To not even consider breastfeeding

[Ilovemybreasts]

Currently pregnant with no 2, breastfed no 1 to around six months and HATED the experience so not keen to repeat it for several reasons.

1)Felt like a big, leaky, highly uncomfortable cow for the whole time and could not wait to have my body back.

2. Have seen the physical effects of breast feeding two children on several of my friends and it ain't pretty. My breasts are large and have only just recovered from the first feeding frenzy. Two shirt-spaced cycles of constant swelling and shrinking would not be good for their wellbeing! Although my body has borne children I still like to look and feel attractive; being a mother is not my whole identity and not an excuse to let my health and image fall by the wayside.

3. Hours spent pumping and clusterfeeding and mucking about led to a very tired and stressed out me and this time I will have a toddler also needing my time and attention.

4. The many benefits of breastfeeding are not entirely obvious to me. Dc1 still gets ill and picks up bugs as much as several other children we know who were exclusively ff.

5. I became a complete bf bore, bleating on to everyone about it and it's benefits. I swear it took over my life when I should have just been enjoying my baby.

Flame away. Convince me otherwise. Am I likely to be judged for this in real life?

Just asking, btw, not looking for a fight! Was going to say 'no wonder you found BFing difficult'

For everyone saying 'oh my child is just as healthy/just as smart/whatever' - studies show that on a population level this isn't the case. I think this has been said countless times on this thread and others but still people persist with their anecdotes....sigh

oh yes, what ever you do don't offer anecdotal evidence on a BF thread. Totally wasting your time.

No need to sigh bubbley

Yes, I read a post on here a while ago that said "the plural of anecdote is not data". I loved that. I can't remember who posted it, but it's great. :)

funnys - why do they write completely contradictory guidelines? Make them up as needed because storing formula increases the risk of infection even if it's in the fridge BUT it's ok to make them up in advance. Where does it say that btw? I can't find it. Personally, if I had to give my baby something that could contain bacteria and salmonella I would take every precaution possible and not take any risks!

Well I don't say anything about how healthy and clever my bf children are ( even though they are :) ). Can I use them as some sort of proof that bf is superior?

bubbley get off your high horse please. The guidelines say, if you need to you can make them up in advance. The implication being that you must really need to, but nonetheless thats what they say.

And thats anecdotal evidence, re your children, btw.

is the 'anecdotal' bit aimed at me bubbly as i made a comment on the last page about how you cant tell the diffence between which children i bfed totally and then my younger two who were only bfed for 3mths.

anecdotal maybe? but hey if it wasnt the bmilk that made my first three bright and healthy, as the non totally bfed ones are also bright and healthy, then perhaps its just my superior parenting skills

or perhaps a lot of it is down to genetics and whilst bfeeding can and does influence health/intelligence, its not actually by that much so in the grand scheme of things its not something we need to get our knickers in a twist about.

like i said, bfeeding is optimal, but if it doesnt work out or you dont want to do it, then its not something to feel bad about :)

Bubbleymummy - Funnys is correct about this. The key point is that the formula must be made up with water of at least 70 degrees. As long as that is done it can be safely stored in the fridge for the recommended time.

and my hv has said what gaelicsheep said, if you make the formula up with water at 70 degrees then it kills the bacteria if any are present and you can then store it in the fridge. but its not exactly difficult to make it up when your baby needs it!

nor is it difficult to spend 5 mins washing the bottles etc and then putting them in a sterilser once a day.

I can't find that on the nhs website funny. Do you have a link? Not being on my high horse about it - just wondering why people wouldn't make them up according to the guidelines. Although, if you say there are different guidelines then I'm interested in reading them.

Re, my children. Yes, I know, that was my point. I don't use them because anecdotes mean nothing! No one on this thread would accept that because my children are clever and healthy it is proof that bf is superior but yet lots of posters try to do just that by saying their ff children are clever/healthy/etc etc.

Actually I disagree 4madboys. IME it is a total nightmare making up formula fresh with a hungry baby screaming at you. But then I was mix feeding and the formula was on demand. And boy did he demand!

GAelic/madboys - do you have a link to that? I'm just going by info on the nhs website and it doesn't say that so I'm genuinely interested. Tia

NHS guidelines here

Thanks gaelicsheep :) I am happy to be wrong - I would hate to think people took risks with their baby's health just to save time!

well i fed ds4 on demand and the same with dd, but i could tell when they were starting to get hungry, and made sure i had a kettle boiled ready etc, but it depends on your baby i guess :) mine certainly give plenty of 'cues' that they are starting to think about being fed, iykwim?

but there are some that just do the screaming thing, my ds2 was one of them but he was bfed so i did just get a boob out but its wasnt always easy to feed him at all.

bubbley i am just going by what my hv said to me and i did mention the make it up with 70degree advice etc and tbh i have never made it up and stored it in the fridge, with 4 boys my fridge is full enough with food! i dont have space for bottles of formula, lol

oh there you go, well done gaelic!!

i am not sure that it saves much time making it in advance, i mean you still have to make it?

"Have seen the physical effects of breast feeding two children on several of my friends and it ain't pretty."

Haven't read the whole thread (sorry) but your breasts go saggy because of the hormone relaxin, which is in your body in pregnancy, NOT because of BF - that is a myth AFAIK.

Can't escape that one by not BF, sorry! You've just gotta be lucky with the genes I think, and perhaps not bounce your boobs around too much during pregnancy

:) 4madboys

4madboys - both of mine have been screamers, DD even worse than DS. 0 to 60 in a nanosecond. I am eternally glad that I cracked breastfeeding with DD. My nerves wouldn't have survived bottle feeding!

oh poor you gaelic :( glad the feeding is going well, it IS lovely when it works :)

and i am glad that out of my 5 only ds2 has been really screamy, the others have all had their moments, but if they had all been as bad as ds2, then i wouldnt have had 5!

Lol - I always say that if DD had been my first she would be an only child! (I love her to bits of course, but she is HARD work!)

I think it's entirely up to you...your happiness is very important as a Mother.