Firstly, I have nothing against breastfeeding mums - good for you all and more power to you. I simply believe that every mother should be allowed to choose how they wish to feed their baby.
I'm watching a programme on BBC3 at the moment called 'Is Breast Best? Cherry Healey' and it has brought back the upsetting memories of people judging me left, right, and centre and constantly trying to persuade me to try it because it was natural and best for baby.
It still makes me seethe with anger to think of all the busybodies sticking their noses in when I was going through a traumatic enough time as it was with my baby being in special care for the first week and a half of her life and being separated from her.
I just never produced much milk and expressed every 3 hours night and day for the whole time she was in special care which was tiring and stressful and emotionally draining when I wasn't getting enough to feed her and was being made to feel that her being released from hospital depended on my success in producing milk which despite following every bit of advice going, just wasn't coming.
The worst part about it was that I was never bothered about breast feeding in the first place as myself and all my siblings were bottle fed and are all doing great in life, career wise, health wise and emotionally. I was made to feel that I had to try in order to be a good mother to my premature baby.
In the end it turned out that she was lactose intolerant and so couldn't breast feed anyway and yet STILL the busybodies shook their heads and told me that that was nonsense.
I was emotionally a wreck at the time my daughter was born and not strong enough as I usually am to tell people to just sod off and mind their own business.
Anyway, the point of this whole post is really to let all you new mothers who are bottle feeding know that there is light at the end of the tunnel and there will come a day- for me it was around 3-4 months, when people will accept your choice and stop asking why you don't breast feed.
I think my issue with all those who feel the need to constantly encourage you to try (how do they know you haven't tried bloody hard already!!) is that if they think breast is generally best then fine, nobody is disputing that, but in some situations it isn't because it isn't right for mum or for baby for one reason or another. I would NEVER lecture someone about how to feed their newborn baby, it is their baby and I have no right to make them feel bad about their decision about how to feed their child regardless of how well meaning I am.
Rant over......feel free to share your bottle feeding and being frowned upon stories.[/QUOT
You know what mega pissed me off, the woman TELLING Cherry you WON'T have the same bond with your child if you bottle feed, what a load of shit!
I know, how could she possibly know, she hasnt bottle fed. so she hasnt seen both sides. The first time morgan properly took a bottle he snuggled into me and stared into my eyes as he fed and I felt sucha rush after days of not being able to get anything into him it was such a relief to see him do it. I thought, "finally, we're doing something normal" even though before that I wouldve said BFing was more normal to me, just feeding your baby yourself is a privelage, when morgan was syringe fed the nurses had to do it. I literally didnt feed him myself at all for the first few days.
Cherry said to a doctor that when Coco was due a feed she would look at her and cry because she was so sore, so a mother who is crying with boobs that are in agony, who can't bear the thought of another feed, is going to bond more than a relaxed, happy, unsore mother with a bottle in her hand??
very true!
Sorry Hungarian I don't agree with that at all. I don't think it matters how they're fed, just look at the health or ask a mum section on here and we all, breast or bottle feeding mums have babies that sleep/don't sleep, have intolerances, rashes, the lot. It really doesn't make a difference how they're fed. They're all babies, they're all individuals and they all have their good and bad times with health and sleep.
No matter how you feed your children, Breast or Bottle they will bond with you no matter what!!! When i gave birth my mum was the first person to hold both my babies and give them there first feed and yet i have the most strongest report with both my children!! relax, enjoy and dont stress yourself out. Do whatever is right for you and what you feel is right. Motherhood comes naturally x
you know your body and your baby best and you have every right to make the decisions you did. Sorry to hear you're kind of beating yourself up about it. You've done what you needed to do to stay healthy and bond with your baby, you should be proud of yourself, facing up to mental health problems is HARD but you were really proactive about things, I think that makes you really strong and I bet you got that strength from the love you have for your babies. 
