Hawaii Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Poll: Were YOU breastfed?
Just curious b/c so many of us are BF their LO's ...
ETA: And if so, for how long?
Re: Poll: Were YOU breastfed?
yes I was for >1yr, but interestingly enough my younger sister only BF'd for a couple of months. My mom bought into the formula is better by that time and felt "lucky" she could afford it.
I feel really sad for my grandma, she has spent a lot of time with me during my maternity leave and she talks about how nurses told her BFing was dirty and bad for the baby (late 50's, early 60's - rural, poor area) and she regrets that. She usually could not afford formula and would rely on commodities (food given to native americans) which only provided powdered milk for the babies.
As far as I know, I was BF and FF for 6 months or so and then I guess it was just formula after that.
I think it's so awesome that so many of us EBF. It's not easy and I commend all who are able to do it. I'm so into it now that I'm thinking about becoming a lactation counselor (if I can get the certification paid through work).
i was only formula fed because my mom had to go right back to work after having me. my 3 bros were breastfed...i always tease her that she loved them more...lol. i'm actually really allergic to milk and could only have soy formula (which i guess leads to atrocious diapers...haha).
nestle had a huge part in the formula is better campaign back in the day. so much that that mom's were cutting formula with water so it would last longer, babies were malnourished. the gov't actually made them do a campaign for pro bf'ing.
i find it interesting how judgy people are for either/or.
also interesting that it was taught to be 'dirty' kinda reminds me of old school mentality of tampons.
My mum only bf me for a couple of weeks, I think. I know it was only a short period of time like that anyway. She went on to formula feed me.
I forget why she stopped breastfeeding me. I DO know she was young and easily influenced (she had only turned 16 two months before I was born) so my guess is she was told formula feeding was better for me.
For the record, I have always enjoyed perfect health *knock on wood* and have a 'better than average' IQ so formula feeding didn't hurt me
Lola, apparently it isn't breastfeeding that ruins the boobs, it's the stress of pregnancy (the sudden increase of size etc).
I was breastfed, but interestingly, I was the youngest of three, and I was the only one who was. My parents were getting divorced when I was born, and my mom couldn't afford formula. That was the only reason to BF me. She told me that in her day, it was considered kind of trashy to BF....like you were too poor to feed your baby the good stuff!
It's probably a coincidence, but I do have the highest IQ of my siblings!
I was not and DH was not either. I think back then, BFing was viewed differently and formula was touted as even better than breastmilk?
my mom had a c/s and is a very frail person and it was very traumatic/painful for her (even though it was scheduled, she did not labor and then have a c/s like I did). she said she was too weak to even talk after her delivery, let alone worry about BFing. she said she was so painful and tired ..she told me she thought to herself "this is what hell must be like b/c I can't imagine anything being worse."
DH's mom went back to work immediately and states that as the reason why she did not BF him...but by "immediately" she means at 2 months of age. BFing just wasn't stressed as much back then as it is now. she says that now she wishes she had at least BF him for those 2 months she was at home, esp with his health problems.
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
this is my mom too. She said she BF'd my sister (not exclusively) but was kind of embarrassed about it and never told her friends because by that time she had enough money to buy formula. She is totally happy I BF but I can still tell that she has hang ups (like holding up a blanket as a curtain while I situated myself to feed Jack in the mother's area at Nordstrom - a place where I would feel totally comfortable not even worrying about a cover!)
our good friend had her baby about the same time and BF for about 6 wks, despite her best efforts...my understanding is that at that age, babies do not have a good suck reflex yet and therefore cannot stimulate the breast enough in order to maintain a good supply. add to that the fact that your mom had to pump as well (and the pump isn't as efficient at stimulation as the baby), i can see why she couldn't do it for more than 6 wks.
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
my DH saw a 1-2 week old baby in the hospital and the presenting complaint was "bloody vomit and blood in the stool" - turns out that the mom had cracked nipples from poor latch and her nipples were bleeding...the baby was ingesting a small amount of blood while nursing and what the parents were seeing was blood in the spit up (the baby wasn't really vomiting). the "blood in the stool" was actually bloody vaginal discharge from her "baby period" which occurs from estrogen withdrawal in female babies after they are born and no longer have the high estrogen levels from mom/placenta. at that point the mom's nipples were healed and no longer bleeding so they simply sent mom and baby home and told them they didn't need to do anything! interesting huh?
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
Oh wow, I didn't realize that it was looked down upon in the past! I just thought that women didn't bf because they didn't really know the health benefits of it and it was gonna make their boobs sag?
I was BF and so was my brother--I was BF for about half a year and then my mom said she couldn't produce any more milk when she became pg with my brother.
I wasn't BF at all. My mom was told she had lupus which later she learned was misdiagnosed. So she was on meds and was told she couldn't BF. She was SUPER supportive of me BFing Bella and is still very interested in everything. She likes to watch us nursing and our relationship, she's amazed by the process, how much work it is and how close our bond is which she feels is partly due to me BFing. She also said "back in the day" people viewed BF completely different than they do now. They thought it was "dirty and nasty" and she's amazed that it's pushed now days. She thinks its great and says "I wish I would've known that I didn't have lupus and that I would've been able to BF you and your brother"... I feel bad for her that she didn't get that chance!
This is a really interesting poll!
I was BFed but I'm not sure how long. I think for a year. I think that because I don't think I ever was given formula. My younger sister, who is 6 years younger, was a preemie and was nursed for 2 years. My mom said the doctors told her she had to nurse for 2 years because my sister was so small? I do know that her nursing us was considered "different" but we've never really talked about it.
I would also note that I wore clothe diapars! Haha. My sister was in disposables.
DH was formula fed and put in disposables. My MIL said that both formula and disposables were considered the best of the best for babies at the time!
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
Interestingly, it's not just in the past. Freakonomics has a section about formula vs bottle feeding, and in a large part of the lower socioeconomic sector, breastfeeding is looked down upon primarily because it's free - as though to say that you must be even poorer than your peers because you can't afford to buy formula for your baby. Meanwhile, in upper socioeconomic classes, formula is looked down upon because it's not as natural/whatever as breastfeeding and it's considered poor form to buy your baby's food vs providing it yourself. I thought that was really interesting!
Very interesting poll. My mom was the same as Sarah's mom. My mom's exact words... "Breastfeeding was for hippies"
Yes, my mom is a priss. Guess what the uppity, non-hippie women fed their babies? Karo corn syrup and canned condensed (or was it evaporated?) milk!!!!
Yes, my brother, sister and I were hugely fat. Honestly, you have never seeen fatter babies. Thank you corn syrup and processed, canned milk makers.
We are all a normal height and weight now... graduated college... high IQ... did not get sick much... seem normal. I don't know what the impact was.
When I was pregnant, there was definitely a strong voice that I must breastfeed so that my child would develop normally, have a high IQ and better immunity. Well, she is the right size, got sick as often as any other baby/child, has a high IQ, but also has dyslexia, which makes writing/reading difficult. I don't know that BFing has as much of an impact as they say. Most major issues are determined by genes. I do think the bonding is amazing. I'm glad that I did it. I hope the moms that did not BF still feel good about their method. It seems like, today, the docs, nurses and hospitals push it a little too hard.
Newlyweds since 2007
So I actually just asked my mom about this... And she said the same, that it was considered very "hippy" and granola in the 70s to BF. But she was an OT so all her friends were in the medical profession and they all knew the benefits. She said that she at first didn't even think about BF until her best friend, who was also an OT, told her that she HAD to. So she did, and I was BF for 13-14 months. She said she didn't start solids until 9 months!!
Now for my little sister, she said that the doctors told her she might have allergies due to being preemie and so they told her to nurse her for TWO YEARS.... And to hold off on solids for that long too! Crazy. But my sister has always been SKINNY. Lucky.
I would say that I have no allergies and am pretty darned smart too! ;-P
Oh, and my mom said that in my grandmother's time is when BFing was considered very trashy, low-class. And so my grandmother, who was a cafeteria worker/maid, and actually didn't have a lot of money, formula fed my mom and brothers. Weird, huh?
Malia & Dave & Alexa
Happily married since 2-17-08! Three since 9-9-09!
Baby Blog
Oh, myday, you bring up an interesting point about allergies. I have a severe reaction to sulfites. It is not a true IgE allergy, but still causes the same symptoms of mast cell degranulation, including anaphylaxis. Corn syrup has sulfites. I wonder if having so much sulfite when my immune system was developing had some effect. The odd thing is that my brother and sister have no problems at all. They are in perfect health.
One other thing... did you have anyone from the older generation tell you to give your baby rice cereal in their bottle? I had several people tell me to put mix rice cereal in with breast milk or formula in a bottle for the night feeding. Supposedly, it would help baby feel full and sleep through the night. I never tried it.
Newlyweds since 2007