How many generations of breastfeeding?

[bbrandonsmom]

I'm posting here, since I think by us nursing our children, it will hopefully teach them it is a good thing, and perhaps they will continue on.
My questions-how many generations in your family are breastfed or not breastfed?
In my family, formula came out 2 generations ago, and so my parents and I were ff. I'm surprised as my grandparents and thier siblings were ebf, but they chose the "new" forumla instead. My boys are 3rd generation, but I breastfed, even though I grew up knowing nothing about it. I have family and friends who's children are the 3rd generation not breastfeeding.
It just made me wonder if by the time the 3rd gen is old enough to have children, will they bf, if from a non bf family? Will things have been changed in our country that bf is more acceptable? It scares me a bit that there are 3, possibly 4, generations of non bf families out there. Think of how that is going to impact how breastfeeding is looked at in the future.
I wish so much that I could say we are on 3 generations of breastfeeding.

*I'm refering to families who chose not to bf, not that they can't. I can only guess that those moms who can not bf, will encourage thier children to try maybe?*

[SpiderMum]

I was formula fed, so was DH. I have no idea how far the formula feeding goes back though....I doubt my mom was BFed because her mom worked. Maybe my grandparents though.

DD damn well BETTER nurse her kids. And if I ever had sons they better pick women to marry who will BF too. If not, they will get an earful.

[HappyFox05]

I know my mom & her siblings were BF'ed, though I don't know for how long. They were born in the late 40's through to 1960. I was formula fed after about week 3 ("The doctor said we should start you on meat around 3 weeks." Yikes!) DD is 23 months & still nurses, plus our 2nd is due the first week of December.

DH was BF'ed but not for an extremely long time. His brother is only 15 months younger & when MIL was pregnant, the doctor told her to stop breastfeeding because she was killing the baby. Thanks Doc.

So, we're a first generation BF family, sort of.

[Daisie125]

My paternal grandmother breastfed all of her kids for about 2-3 months. My maternal grandmother did not breastfeed. I was never breastfed nor were my siblings.

My DH was breastfed until a year, I don't know if MIL was breastfed, but she was born in the 50s and was a twin, so I would assume she wasn't.

OTOH, in our same family (paternal side) My great grandmother was breastfed, my grandmother was breastfed, she breastfed her kids for a short time, and my aunt breastfed! So while there was a short duration breastfeeding in there, there hasn't been a non-breastfed generation!

[jocelynr]

We're on the second generation of bf now. My mom is a leader and it just wasn't even a choice in my mind. It was the normal thing to do. My mom was bf for 6 weeks, until her mom got mastitis. Then she had twins and didn't even try with them. My mom's aunt did bf her 2 sons, so my mom saw it. I guess you can say that in my family there has always been SOMEONE to bf. All of my grandmother's grandchildren and great-grandchildren have been bf. (My uncle's wife is currently bf her 2 y/o).

I hope for my dd it's like it was for me...a no brainer. It was hard and a ton of work in the beginning, but I worked through it and we're still nursing today at 15 months.

[Momma Moo Martin]

I breastfeed my 11 month old and I consider our family to be first generation bf'ers. My parents and all of their siblings were FF as was everyone else in my family besides one cousin who was bf'd for a couple months several years ago.

My husband and his two sisters were each bf'd for a short amount of time in the beginning and then switched to FF.

Both of our family's were pretty unsupportive about the bf'ing...my family wanted me not to bf when they were around because they were so uncomfortable and it was "gross" and my MIL told me that bf hurts horribly no matter what you do so to suck it up and deal for a month. Ugh.

I truly hope that my DD will learn from my example and bf any babies she may have years from now. <3

[txmommy08]

I'm the first one in my family to breastfeed, so first generation I guess. My mom did not bf because "that just wasn't done back then", my grandmother thinks it's gross, and her mother supposedly had no milk...

Some people in Dh's extended family are pro bf'ing but neither his mother nor his sister nursed.

Hopefully our DD will want to nurse her babies!

[clicksab]

I was FF, my mom was FF...and my grandma had to have had formula or some substitute, since my great-grandmother died giving birth to her and she was raised by sisters.

I am the first in my family to BF and I can't wait to see my DD bf someday as well!

Oh, and my sister didn't bf her first, but after watching me bf she is planning on bfing her new baby!

[mamadelbosque]

I'm not 100% sure if DH was breastfed, but I *THINK* so - his family is definetly supportive of breastfeeding - or at least, his moms' side of the family is, and I'm pretty sure his mom was bf too. TBH I don't know his dad's side very well (they're kind of wierd) and have no idea if his dad was ff or bf.

*I* nursed till * was 4 Mom was ff, my dad I'm pretty sure was bf from the comments his mom makes when hold the kids - 'I haven't had any milk in a long time'

[~Boudicca~]

I exclusively pumped for 7 months and then supplemented dd1 with formula, and now dd2 is 2.5 and we are still nursing.

I was formula fed (I'm 30 btw) but oddly enough my younger sister and brother were partially breastfed until about 8 months old.

My mother was formula fed (she was born in 1955). My grandma has always been anti-breastfeeding, the look of utter horror I got from her when she found out I was still nursing at 5 months was priceless.

She, on the other hand, I'm quite sure must have been breastfed. Baby born to a poor family in the Depression era, it was a strong possibility.

[Red Pajama]

My mother has told me that her mother breastfed some of her children, but not all (there were 6). She was one of the formula babies. I think, although I don't know, that my father was a formula baby.

In my generation in the family my mother breastfed my sister to 6 months and me to 11 months. I had severe milk allergies so life got quite complicated after weaning. I was weaned because it was time for summer vacation and babies didn't go.

Mom said that most of my cousins were formula fed, although at least two aunts nursed.

As for what's now, one cousin and I are the only ones to nuse babies out of at least 6 mothers.

[lach]

I'm certain my parents were FF. I was BF, and my mother is very pro-BFing. She would probably make some of the more hard-core lactivists on this site blush But the funny thing is that she thinks you're totally selfish and a bad mother if you don't BF until 6 months... but that if you BF for a day longer, it's for you and not the baby and you should cut that out.



She's very outspoken in general. I'm used to it, so it's pretty easy for me to take her advice FWIW.

[WC_hapamama]

My sister and I both nursed our babies.

My mother had supply issues with her first 2 babies (brother and I) so she didn't bother with the younger 2 (she was a WOHM at that point).

My paternal grandmother was a bottle feeder, and she told me about making her own formula.

My maternal grandmother breastfed her older 3, but the youngest was a formula baby. Mom remembers helping Nana make formula and sterilize bottles for her brother (9 years younger).

[Minarai]

My grandmother brags that she BFed my aunt and my mother, both of whom were born in the 50s. I'm sure she was BFed herself as well, since she was born during the Depression and my great-grandmother was a known cheapskate and pack rat. I'm not sure about my maternal grandfather; I heard a story from my mom that my great-grandmother (on his side) was discouraged because her doctor told her that she had to measure the amount of cream in her milk and if it wasn't at a certain level, her milk was no good.
My dad denies he was ever FFed, but according to a story from my mother (again), my maternal grandmother fell for the old wives' tale that if you BFed boys, they would grow up to be breast-ogling perverts. I know nothing else from that side.
I know FOR SURE that my brother and I were BFed; I can remember tandem nursing with him as a toddler.

[greeneyedmama]

I don't know for sure about my dad's side but I think they were all breastfed. Maternal side, my great-grandmother breastfed all of her kids except the last one(she had like 8 or 9), my grandma remembers the baby being fussy and when her mom squeezed milk out it was 'just water' lol, and they put him on cow's milk.

By the time my grandma had kids, she said all the doctors severely discouraged bf'ing and even her mother was VERY against it. So her first 2 kids were not bf'd. Her last 2, my mom and her twin, were breastfed a little. I guess breastfeeding was coming a bit more back into fashion, this was in '69. But they came home at about 4 pounds each, tiny, colicky, and projectile vomiting everywhere constantly. She wanted to nurse them but said when they cried she would tend to panic and just rush to make bottles.

But after that she really realized bf'ing was best and she actually raised my mom and aunts to breastfeed! She didn't even let them have bottles for their dolls LOL! But the funny thing is, she will positively blast someone(not to their face) about choosing to use daycare and formula, but will totally accept the common people not having milk thing. Very supportive, but because of her lack of experience not knowledgeable of the mechanics, yk.

So my mom breastfed all 4 of us progressively longer, me till 9 months and my little brother, the youngest, until 18 months. Of my 2 aunts, one breastfed hers until around 2, but the other one if she did, it wasn't for long.

Out of my generation, I am the only one breastfeeding long/full-term. Two of my cousins only breastfed for a few days because they 'had no milk'. Another did for a good amount of time. And I know my 2 sisters will.

So in my family, in general, breastfeeding is very supported and appreciated. But formula-feeding is also not too weird if you have an excuse. I know everyone is going to think it weird once dd is about 2, however!

[Poodge]

My mom BFed both my sister and I. Her mom BFed her, but FFed her sister and brother who were both older then my mom. My dad was FFed, although his mom did try to BFed. DH was FFed. So on one hand I am third generation, but still lots of FFing. I really hope when DS and any other children are parents that BFing is so normal that my grandchildren will be BFed.

[Elowyn]

If you go with the paternal side, we're BF back as far as anyone can tell. I was BFed (in the 70's,) as was my dad (early 50's, wtg grandma!,) and undoubtedly my paternal grandmother as well (homeborn on a farm in the 20's) and so on and so forth. Mom's side, well, my maternal grandma's kinda nuts on the whole topic, and definitely didn't BF, but I'm guessing her mother bf'ed her and her sister (depression-era on the farm).

[major_mama11]

My great-grandma breastfed all but her last child- (1920's and 30's)

Grandma breastfed her first for a few months (she says her milk dried up when she was grieving over her dad's early death), 2nd child for a few weeks, 3rd for a few days, 4th not at all (1950s) She says she was going to a pro-breastfeeding "country doctor" for the first two kids, but the doc for the second two was against breastfeeding so she didn't do it. Grandma is very pro-breastfeeding, lucky for me. She barely batted an eyelash, even seeing me nurse my toddler all the time. She loves to gossip about her brother who is anti-breastfeeding. She says she tells him, "What else do you think they're for?!"

My mom (1970s-1980) bfed my older sis for 5-6 months or so and then switched to homemade formula, on the doc's advice, despite wanting to keep nursing. With me, she got into LLL, and nursed me for over a year, ignoring the doc's demands to stop due to his concerns over her extreme wt loss while nursing. She is still very proud of continuing nursing, rather than going against her gut again.

On DH's side, his mom didn't nurse him, but did her 2nd and 3rd. All his family at least start out nursing their babies, though usually not much past 3-4 months or so..

My DD nursed till almost 3, and I'm now nursing 6-month-old DS. Breastfeeding is certainly normalized in this family. DD is always walking around nursing either dolls or dinosaurs.

[elanorh]

On their maternal side, my daughters have an unbroken line of breastfeeding. Great-grandma was breastfed on the farm; when she had children, she bf'd 4 of her 5 (not the preemie, the doctors wouldn't let her) - this was in the 50's. Mom bf'd all seven of us; I was bf'd the least amount of time, 10 months (stopped when she was pregnant with my sister). My father was ff'd with homemade formula in the 40's, but I believe his mother and father were both bf'd. Mom bf'd the rest of my siblings 'til they were about 1 1/2 years of age.

On their paternal side, the great-grandmas were both breastfed. Paternal great-grandma did not bf her first child and bf'd FIL for only six weeks (she is very judgmental about breastfeeding and 'what it does to a woman's figure'). Maternal great-grandma was told by her doctor that her milk was 'too thin' when her babies hit the six week growth spurt, and to switch to formula at that point. But, MIL was a LLL leader and bf'd both her kids; GMIL told me she thinks that MIL bf'd til nearly two years of age with her kids (MIL passed away several years ago so I can't ask her, and FIL doesn't recall things like that).

Among my siblings, everyone who's had kids has bf'd for at least 4 months. I'm the only one who's bf'd past a year, though. One of my sisters weans promptly at a year. No one is very concerned about me bfing beyond a year though (and in fact, my sister who weans at a year is defensive about that, "Not everyone can nurse like you elanorh").

I do think that being in a family where breastfeeding happens is really helpful for those who want to breastfeed; the level of understanding and support for it is better. And, there's more understanding about how babies ARE rather than the assumption that babies normally behave like ff'd babies.

I don't think that means that we are going to have permanent "breastfeeding" and "formula-feeding" clans though. I've a good friend who's from a background with NO bf at all, and so is her dh. They ff'd their first children, but have bf'd the rest of them -- their elder kids have seen bf as the norm. She had no support, and is disappointed that her sister chose to ff rather than bf -- but she managed it.

[Sk8ermaiden]

My mom was not breastfed (at all). I was not breastfed, but my mom gave it a good try.

From all the info I can gather, low supply does seem to run in our family. True, there was no internet, LCs or support for my mom or aunts, but they all sincerely tried and the stories I get from there are very similar to mine, and I have had all the info and support available with no success.

HOWEVER, unlike my mom and aunt, I breastfeed even though I can not meet 100% of her needs. The benefits are too many to pass up. I very much hope that my daughter does not get my issues, because even though I was able to power through our epic breastfeeding struggles, most women (including LLL ladies) have told me they would have thrown in the towel. After knowing how horrible and hard breastfeeding can be, I will NEVER judge a woman for FFing.

However, on my DH's side, everyone was breastfed, probably back to the dawn of humanity.

So she is a first gen and a legacy all in one.