For those who were unable to breastfeed...

[ninjawomble]

Nori, emmie, xmcnickyx, and anyone else who feel this way..

I wasnt going to put "failed" at bfing, coz we are NOT failures.
You are all still fantastic mummies, our babies will still be happy, healthy, smart and full!
Sometimes things happen to stop bfing that people cant control and this has happened to us, but our babies wont care as long as we stick a bottle in their mouths!

We need to think positive, bottlefeeding is still feeding, its not poison!!
For me personally there is always next time ( I hope to try again next time round, and WONT feel guilty that Isla missed out, as long as she is healthy), but for now we is bottlefeeding mummies, and our LO love us no matter what!

Give yourselves a pat on that back for being the brilliant mums that you all are!

Sorry, just thought I d post this to try cheer you all up!

 

[nori]

aww bless you for doing that.. no matter how much i try and keep those thoughts in my mind im still absolutely gutted.. still.. as you quite rightly said, there's always next time..

Claire xx

 

[emmie]

Cheers hun, i know how you feel nori its horrible, i was mega mega determined to brestfeed and i hadnt seen any reason why i shouldnt be able so its hit me hard but i will be even more determined next time my mum was unable to breastfeed me but went on to do it succussfully with my sis so fingers crossed next time round.

 

[xmcnickyx]

Awww - thanks

I wil give bfing a go again next time. All the research I did told me that the baby would feed all the time, nothing prepared me for a jaundiced baby who just wasn't interested in food at all and a bitch midwife

We're all awesome no matter what. Molly has been weighed today and is now 9lbs - thats a whole 3lbs more than when she was born so she's definitly doing well.

 

[bobby1]

congrats Molly! 3lbs thats brilliant. Bottle feeding definately isn't doing her any harm!

I just want to say your all amazing mummies!

 

[lea m]

Yay Dont beat yourselves up ladies! I know I did after my first (and some with my second) but swore I wouldnt let it get me like that with Lola! It does upset me and will always make my drop my smile for a minute when I think about it but all my kiddies are healthy and happy and have high IQ's!
As my doctor said to me this morning :
" Who cares if you didnt breastfeed? You love your children and do everything for them and look after them so as long as they are fed one way or the other what does it matter?"

 

[valentine]

Aw lovely thread!

You're all fab Mummies who need a .

Xxx

 

[poochielove]

I agree with everything you have said. You all have healthy happy babies and i think your all amazing. Well done some people dont even give it a go

 

[noodle1]

How sweet of you

I still feel guilty for not being able to feed Tom, keeping everything crossed for this one

 

[tinkerbell*]

awww this is a lovely post, you shouldnt beat yourselves up about it, Your babies do not care if they are not breastfed, all they care about is having lots of cuddles with their mummys and getting fed. Theo is bottle fed and i am very very close to him, so please dont think that your not going to bond with your baby becuase they are fed with a bottle. i actually found it very helpful that Theo could be fed by his daddy, it allows me to have a lovely lay in once in a while and more sleep = an even happier mummy!

all your babies are gorgeous and healthy and happy, thats the only thing that is important!

 

[jills10uk]

to all. your all fab. if i hadn't had the best midwife in the world i wouldn't have been able to BF.
your children are all loved and thats really all that matters

 

[Steelgoddess]

Aww guys hoenstly don't beat yourselves up, I tried to breastfeed but was really confuzzled with everything that went on it all went a bit tits up so to speak! Scuse the pun.

4months on and I don't look back, I honesty do feel good and don't even think about boob feeding or the what ifs i look to the nows and see how healthly, happy and thriving is.

 

[sparky]

what a lovely thread!

Life is a learning process, and i've learned so much about breastfeeding that i will definately try again, even tho the last attempt left me a bit traumatised not to mention pnd.

But having seen how demanding breastfeeding is from this forum and how happy and healthy my daughter is on formula, i dont think i'll breastfeed long term....just dont think its for me! I'm proud that despite all mine and isla's difficulty i managed to express for her at the start, even prouder that i've managed through so much difficulty in the past few months...nd prouder still of my beautiful daughter

 

[Fly]

This is a wonderful thread

I was gutted to not be able to conitnue feeding my eldest Charlie and felt a failure for a long long time but here I am breastfeeding Henry 8 weeks and counting... so if you couldn't manage it first time then its totally possible to manage to do it with subsequent babies tis easier said than done to not beat yourselves up - this i know You're nurturning your babies in the way thats best for you and your family be that by bottle or breast or a combination of the two - it doesn't matter - what matters is that feeding times are enjoyable and mutually rewarding for your babba and for you

 

[batgirl3111]

Aww I wish this thread had been around when Daniel was born. I was absolutely gutted not to breastfeed and felt that everyone judged me to be a bad mother when I was out and pulled out a bottle rather than my boob. I expressed for three months to try and give him the best start but that nearly killed me. I just think that the midvives etc make you feel absolutely awful if you can't breastfeed which really doesn't help in the longrun. What I do think now is that breastfeeding is actually a very short amount of their life. Daniel was off bottles altogether at 12months so really it doesn't last long. Good luck to all of you and do not feel bad because breastfeeding didn't work, it's better to bottle feed and be happy and relaxed than get stressed out.

 

[mibiuk]

Nori, emmie, xmcnickyx, and anyone else who feel this way..

I wasnt going to put "failed" at bfing, coz we are NOT failures.
You are all still fantastic mummies, our babies will still be happy, healthy, smart and full!
Sometimes things happen to stop bfing that people cant control and this has happened to us, but our babies wont care as long as we stick a bottle in their mouths!

We need to think positive, bottlefeeding is still feeding, its not poison!!
For me personally there is always next time ( I hope to try again next time round, and WONT feel guilty that Isla missed out, as long as she is healthy), but for now we is bottlefeeding mummies, and our LO love us no matter what!

Give yourselves a pat on that back for being the brilliant mums that you all are!

Sorry, just thought I d post this to try cheer you all up!

How lovely you are.. I have been beaten twice and today got really upset about it and my husband told me not to be so daft.. but its all the conflicting advice you get given and like someone else clearly stated you seem to get frowned upon if you don't even try.. I think my baby making days are over (unless I can jump him one night ). But glad I tried and both my son's are healthy and happy on there formula feed.

Take care
Kathy x

 

[dula]

Thanks for this thread, I feel like I am not the only one .

I feel like I failed totally as had an emergency section - felt like I failed to give birth and then baby failed to latch so failed at breast feeding too. I currently express and he has it in a bottle, but still gutted.

 

[xmcnickyx]

Thanks for this thread, I feel like I am not the only one .

I feel like I failed totally as had an emergency section - felt like I failed to give birth and then baby failed to latch so failed at breast feeding too. I currently express and he has it in a bottle, but still gutted.

Well done for carrying on with expressing, I think that's even more difficult than breastfeeding and formula feeding! Try not to feel like a failure, you're doing so well to carry on with it!

I wish I'd have carried on expressing and keep thinking I gave up to easy but just remembered the reason I stopped expressing was that I couldn't find any steri bottles in the hospital and the midwives and nurses just sort of shrugged when I asked if there were any more!

 

[halemon]

this is a nice post, it seems im about to go formula too - have done all bottle feeds today, little one just isnt gaining weight so i think im not producing enough for her despite feeding on demand, making sure shes on etc etc, its not that i think there is no chance of me improving things its just that three weeks have gone and she isnt up to birthwieght, i want her to get going before it gets an more of a concern than it already is, so formula it is and shes gulping it down - ive tried expressing today andmy runnong total so far is only 120ml so not a lot happening in there!!! will give it to her as an extra anyway.

keep this up ladies, makes me feel so much better and less guilty

 

[Fly]

Thanks for this thread, I feel like I am not the only one .

I feel like I failed totally as had an emergency section - felt like I failed to give birth and then baby failed to latch so failed at breast feeding too. I currently express and he has it in a bottle, but still gutted.

you are doing amazingly to be expressing and feeding your baby your milk that way honey. I understand how you feel as thats how i felt with my eldest and its such an awful way to feel but honestly hon you are doing so well and should be really proud of yourself x x x x