BFing cope outs...let's hear 'em!

I have heard very few things that are true cop outs. I have, however, heard all sorts of crappy advice given to people by doctors. I have a cousin whose DP did not breastfeed their son because her milk didn't come in while she was in the hospital, and they told her that meant she didn't have any milk. (You'd think, with the fact that his XW nursed both of their kids, he'd have known better!)

My aunt is convinced that her second child was allergic to her breastmilk. He is, after all, lactose intolerant. I am forced to wonder who told her that nonsense. She breastfed her other four children, so it wasn't an excuse by any means.

I know another woman who, though she successfully nursed, had a fiendishly difficult time with nipple confusion & supply issues, because they told her at the hospital that, since he was so big, her colostrum wasn't enough. I've heard similar cited here on MDC often enough to believe this is a common lie.

Honestly, most of the women I know who "failed" at breastfeeding did so because of poor advice or outright lies from doctors/nurses. It's pathetic.

I'm not sure if this is a total cop-out or if it really does cause problems but ... I know 2 two people (one who didn't bf at all the other who pumped for 3 weeks or so) both who said they didn't bf because they had inverted nipples. From what I've read it is possible to change that. One of these women, as a pp mentioned, had horrible support from people around her.

I know one other person who did ep for about 7 months and then stopped because her milk dried up. Well yeah, when you are only pumping for 10 minutes 3 times in 24 hours you might have supply issues. Despite my encouragment to just pump more and for longer, she started giving formula. I should have expected it though. She started pumping because she felt like her babe was always attached to her. She wanted to be able to hand him off to someone else to feed.

My boyfriend's mom didn't breastfeed because she "heard that breastfeeding hurts".

I had bad breastfeeding advice with my first and was encouraged to suppliment at 2 months. At 4 months I quit nursing.

With my second I nursed for a year but was also supplimenting. I was under the allussion that he self-weaned....but now I know that is not the case.

With my third I nursed her till she was 18 months and i was 7 months pregnant!!!I thought that was pretty good but i was still disillusioned...she also had bottles and i know now that when we itroduce bottles to our babies we run the risk of early weening.

Now i'm nursing my fouth(he's 6 months) and there is no f'n way i'm giving this kid a bottle....EVER!!!! I really want to nurse him for 2-3 years!

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Yeah, I think most of the time it's misinformation.

To be honest, though, I really cannot blame anyone for quitting breastfeeding when their kid bites hard enough to draw blood. One of my cousins quit breastfeeding her daughter after Cheyenne bit clear through her nipple! I wouldn't have done it--I have had blood drawn before through bites--but I can understand why someone else would.

Of course I still think my favorite was reading in the author Laurell K Hamilton's blog how glad she was she didn't breastfeed her daughter, because it meant she got to sleep more at night. Of course, three days later she was blogging about how she had to be up all night long 'cause poor Trinity was sick and throwing up. Never made the connection...

My mother was also told that she was too small to bf when she had my sister, but she decided that my 4lb, 12oz sister needed the bm, so my mom did the only thing she could think of to make her milk "good"...she ate more calories! My dad made her milkshakes every day (2 a day actually) with whole milk, eggs, and homemade ice cream, and my sister gained weight like a champ! My mother was 80 pounds when she got pg with my sis, and 76 the day after she delivered...she is 4'11".

Unfortunately, I never got to actually bf, but EPed for 10 weeks until my milk dried up for the third and final time. I pumped through the first two times but the third time was a no go! Turns out I got pg four weeks post partum!! At least I had a good supply in the beginning, so I know I'll be able to bf this new baby, and maybe even tandem nurse if DD keeps dry nursing.

I want DH to be able to feed the baby too.

I want it to sleep longer at night.

I don't want to nurse after it gets teeth.

There's no medical benefit after it starts eating solids.

He didn't like my milk in the hospital so they gave me a bottle and he like that.

I tried to squeeze some out but nothing came so I think I didn't have enough.

: uke