Breastfeeding V's Bottle Feeding

[lolabanola]

Just being down right nosey now! ....

I have been reading up on the whole breast v's bottle feeding and I personally have decided that I want to bottle feed. Without wanting to turn this into a whole debate on how 'Breast Is Best' I was just wondering what everyone else plans to do when they have their baby? Are you breast or bottle feeding?

I ff all of mine and didn't give a toss what anyone else did or thought ...

hth

oh, Heavens no, anonmum1 that is not what everyone went through.

in fact what you went through was horrific and it is sheer tragedy and an outrage that two HCPs told you to give up breastfeeding after you had bloody nipples instead of sourcing you with a breastfeeding counsellor or lactation consultant who could have helped you adjust your baby's position and attachment when you nipples were only [eek] at the cracked and painful stage.

it is a a great disservice to you and your baby that all they could do was discourage and offer you formula.

my difficulties with dd was very different but very traumatic for us and even now 5 years after she was born, occasionally well up if I discuss what happened.

anon - have you tried posting on the breast/ bottle feeding section? or phone one of the BF helplines; they have trained counselors who can talk you through your experience. Many women find this helpful

Ohh.. that's not good then. I was starting to be a bit more hopeful when I saw other posts here saying how painful it was etc. Some of the HV did try very hard to help baby latch on and showed me all sorts of positions but due to my nipples condition (TMI again, lol!), they struggled.

I did also phoned up counsellers, went to hospital to re-visit midwives for help, well, nearly everything I could've done at that point really so some of them were helpful.

Didn't realise there was a feeding section here, will definitely use it. Thanks for replies.

Anonmum, this is for your information and not a stick to beat you up with. It is for you to have information on your side. If the person was not trained properly to help you with attachment and positioning then they were just shooting in the dark with helping you. Most HVs and MWs have had shockingly little training or actually none in assessing feeding problems and fixing them.

Helplines cannot substitute for a one to one visit from a properly trained person.

Also was your baby assessed for oral problems like tongue tie or high palate?

It may be impossible to pin down what went wrong the last time but I would source a good breastfeeding support group now and go along. It means you will already know where to find support when/if you need it. Nothing can replace good face to face support. MN is good for some things but not when problems are very tricky it cannot replace face to face contact.

Do you have the names of the feeding charities? MOst of them have feeding groups around the country. There are also the Baby Cafes nationwide. Their website has a database of their cafes too.

This website is also a great source of videos on attachment and positioning and information which if you are a bit geeky and obsessive like me can make interesting watching.

I am planning to breastfeed for the first 3/4 weeks ish and then bottle feed with expressed milk for the recommended 6 months. That is of course the plan...whether it works out that way or not is another! I do take comfort in knowing that formula is available if I need it though.

Will try breast again.

Breast. I can't imagine why I would make a concious decision to NOT to the best for my child. If I can't for whatever reason then fine, so be it.

you will lose 500-700 calorie a day by breast feeding, which means you get back to your jeans earlier. Not particularly the reason I have for breast feeding as I am a scientist and believe that a man made milk can't have all the ingredients of your natural bio system, which is yet to be all discovered. But if you don't care about that, at least the idea of getting back to your jeans faster is tempting. No?

I hope hope hope I can breastfeed.

My sister had trouble. She didn't seem to be producing any milk and the hospital (not sure who) told her that if that was still the case by the 3rd day she would have to stop. I have no idea whether she really couldn't or was badly informed but I worry something like that will happen to me.

gigglet - she may have been badly informed - my milk didn't come in until about day 5.
Also baby's tummy is only size of a walnut when born; they don't need pints, just a nice bit of colostrum! Hope all goes well for you whenever you want to bf.