Did your Mom breastfeed you?

My Mom breastfed both me and my brother for about a year, and both my Mom and Dad were very supportive of me breastfeeding. In fact, I know they would have been disappointed had a not BF my boys. Although my Mom forgot a lot about BF, she was able to help me in the beginning, partly because she also had a lot of trouble (unsupportive hospital staff, me refusing to latch, etc.), and she knew it wouldn't be easy.

I don't know about my Mother's mother, but I know that my Dad was not BF, but all of his brothers were.

I also know my mother in law BF all eight of her kids, including twins.

So did your mother breastfeed you or your siblings? Have your mother's opinions and experiences affected you BFing your kids? What about you mother in law?

 

I do not know if my dad or my mom were breastfed. IF I had to guess, I would say mom - yes and dad - no. When my mom had us (I'm a twin), she was told that there was NO WAY that she could breastfeed twins so we were formula fed from the beginning. When my brothers were born (10 & 12 years later) she breastfed them "until they weaned themselves" at 8 months.
She was very supportive of my breastfeeding to a degree. My two were VERY fussy babies. So, she offered her 'opinion' frequently. For example, she had to get propane or something and the guy who delivered it said that when his baby was fussy they switched to soy formula and that 'cured' it. So, she suggested soy formula to solve my problem.
After my twins reached 8 months old, she stopped being 'so supportive.' That was when the questions started of 'when' I was going to wean. She nursed hers until that point, so she didn't figure I'd go past that. She learned not to say anything after a while.
With Evan refusing to nurse at 13 months I know she bit her tongue. She knew I didn't want him to 'wean.' I am still pumping and bottle feeding 2 months later.

 

my mom did not breastfeed me. I was born in the late 60s and breastfeeding was poo-poo'd then. I think there was a revival in the 70's -- actually I know there was as my MIL was one of the driving forces behind it. She helped found ILCA and helped create the IBCLC certification. She writes all the testing prep books for LC's.

As for support -- my Mother has been extremely supportive and read extensively on breastfeeding to be able to give me moral support if not actual advice. She's been great. My MIL, by default, is supportive and was quite impressed that I bf'd twins for a year. there are so few moms who do. (i think the stat is 3%)

Cheers

Teri

 

Neither my brother nor I were breastfed...nor was my Mom. According to her, her older brother couldn't handle breast milk, so that's why my grandmother gave them formula. Not sure I get that one... :huh:

My mom was relatively supportive of my decision to BF, though in the early months she was skeptical because of the time it took and the toll it was on my sanity. She never tried to really talk me out of it, but she WAS passive about it.

MIL couldn't breastfeed DH because he needed his tongue clipped or something. I'm not really sure. We don't have that great of a relationship (MIL and I), so I haven't really taken the time to talk about it.

 

My Mom breastfed me and my brother for approximately a year. I wish I could say she was very supportive but she wasn't. She would always say why don't you just give them a bottle this one time. It wasn't that she didn't believe in me, she could just see how hard it was and wanted to help me out as much as she could. I can't say I appreciated it though. My girls will be a year in 2 weeks and I am still breastfeeding them 2x a day. I'll completely wean at 13 months. Really, only 3% breastfeed twins for a year?????

 

My mom BFed me and my brothers about 3-4 mo each. At the time, she was told that there were no benefits from going longer, and it's only a drain on the mother.

She has been a wonderful, incredible support to me BFing the twins, and is even fully on board with extended nursing/child-led weaning. She thinks it's sweet and cute. She says if she knew then what she knows now, she'd have done the same.

My MIL did not BF DH. She did it for a couple weeks. Then at one pedi visit, the pedi asked her for a milk sample. She expressed a couple drops, the pedi tasted it, and said something to the effect of, But this is just water, you're poisoning your baby, you can't feed him this. (This was Greece in the 60's.) So of course she switched to formula.

Now, whenever she hears anything about BFing, she gets defensive and/or catty. Definitely NOT supportive. But that's ok, she's on another continent.

 

My mom and dad were not breastfed. My MIL did not breastfeed her boys - she had c-sections with both of them and was told that breastfeeding was not compatible with the meds they had her on. She would have loved to have done it - and was so surprised to learn that you can bf after a c-section. So little information was out there 34 years ago.

My mom breastfed me until I was 10-11 months and breastfed my brother until he was 10ish months, too. She was very supportive of me breastfeeding - though she did wonder aloud sometimes when I was going to wean Lennon (oldest DS) b/c he didn't wean until 29 months. She was VERY supportive of me breastfeeding and pumping for my twins - but she also was very worried when I went through the horrible nipple trauma and frequent bouts of mastitis and frequently told me, "It's okay if you decide to quit. I never would have made it this long. You're such a good mommmy. I'd have quit a long time ago if I was going through all of that." etc.

 

My mom breastfed all three of her kids for a minimum of a year each. I know her mother tried to breastfeed and quit (lack of support) and so she really encouraged my mom because she wished she'd had that sort of support. My mom wasn't so sure about the twin thing... thought I set my expectations too high or something... but she and my dad were the biggest supporters of extended nursing.

 

I am the first and only member of my family to breastfeed her children. My grandmothers just didn't do it and my mom tried for a few days with me, but was told to stop and didn't question her doctor.

My mom was really supportive of me breastfeeding my daughters and she was one of the few people who didn't give me a hard time when I nursed my second daughter for just over two years. With the twins, it's a bit different. She is somewhat supportive, but she was definitely happy when I started supplementing the boys. She knows that I had supply problems with the girls and was not on board when I was doing nursing marathons to try and up my supply. In the end it didn't work and now that the boys are clearly getting enough to eat she's back to being supportive.

 

My mom wasn't breastfed and I am not sure about my dad. My mom didn't breastfeed me nor my brother and MIL did not breastfeed my DH. My parents are very unsupportive and kept telling me to give it up and just give formula, especially when I was pumping for them for the first 3 months. When I told my parents and MIL that I was planning on breastfeeding when I was pregnant they all laughed at me and said you will be formula feeding and using plastic bottles like the rest of us when you realize how hard it is to have a baby. Now I want to laugh at them since I pumped for 3 months for 7 hours a day to keep up with their demand and got them to breastfeed exclusively at 3 months. My only support was this board and a board for exclusively pumping mothers.(I WILL ALWAYS BE THANKFUL FOR YOU LADIES!!!) The only reason my mom wants me to quit is so that she can babysit them which is really uspetting since she careless that it is the best for them and only cares about babysitting them. My MIL wants me to quit just because she thinks it would be easier and I would have more freedom, but tells me all the time that she is impressed with my dedication. I want to laugh in my families face for laughing at me and am so happy I proved myself since it really hurt my feelings and still does that they had no faith in me. I am continuing to prove my family wrong as I am now making my own babyfood, another thing that they laughed at me about and told me I would give in like the rest of society. I get greif from everybody about breastfeeding and am constantly explaining my reasoning.

 

This would have been nice to see in a poll but its been nice to read too.

On my moms side, my grandmother did not breastfeed any of her 4 kids.
my mom breastfed all of her kids(me included) but I dont think she went past 6 months with anyone.

On my dads side I dont think anyone was ever breastfed.

On my husbands side, his mom breastfed all 3 of kids. She was one of 8 and all of them were breastfed as well. Again no long time nursers though.

I nursed the longest of everyone at 14 months and that to me, isnt even long.

 

I was breastfed I believe for three months before my mom went back to work. My dh was not breastfed as his mom couldn't breastfeed(milk didn't come in? I have no idea why-she had just come over from Italy and didn't speak English, so I am assuming there was a language barrier there as well). I don't know if either of my parents were breastfed.

My mom hasn't said too much about the breastfeeding to me. She mentions that it's good, etc. I am now exclusively pumping(down to three times a day). I tried b/fing and for many reasons went to just pumping. I think I remember her wondering why I was stopping pumping with the boys(I pumped for 5 months for them). So nothing really negative from her, just asking me why kinda thing.

As for MIL, she mentions that it's good I am b/fing/pumping. I do remember in the hospital with the boys-the day she sat there for FOUR hours....I was attempting to feed one of the boys. We were having latching issues(flat nipples), etc. I was behind the curtain and she was talking to dh asking him questions if I was doing a, b, or c. I was turned off by that as she didn't really know what I was going through, etc.

As a side note...
FIL was not breastfed. His mother couldn't breastfed her kids. What did they do? He was born in Italy. So they milked the cow-or took cow's milk, and mixed it with water and fed it to the babies. Might explain my FIL a bit better!

 

I'm one of six kids (two sets of twins) and we were all breastfed for at least a year. I think my mom was BF, but I'm pretty sure my father wasn't.

My MIL BF my DH for 8 months (and his two siblings for about 8 mos. also) and said he lost interest around that time.

Everyone was supportive of me BFing my twins, but I did get some funny comments from my inlaws after the 8 month mark (since that is when my MIL quit). E nursed for 22 months and they thought it was strange! I don't care though.

 

My mom BF my younger sister and me for about a year. Her mother FF and she felt she could never do that as "perfectly," so she opted to BF so her mom could not criticize her for FFing "wrong." She BF my baby sister for about 3.5 yrs.

I didn't really think about it when I had DS1. I am 10 yrs older than my baby sister, so I saw my mom BF her and it seemed normal, so I nursed all my kids. I weaned when they wanted to, at 9, 22 and 27/27 months.

Both of my MILs FF.

 

My Mom BF me and my sis and bro as long as she could. She had to go back to work, so that was only about 6 months, and she said the available pumps at that time weren't anywhere close to what we have now. Her mom did not BF her, and actually my grandma thinks I'm asking alot of myself to BF my twins and keeps reminding me that I won't be a failure if I go to formula. My dad's mom didn't BF any of her kids, and my MIL didn't BF at all, either. My mom and dad have been super-supportive (it's even funny b/c my dad asks me lots of questions, and I wonder how he didn't think to ask my mom those questions when she was BF). Those that didn't BF aren't unsupportive, they just don't know quite what to say and were much less comfortable in the beginning helping me out. (My mom or dad will grab a baby from the pillow right away to burp them, while the others will be more hesitant to get to close to the nursing pillow...)

I feel so blessed to have these great pumps available now so that I can work and still provide lots of BM for my babies!

 

I love this question! I have found parents' attitudes to be so influential on daughter's willingness to attempt nursing, just in my limited experience.

My mom nursed me for a year and sis longer (she had all kinds of allergies). I know my aunt nursed both of hers because my uncle was very supportive and told me proudly about how his job was to bring her the babies in the middle of the night (this was in the 60's, so very 'advanced',but also in California). Don't know about DH's family at all (his mom passed away long ago), but his aunt tried to nurse her first two and quit both times when she got mastitis after a few months.

No idea whether my Mom or Dad were b'fed, but I don't think my mom would have taken her mom's advice in any case, and might have done the opposite as a matter of principle.

 

My dad once asked me if my boobs were interconnected. Like if they were both full of milk, could I just put a baby on one side, and when that side got empty, they could stay on that side and the milk from the other breast would come over, thereby draining both even though I was only nursing on one LOL dads come up with funny things!

 

I remember a long time ago someone posted about J-Lo not wanting to breastfeed her twins because her mother didn't BF her. At the time I was critical of that, but upon further reflection I realize that was a big factor in my decision to nurse. Honestly, I didn't even think of it as a decision. I always thought I would breastfeed, and I didn't even do any research on formula. Most of the people I grew up with also breastfed their kids, so I rarely saw bottles among the people I knew.

My Mom had trouble nursing me because she didn't get support from the hospital, but she said thanks to my Dad and our neighbor, she was able to do it. I was so naive to think that I was going to have issues. I thought breastfeeding wasn't going to be hard for me; boy was I wrong.

I just think it's interesting to see how our parents influence women's willingness to try to BF and to stick with it.

I forgot to add that when my Mom came to help take care of the babies for the first week, she saw how much I was struggling, and it really brought back a lot of memories for her. It was a good mother daughter bonding moment.

 

I wasn't breastfed but my mom had breast problems (later found out it was cancer and had a double masectomy when I was 4). SHe did breastfeed my three older siblings, though. My mom was not breastfed, my father was. My planning on breastfeeding hasn't been either encouraged or discouraged. I think it is expected, though.

 

My mother breastfed my sister for 6 months; this was in 1959 and it was *not* done. She had to fight tooth and nail to get the nurses to bring the baby to her. But her mother could not breastfeed (I never knew why), and felt so much regret about it that she gave my mother every encouragement to nurse. My mother "only" breastfed my brother and me for about 3 months each, but again, it was not done back then and she was seen as an aberration for even trying. She has been very supportive of me and my struggles to breastfeed my twins, and I'm very grateful.

My MIL didn't BF my DH, and tried with my SIL for a month, but then went to FF. She was given no support and expected to FF; gotta love the 1960s! Funny enough, my SIL exclusively BF her 2 children, and is still nursing her DD at 16 months. She obviously had no breastfeeding mentor in her mother, but had no problems nursing at all.

This was a great question! I loved reading all of the stories!

 

My mom BF my brother and I. Her mom BF her. My dad was also BF. DH's mother did not BF either of her kids and also smoked through the entire pregnancies. She was not supportive of me BFing. My mom was very supportive and actually wanted me to get the girls back to the breast instead of pump for them.

 

My mom bf me for at least a year, until I self weaned and she always told me that was so hard for her! I highly doubt she was breastfed... I do think my dad was but don't know for how long. My dh was not bf. She said that there was no way ever her kids were getting near her boobs :lol:
My mom was a HUGE support for me when I was trying to bf my first son but she was also extremely supportive when it didn't work out and I switched to formula. I think she would be so proud of me for pumping with the twins for 5 months and so far with Ethan for 5 months.

 

My mother BF my brothers and I (her sisters both nursed their children, as did my aunts on my dad's side, one of whom was a LLL Leader, so she had a lot of support). I believe her mother did not BF her.

My father was BF.

DH was BF, but if I understand correctly, only for a short time (his mother is a little elusive about it. But I did hear a great story about her mother relactating to nurse her sister's adoptive children in the Philippines in the seventies, which I thought was pretty interesting).

My whole family, as well as DH's family has been very supportive of BFing, but it helps that most of them had already breastfed (most for a relatively long time) themselves.

 

This has been really interesting and fun to read!
My mom BF me for three months and then stopped. She was a single mom, young and nervous, and didn't have a lot of support. She did BF my sister (8.5 yrs younger than me) for 9 months and said she loved it and was sad when my sister stopped.
My MIL whom I've never met (she passed away) BF all five of her boys - I'm not sure how long though. My grandma bf my mother (her oldest) for 2-3 months, then stopped and didn't bf her two sons - it just wasn't supported.
My stepfather's mother bf all five of her children for exactly 9 months each... I asked "why 9 months?" to which my aunt laughed and said "because she was pregnant again", but my grandma said they were old enough and could drink milk and were eating solids. interesting.
My mom was super supportive of me bfing my girls. I knew it was going to be a challenge beforehand but was still suprised by how much. According to my mom she had an easy time bfing my sister and loved it from the start so she couldn't understand how hard it was for me at times. She was still great though. My whole family has been awesome and my aunt always brags about how I'm still bfing my girls and that's all I've ever done. heh!

 

I really enjoyed reading everyone's stories. It sounds like a lot of people had Moms who BF; I have a feeling that there is a much greater likelihood to BF if your mother did it. I have to admit I very impressed with those who have been able to BF without support from family. That's gotta be tough, and you are a real trooper to keep it up without family.

 

i was BF by my mom, as was my brother and sister. we were all BF for 1 year, no other foods besides BM. my parents were not happy that i wasn't going to BF....then i met my little ones and my views changed.

 

That's an interesting story. I think it's great that you're pushing through your reservations. It's tough in the beginning, and any breast milk you can give the babies counts.