MSE Parent Club

meester

xcat_girlx wrote: »

also, i dont want it to be an excuse for my b.f not 2 do feeds!

It's a pretty good excuse.

the only advantage i can see is it apparently gets u slimmer quicker. hmmmmmm.........

Really? Probably should read up a bit more.

I did a quick Google search, the first link came up with following list:

• Breast milk is the ideal baby food. It has the perfect combination of proteins, fats, carbohydrate, and fluids that new-born babies require.
• On average, breastfed babies have fewer infections in their early life. In particular, they have less diarrhoea and vomiting, chest infections, and ear infections compared to babies who are not breast fed. The main reason for this is that antibodies and other proteins are passed in the breast milk from mother to baby. These help to protect against infection.
• Breastfeeding reduces the risk of cot death
• Performance in childhood intelligence tests was better in children who had been breastfed compared to those who had been bottle fed.
• The following health problems in later life are less common in those who had been breast fed compared to those who had not:
  • Obesity and overweight
  • High blood pressure
  • High cholesterol level
  • Eczema
  • Diabetes
  • Leukaemia
• The following health problems are less common in women who have breastfed one or more babies compared to those who have never breastfed:
  • Breast cancer
  • Ovarian cancer
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Postnatal depression
• It is easier to lose weight after giving birth if you are breastfeeding.
• Breastfeeding is the most convenient method of feeding. There is no preparation time, and it is always available.
• Breastfeeding is cheap. Actually, it is free!

One of ours was bottle fed (the first), the other was breast fed, the only thing I can comment on is that it's definitely much easier to lose weight, and baby #2 has never got sick, whereas baby #1 had to go to hospital once (nothing too serious) and a few other episodes of diarrhea probably caused by preparation of formula.

xcat_girlx

meester wrote: »

It's a pretty good excuse.



Really? Probably should read up a bit more.

I did a quick Google search, the first link came up with following list:

• Breast milk is the ideal baby food. It has the perfect combination of proteins, fats, carbohydrate, and fluids that new-born babies require.
• On average, breastfed babies have fewer infections in their early life. In particular, they have less diarrhoea and vomiting, chest infections, and ear infections compared to babies who are not breast fed. The main reason for this is that antibodies and other proteins are passed in the breast milk from mother to baby. These help to protect against infection.
• Breastfeeding reduces the risk of cot death
• Performance in childhood intelligence tests was better in children who had been breastfed compared to those who had been bottle fed.
• The following health problems in later life are less common in those who had been breast fed compared to those who had not:
  • Obesity and overweight
  • High blood pressure
  • High cholesterol level
  • Eczema
  • Diabetes
  • Leukaemia
• The following health problems are less common in women who have breastfed one or more babies compared to those who have never breastfed:
  • Breast cancer
  • Ovarian cancer
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Postnatal depression
• It is easier to lose weight after giving birth if you are breastfeeding.
• Breastfeeding is the most convenient method of feeding. There is no preparation time, and it is always available.
• Breastfeeding is cheap. Actually, it is free!

One of ours was bottle fed (the first), the other was breast fed, the only thing I can comment on is that it's definitely much easier to lose weight, and baby #2 has never got sick, whereas baby #1 had to go to hospital once (nothing too serious) and a few other episodes of diarrhea probably caused by preparation of formula.

i'd have to read up on this expressing business. i wouldnt feel comfortable at all doing it in a public place or in front of people.

meester

xcat_girlx wrote: »

im keeping my fingers crossed our parents will help out with cots & prams.

i think i've worked the tax credits out wrong........it says we're entitled to nothing even though we only earn 16k p.a each?

That sounds like plenty of money to me, when we had our first our income was £26k, you just need to reduce costs a bit.

You will in any case get £1090 in tax credit on that income for the first year, £545/year after that, plus £977.60 in child benefit.

meester

xcat_girlx wrote: »

i'd have to read up on this expressing business. i wouldnt feel comfortable at all doing it in a public place or in front of people.

It's not something to worry about now. You're not going to be out in public until a couple of weeks after the baby is born, and you may well feel differently then.

Js_Other_Half

ginvzt wrote: »

Although, in my family there is a history of not producing enough milk (my mum and aunt couldn't - I was fed another ladies milk, when I was a baby), I am still going to try!!!!!

I did not produce enough milk to feed DS, and he ended up on a drip overnight at 5 days old. However, and this is the bit I want you to take notice of, I DEMANDED to see a breastfeeding adviser (not the nurses or carers in the children's ward who knew next to nothing). The woman in charge of the infant feeding advice service came in to the hospital on her day off to see me - on a bank holiday!:A

Anyway, I never produced enough milk to feed DS, but I managed to combine feed him with this contraption:http://www.medela.co.uk/UK/breastfeeding/products/nursing.php
I filled it with formula, and taped the tube to me, and DS got a little bit from me, as well as the formula. He weaned himself off me and it at 9 months.

So, even if you can't produce much milk, you'll still be able to give your child some of the benefits of breastfeeding - such as regulating how much they feed, and reduced likelihood of ear infections.

hth

Savvy_Sue

1. Yes, a top and tail bowl is a divided bowl. You put water in both sides, use water from one side to wipe face and from the other to wipe rear end. Since you tend to wipe their faces and their rear ends at slightly different times and NOT IME as part of the same operation, it is indeed a singularly useless piece of equipment.

2. If it doesn't make you too broody, start seeing how many breast feeding mothers you can spot 'doing it' in public. Bet you it's not many, and that's not because they're not doing it, but because there is nothing to see!

3. Given a choice between feeding a baby, and winding, changing and pacing the floor with a baby, I'd go for feeding every time. Funnily enough, I think DH would have done too, but as he couldn't breast feed he didn't get a choice.

4. Expressing milk and breast feeding a baby are two different things, and many women can feed but struggle to express. But there are options: I leaked for England, so used breast shells, little containers inside my bra on the side I wasn't feeding from. I could then freeze these and defrost a bottle's worth. This was however a complete waste of time because DS1 never accepted a bottle, even if it had mummy milk in it.

xcat_girlx

meester wrote: »

That sounds like plenty of money to me, when we had our first our income was £26k, you just need to reduce costs a bit.

You will in any case get £1090 in tax credit on that income for the first year, £545/year after that, plus £977.60 in child benefit.

my income will just go to under half the 16k im on now which is my only worry.

xcat_girlx

meester wrote: »

It's not something to worry about now. You're not going to be out in public until a couple of weeks after the baby is born, and you may well feel differently then.

hmmmm i suppose once i see the little darling i might not mind him or her hanging off me..........ugh na, its never gonna change! haha.

xcat_girlx

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

4. Expressing milk and breast feeding a baby are two different things, and many women can feed but struggle to express. But there are options: I leaked for England, so used breast shells, little containers inside my bra on the side I wasn't feeding from. I could then freeze these and defrost a bottle's worth. This was however a complete waste of time because DS1 never accepted a bottle, even if it had mummy milk in it.

so its not always straightforward to put milk into a bottle e.g. for going out, giving to the OH to feed with etc?

daphne_descends

xcat_girlx I am sure it is just naivety but using phrases like 'boobs round your ankles' and saying 'hanging off me' in relation to breastfeeding is pretty offensive. Sorry. It's just not like that. My boobs are fine and I've been feeding him for nearly a year. I have a few pale white stretchmarks, but I got those while pregnant (check out the 'pregnancy's best kept secrets' thread for the wonderful dirt on this miracle of pregnancy and birth!). They'd be there if I'd never fed him. And he doesn't 'hang' off me. He snuggles into me and makes little noises of contentment and actually it's quite beautiful.

I am sure you did not intend offence. But please think of others before you use what is pretty negative language.