What were you fed as a baby? Another post got me thinking.......

[ohiomommy1122]

Just wondering whay yout mother fed you and WHY(if you know)I think it would be intersting in seeing how woman fed thier babies 20-40 years ago and why they did it.

My mother BF my brother 30 years a go until age 8mo. she thought BFing was better for baby (she also smoked while bfing, there was no mention at this that it was dangerous) My mother bf me for just a few months when she said one day I just refused her breast (probably a nursing strike!) and her doctor told her that her milk must be sour and to stop bfing me because she was feeding me spoiled milk. (IS this even possible??? Or was the doctor just an idiot!!) So she sais she tried every formula and I would not tolerate any of them she settled on giving me a mix of 50% water/ 50% 2% cows milk in a bottle. It's a wonder I survived!!! Doc said I was to FAT!! since I was born at 10lb 3oz. and she shouldnd't feed me very often so she gave me lots of water bottles during the day. She said I was a VERY cranky baby and cried all the time. WELL DUH I WAS STARVING SHe took away my Breastmilk and was giving me water and very little cows milk. She said I wasn't very cranky until her milk soured ( WELL DUH IT PROABLT NEVER SOURED I WAS PROBABLY ON A NURSING STRIKE!!)

Anyway what did your mothers feed you and why

the point of this thread is to see how many mothers were poorly informed by thier docs or peers. This way we can try and educate all and dispell feeding myths

[mama_at_home]

My mom never had a desire to breastfeed and I was fed Enfamil formula. She says she waited til 6 months to give me cereal but I seriously doubt that. I just think she doesn't remember!

[elmh23]

My mom tried to breastfeed but always had to supplement. Turns out she never delivered her placenta and when I was 4 weeks old she almost died. She spent about 2 weeks in the hospital while I stayed with some friends of hers. After she got out, I was taken to the hospital because when given only milk based formula I got really sick. I was there for a week. During that time, I was put on soy formula with rice cereal as a thickner. She never got a official diagnosis but from talking with her, it sounds like I had GERD.

OT, but does anyone know if GERD can be genetic? My dd was a real spit-uppity baby and I wonder if it's connected.

[Amila]

My mom breastfed me for about 3 weeks, then gave up because she thought I didn't like it I was then formula fed. BUT she breastfed my sister who is 3 years younger for a year- exclusively. She didn't pump, and gave her nothing else for a year. Of course with me being a lactivist she constantly apologizes to me now, and thinks formula is evil. She said she just didn't know better. Back then she was just a naive first-time mommy with no support really- and those who gave her support didn't breastfeed!

[Ruthla]

My mom was a self-defined "commie pinko hippie" in the late 60's/early 70's. She was a member of LLL when there was only one group in our general area (there are now about 5-6 busy groups) and it only had about 15 regular members. She had to tell the nurses in the hospital to NOT give her the shot to dry up her milk.

She nursed J for 6.5m, until his death. She nursed D until she found out she was pg with me and her OB told her to wean. We're 14m apart so I guess he was about 6mo at the time. She nursed me until I "self weaned" at 11mo, the day I took my first steps (I guess nobody had heard of nursing strikes in 1973. ) She hand-expressed milk for my bottles (about 1 a week) until the dr gave her the go-ahead to give me whole cow's milk (I'm guessing around 6mo, but she doesn't remember.) I know I had been getting bottles of cow's milk in addition to nursing when I weaned.

She told me how she fed each of us a few spoonfuls of baby cereal a couple days before our 6m checkups so she could get the ped's permission to move onto "real foods." It's sad that she felt the need for the ped's permission, and never thought to go against dr's orders, but cool that she found a way to delay solids as long as she felt she could, and limit our exposure to highly refined foods (ie baby cereal.) She also made most, if not all of our baby food- apparently the jarred stuff in those days contained a lot more sugar and salt than they do today.

[angington]

I was BF in the '70's. Not sure how long. My mom eventually weaned to soy milk because she thought it was healthier than cow's milk. She also started rice cereal at 2 weeks and made her own baby food.

The worst though was giving me peanut butter on a paci. Apparently my gma got me addicted to sugar dipped paci's and my mom thought peanut butter would be better. Hello potential allergen and choking hazard!

My dh was BF about 6 months. MIL's sisters told her she should stop because the warm weather was coming and they would be out more. I guess they thought NIP was bad. He also got honey dipped paci's. Ay, yi, yi.

[Amylcd]

Formula (early 80's). She STILL believes formula is the best thing for a baby.

[My4Boys]

My mom breastfed both my brother and I in the 70's. Somewhere between 4 and 6 months...she doesn't remember exactly. About the time she started us on solids and we started pulling away from the breast to look around some (that is when she started pushing weaning with me and my first). I think after she weaned we got whole milk and solid foods. She doesn't remember. She did go to LLL meetings.

[Anastasiya]

I got Enfamil (which I've heard is one of the raunchiest tasting formulas out there) from day one. Week TWO I started getting rice cereal in my bottles. Month TWO I was already on baby foods. Eeks!

Thank God I've got no allergies.

[blsilva]

My mom breastfed me for 11 months, but then her milk dried up (her dr suspected a possible miscarriage?). She breastfed my brother until 10 months, but had to have her wisdom teeth removed, and was told that she had to wean him to have the procedure done. She nursed my sister until she was 4.

[artemis80]

I was breastfed for about four weeks, at which point my mom "had" to switch to formula because I wasn't gaining well or having enough wet diapers. This was due to BAD advice about breastfeeding ("only feed her for five minutes," etc.) and little to no lactation support in the hospital. Ironically, we are taking our baby to the same ped I had, but 26 years later, he is very supportive and knowledgable of breastfeeding and has lactation consultants on staff.

My mom is envious of my breastfeeding relationship with ds. She wishes she had the support I have had.

[PrairieBohemian]

I was BF until a year I think but my younger bro only 6 months (odd--doesn't it usually go the other way around?).

I just wanted to add my 5'0" aunt was raised on mashed potatos and cow's milk from infancy because my grandmother couldn't afford formula!

[majikfaerie]

my DM tried to BF, but she never got any milk; I "starved" for 3 days until the nurse took me away to be formula fed.
well, i cant blame her for "failing" - after a forced unnecessary C/sec, I was kept in a nursery and brought to DM for scheduled feedings - 20mins every 4 hours (except at night). no one tried to help or encourage her.
:
with my DB and DS she didnt even try.
We were all given rice cereal and heinz baby food on "schedule" and by the time we were in school, lived almost exclusively on junkfood. even the "nutritious" dinners she sometimes prepared were generally frozen mix veggies boiled till they had no flavour or colour, chips or some other kind of frozen and then deep-fried potato, and fried chops or steak or sausages. with tomato ketchup (that counts as a vegetable, right?)

At least she was really supportive of me BFing, but she did try to pressure me to give rice cereal at 6mos. At least we live on a different continent so we managed to avoid most of her well-meant advice!

[ChinaCatmama]

Booby baby for 14 months in the late '60's. My mom rocks.

[Village Mama]

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 7 months pregnant with me. It was a really agressive form so they flew us to a major center and she was induced. She was having very agressive cancer therapy, so couldn't breastfeed. I was put onto formula , but was really allergic. Sooo ( acccckkk!) was given plain cows milk.... could be a reason for my allergy/ stomach problems!

[sharon71]

Evaporated milk , karo and vitamin drops mixed in my bottle.

[lml41981]

My mom tried to breastfeed. She gave it her all for several weeks, but she didn't produce enough (we were fed on demand for six weeks, at which point she returned to work...she was self-employed). So, I went on formula. My older sister got less breastmilk than I did. My younger brother got more breastmilk, but still was on formula, too.

I am 25 and still my mom feels like she failed us by not being able to BF.

[ndunn]

I was breastfed for 3.25 years in the 80's and didn't have solids till around 7months. yay mom!

[wryknowlicious]

I was EBF for 5 months, then had a mix of BM and formula for 3 more months (mom returned to work and could only hand express, she did not react well to a pump) from then on it was formula only.

I was fed baby cereal startging at 3 months and I "tasted" every food my parents ate starting at 4 months.

I was the 1st baby, and I was born in 1980.

[LovemyBoo]

Me (1971) - Formula. I was a preemie - around 32 weeks - and it was unheard of to pump for preemies back then. Plus being my mother's first child, she was devastated and stressed out enough.

My sister (1974)- Breastfed for about 6 months, then formula. Mom weaned due to biting and pressure from family members.

Second sister (1975) - Breastfed for a year - Mom said screw what other people think.

And just for fun, my cousin - 1974 - Formula, my aunt didn't even consider bfing. I have a picture of him at no more than 6 weeks old with my aunt bragging on the back of the picture "First Solids!!!" The poor kid could barely hold his head up and my aunt was shoving cereal down his throat.

I don't know about solids for any of us, other then it was MUCH earlier than 6 months and it was stuff like blueberry pie for babies, etc. Yuck.