To think breastfeeding is a hassle?

[choolaboola]

Apologies in advanced if this is offensive as I know some BF people feel really passionate about it - BUT - can I please ask, why do people breastfeed?

First time pregnancy here - all I read is "my BF baby won't sleep" "I can't leave them down" "I can't go to XYZ months in because Im exclusively BF" etc.

I'm genuinely wondering is it a much harder path to go down? My friends, sisters, mum and MIL have all formula fed and as far as I can see, the outcome is the same. So I'm just wondering what other people's thoughts are?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11189463/Abbott-Labs-hid-lawyers-YEARS-recalling-powdered-formula-shutting-factory.html

This just a recent reminder though that while formula is amazing and lifesaving stuff, formula companies - not so much. Like so much that is essential I feel the profit motive is not something that should really be involved, and would be happy to hear of more initiatives by governments or non-profits to ensure a safe, affordable, sustainable offer to all parents who need formula. I also think their advertising practices, despite the rafts of regulation they are having to weasel around, are pretty egregious tbh.

Sorry about the fail link, in a rush and it was the first news report that came up!

Because being engorged with milk makes them feel pretty 'floppy' 😉As does pregnancy come to that.... I suppose depending on what I was wearing sometimes I 'winkled a boob out' or 'slipped a boob out'. but tbh, flopping was standard!

The outcome is definitely the same. As someone who did bf for one baby and bottle for another I can honestly say the bottle fed baby got way less coughs and colds actually and is healthier all round (now grown up). It's personal choice but if I had my time again I would hundred percent bottle feed. I love the routine of every four hour feeds and seeing how much they had taken. Went straight down for nap after feed and to be honest I was constantly sodding around all night with breast feeding !!

Worst thing about bottle feeding actually is it got me out of the habit of wearing boob accessible clothes... now toddler is quite keen and will march up to me when i get home from work and demand it, there's me on the sofa with my smart high-necked office dress rucked up round my armpits, tights gusset on display to poor old DP when he comes in 😳Flopping a boob out of a stretchy top would be considerably more dignified!

I don’t think wanting your body back is superficial at all

lets not pretend - we all want to look and feel nice in our clothes etc

its not selfish or shallow

I’m really not doing breastfeeding down but I’m always a bit baffled by how amazing the benefits are on paper vs how little effect they seem to have in real life? On paper they’re incredible, but in real life the healthiest kids I know were bottle fed. 8 months of breast milk didn’t seem to do much for my daughter who caught every bug going, but her bottle fed cousins never get sick and seem to have the constitutions of an ox. I would be genuinely interested to know why.

No flopping here. I have tiny breasts. I've read how women can BF flat on their backs, or feeding from the upper breast when lying on their side.
I could never do that, but did perfect the bed roll - baby attached to breast, hold them close, roll over and seamlessly move baby to the other breast.

Can you show your sources for this information please with actual statistics as to how much it lessens the risk of these things? I have done a fair amount of research into this and the numbers were tiny. Something like it reduces the risk of breast cancer by 4% but that’s only if you breast feed for 12 months.

Likewise, it drops the risk of getting an ear infection and the like in the first year, but those risks are low anyway, the statistics were something like it drops it down from 6% to 3%. So the risk is low anyway.

Can we actually start linking to proper research (of which there isn’t much) and statistics before making these bold claims and scaring women who can’t/ don’t want to breastfeed that they’re going to get cancer because of this and their babies are going to be ill/ die or SIDS 🙄

But that's just 100% percent anecdotal. Both mine were BF and one is loads more succeptible to illness than the other who barely blinks no matter what germs are throw at her. Your anecdotal comparison, kindly, proves nothing.

Surely just whipping a boob out is easier and most importantly free?
I never produced any milk so had to ff and it was such a faff!

Awww that gave me such a clear memory of hugging and rolling to swap boobs. Mine could help himself to upper one eventually but I think he was over six months at least.

Ha ha, yes! I was thinking about smaller babies. Once they get to a certain size it's a different story entirely!
They're 23 and 13 now and I do treasure these very personal and intimate times.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20617343/#:~:text=Breastfeeding%20is%20important%20to%20diminish,before%20vaccination%20can%20be%20introduced.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/breastfeeding/benefits/

I'm not fanatical about it either way, but I bf my two boys and yes, with DS1 the first few weeks were hard! Leaky boobs, difficulties latching on, poor sleep. But then once all that settled down the pros massively outweighed the cons!

For me the pros were -

Not having to spend money on formula
Not having to sterilise bottles, make up feeds etc..
Milk available whenever and wherever baby needs it - never caught short
Gorgeous bonding experience.

I loved it. In the first weeks I was ready to chuck it in! Glad I didn't though :)

publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/129/3/e827/31785/Breastfeeding-and-the-Use-of-Human-Milk?autologincheck=redirected?nfToken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000

Table 2 is good on the benefits

Table 2

Never seen this before, thanks for posting! Really interesting.

I have had 3 kids, only breast fed them for a couple of weeks and then moved on to formula. I could never understand why ppl breastfeed, it's a hassle, annoying, baby getting stuck to you, no one else can feed baby, unable to sleep comfortably due to breast being full of milk, also it was painful for me.

I have now had my fourth child, it was an emergency c section, so I stuck to Breast feeding with the intention of going on to formula on week 3 or 4. Surprisingly this time round, no issues with baby latching and no pain at all. Still uncomfortable to sleep when breasts are full and don't start me on the leakage even with breast pads on!
As I didn't want baby getting used to breast and then refusing the bottle and formula, I expressed and gave in bottle and also gave formula. Unfortunately my baby can't hold down formula so I have had to continue with breastfeeding. I do express so dh can also feed baby. Night time is lovely because for once I don't need to faff with bottles. When I go out, I take expressed breastmilk out, flask of hot water to heat the milk up and feed from the bottle, I would've done this had I formula fed too, so this isn't any extra hassle for me. It is nice having milk readily available when baby screaming head off, so that is the good thing with bf. I know women feel very passionate about it, I've had to stick with it as I have no other choice.

I've bf for a very long time, over 5 years. I hate it. Can't lose weight, loss of freedom, partner couldnt feed, crap sleep, makes them clingy, doesn't fit in with working FT in the early stages, and worst of all can't bloody wean. Saves you money though, but thats the only positive for me. Wish I ff my second, but felt it was unfair after feeding first for 3+ years.

My first kid is smart, second very behind developmentally, so it doesn't automatically mean your kid will be a genius either and they still get ill.

Family member is expecting soon. Really hope she mix feeds for her own sanity. Bf is very much about the woman sacrificing alot at the expense of her MH sometimes. The pressure on women to do it is ridiculous.

I found BF very easy and couldn't be arsed with all the faff of FF.

I lost shit tons of weight both times too, despite eating my body weight in chocolate.

It really is an individual experience OP. Maybe give it a go and see how you get on? If it's not for you, don't worry about it.

despite the fact I loved bf I do agree bf never made me lose any weight I got bigger as it made me hungry all the time so losing weight is definitely not a given. When I spoke to the hv about it she told me not to even bother trying to lose weight whilst bf, totally different from all the hcps previously saying it helps you lose weight

I didn't lose weight either and my period returned almost immediately too

Oh god yes forgot about the period, mine returned at 5 weeks with all 4 of my children despite ebf never using formula co sleeping no dummies, I felt cheated!

Same about the bloody period. Fed my first for 2.5 years, got my period back at 5 months post partum ffs. Second one it came back even quicker. And it makes my milk taste salty when i'm premenstrual which made baby fussy at feeds when she was smaller (doesn't give a damn now she's bigger and greedy!). Feel very cheated on that score!