My first one..oh, it was a labor of love all right! She nursed every 1 1/2 -2 hours and was a slow eater (30-40 minutes each feeding). This went on for 3 months..I got NOTHING accomplished aside from nursing her. (and it hurt like crazy at first..the first week felt like nails being driven into my nipples – letdown).

My second: fast nurser, stays fuller longer, and there has been NO pain (except when he nips!).

3 years first one, 23 months so far on the second! It’s a great choice for them (comfort, immunities, etc)…

For the life of me I could NOT get my body to supply the necessary milk to sustain my baby sufficiently! We visited our lactation consultant MANY, MANY times & followed her advice to a “T” with no avail! I then had to make the VERY tough decision to switch to formula feeding so that MY baby could thrive properly!

When my second child was born I was bound & DETERMINED to breastfeed once again & I managed to do “okay” for MAYBE a month or so! We then noticed that our child was suddenly becoming slightly “jaundiced” so we consulted our pediatrician AND a lactation consultant! They did exams, testing, etc. on our baby and “health-wise” he was fine!

They couldn’t pinpoint a “medical” reason on my son’s side for the mild jaundice so they said that it could be caused by my milk supply! Since I had already once again started to dry up even though I WAS exclusively breastfeeding….the knowledge that my milk was not “healthy” for my child was enough for me to make the TOUGH decision to stop breastfeeding altogether! Once we had switched to formula feeding him well lo and behold our son’s mild jaundice QUICKLY cleared up!

I think that MOST mom’s DO want to breastfeed their babies BUT there ARE some instances when a mother’s body completely “betray’s” her! Even though they do WHATEVER they possibly can to make breastfeeding work they’re just NOT physically able to! So, with that said I firmly believe that WHICHEVER feeding method a Mommy chooses for HER baby is perfectly fine! A mommy should NOT be made to feel guilty if breastfeeding does NOT work for HER body….as in MY case! I wholeheartedly tried TWO TIMES but for some reason MY body could just NOT accomplish it successfully!

Has anyone else experienced my situation before? Anyhoo, that’s just a $.02 opinion from a mommy who TRIED everything she could to make breastfeeding work for BOTH her children & just couldn’t “physically”!

J.M., exclusive pumping is very difficult and very time consuming. Pumping also doesn’t stimulate the breast in the same way that a nursing baby does, so yes, there can be supply issues. I cannot imagine someone taking all that on by choice. I’ll bet if you ask all these committed pumping mom’s if they’d have rather had the experience of just being able to nurse naturally, 99% of them would tell you, Hell, Yes! What they are doing is so commendable BECAUSE it’s so, so difficult. Having a new born is exhausting enough without doing things that aren’t necessary. I’d suggest researching breastfeeding thoroughly and seeing a lactation consultant before you deliver. If you have psychological reasons that breastfeeding seems frightening to you, perhaps right now, before you have children, is a good time to see a therapist who can help you work through your issues. Loads of formula feeding women regret not breastfeeding, but you don’t ever hear of a successfully breastfeeding woman who wishes she had formula fed.

I agree that mothers who pump should get some major love — when my son wouldn’t latch on, the lactation consultant recommended I try for 30 minutes to get him to nurse (15 on each side), pump for 15 and then give him a bottle if he didn’t nurse (he was losing weight and jaundiced). All this every TWO hours. Oh, and in between I had to sanitize the pumping equipment. I too look to mothers who pump in amazement — sadly my milk never came in so my foray was short-lived.

My cousin who had a baby with a cleft palate couldn’t nurse and she pumped for months. The first time I saw her after my experience I had to give her a hug!!! What a labor of love to give her daughter breast milk for as long as she could!!!

Amazingly though some of our family still looked down on both of us for not breastfeeding even though neither of us technically could. It was amazing how many people asked my mom why I wasn’t (CAUSE I HAVE NO MILK!!!!) Although I am to this day strongly pro-breastfeeding, I now know that “love” for your baby comes in all forms. =)

Not until after I had my daughter did I realize that not all women breastfeed. Especially SAHM. I was shocked when I met women online who CHOSE to formula feed from the beginning. I guess it still shocks me, 2 years later.

LOL @ Regis’ question “How was it?” When my son was about 6mos old, a friend was surprised to hear that I was “still” breastfeeding, and I think she was a little speechless, because she said “Oh! Oh! Does…does he like that?” I just laughed and said that he hadn’t complained yet.

Sami- Regis does have kids. In fact, from what I’ve heard, he’s even a grandpa! (there was a post on CBB a while back about the fact that he was about to became a grandfather for the second, third, or whatever time.)

I found breastfeeding the most amazing experience ever – here my body was providing all the nutrition by darling babies needed. What a miracle!

But, it was hard at first. I had a lot of trouble with the first one latching, and the nurse in the hospital was NOT helpful. I had to use a nipple shield and still had bloody nipples. What helped me was to have a goal of 3 months. Luckily, by the time I hit that mark, the problems had been resolved and it turned out I was able to nurse both for 9 months (you can teach them not to bite with those new little teeth!)
And, not to worry about looks – I’m 55, and the breasts are still looking pretty hot!!

I’ve been pumping and breastfeeding. Unfortunately the doctor has recently said that my daughter doesn’t weigh enough (barely 12 lbs at 6 months) and wants her exclusively on formula from now on. So breastfeeding until age 1 wasn’t in the cards for us…unless she continues to refuse a bottle as she has so far.

Hi Meghan,
I pumped for 18 months due to major problems that although trying everything couldn’t be fixed….so I know how your feeling!
It was by far the hardest thing I have ever done!!
So good for you and good luck! It is possible to long term pump…although entertaining a toddler while you pump is very interesting and hard!
I- village has a great EP group, you should check it out!