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 bfed ('78) until 4 months, when the midwives convinced my mother that switching me to formula would fix the colic. Instead, it meant that I stopped screaming from 6pm to midnight and instead started screaming from midnight to 6am. Or something like that.

My brother ('80) didn't have any colic issues and she weaned him at 4 months as well, so I suppose there's an element of habit about thee things.

I fed my daughter until 15/16 months, and Mum was entirely supportive save for the occasional "look at all those teeth! I can't believe you're brave enough to put your nipple in there" comment.

(Blackcurrants, really nice to see you around and sounding so positive about breastfeeding now)

I was formula fed (think I was bf for a week?) in 1976. I bf my DD until 20 months and still feeding DS (20 months) - both exclusively to 6 months.

My Mum was supportive as she could see how determined I was to feed DD through all the problems we had to begin with and she knew how important it was to me. I did wonder though whether she saw my determination as somehow criticism of her ff me...

She did make lots of comments later though about how bf=clingy baby and how she reckons all the health benefits are maximised by about 3 months.

MIL pn the other hand fed DP for 2.5 years and was desperate for me to stop feeding, especially DD.

Wondered if I might mention my 85yr old Grandma on here too? She bfed both my Dad and also my aunt, both for 2 years (1949 and 1957) and has always been very, very supportive of me bfing dd, particularly extended bfing. She is so pleased we're still bfing. And she is a prudish, proud, private woman who will not tolerate any flesh on display but always pointedly reminds me to bf dd wherever I want (again, she's 3 so it's bedtime only and only every now and then now so not really relevant anymore) and always says 'them's for feeding babies' while gesticulating at my breasts.

I was born 1981 and my mother wanted to BF me - however i have a TT that wasn't picked up on at the time and she really struggled and gave up after 3 months.

She is incredibly supportive of me BFing first DD who is now 7, and now DS who is 4 weeks.

My grandma (dad's mum) who would have been 85 now, BF all three of her sons for at least 6m in the 1950s. When DD was a baby she told me that the best nights sleep she had when my dad was young was the night she went to a wedding and drank a fair bit of whisky, then came home and fed him 'homemade Baileys'

Me and my sister were bf in the 1970's.

Mum was supportive of however I fed my dc's and was happy helping to clean bottles or give me peace to bf, lots of problems with DS so he was mixed fed.

That's great to hear SOH. Love "them's for feeding babies"

My sister (mid seventies) and I (early seventies) were both ff from birth. My mother has always said that the doctor 'advised her not to bf'. It was only recently that I questioned this and it seems my mother doesn't really know more. She had terrible sickness throughout her pg so assumes the doc meant that she wouldn't be strong enough to bf after such a bad pg

MIL bf her first two DC for a few months each and then ff my DH (because she was "too busy to bf him having 3 under 5").

I bf DS for 14 months and I'm now bf DD (7 weeks).

I don't really have a close relationship with either my mother or MIL so I didn't really expect any support from either of them. On the other hand, I don't think they would have dared to criticise how I feed my DC either so there was no negativity at least!

Whilst my mother hasn't supported me with bf, she has at least evolved her thinking on it generally: she actually bought bottles in readiness while I was still pg with DS1 (!) whereas she's since become very pro-bf and is pleased to tell me about people that we know that are bf past a year.

She recently said that she wishes she'd questioned the doc more at the time or at least tried to bf. She looks quite sad and wistful at times when watching me bf.

My step-mother bf both of her DS for 12 months (late seventies) and was very supportive of me bf and gave me lots of good advice about coping with cluster feeding, weaning etc

My Granny (84) breastfed her 4 four children for 9 months as the doctors told her breast milk was no good after that!

I have been breastfeeding my ds for a year now and she is the only one who thinks it's great.

one grandma ff my uncle (1952) (bad birth - forceps, tearings, things I didn't really need to hear about in quite such detail from my elderly grandmother, but never mind!), bf dad (1954) until 6 months and hated it - she is not very pro-BF as she didn't like doing it. other grandmother BF my mum and 2 aunts (born from 1942 -1954) and is very pro-BF, but wants me to stick to a schedule, and can't understand why I'm still BF DS (11.5 months!).

Mum BF 4 of us - I was her 1st (1982) and she said she was the only one on the ward who BF (in Glasgow) - she said at one point she was the only mum on the ward with all the babies still there as the others had all gone out for a smoke... She went to a couple of LLL meetings when I was small, and is delighted that I'm going to my local one now!
DSis was mix fed as she was FTT - weighed less at 6 weeks than at birth :( mum still feels she was very let down by HCPs over this as she was let out of hospital when my sis was 1 day old, to go home on her own to a house with a toddler and 2 dogs in the middle of nowhere. Dad had to work, so mum was totally abandoned, and we all had bad colds too - she reckons it contributed to her PND with my sis too. HV was absolutely useless. Sister has diabetes and epilepsy, and mum still blames herself :(
other siblings BFed - think we were all off the boob before a year though, mum can't remember!

MIL (sadly deceased) BF DH and BIL - not sure how long, and think it was pretty much on a schedule (former eastern bloc country).

mum has been ok with supporting me, although as I had bad birth (forceps, 3 day labour, nasty infected tear and episiotomy) plus enormous child who WILL NOT SLEEP, she has been suggesting formula top ups since he was 3 weeks old - we tried it a few times, and he didn't sleep any differently. She's started muttering about weaning him off the boob now that he's almost 1.

DH is very supportive though, and has said 2 years is a good time to think about weaning DS :)

i was bf for about 8 months in 1980. MIL BF all her three to about the same age, and i think in those days it was assumed you stopped then. mil was very insistent that i must bf, i think not quite realising how strong the pressure is to do so fromhcps etc! everyone is supportive, anyway.

My mum ff me and siblings. She says she wanted to bf but couldn't. I'm sure that if she'd had the support available today she'd have been able to. She is supportive of me bfing but also has lots of anxieties about it, especially when i bf in public which she is convinced will offend!

the three of us were bf to about 8 months, my mum and her siblings were bf, but I don't know how long for, DH and his sister were bf. Sil had her DD 4 months before mine and she was bf.

I didn't even consider that I wouldn't BF, I never looked at the leaflets on bottle feeding and didn't even consider buying bottles etc, threw away bottle feeding freebies.

I just thought that they all did it so I would, and was told by my mum that the first 6 weeks would be hell but it'd be fine after that, and I believed her so was prepared for it to be hard.

It was bloody hard, DD had severe jaundice and at 2 days I was trying to express colostrum and cup feed it to her. Without knowing everyone else in my family had done it I would have given up, I refused formula in the hospital twice.

should add though that they are all abit at me still feeding DD now she's turned 3 and I'm 20weeks pg....

Pg and planning on BFing.

Mum FF me and bro in 70s. Aunt FF cousin. Both have no issues how I feed our baby.

OH's mum FF all her kids, and all her grandkids so far FF. She will be the issue over this and plenty else! She is nice but likes to make sure you know how she thinks you should be doing things.

Am gettting my aunt to make me a nursing cover so I don't have to leave the room when feeding as I know some of our siblings will feel uncomfortable.

SOH - DH's great gradmother (now deceased) was insistent that DH's aunt BF her children.
She also said that before the wars it was considered risque to show an ankle but that BF in public was a common sight and regarded in a completely different way. So when people say 'Maybe I'm just old-fashioned but I think it shouldn't be done in public' they are actually being very 1950s

was bf till 6wks when dm went back to work pt, packing all her hours in to one long, supply killing, day. but that women now days get paid mat leave, and would be allowed somewhere/time to pump at work.
Dh ff. All family very supportive of on bf, though there,s lots of misinformation around, esp, re supply.

really interesting thread, so many different stories.

My mum "wasn't allowed" to bf me because I was born with jaundice. It was 1970 and she was very young and would not have dared contradict the nurses of the military hospital that I was born in. My sister was born in 1980 and she was (painfully) bf for 3 months and then switched to formula as it all got a bit much for mum.

My dd was born in 2007 and was ebf for 10 months. I was 36 when I had her and fully intended to bf, I also lived in a very "bf friendly" part of SE London. My mum never commented on my bf because she never "interferes" with me, in her own way that was supportive enough for me. My dp's MIL was very vocal in a positive way about me bf ... because that's her way.

My sister's dd was born in 2003, she was "unable" to bf as she didn't produce enough milk - this was all determined within the first couple of days after the birth and I think she was ill advised at the hospital, my mum was away on holiday at the time and I had no personal experience so could't advise either. She was also quite young (23) and definitely not living in a "bf friendly" environment both geographically and socially (all bar one of her friends had ff)

I was BF for a couple of weeks and then FF. DH bf for six months.

They didn't particularlyinfluence me as they live 250 miles away. I FF both of mine from virtually the word go from choice.

I was bfed to 9mo (1979) and my sister to 10mo (1982). We both self weaned. I never thought for a minute I'd do anything other than bfing and was even more determined to do so when my DS was born prem and I had to express for weeks. We're now at 9mo and will continue to 12mo or when he self weans if that's sooner.

My mum is completely supportive of bfing and did it when it was really unfashionable. I think she only managed to establish on a 4 hourly routine as she had a really good supply as she told me to buy a breast pump when I was pregnant as I might get mastitis like her. I told the midwife this when she asked if I had a pump after DS was born and she looked and told me I wouldn't get mastitis. I did. 7 times so far. Got loads of milk though.

My grandma bfed my mum (1950) and my aunt (1956).

MIL ffed both DH (1972) and BIL (1974). She said she tried and tried to bf both times but didn't have any milk. She's totally supportive of me bfing too.

I was BF for 4 months (1979), then FF'ed for 2 months, then straight onto cows milk. My brother was Bf'ed for 3 months (1983), then FF for another 3 then cows milk. My husband was completely FF'ed (1965). My side of the family generally all BF at least for the first few months but all were supportive about whatever way I chose to feed. OH's family are FF'ers but again didn't seem bothered what I choose to do.

I was bfed for about 3 weeks, my mum was told only to feed me every 4 hours, it knackered her supply and she was encouraged to ff me.
When my DTBs were born, 3 weeks premature she wanted to bf them and pumped milk for them to as they had to be tube fed - but every time she went into the neonatal unit to give the MWs her milk, they had already fed them formula.
The medical profession had a lot to answer for in those days .
My mum regretted not bfing us, and has always been very supportive of me bfing. She said it is easier for mums now, simply because we are encouraged to keep our babies beside us (unless they need special care, and even then many special care units do try to enable some if not all bfing) where as when me and the DTBs were born (1975 & and 1980) babies were kept on a separate ward to the mums.

I have absolutely no idea and have no way of finding out. I do know that I wouldn't feed when I was born, so I suspect I was given a bottle.

DD wouldn't feed when she was born either, but I wouldn't give in to a bottle. When her blood sugar dropped she was given formula from a cup. I managed to breastfeed her for 6 months after that, but it was a struggle at first.

Why is something that is so natural so flipping hard to do at first?