Poll for those who FF

[3011busyyear]

Something has been bugging me. i go to a fair few baby groups and have noticed on peoples signatures on here and i would say 'most' people DO breastfeed, certainly for the first few months. This is fantastic obviously but i do wonder then why instead of gentle encouragement breastfeeding is promoted in such an aggressive (for lack of a better word) way.
I know in some more deprived areas there may be pockets of young mums who have never been surrounded by bf and may think there is something wrong with it, but i wanted to do a poll to see if this is more widespread or in actual fact most people who ff do so for other reasons. I desperately wanted to bf but after weeks of trying had to admit to myself it wasn't going to work, and although i agree bf should be encouraged i wonder if there is a element of harm being done to those who can't and already feel guilty and upset about feeding their LO.

 

[Windmills]

I'm a young mum and I FF but I certainly don't live in deprivation, nor have I ever. I didn't really want to BF I don't want to justify myself, but I'm happy to say that it's not from lack of education or poverty..

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

This is a huge can of worms, be warned...

I FF'd Ruby because she wouldn't latch.

 

[Siyren]

i'd agree about the guilt and all of the pressure.
i put medical reasons- my little girl has a heart condition, she was in special care for a while and tube fed until they knew more,
i was pumping every three hours as they said and my milk came in fine, but i never managed to produce enough to satisfy her- she wasnt gaining weight and in the end i had to admit defeat- still beat myself up about it now x

 

[special_kala]

River had bad tongue tie and couldnt latch on so i expressed but i felt that expressing every 2 hours and then feeding River was getting in the way of me and River bonding so we switched to FF.

We decided that was the best thing we could do for our family.

I will be BF this time but if it doesnt work out then so be it

 

[xSophieBx]

I breastfed for the first 2 weeks and so proud of myself for doing so as I was adamant breastfeeding wasn't for me during my pregnancy, but due to a traumatic birth, amazement at meeting my little princess I decided to try... she latched straight away, never had any problems with it.. I just physically couldnt cope anymore after 2 weeks cos she literally wanted to be on my boob all day and all night and I felt like I wasnt enjoying my baby as I couldnt just have a cuddle without her screaming. I also developed post natal depression.
9 months on, shes thriving on her formula milk, an excellent non fussy baby so it works for us and I'm totally happy with my decision x

ETA: I also don't think I had enough supply to satisfy her because she had to go special care for a few days & was topped up with formula

 

[Kelloggz187]

I've voted 'Other Reasons'.
Mia had a terrible latch - she used to prefer to suck her own tongue, or suck just the nipple (ouch!!!) which led to low supply, which led to her losing weight rather than gaining. So I expressed whatever I could and topped up with formula until I dried out.
Joseph was 96% tongue-tied, but this didn't seem to massively effect his feeding to be honest (he was just a little fussy on occasions), but after having his frenulum (sp?) 'snipped', he caught thrush and then flat out refused to BF. So again, I expressed and topped up until I dried out xx

 

[kawaiigirl]

I'm will admit that I have FF both of mine. My reason is just that I didn't want to bf, plain and simple. I never tried, I have just never liked the thought of it. I have never felt guilty or been made to feel guilty by anyone, even medical professionals. I really respect people who bf or even try to bf, but it's just not for me xx

 

[whoops]

I tried but it didn't work out for either of us.

Breastfeeding is a lot more common than I would have thought though - most of the mums at my mother and baby group breastfeed or tried to, and most of the women on my ward in the hospital tried to as well. Only one woman out of about ten (over a couple of days) went straight onto formula.

Maybe the 'aggressive' way it's being promoted is the cause of this - I don't think we've reached a point yet where breastfeeding is seen to be as 'popular' (for want of a better word) a choice as formula feeding. There's still a stigma, especially among those who don't have new babies in the family.

The ideal situation, IMO, would be everyone feeling free to make their own choice with no pressure from either side.

 

[summer rain]

I'm a BF mum though one of mine had to go onto formula due to medical problems, I do agree there is too much pressure to BF and it's pressure without any practical help behind it, so mums are told they should BF but when problems occur the help simply isn't available in most cases. I think the NHS should spend more on actual BF support as opposed to BF promotion.

 

[sapphire1]

I'm like you... Desperately wanted to BF but couldn't as LO wouldn't latch. Had loads of help and saw a lactation consultant, but nobody could get the little monkey to latch (even with shields she managed a few seconds before showing complete disinterest). I expressed for 6 weeks and nearly gave myself PND before I caved in to FF. I agree, I did find the slightly agressive promotion of BF upsetting for a while, and always felt the need to justify myself. In fact I often told BF mums our story so they could see that I really did try my hardest and wouldn't think badly of me. Eventually I realised that most people don't really care how I feed my LO, and I feel happy that I did all I could. Unfortunately there is a tiny minority of BF mums who found it came naturally, and think that those who 'fail' didn't try hard enough. (I am embroiled in one of these arguments on another forum lol, geez the crap that spouts out of some people's mouths!)

 

[Gemz01]

I must say I have never seen breastfeeding promoted, not even when I was pregnant. I chose to breastfeed cos' I wanted that experience, not cos' it was overly force/conditioned on me.

The reason I have the badges in my signature is because I am proud of myself for getting so far cos' its been a constant battle to do so. I don't formula feed but I will be soon and happy to do so.

I think its a personal choice and doesn't depend on area, money but down to personal choice.

Just my two cents.

 

[Ju_bubbs]

My LO was wasn't being satisfied by my breast milk.. after spending 21 nights solid sat up feeding her, then taking a break to get my other 3 off to school before spending the enitre day sitting feeding her.. I finally gave in and bought some formula for her at 5 weeks, she guzzled a whole bottle in about 2 minutes and she's been a different baby ever since!

Same happened with all my other 3 also, apart from my eldest. I gave birth to him the day before my GCSE's started so I BF him at night while my mum looked after him and FF him while I was at school, but because of this my milk just didn't come in and after a couple of weeks I FF at night also.

I do feel guilty about it, and TBH bevause of all the hype over BF and I try my best to avoid having to feed her in public as I feel people would judge me for FF.. I doubt many would, but I just get paranoid!

 

[binxyboo]

I really wanted to BF. I tried really hard but found the lack of support shocking. I went to the breast feeding clinic while I was in hospital, but it was only open from 10am - 1pm. Daniel didn't want to wake for a feed between those times, so the BF support worker told me that she was sure I would be alright and left it at that.
We were discharged home and I tried to BF but Daniel wasn't really that interested. At 2 days old, Daniel was readmitted into hospital with 'failure to thrive'. He had gone from 7lb 6oz at birth to 6lb 8oz at 2 days old!.
We were originally admitted into the Transitional Care unit to establish breast feeding, but while there, routine bloods showed that he had an infection of unknown origin. He ended up having IV antibiotics for 48 hours.
Unfortunatly, the infection (and antibiotics) had caused him to lose weight and have no appetite. After 5 days of being in hospital, Daniel had put on enough weight for us to be allowed home. Sadly, he never took to BF, so I exclusively expressed for the first 6 weeks of his life as I really wanted him to have breast milk. Exclusive expressing took its toll on me both physically and emotionally, so I reluctantly made the switch to FF at 6 weeks.
We still have issues with his weight. He is only on the 2nd percentile.
I also feel sadness and regret at not BF. It is a very touchy subject for me and I still cry about it now - 9 months later!

 

[ttc_lolly]

This thread is a can of worms!! I just hope it doesn't go down the route that similar/exact same threads have...!!

I've voted on the poll... won't go into why, on here though! x

 

[summer rain]

That's the reason I have the badge also, I've had various problems BF with all of mine and it has been a struggle to keep going. I do wonder if my LO didn't have severe allergies which mean I cannot just go out and buy formula whether I would have had him on formula now, but things are going well now he is well, happy and content and that's what's most important.

 

[Kimmer]

I tired. I didn't get to hold Skye until she was about 90 minutes old, we didn't have skin to skin.

I tried to BF her, but she couldn't latch. We tried every two hours, day and night for the 3 days I was in hospital. I tried every day after that. We were in hospital when she was 6 days old, they tried to get her on, still wouldn't. I was expressing all of this time.

Skye was getting very ill, screaming all the time. As I was only expressing, my supply was disappearing quite quickly. I was expressing every two hours, day and night. In the end, after 6 weeks, I was getting about 2oz a day. Skye was diagnosed with being lactose intolerant and something in my diet (as well as the formula I had to top her up with) was making it worse. Because my supply had basically gone and the small amount of milk I had was making her ill, I had to make the decision to give up. She had to be moved onto Soya milk.

I was and still am heart broken. The decision was basically taken away from me. I never wanted to go near formula. I still think about BF every day and I still hate myself for not being able to

 

[aliss]

Medical reasons. My LO could not be on the breast due to a birth injury. I expressed but pumping never produced enough milk for him. I did not know how to pump properly at the time, had no support for that, so my milk dried up as I was doing it incorrectly. I attempted to relactate but it failed. I regret it deeply even though the initial problem was not my fault nor was it his fault either.

Where I live, BF is the norm. In my family, BF is the norm. I don`t have any female family member who did not BF. They understand what happened but they do pity me too.

 

[happigail]

I need to keep this brief or I'll cry! I ticked medical. I lost a lot of blood and didn't produce milk, I was milked for a week by midwives and I had kitty latched pretty much constantly and never produced milk. When I was told to stop as kitty was losing to much weight I was and still am devestated.

 

[x__Hannah__x]

I put Medical reasons because Amelia couldn't latch properly and when she did she was hardly getting any milk which made her have really low blood sugar so the MW advised me to FF. I feel so guilty and upsets me whenever I talk about it