I have been on both side of the B/feeding fence re the too hard to b/feed debate - and I know the anguish of difficult attachment / baby pulling away from the nipple etc.... My first son was this tricky feeder and I too felt that B/feeding would be natural - where there's a will there's a way type thing... However after 6WEEKS of cup feeding spoon feeding cracked nipples / expressing / nipple shields and baby losing weight I discovered myself - (Noone suggested it was an option) - but I was willing to try anything - That I would keep offering the breast at every feed with a nipple shield - which was the only thing he would latch onto! - and if the baby still got frustrated I would give formula afterwards. I still expressed all the time (I was hooked up like a cow for several hours a day!) Eventually at that 6 week milestone I tried faithfully the breast feed first and he ACTUALLY latched on for the first time without fussing and pulling back - I was nearly as overwhelmed as I had been in the delivery room and he was fine for a year after that! That experience definately pushed me to the limit and with the 2nd I was thinking that if the same sit. was to happen I wouldn't have coped so long - thankfully the 2nd was a dream home birth - but all the same I have endless sympathy for those with mountains of will and a tricky baby as most seem to assume it is the mother that determines the success or failure - sometimes the baby can be a little monkey!! By the way Jamie was not tounge tied or anything physical - but i will say he had a bad dose of pethidine post birth and was difficult to rouse - and the midwives who tried to latch him on were quite rough with his head and held it in a vice like grip to force him to the breast - I reckon it took that many weeks to disassociate that experience from the breast feed. Any other experiences like this? - I am always interested to see if pethidine had anything to do with it as all other conditions were supposedly Ok - ie position, latch, my diet etc.
Interesting debate - I always have a hard time at reunions when I have correctly predicted the bottle feeders! Ie. full of self doubt at the prenatal breast feeding class...AND ambivelent husbands - big factor. Steph. Adelaide. ----- Original Message ----- From: "MICHELLE WHITE" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 3:51 PM Subject: FW: [ozmidwifery] too hard to brestfeed > > I'd like to add my thoughts to this debate.. > I agree with you that I think it's incredibly unfair to dismiss women who > choose > to bottle-feed as being selfish.... > It's a tough decision to make and I doubt any women who has desperately yearned > for their child, would ever make that decision lightly. > Before I had my little girl I decided that I would breastfeed because we all > know that it's the best thing you can do for your baby. > I also thought it would be the most natural thing in the world. > However, after a week of extreme pain and anguish I decided to put my child on > formula because I could not get her to attach properly, she wasn't getting > enough milk, she was sick and jaundiced, I was a physical and emotional wreck > and faced leaving hospital without my little girl being able to feed properly. > It should have been the happiest time of my life, but I was totally miserable. > My baby looked miserable and my husband was distraught because we both were > suffering. > It was a tough decision to make, I was treated like dirt by the nurses in the > hospital when I decided to switch to formula and I was offered no advice or > assistance on how to bottle-feed. Basically I was told that if I formula fed, I > was on my own, which made me furious. > However I did switch to bottle-feeding and for ME I think it was the best thing > I could've done. I went from hating feed-times and feeling like a total failure > to being able to enjoy having my baby in my arms watching her feed. > So, yes, breast is best. But please Megan, don't assume that someone is any less > a caring, 'real' mother if their circumstances mean they'd rather bottle-feed. > > Michelle. > Perth w.a. > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-ozmidwifery > Sent: Wednesday, 21 August 2002 2:09 PM > To: ozmidwifery > Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] too hard to brestfeed > > > In a message dated 8/21/02 9:37:24 AM W. Australia Standard Time, Megan > writes: > > > > I wonder how many of these parents that find breastfeeding too tiring, time > > consuming, etc had oodles of energy to go out to nightclubs to all hours. > > Granted you have all Sunday to recover. There is so much energy for doing > > things that only benefit ones selfish needs(my opinion), if society cared > > as > > much about birthing and nurturing as it does about football. > Megan > > I have had three children. > > The first was formula fed from about 2 weeks of age. > > I would have dearly loved to breastfeed my second, but he died shortly after > birth, and so I went through the physically and emotionally painful process > of letting my milk dry up. > > My third baby (premature) was breastfed until 10 months of age. > > In the case of babies 1 and 3 the decisions that I made, were not made out of > selfishness - far from it. How to feed you baby for many (most?) is a very > emotive one, and bound up in all sorts of history and background, but I would > suggest that very few women make decisions about feeding their baby lightly. > Even if they make a decision about feeding - for what someone might consider > a "selfish" reason - who are we to judge? > > I know what you are trying to say, and I do agree that the whole issue of > parenting and having children does not seem to have a high priority in this > high-tech consumer led world, and certainly the case of the Nigerian women is > awful (and not an isolated incident according to a report in Marie Claire > last year). > > Debbie Slater > Perth, WA > > -- > This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. > Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe. > -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
