that the breastfeeding relationship is so fragile that if you give bottles your baby will be hideously confused and your supply will disappear. I gave bottles for six whole weeks from when DD2 was three weeks old until nine weeks old because I couldn't attach her (long story, whole other thread on this). We are relactating. Her attachment is not perfect but she has not lost the instinct and I am working hard at getting my milk back (after six weeks of not feeding once and not expressing once). People who suggest that the odd bottle here and there will doom the BF relationship do a real disservice to those women who need to do that occasionally in the early days if they are having difficulties and need to regroup and refocus.
You need nipple shields if you have flat nipples - wrong, they pop out on their own after the first feed and stay that way
Using a dummy causes nipple confusion and deters baby from the breast - not in my house anyway
Using bottles and or formula top ups will end your BF relationship early. Nope, wrong again! We gave bottles (both EBM and formula) randomly throughout our journey and DD continued to BF until she was 11 months and 2 weeks
Breastfeeding doesn't and shouldn't hurt - their should be a disclaimer with this 'once you find your groove'. From what I hear, have read and experienced, I'm pretty sure it does hurt most women in the early days. My poor nipples went through he'll until DD hit 12 weeks!
My personal fave was from MIL - 'DH was allergic to my breastmilk so your baby probably will be to yours so you probably won't be able to breastfeed'. MIL, you were wrong!
You won't be able to bf when you go back to work. I worked at least 26hours a week when he was 5mths old and still managed to bf DS.
Once he got a bit older and I was working 30+hrs a week, I would occaisionally needed for someone to give him a bottle (I dont express so well!), which totally did not confuse him, nor give him a preferance to the ease of a bottle. It did not cause him any confusion. He would leap at me as soon as I walked in the door and I HAD to feed him then and there once I was home!
Using a dummy also causes confusion. Both of my children had dummies from very young and had them up until about a months ago, I combine fed DD until she was 7mths (then fell pg and my supply was non existent) and I fed DS til he was 23mths old when he self weaned. They were both addicted to dummies and booby!!
BFing is painless. For me bfing was excrutiating. Particularly with DD. The first 12ish weeks were hell and I had bleeding blistered nipples. I would tense up and cry when I knew I had to feed her. But I did it. They did get better eventually with the help of nipple shields and perseverance. With DS it wasnt so bad, but it still hurt. Once we got throught the pain though it was such a lovely experience. The best thing I have done for my babies so far.
Last edited by MrsFabuloso; October 12th, 2010 at 07:08 AM.
: spelling
that using a dummy causes confusion.
that you can not fall pg while feeding.
my personal fave i got with dd, you couldnt possibly feed her, theres no room in them boobs for anything! i only go up to a b cup each bub, but have fed them for aslong as i was comfortable, so far the furthest i have gotten was 4 months, but i am determined this time to make at least 6 months, who knows, if i can reach 6 months, might go further! heres hoping!! (i just have to remember to make sure im eating properly myself, as well as everyone else.)
oh that one is true, if you dont take care of yourself, eating right wise, it is hard to keep a baby happily fed when you "forget" to feed yourself!
Mine was that I wouldn't be able to breastfeed as I had small boobs, Your mother couldn't your aunty couldn't your sister couldn't & she (coming from grandmother) couldn't. So I wont either...
SUCK ON THAT GRANDMA!
Oh yes, breastfeeding and returning to work! I too was the only full-time worker and longest breastfeeder in my mothers group. I do work from home though, so it's easier than if you're out in the workforce, but continuing to breastfeed was even more important to me as a working mum - some days they were the only times I had anything to do with my son.
That is has to look a certain way to be working properly. I got so obsessed with DD1 having enough nipple in her mouth that I was constantly pulling her off to try and make it look they way they told me to. With DS and DD2, I just did what felt right. If it didn't feel right, then I would pull them off and start again, but I stopped worrying about how it should look and never had any problems.
Well I've debunked something a MCHN told me when DS was 2 months old. I was using nipple shields to breastfeed, and she told me outright that my milk would dry up if I kept using them... now here we are, DS is now 20 months and we are still breastfeeding using nipple shields! I don't even think anything of it now, I'm so used to them that I forget it's not 'normal' most of the time!
More recently, I think the main b/f myths I've debunked have been related to breastfeeding while pregnant. I've shocked a few people telling them I was still breastfeeding (and breastfeeding quite a lot) when I fell pregnant. A lot of people assume you have to wean in order to fall pregnant - I know some women do, but not everyone .
Also, I've come across who thought you couldn't breastfeed while pregnant - I think they thought it was either bad for the developing baby, or that your milk dries up. So far so good here though!
Sterla, my mum told me that I had to wean whne I fell pg with #3 too. She said it would deprive the growing baby of nutrients she really thought it was true...I said that I knew I wouldn't and she told me I had to go to the doctor....mind you my gp also told me that my milk had no nutritional value to it for DS when he turned 12mths old and I should just stop! When I told him half the world bf past 12mths and into toddlerhood and beyond he dismissed it as being for the 3rd world where they have nothing better to give babies and toddlers....it's so sad that even gp's are so ill informed.
* I exclusively bf all my children for the first 9-10 months of their lives (ie. no solids), proving that BM can sustain babies perfectly well for almost the first year of their lives. With my first child the IL's were constantly asking when I was going to give her 'real food'. They didn't bother asking with the next two!
* I bf while pregnant (twice).
* I bf DD and Ds1 until well after their 2nd birthdays. DD was still occasionally feeding after her third birthday, and I was still feeding DS1. No DD did not need to be fed at the school gate when she started school this year! I heard this comment constantly when people realised that I was feeding an older child. (And anyway, I wouldn't have minded if she did!).
* I demand bf and co-slept with all of them (currently with DS2), and no, they never had trouble transitioning to their own beds and bedrooms.
* You can think you are a bf expert, and then get mastitis for the first time with your third child! Conversely, you can overcome mastitis.
* I returned to work when DD was 13 months old and our bf relationship continued beautifully (and I didn't express once).
* I have been lactating for over 6 years!
BF makes the weight melt off
BF shouldn't hurt
BF makes your boobs smaller afterward (and kills the perk, but then I went from a 10DD to 10G to 10D and that's a bit extreme)
I breastfed my first two until, coincidentally, a week before they got teeth. At 9 and 14 months ...
Breastfeeding is most certainly good for lazy people. You just schmock em on the boob and don't need to think
The only one people seem surprised about is that DD#2 and DS (DD#1 was smaller and a slower grower) are such honking great porkers. DD#2 had a ridiculous growth spurt at around 6 weeks and shot up from 50th to 90th percentile, then slowly dropped back down again, I think she's about average now. DS blubbered up to 75th percentile and is holding steady. Apparently breastfed babies don't get this fat or something. Its even more amusing if you consider that myself and my partner are both rather petite little lightweights - I'm normally about 55kg and he's 65kg, both of us are small builds.
"Breast feeding will ruin the appearance of your breasts". WRONG. Mine look better, slightly bigger (gone from size A to size B) and still perky. Only change is a few white stretch marks on the sides which resulted from my pregnancy... not the feeding. Also I have the added peace of mind that my chances of contracting breast cancer is significantly reduced after feeding for a total of 4 years.
"People will be critical of breast feeding beyond 6 months/1 year". WRONG. No one said anything and I breast fed until beyond 2 years with my third child.
"Your milk will dry up if you miss a few days of breast feeding". WRONG. I had to travel interstate while BFing my youngest. All i did was a little hand expressing in the shower once a day to relieve the pressure and was able to continue as before when i got home.
"A dummy/bottle use will confuse a breast feeding child". WRONG. I had to express my milk (and use a bottle due to mastitis) and even offer formula for brief period for two of my 3 babies and the other one used a dummy until he was a toddler. No confusion what so ever.
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