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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:
hazeyjane · 06/01/2010 23:07

1 - did decide to b'feed

2 - stopped early due to nipple destruction from poor latch, lack of decent support from hcp/bfc, thrush, tongue tie (spotted too late). Expressed for 3 months, until pain of expressing led to me giving up.

3 - I tried to b'feed dd2 (14 months after dd1). Although latch ok, still had extreme pain in nipples, even when expressing, gave up after a month.

I'm due dc3 in July and would like to try to bfeed again. I have since heard about something called nipple vasospasm, and think this could be part of the cause of pain with dd1 and 2, as I definately had the nipple blanching and extreme sensitivity that seems to go with it.

dingdong3 · 06/01/2010 23:12
  1. first baby so decided to give it a go-mainly influenced by pushy MW and LLL sister
  2. stopped after 4 days of HELL! Severely impacted on my wellbeing, confidence, bonding. Was made feel like a failure by pro-BF friends and MW/HV. Feel it really made me dislike motherhood and made me reluctant to have another kid. 3)Had twins 5 years later and stocked up on pre-made formula for months in advance. Never once considered BF. Had an amazing birth and recovery. Got TONS of sleep in hospital as the MW took the girls EVERY night!! Went home rested, strong and happy. Gave all pro-BF people the evil eye and have 2 strong and healthy girls who are thriving.

Controversial to say on this thread but I would say that although I know the obvious and numerous benefits of BF, I think some women put themselves through an awful amount of unhealthy stress to BF successfully and that this can impact negatively in other areas like establishing a good sleep pattern for baby and the physical recovery of the mum from the birth. I really admire anyone who struggles on...I just couldn't and as a result, I don't have anything good to say to pregnant friends about BF...so I say nothing at all...

Good luck with your project. Great to have this work going on and hopefully it will help lots of other mums.

ninamag · 06/01/2010 23:16

  1. I breastfed all four of mine- I'm Spanish all my family do this it didn't occur to me to do otherwise.

  2. All self weaned @2 years old

  3. I don't plan for anymore.

Manyofhorror · 06/01/2010 23:21

  1. Fully bfed for 1 week then EBM and formula from then on.

  2. I stopped because I was struggling to get a good latch. Had a cs and no physical support from anyone at home. Had no idea about bfeeding charities etc. Oh and had grown up as part of the formula generation who had been brainwashed by company marketing to believe that the answer lies within their product!

  3. No

moaningminniewhingesagain · 06/01/2010 23:34

DC1- did breastfeed but gave up too soon due to poor advice and poor judgement on my part. Stopped at 3 months after mixed feeding led to typical BF going downhill, because she was a very unsettled miserable baby. She was still miserable and unsettled on FF!

Much more determined to BF DC2, have been feeding him for 12 months so far and no plans to stop.

Lotster · 07/01/2010 00:09

a. Did breastfeed
b. chose to top-up with formula as my boy was a verrrry hungry baby and my supply couldn't match at times. Also had to take a lot of painkillers at times and didn't want it in my milk.

  1. Stopped at 5 months, would have liked to have done at least six but had horrid thrush that really damaged one of my nips, and on advice of BF counsellor had had to drop feeds to allow it to recover, so supply dwindled. Couldn't let down to a pump to increase again so called it a day.

  2. Breastfed again, with my little girl, was far easier from the word go, and enjoyed it unlike first time. Confidence helped a lot, plus she was a smaller baby and easier to satisfy. Stopped at 6 months, went half formula and half BM for a while longer, but shortly after implementing it, sat down to feed her for one of her two remaining daily breastfeeds and my milk was just gone. Felt very very sad, but knew it was a risk I suppose.

HTH

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 07/01/2010 00:20

1)Am breastfeeding
2)Still BFing at nearly 18 months, morning and night (and during the night!)
3)Will be TTC again in a few months and would plan to BF again - infact considering tandem feeding.

It was a real struggle to start with, latch problems and then supply problems. DS was 5 weeks old before he regained birthweight and I would say that he was 3 months old before I really felt that I was confident in my supply and confident about feeding.

Lymond · 07/01/2010 16:11

1- n/a

2- I stopped at 12 months with DC1, so that she could go straight on to cups of cows milk and I didn't have to faff with bottles or formula. I'd have liked her to self-wean, but she didn't want solids or other drinks at all, and really didn't want to continue on bfing 10 times a day any more.

3- Have also breast fed DC2 & DC3 (self weaned at around 18 months); still bfeeding DC4, who is 6 months old. Planning on continuing until he self weans, or is 2.

mims1 · 07/01/2010 16:49

  1. n/a

  2. completely stopped by 4 months, having struggled since the beginning with very painful thrush which wouldn't shift. Expressed and topped up with formula, but eventually milk dried up and I called it a day.

  3. Now have 3 month old exclusively breastfed baby, only problem this time is she won't touch the bottle!

saggarmakersbottomknocker · 07/01/2010 21:34

1st baby bf for just two weeks. Stopped because of lack of support and I think unrealistic expectations. Thought it would be easier than it was although I know now that I didn't give it a chance.

2nd baby bf exclusively for 6 weeks then mixed fed until about 12 weeks. Again lack of support and information - didn't realise how mixed feeding would affect my supply (MN didn't exist), HV unsupportive, big baby etc. Could have continued given more encouragement I think.

3rd baby - was determined to bf for longer but scuppered by her chronic health problems. She plummeted from off the top of the chart to off the bottom by 13 weeks. Again probably bf exclusively for 6 weeks then mix fed then tube fed formula.

alliwantissleep · 07/01/2010 22:08
  1. BF DC1 for 12 months.
  2. Stopped probably because I was made to feel was time to (friends, mother etc). If I had my time again I may well have continued for a few more months as we both enjoyed it and helped to set us up for the day. I went back to work when DC1 was 10 months old but continued to feed morning and night. Found stopping v. painful so realised I had probably still been producing a lot of milk!
  3. Had problems BF DC2 which resulted in mixed feeding for first 6 weeks however managed relactation and went on to BF until 11 months. Felt had managed a year with first and felt "obliged" to do the same with DC2. DC2 made the decision to stop at 11 months and I tried to keep going for a couple of weeks but then had to question who I was doing it for? Him or me. Not painful stopping this time, I think we were going through the motions at the end.
nigglewiggle · 07/01/2010 22:12

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?

Stopped when she wanted to stop (12 mths).

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

No, breast fed both DD's

Good luck with your studies

gemmiegoatlegs · 07/01/2010 22:17
  1. I brestfed both dcs
  2. I fed ds until he wanted to stop (8 months and well on the way to real food.) I feel this was the right time for us to stop breastfeeding although I would have done it for longer if ds had been inclined to. I breastfed dd until 4 months. i would have liked to have gone on for longer but didn't see how it would be feasible as I had a return to work at that point, not able to be near my baby during the day and an office environment pretty unsympathetic to breastfeeding mothers in general. My boss was absolutely unsympathetic to my needs as a new mother and expressing at work would have been a nightmare.
  3. I was happy with my first experience of breastfeeding, evn though it had been tough to begin with. This made breastfeeding the second time a natural choice. i would do it again if my poor depleted flappy breasts haven't given up the ghost!
theyoungvisiter · 07/01/2010 22:20

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

-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?
-I went on for much longer than I thought I would in fact. I initially planned to feed for a year but actually fed DS1 until he was three and a bit. I think MN was a key influencer in that decision as "knowing" other extended bfers and tandem bfers, even just online, made it seem more acceptable.

-Did your decision to breast feed or not change if/when you had further babies?
-I have had a second baby (he's a year and still bfing more or less on demand) and I plan to take the same approach with perhaps slightly more encouragement to wean to my timetable (ie a little earlier)

Schwabing · 07/01/2010 22:29
  1. N/A as breastfed DD (only child)
  1. Stopped when I wanted to (DD was 11 months old)
  1. If I have more children I intend to breastfeed them for a similar amount of time, as I found breastfeeding a positive experience
mummyofexcitedprincesses · 07/01/2010 22:30

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? N/A

Did your decision to breast feed or not change if/when you had further babies? I fed for longer the second time as I had a toddler to look after too and it was easier to leave the weaning until I felt I had more time.

LadyBiscuit · 07/01/2010 22:38

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? Stopped at 6 1/2 months when I went back to work. I would have liked to have carried on doing morning and evening feeds but my supply dried up once I cut down and expressing at work was not practical.

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

Mog37 · 07/01/2010 22:43

(1) N/A as I did breastfeed DD.

(2) I breastfed DD until she chose to stop (she slowly decreased number and frequency of feeds and stopped completely at 18 months - which may have been connected with my becoming pregnant again?).

(3) I'm expecting Baba No 2 in 3 weeks and intend to breastfeed again.

Hope that helps!

MrsMalcolmTucker · 07/01/2010 22:51
  1. Breastfed, so n/a
  2. Stopped at 1yr because I was going back to work and couldn't get the hang of expressing. I wish now that I'd kept the nightly dream feed going for longer, but it sort of felt weird to bf for longer. (Don't shout at me anyone, please- I don't feel this now, I think I was just internalising society's view of breastfeeding as something that you do if you must but that you stop as soon as possible)
  3. Yes, feelings have changed, partly as a result of seeing people's views on MN actually, as well as meeting extended bf'ers in rl. Am currently bfing 8m DS, and planning to allow him to self wean this time.
mybabywakesupsinging · 07/01/2010 23:05
  1. did breastfeed
  2. stopped with ds1 when he was bored by bfing (aged about 1)
  3. this probably encouraged me to let ds2 decide himself when he wanted to stop - he binned his morning feed just before he was 2, and was 2.5 when he stopped saying "time mummy milk" at bedtime. If there is a dc3 I will plan to do the same.
Dawnybabe · 07/01/2010 23:07

I couldn't get the hang of breastfeeding my first dd at all. I thought I didn't want to but now I think it was just total inexperience, fear and a complete lack of understanding at how hard it can be to get it right. First time mums should be priority for a breast feeding counsellor, in my opinion.

Since having my dd1 I met and forged great friendships with other mums and became much more laidback and clued up about it all. It wasn't scary and unfamiliar anymore. I tried again with dd2 and took to it straight away. Babies can be completely different but also your attitude from your first baby to the next changes as well.

Montifer · 07/01/2010 23:14

DS (18 months)still bf and intend to continue until he self weans.

Would definitely bf future DC, tandem feeding if necessary.

Found bf extremely painful initially (? thrush) and lots of problems with blocked ducts. Eventually settled at approx 3-4 months and has been a wonderful experience since.

NiceShoes · 07/01/2010 23:32

Q1. N/A
Q2. Lack of support.Literally crying at 2am with baby who was unable to latch on.no one to support me.Community M/W were contradictory and sporadic in visits.I hired BF consultant,she couldn't resole my feeding issues either.BF consultant had lots of useful advice none of which she was able to deliver upon. After a few miserable weeks i gave up and FF.The best thing I ever did,it gave me a break,to sleep,allow dh to feed.Gave baby nutrition.I felt like I was at least doing something productive.I felt ostracised and persecuted by BF Mums and breast is best media message when I "failed" at BF
Q3. i would immediately FF,having subjected myself to failed BF at least FF works.The BF consultants etc they can talk a good game but don't deliver.FF will instantly feed my baby.

almay292 · 07/01/2010 23:44
  1. N/A
  1. My first child stopped taking the breast when he was 2 (he was a greedy beast). I was pregnant but didn't know it.
  1. No change - though didn't feed for as long with second child as a) knackered and b) she would take a bottle
HinnyPet · 08/01/2010 00:00

  1. Was told by Mum and Gran that women in our family "did not" breastfeed and we "did not make enough milk", so I was equally determined to do it!

  2. I stopped bf'ing DD at about 10 months, I had to go away filming for 4 days! HV told me "no need" to breastfeed after 6 months and from DD being 6 weeks old advised me to top her up on formula, as she was slow to gain weight (birth weight HUGE at almost 11lb was mainly due to her being so very overdue) My poor DD hated bottle feeding, I kept trying and trying it, both of us frustrated and crying and thus contributed in my feelings of failure, to the hellish PND I got.
    My fabulous midwife (now a close friend) is responsible for me managing to feed DD in the first place, she spent so long with me in hospital and in her own time afterwards, she deserves a medal and chocolates.

  3. I bf'ed DS for 13 months as I wished I'd fed DD longer. Had a few hiccups in the first week - I was surprised it hurt, thought I was used to it, and as I'd had a c section my milk appeared to take a long time to come in. He is now 21 months and still cuddles in, sometimes I wish I was till feeding him as I miss the closeness. I loved breastfeeding and also trained to do what you're doing!