Were you breastfed?

[maisiemog]

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?

I love using the "we're saving a fortune on formula" line to my DH to justify my online shopping habits!

Nope was bottlefed from the start. My mum was even given medication to dry up her milk. I think that this had a slight effect on my struggles to breastfeed (gave up completely at 8 weeks) as it meant she couldn't offer any advice.

I wasn't bf, Mum was in America and didn't want to bf me on the plane home! but bf all my siblings, my brother till he was 3. All her sisters bf'd as well, its the norm in our family and bottlefeeding is frowned on. I have bf all 3 of my boys, ds1 and ds2 till they were 12 months, and still bfing ds3, 10mths, not keen to stop for a while either!

Nope. It wasn't even a consideration. She said after I had ds that she never even knew any mothers who bf. Ditto mummytosteven that it was too bad for me as far as any advice. I think that would have been a big help as I did have lots of problems bfing ds.

I remember my mum telling me years ago that I would only accept the breast and flatly refused all offers of a bottle. Perhaps it had a bearing on me breastfeeding - there was certainly never a question of me not doing it, though we did some top-up feeds early on. DS flatly refused all offers of a bottle from 8 weeks on, so history repeats itself! I'm not sure if I'll even bother with top-ups when number 2 arrives next April (we'll see!).
DH was bottle-fed and he is most definitely in favour of breast for that reason. His dad (a medical man no less) allegedly told his mum her breasts were too small so she must bottle-feed, , though being dead, he can't refute that allegation....

..and I'm with you Gingerbear - despite the agony of the first 3 weeks or so on the breast, bottles seem like such a faff, . And breastmilk is FREE!

ah, you see I stopped breastfeeding at 10 weeks. Ds2 is now 6 months and I still nearly everyday feel pleased that life is so much easier now that I no longer have the faff of breastfeeding.

But the cost ... that I do miss!

I wasn't and neither was my brother. We were early 70s babies. When my brother was born my parents were living with my mum's parents for awhile and she said she wouldn't have felt comofrtable feeding in front of her father.

I think she would have liked to have breastfed both of us. She is extremely supportive of my choice to breastfeed and I try hard not to negate the 'choice' she made back in the fromula-touting 70s.

I was breast fed - not sure how long for but until at least 8 months or so. My sister was breastfed until a year. We were born in mid 70s and early 80s. I think it has played a part in my decision to breastfeed both DS and DD

I was bfed until 3m, at which point my mum's milk "dried up". Think her supply probs were caused by trying to follow my grandma's advice to feed me on a 4-hour schedule - apparently there's a change in the hormones driving milk production at around 3 months and some milk ducts can get "switched off" if not used frequently enough .

When my sister was born a couple of years later, my mum's milk didn't come in at all , so she was entirely formula-fed. My sister went on to bf her ds until he was two, so it didn't put her off .

meant to say, am bfing ds still and he's 12m.

My mum has always been v supportive of me and my sister bfing - she's just a bit rueful that it didn't work out the way she'd hoped when she was feeding us.

I wasnt, was moved to the local cottage hospital after my birth, mum was very ill and was kept in the major hospital. She was upset that she didnt get the chance. I bf both my daughters until they were 1 year old, however, Mum was quite anti me breastfeeding, and the slightest cold I got she put down to the breastfeeding and it taking too much out of me.

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i've been wracking my brain to remember if my mum ever told me I was bf and just remembered that I must have been as I remember my mum telling me that when I was a baby my older brother who would have been 5 yo at the time helped himself to the ebm she had in the fridge one morning.

She also kept chickens and he would go out and eat the eggs raw before she had time to pick them up.

dd is nearly 7 mo and the odd time so far that others have asked 'for how long' I reply as long as she wants as after she stops I can never do this for her again.

I was bf,but my older brother wasn't as he was born early and the 'thoughtful' staff took him off to special care while my mum was in the toilet and when she came back she thought he'd died, the shock dried up her milk and she couldn't feed him. She was devastated that she couldn't and I don't think she's ever really got over it. That made me want to feed my owm children. DH and his brother were bottle fed so MIL could see the milk going in. Most of my friends were bottle fed during the mid 70's.

I was breastfed (late 60s) and so was my brother (early 70s), certainly for a time, although my dad keeps nails in old Cow & Gate tins in his garage so we must have gone onto this at some point. I know my mum was pro-breastfeeding but sadly she died several years before I had children so I had no-one to ask as my dad (being a man of his time) can't remember the finer details. I was determined to breastfeed both my daughters (now 8 and 4). I had problems with feeding both times and my grannies fretted and kept pushing the formula at me but I persevered, with a lot of support from my dh, mil and the breastfeeding clinic at the local hospital and I got it sorted and fed both girls until I went back to work each time when they were 9 months old. I kept up feeding morning and night until they were both 1 and am proud I did this.