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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

What was the main factor in deciding how to feed your baby?

152 replies

LucyJu · 31/01/2006 12:45

Someone said on the Channel 4 program thread that she didn't think that people decided to breastfeed or not on the basis of perceived health benefits. I did. But what was the main influence on other people's decisons? I'd be really interested to know.... I really don't want this thread to digress into a bottle vs breast debate (plenty of those elsewhere), or to have any arguments about whether anyone's reasons are good or valid. I would simply be interested to know, if anyone has the time.....
The main factor in my case was that my dh has Crohn's disease and I wanted to minimise the chance of my dds developing the same condition in later life.

OP posts:
006 · 31/01/2006 17:14

This reply has been deleted

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hoxtonchick · 31/01/2006 17:34

i just always knew i would breastfeed. went through agony both times, but so glad i persevered. laziness played a role too.

JoolsToo · 31/01/2006 17:43

when I had No 1 - leading up to the birth I was always going to breastfeed, I knew all the reasons why I should.
I had a couple of attempts in hospital but I wasn't happy and I realised that I was doing it because 'it was the right thing to do' but in the back of my mind I knew I really didn't want to - can't articulate 'why' it'd like saying why I like red but not yellow - I just don't.

When No 2 and No 3 came along I was much more relaxed because I knew it wasn't an issue - I was going to bottle feed and was happy with that decision.

Pruni · 31/01/2006 17:43

Message withdrawn

dyzzidi · 31/01/2006 17:51

I couldn't decide beforehand but when my baby was born 6 wks ago she was starving hungry and I was very poorly after planned c section for medical reasons and I actaully enjoyed waatching DH give her her first bottle. When I got back to the ward the BF counciller came to see me and asked if i would like some help BF I thought for a moment and said no thankyou I want to FF.

Don't regret my decision couldn't tell you 100% where my decision came from I just know that it feels right to me to FF my baby and my DH was happy that he could share in her feeds he felt it helped him to bond.

bobbybobbobbingalong · 31/01/2006 17:58

Dh had excema as a child, teenager and young adult. I've seen the photos and heard him describe how self conscious and sad it made him having it on his face (the spat on combed down curly hair looked worse actually). He also has asthma. I had awful weird rashes as a child that they never got to the bottom of (now I think they were allergies - probably to hideous 1980s food colourings), allergic rhinitis and I still have a dodgy irritable bowel.

Quite simply putting formula into a child bred of us two allergic nightmares made no sense.

And it was the right thing to do - Ds is an allergic nightmare in his own right, much worse than the two of us put together. But with diet and the best start he is far more confident than we ever were because he has more energy, better skin etc.

Aloha · 31/01/2006 18:01

Health benefits first and foremost (intelligence, diabetes, lowered risk of breast cancer for dd and me etc etc etc), and secondly a primal urge to do it that kicked in when I had my baby in my arms - actually the minute I saw them. Convience is great, and is a definite advantage, but not a reason.

Psychobabble · 31/01/2006 18:05

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cece · 31/01/2006 18:07

pressure from dh and mw

JoolsToo · 31/01/2006 18:12

and?

LeahE · 31/01/2006 18:16

Main reason, as others had said, is that it never occurred to me not to bf, or at least give it a darn good shot. It was what my body was designed to do and worked well for thousands of years, so why do anything differently?

Secondarily, I suppose, if I'd had to give reasons, would have been #1 the health benefits to DS and to me, #2 the ease of just being able to whip 'em out rather than sort out bottles, and #3 the ability to lose weight while eating like a horse...

Original poster
LucyJu · 31/01/2006 18:19

Just looked through the thread. Very interesting. Thanks to all who have posted.
Cece - pressure from dh and midwife to do what? It seems to me that whilst some people are pressurised by midwives and husbands/partners to breastfeed, others are under pressure to formula feed.

OP posts:
Jasnem · 31/01/2006 18:20

I breast fed because;

  1. It's free 2)It was convenient, and easy (for me) 3)health benefits

In that order. Didn't seriously consider any other option, and as I had no problems with it, I didn't have to.

hunkermunker · 31/01/2006 18:20

Couldn't be arsed to make up bottles or lug them out with me. Have eczema and hayfever. Don't like powdered milk. It was what I wanted to do. I enjoyed it and so did DS. There was no reason not to and every reason to do it.

cathyspam · 31/01/2006 18:34

really wanted to bf especially because dh and i are both asthmatic and suffer eczema. ds1 made such a mess of my nipples within 3 days (with midwives latching him on) that i was bleeding profusely which ds was swallowing and then throwing up everything - tried to express but no let down to pump and tried nipple shields but ds would not entertain them - after a lot of weight loss from ds and agonising from me we switched to bottles and he took to them fine but i still feel like a bad mother at times - ds2 was much the same story again - thought it was worth a try but same problems. still

velcrobott · 31/01/2006 18:40

Didn't even consider bottle feeding... to me BF is the easy option... I am lazy. (Despite very sore nipples )

poppiesinaline · 31/01/2006 19:20

Tried to bf DS1 - had awful time. He turned out to have gastric reflux and didn't even feed well from a bottle either!

DD bf for baby health reasons. DS1 also turned out to be milk intolerant so was paranoid next baby would be the same. So bf for 3 months, although I physically really really struggled with it and lost loads of weight and was really ill (depression and stuff)

So DS2 was bottle fed right from the start - for my sanity reasons! My health still was not good and couldn't face the strain it would put on my body. My midwife was very supportive and said it was probably the one of the wisest decisions I had made! and as it turned out DS2 had tongue tie and no sucking reflex (we had to teach him to suck) and wouldv'e been awful to bf.

Normsnockers · 31/01/2006 19:25

Message withdrawn

Tinker · 31/01/2006 19:29

Didn't really consider bottle-feeding, didn't see it as an option at first. Have continued longer with 2nd baby since think I'm more informed about benefits. And can't be ar*ed with bottles now.

CorrieDale · 31/01/2006 19:54

Sheer idleness! The thought of staggering downstairs to heat up a bottle at 11, 1, 3, 5, etc made me shudder. So much easier to lean over, pull him out, plug him on (and in the early days, nod off myself for a few mins!)

cece · 31/01/2006 19:58

to breast feed

JoolsToo · 31/01/2006 20:02

I don't know where you bfing mums get the idea that bottle feeding in the night is such a chore! it's a doddle - dh did it

(anyway as some have said - I kept feed in the bedroom - didn't have to 'stagger' anywhere or 'lug' anything)

JoolsToo · 31/01/2006 20:03

cece - how did you feel about that? hope it turned out to be a great experience for you.

Flossam · 31/01/2006 20:12

My mum is a very pro BF influence. She remains convinced that the fact that my first ever feed was a bottle in the hospital while she was aslep (NOT requested) has meant I am a walking bundle of snot, with anaphylaxis and excema and athsma. She often laments the fact bless her. So I wanted to try to BF DS for health reasons and made it untill 5 months exclusively. Desperately wanted it to be longer but I just didn't have enough milk (and I really didn't, DS pulling away screaming as he wasn't getting anything. ) Mix fed untill he was 9 months. Hope to do so again with the next one and hopefully for longer. It is a lovely experience and I miss it.

expatinscotland · 31/01/2006 20:14

I also used those ready-made formula sachets at night w/a sterilised bottle on the bedside table. Have a two-bed flat, so no stairs!

And traded nights w/DH, which REALLY helped my sanity when I had severe PND.

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