How many generations of breastfeeding? - Page 5

[PhilsBabyMama]

I'm a 3rd (at least) generation breastfeeder. My mom breastfed my brother, sister and I, and my Nana breastfed her 4 children. I am especially impressed with my Nana. My mom was the youngest and was born in 56 in Birmingham, Alabama. Back then, especially in that area, racism was alive and well, and breastfeeding was seen as something only "poor black people" did. After all, affluent people would just buy formula which must have been better since it was made by scientists

My grandmother ( who by the way was a civil rights activist and sociology prof.) stood up against the social pressures and did what was best for her children. I don't know for a fact, but I'm pretty sure she and her ancestors were breastfed. I doubt Swedish immigrants with a huge family could afford formula.

[phrogger]

This is all so interesting. I am pretty sure my grandparents were breast fed, although my grandmother might not have been. They were kind of wealthy and I could see my great grandmother choosing not too. My mom and I were both FF'd. My grandmother was told breast feeding wasn't healthy and her kids would be sickly. This scared my grandma as her brother died as a young boy from scarlet fever. Her brother was always "sickly" before he died so of course she didn't want that to happen to her babies. My mom tried for 3 weeks with me, but she has severely inverted nipples and there just wasn't as much support around. She delivered at a catholic hospital with nuns for nurses, so they weren't really experienced and didn't even want to help. My mom gave up after I had lost over 1 lbs. My mom regrets that even still. She didn't even try with my twin sisters. She said two babies with a two year old and the problems she had with me were enough to make her skip it. But again, she regrets it.

I was the first in my generation to BF, but I am the only one so far who has had kids. My sisters are planning on it, one is pg and the other is ttc. They watched me BF and they know it can be done. I was even very young with my first (17) and still nursed him till he weaned on his own at 11 months.

I did however have aunts I watched nurse. My mothers brothers wives nursed their kids anywhere between 2 and 4 years. So I at least saw that and thought it was "normal".

[lacysmommy]

My DH and I were both breastfed. Our mothers were both FF. My dad was breastfed for a short amount of time (he was "allergic to her milk" but unfortunately he was also allergic to formula- or whatever they used in the early 40s- and had horrible eczema as a baby) and I have no idea about FIL. I'm pretty sure that my grandma was breastfed because she was born at home in the teens. I don't know for sure about any of my grandparents but I assume all were breastfed as all were born in the aughts, teens or twenties.

I'm surprised that both my mother and MIL BF with very little support. I'm grateful they did because I know that my allergies and skin issues would likely be worse, and DH has enough health problems as it is- I don't want to think about how they'd be if he were FF as a baby. DH and I were both born in the late 70s when very few were breastfeeding. Even more surprising is my mom BF in the 60s! My dad was adamently against it, too, but he was off to war and it made the decision to BF easy for my mom. Once she had done it with one baby, she did it with all of us. My dad became supportive once he realized that only mom could handle the nightwakings because he couldn't feed the baby!