were you bf or ff?

[foreverastudent]

My Mum was always supportive of me bf (and didnt criticise for either ebf with DC1 or stopping early with DC2). I always took this attitude for granted but reading some of the bullying pressure other Mums have got for whatever choices they've made it sounds like I was vv lucky and should really thank my Mum for being well-informed and non-judgmental.

When she bf me (80s) I get the impression bf was still quite unfashionable and there was more pressure on her to ff than there is now.

So were other peole bf or ff when either was fashionable/unfashionable and has this effected how their Mums (and MILs) have supported them now?

I was breastfed, as were all my siblings. I was born in 1975 and had never used a bottle at all, so I followed the same rule with my children. My mother has always been very supportive of bfing, though tbh it's very much the norm to bf in my country so all 11 of her grandchildren have been bf as well.

I was born in the early 70s and was BF, as was my brother was born in the early 80s. I definitely grew up just accepting the BF was the way to do it, never considered FF.

MIL FF her first two DC including DH, but BF her second two, which she preferred.

Both DM and MIL have been incredibly supportive of BF.

That is awful Strawberry - women have been so badly let down, haven't they?

I remember mum giving me lots of looks when I said I'd be leaving weaning until 6 months - "I think you'll struggle" she said ... but we didn't struggle at all, it was fine, and when we talked about it recently and I mentioned that I felt developmentally DS was much more ready at 6 month, and explained why, I think she could see the logic. MIL had already stood back and let me do the BFing thing so was possibly more prepared for my crazy ways when it came to weaning and was obviously proud of DS's amazing ability to self-feed.

I think a big generation thing was "do what the doctors say" back then - I know mum was told to BF me four hourly but just ignored it. More commonly people didn't ignore that advice and consequently "didn't have enough milk". I think although advice is better and more available these days, people are also more prepared to question "the experts"

I was breastfed in 82 for 15 months. Both my sisters were breastfed too.

My eldest son was only BF for 4 weeks, and then formula fed. DS2 was BF for 10 months. My mum was amazingly supportive through both breastfeeding and formula feeding, and just supported me in the way I needed.

I was BF (1975) as were my siblings. My mum was breastfed too (in the 50s) as was my Nanna (20s). So as far as I'm aware everyone in my maternal line was breastfed.

My dad was fed condensed milk (50s) and DH was fed formula (70s).

I was spoonfed from birth. I was born in '71 with a cleft lip and palate. My siblings were both ff so I don't think I would have been bf anyway.

I was born in 1969 and breastfed, my mum has told me that she had always intended to breastfeed but if it wasn't for the encouragement of a lovely midwife who sat with her for hours every evening she might have ff.

She and I got the hang of it eventually, she was then screened off by the midwives while she was feeding in case she offended the visiting husbands. She removed the offending screens every single time. :o

I was born in 1981 and was BF, as was my older brother, for about 7 months. From what my mum has told me, a few of her friends breastfed as well but that might just have been the group she hung around with as she was a bit of a hippy

She's been very supportive of me breastfeeding DD although I think she's surprised at how long it's been going on (nearly 2 years and no signs of stopping!) and that I'm still BF at 17 weeks pregnant.

I was born in '79 and was bfed for 8 weeks until my mum was given tablets to stop her post-partum bleeding (she had been sent home from hospital with some placenta still inside so bleed vvv heavily). She got given the wrong tablets by the HV (who was antibfing) and the tablets dried her supply up.

I refused bottled milk so was fed baby rice mixed with formula and apple juice (to disguise the taste) 2 or 3 times a day. All I drank was bottles of baby Ribena and apple juice as my mum was told I was getting enough milk from the rice .

My elder brother ('78) was bfed until 5 months when mum switched to bottles on HV advice as he was feeding almost every two hours day and night (and only sleeping between 5am & 8am). He still fed every 2 hours on bottles though and would have any solids until 10 m/o.

I've bfed DD1 to 3.6y/o (though was bottle fed formula & ebm for 1st 8 weeks), DD2 is 2.10 y/o and DD3 is 11 m/o and they are bith nursing. DD2 was almost ebf to 23 w/o (had 40mls of formula at 2 weeks which she puked up) and DD3 was ebf to 26 w/o.

I was born in 1976 and my mum tried to BF me.
Nothing was coming through despite hoursdays of trying, me screaming in hunger. She was then told that there was no milk available for me to be FF, my mother was distraught

My dad came in and told one of the midwives he would be taking us home as the baby needed feeding, to be told by this midwife that of course there is milk available!

The other midwife had said that to try and force my mum to BF even though she clearly couldn't.

She tried to BF with my 3 brothers too unsuccesfully.

I FF all my 3, and my mum was supportive of whichever method I wanted to use.

Alouiseg - when I had DD1 (2006) one of the mws on the ward insisted I have the curtains shut when I was bfing DD1 as 'someone might see you'. I was wearing mothercare nursing pjs with a bedjacket/cardi thing which covered everything.

(In case anyone thinks I'm contradicting myself - we managed to bfed whilst I was in hospital but by the time we were discharged and at home she was too ill to feed due to jaundice)

I was ff. My oldest brother was bf for a couple of weeks and started on mashed carrots at 6 weeks. We all have eczema, asthma etc - oldest brother the worst so for me bf is really important. My mum is ok with bf but mainly because dd2 is thriving so well that she can't criticise. She does comment about it being hard on me but is mostly positive. Annoyingly she keeps saying how lucky I am that I can bf so she clearly believes that bf is somehow exceptional not normal. It irritates me because she keeps saying this to dd1 who is 9 as I don't want her thinking bf is exceptional. Mil wanted to bf dh but couldn't and was devastated. I dint know the details of why it didn't work out and she's sadly no longer with us for me to ask.

Mum mix fed me and DB1 due to poor supply and poor advice, and exbf DBs 2 and 3. Her mum BF all 5 and was supportive. Her MIL (no clue how she fed hers - wet nurse probably! ) was an interfering auld cow and made mum feel like crap when I didn't gain weight, told her she was selfish etc. I was born in 1980 which was the cusp of BF starting to get a PR revival, but FF was still quite the norm.

My mum was superb with me when I also had supply issues. MIL BF her older three but mix fed her twins and was 100% supportive of the way I did it (not that I had much choice!)

Truthsweet, that's shocking isn't it. Ds1 was prem and in scbu, they couldn't have given a toss if I bf or ff. I used to set my alarm for every 2 hours through the night to express milk to get my supply going. The nurses used to rush into the pump room and shut the blinds. This was in 1997.

I was born in 86, I have 3 older sisters all born in the 80's too. We were all BF for at least a year.

I am BF dd and my mum has been nothing but supportive, especially at the start when i had trouble. She would have judged me if i chose FF, i think it just wouldn't have occoured to her that i would so me breastfeeding is just taken for granted (in a good way). I like it as it hasn't become an issue, it's just me feeding my baby.

68 and ff

1969 - breastfed - apparantly with strong support & encouragement from hospital staff who were clearly ahead of their time - but Mum says that she was the only one in the ward who bf.

My Mum was assured by her midwife that breastfed babies never got colic and all slept wonderfully practically from birth, but unfortunately I failed to live up to this!

I and my siblings (75, 77, 81) were all BF. I get the impression it was the norm then, but it was certainly on a strict 4-hour schedule (yes, with the babies taken away between feeds while in the hospital for 10 days!! - seems crazy to me but mum says that it was great, she got some sleep). Mum has been totally supportive of me BF, in that we both just consider it the normal and natural thing to do. She did think I should start DD on solids earlier than 6m though, but I have EBF her until just recently starting her on solids, she's 6.5m.

Sorry, failed to answer 2nd part of question, I think my mum just assumed that I would bf dd, never had any conversations with her about it other than practical ones (and I fed til 20 months).

my mother died 10yrs before I had DC, so I didn't find out whether the fact the the three of us were FF influenced her thoughts on how I was feeding DC.

MIL exclusively BFed DH, mixed fed SIL and FFed BIL. So thinks I should do whatever suits at the time.

I was FF as my mum couldn't BF (very badly advised / delt with in hospital). Before I had DS she said several times tht it didn't matter if I wasn't able to BF, and bought me a starter bottle set and everything! She's very happy that I still BF DS now (11 months).

My MIL BF DH till 3 months, and his DBs till 4,6,and 8 months and was supportive of me BF'ing BUT has on several occasions commented that "I don't have enough milk" (DS went through a very long phase at fussing at the breast) . He's been "baby led weaned" too which she's also pretty about. Every time I get him weighed I text her the outcome so she can see I'm not starving him!

I was FF (born 1975), but my older sister and younger brother were breastfed. My Mum had such a hard time breastfeeding my sister she just couldn't face it with me, but by the time my brother came along she was ready to try again. She sys she still feels guilty about it and contributes it to the fact I have suffered from digestive problems, absolutely no proof to back this up by the way!

I bf my 2 dcs and plan to bf number 3 due in October. I think my Mum hopes I will bf, but certainly wouldn't judge me if I didn't as she knows how hard it an be.

My mum bf (1975) - but was not encouraged at all, partic by the hospital.

I was whisked away to a seperate ward as I was a bit jaundiced and when my mum tried to 'visit' me to bf she was told to go away as th eward was closed to visitors at night - this was after she told them she was my mum and wanted to bf (her milk came in pretty quickly and she was quite uncomfortable)

Basically she went back to her ward and sobbed at the matron until they let her in for a bit, then dug out a pump from somewhere.

Out of 6 children, 2 were ff- me and (I think) my 3rd eldest brother.

My brother because his was a very traumatic home birth with complications (unspecified) and me because 'You wouldn't latch on' (in a slightly accusatory tone). I am no. 5 so it's not as though Mum was an inexperienced bfer.

My ds1 (14) was ff- I tried and tried to bf but we couldn't get it right and the nurses weren't very helpful. They were more helpful when it came to giving me formula.

Ds2 was bf for 3 months, then mix-fed.

My mum, oddly, was more insistent that I should 'just call it a day' with both of mine and go on to formula. I think because she was was -and is- more concerned with my health than that of my babies and though bf was 'too draining'.

Oh I was born in 68 when ff was very popular.