For mums who choose to bottle feed - anyone tell you even one breastfeed is good?

[mears]

Just interested. Lets not let this thread end up in breast versus bottle.

Do mums who choose to bottle feed get told that one breast feed is like a dose of medicine for babies immune system.

If they did, would that encourage them to do it?

Tiktok - You are right. Whilst I am not BF, the time I spend feeding my DD I find hugely loving and bonding. It has definitely helped heal my sadness about not BF long term.

If I have another baby, I would love to BF but would move to formula if the whole experience was not working and my mental health was suffering. Does anyone know what the known health benefits are of BF for less than the recommended 6 months? For example, is bf for 12 weeks considerably better than doing it for 6? This kind of info would be really useful to me, although hopefully my next experience will be different!

MrsFT - it's always difficult to quantify and compare outcomes as precisely as you are asking...though there is a chart issued by NCT that says 'bf for x weeks means xyz', 'bf for y weeks means abc' and this helps answer the question, I think.

The effects of feeding are on a continuum, so the less formula the better, but you can't 'bag up' or 'weigh' the effects and say '12 weeks of bf is twice as good as 6 weeks' because effects are multi-layered...and who's to say the effect on mother's breast cancer risk is 'worth' more than the effect on the infant's ear infection risk?

Then, you need to build in to your calculations very individual aspects, like your own example of mental health. It's definitely not good for a baby to have a seriously depressed mother - but if we can fix her bf so she is a happier mother, or treat her depression effectively, then this is better than switching to formula. Treatment, or fixing the bf, may not be enough for some mothers, of course, so you need to make a judgement, rather than a mathematical equation

i didnt want to bf, the thought of it made me feel horrible, but the midwife told me the benefits for the baby and that just one feed would help the babys immune system so as soon as dd was born she was on my tummy and rooted and fed.
a lady cleaning me and the room up shows me how to feed her slthough she pretty much did it herself.
i fed dd for 18 months, she never had a bottle, if i hadnt been told about the benefite even of 1 feed i definitley wouldnt have tried to bf as it grossed me out.
thank god for my midwife!!

I think that's the main thing, those Mums encouraged to do that 'one feed' may then go on to do more.

Also, in our local hosp skin-to-skin is now a matter of course unless there is a major medical issue, and quite often, Mums find themselves breastfeeding without ever meaning to IYKWIM!!

It just needs to be the norm. that is what you do after the baby is born.

I LOVE the 'every feed counts' slogan. That sort of mentality got me through feeding my twins. I just used to go from one feed to teh next, thinking of the good I was doing them, occasionally I would fall off the wagon and resort to a top-up until about 3 weeks in when I felt I'd really got it, but I counted the feeds I had done, not the ones i didn't! Definitely important I think! I kept bf-ing until they were 13 mths.

ilovetochat, that's fantastic! I wish you could repeat that on all the "bf nazis making mums feel guilty" type threads

Tiktok, I agree that the health benefits of that one feed are possibly negligible, but if this 'every feed counts' campaign was introduced, could we not see a small increase in bfing?
Women who are unsure about bf, and even those who are sure they will ff may find they are more capable/able to bf than they imagined.

I wanted to bf but found it really difficult and reluctantly gave up after 5 weeks but the fact the bf counsellor told me that every feed mattered and counted and that the tiny amount I managed to express was worth the effort it took did make me feel a lot better and probably helped keep me going for longer than I would have done.

So I do think if woman were told that even if they choose to bottle feed, a couple of bf in the early days would be hugely benefical would help, yes.

I am not sure the question "how do you plan to feed your baby" at your 12 week booking in appointment is particularly helpful. It might make some women who may wish to keep an open mind about it decide to bottle feed because they don't want the committment of saying they would bf on their notes if that makes sense.

tiktok has already said that in her 15.01 post - i agree.