Were you BF or FF? Explain please too... - Page 12

[donnar]

I was adopted and so was not bf, although my Mom is fascinated by recently learning that adoptive moms can bf too! I have to say though that because of "the times" I doubt she'd have bothered, formula was just the way to go for most moms in those days.

DH and his siblings were ff, and his mother swears by it. You wouldn't (well maybe you would!) imagine how often she tried to get me to switch from bf to ff, so I could "get some sleep" or "fill his tummy for once ~ why does he seem to need to eat so often?" Her bottle warmer was her most prized baby item. After ds was a year and I was still nursing, she quit talking to me about it, she was absolutely mortified that I would bf for "so long." Oh my.... I'd still be nursing him today if he didn't self-wean at 16months <sniff>..... Unfortunately, MIL managed to convince SIL that bf'ing should only be done for a month, and SIL formula fed both her girls after that. Of course, they slept much better than my son, and were much bigger than my son. Ugh..... what can you do with some people? can't shoot 'em.....

[ishy]

I was breastfed until 8 months then put on formula. Apparently, when my teeth started coming in I bit my mum while nursing so she stopped.

[abbieandlady]

I was adopted so forumla was the logical choice. No flaming I know mom's to pump to lactate, but not my mom. I was a finger sucker until 5 when the dentist said I needed to stop to avoid braces.

[mollyeilis]

quite obviously OFF topic

Originally Posted by splash

My mother was diagnosed with leukemia when I was a newborn... several weeks old I believe. She was told to immediately stop nursing me and start chemo. She refused. Her doctors were pissed, the family was pressuring her to 'think of me' and to get treatment to live. She would not.
She breastfed me exclusively until I was 8 months old, and then she stopped to pursue treatment. She died when I was three. Had she put me on formula and gone straight to chemo, she likely would still be alive. But she put it off, and she may have paid for it with her life. But, she breastfed me, which was more important (to her).
I used to hate her for it... I mean, I would have been fine on formula. I felt like I killed her. But eventually I saw it for what it was, and I respected her decision. So, she died to breastfeed me. Which is why I get so pissed off at women who CHOOSE to formula feed, just because BF takes too much time, too much work, isn't sexy, etc.

I wanted to tell you there's NO guarantee. My mom did the chemo and went instantly into remission, and then the drugs killed her (blood thinners and undiagnosed stomach ulcers and/or esophageal varices are a sickeningly BAD combination). No guarantees.

I'm glad you don't hate her for it now. But there would have been no guarantee the chemo would have done anything, and even if it had, the drugs might have done what they did to MY mom.

Hugs to BOTH of us...

[mamasgirls]

My mom breastfed me and my 2 younger brothers for approx. a year each. We were born in 1976, 1979 and 1986.

[lemon]

Breastfed until 14 months. I think I weaned (or was weaned) because my mom was pregnant. My 2 sisters nursed longer.

When ds was born I found out that my paternal grandmother also breastfed her kids, born in the 40s. Which was nice to know. My dad, her second, was given formula in the hospital. So she continued to feed him an occassional bottle so that he'd stay used to it and she could leave him with someone else once in a while. Which, in those pre-pumping days, seems to me a pretty clever compromise.

I'm not sure about my mom. Probably she was formula fed, but I really have no idea.

On dh's side, I think the breastfeeding lineage is unbroken. But dh did get supplemented with formula. Probably due to some bad medical advice. (But don't tell my MIL.)

LOL, I just remembered that due to all this breastfeeding positivity, both grandmas were freaking out when I was having latch problems in the beginning ...

[mollyeilis]

was I the longest-nursed here?

I'm noticing the same thing here as I did when taking histories on my chiropractic patients. They would always say "that's just what was done then". I could take histories from 10 50 year old women from the same region, who had had children at the same time...each of them had different experiences, and each would swear that everyone was doing whatever they did, no one knew different.

ANYWAY.

I was born in '69, my brother in '72 (then half sibs 13, 15, and 25 years later), and we were all born naturally AND were all breastfed at least two years.

It's just what was done at the time.

My mom tried to wean me, likely during her second pregnancy, but once brother was born, I explained to her that two breasts and two babies made perfect "sip sip". I continued to nurse until I was 4, when my brother self-weaned at 2.

Our half brothers (the older ones) nursed until they were 2ish, and my half sister (the very youngest) went until she was around 4.


HOWEVER...I was given some sort of solids in the first 8ish weeks. I was born October, and in the pictures with "November" printed on the back (not timestamped, but the developing process put the month of processing on them) I am being given something with a spoon. Yuck!

Despite the extended nursing, I have lots of sensitivties, many environmental allergies, and I was a sickly child one I was weaned. I think that if it weren't for the breastmilk, I would likely have died. Oh, and did I mention my parents (and ALL their friends) smoked? I know my mom quit for the times she was pregnant, but I'm not at all sure if she did between me and my brother. My mom was a pretty major cigarette addict, only giving it up 20 years after her first, when she almost died in the middle of the night during an asthma attack.

The sibs, well, I don't really know their health status. They are all of the type to take western medicine for anything that ails them, so I doubt they even know what's up anymore in terms of allergies and whatnot...


Oh, my husband was my MIL's second kid. He was born in entirely different circumstances than her first. She had a language barrier with the ped, and he told her to start solids at 3 months, but she thought he said *weeks*. So she gave him some sort of strained MEAT at 3 weeks...when she finally got ahold of her mother in Seoul, Korea, her mother told her that all Americans were insane, and that she was to STOP feeding him foods immediately, and breastfeed him!

She, FIL, and DH have different memories of how long he did nurse.

[Peppamint]

Originally Posted by mollyeilis

quite obviously OFF topic

I wanted to tell you there's NO guarantee. My mom did the chemo and went instantly into remission, and then the drugs killed her (blood thinners and undiagnosed stomach ulcers and/or esophageal varices are a sickeningly BAD combination). No guarantees.

I'm glad you don't hate her for it now. But there would have been no guarantee the chemo would have done anything, and even if it had, the drugs might have done what they did to MY mom.

Hugs to BOTH of us...

Yes, very true. My infant brother died of septicimea caused by stomach ulcers caused by the very meds that was killing the brain tumor. You really do never know.

[SiValleySteph]

So interesting!

My sisters and I (born in 71, 74, me in 77, and 81) were all breastfed. One of my earliest memories is tasting my mom's breastmilk when my little sis was born. She put in a little glass jar (one of those that the cheese spread came in). I thought it tasted so sweet!

I'm not sure when we were weaned, but from what she told me I would guess that we got some bottles before a year and possibly weaned before then. She was telling me that I didn't have to be so insistent on breastmilk only. She's very supportive, I'm currently nursing my 17mo old and my sis is nursing her 13mo old.

Family legend has my great-grandmother not gaining weight and still being about 10lbs at 1 year old. Then a stranger appeared at the door and said to feed her tomato sauce. Apparently, she thrived on tomato sauce. The family asked around and no one had any knowledge of this stranger. (Angel?)

I have my grandma's red cross medical book that she used for reference. It has a lot of steps for breastfeeding. You need to create a whole tray with boiled water and cotton puffs for wiping the nipples after feeding. My grandma also made notes in there as to when my dad & my uncle had various illnesses. So neat! I'm pretty sure that both my grandmas breastfed as they were not well off.

DH was also breastfed. He was born in China. I'm not sure when he was weaned as his mom did go back to work. I know that he was not as breastfed as long as my son since his parents are always asking when I will stop breastfeeding (not in a negative way, just curious).

[Liliana]

I was breastfed for about a year, my brother about a year and a half. An organization called Nursing Mother's Counsel helped my mom find info and imported breastpumps that worked. I had occasional bottles of expressed milk, when my mom left me with a sitter. My brother always refused the bottle apparently.

I remember her talking about how insistent she had to be with the hospital staff that she wanted to breastfeed. They would come wake her up and ask if they could feed me so she could go back to sleep. No rooming-in, but aparently they brought me in every time I woke so I could nurse.

[hipumpkins]

I was Bfd and wouldn't eat solids. Mom says the doctor told her, "your the mother you make her eat!" My mom said she didn't listen to him.

[Rainbowbird]

I was born in 1966 and BF for 3 or 4 mos. along with my twin sister. I think my mom had some trouble dealing with bfding twins. She also BF my older brother and sister for a few mos., and that was in 1955 and 1956! I give her great credit for doing it for any length of time back in those days.

We were switched to formula, and then cow's milk before age 1. And they gave us solids pretty early, I think by about 3 mos.

None of us have any allergies or health problems. I take that back,I am allergic to penicillin, supposedly. But that's it.