Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

How do you feel about how you were fed as a baby?

143 replies

LoisLame · 15/02/2011 12:36

As the title says really.

When I was trying to get bf going with DD, we had a pretty bad time of it. She was crying for a feed. I was crying in anticipation of the pain when she would latch on. DH was crying because everyone else was crying. And he would always say to me "DD will appreciate you going through all this to give her the best start you can". DD is 6mths old now and still breastfeeding (mix fed with Infatrini) and I keep thinking about what he used to say.

So if you were breastfed, do you appreciate what your mum did for you? Are you grateful? If you were formula fed, do you resent it? Or does it really not make a blind bit of difference now you're all grown up?

I was formula fed in the early 80s. I'm thankful my mum fed me full stop - no matter what method she used. The only gripe I have about it is that she doesn't understand why I've gone through so much to carry on breastfeeding. I don't know what the bf/ff debate situation was like back then. I just really wish she could see it through my eyes.

OP posts:
partyhats · 15/02/2011 14:49

I was ff, mum has inverted nipples, not sure there was much help for that back then. Does not bother me in the least, just glad she did feed me and look after me so well, in fact she still looks after me and I love her very much!
Being a mum is about a lot more than just bf.

Hulababy · 15/02/2011 14:53

I think I was breastfed for a while and then bottle fed. No idea on timings. Can honestly sayit has no bearing on how I feelabout my mum or her parenting skills. Regardless of me being breast or formula fed I am very awre that my mum, and dad, would have been doing what was best for me and them at that time.

shesparkles · 15/02/2011 14:58

I was bottle fed (born 1970) and don't have strong feelings either way about it. Mum did was she thought was best for me at the time.
I BF both my babies and she fully supported me in it

Debs75 · 15/02/2011 14:59

Me and my sis were bottlefed as mum 'didnt see the point of all that faff'
I am a wee bit put out that she didn't even give it a go. When she mentions it now she pulls a sour face. I have asthma and excema and as a child was very sickly and bf may of helped.
also she is very much of the 2pm, 6pm, and 10pm feeding routine and thinks all babies should be routined from day 1. she thinks I let my babies walk all over me by letting them demand feed and doing BLW.

I don't resent her tho, at least she fed me

cluelessnchaos · 15/02/2011 15:02

Mine is a slightly different story, I was born in Zambia in the 70s and my parents employed a wet nurse. I slept outside in a mud hut.

My parents used to always laugh that when it came to leaving for the uk my nurse was devestated as she thought of me as her own, I find that so callous. My mother never bonded with me and neglected me whilst she felt very close to my ff brother. Whatever her reasons were for making that choice I feel like I was an inconvenience, she must have felt embarassed by this choice as she never told me, it only came out after her death.

fatlazymummy · 15/02/2011 15:03

I think I was BF for 6 weeks then FF. I remember my Mum saying that she felt pressurised to BF and didn't enjoy it. I have always been healthy. I am overweight now but accept full responsibility for that.
My kids Dad was fed on cows milk [ie silver top] from a week old, his Mum tried to BF but her milk dried up. Again he is pretty healthy. We were born in 1958 and 1960.
I can't imagine anyone would be judgemental over whether their Mum BF or FF, unless they were generally crappy Mums.

higgle · 15/02/2011 15:05

I'm really pleased to be able to post here as my mother, who is now 84 is still very proud of how she managed to feed me. Despite the fact that I was a high forceps delivery under GA and she did not see me for 24 hours after birth she managed to breast feed me entirely to 6 months and then I went straight to using a beaker ( that is the bit she is proud about) with no bottle at all.
I'm afraid I was a miserable failure with my children.....

homeagainhomeagain · 15/02/2011 15:06

I was FF, no health problems, healthy weight, no allergies etc. My DH was BF - he's a chronic asthmatic, lots of allergies and excema.....

LaCerbiatta · 15/02/2011 15:13

I was bf for 9 months but my brother was ff (he had jaundice and the recommendations back then - 1975, were to stop immediately Hmm). He still resents it to this day! I've always been so much healthier than him. He is very prone to breathing problems, always with a cold. Also has some sort of milk intolerance, couldn't have whole milk, had to drink powdered. He thinks it's all my mother's fault!Grin

MoonUnitAlpha · 15/02/2011 15:17

clueless that's so sad :(

sweetkitty · 15/02/2011 15:18

1970s baby born at 34 weeks. FF from birth.

Weaned at 6 weeks (so that's term then Hmm on potatoes and mince), given a rusk mashed up in a bottle from 4 weeks old (as soon as I left hospital).

Given "normal" cows milk at 3 months and tea in a bottle as I liked it!

Fed all sorts of crap as a child rarely saw an apple or banana. Lives in a hosue with 2 chainsmoking parents as well.

I have had loads of arguments with my mother about BFing and it only being for poor people in poor countries that cannot afford proper milk and bottles! She was horrified that I wasn't weaning after about 2 weeks and my babies would starve to death as they couldn't survive on my milk alone. She is utterly obsessed with cramming food into small babies whether they want it or not. it's like forcefeeding watching her something she has never been allowed to do with any of mine, she is also obsessed with giving children treats, chocolate buttons at 3 months old and lucozade and ice cream at 6 months!

Allegrogirl · 15/02/2011 15:28

My mum bf me for 3 months then got what sounds like blocked ducts and was told to stop and put me on carnation (in 1974). I didn't even know this until I had been struggling with bf for a few weeks myself. My mum didn't help with bf at all as in her day it was done to routine and in private. I am really impressed she gave it a go but it's not something she appears to be proud of. I am grateful she did it but wish she could be more open about it.

I do struggle with my weight a lot and have done since childhood. The rest of the family are slim sporty types. I'm sure it's the carnation and not my greed that is to blame.

DH was bottlefed from birth and has loads of health problems and is overweight. This was despite his mum being a lentil weaver and them eating incredibly healthy wholefood all the time. DH doesn't resent his mum, they were both ill after the delivery and apart for two weeks, but he is very pro BF.

But in the grand scheme of things it's pretty minor. I was 33 before I knew how I had been fed as a baby.

organiccarrotcake · 15/02/2011 15:30

"I'm afraid I was a miserable failure with my children....." No such thing.

foxter · 15/02/2011 15:31

My mum FF me and when I decided to BF my PFB she was no use at all. I found the first 3 months of BFing very difficult and it didn't help to have my mum, and to a lesser extent my MIL, going on and on about how 'he just wants a drink of water' - even when I was waving the WHO leaflet around which states not to give the baby water.

What I would say then, is I don't mind how I was fed, but some support would have been nice when it came to my turn to try BFing. I got the impression that she saw it as a slight on her mothering skills because I wanted to feed my baby differently to how she fed hers. She's a bit of a control freak to be honest Sad.

HappyAsASandboy · 15/02/2011 16:34

I was bottlefed from the start as my mum didn't think she'd be able to feed us with her small boobs ( and I guess nobody tol her otherwise in the late '70s. It has bever bothered me until now, when I am EBF. My mum is constantly on at me to switch to FF as I have 'done enough' and should switch to 'make things easier for myself'. I am finally reaping the benefits of working pretty hard to establish feeding twins , but can't get my mum to see that I think EBF is the easier option. I think she just wants to help, and while her bottle-feeding one twin while I feed the other would be really helpful, i'm not sure how she thinks bottle-feeding would be easier for me on the 6 days a week she's not here!

I find it hard to talk to her about it and to ask her to stop pushing FF as I can't find a way to say I think BF is best without her thinking I resent her choice to FF.

TruthSweet · 15/02/2011 17:21

Alouiseg

"When me and my brothers were young our dentist used to comment on how well developed our palate was. I wonder if has anything to do with breastfeeding?"

Surprisingly, yes! Anthropologists can determine whether a skeleton was bottle fed or breastfed buy the shape of their palate/jaw. A bottle fed jaw is V-shaped and a breast fed jaw is U-shaped. However this won't tell them the substance in the bottle. Other dental problems occur due to thumb sucking, or digit sucking or even arm sucking Confused

Lots of info here but please be warned that some of the presentations have autopsy slides in (cadaver sections not photos of actual autopsy taking place).

A good place to start is here only slide 27 is perhaps to be avoided but it is not too bad (in my opinion anyway). Slides 40+ may be very interesting to view (and not gross unless you don't like teeth or mouths!).

HTH

toddlerama · 15/02/2011 17:24

My mum breast fed exclusively and I have ear trouble, asthma and eczema! I am still very grateful to her. When I was wincing in pain and sobbing through feeds, I kept trying to remember "my mum did it for me, my mum did it for me...." She helped me in every way she could with feeding both DDs, but at 8 weeks, she completely supported my decision to bottle feed and didn't make me feel judged in the slightest. My mum is a legend.

Woodlands · 15/02/2011 17:29

I was breastfed in the early 80s and yes, I am grateful for it. My mum stopped at about 8 months as apparently I lost interest in it. I've heard this a lot, that babies lose interest at about that age, but yet Kellymom et al say it's unusual for a baby to self-wean under a year. I;m currently BFing 7 mo DS and would like to keep going to 18 months plus, but we'll see! It is good to have family support (on DH's side as well, MIL is v pro BFing).

EditedforClarity · 15/02/2011 17:30

I was bottle fed in the early 60s; National Dried Milk, which was sort of the forerunner to formula a dried full-fat milk with added vit D, and also watered down Carnation milk.

Things don't change Hmm

SecondMrsS · 15/02/2011 17:31

I couldn't care less... I think I was breastfed for a bit, but possibly not for long. No idea whether grandma/ aunties etc breastfed. No relevence to my life whatsoever...

usualsuspect · 15/02/2011 17:32

I was breastfed ..but can't say I ever think about it really

KaraStarbuckThrace · 15/02/2011 17:35

My mum bf me for 3 weeks. I explain that is why I am so intelligent Grin

She was told to feed me only every 4 hours, which is why she had to switch to bottles.

With my premmie twin brothers she was given a breast pump, but she told me everytime she pumped a feed she would take to the new baby unit only to find the boys had already been fed formula, so her hard won breast milk ended up down the drain Angry

I am don't feel at all negatively towards her because of this but I am glad things have changed so much that mums are not routinely separated from their babies in hospital the way they were when Mum had me.

SecretNutellaFix · 15/02/2011 17:37

I was bottle fed- straight onto hungry baby SMA and was weaned at 8 weeks. Both of which I feel might be contributory to me being obese as an adult. Plus my mum's attitude of pile it high and we had to finish our meal. Everything.

I resent that because I was a "hungry" baby, my mother was told she wouldn't have enough milk to feed me herself, but consequently encouraged me to finish the bottle. She has often said that she always coaxed me to finish the feed.

EricNorthmansMistress · 15/02/2011 17:38

Mum mix fed me, I'm grateful that she put the effort in to improve her supply and persevered for 10 months, but at the same time I would have understood 100% if she had thrown in the towel earlier, having had massive supply issues myself. Even if I had not had a similar experience to her I would still have not given a shit if she hadn't continued BF actually, I know she would have done the best thing she could for the right reasons for her.

PrettyCandles · 15/02/2011 17:43

My mum breastfed us all for about 2y each. This was quite unusual in the 60s/70s unless you were a bit hippy - which my patents definitely were not! I've never thought anything about how we were fed, except that seeing my mum bf my little sister, and seeing my mum's friend bfing her youngest (my friend's little sister) were a very positive image and influence to me, normalising bfing.

Oddly enough, my mum tried to be supportive of my bfing my dc, but also tried to persuade me to ff as my distress over our difficulties upset her so much. She felt that the best thing for me would be to remove thecause of my distress.

I suppose I was a little resentful of the fact that she had difficulties - she had a major oversupply - and could not relate to my struggles.

Swipe left for the next trending thread