Friendly thread -Why did you choose to FF?

[patch2006uk]

It did go a little mad, and I'm sorry for my part in it. I stand by my posts though! It is still interesting that most people only chose to FF after encountering difficulties BFing, and not many didn't even try to latch LO on once. Interesting reads, and some really sad stories. all round!

I apologise for jumping on you Patch. I too stand by what i wrote but it wasn't personal and I hope I didn't offend you.

It's cool, we're all grown ups here (I think)

 

[Kage76]

god i wish i had a "choice". That's the one thing about breastfeeding that i thought I would have- the ability to choose BF or FF. We had a rough start and because Sophie was always such a hungry baby a whole heap of circumstances meant that she preferred the bottle - would not really latch. I tried to combi feed- but my god getting those pitiful 20-30 mls out would kill me, My time was spent trying to bf, then ff and then trying to express- all i was doing was feeding. I did my best- i gave her all the breast milk i could and in the end we exclusively FF. Would I prefer to BF? - probably- there are times where she has been really hungry out and about where it would have been easier to have food on tap, washing bottles is not fun and by god i could do without the expense of formula- but hey i have a baby who is gaining weight, sleeping well and a mum who isn't tearing herself up inside about breastfeeding. win win in my books

 

[Mooshie]

It did go a little mad, and I'm sorry for my part in it. I stand by my posts though! It is still interesting that most people only chose to FF after encountering difficulties BFing, and not many didn't even try to latch LO on once. Interesting reads, and some really sad stories. all round!

I apologise for jumping on you Patch. I too stand by what i wrote but it wasn't personal and I hope I didn't offend you.

It's cool, we're all grown ups here (I think)

I'd like to think so!

 

[MissMummy2Be]

Im FF as my sister had a baby about 9 months before me and she BF to start with but then her son choked on the BM and almost died he was only 8 days old he go rushed to hospital and is ok now but it was very scary for all of us and as i was already pregnant and knew i was when this happend i got very freaked out about it and decided to FF as i didnt want to get stressed out when BF and stress out my baby however looking back now i kind of wish i had tryed it i do not regret my choice at all and will be trying to BF #2 when we have Him/Her but that wont be for prob 2 years.

 

[MissLucy]

My situation is a bit like Kage76.

I wish that I could BF. I went all through pregnancy expecting that I would be able to and that there would be no difficulties with it. I stupidly went in with the opinion that as I have boobs I'd be able to BF !

Anyway Isabella lost too much weight at first. I was BFing at every opportunity and this soon led to her feeding from 10.00am until 11.00pm- constantly, we're literally talking 20 minutes one side, swap, 20 minutes the other side, swap, 20 minutes one side, swap...(you get the idea) She was latching on fine, I'd had it checked by about 5-6 people. We started topping up so that she would actually go to sleep, as she wasn't sleeping during the day at all. By 5 weeks old she had not yet got back to her birth weight. I remember meeting up with a friend, her LB is two days younger than Izzy...he looked great, chunky, healthy. He would have 20 minutes each side and then sleep for two hours. Izzy looked pale, had shadows under her eyes and she looked skinny and ill. That was enough for me, after going home I cried for hours as I went on to a forum and spoke to some other people about how they feel about FF.

One person on there basically said that it wasn't working, Izzy was not feeding well, she was constantly crying and that it might be worth trying 2 feeds of formula and see how it went.

Izzy wasn't sleeping during the day while BFing, after that first bottle of formula she slept for three hours. Then had another feed and smiled. She smiled a real smile for the first time, now I know that this may have happened while I was BFing but in reality she was never off of my boobs so it seems unlikely!!!

I felt horribly guilty at first like I was failing, but I'm fine about it now. At the end of the day I tried, I tried really hard but I think that there was an issue with my supply, I never had hard boobs a few days after birth, no leaking, if I gave her formula instead of BFing I didn't get sore boobs, I could go 6-8 hours without BFing her and still not be leaking or be sore. Iz is now healthy, she sleeps during the day, sleeps brilliantly at night and more importantly I don't resent her for being hungry, if she wants to be on me all day now it's not attached to my boobs but looking at me, smiling at me and listening to me singing or talking to her.

I will try BFing the next baby we have but I will know that it doesn't matter if I need to switch to FFing again because I will be able to look at my daughter and see a healthy baby.

(Sorry for the epic post!)

 

[Frooty]

I breastfed for 6 weeks but didnt really enjoy it as much as i thought i would n lo wasnt having a fun time either, so i chose to ff n we are both much happier n anyone can feed him if i want to have me time im not selfish i love my son but every mother needs me time .

 

[chippysgirl23]

kimmy i'm with you on this one... too bad I wasnt here earlier...... the nerve

 

[Chelsea.ann1]

I planned to breastfeed through my whole pregnancy there was no questioning that. However VERY quickly after her birth I realized it was not for me... I'm such a shy person I would never be able to feed her in front of anyone or out anywhere.. that's not practical.. She also has a very difficult time latching..
I just kind of discovered I STRONG dislike it... for whatever reasons is beside the point.. it took alot away fromm the first few days with my little one.. instead of relaxing and enjoying her we were both stressed out and frustrated..
I pumped all my colostrum for her so she at least got that.. than i started with formula.. way way way better option for me.. she was still getting a few bottles of breastmilk...

through all of that she was very gassy very crampy very fussy..
so i switched her formula to a sensitive form and she did absolutely wonderful.. such a happy baby... it was than that i discovered she has an intolerance or allergy to not only the original formula but also to something in my breastmilk...

I tried a few breastmilk bottles and each time she'd throw it all up... get bad gas, cramp... and cry.. poor thing...

I realize i could change my diet...
but the way i see it for me and her formula feeding has many many more pros than breastfeeding..

And she's extremely healthy her dr is VERY impressed. She's gaining a great amt. of weight and thriving on this formula.

 

[HellBunny]

Because i was uneducated and i listened to my family too much (not o/h btw he is extremely supportive!) They told me Bf is (i won't say everything on here its truly awful what they think and say) Also i wanted o/h to be involved with feeding etc.
I was thinking of Bfeeding midway through but then i found out i had GD and there was a chance J would be born very poorly due to the fact i'd had it all throughout my pregnancy but nobody thought to mention it throughout (and also got my GTT result wrong!!!) so my mind went off feeding and i just wanted him out alive.

This time i am getting as much info as possible (including asking mummies on here) and hopefully this time i will be very prepared.

 

[lizi]

my LO couldnt BF and i couldnt feed her my milk cuz i had very strong tablets due to Pre-E

No baby in our family has BF due to facial deformities (not visible only effects suck!) i could have pumped but dr's said it would keep my BP elevated.

I am really happy though with this - we are an evelotionary cul-de-sac and if it wasnt for FF our family wouldnt have survived LOL! xx

 

[Eve]

^^ I didn't know that about the BP. I am lucky and mine wasn't super high or anything but I did need meds. It went down right after delivery, just like last time which I was very thankful for.

 

[Karlie06]

I chose to ff as I had previously breastfed but I never felt comfortable with it and am much happier as is my little one who is thriving. Everyone has their own preference and shouldn't be made to feel bad

 

[lizi]

^^ I didn't know that about the BP. I am lucky and mine wasn't super high or anything but I did need meds. It went down right after delivery, just like last time which I was very thankful for.

Pre - E BP peaks day 5 PP as thats the day your milk comes in. that was the day i had to be sedated... my bottom number hit 130 LOL mine is STILL high - can only imagine what it would have bin like if i'd carry on probably why back in the day you would hear of women dying a few months after childbirth.. that and many other thing I should imagine!

we are so lucky to have clean water and other ways of sustaining little babies for when BF fails ie formula . My g-g-Nan had 12 but only 4 survived as there werent other options for feeding babies then and due to our facial problem the babies couldnt suck. x

 

[Frooty]

Why is there such controversy between ff and bf? :s

 

[Eve]

^^ I didn't know that about the BP. I am lucky and mine wasn't super high or anything but I did need meds. It went down right after delivery, just like last time which I was very thankful for.

Pre - E BP peaks day 5 PP as thats the day your milk comes in. that was the day i had to be sedated... my bottom number hit 130 LOL mine is STILL high - can only imagine what it would have bin like if i'd carry on probably why back in the day you would hear of women dying a few months after childbirth.. that and many other thing I should imagine!

we are so lucky to have clean water and other ways of sustaining little babies for when BF fails ie formula . My g-g-Nan had 12 but only 4 survived as there werent other options for feeding babies then and due to our facial problem the babies couldnt suck. x

Wow... that is scary!

It would be so heartbreaking to have a baby and have no means to properly feed them My heart breaks for your GG-Nan.

 

[sequeena]

I breastfed for 2 weeks but Thomas wouldn't latch properly so I topped up with formula. He was in hospital at 2 weeks old with a blood infection and because he was so ill I didn't want to fight with him to latch him on so FF him. By the time we left hospital I'd dried up (did pump at hospital but didn't get even an ounce out).

 

[Eve]

I can still get some milk out.. like some as in a few mls but I stopped nursing 8 months ago lol I often wonder if that is normal.

 

[babycrazy1706]

I plan to ff so that we can share parenting 50/50 and so daddy can also bond with baby as much as i do. Also i think its more convenient as i would feel conscious whippin my boobs out in public. Also i wouldnt like not knowing how much baby has had to drink-its impractical. Im glad theres a forum on b'n'b just for ff and that's not mixed with breastfeeders who try n tell us were wrong n breast is best blah blah blah

 

[Gbobs]

Why is there such controversy between ff and bf? :s

It's only ever on forums I see such debates and arguments about BF vs FF and it seems to be the one single parenting choice that does invite such contraversy! Why I don't know either as there are choices to make in all areas where one choice is seen as more ideal/natural (trying to find a word that fits with what I'm trying to say is hard) than another.

In real life I never encountered anything like it at all. Not one single person ever put any pressure on me to BF but I did feel the pressure to...from where exactly, I'm not sure. It was a hard decision for me as BF'ing was an alien concept and I didn't know anything about it before becoming pregnant. I admit I never felt comfortable with the thought of it as I'm quite self conscious about my body I guess. However I gave in to this "pressure" I was feeling and decided to try BF as something I should do rather than because I wanted to. I think because I wasn't mentally happy about it, was the main reason I hated it and although I don't regret trying it, I guess I wish I hadn't felt so pressurised and therefore in turn so guilty when I switched to FF.

 

[Frooty]

I breastfed thinking i would bond better with my baby but it wasn't the case i've bonded better with him when i switched to formula as the pressure was taken off me n he was much happier n not so skinny x