Orgasmic!:)
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Another thing...bottle feeding is just way more trouble.
Why bother, when your bountiful bosoms can do the job better, with more fun & less fuss!
:thumbsup: I could never understand why any woman would choose to bottle feed her child milk from another species,but of course its all just cultural ignorance and brainwashing. I really think if I wasn't vegan and met my ex-partner, then I might of been one of those 'majority' (sadly). I never really thought about it much before I had a child,( my mother never breastfed and neither did my sister). But its every childs birthright to be breastfed and who can be bothered with bottlefeeding,- I had to feed my youngest a bottle for a few months(my own breastmilk) and it was such a hassle! - When I see babies being bottlefed today I feel saddened not only for the baby but for the mother,-all that washing up, sterilizing bottles, sleep deprivation,-why would anybody want to bottle feed their baby ! its such a shame but this is a crazy f*cked world we live in .By the time I had my third child I realized that child rearing was so easy and as a result he was a perfect baby,- I breastfed him for 3 years , we co-sleep, I carried him around in a sling for 2-3 years ,- he's never had a dummy or a bottle! and I breastfed my daughter for 5 1/2 years, she naturally self weaned herself from me.
I only think bottlefeeding should be an option in 'exceptional 'circumtances and with donated breast milk. Statistics show that only 1-2% of mothers have problems with breast feeding.
*It may have shocked a few of you that I breastfed my daughter for 5 1/2 years?
:lol: :)
My daughter is still nursing, and she's turning 4yo in two months. I can believe it!
It's worrying some have chosen the cow's milk in the poll, especially vegans who I hope, realise cow's milk isn't intended for human consumption, especially young children.
That said, I'm not going to have children, but I believe in breastfeeding whenever it is possible to (I know some women don't produce enough milk or have trouble in other ways so they should use soy formula or something similar - not cow's or any other animals milk). Breastfeeding is natural, and I don't understand why someone would be disgusted by doing it. I can understand people not wanting to see breasts asunder but not doing at all just because it's disgusting? Strange.
yes, it is definately strange to think something so natural as disgusting, but that's all the public brainwashing gets people.
anyways, I would personally love to feed my children (in the future) since I'm not even married. I'm not sure how long would I be able to do the job, I think until they can eat solid foods or something like that. I don't know much about babies but I definately love to find out more :D
I fed my 4 year old until she was 3. :D
xxx Lou
(Proudly!)
xxx Lou
First and foremost, I don't have and don't intend to ever have children. If I did have a child (or if I ever adopt), I would exclusively breast-feed if possible, and if not (for whatever reason: the baby being allergic to my milk, or problems producing enough milk, etc.) I would exclusively use or supplement with soy formula. I would never use dairy formula.
^ is it actually possible for a baby to be allergic to it's own mother's milk?
I have not looked into it myself, but I've been told by a relative that yes, it's possible. She wanted to breast-feed her son and was told she couldn't because he's allergic. I'm not sure how they know this exactly... :confused: If there were physical signs, or if they ran tests or something... Dunno!
I have just become a great aunty for the fourth time. I'd like to say I'm happy, but I'm not. I'm so distanced from my family (bar it's vegan members) that it's like they don't exist. My neice feeds her children whatever crap she can afford and she has never breastfed any of them. They are all sickly, snotty children who rarely look healthy. If that's not an advert for a breastfed vegan childhood, I dunno what is.
As a Mum of 2, I can tell you that I breastfed and supplemented. I never went into active labour with my kids due to having emergency c-sections both times, so my production was never enough. That being said, I breastfed until my milk dried up when I went back to work. One thing about living in Holland was the mat leave is the shorted in Europe, 4 months starting when you are 8 months pregnant. Working full-time with a new baby was exhausting and led to me only being able to breastfeed my first one 4 months and my second one 5 months.
A friend of mine who is a peds nurse said that a baby only gets the antibodies from the mum for the first 6 weeks after birth, then it's just milk, but I wanted to do the best I could for my kids.
I chose breastfeeding with supplements of soy formula. I chose this because in my family, the women don't produce a lot of milk (my sisters doctor recommended only formula and don't even try breastfeeding!) I feel that I would be able to provide some milk for my child, so why not use it??
Can I ask the women who say they don't produce much milk - I know, in nature, some animal mothers are 'barren' so it does happen, but doesn't it work that if a baby keeps suckling, more milk will be produced? (not having a go at any one, just curious!!).
The baby suckling only produces so much. It doesn't necessarily produce as much as the baby needs. My first weighed 11 pounds 11 ounces (5040 grams), so I never made enough to appease her from the start.
I have quite a few friends who never produced enough and had to supplement and a couple friends who never produced milk at all. I think it's more common that people think, because women don't talk about it, often feeling like they aren't good enough since it happens to them.
You also have to consider that any kind of stress can effect milk production. One major stress is how quickly a woman has to return to work.
^ wow, 11lbs!!!!. I'm not sure if the size of the baby automatically = the amount of milk they require though. My boy was a very 'average' birth weight but grew bigger and stronger at an amazing rate, he seemed to be constantly hungry (and maybe I was lucky but I had no problems feeding him myself, though he did start on 'solid' foods a bit on the early side whilst still being breastfed).
I'm sure that pressure to return to work can be a major problems, yes. I didn't have a choice as childcare costs prevented me going back to work, and anyway I was always feeding the baby!.
I personally think that any amount of breastfeeding is benefitial to the baby, especially in the newborn stage, if the woman can produce milk. A friend of mine hardly had any milk at all, but she kept trying and could usually manage 1 feed a day. Got to be better than none!
A friend of mine who is a peds nurse said that a baby only gets the antibodies from the mum for the first 6 weeks after birth, then it's just milk, but I wanted to do the best I could for my kids.
This is not true. (And I am also a peds nurse!). The immunological benefits last as long as you breastfeed, be it 6 weeks, 6 months, or 6 years.
I am currently nursing my 1 year old and my almost 4 year old.
Wow I am really happy the immunological benefits last that long - i am still bfeeding my almost three year old :)
Oh, no worries, I'm not offended. :) Hmm, I'll look into it, too, to be sure... It's possible she made it up or misunderstood what the doctor told her, or perhaps the doctor dumbed down the information he gave her (as they often do), or perhaps the doctor was plain wrong... I do know better than to just trust something to be true because a doctor tells me (I swear!), so I suppose I shouldn't have passed on this info (that babies can be allergic to mom's milk) without checking into it first...
It does seem odd that a baby could be allergic to her mom's milk. It seems more likely that something in the milk would be bothering her - something in the mom's diet, for instance. But I don't know much about these things...
~
Okay, a brief Google search hails sites that say, yes, it's possible, but more sites saying (from a quick look), that no, babies can't be allergic to the actual milk, but they can be sensitive to certain proteins in it. This from Kathy Kunn, a registered nurse and expert on breast-feeding, on iVillage (see the site below), first paragraph of the article:
It is not really possible for your baby to be allergic to your breastmilk. Sometime, however, babies can be sensitive to proteins in the mother's milk from foods she has ingested. There have been some reports of bloody stools in infants who are sensitive to food in their mom's diet. The most common offender is cow's milk protein (Jakobsson I, et al 1985) (Odze et al 1996).
From: http://www.ivillage.com/can-baby-be-...ilk/6-n-137038
Interesting... Now I'll know to bring this up next time someone claims their baby is allergic to their breast milk.
I didnt think it was actually possible until a girl in the bed opposite me in the labour ward had exactly this problem! She was a real 'earth mother' and desperate to feed her son but every time she tried he suffered with severe stomach cramping and vomitting. Eventually on the advice of medical staff she gave up and started to bottle feed him. Admittedly, I had never heard of it before or since!:bigsmile:
Btw..with regard the poll I totally breastfed my daughter for 18 months and my son for nearly two years . I enjoyed every minute.
We've actually been discussing this a bit more (see comments following the one you quoted), and it seems that, according to some anyway, it's not possible, but what is possible is for the baby to be allergic/sensitive to certain proteins in the mother's milk, present due to the mother's diet. If the mother eliminates the offending food from her diet, the baby should be fine drinking her milk. The most common protein is, surprise surprise, casein. Yet another health-related reason to avoid dairy!
I breastfed my daughter, and her "allergy" to my milk was actually the thing that led me to switch from a vegetarian diet to a vegan diet. She was actually allergic to the milk and egg proteins in my milk, and when I stopped consuming them, she was just fine. Still breast feeding 16 months later!
I am so thankful that she was allergic to these "foods" because I am the type of person to dive into things whole hearted. I read as many books, and websites I could dig up, and found so much information I might never have sought out. Our family is so much the better, health wise, enviromentally, and ethically for becoming vegan. lol
That's awesome! I have a feeling most mothers wouldn't explore eliminating things to the extent you did, would just settle for "oh, guess I can't breast-feed then".
Dairy is a pretty scary thing: I was reading about how it can cause slight, chronic bleeding in the intestines (children are particularly susceptible), increasing the odds of iron deficiency, etc... For me, avoiding animal products is entirely about animal rights, but knowing what I know now about dairy, and other things, there's no way I'd be putting that in my children's bodies!
I agree that dairy is a scary thing and there would be no way I would let my daughter eat it. I find the marketing of dairy to be totally outrageous. IMO its like putting poison in your children's bodies.
Yeah, I have to say I agree. It's obviously not poison in the sense that anyone's going to drop dead on the spot from drinking/eating it, but it definitely seems to have more detrimental effects than positive; it seems to be a substance that slowly makes many people ill... I know dairy is what was keeping me chronically iron deficient when I was vegetarian, and now that I'm vegan, that problem is long gone.
Interesting thread (including how it's enduring over the YEARS).
I'd hope to breastfeed. My mother and I both are lactose intolerant, I have every reason to believe my children would be too. So if I need to supplement, I'd do it with soy formula.
My mother had to breastfeed and at the same time supplement formula because I was not gaining enough weight, despite eating all the time. My husband was "failure to thrive" as far as gaining weight as an infant, despite also suckling all the time. I'm thinking if we both were that way, there is a high likelihood that breast milk may not be sufficient on its own for our children. But I really hope that's not the case!
Hi Christinels
if/when you are feeding your baby and are worried about him/her not getting enough from you, please get advice from a specialist breastfeeding counsellor before starting to supplement. Many midwifes do not know enough about BFing (certainly here UK) as it is sadly still not the norm and is inadequately covered in their training.
When you give a baby supplements it decreases the baby's need to feed, so it suckles less, gives the mother less breast stimulation which in turn leads to a lessened milk supply.
There are other ways to boost your own supply but it so helps to talk to an expert. La Leche have very well trained counsellors who help anyone for free.
I had some difficulties feeding my daughter at the start which turned out to be a positioning problem, I was helped by a BF counsellor from the National Childbirth Trust who became a friend. Another friend was a BF counsellor from La Leche, I have seen some of the training both organisations provide, so much more than what midwives get.
Here is the USA La Leche page with details of their toll free telephone line
http://www.lllusa.org/helpline.php
Gattona is right. You can often hear that you do not have enough milk or that your milk is not sufficient for your baby and even this can be the truth there are natural ways to improve the supply and the quality of milk. La Leche is always a very good source of information, here is the link for UK http://www.laleche.org.uk/
I was omni when I had my son, but I fully intended to breastfeed until he was at least 6 months old. However, we came across a battery of problems: I had an exceptionally forceful letdown and a breastmilk oversupply, which meant he choked every time I fed him; he had acid reflux, which meant what little milk he managed to ingest he promptly vomited up; it was so difficult to feed him that he ended up hospitalised through dehydration; I had so much milk that I was at constant risk of mastitis; etc etc.
The midwives were terrible. They had never heard of a 'breastmilk oversupply', so their reaction was, 'It's better to have too much than too little!' They wanted to keep my son directly on the breast no matter what the cost, but I've got to be honest: my son's health was suffering, he was in agony with his reflux (which was worsened by how fast the breastmilk gushed into his stomach), and I was a wreck.
I got the number of a 24-hour lactation consultant and stayed on the phone to her for hours every night, following her tips and advice. In the end, feeding him directly off the breast just wasn't working, so I switched to expressing breastmilk for as long as I was able. I tried to reintroduce the breast when my milk supply had decreased, but by then he was too used to the bottle, and my milk started to dry up. I had to switch to dairy formula - which was awful but I was omni (and therefore not as concerned about giving him cows' milk).
What upset me most was the midwives' and health visitors' reactions to me giving up breastfeeding. There was so much judgment, as if I didn't feel badly enough about being unable to feed my own child. While I understand that breast is best, putting pressure on mums to continue when they and their babies are clearly suffering is insensitive and unnecessary. I love that breastfeeding is becoming more commonplace, but sometimes I fear it's at the detriment of the mother's mental health. Mums should be educated about ALL the options and be allowed to decide for themselves, without judgment or condescension.
If I have another child in the future, I will try my best to breastfeed again, because it's a natural and beautiful process when things go right. But if things went wrong, I would not feel guilty about switching to formula (though this time around it would of course be soy-based and not dairy).
xox
i wish i could have breastfed my daughter, but she was in an orphanage and just non responsive to even trying to latch for comfort. :( i tried pumping to induce lactation but it wasn't happening. so i didn't get to. Which is sad but something i would love to have done.