I'm another one who felt guilty every time I picked up the formula tin. With my first DD I bf exclusively for 6 weeks, crying in pain every time then breast & bottle til she was 10 weeks, then it all got too much & I just decided to go with the bottle. I was also a young mum at 18. Every time she got sick for the next 2 years & I saw gp's, nurses, or what ever & they asked if she was bf or bottle I felt that they thought I was just another young mum who has no idea about having a baby. She is now 5 & asthmatic & I still wonder if bf longer would've made a difference.
When I was in hospital I was an hour from home, so didn't get many visitors, & I felt that they treated me different as well. DP - now DH, tried to come see, but had no license at the time, so only got there 2 or 3 times over the 4 days, & I felt that the nurses pretty much ignored me. They'd walk right past me to the next lady wo I swear had the ugliest baby & go on about how beautiful the baby was & stuff & walk straight back past me. I felt horrible the whole time I was in there.
I think they just saw me as a young single mum who is useless & only had a baby coz I didn't know how to use protection. They didn't know anything about me. Every time I went out in public with out DP I felt like every one around me was thinking the same.