# Were you BF or FF? Explain please too...



## BabyDakota (Jan 5, 2006)

My mom passed about 9 years ago, so I am going off what my dad remembers and my baby book.

Apparently my mom nursed me for 2 weeks. Then 2 nights in a row, I kept them up all night. So the next day they fed me Similac. After that I slept through the night, and according to Mom, I "loved" Similac.

I sucked my thumb until I was 9 and seemed to always have oral fixations. I was pretty healthy, never really sick except one time when I was about 5 years old during the winter. I probably had a flu shot that week. No one left to ask


----------



## the_lissa (Oct 30, 2004)

I was formula fed and I sucked my thumb, but so does my bf little girl. I was rarely sick, fortunately.


----------



## Persephone (Apr 8, 2004)

Breastfed til I self weaned at two, but I wasn't EBF. I think I had water, and started solids "on schedule" (whatever that meant in the 80s). I"ve never had an ear infection or allergies, and I'm rarely sick. Never sucked my thumb, and refused a bottle and paci, much to my mother's chagrin.


----------



## momma2finn (Sep 25, 2005)

I was FF and given solids starting at 8 wks...yuck.
My mom was misinformed about BF and really advocates for me and Finn now!

Oh yeah-I had pnemonia when I was 4 really badly, but didn't get much worse than chicken pox the rest of my childhood.


----------



## mimim (Nov 2, 2003)

I was breastfed until I was about 2.

My mom had never even seen a baby nurse before she had me and a nurse at the hospital told her I would suffocate at the breast.







Thank goodness she was determined and didn't run into any major problems.


----------



## MCatLvrMom2A&X (Nov 18, 2004)

I was ff







the main reason starts with the birth of my older brother (8years older) when my mom got pg with him she was 18 and single back then were we live she was shunned because of it. When she had my half brother the dr who deleiverd him beleived in bfing and wouldnt allow any of his patiencts to ff. My moms nerves were extremely bad. She would have catatonic episodes. She did bfeed my brother till he was just past 7mo but she was going down hill fast 5'3 and just a little over 100 pds she lost down to around 80pds. So the dr she was seeing decided that it would be best all around to put him on formula. He almost died that night from a allergic reation to it tho. Anyway they worked till they found a "safe formula".

So when I was born she just put me on formula figuring that she would do like she did with my brother even tho her cercumstances were very different. So both me and my younger brother were 100% ff. Other than my youngest brothers congenital heart defect we have both been pretty healthy altho i do now suffer from major seasonal allergies.

Wow that turned into a novel







sorry


----------



## JBaxter (May 1, 2005)

I was bf'd until about 7 months mother said she had enough when I started biting her. She said the doc told her I was big enough to have whole milk and since she stared rice cereal at 4 weeks she couldnt quite remember ( I was the oldest of 4) but she thought I was on table food at the time. I guess I was a pro







. Considering she had just turned 18 when I was born in '67 I guess that wasnt bad.

She got pregnant w/ my brother 2 months later.


----------



## Sepia (Oct 7, 2003)

My older brother and I were both formula fed from the beginning. The doctor gave my mom a shot to dry up her milk, kind of without her consent. definitely without her informed consent! SHe did breastfeed my younger sister for 9 months. my little sister was born 5.5 years after me so I guess policy had changed by then. My aunt and grandmother did not breastfeed, so i'm sure it was hard for her not having any real support.

I was born totally unmedicated though







mom almost had me in the car.

and I EBF'ed all three of my kids.


----------



## dziejen (May 23, 2004)

My mom was on medication for her asthma (she has had it pretty severely since she was an infant) and was told that she could not bf so my brother and I we were both ff from the start. When my second brother came along 11 years after my 1st brother the nurses told her that the meds were safe to bf with (same meds too







: ) so she did nurse my littlest brother for a couple months. We are all fairly healthy despite this but my mom is sad that she was misinformed with her first 2 kids. She is slowly becoming a great bf advocate though


----------



## alexsam (May 10, 2005)

I was formula fed from day one. In the late '70's, women were not encouraged to breastfeed. On the contrary, they were told that formula was BETTER for the baby than breastmilk! My mother tried to breastfeed me, but had no one to help, was discouraged by the nurses and my father, and never heard of LLL, so that lasted less than 2 days.

I, however, got great support (from my mom, too!), had access to lactation consultants in the hospital, went to LLL, read up, have a supportive DH, and have been nursing my son for 16 months. He has never had a bottle, not even of expressed breastmilk.


----------



## minkajane (Jun 5, 2005)

I always thought I was exclusively BFed but I found out recently that I used to get a few onces of formula at night during growth spurts until my mom's milk "caught up" with me. Why they didn't just let me keep nursing, I don't know. I'm guessing they were going by the clock. "OK, she's been on the breast 10 minutes and she's still hungry - give her some formula."

I was breastfed till 15 months, though, because I was a preemie and I was so small still. My brother and sister were each breastfed to 12 months.


----------



## Annikate (Aug 2, 2005)

I was ff. I was also hospitalized for like 3 months after birth and essentially seperated from my mother.








Even if that hadn't been the case my mother still would have ff. I think all her peers ff back then. (late 60s) My mom thought b'feeding was weird and all that. (She's been learning a little from me, but doesn't ask too many questions.)


----------



## Godiva (Sep 5, 2005)

I was breastfed. I don't know how long, but most everyone in my family on both sides breastfed their kids. My aunt even exclusively breastfed her twins. At least I don't have to argue with any of them on this topic. All the others though...


----------



## ellie_may12 (Dec 28, 2005)

I was BF for about 2 months. This was back in 1970 when BFing was considered almost child abuse. Mom was misinformed and wasn't told that she needed to BF more for the growth spurts and so she had supply issues and was told to switch to formula. She also BF my sister and brother for about 2 months.

My sister's dr. told Mom that she should take away the bottle by the time my sis was 9 months. Sis was 6 months at the time. Mom took away the bottle and sis never missed it. Mom tried the same thing with my brother. Boy was he pissed! He's 37 now and my dad swears that weaning my brother at 6 months has caused him mental issues ever since.








I was the baby and got my bottle until I was 2, but was given reg cow's milk, juice, etc...

My entire family has weight problems. I have asthma and PCOS. I never had ear infections until I was about 12 years old that was around the time we moved to Mississippi, so that could have been the climate change.

I often wonder what would have happened had Mom known how to really BF. She totally supports my decision to BF this baby and even says that I should do it until she is 2 years old. Go MOM!


----------



## LoveChild421 (Sep 10, 2004)

I was breastfed for 6 weeks until my mom had mastitis and was told by her Dr. to immediately switch to formula because "her milk was infected and would make the baby sick"







She also didn't really have any support- any time she would feel stressed or overwhelmed as all new moms feel her mom and her friends would tell her to "just switch to formula" so that combined with the dead wrong medical advice cut it short for me. When she had my sister she didn't even try to breastfeed. I've always been a lot healthier than my sister. We both were crazy about juice bottles until we were 3 or so. Neither one of us sucked out thumbs.


----------



## TeaghansMama (Jul 1, 2005)

I was exclusively breastfed and my mom BF til i was 2. She was very active in LLL (still is at 63!!). I did suck my fingers til I was hhmmm? 10 or so? and had tons of ear infections as a kid, but I just imagine what it would have been like if I wasn't BF.
I consider myself very lucky that mom was so knowledgeable about BFing back then.. late 60s early 70s. I hope dd and the new little bean feel that way too someday!


----------



## Peony (Nov 27, 2003)

I was ff, I was small when born, 5lb6oz. My mom was going to bf me, but I lost down to 5lbs, they told her that she had no milk, and if I lost any more weight then they were going to discharge her and keep me in the hospital







: she switched to formula. She didn't even try to bf my sister 2 year later, went straight to formula.


----------



## blackberrymama (Jan 8, 2006)

I was formula fed because my mom believed that her milk never came in. As a (pregnant) adult, I feared that my milk too, wouldn't come in (figuring that it was a genetic breast shape/size thing) but I was really determined to breastfeed, so I started asking more questions. It turned out that my mom wasn't given a chance to nurse me until I was two-three weeks old (I was born six weeks early and had to stay in the hospital) and when she produced no milk, she figured that there was something wrong with her! When my brother was born two years later, she didn't even try to nurse him, assuming the same thing would happen


----------



## hipem (Jul 13, 2005)

I was bf until 15 months and my mom had a drug-free birth - in 1975.


----------



## Tummy (Feb 24, 2005)

I was born via E-C/S and my mother was told she could not BF me. She says she did try but she never had milk.

Mind you this was 30 yrs ago.. so


----------



## MelanieMC (Jul 7, 2005)

I was exclusively bf'ed for 3 months, then put on formula. My mom went back to work and didn't know anything about pumping. She was told by my ped. at the time that it didn't matter any way, so not to worry. I have been told that I started baby cereal at 2 weeks!







According to my mom I loved it and it helped me sleep all through the night. My sister had complications at birth and was in a hopital for a month in another city, so my mom was never allowed to bf and was on formula from day one. Both of us were sick all of the time when we were little. Seriously, I had strep throat every year from age 4 to around 13 or so. And I usually have about 2 colds each year that get bad. Of course, I know it's OT, but I was also fully vaxed, even the optional ones, so I'm sure that added to it. Oh well, I plan to ebf and do CLW when I have babies. I've told my mom this and she's one of those "if they can ask for it they're too old" people. Uggh...At least I've got a while to convince her. Sorry for rambling(sp).


----------



## Snowdrift (Oct 15, 2005)

My three sibs and I were breastfed exclusively for six months and weaned entirely around a year old. No formula. The only reason we were weaned at around a year was my mother married kind of late and wanted a big family so was trying to close-space us, but had a hard time conceiving while nursing. It worked out great.

We never had ear infections and only one of us has a serious allergy. None of us has so far showed any signs of the family wheat allergy that my mom and her two sisters all have to varying degrees.

My mother was also breastfed, but supplemented with homemade formula since the doctors' advice on nursing pretty much ensured her mom would have low supply problems. When the doctors insisted she couldn't nurse bc she needed to monitor intake, she obtained a very accurate scale and weighted her babies before and after every nursign session.


----------



## Camellia (Jun 2, 2004)

I was ff from about 4-5 days on. My mom really wanted bf me, like really bad. She still is sad that it didn't work. I got really weak and could barely cry. My mom pumped some milk while her mom ran to the store and got a bottle. My mom said she pumped for a short time and then I was on formula.

She lasted a little longer with my little brother (2 years younger). My older sis (9yrs older than me) was born in the late 60's. My mom didn't even try with her. Back then (in FLA) the Dr's told her not to even touch my sister too much







My mom feels REALLY awful about how detached she was from my sis. She held me and my brother constantly and never propped our bottles.

My bro and I have always been pretty healthy. I got strep throat a lot as a kid. I remember a long span of time where I got it yearly it seemed. I missed 2 weeks of school one time in like the 2nd or 3rd grade because I had strep so bad. I also had a few nasty ear infections that I recall.

ETA - I also had a *major* pacifier addiction. Apparently, I had one around my neck and one in each hand a lot of the time. I would rotate them


----------



## Jasmyn's Mum (May 24, 2004)

Bf'ed until I was 40 days old







. My Mom said she dried up. I've had digestive problems my whole life from what my Mom tells me. Turns out I'm lactose intolerant. Who'da thunk? Guess back then, nobody thought about that.


----------



## timneh_mom (Jun 13, 2005)

I was BF for maybe 6 weeks but my mom said she was stressed out and I was hungry, and she didn't think her milk was rich enough (this was small town 1969) and so she started giving me formula. I was a pretty healthy kid but as I got older I started to have a weight problem which resolved as I got to my early adult years but I have always enjoyed food too much, been a comfort eater, like to drink too much and I used to smoke as well. So who knows!! Anyway I don't get sick often so I am sure I had some of the benefits. She supports me nursing as long as Will wants so I think if she'd had more support, she would have nursed me a lot longer.


----------



## DBZ (Aug 9, 2005)

I was breastfed for about a month and then I was switched to formula because my mother was too sick to care for me. My sister was breast fed till she was just over a year.

I was allergic to just about everything edible and was in and out of the hospital a lot in my first 3 years. Other then some freaky virus when I was 5 I had typical illnesses and my allergies were gone by the time I was 3-4 years old.

Kara


----------



## Slabobbin (Jan 29, 2004)

I was born in 1977 and my mom said that she didn't have any milk.

I think she was planning on ff me anyway...I think that was just what was DONE (actually in this area it is STILL what is "done"







).

I have PCOS and a low milk supply and turns out she probably has PCOS as well so I wonder if that was the problem or if they gave her a shot without her consent and it dried her milk up.


----------



## mags (May 4, 2004)

I was FF, and I have a TON of allergies, which may or may not be related, I don't know. My mom said she tried to BF me, but didn't have enough milk.







: I am thinking she probably gave up before I was even a wk old. She said she tried to BF my brother and he had, "diarrhea," (which I think was actually BF poo) and she said he was colicky, so she switched to formula (and my dad admitted that it did not, "fix" the colic). I believe my youngest brother was FF from the very beginning, b/c by then I think my mom just felt that BF was too much trouble. Here is the sad part. My father is a pediatrician.







: He thinks BF is best, but as soon as new moms have BF problems (which we all know that it's not at all unsual for first time moms to have BF issues at the beginning), he tells them to switch to formula. He does not refer them to a lacation consultant or anything like that either, just flat out sends them home with formula samples.







:

When I had my first baby, my mom tried for the first SIX months to get me to switch to formula! It was like her life mission or something. She would even call my brothers and tell them how worried she was that my son wasn't getting enough milk and that they needed to call me, so I would switch to formula! I had a very difficult BF experience, my baby was tongue tied and I had a bad case of ductal thrush from the antibiotics I got during labor... none of which was diagnosed until I was 6 wks postpartum and so close to quitting, but didn't, b/c I was determined to BF. It just made me so upset that she seemed so determined to get me to FF, even showing up with cans of formula EVERY time she visited.







: Thankfully, everything turned out ok, I nursed my son for 15 months, and weaned during the 2nd trimester of my pregnancy, b/c my milk dried up. I almost started screaming at my mom at the hospital when she came to visit a few hrs after I gave birth to my youngest baby. She had the nerve to ask me if I was going to breastfeed or formula feed my son!







DUHHHH!!! What would possess her to think I'd decide to FF, after I had successfully BF'd my other baby already? I mean, geez, I have a bumper sticker on my car that says, "affordable healthcare begins with breastfeeding."


----------



## BookGoddess (Nov 6, 2005)

I'm another 70s baby. My mom nursed me up to 3 months then she had to go back to work. I was on formula from 4 months on. I don't think there were Medela breast pumps back then so I don't blame her. My mom only nursed my younger brother for a month because she got a high fever. Her doctor said because of the fever she had to stop nursing him and he was put on formula from then on.







:


----------



## DeeEast (Dec 4, 2005)

I was breastfed for about a year back in 1965. All of my 6 older brothers and sisters were BF'd except my oldest brother who was born 2 months premature at home and then caught pneumonia. This was in 1946. Back where my mother grew up most people BF'd their babies because that's just the way it was done. All 3 of my sisters have BF'd their children. I BF'd DD for a year and I'm EBFing my twins right now. It was not easy at the beginning either time, especially with the twins and my DS being in NICU, having to pump for him, DD being preemie and not knowing how to latch for weeks, slow weight gain. I almost quit several times but I'm just too stubborn. Now I'm to the easy part of nursing and soooo glad I didn't quit.


----------



## mykdsmomy (Oct 10, 2004)

FF......my mom to this day thinks bf'ing is creepy














:







She's never come out and said that but when I was bf'ing my dc'ren, she was VERY uncomfortable and always told me I should give them bottles because they looked like they werent happy


----------



## boobybunny (Jun 28, 2005)

Breast fed for a year, back in late '69. my mom was one of those hippy chicks with a job. (now she is an environmental economist, very cool, how does the environmental impact of your business affect your bottom line) She has always been a bit counter. She hates that I am a SAHM.

My hubby, breastfed until he was six months, also in '69. It is more amazing for him, his mom is as republican as you can get. She has always been a very straight arrow.

We were very healthy kids, Kip had to have tubes in his ears at his sixth birthday (on his birthday) because of ear infections, but that is a congenital thing, very small drainage tubes.

I was never sick, until my mom took me down the street to play with a girl who was all spotty. until this last year, I have never really been sick, or had problems. ( I had a hysterectomy in 0ct, 05)


----------



## Katie Bugs Mama (Feb 1, 2004)

I was definitely breast fed, but my mother died before I thought to ask her the specifics. According to my father, she breastfed me until I was 16 months old. I don't have any idea when she started me on solids, but I do know that she made all of my baby food herself.

I don't know where she found the courage to bf me. She came from a family of ff'ers, and she herself was ff one of those nasty home-made formulas that people used to make with karo syrup. My father's family was scandalized that she bf because they thought that it was something that only ignorant new immigrants did, not "real" Americans like them. (My father and his first cousins were the first generation born in the US.)


----------



## crazy_eights (Nov 22, 2001)

I was breastfed in 1968, a real feat back then. My mom said that she got zero help from both hospital and doctors and anything that went wrong they assumed it was your milk. I did get baby food at about 3 mos. Even though my mom breastfed us, she still has some wacky ideas about it. She heard me say the other day that I fed my baby every 2 hours or so and she said "Aren't you just raw?" I kind of laughed at the idea, but I guess she probably had problems with that and no one to help her with latch and positioning.

Oh yeah - and my mom tells me about the 'bicycle horn' style breastpump that she was given and did NOTHING.


----------



## tuffykenwell (Oct 23, 2002)

According to my mother I was bfed for a few weeks although my oldest sister says she thinks it was longer because she remembers my mother bfing me. My mom said the longest she bfed any of us was my brother (middle child, only boy) who was bfed for 3 months.

My mother had kids from '63 to '73 though so I think she was a product of her times unfortunately.

Steph


----------



## Salema (Aug 10, 2003)

My mom was a crazy, rowdy hippy and in 1975 she had my brother at home (which was a trailer!...) and bf him until a little over a year, when she got pg with me. They moved to a small town with no midwives and she was very sad to have to have me in the hospital. After I was born, my parents were all ready to take me home and show me to my brother and the hospital wouldn't let them go. So she lied to them, said she was hardly bleeding at all (they'd given her a shot of Pitocin against her wishes), and they checked themselves out. They felt like they had to smuggle me out of the hospital... And then she bf me for 13 or 14 months.


----------



## Shaunam (Oct 8, 2004)

I was breastfed for about 2 1/2 years. I asked my mom recently if she had ever given me formula...NOPE! not a single drop! Unless the hospital staff gave me some without her knowledge, which is entirely possible.







But my little sister was born at home, so we KNOW she never had any!







(we were born in 83 and 86)

She didn't start giving me solids until I was about 5 or 6 months.

DH's mom did equally well, given the times (her kids were born in 79 and 80). She breastfed DH for 14 months, no solids for about 5-6 months, and only a few ounces of formula when he was about a month old. She nursed DH's little bro for 3 years, same with the solids, and NO formula (she learned her lesson with DH-it made him constipated).

I'm really proud of both my mom and MIL. Breastfeeding rates were on their way back up at that point, but real support was still very scarce.

Oh yeah, MIL was told with DH, she HAD to give water in a bottle. So that makes it that much more impressive that she stuck it out.


----------



## sadkitty (Jun 24, 2004)

i was breast fed in 1974-75 i think for a year. my mom nursed all 7 of us for some time. This includes my twin brothers for 15 months and (born in 1993) my older brother in 1971 even though he had a knot in his intestine and had to be hospitalized for a month or so (no one told her about pumping or relactaion







) Then my mom learned about LLL.
My grandmothers also breastfed. its just the way you do things in our family!

In fact, it was one of my dating sreening questions. A guy either had to know if he was breastfed, or be willing to ask. DH was nursed for 18 months!


----------



## leximom (Jul 4, 2005)

I was formula fed because my mom smoked while pregnant







and obviously after I was born and didn't want to put me at risk







. Fortunately I was very healthy as a baby and beyond and glad I made more healthy choices.


----------



## Jennbee (Apr 30, 2005)

Breastfed until 9 months, then formula fed (1977). I don't know how old I was when I started getting formula in a bottle. My mom was 6 months preg when I weaned myself. She says that I was "a piggy for the bottle", and preferred it over nursing. I probably didn't like colustrum. I had a healthy childhood with no major allergies (just some antibiotics). I am lactose intolerant, but so is most of my family as a lot of Native Americans are.
My 6 sisters were all breastfed. The longest were ages 3 and 3 1/2.


----------



## Smithie (Dec 4, 2003)

I was also born in 1977, and we were soooooo poor that nutrition was a concern, so I was breastfed for over two years. I don't think my mom really wanted to go that long though, she weaned my little brother (born ten years later) when he was around one, with mimimal protest from him as he was already deep into his lifelong love affair with solid food









I do not have the allergies that both my mom and my brother have, but I think that's coincidence.


----------



## Starflower (Sep 25, 2004)

I was born in 1970 and my mom had a terrible doctor. Mom _really_ wanted to breastfeed and when she asked him about it, he deliberately steered her into the dark. He actually told her that it all just comes naturally and advised not to worry about it or waste any time reading about it.

Unfortunately, she was gullible and mousy then - and was not able to BF me without me falling asleep. Therefore she wasn't able to establish her milk supply. She felt very disappointed. _(This is the doc that knocked her out for my birth against her wishes and was infamous for using forceps all the time. Luckily for me, I came too fast for his props at least.)
_
I imagine I was "on time" for solids and all that stuff according to the medical people at the time. I was fairly sick on and off during childhood, but a lot of that ended up being due to anxiety issues & depression and living with an alcholic father.

Mom was afraid to even try to breastfeed with my younger brother because of her failed experience from before with me, even though she said she had a ton of milk and now regrets not trying.

*And here's something really scary -* my brother was born with a double hernia which required surgery to fix. He cried all the time because he was in pain! The docs and nurses didn't know what was wrong with him so they assumed he was _hungry_ and fed him _cereal when he was just a few days old._







No one asked my mom about this either. They just did it.

My brother has had numerous health problems, both physical and psychiatric. He is obese and was recently diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 32. While I am sure everything is very complicated, my parents are sure that the hospital people feeding him solids so early added to his weight problem.

So I knew mom would be cool about me BF'ing. But I was amazed that my dad was my biggest BF advocate. I hadn't realized that my mom was so disappointed about her experience before I started nursing. I think she may have even written a letter to the editor in response to something she'd read in the paper that was negative about BF'ing back in the early '70s. (This would've been a very bold step for her. Way to go, Mom!)

I think if Mom had been more informed and more confident and if society had not been so out of touch with nature and mothering.... well, I think she would've been a granola mama and probably would've liked to have hung out with MDC-type moms.


----------



## turtlewomyn (Jun 5, 2005)

My mom bf'd my two older brothers (one was from her first marriage) and then ff'd me. When I was born her MIL came to stay and expected to be waited on, so she didn't have time to sit down with me and relax, plus she was taking care of my brother too.


----------



## Llyra (Jan 16, 2005)

I was given soy formula from day one. Isomil. My mom briefly entertained the idea of bfing, but her ob told her that she would never have enough milk because her breasts were too small







. Mine, by the way, are smaller, and I had plenty of milk.

I don't think my mom was really all that interested in bfing in the first place, though. My aunt breastfed her kids well into childhood; my cousin was 5 when she weaned, and my mother used to say my aunt was a "freak." But I think that if it weren't for that doctor, I might have gotten three or four months of breastmilk, at least. I have had chronic gut problems my whole life, and I blame the stupid Isomil.

I never sucked my thumb, and gave up my pacifier easily at about a year. Also, other than the gut problem, I have always been stunningly healthy. I got very few colds, never had an ear infection as a child, and I've had the flu once in my whole life and that was as an adult. So I guess it could have been worse.


----------



## Past_VNE (Dec 13, 2003)

I was born in 1977. My mom nursed me for about two weeks. She talks all about the pain and the engorgement and the leaking......and that she didn't have enough milk.







So, I promptly went on formula. In my baby book, it says, under doctors orders, "3 weeks, growing well, give cereal."

So, from about two weeks old, I was on formula. I was allergic to cow's milk until I was one year old, so they switched me to soy formula.

I was fed cereal from three weeks old.

My mom really thought she was doing the best for me, too.







Too bad medicine and 'science' was so f'ed up.







:

I'm allergic to wheat, I'm pretty sure. I'm in the self-testing stages right now.


----------



## zaner'smama (Dec 12, 2005)

I was breast fed for about 6 weeks and it seems that I was started on formula and some solids at this point. My mom also passed away about 5 years ago, so I'm getting this information from notes she kept at the time.
I don't think I was sick really frequently, but I did have a lot of problems w/ my ear (tubes 3 different times, repeated ear infections).
Amazing how things have changed, even with mainstream doc recommendations...

~Betsy


----------



## bri276 (Mar 24, 2005)

my sister and I were both bf for 18 months. a lot of it was thru the bottle b/c my mom was doing her pediatric medical residency when I was born. my sister is 19 and STILL sucks her thumb (I think that relates to the fact that my parents abruptly divorced when she was 7 yrs old, probably led to her needing the thumb security more instead of less and sort of missing the window of when developmentally she should have been able to wean off of it).
my mm said one time she left me w/ her mother and a bottle of soy formula and never did it again because I spit up or had reflux or something.


----------



## lactationmom (Aug 13, 2002)

I am 34 so at that time, breastfeeding was very rare.

I was only given formula and have major allergies and asthma and pretty much a crappy immune system. I eat wonderfully, take care of my body by working out with weights, but my overall 'health' is never wonderful. I feel confident that my health is like this because during my MOST important period of growth, my first year, I was fed a chemical concoction of oils and sugars. My brother was breastfed for 3 months and his immune system is ten times better than mine, although not wonderful.

My hubby was never given a drop of formula and was breastfed for at least one year and his immune system is wonderful, he makes me so mad he never gets sick!!!


----------



## mahogny (Oct 16, 2003)

I was bf for about 3 months or so, and not exclusively, according to my older brother's memory, which is excellent.

I was very healthy as a child - as were my brother and sister, who were never bf at all - only ff. We just have healthy genes, I guess. No allergies among us, no ear infections, colds out of the ordinary, etc. We're all slender.

I was the only one of the 3 of us, however, who sucked my thumb. I sucked my thumb until I was 5. In later years, I've wondered if that's b/c of the early weaning, but that's only guessing.


----------



## MountainLaurel (Dec 17, 2005)

You know, I have no frickin' clue whether or not I was BF: My mother doesn't talk about things like that. Offhand, I would have to guess that the answer is no. I was born with fluid behind my lungs and spent a couple weeks in an incubator in the hospital after I was born. Which must have been hella funny, because I was a long baby born almost two weeks past term, and the incubators were built for preemies. Actually, my mom did say once that she was trying to give me a bottle one day, and I bumped my head on the top of the incubator. On a side note, this was a military hospital, and I remember my mom talking about how happy she was because the nurses had me sleeping through the night before I came home at about 2 weeks old.







:

As for side effects, it's hard to tell what might be related to FF and what is related to the fact that my child-care providing grandmother was a chain smoker.


----------



## earthcore (Feb 24, 2003)

I nursed til I self-weaned at 3.5 years old!


----------



## amyjeans (Jul 27, 2004)

I was formula fed- because back in 1973- it wasn't decent or ladylike to breastfeed.
shame- I got sick a lot!


----------



## elmh23 (Jul 1, 2004)

Pretty much formula fed from the start. My mom tried to breast feed me but had an extreamly low supply due to the fact that her doc was a big fudge up and she didn't deliver her placenta until I was 4 weeks old (when she went to the ER because she was really pale, mom ended up with a full body blood transfusion.) Either way, my mom wouldn't have breastfed for long. She had to go back to work when I was 8 weeks old (she was a single mom with no help from my "dad.")

I was always sick. I had reaccuring ear infections starting at around 2 months and was completley deaf from 6 months to 9 months (when I finally got tubes.) My hearing was damaged enought that no one could understand what I said until I was about 3. I also had strep throat all the time and I have seasonal allergies.

ETA that I also had reflux and was given cereal to thicken up my soy formula from about 6 weeks on.


----------



## Patchfire (Dec 11, 2001)

I answered that I was formula fed, but my mom did intend to nurse and I nursed for about a month. At one month, I hadn't even regained my birth weight. When I was reading in preparation for dd's birth, I made a connection between a statement about high palate and breastfeeding problems, and my mom's difficulties feeding me. I've always had problems with my teeth and swallowing and such, because of a really high palate, and high palate can make it difficult for the baby to stimulate the breast enough to get the hindmilk. No hindmilk, little weight gain. I think my mom was glad to finally know what had happened.


----------



## True Blue (May 9, 2003)

I was ff. Bfing wasn't very common in my mom's circle in the late 70's. I had a lot of ear infections (many they didn't know I had til I went to the dr for a well visit....is that even considered an infection? lol) but am healthy overall. However, I did start getting cereal at 2 weeks old!!!


----------



## MelKnee (Dec 5, 2001)

I was formula fed for 6 wks, then put on whole milk and soilds in 1967.


----------



## Drummer's Wife (Jun 5, 2005)

I was born at 31 weeks and weighed 2 lbs 12 oz. I was an identical twin but sadly my sister was stillborn. My mom had a emergency c-section and I was in NICU for several months. My mom was still able to manually express breastmilk and once I was off an iv I was able to drink from a bottle and then learned to nurse... but I never had a drop of formula. I continued to breastfeed until age 2 1/2 and tandem nursed with my bro for 6 months. I







my mom and I think she overcame a lot (including grief of losing a baby) to be able to successfully breastfeed me! YAY MOM









ETA: This was 1979


----------



## trmpetplaya (May 30, 2005)

I was bf for 6 months and then ff. Dh was bf for 3.5 years and never had formula.

I chose a combination of bf and ff...

love and peace.


----------



## 3 Little Monkeys (Mar 13, 2003)

I was exclusively FF - and mom started me on cereal at 3 weeks







She tried to BF when my brother was born, she lasted about 2 months but had a horrible time with cracked, bleeding nipples - when my brother spit up blood after a feeding, that was the end of her BFing.


----------



## Ellien C (Aug 19, 2004)

Mom had 4 children from 1957-1969, all through Cesarian birth. At the time, mom was hell bent on BF and refused the "dry-them-up-shot" for 10-days while my sis was in an incubator. This is her resolute parenting story where she mustered up the courage to defy authority.

The first was BF for 9 months.
The next was BF for 6 months.
The next for 3-4 (sis in the incubator)
and me for only 6 weeks before she went to work.

The oldest has always had some allergies and suffers from fibromyalgia. But has never needed an inhaler or anything. She just sneezes a lot with dust.
The second oldest and I have headaches - pretty severe.
The third has had some addiction troubles.
I suffer from no allergies or aches, no one has had earaches or tonsilitis or anything severe.

DH was BF for 6 months and has no allergies but suffers from earaches to this day. He just got a tooth pulled though, so we're hoping the infection have been starting there.


----------



## turtlemama77 (Jul 29, 2005)

My mom breastfed me for 10 months, which is when she tells me I self-weaned. I suspect it was more like a nursing strike or too many solids or something like that, but she insists that I weaned all on my own. Then she breastfed my sister for 9 months and just got tired of it and weaned her.

She's very supportive of my breastfeeding, although she keeps insisting that my dd will wean during my pregnancy (3.5 months and dd is still going strong!!).


----------



## bri276 (Mar 24, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *momtoDNJ*
I was born at 31 weeks and weighed 2 lbs 12 oz. I was an identical twin but sadly my sister was stillborn. My mom had a emergency c-section and I was in NICU for several months. My mom was still able to manually express breastmilk and once I was off an iv I was able to drink from a bottle and then learned to nurse... but I never had a drop of formula. I continued to breastfeed until age 2 1/2 and tandem nursed with my bro for 6 months. I







my mom and I think she overcame a lot (including grief of losing a baby) to be able to successfully breastfeed me! YAY MOM









ETA: This was 1979

your mom is awesome!







I EP and one thing I always hope even though I've been told dd will be developmentally delayed is that she will some day understand that I did anything I could do give her breastmilk. it must be so rewarding to your mom to have a daughter who appreciates what she did (especially back then! my God!) and who went on to bf also. very cool.


----------



## indeospero (May 23, 2005)

I was totally FF, never brought to the breast even once.







That makes me kind of sad, to think of my mom giving birth, being handed her baby, and NOT nursing. Oh well. She was told her breasts were too big and that she wouldn't have any milk anyway, and was given the injection to dry up her non-milk. When I was 5 weeks old my mom had breast reduction surgery. When my sister was born, she also FF from the start. It was the 80s.

I had breast reduction surgery too, at age 18 and with my mother's urging. BF/having children at all didn't really feel important to me at the time. I have, however, fought tooth and nail to BF my dd, now 7 months old. We've had to supplement, but we use a lact-aid and she's never had a bottle. My mother's support was shaky at first (I had terribly damaged nipples, baby wasn't gaining at first, hard times generally -- hard for her to watch I guess), but she's come around big time and is my biggest cheerleader now. Yay Mom! I know she has big regrets after watching me, which is sad, since it's too late to go back and do otherwise.

Sorry this was so long.


----------



## thepeach80 (Mar 16, 2004)

I was ff from birth, so was my brother and my DH and his 2 siblings. You just didn't bf then. I was on Enfamil, surprisingly enough I used that w/ my kids too when needed. AJ was 1/2 ff till 13 mos when he weaned b/c of supply issues, Evan was weaned to Neocate at 12 mos and hopefully will get to eat solids soon!


----------



## crazydiamond (May 31, 2005)

I was breastfed for 7 months or so, when my mom said I self-weened. Back then, though, she was told to give me solids first and _then_ nurse and she said that I just gradually lost interest in the breast but was always excited about solids. I'm guessing I was just too full from solids to want milk. After talking with me now, she agrees that had she gone by the current recommendation to nurse first, then solids, I probably would have kept it up. She also says she feels saddened by the fact that she didn't breastfeed longer and wishes she was better informed.

But I tell her, that even 7 mos in the late 70s/early 80s was great! She said she was the only one she knew who BFed and that a lot of people shunned her. But I'm so proud she kept it up for as long as she did!


----------



## marisa724 (Oct 31, 2003)

I was born in 1975 and was nursing for "a long time". My mom is vague as to what that means, I take it to be around age 5.









I don't actually remember it, but I know that I had stopped sometime before my brother was born when I was six.

I actually don't know if I ever got any formula. My mom found out that I was allergic to cow's milk when I started to get ear infections, but I don't know when she began offering it.

My mom was always active in LLL, she was a Leader when my brother was little. I was around meetings since I was tiny. Now she's a IBCLC among other things, and she gave me my first copies of Mothering (she says in her day they were more like xeroxes







).


----------



## Talula Fairie (Jan 7, 2005)

My mother was awesome, she went through great leingths to breasteed me. My grandmother nursed all five of her kids, including my mother, so that probably set a good example. My parents were living far away from their friends/family at the time when I was born, so my mom didn't have a lot of support. I was born with jaundice and wouldn't latch for days. I was given formula by the hospital staff. My mom came home with me and was desperate for help.

The pediatrician gave my mom the number for the LLL. My mom called and was hooked up with a wonderful leader who suggested a nurse in and made all the difference. My mom said I latched on after about 5 or so hours







When I was six months old my mom even went back to work and pumped for me. I'm amazed she accomplished all that in the early 80s when there were fewere resources at her disposal. She nursed me until about 14 months.


----------



## Periwinkle (Feb 27, 2003)

I put down Combination BF+FF even though I never got formula. But I was weaned at 7 months onto a cup... of cow's milk.







Formula would have been great compared to that!


----------



## darien (Nov 15, 2005)

Dh and I were both adopted, both FF. Our parents' bio babies were FF too, though. I never knew anyone who BF'd till I was an adult!


----------



## MarcyC (Jul 4, 2005)

100% formula fed from day one. I was born in 1968 when women were told that formula was healthier and superior to breastmilk.


----------



## Nora'sMama (Apr 8, 2005)

My mom also had me and my sister (breech) with no drugs in the 70's.

I was BF until 10 months old when I supposedly self-weaned.

However, my mom started feeding me cereal when I was ridiculously young, 6 weeks old or even younger, and I got formula during the day when she went back to work when I was 4 months old, and formula at other times when she left me for longer than a couple of hours.

She didn't feed me anything besides cereal until I was around 6 months old.

I had a bottle until I was well over 2, probably until I was nearly 3. I was very attached to my bottle. I also sucked my thumb until I was in kindergarten and carried my lovey around everywhere until then. I have always been very orally fixated and started smoking daily at age 16.

I had horrible ear infections starting around age 1 and had tubes put in my ears eventually. I was frequently sick as a kid. Bronchitis, tonsillitis, croup, you name it. No allergies though.

My mom is really proud of having BF me and my sister (my sister BF to 13 months). I think she felt bad when I told her that babies at 10 months old don't usually "self-wean". But she did very well for having kids in the 70's. There was some wack advice given out by peds back then! My mom saved all these feeding instruction sheets that she was given by her ped and O.M.G.

They read like this:

3 months old

breakfast - formula, cereal, fruit

lunch - formula, meat, vegetable, fruit

dinner - formula, meat, vegetable, fruit

Etc. They recommend meals with 3 or 4 courses at just a few months old, only mention breastmilk in passing (as if it's an inferior "substitute" for formula), encourage strict scheduling and...the saddest one...they recommend that after you bring your newborn home, you should "keep baby to him or herself as much as possible."









Times have changed, that's for sure! Even the most mainstream peds wouldn't give out that kind of info these days!


----------



## Nora'sMama (Apr 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *indeospero*
I was totally FF, never brought to the breast even once.







That makes me kind of sad, to think of my mom giving birth, being handed her baby, and NOT nursing. Oh well. She was told her breasts were too big and that she wouldn't have any milk anyway, and was given the injection to dry up her non-milk. When I was 5 weeks old my mom had breast reduction surgery. When my sister was born, she also FF from the start. It was the 80s.

I had breast reduction surgery too, at age 18 and with my mother's urging. BF/having children at all didn't really feel important to me at the time. I have, however, fought tooth and nail to BF my dd, now 7 months old. We've had to supplement, but we use a lact-aid and she's never had a bottle. My mother's support was shaky at first (I had terribly damaged nipples, baby wasn't gaining at first, hard times generally -- hard for her to watch I guess), but she's come around big time and is my biggest cheerleader now. Yay Mom! I know she has big regrets after watching me, which is sad, since it's too late to go back and do otherwise.

Sorry this was so long.


That is great that you are BFAR!!!









Totally ridiculous that they would give your mom a shot to dry up her milk that she supposedly didn't have.


----------



## henhao (Dec 17, 2004)

I was FF. I asked my mom why and she said it wasn't her temperment to bf. She sees me with the baby now and says it's cute. Sometimes I wonder if she wishes she had bf'd but I don't want to bring it up and make her feel bad. She might not have known how good it was to bf, and she's a good mom.

I had allergies and skin rashes -- and still do if I don't watch what I eat.


----------



## clane (Aug 5, 2005)

My mother BF me until I cut teeth and began to bite (7 mos or so). She weaned me to formula then.


----------



## Yaliina (Oct 22, 2005)

I was EBF until my mother says I reached out & grabbed a cookie from my grandmother & stuffed it in my mouth. Mom introduced solids that day but continued to bf to about a year- then a month or 2 later she says I got sick & her milk came back in & nursed until I was well. She says that month is when she conceived my sis.







Dad's mom thought Mom was starving me to death (I was a skinny babe) & even made an appt. for me w/ her doc!! Yay for my brave mamma!! My mom also had unmedicated childbirth in 1979- with my dad in the room








Yay for all our brave mammas!!









Oh- & I had some ear infections as a kid, but nothing big. No oral fixations.


----------



## amj'smommy (Feb 24, 2005)

I was born in 1975 and was ff. I was a relatively healthy kid.... nothing too major. I did have re-occuring bouts with strep throat from ages 12-15. I also was a thumb sucker until around 7. No food allergies or skin issues though. I'm a pretty healthy person although when I do get sick I get hit hard but I rarely get sick.


----------



## Peppamint (Oct 19, 2002)

I was breastfed for a couple of months then switched to formula. My parents thought bf was best, but they were young and lived in my grandparent's basement. My grandparents offered little support (in fact, step-grandma was always wanting to rock me and give me a bottle) and after awhile my mom quit. She is still sad about that.

She breastfed my brother for a few months and her milk dried up. My second brother was born when first brother was 17 months old and breastfed as well- but I don't remember how long- I know he was weaned already when he was diagnosed with cancer around 9 months old, he died at 14 months.

I had a ton of ear infections as a child and a few surgeries to put tubes in my ears. Also had my tonsils removed. My brother, who was breastfed until mom's milk dried up went straight to solids since he wouldn't take any kind of formula or baby food and he's extremely healthy- unfortunately, that makes him think I'm silly to be so pro-bf and delayed solids.







He reacted terribly to all the vaccines.

We're both lucky to be blessed with good genes and immune systems despite not being bf very long and being completely vaxed... my dh's family is a whole 'nother story though... they sure could have benefited from less "medical" care, more breastfeeding and no vax.


----------



## tsfairy (May 19, 2004)

I was BF until well over age 2 when I finally self-weaned (apparently my dad would joke that I'd come home from college and want to nurse







) This was in the 70's and my mom had NO support - her mother had passed away when she was a teen, and her MIL was completely anti-BF. Her friends were FFeeders too - she tells a story of one night when I was about a week old and she was just exhausted, so her friend offered to watch me for a couple of hours while she took a nap. She woke up to find her feeding me Karo syrup and condensed milk from a bottle. She was LIVID! I don't think I ever got any kind of formula other than that. I do have seasonal-type allergies and possible PCOS, but I think there's some weird hereditary stuff going on.

I'm the oldest of four and my sibs were all BF for at least 2 years as well (except one sis who self-weaned at around 18 mos) and my mom wound up becoming a LLL leader and was very active in the crunchy community for many years - even had my brother and sister at home.

DH and his brother were both FF from birth, and I've never asked why, but I suspect it was just "the thing to do" at the time. It was also "the thing to do" to put pureed carrots in DH's bottle of formula almost from the beginning. I have no idea WHY, but apparently all her friends did it and it turned the babies ORANGE! DH has lots of problems with allergies, stomach problems, etc. BUT I found out after DS was born tongue tied that DH, his brother and his mom are all tongue-tied as well, so some of his stomach probs could come from that.


----------



## Kiyomi (Apr 11, 2003)

I was formula fed from day one. Cereal in the bottle at like 6 weeks, too.

My mom never wanted to bf me. She had issues with her body image, thought her large breasts were disgusting, etc. Plus it was the early seventies and formula was considered superior to mother's milk. What a crock!

I am the first mom in my extended family to BF. I am so proud to still be nursing DS, who is 37 months.







My folks think I'm some sort of "hippie" to still be nursing DS, but have been pretty supportive anyway. I constantly hear how he'll still be nursing at 18, or calling me when he's on dates because he's "thirsty". I just roll my eyes at them and say, "I seriously doubt that!'


----------



## danibu98 (Aug 9, 2005)

I was ff, born in 1976.She got the shot. Never considered bf'ing. She also smoked while pg with me. Had a paci until age 2. I am in good health but always struggle with my weight... I can gain weight in a heartbeat. I think this is partially due to being ff'ed, partial genetics, partial my own willpower! My sister was also ff'ed (born in 1979) had chronic asthma (hmm, smoking?) ear infections, all sorts of health probs also sucked her thumb to age 6.

My mom also practiced "detached" parenting- ie, CIO, etc. and I think that is partially why my sis and I struggle with self esteem issues to this day. We also have a huge fear of abandonment even though we were brought up in a healthy happy home and both have good marriages.

Danielle


----------



## The4OfUs (May 23, 2005)

I was FF totally, never BF. Honestly, I was fine. My EBF son has been sicker than I was as a small child, which is pretty ironic. I only had medication for an eye infection when I was around 6, and then some mild seasonal allergies on and off in my preteen years...I was a VERY healthy kid.

I also had to chuckle at the "it wasn't ladylike" comment of a PP. That's totally where my mom was coming from, I'm sure. I was born in 1973, and where we lived, it just wasn't something "civilized" women did - gotta love it














: ....

It's hard to characterize my mom's reaction to my EBF my DS (and will do so with our new babe too) - she didn't ever try to talk me out of it (though she did ask at 2 months when I was going to start DS on cereal, and asked if I was going to wean him right when he turned 1, like there was some sort of magic switch in his little belly that suddenly didn't need BM anymore...), but she wasn't real rah rah about it, either.....I guess she just accepted it, because it was my decision and my child.

BUT, she was pretty embarrassed when I would NIP...also very unladylike. So, I was sure to do it as often as possible when I was out with her - HA!!!!!!!!!








Just kidding. I love my mom to pieces, and don't feel badly about her FF me - she did the best she knew how, and I think I turned out pretty darned well, considering! She was and still is a GD maven (I like to think of her as the female Mr. Rogers







), and if I had to choose between being FF and GDd or being BF and NOT GDd, I'd pick formula and GD every time (though obviously BF and GDd would be the best, which is what I'm striving for!!).


----------



## cuttiebearmom (Oct 22, 2004)

BF until about 1.5 my mom says. I started solids around 8 months and was full blown on them by a year. Nursed at bedtime for the next 1/2 year. My mom was about as crunchy as they come, even attempted to nurse my adopted brother some 20 years ago which was unheard of at the time. She still laughs at how much I turned out like her. She WISHES that she was as comfortable nursing in public as I am now







.

Apparently I was quite the eager eater though, she still remembers how I could drain 1 side in about 3 minutes







. DD1 was VERY similar, DD2 likes to take more time







.


----------



## leafwood (Jun 15, 2004)

I was breast and formula fed. I was born in '78 and my Mom had to fight to even begin to nurse me. When I was 6m she went back to school and I stayed with my grandmother and got formula bottles. My Mom said she never even heard of a pump and never tried to express. She used to say that I weaned at that time, but we've since discussed it and I began to "prefer" the bottle likely becuase her milk supply was decreasing.
She went on to BF my brother ('81) until he was 18m old and hand expressed when she had to leave him with a sitter. She had trouble nursing him at first and got hooked up with LLL.
She is such a great supporter of my BF and she has talked to me about her feelings of regret about only nursing me for 6m. I still feel lucky that I was nursed at all.


----------



## mama_nomad (Apr 11, 2005)

Wow there has been some major ignorance about BFing since formula got big! I can't believe what some of the Drs were saying to our mothers...

I was BFed for the first 6 months but I constantly screamed and vomited, so dr. said I was probably allergic to my mothers' milk and they put me on ProSoyBee (sp?) formula--it never occured to her or Dr. that she should just cut dairy out of her diet. Now I have a terrible soy allergy. my poor mom always felt terrible that I was "allergic" to her milk and she kept it up for so long b/c she was trying to do the right thing...now she feels bad about the soy allergy! I tell her she did her best, I love her and that it's the soy formula industry that is to blame...


----------



## kalynnsmom (Dec 3, 2004)

I was BF'ed for 6 weeks and then my mom had to go back to work (she was/is an ER nurse).

She bf'ed all of my siblings, but I remember she told me that the ped told her that she had to stop nursing my younger brother because he was nursing every 1.5-2 hours and he was getting too big







: I told mom that is pretty normal for a newborn..


----------



## mommykmm (Jan 20, 2005)

I was totally FF. Mom said she never even thought about BF me -- in 1970 no one she knew even thought about BF, she said. (Having seen my healthy, bf kids mom now says she wishes that she had bf me.) Her doctors never even suggested it to her. I got the "good" stuff, too -- Carnation Evaporated milk, corn syrup and a drop of PolyViSol vitamins. As a child I had recurrent ear infections and ended up having tubes put in at age 5. I also developed a milk allergy, which I have since outgrown. I stuggle with my weight, currently carrying a good extra 40 pounds around with me. (My breastfed kids are nice and slender and can eat all they want w/o gaining too much weight.) I also keep thinking those 8 extra IQ points might have helped me not get a C in high school algebra. lol!


----------



## Attached Mama (Dec 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mimim*
I was breastfed until I was about 2.

My mom had never even seen a baby nurse before she had me and a nurse at the hospital told her I would suffocate at the breast.







Thank goodness she was determined and didn't run into any major problems.


----------



## Attached Mama (Dec 4, 2005)

I was born in "75 and was EBF for probably 5 or 6 months when I began a few solids. My mom started me on some rice cereal, made it for me the first time and thought it was disgusting so from then on she would make her own whole grain cereal for me. I breastfed til I was over 1 year old - which was a very long time back then.

My mom just seemed to have some good crunchy healthy instincts when it came to our nutrition. I remember her making home made yogurt, we drank raw milk, home made breads everything.... but that's kinda off topic.

My mom went thru a lot to breastfeed my youngest sister. She was preemie sized and woulnd't latch on. Her nipples were a mess and it was extremely painful. My dad kept telling her to FF. Unfortunately my mom didn't know about nipple shields or breastpumps, so she endured throught excruciating pain for a few months til my sister got the hang of it.

We were all pretty healthy kids. I think I was the most healthy - tho I did get a couple ear infections one year. My youngest sister had a lot of allergies but she eventually outgrew them. She also had some vaccine reactions but my mom had never heard of not vaccinating. She's def anti-vaccines now. Anyway, the ped recommended my sister get smaller doses of the vaccines. Not sure what kind of reaction she had...


----------



## lilysmom (Feb 4, 2003)

I was BF until 9-10 months, then put on goat's milk for a few months. My mother had a very bad memory about these types of things w us kids.

She can't even rememer which one of us had which vaccines. She just remebers not going by the "schedule" the time. She claims my sister( her first) had all her vaccines, I(the middle) had a few or maybe none at all and the same with my brother( the youngest) she can't remember if he even had any. Alhthough a few years ago when my brother registered for college, he went to the clinic where we would of went as kids and they had NO records on him at all.


----------



## vforba (Dec 27, 2005)

I was bf until 18mos, exclusive I believe until around 6mos, my bro was also bf until about 2yo
vicky


----------



## Mariposa (Nov 12, 2002)

i was FF because my mom had PIH and was on BP meds and was told she could not BF. this was in 1975. she had a gallbladder attack a week after i got home and was hospitalized for a week after surgery, so i doubt i would have been BF for very long even if she could have.

also, i started rice cereal at 3 weeks and was up to pureed meats by 3 months. (according to my baby book). yikes. i doubt i actually ingested much, but i guess that was what they did then.


----------



## whateverdidiwants (Jan 2, 2003)

Born in the early 70s and went straight on formula, cereal at 6 weeks. My mother didn't even attempt to bf any of her kids. She wanted us to "sleep longer" and wanted to be able to see how much we were drinking.

None of my grandmothers breastfed, and I have an aunt who bf her daughter for about 6 weeks (she had to go back to work and they had crappy pumps back then), and my sil bf her kids around 4 months each. That's it - and I have a HUGE family. I bf dd until she was 2 and never ever hid it, so hopefully that'll have an influence on the younger members of the family.


----------



## CrazyCatLady (Aug 17, 2004)

I was breastfeed and supplemented until three months. The three month mark is where she weaned all of her babies (all for different reasons). It's sad because she never had any latch issues or anything, we all just took right to it. Just like her easy pregnancys, perfect natural births, and nursing also just came easy to her. She still thinks that babies need to be supplemented so that mom can get a break and baby will know how to drink from either a boob or a bottle with no trouble. Kind of sad really.


----------



## coobabysmom (Nov 16, 2005)

my sister and 1 were ff... and rice cereal was added at 2 wks (!) so we'd sleep longer.... I think we would eat less often too because my mom makes somewhat dissapproving comments about how ofter ds nurses. She means well but it's also clear breastfeeding makes her a little uncomfortable and she wants to be able to bottlefeed him. Can't wait to see how she feels when I am still nursing at 1 yr +....


----------



## Peppamint (Oct 19, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mariposa*
also, i started rice cereal at 3 weeks and was up to pureed meats by 3 months. (according to my baby book). yikes. i doubt i actually ingested much, but i guess that was what they did then.

My MIL started her babies on pureed meats at 2 weeks.







Doctor's orders. uke

All six of her children had, well I should say that the three that are still living have stomach and gut issues all the time.


----------



## AidansMommy1012 (Jan 9, 2006)

My mother breastfed me for two days and then put me on formula. She herself, as were all her siblings, were formula babies, and I don't think she really got a whole lot of support from anyone. I am the oldest of three and she nursed each of my siblings progressively longer, though I don't know for how long. Interestingly enough, I, the formula baby, have horrible eyesight and have to wear glasses or contacts at all times just to be able to see where I'm going. My sister needs glasses to read, and my brother, the baby, has eyesight that's just fine. Hmm.

My mom's great, though. Dh's family's weird about nursing into toddlerhood and kept asking when I planned on weaning. My mom encouraged me to keep nursing until Ds weaned himself naturally, which he did at 14 mos.


----------



## sophiesue2 (Jan 15, 2005)

i was bf. i'm not sure for how long. my mother's first 2 children were ff (she tried bfing, but had little support...not to mention ridicule.) by the time the second 2 came along, she couldn't care a snit about what anyone else had to say, and she nursed us both. her first two children have terrible allergies, crooked teeth, poor eyesight, underactive thyroid, and an auto-immune disease. the second two had straight teeth, perfect eyesight, and generally good health. go figure.


----------



## MarieClaire (Oct 7, 2005)

I was bf until I was 5. I was born in '78, but my parents were really into natural health and knew all about the benefits of bf-ing


----------



## Electra375 (Oct 2, 2002)

My mother 'breastfed' me, but didn't have 'enough' so she also fed me Soy Forumla. It was 1975, she knew enough to know bf was best, but she didn't know how to get it to work -- supply and demand. She bf me for 3 mo.

My sister was bf same method in 1981 for 6 mo.

Sad... She had me doing the same crap with my first, so ultimately he was ff soy after unsuccessful bfing attempt using mother's method!!!


----------



## splash (Aug 30, 2005)

My mother was diagnosed with leukemia when I was a newborn... several weeks old I believe. She was told to immediately stop nursing me and start chemo. She refused. Her doctors were pissed, the family was pressuring her to 'think of me' and to get treatment to live. She would not.
She breastfed me exclusively until I was 8 months old, and then she stopped to pursue treatment. She died when I was three. Had she put me on formula and gone straight to chemo, she likely would still be alive. But she put it off, and she may have paid for it with her life. But, she breastfed me, which was more important (to her).
I used to hate her for it... I mean, I would have been fine on formula. I felt like I killed her. But eventually I saw it for what it was, and I respected her decision. So, she died to breastfeed me. Which is why I get so pissed off at women who CHOOSE to formula feed, just because BF takes too much time, too much work, isn't sexy, etc.


----------



## Sharlla (Jul 14, 2005)

I was breastfed for a short time, but mom had concerns that I wasn't getting enough so she switched me to formula. She also fed me solids from the start (according to her) She is currently nursing her 16 month old and plans on not weaning until 24 months (if the baby will let her







) I was not a thumb sucker.


----------



## tschifo (Jun 25, 2005)

My mom was in the hospital with hepatitis due to a botched C-section until I was 4 months old. She never even got to hold me, since she was isolated.








My Grandmother (dad's mom) took care of me during that time, so I was formula fed. I sucked my thumb until I was 6 or 7 maybe....had strep throat a lot. Otherwise, I'm a fairly healthy person by today's standards. I plan to breastfeed ds until he's one, but the family and dh are not too supportive.


----------



## NightOwl (Sep 12, 2004)

I was breastfed for 3 weeks then my mom gave up. She had severely cracked nipples and we had thrush. The same thing happened with my little brother. I was on Soy formula because I was allergic to others. I got most vaccines. I'm pretty healthy phyiscally. I do have a really bad oral fixation and I swear that has something to do with bottle feeding and pacifier use. I'm going to start a poll about that!

But the fact that happened with my mom made me all the more determined to breastfeed. I wanted to give up so many times the first month. DS couldn't latch well (Midwife said it was because he had a little mouth and I had large breasts







) so I had really cracked sore nipples. But I was determined! And DS is now a nursing champ at 6 months.


----------



## Calidris (Apr 17, 2004)

I was BF til about 3 months (supplemented from the start tho). My mother thought she had supply issues (her mother had) but I suspect it was more of an issue of misinformation and lack of support. I sucked my thumb in early infancy (my mother said I found it at 6 weeks and was the happiest baby in the world after that) I stopped by the time I was a toddler, without any intervention. I had asthma as a child, but no other allergies.


----------



## cherubess (Oct 14, 2004)

I was BF and then when I was weaned was switched to FF. My mother cannot remember how old I was







as she claims that after 4 children her memory is gone and she never wrote it down.


----------



## MysticHealerMom (Oct 7, 2002)

my sister and i were both bf for 6 weeks after birth, then formula after that. mom said it hurt like hell, but she did it both times bc she thought it was important. she liked not being tied to the house due to bfing in private after her six weeks were up. late 60's. my sis and i were pretty healthy, but i had recurrent strep throat and was given antibiotics, i think it led to other stuff later on. i can't remember having a binky or thumb to suck, but i tongue thrusted which resulted in an overbite that was corrected with orthodontia. i think i had a crossbite, as well. sis was ok, tho.


----------



## katarn (Apr 23, 2005)

I was nursed for 6 mo. then I "gave it up"... We also moved across the country when i was 6 mo.. in the car. so I don't know if i might have been under a little stress









oh well.. I was born au naturalle


----------



## rebeccalizzie (Apr 1, 2005)

Wow, I'm really shocked at how many mamas here were bf'd! I don't know *anyone* IRL who was bf'd as a child (at least when other mom's and I talk about it) and my mom said she never knew anyone to bf. Actually, it's kind of funny--my brother and I were exclusively ff'd. When my sister was born, they messed up my mom's shot or something, and since her milk had come in and her breasts were hurting, she bf'd my sister at least some of the time for about 4-6 weeks. So who is the child who had constant ear infections, needed two rounds of tubes, and has always had all kinds of massive allergy problems? Yup, my sister. My brother and I have always been very healthy.

Needless to say, my mom is totally convinced that the breastfeeding=healthier kids thing is total bs. She also thinks bf'ing is just kind of nasty, though she does support me doing it.


----------



## jillmamma (Apr 11, 2005)

I was bf for 4 months, exclusively for 5 weeks, then my mom started cereal. After 4 months, she put me on whole milk because that is what her doctor told her to do. So I am really doing things differently than she did by not only nursing a THREE year old, but also tandem nursing!


----------



## LizaBear (Feb 1, 2003)

half-heartedly nursed part-time for maybe 3-months (with supplemental bottles of water from day 1).

when I was losing weight at 3 months old, the idiot my mom saw as a doctor told her her milk was "no good" and I needed to go on formula.

IDIOT - should have told her to quit the water, quit the f'ing cigarettes and nurse HER BABY !


----------



## Fiercemama (May 30, 2003)

I was bf, probably til around 5 or 6 months. My mum had mastitis and was told to wean me. She says now that she knew in her gut that it was the wrong thing to do, but she is of the generation that follows "doctor's orders".

She put me straight to cow's milk. She says I howled for 6 and 7 hours at a time, but of course, never when she tried to take me to the ped's office. He patronizingly told her "babies cry". This, on her 6th kid! She finally figured out herself that I couldn't tolerate the cow's milk. Not sure what she gave me from then on. I've continued to have problems with cow's milk my whole life.

All my sibs were bf too, starting in 1949, through 1968. She said that she weaned them all to a cup around 6 months.


----------



## *Jessica* (Jun 10, 2004)

I was breastfed until I was about 19 months. My mom got pregnant with my little brother and was told she had to stop nursing me.







I used to ask, "Just a taste? Please?!"







Isn't that sad? But she didn't know any better than to question the advice she was given. And I was told the same thing in 2004 when I went for my first prenatal visit for my second pregnancy. (I nursed through, and am now tandeming thanks to MDC







, and despite the terrible recomendation from the nurse at the doc's office.) My mom is very pro-BFing. I was born in 1979.


----------



## Brookesmom (Oct 12, 2002)

Never a drop of breastmilk here. Mom said it would make her boobs sag like my greatgrandmas (my grandma told her this). Plus she smoked through pregnancy and my childhood. Amazingly I don't have asthma or major allergies.

I also learned that I was a "very colicky baby" and didn't tolerate more than an ounce or two of formula at a time, until they switched me to soy milk. I was probably lactose intolerant. I wish mom would have told me this *before* DD was 6 weeks old and I'd been waking up with her crying every night until I made the connection and eliminated dairy from my diet.

-Kelly


----------



## witchbaby (Apr 17, 2003)

i was formula fed because my mother "wanted her body back." i was sick constantly as a child (reccurrent ear infections and strep throat, chronic broncitis, stomach issues, etc.).
fwiw, my mother feels she made the wrong choice now.


----------



## sarajane (Oct 20, 2004)

My mother says she thinks she nursed me for about a week and then switched to formula. Says that is just what everyone did back then and we didn't know any better.


----------



## jaclyn7 (Jun 9, 2005)

My mother breastfed me for 18 months and nursed my other 3 siblings for at least a year, breastfeeding has always been in the norm for my family as both my parents were breastfed in the late 1950s. My Grammy even extended nursed my Uncle until he was 2.5 -3.


----------



## Lady Madonna (Jul 2, 2004)

I was breastfed somewhere between three and six months - I guess I could ask my mom. And then I was "weaned" ... to powdered milk! This was 1971, and my mom says the doc told her it was what to do - but my mom was (is) a nurse! My brother wasn't breastfed even that long after he was born in 1973, because my mom had to go back to work.

I think that sometimes, when she sees how healthy and strong DD is, still nursing at 30 months, she feels guilty. I had pneumonia when I was 18 months old and constant ear infections as a child. I don't fault her, because it was the early 70s, but I have gotten a little cranky at her when the topic of weaning comes up ...


----------



## nikandgeisel (May 3, 2004)

I was ff the entire time. My mom was told this was the best thing to do at the time (1974) so I can't blame her for that. My older brother was also ff. My brother and I have both been very healthy, no major weight problems, allergies or anything like that. My mom is a big advocate of my nursing my children. She is impressed with how plump and happy they have both been and how healthy and it has basically been free (she's a pretty frugal person). I sucked my thumb until I was 4 (my brother never did). I'm looking at my sweet little bf girl right now as she sucks hers and her older brother did too. I really think there's something genetic about thumb sucking, but I'm not expert on it.


----------



## momtoTnT (Dec 15, 2004)

I was ff. My mom was 15 when I was born, and didn't even try to bf. My grandma didn't encourage it at all....the only encouragement she got was from my bio-dad's mother and sisters (all bf their kids exclusively and beyond infancy) - but she didn't want to hear it from them. She did bf my little sister, but only for a few weeks.

I was constantly sick as a child - no ear infections, but pneumonia (sp?), bronchitis, strep throat, tonsillitis, chronic sinus infections. I have allergies as well. I'm sure being ff had a lot to do with it - that and both of my parents smoke, and never gave it a second thought that we were around.


----------



## daisyem (May 12, 2004)

I was breastfed for 19 months







(1978)

I got lucky though...

--My oldest sister was completely ff (1964)
--My next sister was bf for 2-3 months (1969) because a LLL leader came into the hospital while my mom was in labor and told her to PLEASE consider bfing.
--Me who was exclusively bf for 19 months (1978)
--My younger brother was bf for 4 months (1982) until my mom weaned him because of thrush (the doc told her that was the only way to get rid of it
















ETA: My brother and I have a different father than the first two girls do, my dad is a huge bfing supporter, so I think that is part of why my mom tried much harder/had more support for her last 2 kids (except for the dumb doc)

My oldest sister went on to bf all 4 of her kids for at least 1 year
My next sister bf her only child for 18 mo
I bf dd until she was 2 and will bf ds longer (he is almost 1)


----------



## Birth Junky (Jun 14, 2004)

I was breastfed at the beginning . . . but when I was about 3 months old, there was a stretch of time where I had to be given many bottles over a period of a couple of weeks. After that, textbook nipple preference--went on a nursing strike and wouldn't have anything to do with the breast. Mom has always expressed regret that she didn't get to nurse me for longer. Little brother was BF for awhile, but also went to bottles fairly quickly--and had serious allergies/lactose intolerance, so was put on soy.

DH was breastfed for all of a couple of weeks, but because of the pain involved (we now know that he was/is tongue-tied, which was the likely cause of MIL's pain), he was switched to formula.

My mom is a big fan of breastfeeding and I am expecting no challenges from her on nursing this baby-to-be . . . MIL has, I think, convinced her that breastfeeding "just wouldn't work" for her (same thing with birth, actually), and may need some educating. But she knows not to mess with me on natural pregnancy/childbirth issues--she has known me since I was 14, and I have been planning on becoming a midwife for several years BEFORE that, so she is pretty comfortable with my crunchiness.

Interestingly, neither DH or I have any major health issues as a result of the FF--although DH has developed some weird unknown allergies in the last few years.

FIL, though . . . was born in a displaced person's camp in Germany, and his mother was told to give him bottles of powdered milk!







When he developed diarrhea (I'm doubting that the water there was particularly clean/healthy) and got very, very sick from dehydration . . . the doctor at the camp put him on BUTTERMILK to get some weight back on him. FIL's mother is convinced, to this day, that the buttermilk saved his life . . . but FIL has TERRIBLE allergies to many, many things; wouldn't surprise me if it was due to the very early exposure to dairy.


----------



## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

Breastfed for 6 mos, FF after that. I had allergies and asthma and my mom didn't know about elimination diet in the 70's. The doctor recommended soy formula and I did much better on it. I actually couldn't tolerate milk or milk products until I was about 8 so I stayed on soy baby formula that whole time.

My dh was BF for 2 mos and my MIL had some hormone problems that caused her milk to dry up. She was in India in the 70's. She made some formula (mixed some kind of powder with milk) and dh could not tolerate it at all. He also suffered from feeding aversions similar to my dd2 and was syringe-fed until he was 10 mos old because he would not take breast or bottle, vomited a lot, and gagged on solids when they tried to feed him. He finally took a bottle at 10 mos old and stayed on it until he was four. When her milk dried up with my SIL she sent for a cow and the baby got milk that way.


----------



## Autumn Breeze (Nov 13, 2003)

FF









When asked all I got out of mom was "It wasnt for me"

Later to find out that when my uncle was born g-ma nursed him, but he was intolerant of cows milk and deemed "allergic to breastmilk" so my g-ma didnt nurse my mom either. I really think that is where my mom made her decision. I was fed Pro-Sobee from birth as was my brother.

But I liked the idea of bfing







Thankfully I had 2 aunts who nursed in front of me (each only once) abd it was a lasting impression


----------



## mamaofthreeboys (Dec 16, 2003)

My Mom nursed me for a year.
Then along came my sister 21 months later & she was nursed for the same maybe a little longer.
And my youngest sister was nursed for a little over 2 years my Mom told me recently.

And we were all mid to late 70's babies








And I know this isn't BF related but she CD'd all three of us too


----------



## aran (Feb 9, 2005)

Exclusively FF. My Mom "couldn't stand to sit still long enough" to bf. But my Mom is definitely not a spitfire of bustling energy, and loves her time to sit down in front of the tube with a cup of tea.







Milk of all kinds also grosses her out. She won't even look at me when I bf DS. When DS sees me lift my shirt, and points and says "bobe" ("boob" - my preferred name for it... I know some are offended by this







) my Mom said she was "shocked."

I was violently allergic to milk. I was told that I "exploded" from several orifices after a few days of formula. So I was raised on soy formula. I have multiple allergies as do my siblings. I had multiple cases of bronchitis/pneumonia growing up, but I also attribute some of that to my mother's smoking.


----------



## pixie-n-hertwoboys (Aug 17, 2003)

ebf til I was 15 months - said I self weaned. I wouldn't take a bottle or paci but I did suck my thumb until I was 3?? My older sis was ff - she wouldn't take the breast. my mom said even though she tried and down to this day my sis and mom have issues with each other. With me, she tried and succeeded and woud NIP every where with me. This was mid 70's when it wasn't "popular" at all. I have people tell me they thought my mom was nuts because she would whip out her boob in church, at the store, at gatherings, etc.









I did have horrible ear infections as a kid still and would get a bad cold every winter. My ff older sis did not get any of that so go figure! My younger sis by 11 years was child led weaned at I think 3? and was sickly too - got pneumonia at 2. This was when my mom learned about homeopathics and our health got much better with no antibiotics.


----------



## wasabi (Oct 12, 2004)

I was BFed for about 6 months I think. My mom is a little vague on this. She BFed all five of her kids for around 6 months or so. I know my second brother nursed the longest at around a year. She says he never would have stopped if she hadn't weaned him. Which makes me sad that he was so attached to it and she made him quit but still we were 70s/80s babies so we were lucky to get BM at all. She even pumped so the youngest could have BM when she was born with a cleft palette and couldn't nurse. Now none of us were exclusively BFed for very long. I know I got solids by 3 months at the latest but I think it might have been earlier. And I remember there being formula in the house when my younger siblings were born. I think if my mom was going out she probably left a bottle of formula for them. I had horrible ear infections as did my younger sister (who had the cleft so that could have been part of it as well). I'm still nursing my oldest who had a terrible bout of ear infections from the time she was 14 months until she was about 22 months so the ear thing does seem to be more a family thing than a BFing thing. Most of my cousins needed tubes.

My mom did have natural childbirth (for the most part I think she did have a saddle block right at the end with me since I was breech and they thought they were going to have to use forceps I think) with her first three and then an emergency c-section due to hemmorhage caused by placenta previa and then another c-section for her last baby. We had all been very big and her uterus started to rupture. None of which has a thing to do with Bfing. :LOL It's funny because my mom was very unorthodox in some ways but she was a very very dettached parent. Big into CIO and spanking and fostering early independence. So there's not much that I take from her. But luckily she has been very supportive of my birthing and BFing even though they are very different from how she did birthing and BFing.


----------



## Steady101 (Jun 24, 2004)

I was formula fed. My mother says it as because she had to work and it was just easier on everyone. No one is my family breastfed and I was actually encouraged not to. They all kept telling me that it is so painful and too much work and all that jazz. How would they even know when they never even tried. That alone made me more determined to do it because I felt like they were all just waiting for me to give up and get formula.


----------



## PrettyBird (Jun 19, 2005)

I was both BF and FF. According to my mom I was BF a little under a year but my dad says three months. Hmm My mom had to stop because she had parasites and had to take medicine that the Dr. said would get in the milk. They also said I didn't want to BF after awhile.

I really can't blame our moms' generation for their lack of breastfeeding. Doctors then really didn't encourage moms to BF like they do now. They didn't have the internet or nearly as many resources that we do now. DH's mom said her doctor told her that her "milk was bad". WTF? So she FF'd her first three boys, but decided to try BF with DH.


----------



## JaysMama (May 29, 2005)

My mom breastfed me until about 4 weeks and then she put me on enfamil. I think it was a combination of not knowing how to do it and being unsure of herself. There's five of us all together and with each one she went a little longer. I'm the oldest and the next one, my brother, was nursed until he was about 6 weeks and my next brother, her 3rd child, was breastfed until he was 18 months old! Guess she got the hang of it.







She then went on to breastfeed my twin sisters until they were 9 months old but she also supplemented them with formula. We all got started very early on runny solids. I think I was the earliest at 2 weeks old. My mom says she feels bad about it now but you do what you know!

On a side note, my mom had all 5 of us naturally, no drugs and she's VERY supportive of breastfeeding and even of my dd still nursing at over 3!


----------



## hunnybumm (Nov 1, 2003)

nak

my mom bfed all 4 of her kids for 3 months each, then switched to formula. i guess that was the cut off date back then (79, 80, 87, 89). however, i was allergic so she had to give me fresh goats milk until i was old enough for cows milk.


----------



## dove (Jun 13, 2005)

My mom had her first 3 kids in the '50s - she wanted to nurse her firstborn, but her mother was dying and she knew she just couldn't take care of her mom and nurse an infant. Her inlaws begged her to nurse, but they were supportive and helped with baby-care (including bottle feeds) at that very difficult time for her. (ps- her mil had birthed twins after walking a couple miles to the hospital in the snow, I am not making this up, and since it was during the depression and they had NO money, she breastfed the twins exclusively to 12 months, then introduced some solids and went on to nurse to 16 months!!! Go Grandmom!!!)

She didn't nurse the other 2 because she felt that she wanted to keep everything "equal".

I was born almost 20 years after her first. She said she really wanted to nurse me, but still felt more compelled to maintain a sense of equality amongst the kids. This makes me sad, but oh well.

All four of her births were "natural". She didn't tear or have an epis with 1st 3, then a "token" epis with me. My father was present at my birth. We shared a very special bond because of this.

My health? Well, lots of strep, tonsillitis, I have exertional asthma, but lots of that I feel was more because of all of the smoking that occurred around me as a baby.







: bummer...

eta: btw, mom is really proud of me and Leo's nursing relationship. She is super-supportive and loves to watch us nurse!!!


----------



## AmyC (Jul 3, 2005)

I was formula fed. My mom breastfed my sister (her oldest child) for probably 4 to 6 months, although she began supplementing with formula when her doctor advised it (maybe at 2 or 4 months?) My sister was born in 1955. Mom formula fed my two brothers (those three all were 3 1/2 years apart) and then she formula fed me when I was born in 1970.

When she talks about ff me, she always says that my 15-year-old sister wanted to take care of me, and that she did "everything." She was on school vacation when I was born and she "moved into" the nursery and took over. (Great for bonding with mom, eh?!)

I was sick all the time as an infant and toddler. My mom says I was always finishing a course of antibiotics and then coming down with another infection and fever by the end of the week or so. I might have had reflux or something (they thought it was painful gas because I would scream to eat and then take the bottle and within a few seconds, I'd start screaming in pain. Evidently I became very suspicious of the bottle and weaned to a cup quite early--under 6 months.)

At (or close to) age two, the doctor told my mom I was a severely allergic child and prone to illness when he saw me yet again. He diagnosed another infection & prescribed another antibiotic. My family had just started using a line of vitamins and protein supplements, as well as natural/biodegradable household cleaners, and my mom had noticed "a difference" in herself. She was nervous about taking a chance with me, but she decided to hold off on filling the prescription and just give me vitamins. (They had a children's liquid multi, but she would also crush chewable vitamin C and calcium and some others, then mix them into a paste for me. I remember hating vitamins!!) Evidently, she watched me and I started getting better, so she never filled the prescription.

The next time I had to go to the doctor, it was for my school physical and I was starting kindergarten. My mom always claims that the vitamins turned me around, and that I was extremely healthy after that. Another factor might be the fact that my father stopped smoking shortly after I was born. At any rate, I don't remember being sickly at all. I had the chicken pox in 11th grade, and I had strep throat that year. Other than that, I was pretty healthy, and have been. A few colds when run-down (like recently! but mostly in college at the end of a term when I was getting zero sleep) but nothing really major.

So that's my saga.


----------



## Alstrameria (Sep 8, 2002)

I say combination because I was bf until about 6months and then put on condensed skim milk because I was fat, lol. My mom's ob was very supportive of bf and my mom has been supportive of me. Not so much that dd2 is approaching 2 years though.

I am very healthy, few colds and no allergies/asthma. My dh was ff and solids at 11 days







He has had tubes in his ears, has allergies and a wierd immune system problem.

Having said that, my dd1 was ff after 6 weeks and is super healthy. Dd2 is bf and has a perpetually runny nose. Also dd1 is thin and dd2 is a chub. I don't know what the correlation is, it's probably not as simple as bf vs. ff.

Jen


----------



## vforba (Dec 27, 2005)

I honestly think that genetics and environment play key factors in how healthy our kids grow up. I breastfed both my girls until 1yr old. Exclusively for the first 3-5mos. My oldest had very few colds until she was around 4 or 5 and then started getting alot of Bronchitis. I trully believe that was due to the mold and mildew lurking in our old wet fieldstone foundation. We've since replaced it with new concrete block and she's never had it since.
DD #2 had chronic ear infections until she was 2yo she was 1 infection away from having tubes in her ears. Her dad is the same way except he was raised on cow's milk. The ears are so susceptible at that age because the tubes are so straight it's hard to say what the cause was. Possibly genetic in her case as my brother and I never had that problem.
I took her to a chiropractor and he did Cranial massage and she didn't have another infection for quite some time afterwards.
Ds is the sinus infection guy. Took him to the allergist, didn't really find anything he was allergic to. BF him until he was 20mos. He's kind've grown out of the sinus thing especially this yr he's not had the same amount of colds.
Who knows. But on a whole I do like the benefits, the $ saved and bond built.
And I do believe that even though while nursing I had 3 chunky monkey's the weight melted off by the age of 4 and they are all strapping healthy kids that see the dr maybe once a yr usually for a physical for Homeschooling
vicky


----------



## Fanny1460 (Jul 1, 2005)

I was exclusively breastfed until 6 months and then my mum started introducing solids such as grated apple very slowly. I must have been breastfed in total nearly one year, but night-weaned at 6 months.
I never had artificial milk and no pacifiers.
I did suck my thumb until 7 y.o.
I was never sick or ill (I am still really healthy and I think this is due to the breatmilk and good vegetarian diet I had until 12 y.o.).


----------



## Doodadsmom (May 27, 2005)

I was FF'd from the start, as was my younger sib...my mother tried to breastfeed with my older brother, but gave up at the hospital...they kept all the babies in the nursery and brought DB to her only at set times to eat. They offered no help, just told her he wasn't getting enough. She was the only mother at the hospital trying to breastfeed.


----------



## Doodadsmom (May 27, 2005)

I was FF'd from the start, as was my younger sib...my mother tried to breastfeed with my older brother, but gave up at the hospital...they kept all the babies in the nursery and brought DB to her only at set times to eat. They offered no help, just told her he wasn't getting enough. She was the only mother at the hospital trying to breastfeed.


----------



## finn'smama (Jan 11, 2006)

I voted that I was bf and ff, but now that I've thought about it I was bf for three months and then straight to cow's milk, with cereal at 6 weeks







. My Mom had to go back to work at three months so she just assumed she had to stop bfing. I think it makes her sad now that she sees her daughters nursing their babes for alot longer and being able to stay home with them for a year.


----------



## BabyBtoBe (Jun 27, 2005)

I was formula-fed...there was no question about it. That is just what my family "did". My grandmother formula-fed (on both sides of my family) all my aunts and uncles were formula-fed...this led to all my cousins being formula-fed (including myself). I have been the first since a LONG time ago to breastfeed my child. A decision I was glad I was independent enough from my family to make....it wasn't easy though. I got a ton of critisism and very little support...anyway, a long line of formula feeders here...but now growing a new breed of "booby babies"


----------



## Thursday Girl (Mar 26, 2004)

I'll start at the beginning of my mother's story, I was the last of five so here ya' go...

my mom tried to breastfeed my brother who was born in 1976. she started with him but he had failure to thrive, he just would not gain any weight and started losing it, so she was told to switch hi to formula. she did and he started gaingin weight. i can't remember how long he was breastfed for though. then in 1978 she had my sister and wanted to breatsfeed, when she told the doctor he looked at her and ina tone, implying that she was about to abuse her child asked "why would you do that, when you can't make enough milk?" when my mom told me this you could see still how much that hurt her. she formula fed right from the start. in 1980 she had my sister but this time was part of LLL and much more informed. she breatsfed her for 18 months and weaned only b/c she was going to be having another baby soon (my mom still stonrgly believes that a younger sibling should get the breast to themselves and have that experience that the older child experienced, what about twins well....) in 1982 my twin sister and i werre born. we were breastfed until shortly before a year old. i am not sure wheter we self weaned i seem to recall her saying thatm or if in fact she weaned us.

my first sister who was never breastfed (although she does have a diffrent body type, bigger bones,bigger body, is quite overweight. i think it might have to do with a combination of the body type, the foprmula, and my father's emotional abuse to her). my sister who was breastfed for 18 months has allergies and asthma. my brother is healthy. my twin ister is healthy, I dappled in sports related asthma, but other then that am halethy. besides the 100% formula fed sister we are all thin to healthy weght.

courtney


----------



## anamarsy (Mar 6, 2005)

I was bf til 27 months and born at home-this was in 1978. My parents were kind of "hippies" though.







I refused solids til close to a year, per my mom.

She nursed all 4 of us well over a year, so nursing has always been completely normal to me.


----------



## mommytolittlelilly (Jul 7, 2004)

I was entirely FF. I had colds and "stomach flus" a lot as a kid. But, both of my parents smoked in the house, too - I'm pretty sure that didn't help my immunity much.

My mom is very open-minded and is now a big supporter of breastfeeding after seeing many positive aspects of it from the BF relationship betw me and my daughter.


----------



## agcj (Sep 20, 2005)

I was breastfed for one year. My little brother was breatfed for almost 5 years. My husband was breastfed for 6 months. We are in our mid thirties. I breastfeed my baby now and fed my older two kids for 2 1/2 years and 3 years.


----------



## rozzie'sma (Jul 6, 2005)

I was breastfed for 6 months then switched to whole milk. Dh wasn't breastfed at all, not even the colostrum. We are in our early 20's. DD has been breastfeed almost 14 months and we are still going strong


----------



## rubber_duckie (May 23, 2005)

I was breastfed to about 18 months, no formula. I started solids at 6 months and started getting some whole milk after a year. This was in the very early 80s and breastfeeding was far from popular! My mom also worked outside the home from when I was about 6 months old onward. Mom is an advocate of BFing and _expects_ that I will breastfeed my own children.









That said, I had awful, frequent ear infections as a young child, and I am overweight as an adult (although the extra weight is due to my own poor choices that I'm now working on changing). Once I hit school age, I was generally a very healthy person, though. My younger brother was also breastfed to about a year and a half and he's lean and muscular. Both of us rarely get sick as adults and have excellent blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.

My husband was the typical late 70s baby - 100% formula fed from birth. He had rather significant food allergies and sensitivities starting in infancy, some of which he mostly grew out of and some of which we still deal with today. He was also seriously underweight until puberty and to this day has trouble keeping weight on (although he is now considered to be "normal" on the charts).


----------



## bellababy (Jul 30, 2005)

I just asked my mom the other night a question about when I started teething, and she got on a roll reading me the entire contents of my baby book!! So, I was pretty shocked to hear some of the details of my nutritional beginnings...

I was EBF for the first three months. Then, mom added a supplemental bottle of formula at night. By four months, I had ventured into rice cereal and was eating BANANAS for breakfast!! I was full fledged solids by 6 months, and she stopped nursing all together by about 7 months. I couldn't believe it!

DH's mom still can't understand why we 'feed DS so often' because he was FF. She says he eats too much and I just try to explain that EBF is different, etc.

Oh well, things sure were different then, huh!


----------



## AutumnMama (Jan 2, 2004)

I am the oldest of three children (I'm 25) and was breastfed for approximately 14 months. My siblings were also breastfed for about a year.

My DH (also 25) is the youngest of three and has a twin sister; I'm not sure how long she breastfed the oldest for, but I believe she breastfed the twins for 11-12 months.

I nursed DD for 19 months, and DS is turning 2 the day after tomorrow and still going strong







!


----------



## mommaduck (Sep 13, 2005)

I was FF...but there were extenuating circumstances. My mother was not certain she was going to keep me, she had me in partial foster through a church and actually up for adoption, due to the stress of a divorce she just emotionally couldn't bring herself to it.

However, she DID BF my half brothers from her 2nd marriage. From that I learned how wonderful BFing was and my stepfather was adamant about it himself...that's what they were made for he'd say.

I have since BF all of mine and will BF the next one. I have even pumped for a friend once when visiting as she was losing her milk. Also have consulted for a friend with a premie...unfortunately the nurses there didn't like that I had come to assist in breastfeeding/pumping and kinda gave me the eye as they shoved F down the baby's tube.


----------



## OnTheFence (Feb 15, 2003)

I was formula fed because my mother was told it was cleaner, safer and better. My grandmother also told her that only poor white trash breastfed because they couldn't afford formula. Ugh.


----------



## writermommy (Jan 29, 2005)

My mom breastfed all three of us with no formula at all. I give her a lot of credit for this. She didn't know ANYONE else who breastfed and was pretty much on her own. She has told me that people treated her like a freak for doing it. The white trash thing is true. My Grandmother thought the same thing. Only people who can't afford formula would breastfeed and mom wasn't poor, so why would she be doing it??? I vividly remember my grandmother raising hell because she saw me "breastfeed" my baby doll during a visit to our home. I was 4 at the time and had never seen a bottle. She was pi$$ed off!

I was glad to have my mom around when my first baby was born. She was a great source of encouragement and support when I was worried that dd wasn't getting enough milk. She really helped calm me down and gave me confidence. I feel bad because she didn't have anyone to do that for her.


----------



## Dar (Apr 12, 2002)

My mom tried to breastfeed me, for one weekend. It was a nightmare - she didn't know how, the nurses didn't know how, and they were having her do stupid things like cleaning her nipples with alcohol and then water every time she nursed. That was 1968, near the low point for breastfeeding. I didn't even get "formula" - it was evap milk with karo syrup and poly-vi-sol back then. When my brother was born in 1970, my mom didn't even attempt breastfeeding.

However, during the next ten years breastfeeding steadily rates rose and people became more educated about it, and when my sister was born in 1980, my mom exclusively breastfed her, and she didn't wean until 3 and a half! Quite a contrast...

That said, my sister was probably the mostly "sickly" of the three of us... and she still gets sick more than my brother and I do. OTOH, she's also "the baby" and still doesn't take very good care of herself. My brother and I do both have asthma, and she doesn't...

dar


----------



## agcj (Sep 20, 2005)

my husband was breastfed for 6 months in the late 60's. HIs mom had mastitis, and the dr. told her to quit nursing. She nursed two other babies in the late 50's, but only for a few months. She said that everyone she new breastfed, but this was in Los Alamos.
My mom was involved with LLL. She was almost milliitant. People made uncomplementary comments about it. Doctors told her to stop nursing and that she got some sort of sexual pleasure out of it. (it actually hurt her to nurse, but she thought it was best for us.) It was not as accepted where she lived, and that was in the early 70s.

Things have changed, and the overall environment is supportive for nursing mothers, but when I came down with mastitis for the first time, the doctor told me not to nurse dd while I had the infection but to pump instead, and he planned to give me medication that I could not take while nursing. I was only 20, in college, and I looked like a young teen; people often treated me as if I did not know anything. My pump did not work well for me; I feared losing my milk, and my daughter was prone to allergies. I told him I would not stop nursing during that time; he would just have to give me a different med. After that, I found a new doctor. The only reason I was able to stand up to him was that my mother and LLL helped me obtain the information I needed. I don't remember the details well now because this was over 14 years ago, and I had a very high fever.

With my 8 year old things were very different when I came down with mastitis. Nobody even suggested that I should wean or pump. The overall I think things are better for nursing mothers than they were in the past. I am in awe of those women who nursed 35 or 40 years ago when so many people and medical professionals were not supportive of it.


----------



## bethwl (May 10, 2003)

I was formula fed in 1973, because, as my mom said " we were told it was better and we believed them." By 1977, she nursed my sister until 8 months. She threw her back out and they gave her some heavy-duty drugs and told her to wean--cold-turkey. She said it was horrible (both the engorgment and trying to get my sister to use a bottle).

Dh was breastfed for about 6 weeks and then put on COW's milk in a bottle in 1967. Couldn't believe it. They had formula then, didn't they? That would have been better than cow's milk.

I was overweight as a child and my sister was not, and maybe there was a connection, but that's purely anecdotal of course. I also sucked my thumb for a LONG time, but my totally breastfed (with some EBM bottles) daughter (still nursing a little at 30 months) is also a champion thumb-sucker.


----------



## etsba (Oct 17, 2005)

I'm one of 5 kids born between 1977-1989. All of us were breastfed til 18 months to 3 years.
The only one of us to have formula was the third kid born when I was 7. He breastfed most of the time but had one bottle of soy formula in the evening so my mother could make dinner.
He was a distressed baby who lost weight for the first 2 months of his life because the doctors were slow to diagnose his hernia. He screamed in agony unless he was feeding, and he fed almost constantly. This lead to him being such a boobmonster. 40 minutes per side. An hour later he'd feed again.
Me or my sister would give him the bottle while my mother cooked dinner.
He's an adult now, always had a huge apetite, fast metabolism.

I was surrounded by breastfeeding when I was a kid.
Bottle feeding seemed unusual.


----------



## elanorh (Feb 1, 2006)

My paternal g'ma ff'd (her MIL told her she didn't have enough milk) in the 40's.

My maternal g'ma bf'd 4 of her 5 kids (early 50's) - she would check out of the hospital early so the nurses couldn't give as much formula to her babies. She didn't bf to a year though I think her cut-off was 10 months. Of course, back then, babies were supposed to have solids by 2 weeks. The one all-ff baby was a hospitalized preemie they wouldn't let her nurse. Two of my uncles are ana allergic (seafood and bananas).

My mom had natural childbirth with all 7 of us (1971-84), and bf'd all but me until 15-18 months when we weaned. She intro'd solids at 3-4 months per doctor's advice but didn't push them alot but by 1 year of age we were eating full meals and milk/bm was supplemental only. I weaned at 10 months when mom was traveling cross-country on a train with me and my older sister. Mom was 4 months pregnant, so I don't know if it was a nursing strike or if her supply dried up alot right then? None of us have allergies, all are in good health, one sister had a dairy allergy as an infant but outgrew it. My dad is a HUGE supporter of breastfeeding, and so is Mom. Mom would hand-express when she had to work (as a nurse). We're from a small community in MT and there was no LLL but mom got calls from other breastfeeding moms about how to build their supplies up etc. I think she'd make a great doula.

My older sister bf'd all three of hers - 6 months, 9 months, and 11 months and then babies weaned to bottles (she couldn't let down for a pump so they were ff'd during the day when she was at work). She's pretty pro-bf but a bit more sceptical about the "beyond a year" stuff.

My other sister to havea baby bf'd til just past a year, and then weaned because she was pregnant again and it was the way things should be done







But I can't criticize, how many moms make it to a year of breastfeeding?

We are breastfeeding Ina at 28 months. She had to have elemental formula for a month as an infant, she had multiple food allergies and severe reflux but we were able to return to bf. DH was bf'd but we don't know how long, his dad doesn't remember and his mom passed away years ago.


----------



## Ambyrkatt (May 27, 2005)

I was FF soy formula. My mother passed away 4 years ago, so I cannot ask her any questions, but she told me when I was younger that she had tried to BF me, but that she had "bad milk" and I was allergic to it. I think the actual problem was that I was reacting to the dairy in her milk and no one ever told her to try not eating dairy herself.







Sometimes we think that there is so much bad info out there today, but I really think it was even worse in the 60's and 70's.

I never sucked my thumb or took a paci. I had loads of ear infections and had tubes in my ears. As an adult, I am fairly healthy and very rarely even have a cold.


----------



## Juliacat (May 8, 2002)

I was _mostly_ breastfed. All the women in my mom's family nursed their kids; it's tradition. My mother did have backup formula for emergencies and it ended up getting used probably more than she would have liked. She also received some bad advice about breastfeeding from the doctors. Regardless, she managed to nurse me for 11 months before I "weaned myself" (read: developed a preference after having too many bottles).


----------



## CountryMom2e (Apr 1, 2005)

My mom passed away 16 years ago, so I don't know if she ever supplemented, but I know that she breastfed all of us (I have no idea how long).

I do remember sucking my thumb.


----------



## slipjig (Jan 24, 2006)

I was exclusively ff, I'm sure. I was born in late 1965. (My mom died in 1989.) My mom had a mastectomy for breast cancer a month after I turned two, and I had chronic tonsillitis and ear infections until I was in high school. I never sucked my thumb, but was very attached to my pacifier until I was three. My sweet 4 month old is exclusively bf!!!!


----------



## boingo82 (Feb 19, 2004)

I was BF until I was about 17 months, at which point my mom's milk changed. (She was pg with twins.) The milk suddenly made me projectile-vomit, so I weaned pretty quickly.

My 5 siblings were BF anywhere from that much, up to over 4 years. Even the twins were EBF.

And we all have oral fixations, every one of us.


----------



## rainbowmoon (Oct 17, 2003)

I was BF and FF. I was a preemie and had lots of GI issues and time in the hospital.

btw to the OP our DDs have the same bday!


----------



## bravofrenchie (Oct 15, 2004)

I was breastfed for a short time after I was born, but my Mom couldn't keep it up. I was born in 1983, two months premature, after an emergency helicopter ride to Portland. (Mom had preeclampsia.) I was in the hospital for three months, and my parents lived about 2 1/2 hours away.

My Dad's sister, who lived just across the river in Vancouver, had just given birth to my cousin David. She offered to bring her breastmilk to me in the hospital, but the staff wouldn't let her because she wasn't my mother, even though she had Mom's permission.


----------



## LandonsMom (Jul 22, 2005)

FF here. My mom tried to bf with older brother for a day or two, gave up, didnt try with me at all, and then with the next two she nursed them until they were over two!! Man do i feel left out!! I always give her a hard time about it. I had cronic ear infections for the first year, cp around 5 yrs and one year in particular had strep two or three times. Antibiotics were pretty routine. But then again so was vitamin C, so at least they gave me something good and natural!!


----------



## suprgrl (Sep 27, 2005)

I was bf for a couple weeks until my mom started hemorraging badly and had to take some meds which she was told she could not take while bfing, so then it was ff for me







Fortunately I was not sick much and have no allergies (besides some serious vax reactions where I stopped breathing several times). Interestingly my brother was bf'd for 8 months (on a rigid schedule, my mom claims he had colic at first, personally I think the poor guy was just hungry and my mom, being used to a ff baby only fed him every 3-4 hours. By two-three months when the colic subsided he had probably just given up. jmo) Anyway. At 8 months my mom said her milk dried up. Interestingly my brother has allergies, but he also is more intelligent than I am.

Ronna


----------



## sparkprincess (Sep 10, 2004)

I was formula fed. Mom said she wanted to nurse me, but I couldn't latch and there really wasn't any support so it was formula for me.







She did go on to breastfeed all 6 of my younger siblings for the first year. And she was AP on other things such as co-sleeping, etc.


----------



## Devaskyla (Oct 5, 2003)

My mom doesn't really ever talk about when we were babies. I was definitely ff though, as I was adopted. I was the hospital's baby for a few weeks (small for gestational age, I was supposedly full-term, but weighed less than 4lbs), then briefly with a foster family before going to my parents around 6 weeks. Who knows if the hospital or foster family fed me solids. I also don't know when my mom started feeding me solids in addition to formula. My sister, their natural child, was bf for a couple of weeks.


----------



## Jillybean (Dec 6, 2003)

I was bf for 12 months. My younger sibs were bf for the same amount of time, my older sister they adopted when she was a year- her birthmother ff her.


----------



## neverdoingitagain (Mar 30, 2005)

I was ff,sort of. My mom and dad couldn't afford commercila formula, so they gave all of us evaporated milk. I'm the youngerst of three.
My older sister was bf for about a week. When my mom got home from the hospital, she had absolutely no help at all, and lost her milk. She had no help at the hospital either. From what she said, she really expected to get help from her bf'ing SIL's but didn't. So a case of no support or knowledge.
When my bro and I came along, she already had her hands full with my sister who had been sick most of her life due to hypothyroidism. She was developmentally about 2 years younger than she actually was. So she went straight to milk for us.
Its funny, both my brother and I were thumbsuckers(up to a very late age actually), and have oral fixations. Other than her thyroid disease, my sis was very healthy. I don't remember my bro being sick that much, but I know that I had so many ear infections as a kid, that after I had my last one, the doctor told my mom that if I got one more, I would probably become deaf. Scary.
You could say my mother is a breastfeeding advocate now. She understands the need for formula, but she is so proud of my sister and I for breastfeeding our children. She's even getting over the fact that I plan to nurse for longer than 2 years.


----------



## bluesky74 (Jan 12, 2004)

My mom was a first-time mama when she had me. She nurse me for >2 mos and then weaned due to depression/lack of support in her area (and due the advice from her mother to wean me - she ffed her 4 children). I went on to drink a bottle every 4-5 hrs, on a strict schedule, but apparently was fine w/ that.

She went on to have 3 more babies, all of whom breastfed for most of their first yr.


----------



## blessed (Jan 28, 2006)

My mom was a hippie in the 1960s when I was born. She was quite ahead of her time in that she breast fed all four of her children and did so while she was completing her postdoctural training in english literature. She also did the equivalent of child directed weaning, in that she continued nursing up until the second and even third years, much to the horror of my dad and everyone else.

She did circumcize my brothers, which she regrets. At that time you weren't even asked, it was just automatically done. I suppose if you made a point of objecting they would've deferred. Fortunately my brothers have never seemed bothered by it, however.

We are all vaxed, as I imagine just about everyone in our age group is. I don't think you had a choice back then, but I don't think she was worried about it either. She's very much into natural living however, and I wouldn't be surprised if she would do things differently now, if given the chance.


----------



## intentfulady (Dec 31, 2003)

canned milk and corn syrup 1960

. .
l
0


----------



## Avocado123 (Oct 20, 2003)

After three months of bfing, my parents moved across country and my aunt, who had 4 elder daughters, told my mother to stop bfing to make the move easier.
So she did.


----------



## mezzaluna (Jun 8, 2004)

i was born after an induction 1 week early for pre-e. my mom bf'd me until 15 months, and even became an LLL leader







i don't know if i was ever fed formula... i wouldn't be entirely surprised if it happened in the hospital - it was a military hospital. my younger brother also weaned at 15 mo. both of us were born in the 1970s.

my grandmother tried bf'ing for her first - my dad - and when she got mastitis about 5 or 6 weeks in she was also told to quit. with her 2nd - he came 6 weeks early so she was told he was too small to breastfeed. with her 3rd she just didn't even think to try, being so use to the bottles. this was in the 1950s.


----------



## myjulybabes (Jun 24, 2003)

My mom doesn't talk about it much. But to the best of my knowledge, I was bf for about 2 wks, until my mom got sick and needed anti-biotics, and in the late 70s, that meant "OMG, stop bf now!". I dont' know if it was mastitis or something else.

She claims she bf all of us (4 kids, I'm the oldest) for a few weeks each, but she was just "too high strung" to bf long term. I still don't know what that means. She goes back and forth between being supportive ("you should be a LLL leader, to help moms that are like I was!") and being scandalized ("cover that up, noone wants to see that!" "isn't he weaned yet??") I suspect there may be abuse issues that underly her being "high strung" and "unable" to bf.

I was sick what would be considered a "normal" amount I guess. Colds every winter, ear infections as a baby, but nothing requiring a hospital stay or anything. Of course, watching my bf kids now, I realize that being even minorly ill that often probably isn't the biological norm, but I don't think it damaged me in the long term. I wish my mom would've bf longer, but I'm not angry or upset that she didn't.


----------



## TForce (Jul 27, 2005)

I was breastfed in '79 for a year, my brother in '82 for 6 months. I had a couple bout with strep throat in grade school, but other than that I am very healthy. My brother had a infamous, horrible ear infection as a baby.

We were both born at home. My mom was very natural -- cloth diapers, homemade tofu. I get my info secondhand from my dad -- she died years ago. She was bfed as well. My dad was not.

Now my baby boy is bfed. Six months old and not a sniffle yet!


----------



## EFmom (Mar 16, 2002)

I got cow's milk from day 1. The doctor told my mother she could warm it up if she really wanted to, but that it wasn't necessary. I'm one of six kids and the others were all formula fed.


----------



## Ltlfaery (May 21, 2005)

I was EBF til I was six months, and she was a schedule feeder. Same for my 2 other sisters. My mom was told that after 6 mo., her milk "wasn't good anymore" and she weaned us all to formula at that time. She was surprised when I told her, after my DD was born, that it wasn't the case.
I was very healthy, and I didn't suck my thumb, I bit (still do) my nails.
My youngest sis has always been the sickling, she's 14 y/o, and still is sick often.


----------



## mama-a-llama (Feb 8, 2006)

I was bf until 2 1/2 or 3, so was my younger sister. I was a month premature, and in the hospital for 3 wks, but my mom pumped for me. And once I came home and started nursing, I never took a bottle again







Oh, and I was born in 1980. I think my mom's pretty cool--I used to read her copies of Mothering when I was a teenager.


----------



## Sweetiemommy (Jul 19, 2005)

I was breastfed for a few months, until my mom found out that her husband (my stepdad, not real dad) had cheated on her and they began to have terrible fights. She said I was constantly crying and seemed like I was starving (probably I just wanted to nurse more because of the stress) and my aunt (thanks a lot, Donna) gave me a bottle - voila - I became a bottle maniac and drank a bottle until I was like 2 or maybe older. I have a sucky immune system, lactose intolerance, an overbite and a general bad attitude. I attribute it all to the damn formula.


----------



## Skim (Jan 2, 2004)

forumula fed, with corn syrup.

I am adopted and my first family for 6 weeks, my foster family, fed me corn syrup, too!







Thankfully my adopted mom stopped that after her first dr. visit with me.


----------



## erniebobernie (Aug 6, 2005)

bf approx 2 yrs - 1975, siblings also nursed approx 2 yrs- 1973 & 1978
All my girls were bf approx 2 yrs. and currently bfing ds.


----------



## Lizzardbits (Jan 21, 2006)

Mom tried, but ended up with cracked and bleeding nipples, so it was FF after that. Mom recounted to me one day as i was sitting and nursing my daughter, that i "loved" my Nutramagen (Umm isn't that a MEAT based formula?!?) She would have to use a blender to fix a days worth, and the stench would clear out my brother and my dad from the house. She said that she would have to announce that she was fixing it to warn those two. I probably "loved" it because i was hungry and that was all i was getting fed!

She tried with all of us, but before we were all 1 month we were FF or cow's milk. brother 1--1969, me--76, brother 2--1980. "There wasn't much help or information on it (Bfeeding). It just wasn't discussed. In the hospital you were shown the bottles and what to do with them. Your older brother was given water and formula when he was in the nursery, so he was full when he came to me, so no wonder he didn't eat. I did try with all of you, i did." directly from my mom as i was writing this post. Poor Mom, she sounded so apologetic, and sad.

i understand about that because i sabotaged my b'feeding time with my son, by "sneaking" in formula feeds at night with the free formula from the hospital. i only made it 2 1/2 to 3months with him







and i regret my actions. My daughter was exclusively BF







until she started solids and then nursed for comfort until she self weened at 18? months, i think.

one more thing to add to my long winded post. I asked my children's paternal grandma about Bfeeding and she told me that she FF all 4 of her kids--not by her choice, she kinda wanted to BF, her husband TOLD her that she couldn't because she would look like a cow!!! Well, when i was BF my kids, i made sure that at least once or twice i was a "cow" infront of him!


----------



## ambiguousinamber (Nov 9, 2005)

I put combination but really I was mostly formula fed. My mom tried to bf and was cracked and sore for about 2 months before she gave up. There was no support then. From what I know and what she says I can kind of piece together what happened....they almost lost her and I and the birth ended with an emergency c-sec. The nurses gave me sugar water (maybe formula too) in the nursery although mom was trying to bf. I'm pretty sure I got nipple confusion then because my mom said I wanted it to pour down my throat. She said after 2 months of misery and not knowing anyone who bf and could help she put me on formula.


----------



## psyche (Apr 6, 2005)

I was 99.999999% formula fed. I was a 33-week preemie and would not latch on (would not open my mouth wider than a nipple). The doctors told my mother to forget about BFing - formula was just fine (and probably easier for the hospital where I stayed for a couple of weeks). That was the mid-70s. I don't know how much thought my mother put into BFing before I was born (she was young & I was unexpectedly early), but I know that my father was a strong BFing advocate with his later-children.


----------



## lovebugmom (Jan 23, 2006)

My mom breastfed all 6 of us (with the exception of my older sister, dad severly hurt his back whike he was working as a lumberjack so my mom had to go back to work after 2 wks at the hospital, my sister ended up being severely allergic to reg formula and was hospitalized until they switched her over to soy), until we were 3 months old then we were switched to formula, my mom said she got tired of her brother-in-laws gawking at her when she would breastfeed us at my grandparents, even though she would try to be discreet and alone. Also, my younger sister and I actually were put on goat's milk because we were allergic to formula.
But on a positive note, out of us 4 girls in the family. One sister only breastfed her children for a short period of time (which in her case I think it was better just because she would use illegal drugs on and off,so you would never know when she was using them), one sister always tried in the beginning but always ended up switching her 2 children to formula because she was so uncomfortable with nursing her children that it affected her milk supply, my other sister weaned her 2 children at 1 year old,which I wished she would have at least let her second child nursed much longer, he was so allerguc to cow's milk (the milk his mom was drinking) that it was actually giving him severe ear infections, puss and everything coming out of his ears. They finally attributed it to a milk allergy. He has hearing loss and for a long time he couldn't hear because of all the pressure in his ears with all the fluid plus it also affect the feeling in his head so if he accidently bonked his head he couldn't feel it. Plus I also think she supplemented soy formula. So i am an oddity, my 28 mo is still breastfeeding and so is my 4 mo. So I can see at least 3 more years of breastfeeding and oddly my mom is like one of the few people supporting it.
BTW, i was sick all the time as a child and as an infant i had pneumonia so many times that the dr told my mom if i got it again i would die from it.


----------



## forest~mama (Mar 16, 2005)

My mom said she bf me for a short time, but worked too hard and dried up (I think it was the irregular bf schedule). She then tried formula, but I was allergic to it (thank God)! So, she went out and bought two milk goats, and that's what I ate!


----------



## Smithie (Dec 4, 2003)

Yay for goat's milk! My ds needed supplementation when I had breast surgery at 9 mos. and weaned to the bottle completely at 11 mos., and it was so much easier emotionally to have something to feed him that wasn't _gray_ and didn't reek of chemicals. Plus, his poop smelled good and his tummy didn't hurt him - maybe he is part goat!


----------



## midstreammama (Feb 8, 2005)

I was born a 33wk preemie also. I weighed 4lbs4ozs. My mom would have had me at a birth center if I didn't come so early. She had this huge, boat motor type industrial breastpump...she still makes jokes about it today.


----------



## Little Shepherds (Jun 5, 2005)

I was breastfed, till I started biting my mom and maming her bleed. So she switched me to formula.


----------



## bjorker (Jul 25, 2005)

My mom says she tried BFing me for a few weeks, but didn't have the supply.







She's not very into BFing at all (has made negative comments towards me/pushed formula several times) plus didn't even try BFing my older sisters. So I really don't know what to think of her claims, really. I did end up having low supply myself, though not right away, so who knows.

She also fed me my first solids at 6 weeks old. I'm young-- I'm sure this was NOT "the norm" for the time, or anything BS like that. I was going through my old "Babies 1st Year" calendar after my own dd was born, and saw the little "first solids" sticker... at only 6 weeks old. This is totally shocking to me.


----------



## cjuniverse (Sep 22, 2005)

Checked 'BF and FF', but...

Having next to no relationship with my mother (loooong story), all I know is my father (whom I also have essentially no relationship with...another tale) told me she tried. Which I'm assuming means I was almost exclusively FF.

Left to it's own devices, my body's always been pretty healthy (though did almost die at ages 2 and 4 from pneumonia...iron lung and all, and suffered many ear infections as a kid). Severe mental, emotional, and physical battering gets the blame for my intestinal difficulties and assorted 'phantom' health issues.

For little Ryo...it'll be the breast and/or goat's milk. I can't wrap my head around the 'wisdom'/'logic' (not to mention health affects) of giving an infant formula. Nature is queen, and if for some reason my milk won't suffice then I'll borrow thankfully from another mammal (I'd use chimpanzee milk were it available, that being the closest analog to our own). Artificial 'milk substitute' belongs in an oddity exhibit because it's truly bizarre and doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

End raving madness.


----------



## HelloKitty (Apr 1, 2004)

I was formula fed, my mom never considered breastfeeding and encouraged me to formula feed my first two boys. I was so young and naive, I listened to her







Luckily I was older and wiser when I had my next two boys







Now that I've been breastfeeding for 3 1/2 years and talking about it all the time she is somewhat of a lactivist. It almost makes me LOL when she will say something like "that poor baby is FF"


----------



## mihrimah (Jan 21, 2006)

I always thought I was exclusively bf'd, my mom had 5 of us and I thought we all were, but then I found out that I was actually bf'd the least, being the oldest and she bf'd each a little longer, til my youngest sister didn't have anything but breast til she could drink from a regular cup. Thinking that all five of us had been EBF'd had put a lot of pressure on me, and when dd was born, we had a really hard time getting started and getting comfortable. Nothing major, just little things all the time, so I had no prob puttin gher on formula just whenever I felt like it. Then, about 5 weeks in, mom told me that I had mostly had formula, it took tremendous pressure off of me and now dd is mostly bf'd, except when dh and I go out.

Mom also started all of us, except the very youngest on solids at 2 weeks, and not even cereal, she would grind up watever they were eating and feed us. Interesting though because when I get ill, it's usually stomach upset.

Now Dh was totally ff because of some complications- I got the impression that his mom really wanted to bf. And he got seizures from ear infection fevers from 1yo til 7 or so, and I'm hoping by bfing dd as long as possible, I can stave off the ear infections and therefore the seizures.... hopefully.....


----------



## luvmy2grls (Feb 10, 2006)

I was FF and i am great no problems here never have had any! I ff DD #1 from day 4 and she is way above her peers and has never ever been sick other than rosiola once when she was 18 mos she is now 3.5 and when you talk to her you would think she was 5! she even rolled over at 2 weeks sat at 5 mos crawled at 6 mos and walked at 10 mos.

DD #2 has been FF since day 1 she on the other hand is more on schedual, she rolled at 4 weeks and has had a cold already! I dont know if its ff or if its just her but i geuss ill never know!


----------



## boingo82 (Feb 19, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *luvmy2grls*
I was FF and i am great no problems here never have had any! I ff DD #1 from day 4 and she is way above her peers and has never ever been sick other than rosiola once when she was 18 mos she is now 3.5 and when you talk to her you would think she was 5! she even rolled over at 2 weeks sat at 5 mos crawled at 6 mos and walked at 10 mos.

DD #2 has been FF since day 1 she on the other hand is more on schedual, she rolled at 4 weeks and has had a cold already! I dont know if its ff or if its just her but i geuss ill never know!

I see you're new here, but so far your posts have all been promoting FF, CIO, epidurals, etc. I hope you are here to learn.


----------



## Quagmire (Sep 27, 2005)

I voted FF. My mom BF'd me for 6 weeks but she didn't like being trapped by herself in the bedroom feeding me. She said I was a pirrahna and it hurt.

After a lot of derogatory comments about me being a dairy cow, etc. she sees how fantastic her DGD is and now she's convinced. Still not a lactivist, but at least in awe of the power of breastmilk


----------



## melinoz (Jul 5, 2005)

I was breastfed until I was weaned at 15 months. My mom weaned me because I had a stomach bug and my ped told her that her milk was the worst thing I could be drinking and it was making me sicker.







: I had lots of ear infections - especially during my second year. I also sucked my thumb.


----------



## heket (Nov 18, 2003)

My brother and I were bf til we self-weaned around 2- 2 1/2 yo. I come from a long line of bf'ers. In fact, my mom was super inspiration to me. My brother was born with a cleft lip and around 3 mon he had surgery to repair it. For the next 4-6 weeks, we fed him bm through a syringe (my brother and I are about 12 years apart, and this was back in '87). After the stitches came out, she had to help him learn how to breastfeed again.

I think, however, we got cereal early and that was due to her generation's overall thought that cereal "helps a baby sleep better in the night." I got it prolly around 6 mon. and my brother around 9-12 months. I vaguely remember putting cereal in his Playtex bottles with bm. Later on, he also got supplemented with formula (around 14-16 months). Not really sure why, but I think that it was the idea that you give them formula when you're out and about and bf only at home. The first few times ds and I NIP'ed, I could tell my mom was alittle taken aback by it, but she never discouraged me about it.

Even though I was ebf, I was still a sick baby -- asthmatic. When I started researching vaxes, I began to wonder if that might be why. I also wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that I was a hospital baby and "twilight" was administered to all the laboring moms














.....

Oh yeah, and I sucked my fingers til I was about 10 or 11...


----------



## TortelliniMama (Mar 11, 2004)

I was bf until I was two. Weaning was mother-led, which my mom seemed hesitant and very apologetic to tell me a few months ago. I assured her that I was very impressed that she had bf for that long in the early 70s with only the support of one friend, and that friend only bf her own kids for a few months. Besides, apparently when I reached two, my mom couldn't cope with my waking 4 or so times per night to nurse, and she didn't have anyone to help her figure out how (or tell her it was possible) to nightwean without weaning completely. Keep in mind, she didn't co-sleep! I can't believe she got up to nurse multiple times every night for two years (and did it again with my brother), especially since she's definitely not a crunchy person.

I never had formula, because I wouldn't take a bottle. I was a pretty healthy kid. I did have recurrent strep in first grade, and I had a number of ear infections, but I seem to have odd Eustachian tubes, so who knows how many EIs I *would* have had.


----------



## Nora'sMama (Apr 8, 2005)

I can't remember if I posted to this thread before, but I can't find my post (just skimmed quickly though)...sorry if this is a repeat!

I was BF until I was 10 months old, but got formula when my mom was at work (20 hours/week) starting when I was 4 months old. I think I got formula whenever I was away from my mom, actually.

She started cereal extremely early - I think I was just a few weeks old - but no other foods until 6 months.

She says I "self-weaned" at 10 months, but I think it was actually a combo of liking my bottles a lot (wasn't bottle-weaned until 2 1/2) and lots of solids.

I sucked my thumb until I was 5, had major ear-nose-throat problems (tubes put in, adenoids removed) and lots of other minor illness (croup, tonsillitis, bronchitis) as a kid. My sister and I were sick *all the time*!

I have PCOS and somewhat disordered eating. I am quite orally fixated and I smoked heavily for 10 years before quitting 4 years ago.

It would be interesting to know if any of these things would have been altered by not having been given cereal so early or getting to BF longer.

My own DD is 9 months old and barely eats any solids (we introduced them at 6 months but she just gets a few bites here and there). I'm planning to BF her until 2. I hope she doesn't go through what I did with the ear infections and everything. I still remember what the ENT doctor's office looked like...


----------



## Nora'sMama (Apr 8, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cjuniverse*

For little Ryo...it'll be the breast and/or goat's milk. I can't wrap my head around the 'wisdom'/'logic' (not to mention health affects) of giving an infant formula. Nature is queen, and if for some reason my milk won't suffice then I'll borrow thankfully from another mammal (I'd use chimpanzee milk were it available, that being the closest analog to our own).

My good friend is an anthropologist and studies primate milk. She actually has large quantities of chimp and monkey milk (not to share, unfortunately) that she analyzes and compares with other primate milks (including humans). Her primary interest is the fatty acids, and I know that chimp milk is high in them just like human milk (although human milk has more). Primates evolved fattier milk in order to grow our big ol' brains.

So yeah, chimp milk would probably be the next best thing to human milk! I don't think there's any way to get it (unless you have a job like my friend's), though.


----------



## Pynki (Aug 19, 2002)

I was breastfed until around age 1. I was born in 1974, my sister born 3 years later was nursed for 9 months because she had teeth from the time she was born (she had 3 in her mouth coming out) and my mother couldn't take the biting anymore.


----------



## Bartock (Feb 2, 2006)

My mother was 18 when she had me, she told me she wanted to breastfeed but, was told by friends it was bad. She listened to them, she says it was because she was young and stuipd, which i don't belive. When my brother was born 12 years after me, she still formula feed, i think bf was a big interuption for her partying life style, maybe it was better she didn't, I didn't need toxic milk. I breastfeed and can't understand why someone would not want to. Crazy.


----------



## Belle (Feb 6, 2005)

nak..

I was BFed for three months. Then FFed. My mom wanted to continue longer but didn't get any support from her mom or my dad.

My younger brother was Bfed for six months.


----------



## wendy1221 (Feb 9, 2004)

I was breastfed for 15 mos. Didn't start solids till about 8-10 mos.


----------



## dawncayden (Jan 24, 2006)

I was breastfed for 2 months at which time my mom found out my father was having an affair and was leaving her and me for the other woman. At this point she say's her milk dried up out of stress. But with my research for breastfeeding my own child and asking her many questions about when I was breastfed we have found she was misinformed and wasn't breastfeeding properly. She was told to do 5 minutes each breast so she wouldn't get lopsided. So not only was I only getting foremilk, but her amount milk kept decreasing.
I was quite a sick child, lots of colds, flu's, allergies.
She was told by my grama to give my Soyalac, which my mom was also given as a baby. (we think because my grama smoked and drank and my mom was sensitive to that)
My mom has Schizophrenia, and thinks it might be caused by the smoking/drinking during pregnancy.
With my husband, his mom was told after 2 weeks of breastfeeding that he was allergic to her milk (which is impossible I've heard) maybe to her smoking pot or ciggarettes or drinking or any other foods. They told her he was starving and to start him on formula. And he was allergic to every kind except Soyalac. He also was allergic to virtually everything until the age of 12, which is when he started taking allergy shots.
His father was the same way, so she was worried about our baby, and seemed to be trying to worry me about it.
I wasn't worried, I knew if he had a reaction I try to eliminate certain foods and find the culprit...I wouldn't just cave to giving him formula because that's the easiest thing to do.
My son is doing perfectly - no problems as of yet.


----------



## Storm Bride (Mar 2, 2005)

I was breastfed. I'm not sure exactly how long, but I think it was about 9 or 10 months. Mom weaned each of us straight to cow's milk.

My brother was born in 1963, by emergency c-section. Mom was 19.
I was born in 1968...repeat section.
My sister was born in 1969...repeat section.

Mom was the only mom on the maternity ward who breastfed when she had my brother. (She was also the only one who didn't circ her boy.) She got a lot of crap from the nurses, too. She'd never heard of LLL or anything, and there was no support. She did it on gut feeling and determination.

When I came along, then my sister, mom said there were a few other women breastfeeding on the maternity ward, but only a few. The vast majority were still using the "superior" formula.

I'm proud of my mom!


----------



## JayGee (Oct 5, 2002)

Born in 1968 ~ breastfed for about 3 months and then switched to formula because my Mom's nipples were cracked and bleeding and in horrible pain every time I nursed. Bad latch that no one knew how to correct. My Mom was one of only two mothers in the maternity ward to breastfeed.

To this day, I get awful colds that linger on and on and on. My kids and DH (who was BFed for at least a year) get the same exact colds and feel better in 3 or 4 days.


----------



## etoilech (Mar 25, 2004)

I was born 1977 and had no sucking reflex when I was born and had to be "taught" to suck. Weird. By the time I caught on (after cup and dropper feeding me), my mum was encouraged to just FF. She said it's really a shame b/c she had TONS of milk for a long time. Anyway, she chalked it up to her being uninformed and not supported by family and her doctor. She said if she knew then what she knows now, she would have definitely persisted with BFing. She's a big advocate for bFing these days.


----------



## JennieYoung44 (Jan 21, 2006)

okay, so mom says she breastfed me but none of my sisters (i am in the middle). her reason, "i couldn't afford the formula."
so, maybe poverty isn't such a bad thing afterall.
i have never been really sick but my sisters were quite often.


----------



## Boodah'smama (Jan 3, 2006)

I was breastfed until I was 9 mos old--my mom says I lost interest at that point. I was supplemented w/soy milk when my mom was at work part time.


----------



## Malepert (Feb 16, 2006)

BF until I was 2yrs old. I've had sinus infections and severe allergies all my life...and was recently diagnosed with MS (but my father was a chain smoker and I suspect that has more to do with it than anything). I just keep wondering how bad off I'd have been if she didn't nurse me!









OTOH,
DS weaned just before he turned 3, DD weaned at 18 mos, the silly thing, and DD#2 is still going at 11 mos obviously.

DS has (knock on wood) been a healthy kid except he does have mild hay fever allergies. With my history of severe allergies, I'm not surprised. But I do believe he'd be a lot worse if he hadn't nursed.


----------



## katebleu (Feb 4, 2005)

i was born in 1973 ans bf-ed til i self-weened at 18 months. my 3 younger brothers (1975, 1979 and 1982) all nursed for at least 3 1/2 years.

i am, in fact, from an unbroken chain of nursng mothers.


----------



## mcsarahb (Aug 25, 2003)

I was BFed until I was over 3, through my mom's pregnancy with my little brother. I even remember BFing when he was tiny, when my mom needed help with engorgement!

My mom was a LLL die-hard.









Also a drug-free birth. In 1977.


----------



## amygoforth (Jun 21, 2005)

Born in 1974. Formula-fed. Why? Mom says, "That's just what you did back then." WTH? My mom has never been one to question the status quo -- which annoys me to no end. Imagine her reaction when I said I was having my baby at home!


----------



## Luvmyboyz (Feb 11, 2005)

My mom weaned me at 6 weeks due to a doctor's advice while dealing with a tooth infection and taking an antibiotic. That was 1977. My dh, also born in 1977, was ebf and was eventually tandem nursed with his sis who was born 15 mos after him. Yay MIL! I love her stories of natural childbirth, too, fighting off nurses trying to shave her and give her drugs for labor. Whoo-hoo Crunchy 70's Mamas!


----------



## wendy1221 (Feb 9, 2004)

Oh, yeah, my mom was told to wean me when I was a few months old. We're from Johnstown, PA, and there was a flood the spring after I was born. There was no good water. My mom got sick from the bad water and the doc told her she couldn't bf while sick and to put me on formula. My mom was like, yeah, and mix it with what water? and kept on nursing. I'd probably be dead.


----------



## Realrellim (Feb 1, 2006)

Like a pp, I also come from a long, presumably unbroken line of BFers (I'm imagining that my great-grandma must have BF my grandma back in 1915).

My mom BF me for 9 months (1974), then weaned to cow's milk. Started solids (cereal) at 4 months (rather amazingly, considering the time period. That's well within the AAP 4-6 range today!). Same for my younger sister; we were both emergency C-sections.

However, I apparently am the exception to all the great things that BF was "supposed" to do for me: I have allergies (as does my mother), was sick plenty as a child (~5 years old when I started school), my sister has endo (we think my mother does too, although it wasn't diagnosed), and auto-immune diseases seem to run on my mother's side of the family despite the BF history that goes way back....







Guess I only have my genetic material to blame.


----------



## wannabe (Jul 4, 2005)

Kudos to my mother!

Her milk took over a week to come in, so both my older siblings were FF, but then the info about BF and health started coming out (mid 70's), and she BF me. Apparently her health nurse was too scared of my mother's education to give her any advice on BFing the first time round, even though Mum was asking the questions!

I don't have the heart to tell her that when I apparently weaned myself at 10 months that it was probably just a nursing strike.


----------



## donnar (May 10, 2004)

I was adopted and so was not bf, although my Mom is fascinated by recently learning that adoptive moms can bf too! I have to say though that because of "the times" I doubt she'd have bothered, formula was just the way to go for most moms in those days.

DH and his siblings were ff, and his mother swears by it. You wouldn't (well maybe you would!) imagine how often she tried to get me to switch from bf to ff, so I could "get some sleep" or "fill his tummy for once ~ why does he seem to need to eat so often?" Her bottle warmer was her most prized baby item. After ds was a year and I was still nursing, she quit talking to me about it, she was absolutely mortified that I would bf for "so long." Oh my.... I'd still be nursing him today if he didn't self-wean at 16months <sniff>..... Unfortunately, MIL managed to convince SIL that bf'ing should only be done for a month, and SIL formula fed both her girls after that. Of course, they slept much better than my son, and were much bigger than my son. Ugh..... what can you do with some people? can't shoot 'em.....


----------



## ishy (Feb 18, 2006)

I was breastfed until 8 months then put on formula. Apparently, when my teeth started coming in I bit my mum while nursing so she stopped.


----------



## abbieandlady (Jun 24, 2005)

I was adopted so forumla was the logical choice. No flaming I know mom's to pump to lactate, but not my mom. I was a finger sucker until 5 when the dentist said I needed to stop to avoid braces.


----------



## mollyeilis (Mar 6, 2004)

quite obviously OFF topic

Quote:


Originally Posted by *splash*
My mother was diagnosed with leukemia when I was a newborn... several weeks old I believe. She was told to immediately stop nursing me and start chemo. She refused. Her doctors were pissed, the family was pressuring her to 'think of me' and to get treatment to live. She would not.
She breastfed me exclusively until I was 8 months old, and then she stopped to pursue treatment. She died when I was three. Had she put me on formula and gone straight to chemo, she likely would still be alive. But she put it off, and she may have paid for it with her life. But, she breastfed me, which was more important (to her).
I used to hate her for it... I mean, I would have been fine on formula. I felt like I killed her. But eventually I saw it for what it was, and I respected her decision. So, she died to breastfeed me. Which is why I get so pissed off at women who CHOOSE to formula feed, just because BF takes too much time, too much work, isn't sexy, etc.


I wanted to tell you there's NO guarantee. My mom did the chemo and went instantly into remission, and then the drugs killed her (blood thinners and undiagnosed stomach ulcers and/or esophageal varices are a sickeningly BAD combination). No guarantees.

I'm glad you don't hate her for it now. But there would have been no guarantee the chemo would have done anything, and even if it had, the drugs might have done what they did to MY mom.

Hugs to BOTH of us...


----------



## mamasgirls (Sep 8, 2004)

My mom breastfed me and my 2 younger brothers for approx. a year each.







We were born in 1976, 1979 and 1986.


----------



## lemon (Dec 8, 2001)

Breastfed until 14 months. I think I weaned (or was weaned) because my mom was pregnant. My 2 sisters nursed longer.

When ds was born I found out that my paternal grandmother also breastfed her kids, born in the 40s. Which was nice to know. My dad, her second, was given formula in the hospital. So she continued to feed him an occassional bottle so that he'd stay used to it and she could leave him with someone else once in a while. Which, in those pre-pumping days, seems to me a pretty clever compromise.

I'm not sure about my mom. Probably she was formula fed, but I really have no idea.

On dh's side, I think the breastfeeding lineage is unbroken. But dh did get supplemented with formula. Probably due to some bad medical advice. (But don't tell my MIL.)

LOL, I just remembered that due to all this breastfeeding positivity, both grandmas were freaking out when I was having latch problems in the beginning ...


----------



## mollyeilis (Mar 6, 2004)

I'm noticing the same thing here as I did when taking histories on my chiropractic patients. They would always say "that's just what was done then". I could take histories from 10 50 year old women from the same region, who had had children at the same time...each of them had different experiences, and each would swear that everyone was doing whatever they did, no one knew different.

ANYWAY.

I was born in '69, my brother in '72 (then half sibs 13, 15, and 25 years later), and we were all born naturally AND were all breastfed at least two years.

It's just what was done at the time.









My mom tried to wean me, likely during her second pregnancy, but once brother was born, I explained to her that two breasts and two babies made perfect "sip sip". I continued to nurse until I was 4, when my brother self-weaned at 2.

Our half brothers (the older ones) nursed until they were 2ish, and my half sister (the very youngest) went until she was around 4.

HOWEVER...I was given some sort of solids in the first 8ish weeks. I was born October, and in the pictures with "November" printed on the back (not timestamped, but the developing process put the month of processing on them) I am being given something with a spoon. Yuck!

Despite the extended nursing, I have lots of sensitivties, many environmental allergies, and I was a sickly child one I was weaned. I think that if it weren't for the breastmilk, I would likely have died. Oh, and did I mention my parents (and ALL their friends) smoked? I know my mom quit for the times she was pregnant, but I'm not at all sure if she did between me and my brother. My mom was a pretty major cigarette addict, only giving it up 20 years after her first, when she almost died in the middle of the night during an asthma attack.

The sibs, well, I don't really know their health status. They are all of the type to take western medicine for anything that ails them, so I doubt they even know what's up anymore in terms of allergies and whatnot...

Oh, my husband was my MIL's second kid. He was born in entirely different circumstances than her first. She had a language barrier with the ped, and he told her to start solids at 3 months, but she thought he said *weeks*. So she gave him some sort of strained MEAT at 3 weeks...when she finally got ahold of her mother in Seoul, Korea, her mother told her that all Americans were insane, and that she was to STOP feeding him foods immediately, and breastfeed him!

She, FIL, and DH have different memories of how long he did nurse.


----------



## Peppamint (Oct 19, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mollyeilis*
quite obviously OFF topic

I wanted to tell you there's NO guarantee. My mom did the chemo and went instantly into remission, and then the drugs killed her (blood thinners and undiagnosed stomach ulcers and/or esophageal varices are a sickeningly BAD combination). No guarantees.

I'm glad you don't hate her for it now. But there would have been no guarantee the chemo would have done anything, and even if it had, the drugs might have done what they did to MY mom.

Hugs to BOTH of us...

Yes, very true. My infant brother died of septicimea caused by stomach ulcers caused by the very meds that was killing the brain tumor. You really do never know.


----------



## SiValleySteph (Feb 26, 2003)

So interesting!

My sisters and I (born in 71, 74, me in 77, and 81) were all breastfed. One of my earliest memories is tasting my mom's breastmilk when my little sis was born. She put in a little glass jar (one of those that the cheese spread came in). I thought it tasted so sweet!

I'm not sure when we were weaned, but from what she told me I would guess that we got some bottles before a year and possibly weaned before then. She was telling me that I didn't have to be so insistent on breastmilk only. She's very supportive, I'm currently nursing my 17mo old and my sis is nursing her 13mo old.

Family legend has my great-grandmother not gaining weight and still being about 10lbs at 1 year old. Then a stranger appeared at the door and said to feed her tomato sauce. Apparently, she thrived on tomato sauce. The family asked around and no one had any knowledge of this stranger. (Angel?)

I have my grandma's red cross medical book that she used for reference. It has a lot of steps for breastfeeding. You need to create a whole tray with boiled water and cotton puffs for wiping the nipples after feeding.







My grandma also made notes in there as to when my dad & my uncle had various illnesses. So neat! I'm pretty sure that both my grandmas breastfed as they were not well off.

DH was also breastfed. He was born in China. I'm not sure when he was weaned as his mom did go back to work. I know that he was not as breastfed as long as my son since his parents are always asking when I will stop breastfeeding (not in a negative way, just curious).


----------



## Liliana (Jan 13, 2004)

I was breastfed for about a year, my brother about a year and a half. An organization called Nursing Mother's Counsel helped my mom find info and imported breastpumps that worked. I had occasional bottles of expressed milk, when my mom left me with a sitter. My brother always refused the bottle apparently.

I remember her talking about how insistent she had to be with the hospital staff that she wanted to breastfeed. They would come wake her up and ask if they could feed me so she could go back to sleep. No rooming-in, but aparently they brought me in every time I woke so I could nurse.


----------



## hipumpkins (Jul 25, 2003)

I was Bfd and wouldn't eat solids. Mom says the doctor told her, "your the mother you make her eat!" My mom said she didn't listen to him.


----------



## Rainbowbird (Jul 26, 2004)

I was born in 1966 and BF for 3 or 4 mos. along with my twin sister. I think my mom had some trouble dealing with bfding twins. She also BF my older brother and sister for a few mos., and that was in 1955 and 1956! I give her great credit for doing it for any length of time back in those days.

We were switched to formula, and then cow's milk before age 1. And they gave us solids pretty early, I think by about 3 mos.

None of us have any allergies or health problems. I take that back,I am allergic to penicillin, supposedly. But that's it.


----------

