Why "choose" to bottle feed???

[Difers]

I am a breastfeeding mum and I meet lots of mums who said they tried to breastfeed but weren't able to which I can totally understand but My mother-in-law said she "chose" to bottlefeed and didn't bother even trying...

So I am wondering, given the benefits of breastfeeding, why would anyone "choose" to bottlefeed??

I'm afraid I just skimmed the scientific information, as I said it has no impact on me! Found no. 100 on the "101 reasons to bfeed" slightly baffling, my dd smelt heavenly despite bottlefeeding, thank you very much

Oh god not this again. Why does everyone get so stressed about someone bottle feeding their baby? It's not your baby so butt out! If someone wants to bottle feed their baby then why is that any concern of yours? None what's so ever.

I just did not feel anything and I gather from talking to other women that not all women do feel the amazing enjoyment of bfeeding that some do.

i don't find that bf gives me or ever gave me 'amazing enjoyment' but i still do it. after 2 yrs of it, if i still find that it renews and deepens my bond to dd. yes, i know it is just one other way of expressing and renewing a bond but it's a damned unique one!

it is a bond that is dynamic and the bf element is also dynamic and surprising. it is something i could not fathom if i had weaned (willingly or not) at 6 wks or 6 mos or a year.

"I just do not agree that bottlefeeding cannot be as enjoyable and beneficial re bonding as bfeeding."
I did not say that and hopefully didn't imply it either.

Sweetcherrypie - MOVE ON - some of us are intreseted in the topic.

then that is fine, loony. no one is here to convince you just to share info and pass the time.

such a destructive nasty post this topic always results in upset, posturing, people taking positions,lots of faces too but most sadly lots of upset and the implication that FF mums are somehow doing harm/that FF is abhorrent - totally erroneous of course

mums have the right to chose how to feed everyone else butt out imo

I just hate this attitude by women who bf their baby. For some reason they like to try and make you feel bad about ff as if you have decided to feed your baby poison or something. This subject has been done to death and it's always the same.

'a few' women, surely, sweetcherrypie?

There are one or two harsh posts (IMo) about bottle feeding women, but most are fine.

COV: this paragraph comes from inside the paper i linked below.

I doesn't look like it is a 'small' chance of having dental malocculsion. but that depends on what you mean by 'small'.

"In 1987, Labbok and Hendershot20 published a retrospective cohort study of 9,698 children between 3 and 17 years of age. That study assessed the association between breastfeeding and malocclusion. The data demonstrated children who were breastfed for three months or less had a malocclusion rate of 32.5%. Children breastfed more than twelve months had a malocclusion rate of only 15.9%. In that study, children who were bottle fed were 1.84 times more likely to have malocclusions than children who were breastfed. Labbok and Hendershot20 concluded that each additional month of breastfeeding contributed to a decline in the malocclusion index."

Why choose disposable nappies vs terry cloths? Why choose pampers wipes vs huggies wipes? Why choose a bugaboo vs a Quinny? Why choose crocs vs doodles?

I could go on, but the intelligent MNers amongst us will get my point.

BECAUSE WE HAVE A F*CKING CHOICE!!!!
My god, it's OPs like this that really make me bloody FUMING!!!!!

We are people, we are humans, we are different, we have our own opinions, experiences, likes and dislikes.

THATS WHY!!!!!!

The sooner some of you bloody proBF-antiFF MNers get off your friggin high horses (god it really must make some of you dizzy) the sooner us mums who CHOSE to FF (my god, yes, there are some of us, and we make pretty good mums too - fancy that) will support BF mums more perhapss and celebrate the differences.

My god, it's like asking 'why choose gas and air vs pethadine' or 'why choose hospital vs home birth'....just leave it at the fact that, thankfully, we have more CHOICE and more facts available be able to CHOOSE than our forebearers.

I get sick to friggin death of this 'debate'. Usually I choice to ignore posts of this nature and swear under my breath, but enough is enough. Let's grow up and move on and discuss something more interesting and topical?

(and breathe.....relax....focus.....and announce rant over in an adult like manner).

whoops! anger = bad spelling.... I apologise, I am educated honest!

Good post youpeskykids, i am fed up too of being made to feel like i am some how less of a mother because i ff. It's like shut up and start worrying about your own kids, not other peoples.

when 'choice' is heavily influenced by
*cultural attitudes
*media portrayal of bf and ff
*direct marketing of formula to hospitals and hcps.
*poorly trained doctors, midwives, hv
*inadequate antenatal & postnatal care
*apathetic governmental policy
*nhs cutbacks
of course you have a right to be pissed off
laying the blame at the feet of bf mothers is wholly misdirected though and conveniently spares the above from your anger.

i would have loved to breast feed my dd but she was v i'll when born and tried breast for a week and the midwife made me bottle feed in the end as dd was shaking and was in danger of being re admitted to hospital, am expecting again and this time will try again but i dont think i'll get so depressed this time if i cant do it had a lot of pressure last time and suffered badly for post natal depression because of it

Um actually kiskidee yes you did imply that bottlefeeding cannot be as enjoyable and beneficial re bonding as bfeeding:

"yes, you do get snuggles, eye to eye etc with bottlefeeding. it just isn't the same though in a way which i can't quantify."

kikisdee

"yes, you do get snuggles, eye to eye etc with bottlefeeding. it just isn't the same though in a way which i can't quantify"

I gather from what you said (above) you have had experience of bf and ff. What differences did you find? I can't recall any tbh!

Whilst everyone might not agree that the discussion is interesting, it is surely always topical as children are born everyday & new mothers decide ( I use this term loosely) whether to BF or FF everyday. Therefore IMHO it is essential that we carry on discussing this subject even if it is uncomfortable sometimes.

youpeskykids, you may have heard the same arguments 100 times, but for some it may be the first time & reading this thread may enable them to make an INFORMED decision about feeding their baby.

If you're not interested, dont read.

anyway, and you had a 'choice' to ff

your baby didn't get the 'choice' to bf.

and yes, i give a damn what your baby drinks because:

he is 9 times more likely to be hospitalised
will be more likely to be obese and suffer from obesity related illnesses (diabetes, heart disease)
you are more likely to take time off work to look after him
your child is more likely to develop leukemia
you are more likely than me to develop breast cancer and so is your daughter
you are more likely to develop ovarian cancer

i only care because i pay taxes too and some of my money goes towards the cost of paying for the national health service. so, see, it is all down to me, me, me.

i agree i have a fantastic bond with my daughter and she was bottle fed, i think the pressure some people put on you to breast feed is wrong it made me get v depressed

Kiskidee I agree that it can ply a part in malocclusion but it has also been shown that the changes in our modern day diets also are playing a big part in oral development, plus other factorssuch as digit sucking, pacifiers, and good old fashion geneticsIn my experience I haven't noticed a significant difference between bf and ff children and prevelance of malocclusions.

Angie0201 Congratulations on your new pregnancy remember a good mother is not determined by method of feeding - fact a good mum is overall
loving
nurturing
emapthic
kind
funny

all of those thins you are of course

...and she feeds her baby any way she choses - end of!!!!

kiskidee i was ff and i can't say i have ever had any of what you have listed. i hate 'statistics' they are such crap.

kiskide

what a very brave post.

i have given dd expressed milk and even dabbled with formula thinking it may 'solve' some of dd's feeding issooz at one point and really couldn't be arsed about doing it even though i had a helluva difficult time for the first 10 wks. (a jaundiced baby, poor support in and out of hosp. and dh working away till then)

it is not the same because when all women bf, the letdown reflex produces oxytocin in the brain. it makes women relax and chill. when you are feeling harrassed, it will bring down your blood pressure.

thanks for that, its people like you that make me feel so better about the decision i took, at the end of the day its everybody right to choose, i would have killed to breastfeed but it never happened and i think its wrong for people to critize because of that. some people made me feel so small and i wanted to breastfeed