am i a bad parent if i dont breastfeed?

Breast feeding is a personal decision. No one should make you feel bad for not wanting to. My suggestion would be to talk to your doctor about the pros and cons for you and your baby if you decide not to. There is a chance she may ask you about breast feeding when she gets older and you just have to be ready with an answer if she does. Here's some information I found on a web site.

Breast Feeding Health Benefits

Medical evidence is clear: breast milk results in healthier babies, stronger immune systems and better bonding between moms and infants. The ingredients in breast milk measurably increase babies' resistance to illness and infection, cause them to gain weight faster than bottle fed babies and longer term create children who suffer fewer childhood diseases. And those are just the things that medical science can measure! What medical science has difficulty in measuring is also important: there are so many things we still don't know about how the thoughts and feelings of the mother become important components of the actual milk, and how they work in the baby's body. What science has measured though, is the fact that breastfeeding as a process strongly influences the health and happiness of the infant and the mother. Babies who are breastfed go to sleep faster, and are more easily soothed than bottle babies. When research compares the health of babies who are breastfed to babies who are bottle fed, as long as the mothers of the breastfed babies provide enough milk and are healthy themselves, the breastfed baby comes out ahead. And the nursing mother experiences greater bonding with her baby as well as the benefit of easier post-delivery weight loss: breastfeeding burns up about an extra 500 calories a day, or 3,500 a week, which amounts to a one-pound per week weight loss just by breastfeeding.

Benefits of Formula Bottle Feeding

There are real and legitimate reasons to bottle feed your baby. If you don't have enough milk, your doctor will probably recommend that you combine breast and bottle feeding so your baby gets enough to eat. If you have an illness that either affects the quality of your breastmilk or makes it difficult to keep a reasonable weight when nursing, your Ob-gyn may recommend bottle feeding. But these are rare instances, and most of the time, women who decide to stop breastfeeding early in their child's development or right after leaving the hospital do so because their lives make breastfeeding too inconvenient. Many women can't afford to quit their jobs to stay home and nurse a baby, and most jobs still don't make allowances for nursing mothers to do what they need to do.

You are not a bad parent because of a choice you make on how to feed your child. That being said...

Breast is best. It is a simple fact. THAT being said it IS difficult. Inconvenient, it's not. It's MUCH more convenient than having to tote around a can of formula, finding good water to use (there is current debate on water in many cities and flouride content being too high for infants).

There are major differences between breastmilk and formula. For one, breastmilk is packed full of excellent things for your baby not the least of which is your antibodies. You will help your baby to avoid getting sick more often and when she does get sick, she will recover faster. It is also much gentler on a baby's tummy. Breastfed babies' stools are even less irritating against their skin than formula-fed. There are major studies that have found links between formula and obesity and diabetes.

As for the challenges of breastfeeding, you need to get some help. Contact your local La Leche League. They have support groups and consultants who can help you discover a thousand ways to make the experience of breastfeeding what it is MEANT to be-- pleasant. There are also online sources you can and SHOULD look into like KellyMom.

With help and support, you should only have a couple weeks of a difficult time with breastfeeding. After that, it's ridiculously easy. So much so that I am nursing my one month old baby as I type this for you. This is my third breastfed child. You CAN do it especially if you've done it before-- it is easier each time around.

You can also consider pumping but I think that is incredibly difficult to start and keep up. I believe every child deserves their mother giving them a fair chance at breastfeeding and for me that is about one month. If it's still a miserable experience, you can ease into pumping or let it go altogether but at least you tried your best.

Definitely get help if it was a bad experience for you the first time. It doesn't have to be that way and there are a ton of things that you can do to help.

Good luck to you!

I think it is horrible the way some people are answering. Mothers need to support each other and stick together. In these modern days people are so isolated and we can't turn to one another because people treat others as if they are terrible for not breast feeding or for working as opposed to staying home. Have you ever heard the saying "it takes a village to raise a child"? That means we need to help each other and encourage each other, not trample each other when we are asking for advice and help.

Breast feeding is the best food for your baby. It is also good for your baby to have that closeness to you and to have plenty of skin contact. However, skin to skin contact can still be achieved if you bottle feed. Also, if it causes you to be stressed out by the inconvenience then that is not healthy for you or your baby.

Have you considered supplementing with formula or pumping when you go out. That way your baby still gets breast milk but you aren't restricted by the inconvenience of nursing. Do some research though in order to make an informed decision.

From my personal experience I had an awful time nursing. My daughter has torticollis and it was very painful for her to nurse. It even affected her latch. She is now in physical therapy and things are getting better, but it was awful. we would both cry and cry. Nursing is very difficult and can be very stressful for both the mother and the baby. Especially if you can't depend on other mothers for help.

Good luck! I hope whatever you decide works out for you and your beautiful daughter!

It doesnt make you a bad parent, but your reasons for not breastfeeding are selfish. If it is so bothersome that it makes you a bad parent to breastfeed, then yeah dont , but I think your baby deserves you to try.

I think you know at least some of the benefits and I thik they are worth the inconvenience. I firsthand saw a difference that breastfeeding makes. My baby was premature and had the worst immune system. I breastfed exclusively for 6 months and he only got sick twice in 6 months. My milk began to dry up, so I supplemented. From that point on he began getting sick more often. The less milk the more sick. By the time my milk completely dried, he was sick 3 out of 4 weeks a month.

Also, if your baby has allegies or a sensitive stomach it really pays in the long run to breastfeed.

If you do formula feed, I recommend enfamil or nestle. If you are on a budget go with store brand. All formulas are pretty much the same with slight differences but store brand is way cheaper.

No, you're not a bad mother. I know plenty of people who don't breast feed either because their schedules won't allow them to, something is physically wrong that prevents them from doing it or they just don't want to. One of my aunts did feed her kids breast milk but she pumped it out. Some people I know do breast feed. It's all personal preference. Based on my experience with parents and children (and I've got plenty) there's not a whole lot of difference between breastfed kids and non-breastfed kids. The only strong opinion I have on the subject is that it should stop before the child is a year old (at a year at latest) because it becomes a dependency issue, which actually can be problematic later on. Otherwise, I don't think it matters in any significant or noticeable way if you breastfeed or not. You are not being selfish to want convenience when it comes to taking care of your kids, especially when you've got two to care for, now. Being available and in a good mindset for your children is the most important thing. If breast feeding is going to cause unnecessary stress for you, then there's no need for it.

I will also say the best advice I think anyone could give you at this point is to do some research and use your own judgment to decide what it is right for you and your family. Consider the opinions of others but don't take any of them to heart. There are people who will tell you you're a horrible person for not breast feeding, if they offer reasons then consider them (do the same for those who say it's fine not to breast feed) but don't allow anyone to guilt you into anything. In the end it is your choice and you are the only person who can decide how you want to raise your family.

You aren't a bad mother... they don't make formula so that we can be labeled as bad mothers... it's your decision and whatever is right for you is for your baby... I really like the Carnation Good Start Formulas... they are the easiest for the baby to digest... the proteins in it are broken down more than any other regular formula... It's actually known to keep away colic... Congratulations on your baby... she is adorable... and best wishes.... I only tried to breastfeed 2 of my boys... and I gave up.... I in no way am a bad mother.. and neither will you be...

It doesn't make you a bad parent, but there ARE many health benefits for both of you if you breastfeed.

Nothing about being a parent is convenient. You have to make your own decision, but I would say that fewer doctor's appointments were a lot more convenient than the extra work invovled with breastfeeding.

i do no longer bash formula feeding mothers, however the straightforward actuality that folk ask this question time and Time returned, exhibits that they "be conscious of" they're picking an inferior replace to breast milk and have some guilt approximately it. for people who tried it and it did no longer paintings out, or for some scientific reason could no longer supply slightly one breast milk,it occurs and you mustn't beat your self up. It would not make you a miles less extra suitable "mom" than every person else, simply by fact there is a lot extra to being a competent verify than breast feeding on my own. besides the incontrovertible fact that, we are no longer an ignorant subculture. we are knowledgeable and have tips at our finger ideas. So i'm valuable you be conscious of or a minimum of be conscious of most of the advantages. Do you have maximum cancers on your loved ones? have you ever learnt that breast feeding will shrink your probability of breast/ovarian and a few different varieties of cancers in a million/2? Or the straightforward actuality that in case you or your husband or every person else on your kinfolk is plagued with a foul contagious virus that the 2d you're uncovered, your physique produces antibodies against the ailment and your toddler gets those antibodies formerly you ever even coach indications? it is so cool to me and that i've got experienced it first hand in my very very own residence. i think of that's slightly stupid, to no longer attempt it. I do in basic terms no longer understand why many don't. you're no longer soft with it? So what. In life, we are confronted with many hindrances the place we initially don't experience soft with something yet are required to do it and wager what? We get use to it. i don't experience soft doing public speeches, yet I had to with a view to pass a school class. i did no longer continually experience soft cleansing a grimy geriatric old mans bum and privates while tryin to get him away from mattress for actual scientific care, and now I help sparkling human beings up each and every of the time, my element is, I "lady'd up" and did what I had to do. In asserting that, please do no longer take breast feeding gently. on your well-being too, truly. With each and every of the main cancers occurring in the worldwide, i think lots extra soft understanding that I a minimum of have a scuffling with danger to be in this earth for a competent mutually as.

i tried to breastfeed my son, and i simply couldnt. the midwife told me that i should stop as it was just causing me MAJOR pain continuing. the baby was latched on correctly, but nothing was working. as soon as i switched to formula, he started putting on weight and he is now 3 months old and thriving!

it does not make you a bad mother. plently of people dont do it for the same reasons as you. as i have found, people who have or do breastfeed look at you like you are poisoning your baby. however, i was formula fed, and my boyfriend wasnt. he is the one with diabetes, and i have absolutley nothing wrong with me and have never even had the chicken pox! so dont do something you arnt comfortable with, because people who really dont matter think you should. it is your baby, your body and soley your choice!

congratulations on your children!

Could you compromise and do both? Or at least breastfeed for the first few months? It really does make a difference, and is actually easier in the beginning than bottlefeeding. Cleaning, sterilizing, washing. I was way too tired for all that the first couple of months. So much easier to just 'whip it out' LOL.