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Infant feeding

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

OMG, you'd think I was feeding my 3 week old fruit shoots and cheeese strings by the reaction I got a playgroup this morning.....

95 replies

LadyTophamHatt · 07/02/2007 13:16

beacuse I was giving him a bottle.....

I actually heard myslef justifying it over and over and pointing out about 2000 times that actually the bottle was full of EBM.

FFS the BF mafia has followed me to east sussex....

Honestly, the looks I got were shocking.....and I was embarrassed to be sitting there feeding him wih a bottle.
Yes, Embarrassed....WTF!!!

OP posts:
lucy5 · 07/02/2007 14:41

Thats the root of the problem "embarrassed/awkward" Why would Lth feel this way, whether the women were being cows or not. There is such a pressure on mothers and a whole ream [sp] of reasons as to why they feed in the way they do.

tiktok · 07/02/2007 15:06

Lucy5 - yes, I agree, there is pressure, and it differs from area to area. There's enough pressure without people imagining it where it doesn't exist, and blaming a mafia

hunkermunker · 07/02/2007 15:19

LTH, you're doing brilliantly!

Some women don't have enough in their lives, so they criticise others.

Mind you, people have probably thought I was being judgey when feeding either boy because I used to sit with a glazed PND expression on my face and didn't really know where my eyes were ending up. So I would say that if you get "looks", they may very well not be "OMG that woman's evil", they may be "my head is full of painful wool and I can't think of anything else".

But congrats on keeping up the expressing - well done!

(Are you still trying to get him to latch, or are you happy with expressing?)

tiktok · 07/02/2007 15:29

LTH - despite my teensy telling off I want to add you are doing great as well....and don;t let looks put you off!

lucy5 · 07/02/2007 15:29

What I was trying to say, is that, even if Lth was imagining it. I question the reason why. Why should she put that pressure on herself and where has that pressure come from?

LadyTophamHatt · 07/02/2007 16:32

Ohhhh all you girls saying how well I;m doing makes me feel like a right fraud

Most of the calories DS4 gets comes from formula, I'm not exclusivley expressing for him simply because there are not enough hours in the day. I'm lucky to get 4 or 5 sessions on the pump in a day and that only produces about 6-8oz (about one and half feeds for the little chap).
It would be soooo much easier if he would latch on but he won't, TBH I'[ve given up trying now. He's sooooooo hungry all the time that to get him latching on, feeding from direct source(Tm miaou )and to be fully satisfied (ie, increasing my supply) would take up so much of my time and it's just not possible with 3 other Ds's and Dh who works shifts.

That sounds like a bit of a cop out, doesn't it?? I know it would work if I gave it 100% dedication but I just haven't got the time....it kind of bugs me now that I decided after the birth that I wouldn't BF but as I said in the birth announcement I just need to remeber how bloody awful it was and now think what a good thing it is that he's getting some, not much but some anyway.

TikTok, in answer your question....Ummm I don't know really, I think I would have felt awkward/embarrassed regardless, which TBH is weird because DS1,2 and 3 were all FF and I was was never embarrassed about feeding them in public.
Maybe it is partially in my head.....

OP posts:
hunkermunker · 07/02/2007 16:35

But you are doing really well, LTH - you're not a fraud at all.

It can be hard enough to establish bfeeding with one baby, let alone with three big brothers running about at the same time.

So the fact that three weeks in, he's still having some EBM is great and you can be very proud of yourself for continuing to express. No fraudulent feelings necessary, OK? xxx

tiktok · 07/02/2007 17:33

LTH - I think it is (in this case) all or mostly in your head, honestly....and maybe this is the reason why. I may be talking rubbish, but hear me out

This time round, could it be you think of yourself as a breastfeeding mother? Sometime in this last pregnancy or shortly after birth, you bought the breastfeeding ticket. Maybe this was because of stuff you had read, people you had met, whatever.....maybe it was because you were a bit older this time with baby No. 4 and just had a different outlook and attitude to this as well as other things.

Now, it didn't go well. But you still have that ticket in your pocket. It reminds you of how you thought of yourself, and how you would still like to think of yourself, in a way that touches you more deeply than it did before with the other children (maybe this is your last baby...that would make a difference, too).

So could it be that what we have here is regret and sadness? Yes, it's alongside all the positive stuff of keeping the challenge of ebm going despite everything, and feeling good that the baby is getting the goodness of it...but it's still a raw spot, and it makes you hear 'mafia' when 2 mothers come up and say something a little bit silly but not cruel, and it makes you see hostility in people's silence and people's glances.

You're still hanging on to that breastfeeding ticket and that's great. It's how you see yourself, but with a bottle in your hand you know that's not how the world will see you. So you feel embarrassed, and awkward, and you feel a compulsion to explain. So where does the pressure come from? Inside?

What do you think?

LadyTophamHatt · 07/02/2007 20:14

Tiktok, what do I think??

I think you're part of my sub-conscience mind and that you are absolultey spot on about pretty much evrything in your last post.

I didn't even realise I felt so sad about it until I read your post with tears streaming down my face.

I'm doing the best I possibly can though so I just need to remember that.

(Just feels a bit shitty when I feel the best isn't as good as I'd like)

OP posts:
LIZS · 07/02/2007 20:15

LTH

lucy5 · 07/02/2007 20:31

Lth I can truly sympathise and empathise with you. I too had a frog in my throat reading tiktok's post. My ds is 10 weeks now and I mix feed him due to circumstances that I won't bore you with now. I exclusively breastfed dd for 17 months but it didn't work out this time. I am further down the line than you and have come to terms with my feelings of inadequacy, guilt, shame, you name it I felt it. It makes me cross that any woman should feel like this. The pressure subconcious or not has to come from somewhere!

Anyway you are doing a great job and you should feel proud of yourself for the love that you have for your children.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 07/02/2007 20:33

We should all have a tiktok in our subconscious, I think .

LTH, you are doing fab. You really are. Your determination and stamina is amazing.

hoxtonchick · 07/02/2007 20:34

you're doing so well lth. and george is gorgeous (as are your other boys). and i can say that with absolute certainty as i've seen him .

ItsMeMellowma · 07/02/2007 20:34

aww LTH... your doing fantastic!!

moondog · 07/02/2007 20:38

LTH,you are doing a fabulous job.
We are all so proud of you and happy for you.

LowFatMilkshake · 07/02/2007 20:46

The breast feeidng mafia really piss me off!

My DD nearly starved because I did not produce milk. She ended up in SCUB at 4 days old with high sodium levels and had to be tube fed for 48 hours!

So with DS I said to my MW I would formula feed from the start and express whenever the boobs worked (3 oz's in 3 weeks if you are interested)

Got some new rooike MW visit me the first day home and grilled me on why i was formual feeding

My normal MW found out and made sure I only ever sa her after that!

Just let someone ask me why I bottle feeding...my explanation would involve rather a lot of sign language and possibly some violence too

moondog · 07/02/2007 20:49

The boobs wouldn't have produced much milk if you hadn't put the baby to the breast though LowFat.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 07/02/2007 20:51

Read the thread LFM.

LTH, do you think you could get hold of a fruit shoot bottle, wash it, sterilise it, and fill it with some EBM???

expatinscotland · 07/02/2007 20:52

my milk didn't come in until DD2 was about 5 days old.

well done to you, LTH!

tortoiseSHELL · 07/02/2007 20:55

LTH - you're doing amazingly well. I know how you feel, I was SO sad ds1 was mixed-fed, and I did feel really embarrassed giving him a bottle. But every ounce of EBM you're giving you're LO is liquid gold for him - what a fantastic present as a mother, and it IS harder doing it by expressing, so well done - you should be REALLY proud of yourself. xxx

LowFatMilkshake · 07/02/2007 21:04

VVV, I dont get your comment - "read the thread".

I am empathising with LTH about people attitudes towards seeing a bottle in a babies mouth instead of a boob.

I would love to have breast fed both time but could'nt - recently found out it is a family problem.

Moondog, my daughter was on my boob for 4 days - still nothing, she lost over a lb of her birth weight. DS was offered the boob for two days but was screaming so much I tried expressing directly after him latching on and there was nothing coming out.

My moto is mum knows best and I think it's great that LTH is doing so well

tiktok · 07/02/2007 21:20

(((((((LTH))))))))

And LowFat - please read the thread...don't use the word 'mafia', read what Lady says about her feelings and their origins, and while you are totally right to feel cross about a 'grilling' from a midwife....oh, just read the thread and see we've moved on from chucking 'mafia' around

BandofMothers · 07/02/2007 22:02

You all seem to know each other so hope I'm not intruding. I think LTH has patience of saint to do all that expressing. DD1 was bf til she developed a monster batch of oral thrush (misdiagnosed as milk spots by HV)and learned to suck in a strange way. She got skinny so when gp told me to top up with ff, I did. Crying whilst giving bottle. After that she wouldn't touch the boob. Screamed for the bottle.
With DD2 I was determined and she has gone the other way. Hates bottle with scary vengeance and drains my boobs so can't express. 20 mins of pumping will yield maybe an ounce!! I gave up. Would be nice to know she'd take a bottle if I wanted to go out!!!
Can't have it both ways, but at least he'll take both. and as long as you know what's in it sod the rest.
I have bf dd2 everywhere, got a disgusted look from an old lady once, and been stared at by young men, or interested young women. It just amuses me.
Be smug that bottle has bm in and chuckle to yourself at the morons who seem to disapprove!!

VeniVidiVickiQV · 07/02/2007 22:12

Ah, you got there for me tiktok, thank you.

sweetkitty · 07/02/2007 22:13

LTH - I think you are doing a great job and don't worry what anyone else says!

FWIW - I'm with miaou up here I was treated like a complete wierdo for BFing, everytime DD2 needed a feed at toddler group I'd hitch up the top and let her get on with it then I would get at least one other Mum come over and start to tell me why they didn't/couldn't BF, like I cared! When no one else you know is BFing you do feel like a total freak.