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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Were you breastfed?

117 replies

maisiemog · 05/11/2005 22:44

I have been wondering recently whether part of the reason I have been bf'ing my ds, is because I was breastfed. It's like I just expected that I would do the same thing.
Do you think being breastfed yourself influenced your decision?
Another thing and this is crazy. I was thinking about all the effort I had to put in at the start - when it was very difficult - to bf my son, and I can't stand the thought that if he has children his partner will choose not to breastfeed. Like my efforts to ensure his best health will be scuppered. What's wrong with me?

OP posts:
LilacBump · 06/11/2005 09:06

i was bottlefed. there was a problem with my breathing when i was born, so i was in an incubator for a week and a half. my mum left the hospital after 3 days, so she says she couldn't breastfeed me.
i tried breastfeeding for a week with DD and then switched to bottlefeeding. our next one, due in june, will be bottlefed from the start.

eidsvold · 06/11/2005 09:08

nope - my mum was physiologially not able to breastfeed my brothers and I. Dd1 was bottlefed and ng tube fed and dd2 is breastfed.

Enid · 06/11/2005 09:17

i was but only for about 6 weeks. My mum isnt at all pro-breastfeeding (which actually made me more determined to do it )

Superblastofflips · 06/11/2005 09:18

nope - i was bottlefed and same to my bro... i breastfed my DD for 2 days till i couldnt cope it as it didnt help when ive got very sensitive nipples... im gonna try again on my 2nd baba

merryberry · 06/11/2005 09:35

i wasn;t, it was very much not done in the time place and class my mum had me in. none of her sisters did either. i was a novelty when they came to see me and i had to do a lot of gentle education (BF will misshape my babies nose, anyone?)

and then not rub their noses in our BF success because it clearly made them review their actions negatively. god knows what else they could have done - uneducated, dazzled by the new hospitals and doctors, ensured categorically that 4 hourly FF was the only way to raise a healthy child...

Enid · 06/11/2005 09:36

my mum told me not to 'go on' about breastfeeding to my dsis even before she had had her baby and that she would be fine if she bottle fed like she did.

unsurprisingly, dsis decided that she hated bfeeding and gave bottles from day 3.

Eulalia · 06/11/2005 09:58

My mum breastfed my two older sisters but for less than 6 months (1950s). she only breastfed me and my sister for a few weeks as the doctor said "you can't possibly breastfeed twins" even though she was managing fine. She gave up though - was the 1960s and was the fashion then to bottle feed. Didn't influence my decision to breastfeed as I'd not talked about this till after my first baby was born.

fisil · 06/11/2005 10:06

Me and my brothers weren't breastfed, but not for want of trying. 30+ years on my mum still finds her "failure" to breastfeed difficult to handle. So I had quite an emotional mountain to get over in order to breastfeed. Like her, I was also determined to breastfeed. I had to give up with ds1 after only 11 days because the pain was worse than giving birth - I was in constant tears and couldn't cuddle him or walk. Why did I push on through the pain instead of seeking help? A lot of it was tied up in my experience of my mum's long term anguish at not having been able to breastfeed.

BTW, her problem was a complete lack of milk. It is very very rare to have a complete lack - but it does happen, and my mum was one of them. However, because it is so rare people kept telling her she just wasn't trying hard enough, should try this and that. So for the first few days of my life I wasn't breastfed or bottle fed. I just sat around with a nipple in my mouth!

allgrownup · 06/11/2005 10:32

I was'nt breastfed although 2 older sibs were. I am now b/f baby no 4.
can I just say to anyone who thinks family will put them off that once they feel comfortable doing it, others will accept it and is'nt the end of the world to mixed feed or use expressed feed around family who are tricky or if you're out etc. incidentally, no one finds b/feeding easy all the time and no one should be pressured by other people either way -

suedonim · 06/11/2005 12:50

I wasn't breast-fed, nor my brother, in the 1950's when f-feeding was all the rage. When I had my first baby I wanted to b-feed but only managed three weeks (Four-hourly feeds, with 2mins on each side, anyone??) before resorting to formula. It wasn't a subject I discussed much with my mum but I did resent being told that it didn't matter because formula was the same as b-feeding. I felt that was a patronising thing to say as it was obvious, even then, back in the 70's that formula isn't the same as breastmilk. After ds1 I was so determined to bf subsequent babies and went on to successfully feed three more babies.

Dh was bfed as I think all his siblings were. But he was weaned at just a few months onto biscuits in custard! This was just post-war so I guess food rationing made life difficult but even so...

munz · 06/11/2005 12:56

me and DB both were, think till about 6 months in the 80's.

afaik DH and his DB weren't but not 100 % on that.

I do want to BF our son, (and hopefully express as well for DH to feed) when I approached the subject with mum she said she did it but not all women can - the main thing was to try even if u only manage it once/ for a day at least u did ur best. and that if I couldn't I shouldn't feel guilty/bad about it.

Pruni · 06/11/2005 13:28

Message withdrawn

teeavee · 06/11/2005 13:33

I was - not sure for how long

teeavee · 06/11/2005 13:56

I was always determined to breastfeed like my mother, aunts, and sister did. It definitely helps to have that kind of background and support I would say. But bottle-feeding was such a 70's thing - a lot of my friends, and dp, were bottlefed because it seemed to be 'the thing to do' back then, and my MIL was even actively recommended to do so by doctors!
The substantial majority of mothers still bottlefeed today, and it's not the end of the world, of course...
But I've never really thought I would be shocked if any dil of mine in the distant future were to bottle-feed!

Windermere · 06/11/2005 14:05

I am the youngest of 4 and was not breastfed. My brothers and sisters all were until they were over a year old. By the time my mum had me she said that she had enough of breastfeeding. I tried unsuccessfully to breastfeed. I don't think the way I was fed had a bearing on my own decision.

Pixiefish · 06/11/2005 14:07

Bottle fed but bfing dd at 21m

Blu · 06/11/2005 14:12

I was bottlefed (Mum tried but couldn't manage it and all the support she got was the obstrtricain saying, about her breasts, 'might as well send them to the sausage factory'. That upset her so much that she was deterred from even trying for my bro and sis), and never saw anyone b/f a baby while I was a child.

I was an extended breastfeeder, made my decision based on contemporary evidence, peers, and NCT and mw classes and support.

Blimey, if we did everything the way our Mums did, I'd be in a Playtex girdle!

suzi2 · 06/11/2005 17:19

I was breastfed for 3months. Would have been longer but my mum also had a hyperactive 2yr old who slept an average of 3 hours a day and a clingy 5 yr old.

She breastfed all of us. My eldest brother was a few weeks premature and she really wanted to breastfeed him. The hospital were all for her formula feeding as breastfeeding interupted their schedules! She was undetered though and hand expressed feeds and delivered them to the hospital several times a day and also breastfed him when he could latch. Midwives were giving my brother formula without her knowing and she was always worried he wasn't eating. He lost weight the first week and the hospital said that "that shouldn't happen" and to put him on formula. She had bleeding nipples and no support. But she still did it for 6 months!

Part of the reason I felt I wanted to have a real shot at it. She's been very helpful and supportive. If a bit backward at times... "in my day..."

motherinferior · 06/11/2005 18:10

Yes, and I always assumed I would breastfeed.

pootlepod · 06/11/2005 18:46

Yes I was breastfed as were my sisters, though in those days it was generally 'till 6 months and weaning onto solids began earlier too. I can't remember my mum breastfeeding my younger sisters but grew up assuming most people did it- it wasn't till I was pregnant that I realised this wasn't true. . Two of my sisters have also breastfed, one bottle fed because she had nipple problems.
I hope my daughter choses what is right for her should she ever have children.

NomDePlume · 06/11/2005 18:53

I wasn't breastfed.

I breastfed DD for 10 weeks

dejags · 06/11/2005 18:58

Not breastfed and would love to have BF my two DS's (can't though because I've had a breast reduction )

JessicaandRebeccasmummy · 06/11/2005 19:01

my mum mixed fed me and my bro - bottles in the evening for my dad to feel a part of it.

i tried to BF Jess - lasted 4 days, gave up with rebecca after 24 hours.

Yorkiegirl · 06/11/2005 19:05

Message withdrawn

Gem13 · 06/11/2005 19:06

Yes I was and did. Don't think I had much choice in it really; DM is very pro-breastfeeding.

She was the only mother on the maternity ward breastfeeding when I was born (1970). The midwives pulled the curtains round her so she didn't upset the other mothers!?!

She couldn't understand why I was still doing it past 8 months though, 'You were on cows milk by then...'

DS until 12 months, DD - 17 months