This is not a go at you, or anyone else, but the main cause of low supply in lactating women is that baby is not spending enough time at the breast. Every expressed bottle or formula top up you give, impacts on supply, especially in those early weeks of establishing supply.

FACT: BM is easier to digest than formula so that baby needs to feed more often, on average of every 1.5-2.5 hours...add to that their really tiny tummies and in those first 6-8 weeks it can feel like you are feeding baby ALL the time.

FACT: Thrush is almost always accompanied by mastitis because you get given antibiotics to treat mastitis but this tends to cause an overgrowth of yeast.

Fact: Mastitis occurs because the breast is not being emptied properly, either with a pump, or better yet your baby.

Fact: As far as reflux goes, the best thing for a reflux baby is bm.

Fact: Only 2% or LESS of the female population is incapable of bfing due to medical issues for example.

With formula being so readily available, and indeed marketed to mothers, it is no surprise to me anyway that women choose, and it is a choice, not to bf but to ff instead. Contrary to what the formula manufacturers would have you believe formula is NOT as good as, or better than bm. I'm all for calling a spade a spade, and saying you "can't do it" is a cop out in my opinion, if you choose not to, either from birth or in week 3 or 13, then say "I CHOOSE" not to bf, because by saying you can't it implies that you didn't have a choice in whether or not to bf and in 98% of cases women do.

Yes those first few weeks are hard, and I had to grit my teeth at some feeds, and I dreaded every feed in about week 3 and my nipples weren't exactly in the best shape they have ever been but I stuck with it because I knew it was what was best for my baby.

I know I am not going to change everyone's mind, or say that ff is bad (I ff DS1 exclusively from 10 months when he prematurely weaned), but it is not the ideal way to feed a baby and until more women, and men, understand how bf works and the benefits it provides over ff, then I will make it my mission to educate as many women as I can, and if I can get ONE of them to rethink their decision to ff then that makes it worthwhile for me and worth being labelled a "bf militant" or any other horrible thing that gets thrown at me.

 

 

Jamesmum, I know from your previous posts that you had a tougher time bf'ing your first baby and after more education and better advice you've had a better exprience with your 2nd which is great but please do not say that because a Mum gives bf'ing her best shot and for whatever reason it doesn't work out that she necessarily 'chose' not to breastfeed. Some women it just doesnn't work for but that doesn't mean that so called formula marketing has made her choose to formula feed instead. All feeding Mums deserve equal support and formula feeding Mums don't deserve to feel guilty forever for giving it their best while they could.

Good luck to all :)

 

hi there

I really dont wanna make a debate over breast v bottle... but I do wanna say I have to agree with melissa in that you should not use your experience to judge how someone else should or shouldnt feel.
Each person experiences things differently to others - no 2 woman are going to be the same and I find it very condascending for others to tell me that they could stand the pain so everyone else 'quits' if they 'cant' stand the pain.

For a woman to say I 'can not' breastfeed is her right if she chooses too. I know you are all saying that every woman has the right to choose whether or not to, I also strongly agree with that fact. But because you say 2% of women 'can not' breastfeed for medical issues doesnt mean that a woman who 'can not' breastfeed because she is bleeding and cant stand the pain can not use the same term - can that be overcome - yes of course - and if you had the strength to get past that and succeeded - then I admire you and more power to you but doesnt mean a woman who 'can not' stand the pain is any less of a woman.
a woman who 'can not' breastfeed because she is getting depressed and anxious about every feed and is about to lose her flipping mind is a woman who doesnt choose to feel that way, its not her choice that she is in a depression she feels she cant get out of and if a health professional can see that then they might even advise her that its better for her and baby to discontinue, that in my own opinion is a woman who 'can not' breastfeed happily.
If this was like you and you got through it again - thats wonderful for you, but I am sure there are many women who have been in a pit of despair that they feel is a hole they cant get out of and I dont think it would make them any less of a woman than a woman who 'can' breastfeed for 2 or even 3 years.

There are many reasons in my humble opinion as to why woman 'can not' breastfeed, YES I hear what you are saying the statistics say that there are only 2% of woman who 'medically can not' breastfeed but I feel for woman who have been in the above kind of situations if they read this and think they have failed because they simply chose by a choice not to bf. Yes in a way its a choice, I agree BUT it is also a choice that for many woman was an inevitable and difficult occurence that had to happen.

Well thats my 2c.
To the op - good luck to you, I hope you find happiness either way and have plenty of support around you for whatever you 'choose' lol

take care all

 

 

Kel,

Believe me, I hear you, and I could have put it a different way perhaps. I think what I was failing miserably to say is that yes there are women who are in so much pain that they can't believe that it will ever end, that the constant feeding must mean they have a supply problem, or their inability to pump means that things are going wrong. But for the majority (though it seems like the minority at the moment) of women who do feed through those sorts of problems it DOES get better and they wonder why they ever contemplated quitting.

As I was saying to Melissa I think that women, mother's especially have guilt about the choices the make/made and in a way that never goes away and that's just how we are BUT what makes that one woman who had so many difficulties keep feeding when another woman with similar issues did not? It wasn't about not being able to for either of them, one CHOSE to continue and the other CHOSE not to. I suppose it depends on how we define can't and choice. Look at it another way, two people want to jump out of a plane, they get up there and it's their turn. One happily jumps out but the other one says "I can't", now physically they could, but they CHOOSE not to........I think it's the same thing with feeding through issues that are possible to be remedied through the right support and education. What made that first person jump and the other one be too scared? Was it lack of information, lack of determination, or just a personal objection?

Like I said, I'm all for calling a spade a spade, and yes I could probably be a bit more tactful at times, and sometimes things aren't black and white but I find it hard to believe that all the women I have seen in the past 9 months or so were physically, biologically and physiologically unable to bf. Yes they might not have wanted to, but that's not the same thing. So that's my $5 worth for today and now I am going to go and spend some time with my kiddies.

Christina