Friendly thread -Why did you choose to FF?

[Thumper]

As the title says really.
I EBF, I love it. Everything about it. We all know the benefits to baby, mother etc blah blah blah but also it's so damn convenient! I just don't understand why anyone would choose to FF

So I want to try and understand as I really can't think of one reason why you would

this has come out all wrong! I sound like I'm having a go, I'm not! I just want to understand

Please- keep this friendly
Only comment if you've chosen to FF please, I don't want this to turn into a debate I just want to see both sides to this old debate.

 

[feisty_filly]

With my ds I ff because it was easier (i know that sounds so selfish). Ryan was a realy lazy feeder and I struggled to feed with the help of the.midwife in hospital so just decided to ff.
With dd she was a natural feeder and latched straight away, after a emergency c section I bf for the 3 days I had to.stay in hospital but ff at home as I just couldnt sit for an hour and bf while I my toddler ran arround, I need to be.able to chase after him if he gets into mischief lol.

 

[isabelsmummy]

I tried bf with dd and it just wouldn't work I spent the first week of her life constantly crying and worrying as she wasn't eating and I really struggled to bond I had no choice bur to ff for the sanity of both of us, with ds I decided I wasn't going to go through that againa nd as my dd has thrived from ff I thought it was for the best and I don't regeret it too much. I wish my experience the first time around hadn't put me off but it really did x

 

[Hayley90]

I ff for many reasons.

1) i had never heard a successful BF 'story' before this forum. I didnt know of support. To me, it was (and still kinda is) alien and hidden. taboo?

2) i am far too shy to BF in public, and despise thought of feeding in a toilet.

3) i returned to work part time from 6 weeks, and full time from 11. By the time it was established, i would have left him for FT work... didnt want ALL of my spare time with him (should be spent having fun/playing/going out) pumping.,

it was easier for me. and my Oh wanted to help, and although people say 'ohhh but they can help in other ways!!!' - nothing is more helpful than him feeding H at 3am so i can sleep. or feeding him at 5pm so i can have a bath, without the dreaded pumping beforehand.

it just worked. and H was fine, healthy, gained weight, we never really even had colic trouble. I would do it again definately. and its not as 'fussy and difficult' as people suggest. takes 10 seconds to mix a bottle, seriously. i just feel that its more socially accepted, and whilst thats probably wrong, it is. i guess i never had the mental urge or determination to do it.

saying all of that, i tried once in hospital out of curiosity more than anything, and he just screamed and screamed and screamed, it hurt whatever he did and he was still hungry. id rather give him a bottle that wait days to 'establish' a latch or whatever. x

 

[feisty_filly]

I ff for many reasons.

1) i had never heard a successful BF 'story' before this forum. I didnt know of support. To me, it was (and still kinda is) alien and hidden. taboo?

2) i am far too shy to BF in public, and despise thought of feeding in a toilet.

3) i returned to work part time from 6 weeks, and full time from 11. By the time it was established, i would have left him for FT work... didnt want ALL of my spare time with him (should be spent having fun/playing/going out) pumping.,

it was easier for me. and my Oh wanted to help, and although people say 'ohhh but they can help in other ways!!!' - nothing is more helpful than him feeding H at 3am so i can sleep. or feeding him at 5pm so i can have a bath, without the dreaded pumping beforehand.

it just worked. and H was fine, healthy, gained weight, we never really even had colic trouble. I would do it again definately. and its not as 'fussy and difficult' as people suggest. takes 10 seconds to mix a bottle, seriously. i just feel that its more socially accepted, and whilst thats probably wrong, it is. i guess i never had the mental urge or determination to do it.

saying all of that, i tried once in hospital out of curiosity more than anything, and he just screamed and screamed and screamed, it hurt whatever he did and he was still hungry. id rather give him a bottle that wait days to 'establish' a latch or whatever. x

Agree with all of this but especialy about oh helping!

 

[Thumper]

it was easier for me. and my Oh wanted to help, and although people say 'ohhh but they can help in other ways!!!' - nothing is more helpful than him feeding H at 3am so i can sleep. or feeding him at 5pm so i can have a bath, without the dreaded pumping beforehand.

This I can understand!

 

[Kians_Mummy]

I choose to FF while pregnant because I felt uncomfortable with BF but when LO was born I REALLY wanted to BF. Tried for 48 hours to get him to latch on etc. He did only onces for about 10 minutes. When I was at home I didn't have an expressor so I ended up FF because I didn't want him to strav. Well when he was about 3 days old he was in the bath with me, cuddled into my chest and he latched. He was combined feed for a good 4 months but then he stopped latching on etc. (majority of the time it was breast milk he got either by latching on or expressing). In the end it was FF from 4.5 month.

Sometimes FF isn't choosen by choice, sometimes it is chosen as it is what is best for both mother and baby

 

[nugget80]

dd1 was born at 31 weeks, i expressed for her but we struggled to breast feed, she took bottles really well and it was a case of perservering with bf while she stayed in hospital or bottle feeding and she could come home sooner! i did express for a couple of months before changing to ff completely! with dd2 again i tried bf but on our first night in hosp i could not get her to feed and she was very upset so i asked midwives for a bottle of formula and was given one. again i expressed for a few weeks for her. ds i managed to bf for the first 24 hours but once i got home i struggled as there was so much going on and i did not have time to sit for hours feeding. i expressed for first 4 weeks and also used formula. i figured it was more important for me to be happy and stress free than to continue trying to bf, also i needed to get back on meds. if we have another baby i imagine i would try bf again and would express again but will not worry when i have to give formula, my 2 girls are perfect and ds is doing well on the formula. a happy mum means a happy baby however you choose to feed them!

 

[Thumper]

Sometimes FF isn't choosen by choice, sometimes it is chosen as it is what is best for both mother and baby

I totally appreciate this point, and I'm not judging anyone for their actions. Like I said I'm just curious really as to why some Mums choose FF from the off.

 

[Lellow]

We had latching problems, bla bla bla...But Aymen got the colostrom and i expressed for a week until his weight plummeted and i pulled my finger out my ass and put my pride to one side and bought some Aptamil.

I chose to give up expressing and trying to BF cos i could see my already low birthweight baby getting weaker and weaker and it needed to stop.
I FF'd cos i needed to see my son grow no matter how much it knocked my ego to give up.

So ye....thats me!

 

[binxyboo]

Daniel refused to latch. There was no medical reason for it. He just point blank refused to latch. We tried everything. I even had to remain in hospital for a week after having him to try and establish breast feeding.
In order to get home, I decided to express and bottle feed him with EBM.
I exclusivly expressed for his first 4 or 5 weeks of life, but I reluctantly decided to go to Formula for my mental health and to help establish bonding.

I was expressing pretty much every 3 - 4 hours in those first few weeks. Visitors would come round, and I would have to disappear into the bedroom to attach myself to a pump. I HATED pumping in front of DH.
Breast feedng is a beautiful, natural thing to do - I felt like a bloody dairy cow attached to that sodding pump. I started to resent DS for not latching and making me feel so unattractive and mechanical.
I was proud that I had given him breast milk for his first month of life, but I actually started to bond with with my son when I made the switch to formula.

I will try and BF my next child, and if I can't I will express for the first month again, because I feel breast milk is important, but I won't tear myself to pieces about it and will switch to formula after a month again to stop myself spiralling into depression.

 

[iHeartbaby#1]

Awww... i hate admitting this but i honestly just failed. Miserably! I ended up quitting at 6 weeks.

I was just in too much pain. My nipples were so sore and cracked that they were bleeding. Everytime my LO latched i had to bite down on something to keep from screaming out in pain and scaring him Sometimes i would be in tears throughout the entire nurse and i spent my time completely dreading when he would be hungry again. Everyone said "oh it must be his latch" but i saw 3 different lactation consultants and they all said that his latch was perfect! I guess i just have extra sensitive nipples and they wouldn't heal?

I tried combi-feeding for awhile but my milk production kept slowing down so i finally just switched to formula. Yes, i felt guilty at first but it ended up being the right choice for us!

 

[Thumper]

Lellow- when did Aymen get that old????!!

 

[Lellow]

Lellow- when did Aymen get that old????!!

I know, hes a toddler now who walks and throws his shoes in the toilet and rips aerials out of TV's and sprinkles wotsits in the bathtub.

Hes great....You've all this to come soon

 

[vaniilla]

lots of reasons, lo had feeding problems for over a month, getting anything over 1oz was a nightmare that would take over an hour, we stayed 3 nights in hospital because of it and their solution was he'll start wanting to feed soon

I expressed until he was 2 months then an infection which wasn't treated properly spread to my kidneys and became severe so I had to go on strong meds which meant I couldn't express any longer

 

[shimmy]

I combi feed, from 10ish weeks can't really remember. I ff because for me, it was easier those 1 or two bottles a day just saved my sanity. I also do not like feeding outside and would have never of gone out. It was really really hard outside. My lo did not like being private lol . Now we are in the process of switching all together as I just can't take any more Booby bites and hopefully he will sttn like he does when my nan or mum have him. I can't be arsed to pump lol

 

[heather91]

I chose to FF DD, noone in my family had breastfed so i had noone toask for advice when i struggled with BF. Im EBF this time and its come so much more naturally. Im a confident mother now and its made the world of difference x

 

[nicole_]

i just didnt want to, plain and simple. i know BF is the most natural thing to do, but for me it felt like the most unatural thing in the world having a baby hanging off my boob?
i collapsed after LO was born so dont think id have done it if i wanted to

 

[mummytori]

i was dead set on BF, for all the benefits you listed, but after 4 weeks i was on a huge dose of antibiotics to fight off mastitis and an infection in my c section wound, and the drugs were coming thru my milk to teddy and making him REALLY grizzly - so thats when i swapped to FF.
not to mention my nips hurt sooooo much i thought they would fall off!!

honestly i would try BF again next time, i think it was just circumstances that stopped me, but i would admit im a lot happier FFing teddy that i was BFing, and the fact that OH can help is brill, and nicer for him too i think

also - i've got such whopping big boobs, that NIP discretely was impossible for me!!

 

[jakemybaby]

With my son, I was so determined to bf, he latched well and all was good for a few days, until he woke up from his new born slumber and got really hungry! I think around day 4 he was on my breasts constantly, only stopping to scream as he was obviously not getting enough milk. This continued for 24hrs or so, until my husband said "enough is enough" (we were both crying by this point) and went to the 24hr telcos and bought some formula. I'll never forget how contented he was after his first bottle and as happy as I was that he was fulfilled, I felt a complete failure and still tried to bf him. My nipples at this point were sooo sore, and Jake would throw up after each feed, and in his vomit would be my blood. I gave up after about a further week of this.

This time round with Alice, I had exactly the same issues. I thought it might happen so went out and bought a good quality pump, thinking expressing might help. Alas, even when my milk did come in, the most I could ever express was a tiny 1oz. This brought it home to me that I just wasn't producing enough milk to satisfy her and I couldn't go through all that pain again... In the hope that the more she sucked, the more milk I would produce... I just kept thinking back to the awful time I'd had with Jake trying to make it work, so after about a week of combo feeding, I choose to formula feed.

I don't feel as guilty this time round. My son is a happy healthy 4 year old and Alice appears to be doing well also so I am not going to beat myself up about it.