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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

If you have time, please would you help with a reasearch project?

105 replies

tenacityflux · 05/01/2010 20:11

Hi,
I'm doing a project as part of my breast feeding peer supporter training, and I would really value a moment of your time.
The information won't go further than my project and you will only be known by your screen name, so please feel free to speak your mind!
Please also be assured that I am not in anyway looking to make a judgment on your answers, I am simply interested in recording your feelings about breast feeding whatever they are.

Please ignore the questions your feel are irrelevant to you, and thank you once again for any thoughts you have time to spare.

With your first or only baby, if you decided not to breast feed, what influenced your decision?

With your first or only baby, if you decided to breast feed but stopped earlier than you would have like,when did you stop and what contributed to that decision?

Did your decision to breast feed or not change if/when you had further babies?

Thank you!

OP posts:
GerMom7 · 05/01/2010 21:53

  1. N/A

  2. Stopped at 3 months - no regular supply despite use of domperidone, and severe back problems meant I found it hard even to hold DS and was eventually hospitalised.

  3. If I have another I would like to try bf but if I had problems I would probably give up more quickly as the whole thing was a nightmare. After getting home following birth DS ended up back in neo-natal unit being fed through nasal gastric tube but I still persevered with mixed feeding as I was desperate for him to have benefits. I can only hope that he got something from it.

After DS got out of neo-natal unit I was taken back in with infection and stuck on maternity ward for two weeks on IV. This meant I had lots of time with people trying to help me bf but problem was everyone gave different advice and I never felt like I really know what I was trying to do. When we got home I went to local breastfeeding clinic and they recommended the domperidone but the clinic was busy and again I never felt I quite got the hang of what was going on.

Hope that's of some help

mrsflux · 05/01/2010 21:55

I bf to start as I knew it was best for baby.

I planned on doing 3 months or longer. I managed 6 weeks. I stopped because my ds who had always got plenty of food to push him up into the 91st percentile (from the 75th) no one spotted a Tongue tie and he found his own feeding technique which was good for himbut agony for me. He had it cut at 5 weeks but it was too late for him to see the need to change his feeding style so I stopped. I was getting really down about it and was trying not to feed him as it hurt so much. I think was heading for pnd but stopping made me feel so muchbetter. Although I still had to deal with the ff guilt!

I will try to do the same for any later children but don't think I will feel as guilty opening that first box of fomula next time. My ds is a happy healthy boy which is all that matters!

boysaloud · 05/01/2010 22:06

I breastfed my first son into his first year, when he chose to stop. We overcame ductal thrush, mastitus, abscesses, and his tongue tie. I fed my second son until he stopped just before his third birthday, this time we faced ductal thrush,reflux and food allergies, and his first week was spent in special care. My third son, now 20 weeks old, breastfed and again we have the misery that ductal thrush brings, as well as tongue tie, reflux and food allergies. I have spent many hours sobbing due to pain, and at times had to just get to the end of each feed and not thinking any further ahead. However, I wasnt going to stop, and my boys have all slept and thrived on their breastfeeding. I fed on return to work each time, and am hoping to do the same again. My mantra has always been, this will get better, this will get better.

vanimal · 05/01/2010 22:07

With your first or only baby, if you decided not to breast feed, what influenced your decision?

Tried to BF for around 6 weeks, but found it very painful and difficult to get a good position for latching. Was very heavily influenced by BF counsellors/hurses telling me it shouldn't hurt etc, and so I thought I was doing it wrong So I stopped and FF instead.

With your first or only baby, if you decided to breast feed but stopped earlier than you would have like,when did you stop and what contributed to that decision?

Stopped at 6 weeks (was mixed feeding by then). Major factor was the pain of BF compared to ease of FF.

Did your decision to breast feed or not change if/when you had further babies?
Yes, I was desperately upset that I couldn't/didn't BF DD1, so I tried just as hard with DD2, and succeeded. A big factor in this was realising that BF does hurt a lot to begin with, and that this is normal. Am still BFing now, 6 months on.

4andnotout · 05/01/2010 22:14

1.I tied to bf dd1 but unfortunately after 3 days of her refusing the nipple the mw's in the hospital gave her a bottle which she gulped down and was ff from then on. Dd's 2&3 were the same but DD4 latched on well straight away and is now 14 mo and still bf (much to my hv shock!)

CrosswordGeek · 05/01/2010 22:29
  1. Breastfeeding 4 month old DD, right now in fact...
  2. Don't plan on stopping until she's at least a year, and then we'll see how she takes it from there.
  3. If I ever have any more children, I will absolutely breastfeed again, for as long as time will allow
cupcake75 · 06/01/2010 08:47
  1. N/A
  2. She's 7 months and I'm planning on breastfeeding till she's at least a year. When I'm back at work I'd like to switch to morning and night feeds assuming she's happy with that. If it works will probably keep it up till she's 2 years or so old. I have to travel with work so not sure how things will go in practice.
  3. Will breastfeed again ideally for similar amount of time. Have found it amazing how calm it has made me (after the hideous first 4-6 weeks were over).
cece · 06/01/2010 09:03
  1. I bf all three of my babies. With my first one I stopped at 8 months old. I wanted to stop earlier as she had reflux. I was fed up with being covered in regurgitated milk, but she wouldn't drink out of a bottle, so I had to conintue till she would.

With the second it was much easier as he did not have reflux so I fed him for 14 months.

Currently bf DC3 and he is 7 months now. I intended to continue till he was about 18 months but we shall see. He has eczema and intolerance to milk so I am about to go dairy free in an attempt to help him... so I will see how that goes. If it is too difficult then I might have to give him his prescription formula instead.

yama · 06/01/2010 09:13

  1. n/a

  2. Stopped at 8 and a half months. Perhaps it was a bit earlier than I'd have liked. A comment at a wedding about getting my "life back" might have made me think I was different (it was in front of a few people nodding in agreement). Then, my dd's first tooth came through and then my period returned. I took then as 'signs'.

  3. Planning on breastfeeding dc2.

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 06/01/2010 09:30

With your first or only baby, if you decided not to breast feed, what influenced your decision?
N/A

With your first or only baby, if you decided to breast feed but stopped earlier than you would have like,when did you stop and what contributed to that decision?
At the time, maternity leave was only six months and I ahd to go back to work. I continues BFing until the nine month mark, but my DD was on very few feeds then and it naturally peetered out.

Did your decision to breast feed or not change if/when you had further babies?
My second child had very serious health problems at birth and there was no option other than to tube feed her. However, much to my amazement once she had left intensive care she began to breastfeed (at four weeks old I believe). I provided EBM up until then for the tube feeds. Unfortunately, my milk dried up at about the four month mark - I think owing to sheer exhaustion as my DD was still very poorly.

Original poster
tenacityflux · 06/01/2010 13:45

Thank you so much for every one who has replied, and do please add more if you're reading this thread for the first time; best wishes to all mums who find the time to reply!Sx

OP posts:
babybouncer · 06/01/2010 16:19
  1. n/r
  2. DS did not regain birthweight. After 6 weeks, HV advised giving one bottle of formula per day. After 8 weeks, as DS' weight had not changed, Dr advised topping up with 6oz of formula after every feed. At 5 1/2 months HV suggested that I could cut down to just 2 bf per day as it was getting too much stress with weaning. At 6 months (now) just giving a morning feed, but will drop that by 7 months as I have to return to work and have earlier starts. I tried many things to improve my supply, but was unable to access much support except via helplines. I had originally wanted to ebf for 6 months.
  3. Intend to bf next child
doughnutty · 06/01/2010 17:09

1 n/a
2 After cracked nipples (which still haven't healed 4 wks later), mastitis, expressing then feeding with one boob every 2-3 hrs and expressing off the other every 3-4 hrs (solution to problem - yes. Practical or even possible - not for me), stopped with muvh guilt, mind changing and reluctance at 3 wks.
Obviously I sought help but everyone who saw me said my latch was good which given my problems it wasn't! Unless I'd had someone on hand for every feed I don't think I could have persevered any longer.
3 Will let you know

MrsBadger · 06/01/2010 17:34
  1. n/a
  2. stopped earlier than planned as it became obvious I wouldn't conceive again unless I did so but she was 18m by this point so it wasn;t too much of a wrench.
  3. No
QandA · 06/01/2010 17:35

  1. I did breastfeed

  2. I carried on much longer than I had anticipated

  3. No, I will still want to breastfeed if I have another baby, probably more so now I have experienced it and wouldn't want a 2nd baby to not have the same experience.

aendr · 06/01/2010 18:38

  1. I decided to try, but was worried about whether I would succeed or not. I did have a little milk in cartons and a couple of bottles just in case. (The milk being one a friend used so that if I succeeded, she could have it.)

  2. We never got a successful latch, so I started on formula from bottles before we left hospital on day 5 (he was cup fed before that.) I then expressed enough to exclusively feed expressed milk for 4 weeks, got really bad mastitis and was really struggling mentally and with the tiredness so we decided to cut down and stop, got mastitis again so had to stop really slowly and eventually stopped by 10 weeks. Exclusively expressing is really hard - you've got all the inconvenience of bottle feeding (sterilising etc) PLUS have to spend time sterilising pump bits (which weren't suitable for the microwave steriliser and the electric steam one died, and its replacement then only completed its cycle on the second attempt) PLUS have to spend time actually pumping (the double pumps and halter tops with holes for the pump horns enable one to read a book, but not do much else, not even cuddle the baby).

  3. I want to try but I'm scared due to all the problems last time.

rodgershawk · 06/01/2010 19:15
  1. Formula fed from the start. Even when I was trying to conceive I knew that I would not bf. I did not want to, did not like the thought of it and wanted hubby to be fully involved. I was never questioned by the midwife or HV as I made it clear bf was not on the agenda. My DH and I happily FF our now 23 mo son who is happy and healthy.
  1. NA
  1. When I have another child I will be doing everything the same again.
Lolbilly · 06/01/2010 21:20

I have one baby who is 4 months old tomorrow. I have just stopped breastfeeding at Christmas. I would have liked to have continued to breastfeed as I do believe in all the benefits for baby and mum and also at times I really enjoyed doing it.
I stopped because I found it really hard work!
I think it was a combination of:

  • being the only one who could feed my son, even when using expressed breast milk, I still had to express it at some point during the day. This made me feel that I didn't really get a break, which made me feel resentful. I can now go out all day on my own if I want to and my husband can look after our son. Even if I never do it I feel liberated knowing I could!We are now sharing the feeding responsibility and husband has commented that I seem more relaxed.
  • constantly worrying about milk supply, even though baby boy was thriving, because I never seemed to be able to express as much as I thought I should.
  • lack of support from family & friends (a lot of whom don't have children)
  • my baby seemed to take a long time to feed which I foung tiring and it took up a lot of his activity time instead of playing
My reasons seem a bit lame in comparison with those who have suffered mastitis etc but I felt that I have given my baby boy a good start healthwise and had got to the point of needing to take a decision in all of our interests, not just his. I am getting over my feelings of guilt for stopping breastfeeding.

Hope that helps!!

loopybear · 06/01/2010 21:45
  1. Planned to exclusively breastfeed.
  1. I was still producing colestum only at 15 days. I was telling everyone I asked for help that I had PCOS. I only discovered Mumsnet when DD was 2 months old and as I was grieving because of my failure to feed my baby one of the wonderful BF counbesellors who posts on here suggested it maybe due to my PCOS. My new GP confirmed it was definately a possibility. Midwives asked me to write a letter of complaint so that they could get the specialised BF training they needed.
  1. Am trying to get pregnant. Plan to BF if I succeed am armed with research, have GP who told me next time she'd support me and a friend of mine has trained as BF counsellor, so will be seeking loads of support next time
Catherrs · 06/01/2010 22:44

  1. N/A

  2. I probably stopped a couple of months before I'd have liked to (he was 10 months old), because I was pregnant with DS2 and was very tired etc... also wanted a break before it all started again!

  3. It was very important for me to BF DS2. Although I would have done so anyway I had added incentive as he was premature and very sick when he was born, and I wanted to give him the best start. So I pumped for 3 weeks before starting him on the breast.

rasputin · 06/01/2010 22:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

treedelivery · 06/01/2010 22:51

a - N/A

b - 6 months, she spat me out and I didn't push the issue

c - 8 months, stopped to be an egg donor. Tried to reestablish but she wouldn't play ball.

Aranea · 06/01/2010 22:55

a - N/A
b - stopped when I wanted to
c - no difference with second baby (still breastfeeding her at 14 months)

Dalrymps · 06/01/2010 23:00

  1. n/a

  2. I planned to bf till at least 6 months, stopped completely at 5 months but only really exclusively bf for 5 weeks.

The reasons for stopping early were that I found it extremely painful and had good periods and bad but at 5 weeks could take no more. The midwife said to 'just stop if I want and not slowly wean him off as I would just be prolonging it'. After about 5 days I regretted my decision and with the help of a lactaion consultant tried to start up again. From that point my ds was mix fed to varying degrees till 5 months, I never felt my supply fully came back and by the time I could feed pain free he decided the bottle was easier .

The other thing that didn't help was that my son was slow to gain weight and the health visitor kept encouraging me to give more formula as she thought my breastfeeding was to blame. Now he is 2 I know it wasn't to blame, even on high calorie formula from the dietician he still gains weight slowly, just the way he is, a little man.

One thing that was picked up on when ds was over a year old was that he has a slight tongue tie, i'll never know whether this made the difference or not as it was too late by then. I'll make sure they check dc2 for this!

  1. I plan to try to bf number 2 (due in 9 weeks). I have to say my expectations are a lot more realisic this time however. I will try my best and get all the help I can if i'm struggling but I won't be so hard on myself if it doesn't work out. I will keep chanting 'every feed counts'.
WingedVictory · 06/01/2010 23:04

With your first or only baby, if you decided not to breast feed, what influenced your decision?

With your first or only baby, if you decided to breast feed but stopped earlier than you would have like,when did you stop and what contributed to that decision?

Did your decision to breast feed or not change if/when you had further babies?

  1. N/A

  2. stopped when I wanted to (about 13 months)

  3. will definitely bf again, as moving to formula/cow's milk was a BIG faff, and I would have found it so hard to cope with all the washing and sterilising and making sure I had a bottle with me at the correct times.... Bf was just so much easier and more flexible. I'll be really annoyed if I can't do it again!