Did you Breast Feed? Why or why not? Just generally curious... I DON'T WANT TO START AN ARGUMENT!

[Harrison''''sMum]

I had my son in a public hospital. The hospital is very pro breastfeeding. The support they offered as amazing. Breastfeeding class during pregnancy, touched on it again during antenatal classes. You could have as much support after the birth as you need including home visit from a midwife.I breast fed for 6.5 months with no dramas. It was my choice to stop. I love the hospital I had DS in and hope to have an equally enjoyable experience next time. Fingers crossed.

[~Ruby~Gloom~]

I breastfeed all three of my boys for varying lengths of time. Every child was a struggle tbh, I found it really hard but continued because it was what was best for my baby. I also had my first at a pro-bf hossy, but he was in scn for the first couple of days and they were giving him formula without my consent! Yeah, really "baby-friendly"!!!
I think one of the big issues for new mothers is that they don't realise how hard it will be and that building up a supply and getting used to the tecnique takes quite a lot of time and then if it doesn't fall into place within the first week or two they give up believing that they "couldn't" breastfeed or they weren't producing enough milk for their baby.
I also think that formula is too easy and too readily available.
Education, information, support and more pro-breastfeeding staff for both in and out of hospital is what is needed imo.

[Kelly&Bub]

My baby just turned 4 weeks old. when i fell pregnant i decided i was going to bf for 6 months at least no matter what. When he was born he was sent to special care nursery for a hight temp. while i was reciving a blood tranfusion i was asked if he was able to have some formula since i wasnt allowed to feed to which i said yes. the first 2 days were fine feeding him apart from really sore nipples and on the 3rd day no milk or anything was coming out, and he couldnt suck problay and still cant if put on the breast now.so i tried expressing 15 mls each time was i all got for 2 weeks. i felt pressured to bf but not getting enough and expressing was so painful to the point my breast were bleeding from expressing i decided to formula feed him. i felt like really bad to start with but i needed to make sure he was getting enough milk and that i wasnt crying and dreading every feed from the pain.

[Mumto2beauties]

I breastfeed DD1 for about 6mnths.
From day one we had issues adn i couldnt attach her properly so from then i stressed out and i believe she sensed i was stressed.. I didnt seem to produce much milk and was always expressing.. I gave up after 6mths.

With DD2 i breastfeed for about 5-6mths as well, she was a good feeder adn seemend to attach well.. I wasnt as stressed and worried as i was an old hand at breastfeeding!! lol.. I stoppped wheni did prob for selfish reasons.. It was hard BF and also looking after a young toddler and not having really any time to myself, FF helped me have a break and let othres feed her.

[Purple Mummy]

Hi,

I had DD in public Hosp.. they were very *dont no the right word* pushy towards breast feeding.. DD didnt attach to well, took me an hr to feed her and she was still hungry.. i was feeding her every 2 hr.. my nipples cracked.. and were worse for wear.. i lasted 6wks.. my final decision to stop bf was when she was weighed in and she'd put on almost no weight.. i formula feed her from that moment on .. she doubled her weight in a wk.. *back to where she should have been plus more *..

I support mums who choose to bf or ff! I believe as mothers we no whats best for bubbs and for ourselves

[one~wee~man]

I had DS in a public hospital and they were VERY pro BF. I BF for 3 days then gave up because quite frankly it hurt. Also I had I dont know how many diferent midwives grabbing at my breast trying to shove DS on to it plus every single one of them had a different way to do it!!! In the end I was so confused and over it that I left the hospital and went straight to the chemist for formula.

[Izaak*and*Kyans*Mum]

I am very pro-breastfeeding and from the day i found out i was pregnant i knew that's how i wanted to feed. However, i do not judge others for their feeding choices - freedom of choice is a wonderful thing!

Both DS's were born in the Birth Centre at a very well known public hospital.

DS1 was a brilliant feeder from word go. He had his first feed about 20mins after he was born, he attached like a pro and i was lucky enough to never have cracked/bleeding nipples etc, only the toe curling pain that everyone gets on let down and that initial attachment. The midwives i had in hospital were fantastic and especially one of the night ones in particular.

Unfortunately, i did have supply issues which started when he was around 4mths old. He wasn't gaining weight so we saw the lactation consultants at the hospital who were godsends... i was put onto motilium and it was advised that we start DS on some solids to assist in the weight gain. We saw the LC's once a week until for weight gain checks until he was around 8mths old and i breastfed him until he was almost 10mths when he self weaned.

DS2 was born after a VERY quick 1hr 15min labour and was extremely congested with mucous following his birth. I tried to feed him almost immediately after and he wasn't interested at all... he ended up having his first feed 2 and a half hours after he was born. I originally wanted early discharge but because he was born at 4:30pm in the arvo i had to stay the night and was put onto an overflow ward as the postnatal ward was full.

He was extremely unsettled that first night, not feeding properly due to the mucous congestion and the midwife was USELESS! He seemed to be attaching well but was fussing at the breast.

We cam home and he was incredibly unsettled still. Seemed to be attaching well still but had severe colic and was a generally grumpy baby. Fast forward to 4wks of age and he wasn't gaining enough weight so off to the LC we went again. It was discovered he had a high palate and more likely than not my nipple was going into the roof of his mouth rather than the back of his throat and therefore he wasn't getting as much milk as he could have. All the BF foundations had been set and therefore my supply had started dropping again. We tried a different attachment technique, i was put onto meds to increase my supply again and we were also comp feeding with formula through line feeding (bottle of formula between breasts with very thin tubing from the bottle taped to my breast) so he was still sucking at the breast to encourage supply but getting formula at the same time. I was also trying to express as often as i could but doing this with an 18mth old as well was pretty impossible.

I was devastated that i had 'failed' again... it was (and still is) one of my true passions (BF) and i, an advocate had failed!

I stuck it out for 10wks with DS2 and finally gave in to the bottle and formula as it all got too much. He was still unsettled and had severe colic so the formula wasn't a relief as such in that sense but at least he was gaining weight.

I was one of the 'lucky' ones who never had attachment issues etc but didn't have enough milk and it was often suggested my milk lacked 'quality' also (but if you talk to certain people - all BM is of 'quality so who knows)!

[Ange22]

Thank you ladies for all your responses and for no nasitness! Glad we can discuss this so calmly!! lol

I think the issue with our public hospital, is that firstly there is no information. They usually don't even give ante-natal classes so how ould they even find out about the ABA etc!!! And because they are short staffed, the midwives don't have time to sit there and help a mother. My friends have pushed the "call" button and waited up to an hour for someone! In that time they have tried to do it themselves with not nice results. Also they ALL said that at no time were they offered help from a lacation consultant (not even sure if they have one at...). Whereas in our private hospital the lacation consultant comes and visits EVRERY SINGLE NEW mother just to see how she goes. And then if you are having issues you deal mainly with her from then on so you don't get conflicting advice. I think that was my first issue in days 1 or 2... I had each midwife show me differently. Once I had the continual and consistant advice of the lacation consultant, as well as the offer to return to hospital for BF help once I was discharged, things started to really improve. I think it's a shame that the local public hospital doesn't/can't offer the same assistance.

But from reading your posts I understand it isn't really publc vs private it is more OUR public vs private.

THanks again ladies and lets keep it friendly

[beaniesbubs]

I breastfed all my girls for varying length of times, between 9 and 18 months. I always knew I would breastfeed even before I was pregnant. It was the best start I could give my babies. I also figured it was on tap and pre warmed and I did not have to sterilise numerous bottles a day. that is just me! I have one friend whose baby just would not attach properly and after weeks of trying she gave up while another just couldn't get her head around breastfeeding, she thought it icky having a baby on her nipples so she just went straight to bottles. Each to her own!

I have had all 4 babies at 3 different public hospitals and they do vary. With my first two who were both born at the same hospital, the staff were pro breastfeeding and spent ages educating me on the ins and outs. The second hospital assumed that it was my 3rd baby so I should know what to do while with my fourth baby was born in a country hospital that was short staffed. They had a 18 bed ward plus 3 delivery suites with 2 midwives for the lot, needless to say mums did not get a lot of attention. I survived because by number 4 I knew the routine.

[.:Katie:.]

DD1 I breastfed her till 3 and a half months but she was on formula too. She was exclusively breastfed for about 5 days. We started introducing formula to give me a break basically. I wasn't prepared for how painful it was, the bleeding cracked nipples and when she woke up and was hungry I felt terrible, I got so nervous about it hurting and just didn't want to do it anymore. I didn't feed her for 24hrs after we bought the formula and I was shocked at how much my milk disappeared, I didn't have enough to fill her and at the end I was just feeding her a little before she had a bottle. I did try to get it back up by myself by feeding her more but it didn't seem to work.

With DD2 I fed her for 1 month. She had one formula bottle in that time (when she was 5 days old I had to go to the hospital and hadn't expressed any). I was going so well and really enjoying it but I ended up in hospital when she was a month old and didn't feed her for 10hrs, milk dropped shockingly and I was in hospital for a 8 days and the nurses tried to help me get my supply back up but it wouldn't work so we put her on formula. I'd feed her for 45mins on one side, switch and do the same on the next side and then she'd sleep for half an hour if I was lucky then she'd want to feed like that again. We gave her a bottle of formula and she went back to being herself, I just wasn't filling her. Lol before my supply went I had so much milk it wasn't funny!

[Bec86]

Both my kids were born in different public hospitals and I had great experiences at both.

I had some help getting DS to attach properly initially, but was in hospital long enough for my milk to come in and be shown how to control the flood of milk that would swamp him at every feed. I didn't have any major issues and fed him until he was just short of 13 months.

With DD, she crab crawled over by stomach when she was about 2mins old for her 1st feed. She just attached and we were set. We didn't need any help with attaching and left within 12 hours of her being born. I fed her until she was about 15weeks old. It became a fight at each feed to get her to cooperate, and she was lucky to be having 3 feeds in 24hours. It was driving me insane, so I switched to formula. She wasn't impressed for a day or 2, but since then she hasn't looked back. I honestly think that switching to formula when we did, saved me from PND.

So in answer to the original question I got the help that I needed from the public system (from 2 seperate hospitals). Both hospitals were quite pushy that the mothers should at least try bfing, but as that was the decision I had already made, it didn't concern me.

The only experience I've had with the private system is when my sis was born in 2001 and mum chose to bottle feed. As the 4th child, they were happy for her to make the decision and noone tried to guilt her into bfing.

[~kitty~]

Ange what a great subject

Both of my kids were born in a private hospital, both caesareans, and I fabulous care after they were born. (Maybe they were guilty of the care I got during labour! lol )

I'm thankful BF came fairly easily for me, both babies latched on well and everything kind of came naturally (with a little help from the midwives and plenty of research on my behalf.)

My DD was BF for 3yrs and 2mths
DS is still BF at 14mths old.

I don't think it comes down to public vs. private care, however ALL of my friends who have birthed in a public hospital, regardless of whether or not they were a private patient , have had formula given to their babies, even without the mothers prior knowledge... which I think is down right appalling! The private hospital, where I had my babies, was regarded as a Baby Friendly hospital, there is a strong push for BF and absolutely NO discussion of formula.

[GT581A]

Hi,i have been on both sides of the fence,all my babies were born at public hospitals, the twins were born early had some issues and were bf for only a short while before one got whisked away to another hospital and the stress dried up my milk completly, so they were formula fed. My new baby is 9 months and still breastfeeding, it was a challenge as she ws small, it took 6 days for my milk to come in and she got used to a bottle, but now she is ok,and i hope to conitune on for a while yet. Not sure if going public or private makes a difference, it is a very personal choice i think and getting support (whatever your choice)is the key to a happy mum and happy baby

[Princess*Pea]

I breastfed my daughter till a few weeks after her second birthday and I loved every minute of it! Had a few issues in the beginning, but I think most people do........After around the 6 week mark, everything fell into place and we never looked back.

I still really miss feeding her, and sometimes wish I had have continued to do so.

[Mumma*J]

I am just in the process of switching from breast to formula. I breastfed for 4 weeks, through attachment problems, cracked and bleeding nipples, thrush infected nipples and milk ducts and mastitis. The last week I have been expressing for every feed (spending half the day on the couch with a pump to try and keep up with feeds) while my nipples healed, as it was just far too painful to breastfeed. Even my husband was telling me to put her on formula, he could not bear to see so stressed and in pain. I was crying through every feed, and was starting to resent my beautiful baby for wanting feeding so often, instead of bonding and enjoying her, and also started to get quite depressed about it all.
As a last resort I went and saw a lactation consultant to give breastfeeding one last try ( I really did not want to give up on it), she said that my baby has a 'bad suck' she doesnt open her mouth wide and pushes my nipple out with her tongue, and just slides down the nipple - I have very large breasts and with her bad attachment she just cant stay attached properly like she should. She also said that she is surprised I have even lasted 4 weeks and did extremely well to do so.
I could have probably persevered and she would develop a stronger latch, but after a few days my nipples were all chewed up again and also my milk supply had dropped after the expressing... and I figured the stress of it all was just not worth it.
So I have now been formula feeding (and expressed milk while I wean my breastmilk) for the last 2 days and are so much happier and relaxed for it and am able to enjoy my baby instead of worrying about feeding issues all the time.
I so badly wanted to breastfeed, hence why I put up with so much before giving it up. Not only because they say it is 'best for baby' but also I really felt like I was failing as a mum if I couldnt do it. I still feel guilty every time I make her up a bottle of formula, but I just remind myself that a happy mum makes for a happy baby and that is more important.
I dont think the hospital influences how women choose to feed, though I know from my experience I felt that "breast is best" is rammed down the throats of new mums. But I guess having the support and help with breastfeeding helps a lot of mums to continue to feed when they might otherwise give up.