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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

..To Think That The Benefits Of Breatfeeding Are A load Of Tosh?...

114 replies

CheekyVimtoGal · 04/05/2010 12:52

I breastfed my 1st DS from day one, he fed for 6 weeks completely on Breastmilk with no formula at all.
I got mastitas 3 times and gave up feeding him at 6 weeks due to the pain and his constant hourly feeds, it was draining me.

I then said i felt like a failure for it, and that if i had anymore children i would feed them for at least 6months to a year.

When i fell pregnant with DS2 i was adamant Breastfeeding was for me, so much so that i did not buy any bottles at all.

After i had DS2 he didnt have his first feed for 2 hours due to the damage to my area, it took the midwife an hour to stitch me up. He finally got a feed 2 hours after been born and wasn't latching on properly.

Until i went home i tried my hardest to get him to latch on and suckle from me. It was no good and i was already a failure, he wouldn't latch on and he had to have a replacement forumla to replace low sugars (or something similar - i forget now, as i was still out of it from the drugs)

Now that was 2 years ago and he was a sicky baby, had reflux and didn't wean until he was 10 months old.

My oldest son who was breastfed eats anything and everything but catches EVERY illness going.

My youngest son who wasn't breastfed has NEVER been ill.

Sooo, as for the benefits of Breastfeeding - what is it meant to be, because i do not find it has helped my sons immune system at all!

OP posts:

Greensleeves · 04/05/2010 17:53

Happy mum does NOT mean happy baby

That is such a facile statement and it always gets trotted out on these damn threads

my mother, for example, was at her happiest when we were upstairs in disgrace for half the day getting no dinner at all - she didnt have to cook and could listen to her music and pretend she didn't have children

Happy mum = happy baby = pile of horse wank

runnybottom · 04/05/2010 18:37

Agree Greensleeves. Drugs and alcohol make me happy, staying out very late makes me happy. Vast amounts of coffee after a long lie in make me happy.
I don't think they would do much to make my baby happy though would they?

And you can have all the OPINIONS you want, but they don't change the FACT that breast is best, and everyone knows it (even the ones who pretend otherwise)

HandsOffMyDrum · 04/05/2010 18:43

I would not be that surprised if the benefits of breastfeeding were exagerated.

loobylu3 · 04/05/2010 18:48

Absolutely conclusive proof that breast feeding is tosh then (based on a sample of two, one of whom was fed for a grand total of 6 weeks).
If you didn't enjoy breast feeding or chose not to that is fine but please don't try to extrapolate your personal feelings in this daft way.

SeaTrek · 04/05/2010 19:01

EH?

I thought there were no longterm benefits to breastfeeding until you had been doing it for 13 weeks anyway?

My son wasn't ill at all when I was breastfeeding him (until 13 months) but got a cold almost immediately when I stopped. Was in hospital when he was two with pneumonia...

Looking at one, two ,ten children means absolutely nothing.

Formula fed children are (I read somewhere, so please take with a pinch...) 10 x more likely to be hospitalised with illness under the age of five. My son was hospitalised even though he was breastfed - doesn't mean that it is all a 'load of tosh' though.

So, yeah, YABU.

SeaTrek · 04/05/2010 19:03

Sorry, I should add though that he has had very little illness apart from that. I cannot remember the last time he had a cold. He has had no time off school since he started in Sept 09.

But anyway, back to the sample of one thing..

SeaTrek · 04/05/2010 19:04

Sorry, Sept 08. I am proving that one glass of wine is no good for the brain though

Linziwam · 04/05/2010 19:25

Urbu.
My dd was also only bf for 6 weeks, And is rarely I'll whilst other children we know who were exclusively bf are v sickly, but I'm not thick enough to think that my personal experiences outweigh proffesional research!

At the end of the day it's every persons individual choice. Everyone knows bf is better for babies, it's your choice as a mum whether other considerations outweigh that. For me, they did, and I'm happy that choice hasn't negatively affected dd. Just the same as how some children eat nothing but junk and stay slim. Luck of the draw!

SirBoobAlot · 04/05/2010 19:41

Yes, because of your experience we should totally ignore hundreds of years worth of study - never mind the fact that the human body has been producing this substance for millions of years

posieparker · 04/05/2010 19:45

I know a man who smoked 40 a day and drank three litres of whiskey a week, he lived to be 104 years....see smoking isn't bad for you, nor is drinking.

posieparker · 04/05/2010 19:46

But he could spell whisky!!

runnybottom · 04/05/2010 19:51

so can you....if he drank irish or canadian whiskey, its only scotch that is spelled whisky!

BertieBotts · 04/05/2010 19:55

First babies are usually ill more - it's because as a parent of a PFB you are more stringent about sterilising everything, preventing them eating things off the floor etc. With the NSB+ you just let them get on with it, and they pick up bugs from their elder sibling(s) hence a stronger immune system from a younger age.

This is a totally unscientific theory I have BTW.

Igglybuff · 04/05/2010 20:36

yabu

sungirltan · 04/05/2010 20:49

yab as unreasonable as i would be if i replied with something like 'well obviously YOUR bm wasn't good enough'

you know what i had an emcs which was the last thing i wanted. maybe i should start a thread titled 'natural births are over rated!!!'

ffs

Reallytired · 04/05/2010 21:12

"my mother, for example, was at her happiest when we were upstairs in disgrace for half the day getting no dinner at all - she didnt have to cook and could listen to her music and pretend she didn't have children

Happy mum = happy baby = pile of horse wank "

Greenleaves you have issues if you compare bottlefeeding to child abuse.

I was bottlefed from birth and I have loving parents. It hasn't damaged me in any way, although my mother feels sad that she had such awful advice in the 1970s.

Bottlefeeding is not child abuse and there are plenty of happy bottlefed children. Similarly breastfeeding a child doesn't guarentee them life long happiness.

I chose to breastfed my daughter at the age of one year because its what we BOTH want to do. Other mothers and babies have different ideas. Mothers who bottlefeed aren't lesser mortals.

The world would be a boring place if we made all the same parenting decisions.

fernie3 · 04/05/2010 21:22

There ARE benefits to breastfeeding there are also worse things you can do to your children than not breastfeeding them.

Pozzled · 04/05/2010 21:25

Wow, OP, you have just made me see the light. Your post has just made me realise why my DD spent 4 days in hospital at 15 months, has been on ABs several times and catches every bug going. It's because I BF her for 13 months! Obviously I should have FF her, because your opinion MUST be correct, as you have studied your 2 children so carefully.

Or then again, perhaps my DD is just unlucky.

CarmenSanDiego · 04/05/2010 21:40

YABU.

Opinions are worthless. Everyone has them.

Bring a logical argument and evidence if you want anyone to actually engage with you.

5DollarShake · 04/05/2010 21:51

that someone thinks breastfeeding for 6 weeks is going to provide all the same benefits and advantages of exclusively breastfeeding until 6 months/weaning or much longer.

parakeet · 04/05/2010 22:59

I'm sorry but the OP is too stupid for MN.

Just sayin'.

larks35 · 04/05/2010 23:04

I think the OP is joking tbh see the "can I just say" thread (can't be arsed to link). I hate these start a hot topic and then laugh about all the responses threads. Its just rude. [raspberry]

motherlovebone · 04/05/2010 23:10

parakeet is on the money

Greensleeves · 04/05/2010 23:37

I didn't compare bottlefeeding to child abuse fgs

I used the reference to my mother's behaviour as an illustration of the fallacy of "happy mum, happy baby"

it's a stupid facile expression

HoppingHeather · 04/05/2010 23:45

If breast feeding is so great why don't we do it for ever? Start them young on processed food and get them used to it makes much more sense,

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