gorgeous and strong and alert and bright. You couldn't pick out the bf baby in a line up! Xx[/QUOTE]

Sarah-Jane, I am in floods reading this. I was avoiding this thread as I still feel so sad that I couldn't feed my own baby, even though he is so happy and healthy now and it has all worked out fine in the end. Thank you for such lovely words. xx[/QUOTE]
x

 

[emmi26]

it was just something i really wanted to do for harry, its helped me bond so closely with him and i knew it was best for him and me x x

 

[Lownthwaite]

I decided to BF my baby when I was pregnant. I don't know why but giving formula was just not an option for me. The antibodies etc which breastmilk offers which formula doesn't - also the benefits for mother - added protection against cancers - my mum died of cancer when I was 22. If me breastfeeding can help prevent my daughter going through what I did at that age then I will feed her for as long as she wants it. (My mum couldn't BF as she had pre-eclampsia, my twin sister and I were delivered 12 weeks early and all 3 of us nearly died - BFing wasn't an option as she was so ill. )

My breasts make milk to feed my baby and so that is what I do. It would seem silly to me to have the ability to feed my child and then choose not to. (No offence to anyone) It feels like the natural thing to do.

Plus its free!
There's no messing with bottles!
I've still not had a period and LO is over 7 months old!

 

[aliss]

To be honest, NOT choosing to breastfeed is something I never heard of until I registered here on BnB (no joke). The concept of a woman choosing formula aside from medical circumstances is something that is not done in my family. So for me, the question "why did you choose BF" is a weird one!

 

[jodimaire]

bf was impossible for me but i did express which was incredibly hard my baby was born 14 weeks to early and for a long time i couldnt hold her let alone do anything for her, in fact for the first 2 weeks she was not allowed any food at all because she was so ill, expressing was the only thing that i could do to feel like i was helping her in some way, it made me feel like i was her mum, it was very hard to do when i couldnt always be with her but i tryed my hardest and im glad i did, she is still a sick baby today with a very low immune system and on medications as well so i really want the bes for her which i beleive is breast