What was your personal reason for your feeding choice? - Page 8

[sdm1024]

I chose to BF because that's what other women in my family did...it was just the norm. Plus, my aunt (who is a mentor and wonderful friend) was a LLL leader and taught me about all the great things about BF, long before I had any children.

[skueppers]

I thought breastmilk was healthiest for the baby, and couldn't figure out why I would pay money for an inferior substitute when I could provide breastmilk for free.

[Zadee]

It never occured to me not to breastfeed, which is kind of odd now that I think of it because I could probably count on one hand the number of times I had seen a woman nurse before I had my kids. It just seemed like the default option. Now I am a pushy NIP-er, posting videos of myself nursing on YouTube, nursing everywhere I go (in line at Lowes this weekend) and trying to make nursing in public normal.

I got a lot of weird "you don't have to nurse" "support" when I was pregnant. People would start conversations just out of the blue and tell me how hard it was to BF and how you have to eat really healthily all the time - what a dreadful idea - and that THEY certainly didn't nurse. Isn't that strange?

[gaidinsgirl]

I planned to breastfeed anyway, but when Jamie was transfered an hour away to a children's hospital and put in the NICU they gave him formula. I was pumping but had to wait till I was released and could get it to him. He wasn't holding the formula down and was losing lots of weight and his blood sugar was dropping ( to the point of needing an IV). I refuse to put something in my baby that makes him sick. I had to pump every 2 hours to keep up with the "feed him 30-50 ml's every 3 hours" rule they have in the NICU, but it was worth it to me.

[bdavis337]

I had a drastic breast reduction at age 25, several years before I got married, and never adequately assessed my chances of not being able to bf. My own ignorance and vanity kept me from feeding my older children with my own milk. I'm hoping that this baby will get more of what it needs from me, and I do my best to educate other women that while reductions are often appropriate, they should consider waiting until they're done having children if they don't want a potential bf'ing struggle. I'd give anything to deal with my shoulder and back pain and, even my body image issues, if I could just nurse my babies.

[blumom2boyz]

Honestly, it was my husband's influence that led me to bf my children. My mother had formula fed me and my siblings and I had NO other women who bf as role models in my life. My MIL was a LLL leader and dh grew up around a lot of bf women, so to him it was the obvious choice. He pretty much just kept saying that I was going to bf and I just said "okay". He was my support when ds1 had latch issues. It was like having a personal LC living with me 24-7!

[elvispupy]

I didn't have to do much thought about it, my mom breastfed me and my siblings. I'm the oldest, so I saw her breastfeed my siblings. My MIL also breastfed all 6 of her kids so it was just normal for me and I knew it was better.

I read "So That's What They're For" when I was pg with #1 and it was a good thing since my milk didn't come in for 4 days after my c-section. I knew enough not to let them give him a bottle or pacifier and he was getting colostrum in the meantime.

[ericswifey27]

Originally Posted by eclipse

It didn't really occur to me not to. I didn't expect to breastfeed as long as I did, but it didn't make sense to me to buy something that my body made for free.

Hi Jeri

Same here!