Were YOU breastfed?

Something that was said in another thread made me wonder about nursing chains. Were you breastfed as a baby or did you have bottles? What about your mother, grandmother and so on? Do you think it influenced you in any way?

 

Yes I was and mom and grandma was too. My mom was a LLL leader after my older bro was born. Unfortunately, my mom passed away long before I had kids. My sis was a wonderful resource for me. All my close friends also BF so I had lots of people to ask questions.

 

barely. My mom breastfeed some of us for as little as 6 weeks and others for as much as 3 years. I think I was about 6 months.

I think what probably influences us more is what we see happening around us as young adults and when we have our own kids. My friends and most people I know think of the one year mark as the minimum and 2.5 years as the norm. So, to me, that is what "normal" is, kwim?

 

my siblings & i were all nursed for about 4 months & then weaned to formula.

 

GREAT QUESTION!!!!!

I was NOT breastfed. There was ABSOLUTELY NO support for breastfeeding twins back then. When my little brothers were born (singletons) she nursed them until about 8 months when they "Self-weaned." I assume that they went to 1% milk at that time.

I had support from her, but I think she just didn't voice her doubts & concerns. When my two were 'tuff' babies and colicky, she even gave me advice from the propane delivery guy saying that when his baby was this way, they changed to soy formula and life was better. So, she never directly told me to switch to formula, but she never really encouraged me to keep breastfeeding. That said, I nursed them until 25.5 months. Looking back, perhaps they would have been 'better' babies if they had been supplimented... I won't ever know. I believe I had lots of milk. So, breastfeeding my twins was the thing for me to do.

 

I was exclusively breastfed as was my mother. I am not sure about my grandmother but that would be an interesting thing to ask her on Sunday!

 

I was BF for about 9 months and my mom said I "lost interest" after that. My mom BF her next 2 kids for one year.

My MGM BF her kids.
My PGM did NOT breastfeed her kids. In fact, my PGF would make comments about my mom breastfeeding her kids and how it was "sexual". Weird.

 

If I was it wasn't for very long. My mom went back to work before I was 2 months old and I went to daycare.

 

I was not breastfed at all. From what my mom told me, back then the doctors were encouraging formula feeding saying it was better... that was in Belgium (about 30 yrs ago), where I was born and grew up. I actually am the only one that I one of in my family who has been BF her babies... My oldest sister just gave the colostrum and then formula fed hers, she never had a lot of support for BF in Greece where she lives. Not at all like here in the States!!!

I know that my mom was BF. I don't know for how long though...

I have to say that when I had my first baby, I almost felt pressured to BF but that's ok that was totally worth it but difficult to do when you are in a foreign country with no direct support from someone you know, like a family member. And I didn't know about this wonderful forum

Now with my twins, #4 & #5, I have a hard time giving them formula (I supplement) but I keep in mind that the reason why we feed them is so that they can grow healthy and strong - I know it seems obvious but sometimes you put so much pressure on yourself that you forget about the purpose (at least I do), it helps me feel less guilty, like I read from someone on this forum, formula is not evil... I'm working hard on my supply though and hopefully, we'll be able to provide to my twins with only BM...

 

I was BFed. My mom was not, my dad was not. I BFed. My one sister did not, my other sister did.

 

I was not breastfeed. I was in an incubator and my mom had an emergancy c-section and in that time and place the recommendation was that she stay in bed for 5 days after the surgery, so I wasn't even held by her for several days after birth. (and interesting enough, I had a reoccuring bad dream all throughout childhood that someone had brought a big tank, like a fish bowl to our house that was all smokey or misty and inside there was a seamoster that came out and snatched my mother away. I was there with my father, but instead of trying to help get her back he just stood there and held me back. Related? you decide.)

My grandmother died almost 20 years ago--I know that she did bfeed her children. And I can only assume that she was bfeed because she was born in 1910 and her family was not rich. Assuming she was breastfeed is the only logical choice.

 

I'd always assumed I was, because my mom just seemed like the type, but I asked her when the girls were born and she said, "No, not really -- for a month, maybe." She said it just wasn't really on the radar then (1970).

 

Nope, not even once was I put to the breast as a newborn!

My Mom had tried to BF her first child and had such a painful, traumatic experience (and she got NO help from anyone other than to push formula which was touted as "better" during the 70s) that she didn't even want to try to BF me. I went straight to formula. Somehow though I always knew that I would breastfeed my children.

 

Yes, until I was 10 months old. My mom was one of the few new moms she knew of that was breastfeeding. She also pumped for 5 weeks while my brother was in the NICU (born at 35 weeks) and then went on to bf him until he was around 10-11 months also.

When she was having a hard time getting me to latch, a few days after I was born and she was very engorged, she called our local LLL leader and she came out to the house (she has B/G twins my age) and she latched me onto her breast and she gave my mom her DS to latch on (since he was a few months older and a "pro" at nursing already) and my mom nursed him for a few minutes to relieve her engorgement and get things going! :laughing: I learned this story while I was bfing my twins - and I went to school with those B/G twins through high school and never knew this story! :laughing: Apparently, it all worked though - I latched easily from that point on and my mom wasn't engorged any more.

 

I was but only for the first 2-3 months? My brother was a little longer than me and my sister the longest at 6 months. My mom also didnt have much support,
Her mom (my grandmother) never breastfed any of her 4 kids. Im not sure if she was breastfed or not.

My husband and his 2 siblings were all nursed until they "self-weaned" at 8 or 9 months. His mother was 1 of 8 and they were all breastfed as well.

I nursed my twins for 14 months (through the 1st trimester of my pregnancy) and due to the baby's cleft I pumped for 11 months and provided her EBM for almost 14 months as well! If she could have nursed though, I would have nursed her to kindergarten!

Nursing changed my life and my fingers are crossed that I pass the IBCLC in July. Credentials or not, its an amazing feeling to help women breastfeed.

 

I was BF. I'm not sure if my Mom was. I know my Dad was not because my Grandmother apparently severely overfed him, and he became an obese baby, who had to be put on a diet. (If you saw him, you'd be shocked that he was ever obese, because the man weighed 145 until he quit smoking and gained 10 lbs.) My Dad always tells this story, and he is very pro-breastfeeding. He gave my Mom lots of support when they were not being supportive in the hospital.

My Mom also had trouble latching me, and we have a story similar to Jori. I latched to my neighbor's breast first.

My Mom says she nursed my brother and I until around the age of 1, but she couldn't remember exactly how long.

 

Yes, I was breastfed even though I was born in 1973. My parents were poor, and my mom never thought about doing any thing else although it was not "cool" at the time. She was not though, in 1945, the formula producers pushed it as BETTER than breatmilk. My mom remembers one lady in her mother's church small group leaving the room with her baby at times. When my mom asked, her mom explained she was going to nurse her baby. She had to explain that she had milk that came out of her breasts. It was THAT unusual in that time.

 

My brother, sister, and I were all breastfed, even though it was completely "unheard of" in that area and time. My sister was born in 1959, and the nurses looked at my mother like she had 2 heads when she told them to bring her the baby to nurse. It was just *not done*. But her mother had not been able to breastfeed (I don't know why) and was incredibly supportive and insistent that her daughter would breastfeed. My mother nursed my sister for 6 months, and my brother and I for about 3 months. Not a long time by some standards, but considering all doctors were pushing formula as better, I think it's rather an amazing accomplishment.

I never heard my mother talking about breastfeeding at all before I gave birth and asked her, so it had no influence on my decision to breastfeed. ardon:

Funny story: When my sister was born, my father had heard that beer was good for breastmilk, so he brought a 6 pack into the hospital room, and a nurse walked in and found them drinking beer!! :laughing:

 

My mother did not nurse my brother in the late 70s or me in the early 80s. She was not breastfed herself either. My grandmother tried for her firstborn in the 50s, but quit immediately when things got rough -I suppose because of a lack of support and good advice- and up till today still thinks it is "not possible" to have enough milk for one let alone two babies. I am actually the first in my family to BF. Others have followed me since (yay!), but weaned early. Come to think of it, I wonder where I got the breastfeeding bug. The internet and especially Twinstuff have been a great resource to me.

 

Btw, I absolutely love reading those funny stories! Keep 'em coming...

 

GREAT question! My mother did NOT breastfeed. I'm not sure about my grandmothers..but I think they did not. It's kind of interesting because all the cousins in my generation have been avid nursers. I nursed my oldest for 4 months, my next for 13 months and my twins for 15 months. My sister nursed all her kids (except her twins #4,5 and she had a lot of serioius medical issues after the delivery) My cousin has nursed all 4 of her kids between 1-2 years. My sister-in-law has nursed her 2 children. I have one cousin who has two children and she had absolutely no interest in nursing and sometimes I wonder how she feels around everyone nursing (we try to be respectful of her decision...we don't want her to feel bad) So in my family, it seems like more of a generational thing??? It's pretty funny because our kids are all very close in age and at family parties we are all just hanging around at the kitchen table nursing babies while eating lasagna! (and all of our aunts and uncles and mothers have learned to get used to it!)
Shannon

 

I was for about 6 mo. until "weaned" to formula, though my baby book says something about being weaned to a cup a couple of months later, so maybe it was only for a couple of months? I was amazed to see that my mom was feeding me cereals and fruits & veggies starting at 2 months old! wow! this was early 1970s.

anyway, both my mom and mil gave me support in that they didn't discourage me, but overwhelming support... my mom will now make comments when I complain about the kids wanting to nurse all the time, that "couldn't I stop breastfeeding"... hahaha! but really they have all been supportive. I just think they are amazed that I'm still nursing... and my sil... oh boy - she's a case herself, I "think" she nursed, but I don't think for long b/c she never talked with me about it...

I have many of my closest friends who breastfed, they have been very supportive, and of course since I was determined to bf, I sought out our bf'ing group at the hospital.

 

I was formula fed, as were my sister and brother. My mom was also bottle fed as well as her sisters. Not sure about my grandparents. I believe my maternal grandfather was breastfed. He is my only living grandparent, so I cant ask.

 

My mother was breastfed, but I wasn't. 39 years ago nursing wasn't really recommended by doctors in many European countries as formula was considered superior to breastmilk :headbang:
Although I am very healthy and basically never sick, I really wanted to breastfeed my babies and worked very hard for it. My mother was very supportive as I think she feels she missed out on that special relationship.

 

My brother and I were both BF'd at least for the first 6 months. I don't know at what point we stopped. My mom pressured me to BF my twins but I just didn't want to. My DH was not BF'd and he tried to pressure me to FF our son b/c he said formula was more technologically advanced. :lol:

I do not have any peers in real life who BF.

 

Your DH sounds like my BIL. He asked me how Lena was going to grow if she only had breastmilk.

It's interesting that none of your friends have BF. I wonder how much that is related to regional differences. I know BF is most common in the Western US, and I think it's fairly uncommon in the south. I was really happy I got nursing tanks in New York because the Target, Kohls, and Dilliards by my house in Georgia didn't even have any nursing bras, tanks, or shirts.

 

I wanted to add that I think that I was weaned from a bottle to a cup at about 4 months old... if my memory of what my mom told me was correct. She thinks that may be one reason I sucked my thumb until I was 10ish.

 

I was breast fed until about the age of two...my mom went back to work but made it work with her lunch hour somehow! She was a big la leche fan and gives the book to everyone she knows who is pregnant. I wish it would have worked for my boys...I pumped for 5 months and that was all we could handle

 

I was not breastfed. However it wasn't because my mother didn't want to. It was due to the Rh- factor plus some other blood chemistry problem. Even though she got the shot after my brother was born I came close to not making it. She almost had to travel to a regional hospital that had just started offering fetal blood transfusions.

My mom was very supportive of me breastfeeding.

 

I was breastfed, but I am not sure for how long. I think my mom said a year one time, but I can't remember. I don't know whether my parents were breastfed, but I do know that my grandma was really proud of me for bf'ing the twins for so long :wub: . Just about every friend I can think of at least made the attempt to breast feed their kids, although some were more lax than others about supplementing their formula. I think I live in a sanctimommy world though, because when people formula feed they get really apologetic. I know the health region really pushes breastfeeding here, although I have heard varying stories about the support that people have recieved. In general I had a very supportive environment for bf'ing. Even my dad would help me out!