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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

did you feel mroe empowered when you were breastfeeding, or bottlefeeding- {NOT a debate}.

49 replies

rainbow83 · 10/08/2007 16:42

This isn't supposed to be a debate but recent events have got me pondering.

If you have had several children, which method of feeding made you feel more empowered?

OP posts:

muppetgirl · 10/08/2007 18:04

...am now thinking how I can train ds2 (when he arrives) to only poo on command so I don't have to take a bag with me. Didn't manage it with ds 1 though...

edam · 10/08/2007 18:05

Not sure about empowered but I definitely felt proud of b/f ds because it was something only I could do. Not proud in a smug, looking down on anyone else way, in a 'wow, my body can do this all by itself without me telling it to and it's v. good for ds' way.

edam · 10/08/2007 18:07

(I did give him one bottle a day after about six weeks at dh's insistence, and then moved onto bottles completely at six months, so have some comparison. Bottlefeeding was fun because he guzzled and slurped but b/f was something else. Especially as it had been really, really tough at first.)

LilianGish · 10/08/2007 18:12

Empowered to do what? I would imagine if you want to get straight back to work then ff is empowering as it allows someone else to feed your baby. If you are planning to take care of your own baby then bf would be more empowering as it is so much more convenient (imo). If you are talking about Jordan, rainbow83, I wouldn't have thought she had much choice, given the amount of surgery she's had on her breasts.

ProjectSeverus · 10/08/2007 19:15

I once had to buy an a new babygro when out. Once in hundreds of trips out sans bag.

This is of course once i had calmed down with pfb sydrome when i wouldn't walk out the house without a bag 4 times the size of the baby

TheQueenOfQuotes · 10/08/2007 19:17

what about something to wipe their sticky faces/hands/dribble/snot with????

puffylovett · 10/08/2007 19:18

havewn't had several children. but have found the whole process of acheiving a natural labour and bfing lo, when it felt like a completely un-natural alien thought whilst i was pregnant, v empowering

ProjectSeverus · 10/08/2007 19:21

6 or 7 wipes in a ziploc bag tucked into the sling pocket.

ProjectSeverus · 10/08/2007 19:23

Wilkie · 10/08/2007 19:26

I didn't enjoy breast feeding so bottle feeding worked for me.

I will try BFing again though with my next one but it isn't for me I fear, I like the routine of lovely clean sterilised bottles, lined up, ready and I can see exactly how much LO has had at each feed.

I do admire people that BF though too

ginnypotter · 10/08/2007 19:32

i breastfed ds for 2 years and am still breastfeeding dd, they both had the occasional bottle of EBM but no formula.

i found it really really empowering. partly because i had a shit birth with ds (and subsequently an elec cs with dd) and i felt like i had 'failed' at giving birth after i had ds. (i wanted a water birth with no pain relief etc etc, and ended up with an epidural and horrendous forceps delivery)
by perservering with the breastfeeding even tho it wasn't easy, i had cracked nipples, mastitis etc) i regained a lot of confidence in my body. i felt like my body had failed to give birth, which really affected how i felt about being a woman (as i felt it was something i SHOULD be able to do) but by exclusively breastfeeding it gave me back a lot of my confidence about being a woman and a mother. i could look at my baby growing and think I did that, no-one else, just me. it still amazes me what an amazing thing breastfeeding is, for mums and babies.

so yes, breastfeeding can be an amazingly empowering experience and i am so glad i perservered, and i will be really sad when dd weans herself as we're not planning any more children. breastfeeding really helped me to feel confident as a mother, and helped me to get over my 'failure' to give birth.

hunkermunker · 10/08/2007 22:23

I've talked about formula advertising and the bottlefeeding culture in this society disempowering women, because I believe that if you make your decision based on half-truths and sketchy myths (and a LOT of women do) then you have been sold short.

Same as for anything, really. But more important when it's infant nutrition, somehow, IMO.

TheQueenOfQuotes · 10/08/2007 22:25

oi Hunker (sorry thread hi-jack) - posted some new piccies of DS3 (and DS2) here - thought you may like to have a nosey

Twinklemegan · 10/08/2007 22:25

How do you mean empowered? I think I felt disempowered when I bottle fed because I was feeding on demand and I hated seeing so much expensive formula going to waste. That's completely aside from all the other issues that I won't go into again here.

foxcub · 10/08/2007 22:30

Rainbow - BF makes me feel very powerful in that I can nurture and nourish my baby with my own body. I think its a fantastic feeling

When I had to give up BF DS1 'cos I kept getting thrush, I felt "impotent" - as though my body couldn't manage to do what nature intended it to. I cried when i gave him his first bottle.

When I then managed to BF DD (my next baby) successfully and enjoyably for 18 months (until she made me give up - I felt it was a great achivement

magnolia1 · 10/08/2007 22:32

5 children, 2 bottle fed, 2 breastfed, 1 mixed fed.

Empowered feeding THEM ALL I am their mother making sure they are well cared for, fed, loved, nurtured. No matter how they are fed!!

TheQueenOfQuotes · 10/08/2007 22:33

actually didn't feel empowered feeding my DS's - but I did tonight when I completely pulled DS1's fancy new water pistol to pieces, found the reason it wasn't firing properly and fixed it (and put it back together again}

binklehasflipped · 10/08/2007 22:33

bottlefeeding - because that is what I wanted to do = empowerment

meandmy · 10/08/2007 22:34

i bf and ff my dd i definatly think bf made me feel better in myself and made me know that i was doing the best for my baby!
ff after as couldnt continue bf!

magnolia1 · 10/08/2007 22:36

QoQ

walbert · 10/08/2007 22:38

I desperately wanted to bf, but after 3 weeks of trying and tearing hair out, dd would not latch on and had to go on bottle when i couldn't even express milk any more. DD is thriving, happy and healthy, and while i didn't really have choice as to how i fed her, i would say it was finally having to make the definate decision that dd was going to be bottle fed, and feeling confident that she was thriving and doing really well in spite of dire assistance from staff at hospital and the nct, that made me feel empowered. As magnolia1 says, it's being dd's mum and seeing her grow and be happy and healthy and cared for, and as a reflection, knowing that you are doing well as a mum that makes me feel 'empoered'.

Jojay · 10/08/2007 22:38

Felt most empowered when bfing ds, but was also able to leave him with someone else and a bottle of ebm occasionally.

Felt I had the best of both worlds.

TheQueenOfQuotes · 10/08/2007 22:41

well 'tis true magnolia - one of those "this is what mums are for" moments....I remember my mum taking all sorts of things to pieces and fixing them and it used to make our day that our mummy was so clever to be able to make our "broken" things work again .

I'd made a start this afternoon but hadn't managed to fix it before having to do evening routine - told DS1 I'd "try" to fix it - but not to get his hopes up (thankfully it's a fancy pistol that splits into 2 if you want it to - so he could still use the other bit) can't wait to see his face in the morning .

Sorry totally hi-jacked the thread

Gobbledigook · 10/08/2007 22:45

Didn't feel empowered doing either.

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