Choosing Not To Breastfeeding Your Baby
February 23, 2008 · Print This Article
Choosing not to breastfeeding your baby is more common than you may think. Many factors like poor milk supply, long hours spent at work, inverted or sensitive nipples or prescription medications may make a mother feel as if it is impossible to breastfeed her baby. Other mothers simply know before the birth that they will not breastfeed their baby.
Choosing to formula feed your infant was at one time considered to be a social faux pas. Today’s culture is much more accepting of bottle feeding an infant. Many mothers return to work shortly after the birth of an infant and breastfeeding is simply not conventional in the average workplace. Deciding to formula feed your baby is often a matter of necessity rather than personal choice. Electing to formula feed your infant does not have to be a disadvantageous experience for you or your baby.
Many breastfeeding advocates will argue that breast fed infants receive better nutrition than formula fed babies. With the advances in the ingredients of baby formulas, this is no longer true. Eating a well balanced diet with enough calories to sustain two people is often an arduous task for mothers. Strict dieting, indulging in sweets and any consumption of alcoholic beverages are all prohibited for breastfeeding women. Breast fed infants receive a portion of everything consumed by the mother, making prescription drugs, alcoholic beverages and many over the counter medications off limits. It is also difficult to accurately gauge how much milk a breast fed infant actually consumes. For children with medical conditions that require close monitoring of their intake, bottle feeding is a necessity.
Learning about breastfeeding benefits and drawbacks is often one area that healthcare practitioners focus on heavily during the prenatal period and immediately following the birth of a child. Many breastfeeding advocates support breastfeeding in part because of the bond created between the mother and child during frequent breastfeeding. This same bond can be achieved with bottle feeding by holding the infant during feeding times. Making eye contact, stroking and talking to your infant during feedings can create as strong a bond as breastfeeding. Talk about breastfeeding versus bottle feeding with your OB/GYN or nurse practitioner if you have doubts about your choice to not breastfeed your infant.
Many baby websites offer chat rooms or discussion forums dedicated to the discussion of bottle versus breastfeeding. Baby websites can also be a great source of information about the nutritional, social and emotional aspects of choosing not to breastfeed your baby. Many of the popular baby and parenting magazines now offer a corresponding baby website with additional articles, contests and links to other helpful baby-related websites.
Deciding not to breastfeed your infant does not make you a poor mother. Bottle feeding provides adequate nutrition and bonding opportunities for the whole family. Those who prefer to breastfeed simply have decided that natural feeding is best for their lives. Bottle fed infants fare just as well physically as breast ed babies. Choosing to breastfeed your infant is not mandatory. Mothers now have the opportunity to choose between the bottle and breast without sacrificing the well being of their babies.
Breastfeeding advocates site studies which prove babies who are breastfed experience less illness. Those who try to disprove this have never sited studies … just personal opinion.
I’m days away from having my third child. I have breast feed my first, for a few months and my second for a few days. With this child I have already chosen to go straight to the bottle.
I find it funny that so many mothers are scared into breastfeeding by threats that their children won’t be as healthy if they choose formula. My children are sick far less than the children of some of my closest friends who all breastfeed their children for 12 months. I think the real contributing factor the the health of a child has more to do with the attentiveness of a mother than the “magic” of breast milk.
I teach my children common seance to stay healthy; I make sure my children wash their hands before meals and after running lots of errands. I keep my kids home to rest when they are sick so they get over illnesses faster, and so on.
The bottom line is this, breastfeeding is not a magic cure all, nor does it define the success of a mother, your actions throughout the life of your child will determine that. If you want to breastfeed than you should but if you don’t, than don’t let yourself be bullied into it, you determine your own success as a mother.
please find a professional that will actually tell me I can’t eat any sweets and must follow a strict diet while breastfeeding….as well as the alcohol consumption. In order for this to be true my obstetrician would have told me not to do all these things, especially as a diabetic (while pregnant). She says I can eat what I want and even a glass of wine a day is ok.