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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

was shocked by the amount of bottle-feeders in hospital

737 replies

misdee · 27/02/2005 09:35

found it quite upsetting at times. my bed was by the empties 'bottle bank', so saw how many people on the ward were bottle feeding. in the 4 days i was there, there were 10 women on the ward in total, and only myself and another lady was breastfeeding. The midwives offered help to everyone, but most decided on bottles.

the reason i found it upsetting was because i didnt want dd3 to have formula but that choice was basically taken away from me whilst she was SCBU and was given formula by tube.

OP posts:
Toothache · 27/02/2005 09:41

Why is it shocking?

I was surprised, but not shocked or horrified!

It's not ideal that your wee one was given formula when you wanted to bf exclusively, but is she fine now?

I was surprised by the amount of women that didn't even want to try it! I'm not a campaigner for breastfeeding, but I couldn't of imagined not even trying it or experiencing the sensation of feeding my babies. So many in the wards thought "EURGH!!" to bf'ing.

I lasted only a week with ds and 4 weeks with dd.... but I had to try it.

Miaou · 27/02/2005 09:42

Do you know why any of these women chose to bottlefeed (assuming that, unlike you, they had a choice?)

Is dd3 on bottles all the time now or have you managed to bf?

suzywong · 27/02/2005 09:42

good question

Original poster
misdee · 27/02/2005 09:46

at least 4 of them were choosing to bottle feed, as they couldnbt bear the thought of breast feeding. (their words).

i honestly didnt relasie that bottle feeding was more popular than breastfeeding. maybe i'm naive

dd3 is back on full breastfeeds. only one paed understood why i didnt want formula given (my other 2 dd's have allergies), i was pressured by the rest to give formula even tho her glucose levels had increased with extra breastfeeds, but not quickly enough for them to be happy. they fed her hourly on formula.

OP posts:
Original poster
misdee · 27/02/2005 09:49

i guess that with my other dd's i was in and out of hospital so quick (next day with dd1, same day with dd2) i never realised how many people choose bottle over breast.

but the women down in SCBU were bringing in loads of bottles of EBM.

OP posts:
HappyMumof2 · 27/02/2005 09:50

Message withdrawn

suzywong · 27/02/2005 09:51

Good for you Misdee, really glad you have got back to full BFs

(I know this is going to make me frightfully unpopular but I can never understand some women's disgust at their own bodies to that extent, like Toothache says, even if it's for a day, give it a try, that's what your breasts are for)

Miaou · 27/02/2005 09:51

good for you misdee for persevering! In the light of that pressure, I'm sure many less experienced/confident mums would have given up on the idea of breastfeeding.

I do think it's a shame when people won't even consider trying breastfeeding. If only people would give it a go first, like you toothache. When I had the dds I was in Yorkshire and there were a lot of Asian women in the maternity wards. A lot of them refused to breastfeed because they considered colostrum to be "dirty milk" (their words, not mine) and therefore started off on bottles .

MummytoSteven · 27/02/2005 09:52

maybe some of the women might have had difficult experiences when trying to bf a previous baby that put them off?

NotQuiteCockney · 27/02/2005 09:52

I think some SCBU babies aren't big enough to latch properly, and have to have bottles? At least it's EBM.

I get very depressed by the amount of bottle feeding too. I live in a fairly poor area, and unfortunately, bottle-feeding is pretty closely tied to poverty. Which is doubly frustrating, as I'm pretty sure formula's pretty expensive, isn't it?

But of course, everyone has to make their own choices.

MummytoSteven · 27/02/2005 09:53

NQC - don't know the ins and outs of it- but it is possible to get tubs of formula cheap at baby clinic, and I think for very low income women there would be some entitlement to free formula.

NotQuiteCockney · 27/02/2005 09:53

I've heard that in Bengali culture, colostrum isn't considered to be ok for babies, but often mums will breastfeed when the milk comes in. So you can't assume, by someone's refusal to give breast at the start, that they'll bottlefeed exclusively.

Of course, giving bottles at the very start can't help make breastfeeding easier.

Yorkiegirl · 27/02/2005 09:55

Message withdrawn

suzywong · 27/02/2005 09:55

good point about vouchers for formula but breast milk is free.

(I feel I need to put in a disclaimer: please don't anyone have a go at me for my opinions, I don't want to turn this into another controversail thread, we all know some of us are staunch BF supportes and some are not, I'm just airing my opinions)

80sMum · 27/02/2005 09:58

I'm not that surprised. It's a shame though, as I think bf is lovely and would recommend that everyone have a go, even if they can only manage it for a short while. When I had my babies in the 80s, bf was the default option and any mum opting to bottle feed was virtually ostracised by the nursing staff. I felt this was so wrong and felt really sorry for the few mums who for their own reasons had opted not to bf. Nowadays it seems more the norm to bottle feed, probably because it is no longer the norm for mums to stay at home with their children till they're school age. Many mums go back to work quite early on and I guess they just can't bf then so they may feel it's not worth starting.

hercules · 27/02/2005 09:59

My experience was the same when I had dd. They were short staffed and when she was crying, I was told to give her a bottle. No other help.
If I'd have been an unconfidant first time mum I would have done just that.

Dh's cousin had a baby same place shortly afterwards and wanted to bf but got no help apart from formula.

hercules · 27/02/2005 10:00

Yes, but is possible to bf and work full time. It does take a bit of effort though.

suzywong · 27/02/2005 10:01

It is possible and it does inded take effort

I have an American friend who couldn't bf due to inverted nipples but worked 50 hours a week and a one point pumped a whole litre in a day, what a cow!

80sMum · 27/02/2005 10:02

Good for you, Hercules! How on earth did you do it though? I'm sure I couldn't have!

hercules · 27/02/2005 10:03

Just expressed at work and if i could get any out, in the evenings.

80sMum · 27/02/2005 10:05

Ah! Breast pumps! Have they improved since 'my day?' I tried one but all I got was three-inch nipples and a few molecules of milk! Maybe I just never got the hang of it.

hercules · 27/02/2005 10:06

I used the Avent.

suzywong · 27/02/2005 10:06

LOL I remember those 3 inch nipples, I never got on with the had helds but fortunately didn't have to, I hear the electric ones are dairy farm quality

Twiglett · 27/02/2005 10:07

Yes in the 4 days I was there, in a berth of 4 beds with at least 8 different women there were only 2 of us bf'ing

sparklymieow · 27/02/2005 10:14

When I was in Hospital with DS, I was the only one bf in a bay of 4. When DD1 was born I was 1 of 2 bfing in the SCBU, in her room (three in total) and bringing in EBM, and when DD1 I was the only one I remember the fridge I had to put my EBM in and there was only about 3 mums that brought EBM in, me included, and that was a SCBU with 10 spaces for premamture babies. I was very lucky that I was able to express straight away with my girls, even though the girls hadn't even been put to the breast at that point. One nurse said I had very good breastfedding nipples (was blushing a bit then!!)

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