Differently
To be completely honest I think if I could go back and do it all again with my first son I’d have possibly just stopped breastfeeding him after he’d had the colostrum. I was too tired, and too selfish and too busy doing my A-levels. I didn’t appreciate how much he needed feeding and honestly, don’t think I fed him enough. I think I breastfeed because I felt under pressure as a teen mom – with everyone waiting for me to fail at it – so I wanted to prove them wrong. I think switching to formula was the best thing because I didn’t have the time or patience to breastfeed him.
With my second child I would have not listened to the professionals.
I would not have given him orange juice when they told me he was not pooing enough. As I know now that breast fed babies don’t poo as much because there’s not as much waste – this can be weeks. In saying that, there’s nothing wrong in giving him formula – it was the reason I was forced to that annoyed me. He was 4 months old and I also started weaning him onto solids so think his weight loss was also due to the fact that he was, possibly, ready for more.
I would not have put him on formula when they told me I didn’t have enough/my milk wasn’t good enough. As now know it was just because sometimes breastfed babies want feeding all the time and so would have just fed him more, as there wasn’t anything wrong with my milk, just that I wasn’t giving him enough.
My third son I wouldn’t have listened to people telling me that he had a reflux and tried medicines, or tried to wean him off – especially at night. Some babies are just sick – and this could be just the same with a formula fed baby.
I am truly content that he self-weaned some time before his fourth birthday.
My fourth son I would have had more confidence in myself.
I would have breastfed him more and not be intimidated by being told that he wasn’t putting on enough weight and would have pushed further to find out what was the real reason behind his weight loss.
I would have been more aware that babies born at 35 weeks are likely to suffer with Jaundice – and that is different to breastfeeding jaundice. I’d be more comfortable with Tandem feeding and would have put in a complaint against the way I was treated, and our son’s infection missed.
Whether you breast or bottle feed – is there anything you would have done differently? Or any advice you feel you could offer others?