brestfeeding versus bottles

Dani- you had an illness which prevented you breastfeeding so you have NOTHING to feel bad about! Never forgot that.

I am a breastfeeding adovate. When I had supply issue and latching problems I spent $1K for professional help, a hospital grade pump rental and then my own Pump In Style Advanced. I pumped 8x a day, then after a few months I was able to pump only 7x and so on and so one until just two weeks ago I pumped for the very last time. Molly has gotten breastmilk for the first year of her life. I missed out on the bonding of breastfeeding and I will forever cherish the few times that she did latch. It was like nothing I ever imaged. My heart still hurts when I think that I was unable to experience that throughout her entire first year.

I will say this much I learned- for 3 weeks Molly was on formula supplements while I was getting my supply corrected. She was gassy, spit up a few times. Once on breastmilk only she never had those issues again. I have read that women have to go from formula to formula trying to find the 'right' one. I think breastmilk is the right one and if I ever have another child I plan to get to the lacation consultant before he/she is born and begin my plan early so that I don't have to miss out on such a truly beautiful experience again.

Now, breastfeeding does not work out for everyone. Often, I think, it is lack of support and education- NOT real medical reasons that it doesn't work out. Without my husband's full support I would not have been able to pump like I did. He also agreed that the money we spent on the LC was worth every penny. I have known other women who tell me that they want to breastfeed, but not spend money to make it work. Well, formula is not free so IMO you spend the money anyway...just giving it to a big corporation instead of a private LC. One girl told me that a friend told her that maybe she is making 'water'- which is physically impossible to have water come out of your breast. Again, education is key. Also, having a Ped that is fully supportive and does not jump to 'supplement' at the first sign of a problem. Get the mother/baby over a professional LC...they are the experts and they can help you...but you need to be willing to take the help.

It is a personal decision and one that I think should not be forced on women. But I will say to all of you who don't think that you would be comfortable with it....something changes when you are feeding your baby from your breast. It is magical and I hope you will give it a chance before deciding that you don't like it.

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Posted by michele31

Dani- you had an illness which prevented you breastfeeding so you have NOTHING to feel bad about! Never forgot that.

I am a breastfeeding adovate. When I had supply issue and latching problems I spent $1K for professional help, a hospital grade pump rental and then my own Pump In Style Advanced. I pumped 8x a day, then after a few months I was able to pump only 7x and so on and so one until just two weeks ago I pumped for the very last time. Molly has gotten breastmilk for the first year of her life. I missed out on the bonding of breastfeeding and I will forever cherish the few times that she did latch. It was like nothing I ever imaged. My heart still hurts when I think that I was unable to experience that throughout her entire first year.

I will say this much I learned- for 3 weeks Molly was on formula supplements while I was getting my supply corrected. She was gassy, spit up a few times. Once on breastmilk only she never had those issues again. I have read that women have to go from formula to formula trying to find the 'right' one. I think breastmilk is the right one and if I ever have another child I plan to get to the lacation consultant before he/she is born and begin my plan early so that I don't have to miss out on such a truly beautiful experience again.

Now, breastfeeding does not work out for everyone. Often, I think, it is lack of support and education- NOT real medical reasons that it doesn't work out. Without my husband's full support I would not have been able to pump like I did. He also agreed that the money we spent on the LC was worth every penny. I have known other women who tell me that they want to breastfeed, but not spend money to make it work. Well, formula is not free so IMO you spend the money anyway...just giving it to a big corporation instead of a private LC. One girl told me that a friend told her that maybe she is making 'water'- which is physically impossible to have water come out of your breast. Again, education is key. Also, having a Ped that is fully supportive and does not jump to 'supplement' at the first sign of a problem. Get the mother/baby over a professional LC...they are the experts and they can help you...but you need to be willing to take the help.

It is a personal decision and one that I think should not be forced on women. But I will say to all of you who don't think that you would be comfortable with it....something changes when you are feeding your baby from your breast. It is magical and I hope you will give it a chance before deciding that you don't like it.

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That was really nice to read. Glad everything worked out for you.

One HUGE hurdle IMO is family saying 'how do you know how much the baby is getting'....again, education is key here. There are easy ways to ensure your child is getting enough to eat while breastfeeding.
Also you will hear 'the baby will sleep better on formula'...again, this is a total MYTH. Breastmilk is fully digested. Formula is not. Therefore breastmilk babies tend to eat more often but I have known babies who sleep well on breastmilk and babies who don't sleep well on formula. Again, making sure your family has the proper information is key.

Having the phone number of an LC with you at the hospital can be a huge help. I wish I had that when I ran into trouble. The hospital LCs are often NOT the same as the private LCs. I believe if my private LC had helped me from day 2 when the trouble started I would have never had to pump like I did.

A Nursing Mother's Companion Guide is a must read IMO!

I have had this debate with my girlfriends many times. Of my 2 closest girlfriends, one breastfeeds, the other does not. All I hear from the one that does is that it is so difficult. whenever I talk to her she says how she was up every 2 hours feeding, DH could not help, her nipples were so scaby, can't have any alcohol and apparently after a trip to chilli's the other night can't have any Mexican either as whatever she ate gave the baby gas pains ALL NIGHT LONG. And she always has to find a 'quiet place' to do it. She did it for her 1st child and said after 2 weeks of bad sleeping nights and baby not taking to it, she would have given up. But she is hell bent on doing for #2 what she did for #1, no matter how much work.
Other friend, bottle feeding her 1st. Life is wonderful. She and DH takes turns getting up to feed him. MIL and SIL can pitch in. She can leave the house whenever, not being prisoner to the feeding time. She can enjoy her glass of wine and her chillis.
I was not breastfed and I consider myself pretty healthy :)
but yes, its a personal choice - I told my friends never to persuade me either way. I'm just going on their stories - wonder which way I'm leaning when its my turn :)

Thank you Michele.
Yes, I did try breastfeeding, and it was a goal of mine throughout my entire pregnancy,but I was hospitalized on an emergency basis a week after my daughter was born and was too sick to even pump (plus I was on heavy duty antibiotics). My mother and motherinlaw had to help my husband care for our newborn and of course, she had to eat, and they gave her formula in a bottle. When I was released from the hospital I tried my best to begin breastfeeding again but my daughter wanted no part of it-she couldn't go on not eating so I had to give her formula. I could have probably consulted a lactation consultant but I I was still so sick and just needed her to eat and I needed to regain energy so formula feeding is what I am now doing and she is 100% healthy and thriving and is the happiest baby-always smiling and giggling.
BTW-it is soo true about sleeping thru the night-my friend actually stopped breast feeding because her son was eating every 1-2 hours and she switched to formula and he STILL wants to eat every 1-2 hours, so it just depends on the baby.

Here is my happy formula fed baby:

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not being prisoner to the feeding time.

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I assure you that feeding my daughter has never felt like I was in prision. Also, when you breastfeeding (unlike my pumping) you just get up and go...no need to worry about bottles. It is a lot more convient than bottle feeding.

See, my husband DID help me. He got up and got the baby for me. He changed her. He helped me in other ways. And I didn't feel that any of the grandparents were missing out because they couldn't feed Molly either.

The LC told me something that helped me get thru MANY days and nights of pumping...your baby is only this small for a very short time in her life and someday she will not need you very much at all so when you don't think you can give up a food/drink or when you are so tired you can't see straight just remember that someday you will miss this time in her life.......This piece of advise has helped me. Maybe it will help some of you too.

Wow I didn't realize that this was such a debatable (sp??) and people would be so opinionated about what a person chooses to do.

I never thought about not doing it, but I had a breast reduction 3 yrs ago and may not be able to produce milk. I won't know until the baby comes in May if I can do it.

Whatever we choose to do, I am sure our children will grow up to be healthy individuals bc we did what we felt was that best choice for both of us.

I'm not going to point fingers or quote anyone, but this is such a sensitive topic and people need to respect other's opinions and decisions.

Of course FFing has it's own benefits and those who FF shouldn't feel guilty or second-guess their decision in the least bit - for whatever their decision maybe.

There are pros and cons to both and it's really up to the parents to decide what's best. People feel strongly one way or the other, so please just respect that person's opinion.