Bottlefeeding

In your doctor's defense.  It is her job to make sure you have enough information to actually make an informed decission and are not being influenced by myths, fears or inacurate information.  It never hurts to listen and gather as much information as possible, both for and against.  Knowing exactly why you are uncomfortable with the act of breastfeeding will help you feel better about your decission when others try to influence you.

My first refused to BF from the beginning and my biggest regret, was trying too long.  It would have been much less stressfull, if I had just given up on BF earlier.  (Knowing what I know now about my DS, if I had wanted to start with Bottle Feeding, he would have fought that and wanted to BF)

When #2 came along, I wasn't against trying again and told the nurses that I would like to try and BF.  He took to it immediately, but (while still in the hospital) when I was too sore or just too tired to stay awake, I had to argue with the nurses for formula so DH could take a feeding or two.  I even told them I would be doing both in the beginning, but it seems that they were only capable of hearing/writing down one or the other and fought to keep me to what they thought was my first set of instructions.

BF can either be the biggest source of stress or the best stress reliever.

This is kind of late to chime in on this post, but I just wanted to add a little to the discussion.

I followed the link over from the Exclusively Pumping board, my son was fed expressed breast milk in a bottle for 13 months. I encountered lots of criticism and judgment about the way I fed him and it makes me mad any time I hear about someone pressuring someone into something they don't want to do.

It's your baby, which is a fact that seems to get lost during the hospital stay. One thing to keep in mind is that your OB leaves after the baby is born and won't be involved in how you feed your child at all. The L&D nurses and the pediatrician will be the ones that will be helping you with all the new baby care. I would really recommend taking a tour of the hospital and talking to the nurses about their opinion of FF. While some hospitals are pro BF some are not and I think the majority of nurses are too busy to care. The hospital I delivered at was very much pro formula. They did not have a LC and when I told the pediatrician I planned to breastfeed he actually rolled his eyes and said "They all say that, but it never lasts." He then explained that because I was a first time mom I would have to FF until my milk came in, this was actually his policy for all first time moms. I kept trying to argue with him, but it was pretty futile, the nurses would just take my son out of the room and feed him every 2 hours if I breast fed him instead. It finally got to the point where he made me *prove* my milk was in by pumping in front of a nurse and he said I could BF if I could produce more than an ounce. Of course my baby being only hours old I wasn't able to do it. I spent the first week of my child's like feeling like a failure and crying (hormones don't help!) As a result he never latched on after that. When I finally did see a LC about a week later she made me feel terrible all over again for "not trying hard enough". I really felt like I couldn't win.

If you do not want to BF then you shouldn't be forced to. If you want your first memories of your child to be snuggling up with your sweet baby and feeding them a bottle, then that's what you should be able to do. You don't want to deal with people making you feel bad, or be forced to latch your baby on in front of some stranger if it's just to please someone else. It is after all, your baby.

I really would schedule a visit with the hospital to make sure you have compatible philosophies. I plan to BF my next child and so I toured 4 different hospitals and finally ended up at a birth center because they were very pro breastfeeding.

I'm sorry if this was a bit of a rant, it just really bothers me when I hear someone was made to feel like a bad mother when they are doing what is best for their family. I went through that and it took me a long time to stop being mad about it.

I wish you all the best for you and your little one!

Hi and welcome to the board!

I'm very sorry you went through all that, it sounds like a nightmare! I think we can all agree that whatever decision a mom comes to it should be respected.

I too agree that it's a good idea to find out beforehand what the hospital and the staff are like so you'll know what you're dealing with or possibly you might want to find another hospital that's more understanding.

Anyways, thank you for your input, I 100% agree with you. :)

Jen, CL, Bottlefeeding board