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??

"when people bottle feed the feeds may seem shorter, but no one ever seems to add in the time spent washing bottles, sterilising them, boiling the kettle, waiting for water to cool then heating the feed back up again."

10-15 minutes to feed
5 minutes to wash the bottles
4 minutes in the microwave to sterilise
Boiling the kettle - 30 seconds (3 minutes if you actually stand and wait for it)
Waiting for water to cool - 30 minutes or so (but again you can be doing other stuff so for me that counts as "0" minutes)
Heating feed - 1 minute (in the microwave )

Total - approx 30 minutes (but I make bottles in advance so most of the above doesn't need doing every feed.

BFing (for DS1 and DS3) - Feeding - anything from 20-45 minutes, time sat on the sofa while they slept in my arms as I couldn't/can't (DS3 still has some bfs) put them down without waking them after a breastfeed - up to 3hrs.

Actually having done all 3 'scenarios' with feeding (different ones for each DS) as much as I know that breast is the better option it DOES take longer (IME of course )

bottle feeding akin to poisoning

because i b/f for 6 weeks and I never went out due to not being able to b/f in public (my pressure none put on me)

because pnd kicked in...

I am so glad we are getting opinions from both sides. I do feel that the pendulum has swung and that where once b/feeder's were ridiculed now bottle feeders are too.

I think with my lo (I expect to bottle feed as sooooo scared of pnd coming back) I will wear a badge so other mothers can know the reason as to why my poor child is beong 'bottled'

PMSL@Custardo

I agree with sweetkitty.
the culture in this country about bf is supremely fucked up.
anyone who says oh it doesn't really matter how you feed your baby is absolutely positively not listening to what women say on this thread and elsewhere
of course it frigging matters. how trite and wrong can you be.

Divastrop - in my friend's case, her DS was left to cry until he was "due" to be fed. Like I said, not my cup of tea.

and this isn't getting downstairs tidied up before DH gets in......AND he's later home tonight so I could easily have finished by now if I'd started when I meant too.......

and btw my lovely 2m old neice takes 45 mins to drink a bottle, hardly the quick and easy option.

lissie - have they tried changing to a faster teat? DS2 used to take ages to drink a bottle too.......then someone suggested a fast teat - hey presto 15-20 minute feeds (DS3 more speedy lol).

Fannieannie - Is is quicker and easier to bottle feed then if you have loads of children?

she had v bad colic, but she just likes to guzzle/stop/guzzle/stop.

Sweetkitty - the 10 days stay in hospital was more like 40/50 years ago.

I do agree with your point that 'convenience' methods of feeding were popular if you could afford it.

(I'm probably about 20 posts behind now)

muppetgirl, I'm curious as to why PND= FF?

10-15 mins to give a bottle?

ok,my ds2 used to drink his bottle in 5 minutes flat right from birth,but dds 2+3 took 30+ minutes to drink their bottles in the first 6 weeks.

lissie-i can relate to your friend who wanted her body back,i felt like that after having dd1 when ds1 was 11 months old.

another reason for my chosing to ff is that i have suffered horrendous AND in my last 3 pregnancies,and i just wanted to have the baby then get back to 'normal' hormone-wise,which didnt really happen untill af had returned.

"Is is quicker and easier to bottle feed then if you have loads of children?"

Well firstly let me just say I'm not sure I have "loads" of children - just the 3 .

And yes - if I'm honest I do find it easier to bottlefeed DS3 with the older 2 to look after. The first 2 weeks of breastfeeding all day everyday were ok - DH was at home to help with looking after them especialy in the evening, but once he went back to work I find it very hard going.

daisy and babybootoo -

Because I couldn't bear for him to be that close to me.

I guess I have greedy children .

Anyhow - 30 minutes + per feed (for bottle) is still quicker than the time I'd been taking if I was still bf exclusively - as (inclusive of sleep/nap afterwards) it could be up to 3hrs!

or perhaps boys are just faster bottle drinkers (that would be about right - getting ready for downing pints in 18yrs time ) as I see that it was your DD's who were slower...

sorry, muppetgirl . i thought it maybe had to do with ADs, but I'm currently BF and taking ADs....i can appreciate how you feel though. i was the same with mt DS 5 years ago.

Fannie annie - sorry you answered that one ages ago...

Most people, (our generation), I meet who bottlefeed say they didn't have enough support to do so so I am surprised to see that some people do indeed make a choice (I've left off the commas to avoid denigrating and smugoidish tone) to bottlefeed.

pnd isn't just about 'feeling down' you could have taken my baby away and I would have been fine with it.
Now, I'm like a lioness if anyone comes within 10 feet of hurting him.

PLease remember that it isn;t all 'roses' and 'pink kittens' for some mothers. They struggle every single day of their lives at first. They live for fridays as someone eles will take the baby away, they dread mondays as they are alone with 'it'.

Try not to judge, you don;t know what is going on behind the 'I'm fine' smile.

tutu100 and divastrop have mentioned two things I was going to say about bottlefeeding. Divastrop, yes, my ds is a snacker and bottle feeding doesn't really mean some quick routine. And tutu100, I look enviously at successful breastfeeders not just because I would have preferred it because I have those beliefs/principles etc too, but for selfish reasons. Once you have established it, breastfeeding has a certain simplicity to it that bottle feeding and all the faffing about lacks. At my NCT postnatal group others were talking about wanting to introduce some bottles, and I was saying, actually I think it's a lot of work, and it doesn't necessarily magically introduce routine etc. And I don't even do all the work, my dp does most of the preparing feeds and sterilising, and gives bottles when he's not at work.

I think something else that needs to be taken into consideration is the amount of maternity leave that is granted now.

For my mother's generation it was about 2/3 months. On very little pay.

Maternity leave time/payments have improved dramatically in the last 5 years or so. Some women have to get back to work asap and expressing at work isn't an option. Hence start the baby off on formula.

muppetgirl: hear hear!

Daisyboo, apologies as I've gone over the top. I did feel this way and are dreading the birth of ds2 as my lovely world could all come creashing down again...

B/f =great
F/f =great

Falling in love with my child was the best thing I ever did for my him.