Why did you choose to BF/FF

[coccyx]

I had 4 sections and BF them all. Hard work at the start, but worth it. Would say I had mastitis with first baby, thought I felt off colour due to the section!, but do feel it was lack of guidance..' is baby feeding ok???? ' , think so ' I said . no one ever sat with with to see if things were ok. ( Yes, i know I should have spoken up!)
Think more support needed whether you BF or FF

 

[kirmal12]

I attempted to BF, LO was having none of it at the beginning as i had so many drugs during labour/emergency c section that he was so sleepy. We tried again when i got home and he just basically couldn't be bothered to suck. The midwife told me to give up, as it turns out he still is very lazy feeding. He also had to have formula straight after birth because i had diabetes and he needed his blood sugars up straight away.

To be honest I'm not that bothered anyway as he is so healthy, in fact he has had less colds and illnesses than the friends from baby club who all BF!!. Me and my 3 sisters were all FF and none of us have been ill, I've never even had the flu!!. The only childhood illness i had was chicken pox.

 

[Racheldigger]

Good grief, I never realised how lucky I was. As soon as I was able to hold my baby after the birth, the midwife latched her on for me - I was still on the delivery table, and the doctor had just tied the thread off after stitching me for an hour and a quarter, during which OH had been holding the baby, who had pooed on him. I couldn't do anything sensible with her at all: I was so shot away from the Entonox and the general pain and fear that it was as much as I could do to hold her steady and not drop her. The midwife positioned her, and she just latched on like a magnetic coupling and sucked like a four-inch sludge pump. I had a few problems in the first few days because my milk didn't come in till the fifth day, and the poor little mite was just suckling and suckling for hours: whatever she was getting, it seemed to satisfy her, but as soon as I put her down, she'd start crying. One time when she'd been suckling for five hours solid, right through the night, the midwives took her away and gave her a cup feed of formula so I could get some sleep and the blood blisters on my nipples could heal up a bit, but that was the only formula she's ever had: fortunately, my milk had come in by the time I left hospital, and we've had no real trouble since.

I've never liked my breasts either, but that seemed all the more reason to BF to me: I haven't dragged these useless lumps of flesh, that unbalance me, get in the way, need special support and attract no end of unwelcome attention, around with me for thirty years only not to use them when the time arrives at which they can actually do what they're supposed to be for.

 

[moomoo]

Chose to BF, never even occured to me to FF!! Fed him exclusively for two weeks despite having no milk (12 hour feeding sessions) pretty much contsantly feeding him. We were admitted into hospital because he'd lost a lot of weight, where they had told me my milk had not established (I was concerned this was the case as I had no ebgorgement ect, but I was constantly told it was normal and it was quite blatently not!!

Went onto a huge routine of pumping and topping up with formula..tired wasn't the word!! Managed that for a whole six months before dropping BF and giving more formula..I know it sounds awful but I was so intent on giving him the best that I don't think I bonded with him until i could relax more about feeding him...it was a mission but I'm glad I gave him the best start I could.

Alsoi think combi feeding should be more accepted by MW as maybe then people wouldn't stop BFing completely xx

 

[honey08]

i wnt bf my next tho aving said i wanted to bf morgan , i wud ff cos morgans done fantastic with everything and i wud keep the next the same milk etc

 

[JayDee]

I really wasn't keen on the idea of breastfeeding when I was pregnant, but decided I'd give it a go. Stuck with it because it worked for me/him. There have been times when I wished that I was FF instead because he was just feeding constantly and didn't seem to be happy however much I fed him but it was short lived.
Although I didn't think I would, I got really set on it and when DH suggested we gave him formula I wouldn't let him until he'd had all of his injections - didn't want him to try and get over those without the antibodies he'd been used to.

I'm going back to work soon so he's going to be switching to formula because I can't see myself pumping at work, or having time to do so. Formula will be easier all round as it's easier to sort if I'm not there.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Wanted to BF, not because there are 'benefits', because to me it's the default option, that's what you're meant to do. But Ruby couldn't latch on, never knew why, never got any decent help with it, so I expressed for as long as I could then switched to formula.

Ruby has done well but I don't think that's got anything to do with formula, I would certainly BF any future babies, and for as long as they wanted, too.

 

[MrsGlitz]

I didn't want to BF. For me it was about getting my body back and enjoying it as my own, I never really felt it was mine during pregnancy. Also my breasts were a huge part of our sex life and I thought it would be weird.

I had an emergency section after not having just 2 hours sleep for 1.5 days and very little sleep for the previous 3 days. When I was in recovery, Harry was places on my chest for skin to skin and he just made his own way to the breast and latched perfectly. Even though my milk didn't come in until day 5, no one was concerned as on discharge he only lost 6%, when weighed on day 5 it was clear he was getting something and by day 10 he was above birthweight.

I love BFing now. I love the fact that I am providing most of his nutrition and am responsible for the fact that Harry is putting on so well. We do give an occasional bottle of formula, when out or if Harry wakes up a hit too soon after I've had a glass of wine.

 

[harmonybunny]

I wanted to BF so much but my LO just couldn't latch on properly no matter how hard he tried so i opted to pump instead which i managed to keep up for 6 months. At times it was hard as i was stuck to the pump pretty much all day to the point of having to introduce formula for nigth feeds as i was knackered but i don't regret a thing. It was so important to me that he got my milk. I was unlucky when it come to latching but very lucky that i had a good enough supply to pump for as long as i did.
He is now on 3 meals a day and follow on milk

 

[teal]

I always intended to breastfeed. I never really thought about using formula.

I did find breastfeeding difficult in the early weeks and there were a lot of bumps but now I love it xx

I do agree there should definitely be more support

 

[jennie_78]

I was all set ready to BF, once LO was born her blood sugars were very low due to my diabetes. When i was in labour my blood sugars had gone low as well. Once she was born she was given formula, and had to be checked every 2 hours to make sure she was stabalizing.
I really wish id been able to BF but im glad i did FF as my LO is thriving now.
Id love to BF in the future, but i guess it will again be decided by how the baby is after birth.

 

[Jemma_x]

I chose to FF, im on meds and even though a it would have only been a tiny amount that connor would have got in my breastmilk i didnt want him having any. Im on such a high dose they make me feel ill so i didnt want to risk connor getting even the smallest amount

 

[Laura12355]

I BF'd for the first 2 weeks but wouldnt go out cos I didnt like the idea of doing it in public (not that i've got anything aganst women that do I'd just feel very self concious) and OH told me to express so we could go out and I managed to get 4oz and then knocked the bottle on the floor and cried for about 2 hours cos i was going to house bound forever. So thats when we decided to do mixed feeding but unfortunatly he wouldnt latch on to me as he was getting more milk and a faster flow from the bottle and seemed much mroe satisfied so hes been a cow and gate baby ever since. I do wish I could have got over my insecuroties but hes doing really well and all that matters to me is that my little fredster is happy and healthy.

 

[Aidan's Mummy]

Can I just say how lovely it is to see BF/ff in the same thread an no arguments have broken out
xx

 

[Feltzy]

I said before both of mine that I would try breastfeeding, but if it didn't work out for whatever reason I wouldn't let myself get stressed about it and would just use formula. With Evie she had a bottle in hospital and then wouldn't latch, so I switched to formula. If I'd have known then what I know now (after using this forum) I would have probably persevered but I had little if any support back then. This time round I didn't give Alfie a bottle in the early days and he has taken to bf really well!

 

[R8ch]

To be honest it never really occured to me to do anything other than BF. The vast majority of people I know who have babies BF, my mum BF me, it just seemed like the 'normal' thing to do to me. I had some trouble with LO latching at the start, but even then the thought of giving a bottle just never crossed my mind, I don't mean that in any kind of self righteous way, I mean it really never occured to me, and none of the midwives suggested it. I have since learned that I was very lucky, I had great support and I spent two nights at a birth centre when I left hospital where the staff were literally on call all night long and would spend hours and hours helping with BF, so although I didn't realise it at the time, I actually had a great experience which I am sure made a lot of difference with the inevitable problems in the early days. I thought everyonre got that level of support but reading on here I see that I was very very fortunate.

I could have written this post - exactly the same for me - even down to the birthing centre bit! I would add I also went through cracked, bleeding nipples, intense pain at every latch and I also have Reynauld's syndrome which was awful in the early weeks. But never did I once think to FF because I was perfectly able to BF.
Rx

 

[Mynx]

Can I just say how lovely it is to see BF/ff in the same thread an no arguments have broken out
xx

I was just thinking the same thing myself. BF/FF can be such a heated topic and it's so nice to see a thread that hasnt escalated into a BF vs FF argument! Cos at the end of the day, we all want the same thing for our babies. For them to be happy and healthy and above all, loved

Group hug

 

[Per16]

I chose to BF as I just knew it was the right thing for us, we had major issues in the beginning and I cried through a number of feeds the first 3 weeks due to mastitis, cracked, bleeding nipples, a nipple ulcer and she was in nicu for 3 days so expressed round the clock and tube fed her breast milk, my Midwives and nurses were amazing!! but then it just clicked, here we are 8 months later our baby is thriving on boobi juice and no formula in site but I totally belive that no matter how you feed your baby its the love that goes with it breat or bottle xxx

 

[jms895]

It just seemed so natural to BF and I so so wanted to do it all along. It was easy, the bonding and cuddling was great., Caine loved it. And I felt i was doing something amazing for him I cant wait to do it again. I bf Caine until he self weaned at 10 months

 

[Brockie]

most of my friends FF but i just knew i wanted to at least try BF with my first. It was really hard, bleeding nipples and he didnt have a very good latch which made the pain even worse, but i kept telling myself thats what our boobs were for and if they could do it in 3rd world countires then it must get better! and it did! when he was about 4 months i started giving him a bottle of formula at bedtime so i could leave him and go out if i fancied it and that worked great.

i fed him untill he was 9 months. i was already nearly 3 months pregnant again so stopped because i wanted a break before the next baby arrived!

i have just started giving Kitty a bottle at bedtime too as it worked so well with Fred x i didnt think too much about the benefits of BF as opposed to FF i just WANTED to BF thats all, i love doing it and love seeing new rolls of chub appear knowing im doing that x

i must add there were times 2nd time round at the start when i cried as i was constantly feeding her AND running around after a toddler but i kept telling myself it would get better and now she goes about 3 hours between feeds in the day and has slept through the last 3 nights, yay!!!!