This is what our doctors want. UPDATE, page 3

[learningtofly]

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I swear, if it doesn't work out for me, the first person who gets snarky about not breastfeeding will be asked if they have just offered themselves up as a wet nurse. 

I almost spit water at my computer.  this is brilliant. 

I hope she didn't intrude on your space while breast feeding.  i was very uncomfortable with my MIL there.  It was in the beginning and I really had no need for her to see me topless as I tried to master BFing.  Not to mention she'd never done it so she didn't have any advice to offer.  Just sat and starred at me while the lactation consultant helping me perfect the latch.  When we got home I would retreat to the bedroom and lock the door and my baby ate every two hours. 

[penguinpants]

I hope she didn't intrude on your space while breast feeding.  i was very uncomfortable with my MIL there.  It was in the beginning and I really had no need for her to see me topless as I tried to master BFing.  Not to mention she'd never done it so she didn't have any advice to offer.  Just sat and starred at me while the lactation consultant helping me perfect the latch.  When we got home I would retreat to the bedroom and lock the door and my baby ate every two hours.  

No, she didn't come in, thank goodness.  I think it actually made her too uncomfortable, which is fine with me.  Just kept the door closed so that nobody would accidentally see anything on their way to the bathroom.  She did want to come and "help" after delivery, but she puts partially dirty dishes back into the cabinets, doesn't wash her hands during meal prep, makes a LOT of noise, and is generally chaos personified.  DH and I really didn't want anyone coming to help, even my mom, who is quiet, clean, and really good with babies.  We wanted the first 4 weeks with just us to really bond with the baby and figure out our system and all.  We didn't let anyone come for the delivery, either.

I'm so sorry that you had her staring at you -- that's totally weird, and would make me very uncomfortable, too!

[Dragons 8 Cactus]

Mil was quite put out when I could BF with my tiny litle Ta Ta's and she had been a Double D and wasn't able to feed any of her 3 boys.

Her Sis was bigger still and she couldn't feed either and nor could their mother [gran]

My mum BF x4, her Mum Bf x4, her Mum Bf x9 [we would have all been between a A cup to a B]

It took quite a bit of 'diplomacy' around Mil to help her through her sadness.

And Yes, It definetly was sadness

[Jan74]

I can't help but laugh at "bigger chest, more milk" assumption...

[JadeAngel]

I was reading about the formula recall backlash yesterday. Apparently a lot of people are using this as way to say, "SEE - your baby wouldn't be eating beetles if you breast fed."

One of the comments on the post said that she had people give her a really hard time for not breast feeding. She had a seizure disorder and couldn't breastfeed because of the meds. She would explain that to people, but then she decided it was really none of their business. So when someone snarkily ask her why she wasn't breast feeding, she would give the probably not ehell approved response of, "To tick you off."

Honestly, it's a personal choice. What part of that do people not understand?

That just frustrates me to no end.  It's not a contest.  There's no prize for breastfeeding or not breastfeeding.  It's just a decision you make -- or one that your body/circumstances make for you.

WHAT??  NO GOLD STARS?

Only if you breastfeed until they're five.  You get a silver one if you make it to three and a bronze one if you make it a full year.  But those gold stars are freakin' elusive, man...

Probably because they start growing teeth somewhere between 6 months and anything over a year, which I'm told makes breastfeeding quite a challenge.

Maybe Janet did have the right idea with the silver stars after all... 

[MrsJWine]

Only if you breastfeed until they're five.  You get a silver one if you make it to three and a bronze one if you make it a full year.  But those gold stars are freakin' elusive, man...

Probably because they start growing teeth somewhere between 6 months and anything over a year, which I'm told makes breastfeeding quite a challenge.

Maybe Janet did have the right idea with the silver stars after all...  

I'm evil.  I give the hair a tiny little tug at every bite once nursing is well-established.  Not enough to really hurt.  Kind of the same level of pain a baby gets when she accidentally scratches her face (and thus learns not to scratch her face).  I've only been bitten three or four times once they were old enough to have teeth.  Which is good, since they were both early teethers.

[Deetee]

Only if you breastfeed until they're five.  You get a silver one if you make it to three and a bronze one if you make it a full year.  But those gold stars are freakin' elusive, man...

Probably because they start growing teeth somewhere between 6 months and anything over a year, which I'm told makes breastfeeding quite a challenge.

Maybe Janet did have the right idea with the silver stars after all...  

I'm evil.  I give the hair a tiny little tug at every bite once nursing is well-established.  Not enough to really hurt.  Kind of the same level of pain a baby gets when she accidentally scratches her face (and thus learns not to scratch her face).  I've only been bitten three or four times once they were old enough to have teeth.  Which is good, since they were both early teethers.

I pinched my baby. Not super hard, but just so she should associate "bite" with "pain" the same way she associated "smacking herself in the face" with "pain" or "falling" with "pain". I tried to make it inevitable and so she would even realise it was me.

I BF for a year with only a few bites.

[Elfmama]

Mine didn't start biting during nursing until they were about a year old, and ready to wean themselves.  by that time, we were down to only one feeding a day anyway, mostly to put the little monster darling to sleep for the night.  "No, Mommy, don't want to be sleepy. *chomp*"

[JonGirl]

Where do you find these nosy people?
I was in a mother's group where I was the only one who bottle fed, everyone else BF'd
I got no hassles or grief or anything. I wasn't able to do it, he wouldn't take it, I think his tongue tie had something to do with it.
And I made enough milk to feed a small nation.

[Marbles]

I have no interest in pumping myself full of hormones (and I couldn't - I have hypothyroidism, and that estrogen would mess up my medication dosages, which would make me sleepy and unable to care for the baby) to produce milk that does not contain the antibiotics my child needs anyway, simply for the bonding experience. I refuse to believe that nipples are the only way to bond with a child; if I did, I would also think fathers are completely unable to bond with their children.

Hypothyroidism can make it harder/less likely that you'll be able to produce enough milk, too.  I wish that was something my OB had talked to me about before my DS was born.

Children and parents/caregivers need no help or set up to bond. Attachment to the people who care for us is part of what makes us human.

[Jan74]

Hypothyroidism can make it harder/less likely that you'll be able to produce enough milk, too.  I wish that was something my OB had talked to me about before my DS was born.

My doctor did mention that to me, but as it turns out my husband is sterile, it won't be an issue for me.

[LilacGirl1983]

What kind of star do I get? I am still breast feeding and my little one is 2 1/2. I wouldn't mind wet nursing if I knew the other person really well But I am weird in that way.

[Hushabye]

Hmmm, 2 1/2 years?  Two bronze stars with a little paper stand-in for your forthcoming silver star? 

[Nellop]

People can be seriously odd when it comes to breastfeeding. I'm not fussed either way - whatever someone wants to do is up to them.

I remember being absolutely blasted by a stranger at the hospital when I went in to get a consultancy for an operation. She'd been evesdropping on mine and my mum's conversation, in which I'd said 'the doctor says I might not be able to BF, but I wont know until I have children whether I'll produce milk.'
This woman turned around and accused me of damaging my child's chances in life with my selfishness, being too proud in order to give my child the life he/she/it deserves etc...

At the time I was 16 - not planning on having children, not caring about it at that point, and slightly more worried about my health than the unborn children I might one day have.

Like I said, people are odd...

[Jan74]

People can be seriously odd when it comes to breastfeeding. I'm not fussed either way - whatever someone wants to do is up to them.

I remember being absolutely blasted by a stranger at the hospital when I went in to get a consultancy for an operation. She'd been evesdropping on mine and my mum's conversation, in which I'd said 'the doctor says I might not be able to BF, but I wont know until I have children whether I'll produce milk.'
This woman turned around and accused me of damaging my child's chances in life with my selfishness, being too proud in order to give my child the life he/she/it deserves etc...

At the time I was 16 - not planning on having children, not caring about it at that point, and slightly more worried about my health than the unborn children I might one day have.

Like I said, people are odd...

She was more than odd, she was rude and way out of line.

Even if you already had a baby, the last thing you needed would be a stranger guilt tripping you.

Also, I was bottle-fed beyond the first few weeks, and it didn't damage my chances in life at all. I'm quite smart and well-adjusted, and I'm sure tons of people breastfed as babies currently sit in prison as we speak. People cling on to these ideas that if they do "everything right", it will guarantee a perfect future for their kid, but nothing - not all the breast milk, Baby Einstein, and competitive expensive private preschool - can guarantee that.