Who out there is an avid 100% breast feeder?

[browniegirl]

I am breast feeding my 2nd baby and fed my first untill she was 2 it got off to a very rocky start however I persevered and I am so glad that I did it was wonderful. My son is 10 months and is an absolute darling to feed no problems at all. I don't mind some of the restrictions of breast feeding like,not be able to leave him over night (unless I am at work then i have no choice) in fact that makes it more special because only I can do it nobody else is there anyone else who feels the same because all I seem to hear are the negative aspects of feeding and not the positves!

I think breastfeeding is far more lazy than bottlefeeding.

yes on yer arse all day flapping morks around
fgs

I'm another one on no 3(7 weeks) This'll be my last and I already know it'll be hard to stop, despite the fact that I'm really struggling this time.
It was lovely to read this thread and be reminded of all the good things about breast feeding my children. In a funny way I feel more proud this time because it is difficult and I'm still working at it.

I've never foundit restrictive, as I've never wanted/needed to be away for too long, and the advantages (free, ready-made, constant availability)outweigh any disadvantages for me.

nothercules - def agree bf is much lazier than bottle. I bf cos its the best thing for us and i'd be gutted if i couldn't do it, but there's no way i could bottle feed anyway, I just couldn't be arsed with all the hassle of making feeds, heating them up (whilst listening to a screaming baby!), faffing about sterilising bottles etc.

Also it must be bloody expensive to bottle feed, so bf'ing leaves me more money for things like chocolate .

Felt so proud of myself when I gave dd her first taste of solid food at exactly 6 month old. That was the very first food she'd had in her mouth apart from breastmilk, not even water. I felt great knowing that I'd not only grown her inside for 9 months but outside too for another 6. She was 17lbs by then too so had put on a good amount of weight just on breastmilk :).... and yes she's still breastfeeding. She was 4 yesterday!

Yep - still bfing at 14 mths. Said I'd be happy to do a year, but like a lot of others I just can't see myself stopping until dd wants to. Shes so active and wriggly its the only time we get to cuddle up. Its so gorgeous seeing her little arms wave up and down in anticipation when I ask her if she'd like some milk.
A very wonderful experience.

Bf dd1(8 yrs ago)for 4 mths only for various reasons, lack of bf support mainly, so am going the whole hog with this one!

I'm another avid 100% breastfeeder. Never even considered giving formula, even though breastfeeding was pure agony to start with (thrush -ouch!).
Sometimes I love it, but sometimes I don't. It can be boring, demanding, inconvenient, even overwhelming at times. I just do it because I believe its the best thing for my dd, simple as that.

LucyJu, well put, you said exactly what I feel! Wish i was as succint as that!

ALso second Eulalia, I felt really proud to get to 6 months and feel I'd created and grown dd/ds until that point.

Proud to be added to this thread!

Dd2 is nearly 10 weeks and is 100% nork fed - and I am sooo happy it is working this time. Story with dd1 who lost weight and crap HV got me to ff - I didn't know I should have ignored her.

Big thanks to my local contact at La Leche who is making it her personal mission to make everything go O.K. - and it is!

breast fed dd for a year and stopped as i was pregnant and didn't want world war 3 to break out when the baby comes, will definitely be b-feeding again. so satisfying being able to give your child such comfort and nutrition so easily

four children all breastfed, no formula at all.
1st child for 12 months, 2nd for 13, 3rd for 18 months, 4th for 2 1/2yrs.
Each with very differing weights, 9lbs , 10lbs 8oz, 7 lb 3oz, 7lb 8oz

Each baby fed in their own odd ways, and had the normal problems, mastitus once, cracked nipples with first one etc.

Had the horrible experience of being told my breastmilk gave my 3rd child their allergies.
Which was c*, as he was born to have them!

However loved feeding them, didnt want to leave them for longer than a couple of hours.

These first years go by in such a flash, and I fail in many other ways as a parent, but in this area I found things easy.

However, didnt like being pregnant, love the babies, wasnt to happy with my whale size! Not that I am a skinny being anyway.

If only all my parenting problems could be as easy as breastfeeding.

nice to see this thread is still going (posted sometime ago)
just spent the day with in laws, lovely people but we don't see eye to eye on this matter
had jokes relating to little britain (dd 10.5m)

dh smiled and ignored...

help - as so many of you are successfully breastfeeding, could you pls give some advice

my dd is 10 wks and now fully b/f, in first wks was bottle - mainly expressed - due to jaundice,but have gradually moved to full b/f. she now rejects bottles. however, she is not gaining weight as well as in previous weeks. she drinks for only 5 minutes at the time and has on a regular basis green poo. also, i have a very strong let-down, which really upsets her. often i am not sure if she refuses to feed because of wind - i have difficulty winding her - or that i only think so but she actually is very hungry - because if i really keep trying sometimes, not always, she suddenly starts drinking. only during the night i have no problems at all, she latches on herself and drinks for quite a while - we co-sleep. any advice greatly appreciated

Conni - It can be really hard work in the beginning can't it, I think it is brilliant that you have managed to switch over to bf from a bottle start, so well done for that.
It may be, that she is not latching on brilliantly, so she ends up getting squirted! I have a very strong let down, ds1 had no problem with it but did end up having really bad colic (maybe why), then had twins and ds2 was fine with let down but had colic, ds3 sruggled abit and find it offputting, but didn't have colic.
Have you tried expressing a little milk first so that the let down is not so strong? Could be that is is better at night because you are both more sleepy and relaxed, or perhaps you should try feeding her lying down in the day if you don't already.
They all have growth spurts, and then slow down, breast fed babies don't usually put on weight as quickly as bottle fed, but I expect you know that. Another thought, is that she has an infection as it sounds like diarehea (can't spell it!), this would put her off her milk, but she will need more fluids.
I always found that as I got stressed, my milk supply got less, so as hard as it can be relaxing is the key. In case the lack of weight is connected to milk supply, why not try and build it up by feeding often, eating more and drinking loads of fluids?
Hope this is helpful and not too obvious, good luck

overrun, thanks.

she has been tested for bacterial infections, but all has come back negative. She has lots of poos and also plenty of wet nappies, according to the paediatrician she is well hydrated and as she is very alert he told me not to worry too much but to keep monitoring her weight. She was very heavy at birth (2 wks overdue) but since then has dropped almost two curves and is now following the median curve (little above it), her head was below median at birth but is now following median as well and her length was way above and has stayed that way (i.e. she is very long). She is very alert and hence the paeditracian wasn't too worried. But with checks her weight is always commented on. I am trying to see a real b/f consultant, because according to h/v she latches on perfectly, however, they haven't seenher when she is behaving really frantically, and when I am really unsure whether she is very hungry or has wind or something else. I have not tried to feed her lying down during the day, will do so. What do you think of the foremilk/hindmild arguments, would it be possible that she only gets foremilk and how would I know???

I so wish I'd had mumsnet with my first two. Stopped feeding dd1 at 3 weeks due to depression, pressure from mother and dh and lack of any support. With dd2 was going well until I got meningitis when she was 10 weeks old. Took her into hospital with me but milk dried up. Still feeding dd3 at nearly 22 months-never had formula despite thrush to start with (toe-curling agony). Although everyone thinks I'm a loony and even my lovely child-minder looks embarrassed when dd3 asks for "miwk" I just love her contented little sigh and sleepy "uzzer side mummy".

conni I hope one of the real experts will be along to help you. Just as my own personal opinion (and I am not an expert), if she has dropped down to the median line and is now tracking that line then I would not worry about her weight gain if she's continuing to drop then I'd be more concerned. Tiktok has made a great post on foremilk/hindmilk recently that I found very helpful -- I'll see if I can find it and bump it up for you. Basically the distinction between "fore" and "hind" is a little artificial and nutritionally babies who feed little and often get the same nutritional mix overall as babies who feed for longer but less often. So if you are demand feeding frequently then you probably don't need to worry about the foremilk/hindmilk thing. I did find with DS that when we co-slept he would feed more at night and be less interested in his daytime feeds. I also agree with pp suggestions of seeing whether expressing a little before a feed tones down the strength of your letdown when you are actually bf her and so makes her happier and with trying nursing lying down if that's a practical possibility. What winding methods do you use?

leahe thanks, i am typing with one hand b'cause she is feeding again - she feeds v. often during day but only for short period and then suckles for a long long time which really relaxes her, hence i let her do so.

the problem with expressing is that i never know in advance when she wants to feed and hence need to express. when she comes off, all upset, i let the milk spray in a cloth and try to latch her on when it has slowed down but often she refuses by then, sometimes she does accept the other breast but not always - one breast is worse than other.

i wind her over shoulder, rubbing her back and patting or sitting upright, have tried lying her over my knees but she hates that. when over my shoulder she is frantically and noisily sucking her wrist in between sobs. really hard because feel v. sorry for her but not sure how to help. advised by g.p to use infacol but again don't know when to give, b'cause hard to know in advance if she is going to drink or suckle.

Conni - it really does sound that you are doing the right things, and cliched as it may be, it will get easier. I am still feeding my 18m twins and it is such a doddle, but I remember worrying so much when I bf my firstborn.
One winding tip that I was told, (remember two ds's had really bad colic so I tried everygthing), was to sit him on my knee, with one hand supporting his front at chest level and the other hand between his shoulders and then you sort of rotate the baby slowly. Sounds bizarre, but it did make them burp a lot, but I think that some babies are just more windy and it does interfere with their feeding a bit, but it really improves dramatically after 12 weeks, with mine they were suddenly different babies!
Oh yes, the other thing I remember doing, is walking up the stairs with him over my shoulder and that seemed to bring up loads of air. It used to have the unfortunate habbit of waking ds2 as I carefully tiptoed upstairs to try and put him in his cot!

thanks, i'll try - not sure how the rotating works though ...

i am not an expert by any means but would just like to say that i had a similar situation.
my dd was jaundiced as well and was fed formula over the first few days, i did my best to hand express colostum and tried to bf as well.
when we left hospital at 5days, she was latching on but only on one breast. i used to express from the other and dh used to feed her that.
like yours she used to feed for ages and quite frequently. eventually we settled and she feeds fine from both with no problems, although there is clearly a preference. nearly 12m and still going strong.
i am sure you will get expert advice soon
best of luck, its a really lovely thing to do, but do try not to be too hard on yourself.

probably didn't explain the rotation thing very well, I hope you get to see a breasfeeding expert soon, as you've overcome a lot already

conni - does your baby fuss alot at breast bobbing on and off, and is she happy led on her back? if not happy on her back and bobbing it could be silent reflux. my ds has reflux (5.5m atm) and has had since birth. i did alot of research on subject and some babies show symptoms but dont vomit alot. during my research i found a position for feeding with fast letdown, i too have this on one boob, the position was to lie on your back with baby feeding ontop of you. the gravity helps to stop the flow. hope you get to the bottom of things and well done for carrying on, i know from personal experience its not always easy.

vnmum - yes, she bobs on and off a lot when she is frantic but not always, e.g right now she seems ok. she often does not like being on her back, eg during changing and during day, although she does sleep on her back. she does not vomit but has lot of saliva dribbling . i have never heard of silent reflux, what do you do to treat it