PDA

View Full Version : Feelings on breastfeeding



Pages : [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7

feline01
Dec 28th, 2004, 02:03 PM
I'm curious about views on breastfeeding during a child/ren's first year of life especially considering this is a vegan forum.

feline01
Dec 28th, 2004, 02:11 PM
For me, I will always carry with me the disappointment in not being able to exclusively breastfeed my twins. I have been breastfeeding them since birth and supplementing with organic soy formula. They are now 8 months old and thriving. My personal belief is that all children should be exclusively breastfed whenever possible, formula should be a last resort.

ConsciousCuisine
Dec 28th, 2004, 03:17 PM
For me, I will always carry with me the disappointment in not being able to exclusively breastfeed my twins. I have been breastfeeding them since birth and supplementing with organic soy formula. They are now 8 months old and thriving. My personal belief is that all children should be exclusively breastfed whenever possible, formula should be a last resort.


I feel like you have expressed you feel and applaud you for doing all you are for your babies. They have the best of both- breast and organic supplementation. Perfect. :)

PinkFluffyCloud
Dec 28th, 2004, 05:10 PM
I exclusively breastfed my son til he seemed to need some solids, then combined the two.
I never even considered NOT feeding him that way, yet the Nurses in the hospital where he was born were shocked that I hadn't even bought a bottle 'just in case'!!.
Unfortunately my parents (particularly my mother), and my brother were DISGUSTED by my breastfeeding, and I was never 'allowed' to feed in front of them, which was awkward beacause I was spent a fair amount of time with them when Sam was a baby.
I have been informed that some mothers 'can't' breastfeed - but is there any actual physical reason for this? (other than false breasts!!).

feline01
Dec 28th, 2004, 06:39 PM
I have been informed that some mothers 'can't' breastfeed - but is there any actual physical reason for this? (other than false breasts!!).

For me, I nearly died the day I had the babies from HELLP Syndrome. I was given magnesium sulfate to prevent seizures so the babies were not allowed my breastmilk for 48 hours. I wasn't given the opportunity to pump during the first 24 hours because they were waiting to see if I was going to become more ill. Finally, a nurse brought me a pump which she told me to use 2 or 3 times a day. It should have been once every 1 to 2 hours!!! :mad: . I didn't find this out until the next day from another nurse. My milk never came in so when I got home, we arranged for a lactation consultant to come over (paid $150.00 for that, well worth it). She spent 3 hours with me and the babies giving advice and showing me how to breastfeed twins since they didn't do that in the hospital. I exclusively breastfed though they were a month premature and weighed a bit over 5lbs each. I gave it 4 weeks and rented a hospital grade breast pump during this time so I would alternate hourly feeding and pumping. It was horrible and they weren't gaining weight like they should have so I began supplementing.

I don't know what happened to my body but I'm assuming the trauma of HELLP prevented my body from properly preparing itself for breastfeeding. So yes, PFC, some women are unable to breastfeed :( .

Tigerlily
Dec 28th, 2004, 06:55 PM
I think I would like to breastfeed but when I won't be able to, I'll use some organic soy formula.

I think some women can't breastfeed because it hurts too much for them.

PinkFluffyCloud
Dec 28th, 2004, 08:23 PM
Feline, sorry you had such a rotten time, I didn't really mean women with traumatic birthing experiences, and I wasn't intending to sound critical.

Some women I know who seem to have had a reasonably 'easy' ( :p ) labour/birth proceed to bottle feed, saying that they are 'unable' to breastfeed. Through my experiences with non-human animals, I would say that barren mothers are relatively rare, so I wondered if it was a psychological problem - or just that they don't want to admit that they don't want to breastfeed? :o

When took my son to a 'Mother and Baby' class, I was only one of two breast-feeding mothers in a group of approx 25!! I find that astounding!! :eek:

feline01
Dec 28th, 2004, 08:29 PM
I talked to many women about this and among my friends who have had babies, I was the only one to breastfeed. Their reasons for not doing it were all the same, "too difficult." I think buying and preparing formula and washing all those bottles is a heck of alot more difficult. Plus, pediatricians in the US push formula on women. Free samples in the hospital and during office visits, coupons sent all the time. It's sickening. Then huge corporations like Nestle go into underdeveloped nations and tell the women that formula is better so they stop breastfeeding and start using formula mixing it with contaminated water and/or diluting the strength because they can't afford the formula. Agh!!!

PinkFluffyCloud
Dec 28th, 2004, 08:52 PM
Yes, Feline, the whole formula industry stinks!
And you're right, there's no way I could have been bothered with all that mixing, sterilising, washing bottles, etc!
I didn't find breastfeeding atall difficult - just a little frustrating sometimes when I was stuck in a chair for an hour at a time, and there was no way (oBviously) that anyone else could help out!
I think I probably found it easy because I really wanted to do it, it felt right, and I wasn't atall embarrassed about doing it. :)

Unfortunately my bra size went up from a 'C' cup to an 'F' cup - now 'down' to a 'DD' cup, which I could do without, and try to hide the best I can!! I would still do it all again, though. :p

feline01
Dec 28th, 2004, 09:07 PM
We have a system set up at home. Hubby helps "load" the babies onto propped pillows so I breastfeed both at the same time and while I'm breastfeeding, he prepares the bottles and warms them so by them time they're done, they can go right to formula.

Darling daughter decided to take a bite this morning with her 2 wittle teeth. Awww. She was off the boob might quick once she did that and her dad had a talk with her.

Geoff
Dec 28th, 2004, 09:57 PM
Yes, Feline, the whole formula industry stinks!

I've been boycotting Nestles for many years because of the unethical promotion of their formula: Sales people dressed as nurses, free supplies until mother's milk dries up then they pay through the nose (often a month's income for one tin) formula made up with dirty water so babies get diarrhoea and then become victims of the drug companies etc etc. And they're STILL doing it!
More info at: http://www.babymilkaction.org/

Geoff
Dec 28th, 2004, 10:03 PM
Unfortunately my bra size went up from a 'C' cup to an 'F' cup - now 'down' to a 'DD' cup, which I could do without, and try to hide the best I can!!

Bragging or complaining PFC? :)

foxytina_69
Dec 29th, 2004, 02:19 AM
im scared of how large my breasts will be when i have children :eek:

Mystic
Dec 29th, 2004, 05:14 AM
I hope to breastfeed one day. I am not worried about the size of my boobs - my Mum lost hers after she breastfed my brother and I . And I have small boobs as it is (I wear padded bras LOL :D )

PinkFluffyCloud
Dec 29th, 2004, 07:11 AM
Bragging or complaining PFC? :)

Definitely complaining, Geoffrey, they get in the way when running for the bus!! :D

feline01
Dec 29th, 2004, 02:11 PM
Yes, PFC-the boobs certainly have taken on their own atmosphere since breastfeeding. I hoped they would have started shrinking since I'm down to BFing only twice a day but they're still hanging in there, or out there I should say ;) .

banana, I never heard of a woman losing her boobs when she breastfeeds. It's usually the opposite. Still, even if the boobs decreased a bit-breastfeeding is the best thing for a baby and every mom should want what is best :) .

Gorilla
Dec 29th, 2004, 04:37 PM
i'm never going to have children but i would guess that (hypothetically) if i did, i would want to breastfeed if possible.

feline01
Dec 29th, 2004, 04:40 PM
i'm never going to have children but i would guess that (hypothetically) if i did, i would want to breastfeed if possible.

Yeah, I was never going to have children either :rolleyes: .

PinkFluffyCloud
Dec 29th, 2004, 05:08 PM
Yeah, I was never going to have children either :rolleyes: .

Me too! :D

Gorilla
Dec 29th, 2004, 05:21 PM
i'm not sure i'm physically able to have children, and i have a phobia of pregnancy and childbirth, so i'm doing absolutely everything vegan to avoid getting pregnant, short of having a hysterectomy ;) but i guess that's a different topic, sorry :o

PinkFluffyCloud
Dec 29th, 2004, 05:26 PM
Gorilla, pretty much ditto for me - just shows you, eh!!? :eek:

feline01
Dec 29th, 2004, 06:27 PM
Gorilla, pretty much ditto for me - just shows you, eh!!? :eek:

What a coincedence, PFC-me too! Me and my husband were told no way would we able to have kids, well biologically ours but I have the stretch marks to prove it :D

drummer
Dec 30th, 2004, 04:26 AM
hey all you people, breast feeding is only natural, its exactly what babies need.
And us vegans need to have kids, we need to breed more vegans!

Roxy
Dec 30th, 2004, 04:29 AM
I don't think all "us vegans" need to have kids. Sometimes I wonder if this isn't already an overpopulated earth. And sometimes, I look at how the kids are growing up today and wonder how I could ever place my own flesh and blood into that type of rat-race.

Gorilla
Dec 30th, 2004, 09:27 AM
i totally agree with you on that one Roxy. there are already too many people in the world exhausting the planet's resources and destroying the environment. i'd rather try and educate the people who are already here. :rolleyes:

sorry to take this off-topic again and no offence intended to those who have children :o