Why would you not breastfeed?

What does lactose intolerance have to do with your breastfeeding? One does not (and usually probably should not) use dairy products while breastfeeding, if at all. I am violently lactose intolerant and have breastfed four children for many years each. Being lactose intolerance yourself has NO impact on your ability to produce milk.

As for the sagging, PREGANCY and genetics makes you sag. Breastfeeding does not.

There is NO WAY a doctor can tell if you can produce milk before you have been pregnant, delivered the baby, and gave it a good, NON interventionist (meaning using formula "just in case") try. Unless you don't have breasts, which I doubt.

If you don't want to sag, the only thing you can do is to never become pregnant and to check your family members. I know plenty of womyn who never breastfed and sag like crazy and many who don't sag and have more than 10 years of multiple breastfeeding to their credit.

 

This is an article which I beleive was written in Compleat Mother Magazine many years ago. It is for the "It's MY choice." contingent. Having a baby or not IS a "choice" but when you DO decide to allow one into your life, you are under obligation to do the best for that baby, to the best of your ability. Yes, there are mamas who just cannot breastfeed, but on this forum, as in all the real life situations I have seen, the mamas who really in truely cannot breastfeed, ALL gave it a huge try. THIS is as important as anything. Making the choice before you even have a baby is a disservice to the child. Sorry, it is. "Horrible parent?" I would have no way of knowing, but certainly not even giving it a good chance is a Disservice to your baby's immune system, his IQ, his bonding, her smell, her digestive health, her middle ear integrity, her ability to fight MS, at least 25 different cancers, his ability to survive his first year, his eyesight, his ability to fight IBS, imflamitory bowel disease, rectal cancer, colon cancer, stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, lung cancer, his ability resist diabetes, Both type I and II, her ability to remain relatively trim, her eventual blood pressure, her eventual cholesteral levels, heart disease, his ability to fight depression, YOUR protection against breast, uterine, ovarian, and cervial cancer, YOUR protection against more severe forms of Post partum depressioin, and I could go on. (Please see www.lalecheleague.com www.breastfeeding.com www.kellymom.com the Journals JAMA, Lancet, NEJM, Immunology, Pediatrics, ect for confirmation of these facts.


I don't know if I agree with this entire article, but here it is in it's entirety.

hmm. Yes, I agree. I am going to encourage my children to certainly not put their children into car seats, when they have them, as it is a "personal choice" and I hate all those car seat fanatic nazi types. I will also ask my children to NEVER use the car seat in public, as some people are "offended" by car seat use, as they didn't use them themselves and it makes them "feel bad" and after all, the "feelings" of strangers who feel guilty are more important than the Optimal Health of their own children, aren't they? I also will demand that those car seats be hidden when the children come to my house, as myself, my brother and sister and I NEVER were put in a car seat, and we don't want to feel "bad" that my own children made a choice that we didn't get to benefit from, and we are JUST FINE anyway.

 

perhaps you are under a 'moral obligation' to always do 'the best(whats that?)' for your child, you are not under a legal obligation. Otherwise, we'd have to take babies away from mamas who take their children to mcdonalds. We'd have to take babies away from mamas who go 66 on the interstate, or who smoke(this is coming...).

That article seems hardly relevant to breastfeeding. I dont know where the author is from, but i know in my state it is LAW that a child sits in a baby seat.

p.s. so many people on here act as if formula is poison. It is no such thing. Is it optimal? Nope. But neither are most methods of parenting.

 

Legality has NOTHING to do with it. Parents should ALWAYS be free to feed their children as they wish (as long as it is OK with CPS) I am NOT talking about legality, and neither is anything else. I am appealing to something more acedemic and deeper than legality: The choice of parents to at least TRY to do what science and psychology has shown us to be OPTIMAL.

NO ONE here is saying a damn word about legality, and as a Civll Libertrian, I would fight to the DEATH a parent's right to choose formula feeding, even though I only think it is the best in special circumstances. NO ONE has said there should be a law for breastfeeding, nor has ANYONE said formula is poison, it has saved the lives of babies who would perhaps not done well even 100 years ago, and as a Lactation Consultant, I know that better than anyone, so don't put words in people's mouths.

Forget the "legality" of car seats, the point of the article is the excuses to "choose" something we know is in the best interest of the child.

 

I was bottle fed and sometimes when I sleep I make sucking motions maybe it's from that, I'm pretty high strung too.
My old girlfriend was breast fed (as a premie) and she stayed small untill they bottle fed her, so...

 

Driving while on the phone is dangerous. I don't know how I would be expected to drive with a baby on my lap. I drive stick shift, so that would essentially be impossible or at least extremely dangerous to attempt, especially if I'm driving on a highway going over 100km/h.

I'm sure that some people were never in a car seat, and grew up healthy. Lucky for them. But on the whole, a child is much safer from injury if they are placed in a car seat. I mean, if someone hits your back door head-on and your kid is in a childseat, it runs the risk of dying - but it has a greater chance of living in comparison.

It's pretty reckless to drive with a living animal on your lap, choice of doing so aside.

You're not just putting yourself and your child at risk, you're also putting other people on the road at risk if something were to happen inside your vehicle that caused you get into an accident.

If car seats aren't for everyone, that's fine. But driving with a living animal /person on your lap in a vehicle that does or may not have air bags doesn't seem like a better option.

Besides, if you have enough money to afford a luxury car and can't be bothered to put your son in a large carseat, buy a luxury smaller carseat.:nopity:

 

I've never seen a reason not to quite honestly, and just need to give my two cents about that.

Humans are always the culprit for fucking with the natural order of things.

And no, this is not going against women who CAN'T breastfeed, I completely understand that.
And I don't disagree with the woman having a choice, but as the OP said, I couldn't see why you'd choose anything other if you're able to.

 

Personal preference I guess. I dont want kids, but still I'd rather not breast feed if I did, it's just something I feel isnt right for me. Just like having kids in the first place.

 

my mum formula fed mny twin brothers because she didnt make enough milk

 

or because she didn't believe she could make enough milk, which is a very different thing indeed. I have a friend who breastfed her triplets without any problems (other than the obvious time management issues of having three newborns and only two breasts).

 

Aristartle. You didn't GET it. It's an ANALOGY. I put my kids in car seats, I will tell my children to do the same with thier babies. The analogy is just what you said, REFUSING to do something and making lame excuses for something that "some kids are fine" by not doing, is EXACTLY the position breastfeeding is in. It is DANGEROUS not to breastfeed, in fact the morbidity rate is HIGHER for artificially fed babies than it is for babies who have not used car seats!!!!

The article was tongue in cheek. I DON'T BELEIVE IN NOT PUTTING BABIES INTO CAR SEATS. The author of the article doesn't either. It was an analogy on people making "choices" to do things we KNOW are not in the best interest of the child, and then making lame excuses for not doing what even THEY know is best.

As in the rare case of a mother who simply cannot breastfeed, there ARE situations where car seat use is not workable. Sometimes a mom may get stuck with no seat, if her partner took the car with the seat, sometimes people get stuck out of town without one ect. The article is not about things BEYOND YOUR CONTROL (like some mamas who wanted to, tried to, and couldn't breastfeed) but for those who have the "I have the right to make a choice to feed my child an inferior food product, just because I want to."

 

maybe Karen needed to be bottle fed because she was a premmie and needed more nutrition. My mom just got this little maltipoo puppy and it needs prescription dog food because it's tiny and needs the extra nutrition.

 

A mother's breast milk is tailor made for her baby. If mother has a premature baby her breastmilk will provide the extra nutrients her baby needs. Breast milk is designed specifically for the age of the baby, premature babies included.

In fact, breastmilk is going to be much easier on a preemie's immature digestive tract, and contains antibodies which will fortify baby's immune system giving a fragile preemie stonger protection against illness. There's nothing better for a preemie.

Most hospitals will offer pumps for moms to use when their premature babies are unable to breastfeed, since preemies are sometimes fed through tubes.

 

... well good for her...

but

Just because one woman can do something, doesnt mean that ALL women can.

Dont you think she would have tried it first? Best to feed breast milk combined with formula than have your baby underfed.

 

I am a twin and we were both breastfeed. Once you start combining breast milk with forumla your breasts don't have the same demand for milk and don't keep up their supply. Not until I really started to delve into the subject of breastfeeding was I even aware of these things myself. I'm glad I have been taking advantage of resources available (including my mother) so I now know, because I want to avoid some of the common mistakes and assumptions I would have made otherwise.

I think many new mothers make the mistake of feeding on a routine like they would if bottle feeding, or until baby is crying in hunger, and not letting the baby suckle enough on the breast in order to increase the supply of breast milk. My mother was taught to let us suckle during the FIRST signs of hunger (sucking, smacking lips, searching with an open mouth) rather than wait on a schedule or when until we cried. She could even feed us both at the same time. Babies suckle not only to eat, but increase your milk supply. You can't only breastfeed in the same frequency that you would bottle feed an infant. They also warned her that supplementing with formula will do nothing but decrease her supply when she needed to work on increasing her supply to keep up with the demand of growing twins. If a woman can breastfeed one, she can breastfeed two.

 

My mum tried breast feeding. It didnt work for her! Id she could have breast fed, she would have! its not like she had a brilliant support structure either, a young single mother of twins, who was trying her darndest to leave an abusive relationship, fight for custody of her two banbeis to keep their psychopathic father away as well as working to maintain a home.

I think she did a damn good job. Both my brothers are big strong and healthy and have always had a sagfe home to live in.

I really am tired of this "oh, that woman just wasnt trying" crap. Don't you think if they had another option available to them at the time, a workable one, that they would have done it?


When faced with the option of sacrificing your kids health at the most fragile time of their life because you cant produce enough milk, or breast and formula feeding and having them live....

I think we can all see why she chose what she did

 

I don't think anyone is attacking your mum, RRG. I think they're just trying to point out some things about bfing to educate you and other women that might one day become mothers, so you don't look at her situation pointe blanke and think "Well, she didn't make enough milk. Maybe I won't." It's important to look at ALL the factors surrounding a bfing relationship and point out some causes to the problems.

Most women don't have the education about bfing or the support to see it as it really is. Most just assume they don't have enough milk, listen to the doctor that isn't knowledgable on human lactation, and supplement, which then makes an imaginary problem quite real.

 

I know noones attacking, I guess i just get irked when people see things in black and white and blame mothers for bringing up their kids the best way they know how

The other thing that people forget is that information and advice about various aspects of mothering has changed VASTLY over time, and will again in the next 30 years. Opinions about medical things change all the time and even when we think we're right we can be wrong.

I just think we should stop... blaming mothers, saying that its fault on their part, especially when we could find out that we too are wrong.

I personally will breastfeed when I breed... If I can, and no, that doesnt mean I wont try my darndest.

 

I agree, just because you think that you know everything doesnt mean that you do, and I can see how alot of this thread could be offensive to people who dont breast feed, maybe it should be locked before it turns into character assaination.

 

Yeah, I do think it's a little out of line to put down mothers who do choose to breast feed... even if they have the ability to, its just not anyone elses business than their own.

Like I said, I would rather breastfeed if I were a mother, because to me, it just makes more sense...but if a woman doesnt breastfeed, thats her choice, and she must certainly have a good reason not to... even if its just that she thinks it might be inconvenient or painful, that ISSSSS her choice.

I do think that some of you need to let up, just a little.

After having an abortion, anyone who tries to push a choice on a woman that has ANYTHING to do with her body, bothers me.

What we agree with and disagree with, as individuals with opinions of our own, needs to be handled in a careful matter, and not pushed onto anyone else.

I want to clear up what I said earlier, and didnt mean for that to sound like every mother should do it either... I thought about it, and it is very much like being pro-choice or pro-life because its a choice that involves the woman's body.

I feel like this thread, no offense, is more of an interrogation than anything.