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I'd like to keep this topic as a no judgement zone. I know people tend to feel strongly one way or the other but I hope we can all support and not judge here
When I got pregnant with my son I went back and forth on breast feeding the whole pregnancy. Some of the thoughts I had were: scared my breasts would forever change (no clue why I thought BFing would change them but pregnancy would not), that it would hurt, that I would not be able to do it, selfishly thought that so much would fall on my shoulders in the beginning and my husband would not be able to help with feeding much, and I had a lot more but these stuck out the most. I struggled with the idea of buying BFing items I would need and then if I failed I would need to buy all the FF items as well. It was just easier to go with the idea of FF. I was ok with the decision at the time.
Then my son was born. The two days in the hospital were a whirlwind and I went with FF. After being home for a few days I decided I really wanted to try BFing. Of course I knew nothing and I would try to get him to latch on and failed every time which made me feel horrible. I think it was a day or two after my boobs started to go down when the milk was leaving when I panicked and said I needed to BF now and I was insane for not doing it in the first place. I went to the pedi office and said help me. Brendan latched on INSTANTLY while were there and had help from the BF guru of the office. She said he was a natural. However I apparently had inverted nipples and would need shields. She said since my milk was already well into the process of going away (I forget if he was a week old or maybe 12 days?) I would struggle. I would not be able to just BF. She said I would need to pump a ton to try to get my production back but she felt I would need to supplement with formula while trying to get it back and she said he may just want formula by the time I was able to get it back (if at all). I cried and said I made this decision in the beginning and it was my fault...I would just stick it out with the formula. I felt guilty for so long after that.
I want to try with this baby. I need to do a lot of research but I am ready and really want to do it this time.
Anyways I was sharing my story and wanted to hear other thoughts as well. If you are a first time mom are you excited to BF? Do you want to BF? Are you scared of the idea like I was oddly enough? Do you think you will go straight to FF? BTDT moms what have you done with your kids?
100% breast feeding this time, no questions asked. I wanted to breast feed my son, I did for few weeks but I ended because i got blood clots and as soon as i was admitted to the hospital they told me the meds they have to start me on would be passed and i have to switch him no questions asked to formula, i was heart broken, but it was either my life or breast feeding.....
i do not care about the physical to my breasts, my sons health is more important. it scares me that the FDA does not regulate the formula, only tells the requirements of what needs to be in it....why it took soo long to get off the shelves when there was metal in it a few years ago....just scares me. I will put up with the bleeding chapped nipples and any hurt to make sure he/she is getting the nutrients needed. I will also pump too....
well please don't judge me for this but I ff both of my kids and they are both healthy. I have thought about maybe trying this time but I think ultimately this one will be ff too.
I'm sorry u had trouble breastfeeding ur first. With xanden it was easy. I was a stay at home mom for two hrs for him and breastfed for a out a yr and a half. I liked how it brought us close. I'm glad I did. With this bby ill likely be returning to work right afterwards. So maybe breastfeed exclusively for four weeks.. and then supplement for the first yr? I'm not sure. I don't really wanna pump at work. Seems that takes a lot of dedication!!! Maybe I could... well see! LOL.
well please don't judge me for this but I ff both of my kids and they are both healthy. I have thought about maybe trying this time but I think ultimately this one will be ff too.
I am hoping there is no judging in this thread!
I support any decision the parents make and yes I believe it should be the parents choice not just the moms My son was obviously just FF and he is perfectly healthy as well. He did have a lot of ear infections and needed tubes but that came as a result of starting daycare and catching some germs this winter. He had no colds, flus, or other issues between being born and starting daycare at 10.5 months. My best friends son was breastfed until 15 months and he was sick all.the.time and he is now 3...constantly gets cold still.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rjae84
I'm sorry u had trouble breastfeeding ur first. With xanden it was easy. I was a stay at home mom for two hrs for him and breastfed for a out a yr and a half. I liked how it brought us close. I'm glad I did. With this bby ill likely be returning to work right afterwards. So maybe breastfeed exclusively for four weeks.. and then supplement for the first yr? I'm not sure. I don't really wanna pump at work. Seems that takes a lot of dedication!!! Maybe I could... well see! LOL.
I stayed home with my son until 10.5 months when I decided it was time to return to work. With this baby I am unsure of what will happen. I am very fortunate to have the job I have in the sense that I can work from home as often as needed when my son or I are sick, have daycare issues and they are flexible with my hours. It is hard to find that! I think I will end up coming back at 3 months but I agree I dont want to pump at work...it will definitely be hard, I know they offer breaks when you are BFing though which is very helpful. We will see. I would love to BF for at least three months. I figure I should start with a small goal VS a big one and then see how it goes I am sure my mind will change 100x between now and then hah.
I bf'ed my first two children but only for a few weeks each. I struggled with it and gave up. I always had a low milk supply.
W/my daughter I was DETERMINED to push past it and keep going. I took classes and joined a support group. Again, I had a low supply. She was very jaundice and started losing weight b/c I wasn't providing enough. We had to supplement w/formula a little to get her to gain weight. My husband would finger feed her and I would breast feed as much as possible. I also took fenegreek to up my supply. Over time I finally started producing more and I wound up bf'ing her for 18 months. I was very proud of myself
We did supplement w/formula the entire time but if I remember correctly it was like we went through once small can every 2 weeks or so. It wasn't much and it was usually if I wasn't around for a feeding. I couldn't pump to save my life. I could pump for 30 mins (15 on each side) and literally get 1 oz between both breasts. I never had a breastmilk stash
I plan to breast feed this time too.
__________________
Jenny
Married to Michael - 3/8/02
Mommy to:
Jacob (10) Matthew (7) Paige (5) & Liliana (0)
My first two kids were FF (the oldest got pumped breastmilk for the first few months- he was premature and in the NICU for three months) and they turned out just fine. The rest of the crew was 100% breastfed (never had formula at all) and they are all even more fine. I haven't given this question another thought- I plan to exclusively breastfeed, although if/when I have to go back to work I will have to pump.
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~Jennifer, wife of one, mom of many
I've already come up with a plan. Granted i'm a first time mom, but it sounds right to me. You all can laugh at me if you want though since i REALLY don't know what i'm doing!
My PLAN is that i will strictly be bfing. My plan is that the baby will be using straight from the tap the first few weeks and then we'll introduce a bottle with BM. I will be going back to work after 8 weeks so my plan is to keep using the breast and pump.
Breast feeding for sure. I actually am really really looking forward to it again. I had to early wean due to pregnancy with both Matthew and Daniel. Hoping to be able to get to at least 18 months this time seeing as pregnancy won't be an issue.
I FF Jeremy, BF Amanda (13 months), BF Matthew (13 months) BF Daniel (15 months)
I don't have any negative feeling towards formula. Breast feeding isn't for everyone. I know a lot of girls who have had mommy guilt over not BFing and I feel bad for them. I have heard stories from friends being harrassed in the formula isle at the grocery store being told by strangers that they are harming their baby. (what?!?)
__________________ Bobbie mom to : Jeremy (22) Amanda (18) Matthew ( 4) and Daniel (2)step-mom to: Stephany (22) and Krista (19) step-grandma to: Wesley (2)
On 1/31/12 at exactly 16 weeks pregnant Noah came too soon. He was our 7th loss
If you would like to see pictures of my sweet (but tiny) boy they can be viewed at www.caringbridge.org/visit/noahdarrohn they aren't the easiest pictures to look at but I am willing to share them with anyone who would like to see them <3
I will be BF for sure. I BF my first DD until my supply completely dried up at 9 months due to starting the minipill. I BF my second DD until 25 months. I finally said no more in March of this year and my milk is STILL not completely dried up.
I LOVE breastfeeding. It creates a very strong bond when it's working for both the mom and the baby.
I will pump for 1 year while at work and bf exclusively at home.
I breastfed my son and still am. He refused to latch in the beginning and I had everyone telling me to give him formula. I refused. I did lots of crying and so did he. He lost a lb. in about 2 days because he wasn't nursing. Finally after about 4 days I ended up pumping and gave it to him in a medicine cup with a nipple (he wouldn't drink it from a bottle). Finally he started drinking it from a bottle so I continued to pump and would still try and nurse him. Eventually I had to stop trying to get him to latch and we ONLY did skin to skin contact and gave him a bottle at my breast at times. Once he got comfortable I started trying to get him to latch. Sometimes he would and other times he would scream. I believe he was about 3 or 4 months before we started nursing the entire day/night and didn't have to use any bottles. The LC was shocked at his progress. At about 4 or 6 months the pedi was concerned about weight gain again and suggest I go back to just feeding in a bottle or formula. Again, I didn't. I continued to do what I was doing. We both worked really hard and weren't giving up. He is small but the pedi did quit mentioning formula and bottles.
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I pray the Lord your soul to keep;
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I was fortunate that my son was a champion eater and latched right away, so much so that I had bleeding nipples for the first couple of weeks and it hurt and I wanted to quit, but I also didn't want to buy formula. I pumped when I went back to work at 2 months, and got a large stash built up. I was able to stop pumping when he was 10 months, and had enough frozen breastmilk to get to 14.5 months. He also nursed at night until 16 months.
I'm hoping this squishy feeds as well as Sean did and we can bf again.
and no judgement here, as long as the baby is fed properly, I don't think it's my place to judge.
I got super lucky; my DS was also a champion breastfeeder. Right from the start he had no problems and after about a week it didnt hurt when he latched on (thank you lansolin!) I had to return to work at 3 weeks but I worked the night shift so it was pretty easy to find a quiet place to pump. DS was able to switch from bottle to breast without any confusion and I produced milk like a dairy cow so I never had to supplement with formula. It wasnt until I heard breastfeeding stories from my friends that I realized how lucky i was. I plan to breastfeed with this little one too and I hope I have the same luck!
My first son I planned to bf but we got off to a bumpy start with him being a preemie with a bad latch, and using the nipple shields (no one told me to wean him off of those), recovering from my c-section.... And another big factor was i was interpretting my low pumping output as low supply.... When the reality is, im just not a good pumper! And then he turned out to be colicky which at the time I interpreted as him not getting enough milk. At around 6wks we went to formula. I was heartbroken. He is very healthy and smart and all of that.... But it still makes me sad that it didn't work out.... I should have been better prepared.
With my second, I bought this book during pregnancy The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding [Book] and read it cover to cover. It is an awesome book, I call it my bf-ing Bible. I also had the mindset, of i AM going to breastfeed. I refused or donated any formula samples and reminded myself that back in the day... Or even today in 3rd world countries their baby's life depends on bf-ing successfully. I was determined. Anyhow, bf-ing went perfectly.... we are still bf-ing he is 20months!
I have no judgement as to what parents choose. But I will say, having done both, I don't think FF is easier. I had that idea as a first time mom.... But I got much less sleep FFing!! And there is the $ issue! We ended up having to get a super expensive Kind after switching a thousand times (they are all expensive tho) but $25 a can! And then there is all of the washing and sterilizing, packing, mixing....
With my second, I bought this book during pregnancy The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding [Book] and read it cover to cover. It is an awesome book, I call it my bf-ing Bible.
I have no judgement as to what parents choose. But I will say, having done both, I don't think FF is easier. I had that idea as a first time mom.... But I got much less sleep FFing!! And there is the $ issue! We ended up having to get a super expensive Kind after switching a thousand times (they are all expensive tho) but $25 a can! And then there is all of the washing and sterilizing, packing, mixing....
I will have to check that book out Thanks for a recommendation! As far as FFing...it was easy for us. My son ate every 3 hours from the day he was born and he was a great night time sleeper too! It totally does gets expensive though. Washing and sterilizing was not a big deal for us either because we ran our dishwasher every night and just added the sterilize cycle at the end. I agree on the pain of packing up formula though At first we were buying the travel packs of formula which are so over priced. Then I used baggies, and finally realized there were such things are formula dispensers LOL!
I EBF my first two and will with this one as well. At first it was just about the money, but I found I really enjoyed BFing. Plus, I love knowing exactly what my baby is eating.
I think it is so silly that some moms give each other crap for choosing to BF or FF. FF moms are vilified and made to feel like they "failed" somehow. BF moms are told BF is gross and are made to feel like common flashers for feeding their babies. It's all so silly. As long as the baby is healthy and well fed, isn't that what matters?
I've breastfed all my kids, and will breastfeed this one as well. it was never a question for me. Boobs make milk for a reason, and formula is an expensive, nutritionally and immunologically inferior substitute. that's not judgement (honest!), just scientific fact. I was very fortunate that my first baby was a good bf experience. if my second child had been first, I would have quit and never thought about trying again. that was five months of hell, but I stuck it out because I had already proved to myself that I could do it successfully.
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Jenny
wife to Michael, mama to Zoe (10), Selene (7), Garvin (4), Gwen (2), and Thomas, born 13 Jan 13
I think it is so silly that some moms give each other crap for choosing to BF or FF. FF moms are vilified and made to feel like they "failed" somehow. BF moms are told BF is gross and are made to feel like common flashers for feeding their babies. It's all so silly. As long as the baby is healthy and well fed, isn't that what matters?
100% agree. I live in a city that promotes bike riding, organic foods and lots of other natural ways of life. Breastfeeding is everywhere with fewer moms formula feeding. I took a mommy and me course when my son was born. There were 10 of us and I was the only one FF. I would pull a bottle out sometimes and I swear they would stare at me. I always felt so self conscious because of it. One woman even asked me why I was FF with a very judgmental tone. What the ***...how about it is none of your business?
