**PLEASE NOTE - this thread is not to belittle anyone...its to help others see the other side **

Id love to start a thread (this one) so that woman can share why they choose to Formula Feed their babies. My intensions are not to start slinging matches ect, I just think as BF is very important to woman so to is the reason's to why woman FF.

FF mum's are not monsters..they educate themselves, most have tried and failed to BF and there fore some have alot of self doubt on their abilities and get upset when others around openly state how easy it is to BF.

MY STORY
DS1 - I was uneducated. Plain and simple. I tried and tried but after having an Emergency C/S after 22 hours of labour I was drained. I claimed defeat after my mum told me I needed to 'get a bottle'. I could kick myself for it now, if only I trusted myself. N was formula feed from day 2.

DS2 - Not wanting to go down the same road I took formula and bottles to hospital with me straight away. I remember sitting on my bed in the ward the night before looking at them and crying at myself for having them. DS was born and I tried...he screamed and screamed when ever I picked him up. The lacto even couldnt settle him for me to get him to even attempt to latch on. He was FF from then on. At 18 months old DS2 had a pre-diagnoses of autism....which th epead explained was why he screamed when ever I picked him up.

DD1 - BF straight away in recovery!! OMG it was WONDEFUL! But not knowing how hard it owuld be with 2 other children, especially one with SN who got gastro at DD 5 week mark made it very hard for me...no support network sucks big time. Formula was bought and DD was FF from then on.

DS3 - BF from birth, I demanded that they take him out of his humi crib in the NICU so I could BF him. I was lucky enough to have J man home for the first 2 weeks, made BF a hell of alot easier especially with an active toddler. At 2 weeks of age we were rushed to the Royal Childrens Hospital in Melbourne as DS3 suffered multiple strokes...I had nothing better to do then to express and BF him for the time we were there. by the time we had gotten home BF was well established and we continued until almost 8 months when he self weened.

I hope that my FF-BF experience can help and maybe open the eyes of some. You may read my story and disagree with what I did or say you could have done it another way...but its the way I choose to do things and it worked for us. FF was there for us when we needed it. No woman should feel insecure for her parenting or feeding ways....we are insecurein ourselves enough without the added pressure.

xxx