Evening Star, I made a grammatical error in my last post (and probably a few spelling mistakes ;-) So there was a slight misunderstanding. I meant to say "All this stuff was constantly standing around my kitchen" (meaning the bottles, teats, etc.) and then I meant to start a new sentence about DD wanting a feed and me having to get the bottle ready. So I wasn't saying I was constantly standing in the kitchen getting bottles ready for a crying baby. That would definitely have been an exaggeration.

I guess, it just added to the anxiety of being a new mum... not really knowing what to do and having a crying bub and not being able to do somehting about it immediately. It definitely took me a lot longer than 2 minutes to get a bottle ready. More like 5-10.

I also used bottles with anti colic teats, but they're more a marketing gimmick IMHO. I actually found that the simplest teats turned out to be the ones causing the least gas. And in my case it really was the bottles giving her gas. Cause even later on, when DD was over the whole Newborn gas issues, whenever I gave her a bottle of EBM, she had gas again. too much coincindence in my books...

But some babies take to bottles very well. Mine just didn't.

Oh, and by the way, I don't blame you for stopping BFing because of the pain. I recently had cracked bleeding nipples and they are excrutiating. If I had gotten them early on, when you seem to feed bub constantly, I don't know if I could have gone through with it. But I find that pumping and bottle feeding EBM can be a good way to deal with cracked nipples as it gives them a chance to heal.

I have to say, I had the advantage that I had A LOT of support. I was in a birth centre and in the early days, my midwife came to see me every day, sometimes for 3-4 hours to help me get my BFing issues sorted. But after a couple of weeks we were good to go. I realise that most women don't get that kind of support. Often they have nobody around who has breastfed themselves. So when things don't go to plan, FF seems like the only option.

Please don't think I am looking down upon anyone who FF. Or being very critical about it. We all set out to do the best we can for our babies.

Sasa