breastfeeding vs bottlefeeding

pigpen

brazilianwax wrote: »

My DD (22 weeks) has expressed milk from bottles, and has since we got home from hospital. It suits us. Breastfeeding presents some physical challenges for me and this way she gets the benefit of breast milk with the convenience of having it anytime, anywhere (even in a moving car - which you can't do if breastfeeding ) from anyone. She had some formula in hospital and has occasionally needed some as a top up at home.

You can't know what you'll do until you try. Either way you'll find a solution.

I've fed mine while driving.. well.. OH was driving I was strapped in the back with the baby .. who went straight back in the car seat once fed.. not so easy to stop on the motorway with no services!

moneypanicker wrote: »

Oh i forgot to mention one good point for breastfeeding is that you still have one hand free to do other stuff!!!

indeed.. I have inch long finger nails and the cleanest nasal cavities you ever did see!

Becles

barbiedoll wrote: »

And to be honest, you can be the best breastfeeder in the whole world but sooner or later, your little bundle of joy will be turning their nose up at your organic veggie bake and refusing their fruit so that they can squeeze in a packet of chocolate buttons! :mad:

Not always.

We had Grandparents with eyes popping out their heads at the weekend, when they took my three year old for a McFlurry ice cream and she asked if she could have a bag of grapes and sliced apple instead

POPPYOSCAR

Becles wrote: »

Not always.

We had Grandparents with eyes popping out their heads at the weekend, when they took my three year old for a McFlurry ice cream and she asked if she could have a bag of grapes and sliced apple instead

Oh I remember those days!!!! Mine used to love those when they were little. McFlurrys all the way now I am afraid!!!

skintchick

money_honey wrote: »

Interestingly, out of my NCT group of 7 mums, only 2 ended up breastfeeding after 6 weeks as everyone else had various problems.

Interestingly, anecdotal evidence in my area shows that people who attend NCt classes usually end up bottle feeding. Not sure whether that is the demographic, the content of classes, or some other reason, but it's interesting it isn;t just around here.

Oh and to the poster whose child had severe tongue tie and 'didn;t stand a chance' of breastfeeding, I AM NOT JUDGING YOU, but felt it important to say that you can get tongue tie snipped very easily, after which breastfeeding should be perfectly possible. Tongue tie doesn;t automatically equal a failure to breastfeed successfully.

pigpen

skintchick wrote: »

Oh and to the poster whose child had severe tongue tie and 'didn;t stand a chance' of breastfeeding, I AM NOT JUDGING YOU, but felt it important to say that you can get tongue tie snipped very easily, after which breastfeeding should be perfectly possible. Tongue tie doesn;t automatically equal a failure to breastfeed successfully.

That depends when it is fixed and how severe it is. My neice had a total tongue tie and literally had to have milk poured into her mouth which she struggled to swallow so couldn't breastfeed at all she didn't have enough motion in her tongue to suckle.

I think they should all be sorted before they leave the hospital it takes minutes to do.. but there is 1 mw here who does it and she was off the week neice was born so she was 6 weeks before it was done. So while it is an easy op it isn't always available immediately as it should be... it isn't always diagnosed until later either.. Squeak has a small tongue tie which went unnoticed until she was 4 months.

barbiedoll

In my area, we aren't allowed to refer tongue-tie babies until they are seven days old. Which is a bit late if your baby is starving. :mad:

After that, it may be a week or more before an appointment. I referred one mum last month and when she got to the clinic, the lactation "expert" told her that because she had been using formula (she was still breastfeeding, even with cracked, bleeding nipples) she had ruined the baby's chances of latching on properly and said that unless the mum went away for a week and worked on her attachment, she wouldn't get the baby's tongue snipped.

(Luckily, she called me, I [STRIKE]spoke[/STRIKE] grovelled to the doctor and she got it done.)

I know that some people are using private nurses/midwives and rabbi's to get it done. One woman had her son's tongue-tie snipped by the rabbi who came to circumcise her son! :eek:
(Apparently, it costs around £60. About the same as 6 weeks worth of formula )

skintchick

pigpen wrote: »

That depends when it is fixed and how severe it is. My neice had a total tongue tie and literally had to have milk poured into her mouth which she struggled to swallow so couldn't breastfeed at all she didn't have enough motion in her tongue to suckle.

I think they should all be sorted before they leave the hospital it takes minutes to do.. but there is 1 mw here who does it and she was off the week neice was born so she was 6 weeks before it was done. So while it is an easy op it isn't always available immediately as it should be... it isn't always diagnosed until later either.. Squeak has a small tongue tie which went unnoticed until she was 4 months.

Absolutely Pigpen. I said it didn;t automatically mean BF failure, not that is never does. Just didn;t want people with a baby with TT to think it automatically means they can;t breastfeed.

barbiedoll

That's absolutely the case, I've seen lots of women (as I'm sure you have, skintchick!) who have breastfed tongue-tied babies. It can also depend on nipple size, size/weight of the baby, whether mum has breastfed before and other factors.

But there's no doubt that it does affect a lot of babies and can interfere with good BF technique. I don't know why they don't train all midwives to perform the surgery, it's a five-minute procedure and certainly not beyond the capabilities of midwives who often perform perineal repair surgery, which is surely far more complex!

(In fact, I'm going to suggest this at my hospital. They're looking for ways cut costs; this would save loads of money by cutting the amount of post-natal visits, the length of post-natal hospital stays and the cost of speech therapy for toddlers who can't speak properly because of undiagnosed/untreated tongue-tie)

Love_A_Bargain

vroombroom wrote: »

Evening all

Just after some advice (yet again!). I had an antenatal class last night that was all about breastfeeding, it was very informative.

I've got a few weeks left till our little lad is arriving and I honestly haven't given any definitive decision as to if I will breastfeed or bottlefeed. I was going to give breastfeeding a go and see how we both got on, as I know some don't latch on (if thats the word?) and then bottlefeed if need be.

Just wondering what other people's opinions and experiences of either were? Obviously I am aware of the benefits of breastfeeding and the cost of bottlefeeding, but what age do you wean babies? I've read about 2 years old still being breastfed:eek:

thanks guys x

Hello vroombroom, Congrats and all the best with your babyboy.

I've got a 9 month old baby and at present am still breastfeeding him, but am looking to start wean him off the breast anytime soon, i've started him on solid foods so that will be a big help.

Breastfeeding is entirely up to you and your little one. Sometimes they take to it and sometimes they don't. Give it a go, good luck!:)

FBaby

Do whatever feels right for you without any guilt or feelings of inadequacies. I thought hard whether I should breastfeed my children just because of all the pressure and evidence that breast milk is better and of course, we want to do the best for our children, but couldn't help the voice telling me that I really wasn't up for it and all my family was bottle fed and did just well. In the end, I went with my gut feeling and didn't even try to breasfeed. I did regret a bit not having tried it with my second baby because of the convenience, but in terms of giving the best for my children I have no regrets at all.

I was laughing last Monday reading an article in the dailymail about this huge study looking at primary children's reading and numeracy results and how breastfed babies scored higher than bottlefed ones. I'd just come back from their teacher's evenings, being told that both my children were vry advanced and on the gifted and talended registry (age 8 and 11)! Thank god I didn't read this article when I was pregnant!!