Were you BF or FF?

I was breastfed until I self weaned at around 2yo.

I always knew I was going to breastfeed as I have 3 younger siblings and I remember mum sitting on her bed feeding my baby sister. She had already normalised it for me so it was doubtless a huge influence on my decision to try breastfeeding 5 of my 6 kids. Only DS1 wasnt bf at all and that was because I was told with DD1 that my milk was no good and I would never be able to bf after her FTT. (I was 17 and 18.. Naive and all that.. also no interwebs back then)

BB is the only reason I am still bfing Phoebe now. You ladies taught me that my milk is good. That I can do it.

This is so interesting thanks for all your input ladies :)
As I mentioned before I was BF but my sister was FF from 5 months as my mum had terrible supply issues due to stress before she was born (premmie) and pretty much had PND from the start. Mum always says how my sis put her off more babies for life :lol: I never grew up with other young children in my family so never really formed an opinion on BFing. I saw mum bottle feeding my sister so always thought oh yeah you get a choice. When I was pg I was so unprepared (I spent most of the pregnancy getting my head around the fact I was having an unplanned baby) that the thought of BFing made me rather uncomfortable, I felt too young to be putting my boobs to such uses :lol: I always knew that it was the best thing for babies but secretly hoped that it wouldn't work out so I wouldn't have to. However I was lucky to be supported by lots of wonderful people like my mum, doula and especially DH and since having DS I have become quite the passionate breastfeeder, joined the ABA and once I've finished uni I'd love to train to become a counselor so I can help out other young mums like myself. I wouldn't have it any other way!

I was breast fed for 4 months, but because my Mum had 5 children I can remember watching her feeding the youngest 2 (and also gaining the impression that she had fed for far longer than 4 months). The reason I remember is because it was such a special priviledge for me to be in the room with her to sit and watch. I am hoping to breast feed my own child for this very reason - the special feeling that you get from breast feeding. She formula fed after this, so I have seen both methods (btw this was over 25 years ago for the last child!)

I was breastfed... I grew up seeing my aunts breastfeed my younger cousins. I watched my sister breastfeed her son... I saw my SIL breastfeed her two children and become quite passionate about extended breastfeeding...

Breastfeeding was normal, it was accepted in my family and it was all I knew.

And then... I had no milk. None. I had a premature baby who could not suck and there was no way in hell a pump was going to stimulate my stubborn boobs enough to get them producing milk.

I had no choice but to make the heartbreaking decision to full time formula feed my son. I felt like a freak in my family, but there was nothing else to be done.

For me it wasn't a matter of what influenced my decision, it was a matter of medical issues taking the decision completely out of my hands.

BW

I was BF for 10 months..

I BF DS for 10 months
and DD was early and couldnt suck well at all.. I tried expressing etc, but then had some serious stress in my life and my milk dried up right away.. I was devastated as I feed DS why couldnt i do it with DD..

So baby number 3 I hope goes all well...

I was breast fed for about 2 mths before my mum had issues with her milk. My sister and brother were both FF. DH was breastfed for about a year.

My mum was BF but my dad wasn't, his mother had the same issues with milk with all 5 of her kids as I had :(

I find this thread very interesting. I am amazed at how many of us were ff from such an early age. I've notice a lot of us were ff because of supply or quality of milk issues (apparently).

I wonder if our mothers had readily available and instant support that we have through the internet or telephone if we'd been bf for longer. Our mums didn't have a computer and some didn't have a phone or car.

I know BB and the ABA has helped me more that I can quantify. I do regret not feeding my older 2 for longer but at least by feeding DD3 my other girls have witnessed bfing and they are so involved with the whole process that I think the know the bfing is "normal"

I was bf for about 15-18 mths (Mum's not exactly sure, but weaned me to TTC my sister). Both of my sisters were bf, one for about 12 mths and the other for 10 mths.

Yes, it influenced me in that I wanted to bf, for at least as long as I was bf for, but as I gathered more information (especially after having my DD) I developed my own stance and progressed to letting DD self-wean (at almost four years of age).

DP was only bf for about 6 weeks, as was his brother, and then ff. He's an even bigger bfing advocate than I am as he and his brother have dreadful allergies.

It would probably be a bigger deal to me if DD didn't want to bf her babies than what my Mum had done though!

FF all the way, my brother and I. Actually, probably not even formula! Probably would've been carnation milk or something. My Mum had trouble getting to bf us, and she was not encouraged to persevere at all, even though now she wishes she did. I don't know if it influenced me or not. She is very proud of me though for bf my two at all.

I was BF for 3.5 years until my sister came along, then she was BF for 4 years.

I always knew I would BF but personally I think my mother fed me for too long. I fed my DD until 11 months (self weaned) and my DS is nearly 11 months and going strong. Probably won't feed for any more than 15/16 months though.

a post in here just reminded me, mum had severe PND after her 4th baby (my youngest bro who was BF the longest out of any of us) all I remember from those times is her never getting out of bed, and never wanting to play or do anything with us.
She says she cant remember much about it now, it all seems like a black fog has blotted it all out, but, she also says that the only thing that got her through it (not one for meds or counselling, my mum!) and made her get up each day was the fact that she had to feed my brother, thinking that this little baby was dependant on her to keep him alive and happy.mum says she is forever greatful that it was the case that she could BF him, otherwise she doesnt know where she would have ended up.

(I do also know that this isnt always the case with BF and that sometimes it is thought to contribute to PND, just sharing my mums experience :))

Hi,

This is such an interesting thread. I was born just a few months before Nursing Mothers were - me Dec 1963, NMAA (now ABA) Feb 64.
Neither me or my siblings were breastfed. I could have used those extra IQ points too!
History lessson: Post war breastfeeding was in decline as it became common to birth in hospital with routines that were mother/baby/breastfeeding unfriendly. 4 hourly routines and routine separation of mothers and babies is a killer for breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding was at it's lowest ebb in 1971 with only 20% of babies *ever breastfed*. Throughout the 70's and 80's breastfeeding increased slowly. So it's no wonder that most of us were not breastfed and not breastfed for very long.
Sadly for me, there are still days when I feel we are fighting the same battles our mothers faced - and not necessarily winning. Many hospitals don't have "Baby Friendly" status, and persist with information that effectively torpedoes breastfeeding. Mothers and babies are still often separated at birth and given formula comps. Many mothers don't access the fabulous services available- especially provided by the Australian Breastfeeding Association, and many don't realise it's normal to breastfeed for 2 years or more. Early problems are common - but nearly always can be overcome, usually fairly easily. Joining ABA and attending their classes and meetings is the best insurance anyway could have for a successful breastfeeding experience.
Me - I was going to breastfeed "if I could" for 6 mnths, if possible. for way more than a decade

Very interesting Barb :)

My mother was determind to breastfeed myself and my brother...she had no help excpet a few trips to the doctors when she had mastitis which she recalls being so painfull..but nothing would stop her, she said it was so hard yet she keep at it as she knew it was the best thing. She had emergancy Csections with both of us and didnt see us untill an hour later...yet we never ever had formula of any sort? I am really proud of my mum for trusting her body and even after many many hudrles she fed us till we were over 1! She never bought a bottle either....pretty stubbon hey!

In saying that my mum is a BF corporal..there would be no way that I could of FF...well if I had to of course she would have been supported...but it was always said that BF was natural...I am lucky that it has been so easy both times so far...she even gets narky at me about trying to give DS2 a bottle of EBM...sigh sometimes its tough being her daughter she is very black and white!

This is a great thread its great to se some insight into our generations!

My sisters and I were all breastfed. I was the longest at 18 months. Mum was a member of the Nursing Mother's Association which she said provided so much support to her. She tells me stories of horrid child health nurses pressuring her to comp feed because her milk wasn't good enough. Thankfully my mum knew better. . My Mum demand fed, wore us in slings, co-slept which in the early 80's made her a 'Hippy'. Mum has always been very encouraging if me bf'ing my sons. Thankfully in our family breastfeeding is considered normal.

I should also say my 90 year old Grandmar breastfed all her 4 kids which in the 50's was revolutionary.

Spring xx

My sister was my mum's first baby and was born prem due to quite severe pre eclampsia. She tried to breastfeed but with a prem baby who was hardly ever with her, severely cracked and damaged nipples (she tells me one was so bad it practically split right down the middle :o) she didn't last more than a few weeks. She tried again when I was born but the minute she had attachment/nipple damage issues she gave up again. Basically, she just didn't have the support she needed to keep going. When my brother was born, I think she was a bit heartbroken about it all and didn't even try with him :(

I know it affected her badly because she tells me up until we were quite a lot older, 10, 12 etc she used to have dreams about breastfeeding a baby :cry:

I think she was a bit confronted by my breastfeeding in the beginning. I am quite the freak in my family - apart from my sister who breastfed her second child till about 9 months, I'm it. Not to mention the fact that I am (STILL, are you STILL feeding him??) feeding my 2.5 year old AND tandem feeding. I think one of my cousins on my dad's side has breastfed her children but I don't ever see them. My uncle asked me one day out of the blue if I was 'demand feeding' my DD so I assume he got that little pearl of wisdom from my cousin ;)

I don't remember seeing any of my family (and I have quite an extended family on my mum's side, mostly female) breastfeeding while I was growing up. I don't know how I got the idea in my head but I knew the minute I was prg that I would breastfeed my babies.

Mum FF all 4 of us so when my DD was born I just presumed I would BF as I was given no other option back then anyway. When I was discharged from hospital she still wasn't feeding right and the problems just got worse when I got home, I was 19 and had no idea. I gave up at 4 weeks after going to the doctor with mastitis he wrote me out a script to dry up my milk and that was that, all over.

When my DS1 & DS2 were born I automatically FF as my first experience was horrible and turned me off going there again. When the hospital found out that I was FF my DS1 & DS2 I was very much discriminated against and found the whole process of being in hospital overwhelming and wanting to leave as soon as I could. Looking back I probably should of given it a go, but even though my boys were FF, we bonded very well no problems there and love them to pieces.

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I find this thread very interesting. I am amazed at how many of us were ff from such an early age. I've notice a lot of us were ff because of supply or quality of milk issues (apparently).

I wonder if our mothers had readily available and instant support that we have through the internet or telephone if we'd been bf for longer. Our mums didn't have a computer and some didn't have a phone or car.

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:yeahthat: i didn't really talk to mum properly about it until i was PG. i'm pretty sure i was started on formula before she left hospital...and the reason was something like i cried so much when i was off in the nursery (well, actually i was separated from the other babies because i made so much noise crying :lol: so glad o could have DS with me after he was born) that when i was brought to her i was too sleepy to feed :rolleyes: so the nurses helped her dry up her milk. it just seems so crazy to me, knowing what i do. i've never said anything to her because she just didn't know any different but i'm so glad i have far more information available to me. plus it seems very different now from the way it was in the 70's - i felt really encouraged & supported to feed when i was in hospital.

I was fed carnation milk :o

My mum couldn't BF, her milk never came in for all three of us children.

I was BF for 3 weeks, but cried all of the time and was loosing weight.
So mums obs told her to put me on formula.

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I was fed carnation milk :o

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is that what babies were fed before formula came along? wowee!

Have heard of evaporated milk, or rice cereal in European Countries, or I remember our Fijian tour guide telling us he and other babies born during war time grew up on coconut milk if there mothers couldn't BF them :o Quite amazing what the human body can grow on considering the total lack of nutrients for infants in the above - thank goodness formula at least provides an adequate alternative when it's truly needed.

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is that what babies were fed before formula came along? wowee!

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Yeah! I was completely shocked when mum told me, she even has all our little booklets which said how many oz (ounces) we were to be given and how often :D Amazing to read back on how things were "done"

Beema: my MIL fed her first two kids Carnation milk too (it was in the UK in the 60's). I was astounded when she first told me about it. I noticed they have a warning on Carnation now that it's not suitable for infants so I guess it's just in case anyone gets any well meaning advice from family members who were new parents then.

I was bf for about 8 weeks and then on to formula because 'it was too hard'. My younger brother was bf for 3 days and then the midwives gave my mum something to dry up her milk coz it was too much to try to bf a newborn with a toddler in the house!

I never considered anything other than bf my dd, but I really struggled in the begining, everything that could go wrong did and my dd's weight dropped off. Both mum and MIL were staying and really pushing for me to switch to ff, and I nearly caved but in the end I didn't and I'm so glad I didn't. Now i'm one of the only ones in my mothers group who wants to continue past the 1 year mark.

Love this thread, it's so fascinating!

i was bf for 3 years and 2 months before self weaning :) my mum did an awsome job

I was FF.The benefits were never really known or highlighted. I think that is why things are a bit different now. They had Nursing Mothers (ABA). My mum was suprised at how much it was pushed on pregnant women and new mothers.

Mum BF me for 10 months, she weaned me straight to cows milk from a cup. I think knowing that my mum bf'd gave me encouragement to bf too

Me and my brother were both formula fed. Mum has inverted nipples and try as she might she couldn't get us to latch on without being in excruciating pain. With me, she lasted a week, I think my brother was three weeks. She was devastated and back then the nurses gave her such a hard time for "giving up" and "think of the harm you're doing to your baby". Added pressure no new mum needs.

So I'm pretty happy that I'm a B/F mum and my mum's very happy too that I could. DD has been BF for 1 year and five days! YAY!

Mum BF me for six months until I bit her one day, then it was straight to formula.
My brother was fully formula fed because mum's milk didnt come in due to stress (our dad died 6 weeks before my brother was born, so no one pushed her to even try I don't think)

Initially I thought I would feed DD for six months, then formula, because I seemed to turn out ok, but instead DD BF for 21 months, and that was primarily due to me being lazy. I just couldnt put myself, DD or DH through the stress of weaning her. So we let her make the decision. And I suppose I also learnt how awesome breastmilk is and I loved the special relationship that we had at that point.
Now Im hoping that DD2 will feed for that long, and even longer if she wants to! :D

I was fed EBM for about a month and then switched to formula when mum's supply dried up (no motilium back then!). The reason she was expressing is that I have a cleft. She went on to feed my younger siblings for longer - about 9-12 months each I think.

I had issues early on with DS (and some now more recently :rolleyes: ) but I never even considered switching to formula. I just didn't see it as an option. I think mum did influence me to some extent prior to having DS - only because it was presented and discussed as the normal way to feed a baby when I grew up and I know me being on formula was about my inability to suck properly.

The information and education about the benefits of b'feeding also had a huge influence. Plus I didn't get the birth I had hoped for so I wasn't about to "fail" at this either. As Kim said, there was an element of 'never-say'die' determination and I get that from my mum too. So she did influence me, but not in a straightforward kind of way of BF me so therefore I BF ITMS.

My mother tried to BF, but the hospital was tube feeding me in between to keep me quiet... The only reason they found out is a relative happened to walk past the nursery at one point and saw the tube and thought there was something terribly wrong with me. The nurse who was responsible for it was reprimanded but I wonder how many other babies had the same thing happen to them? So I was FF from birth.

But I have to say this had no baring whatsoever on how I wanted to feed my children. I wanted to breastfeed both of them from before they were ever conceived. My reasoning was due to the education I had received as well as the positive supportive influences around me.

I was Formula Fed, which im 100% thankful for as my mum was quite a huge drinker.

I BF DD for the first 6 weeks and then FF.

My own mother FF me had no impact on my decision to try and BF at all. I am very pro breastfeeding and im determined to do it for a minimum of 12 months next time.

Mum is the sort of person who would rather pull all her fingernails out than say the word "breast". So I've never really asked her so it certainly did not have a bearing on my decision.I think, however, that she FF. Interestingly, though, it does have a bearing on whether I will invite them here after the birth of DD2 because mum & dad just won't know where to look if I BF and I won't be very mobile so the idea of moving from room to room to save them embarrassment is just too much.

My decision was to breastfeed but we had lots of difficulties (mainly, I think, because I put TOO much pressure on myself and was too determined to do it and got myself into a right state about it). So expressed for two months and then fully FF.

I intend to BF again because I think it's the normal thing to do. Why would I bother with tins of powdered stuff if I don't have to. BUT, having FF DD, I am in no way as scared of FF as I was first time around. I was convinced that I would be seriously short-changing her health-wise by doing so but she hardly ever gets sick.

I was FF and no I don't think it influenced me in any way..

I Bf all of my kids all for varying times.. I learnt more about the benefits of Bf as I went along and decided for myself what I wanted to do

Although in saying that. I didn't want to BF at all when I was pg with my eldest. My Dh asked me to please try it and see what I thought of it. He listened at our Antenatal classes and at the hosp after I had him and really helped me to learn and enjoy Bfeeding.

I was breast fed for 12 months. Every woman in my family breastfed their babies for at least twelve months. A close cousin was involved with ABA from when I was quite young. I consider myself very lucky to have had this kind of support and I'm glad that it influenced me to have the expectation in myself to breastfeed for at least 12 months... nearly two year on and we're still breastfeeding :)

My sister was FF (Mum had trouble BF and nurses just started FF, olden days!) and I was BF til I self weaned at 2. My sister and I both plan on BF, if possible.

My mum couldn't BF and it broke her heart, she wanted to be able to feel that closeness with her babies but her milk just dried up. In a way its influenced me to give it a go, and my mum is really happy about that.

Mum BF me for 3 months, then onto formula.
She BF my next sister for 6 months, and my youngest sister she BF for 14 months.
It didn't really influence my decision in any way.

My MIL BF DH for 12 months and then each sister for about 6 months.

I BF DS for 10&1/2 months and DD for 7 months.

I was BF for 3 months then onto formula because Mum was told her milk wasn't sustaining me :rolleyes: so thinking that her milk was "no good" Mum FF my 3 younger siblings. Mum had little support, her own mum having passed when Mum was 15 and whilst she had her grandmother - Nanna Elsie had her own ideas about how things were done. My paternal grandmother was no help at all - always putting Mum down :(

I believe Mum did the best she could with the 'help' available to her at the time.

Mum's experiences did influence me... I wanted to dispell the myths (read utter BS) that Mum had been told back in the day... I was very aware of not making Mum feel like crap though for believing the BS back in the day but also trying to show her that what she had been told was BS and that with the right support she may have had more sucess.

When we were pg, I read BF into on BB like nothing else - like other posters, I have a stubbornness that has helped greatly!

When DD was born, I told them she was not to have ANY bottles and was to be either tube fed EBM or breastfed from me. She did have some formula when she was first born as I had GD and her sugars were low. I hadn't had time to express colostrum - I really wasn't expecting to have to be induced 6 weeks early due to PE... I had planned though to express colostrum from 38 weeks as I knew her sugars would likely be low due to my GD and that was when I was going to build my stock but the onset of PE threw me a bit.

I have joined ABA and become involved in anyway I can with my local group - and the support of BB is amazing.

My family respect and support my BFing and I hope to be the change in our families feeding habits.

MiL fed DP's older sister until 2.5years when she self weaned and DP until 13months when he refused breastmilk and favoured solids.