Bottle vs Boob

This week I wanted to share my experience of feeding the boys as they varied so much and if it helps another Mummy feel a bit happier about her decision or the situation she is in, then all the better.

When I was pregnant with Olly, I was determined to breastfeed but when he did finally appear (nearly 2 weeks late) he had other ideas. He really struggled to latch on and even though we had a lot of help, it just wasn’t happening. On day 3 we decided we had to give him formula as the poor soul was starving - it was definitely the right thing to do as he was much more settled and from 5 days old, he slept through the night!!

I, however felt like a failure - worrying that he would develop asthma or other allergies and not have the best immune system.

When I was pregnant with Arlo, I decided I would try and feed him but if it didn’t happen I wouldn’t beat myself up about it.

His labour was another traumatic birth but a couple of hours after he finally arrived he took to it like a duck to water. I couldn’t believe how easy it was compared to Olly. Don’t get me wrong, the first night was hell. He cluster fed from 11pm to 6am and I wondered if I was doing to right thing. We stuck with it and 3 years later we were still going! I had planned to feed him for 6 months but there never really seemed a reason to stop - I was happy and so was he. The only issue was that he wouldn’t take a bottle so I sometimes felt a bit restricted.

The bonding and feeding had been amazing but sleep on the other hand, had not. He had never slept for a full night and the norm was he would be up 2-5 times, needing boob to get him back to sleep. The lack of sleep was HARD and after nearly 3 years I was at breaking point. My husband suggested that maybe we should try and wean him off but I was worried that the boob was the only thing getting him back to sleep. In the end I decided it was time and one day I told him that we were stopping the boob. I’ll never forget the look he gave me and with tears in his eyes said ‘please don’t give the milk to anyone else’. He woke once that night but the next day he slept all the way thought! I couldn’t believe it.

The boys are now 4 and 7 and both thriving, however Arlo has had a few health issues. He has had constipation issues from birth, he had a milk allergy for a while once he started on solids, he seems to get every bug going and has small patches of eczema on his legs and arms. Olly hasn’t had any of those issues. If I described the boys to a health expert and asked them to guess which one had been breastfed, I’m pretty sure they would say Olly.

It might be totally unrelated - Arlo might have even more health issues if he hadn’t been breastfed but I suppose we’ll never know. I find it crazy the pressure new mums feel to breastfeed and we feel like we aren’t giving our babies the best possible start if we don’t. Remember it’s not always a textbook case - the most important thing is that your baby is fed.

What if I had a third baby?

I think I would breastfeed for 6 months but also introduce formula early on. My advice to a new mum would be do what feels right - it would be wonderful if we had a crystal ball and could see into the future but you can only go with what’s right at the time.