Apologies if this has come up before.

For the record, I've got one baby, I breastfeed him full time at the moment (he's 20 weeks old), my husband fully supports the decision NOW, but didn't in the early weeks. I found it bloody difficult for the first 2 weeks and then it settled down and now I love it. My baby is much bigger (length and weight) than the average for his age, which I put down to lovely milk. I'm thinner than I was before I got pregnant, but eat FAR more, it's brilliant heh. I have no problem feeding in public, although generally I avoid it when other people are eating if I can.

But I'm just interested to see what other people think, because it seems that in other countries, breastfeeding is not considered the norm, and I know several people IRL who think it's dirty or somehow wrong. I wonder if the problem is purely cultural or whether it's a lack of education.
I don't think there's anything wrong with formula feeding, I was formula fed myself as my mum's milk supply went, although she went on to breastfeed her next 5 children quite easily. So I'm not here to start a formula vs breast war. Just curious.

1. Have you or would you breastfeed your own baby? Or, if you're a bloke, would you want your partner to breastfeed your child?

2. What do you percieve to be the advantages or disadvantages?

3. Did you start off breastfeeding and then get put off by the sleepless nights/sore boobs/engorgement and stop? If so, did you wish you hadn't?

I don't think I would. My mom breast fed me for 10 days and gave up cos of the pain. I even made her bleed! She said she hated it because she didn't know how much I was getting and I seemed constantly hungry. She said bottles were heaven sent after her experience.

To be honest, it seems way too much hassle to me. Also, I have flat nipples so I don't think I could. You can buy something called Niplette which is meant to draw them out, but it's £30 and it's only got a small chance of making any permanent change. Bottle feeding seems way easier to me; also, your hubbie can do it if you're knackered ;)

Your nips might change once you're pregnant.
When I got really knackered, I got Matt to sleep downstairs with the baby and just bring him up when he wanted feeding. It was great and it worked!

1. Yes

2. Advantages: Breast milk contains colostrum, which is the most important thing you can give your baby the first few days after birth. Breast milk has the best nutrients that your baby can have, that formula doesn't. Breastfeeding is a great way to bond with your baby. You don't have to wash bottles!!!
Disadvantages: It hurts like hell sometimes, your breasts can get engorged, and leak through your clothes. Must wear breast pads constantly. I have heard that breastfeeding can make your boobs saggy (I never noticed any change though). You are the only one who can feed your child, if you are extremely tired in the middle of the night, you can't give daddy a "turn" at feeding. You must do it yourself. But I will say it is a lot less tiring to just pull up your shirt and breastfeed in the middle of the night, than to stubble through to the kitchen and mix up a bottle.

OH I forgot #3

3. I eventually stopped producing milk, and by the time I went to the doctor about it, my daughter was already used to a bottle. If I could go back in time, I would def stick with it, and with my next child I will not give it up no matter what.

1.) God willing, I will exclusively breastfeed my children.
2.) The advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages! While I can see from friends experiences that breastfeeding in itself can be difficult, I think it's worthwhile in MANY aspects. As far as baby getting healthier milk than just fillers in formulas, not to mention the sheer COST of formula!
3.) N/A

As for Brett I regret not breastfeeding him, I wish I did, but I had to go back to school when he was 5 days old.

As for the baby, I plan on breastfeeding him, my husband was trying to get me not to at first, feeling that he wouldn't be able to bond with him, after him and a friend and my friends husband talked to him, telling him there will be many ways he can bond with the baby without feeding him he's ok with it now.

1. I definitely would breastfeed, if I'm able to when the time comes. I'm a bit worried though because my mum had such a hard time with me that she gave up after 2 weeks, and I'm afraid I will experience a similar thing with my child(ren). I hope I don't though, because breastfeeding is beneficial in so many different ways.

2. Advantages - improved growth and development, improved immune system, and some even say that it improves IQ. xD I don't know how valid that last claim is. But for purely health reasons it is definitely advantageous.

Disadvantages - obviously the silly stigma attached to breastfeeding, particularly in public. However, in Australia, it's illegal to ask a breastfeeding mother to stop breastfeeding, so that's a good sign. Also, the difficulty some women can experience with expressing milk, engorgement/pain, bleeding (which other people have already mentioned).

It's also illegal in the Uk. I always want people to come and tell me to stop so I can shout at them :D

1. Have you or would you breastfeed your own baby? Or, if you're a bloke, would you want your partner to breastfeed your child?
I Fed my first daughter for a few months and stopped because I though my milk was drying up, In hindsight I probably could have built the supply up again but I didn't really know what I was doing. I Have been feeding my second daughter for 6 months now. I don't have a plan on when we will stop. I guess we will know when the time is right.

2. What do you percieve to be the advantages or disadvantages?
Aside from the obvious "breast is best" for baby. I would say a definite advantage is the ease of it all. Its so easy and convenient! I barely have to wake up for night feeds because we co-sleep too. Its free and there is no clean up!

3. Did you start off breastfeeding and then get put off by the sleepless nights/sore boobs/engorgement and stop? If so, did you wish you hadn't?
Sleepless nights from breastfeeding? I'd rather breastfeed than listen to my baby crying for food while I drag my arse out of bed to make a bottle.
Breastfeeding for me was incredibly painful to start with. My daughter didn't latch properly so there were all sorts of cuts and abrasions happening there. But once she learned how to feed and I healed it was fine. If it hurts to feed then you're not doing it right.
I wish I hadn't stopped with my first daughter.

I put the sleepless nights because it was the one thing that made me waver in the first couple of weeks. With hindsight, he would have been waking up that often regardless of whether he was on boob or bottle, and that was before I started regularly co-sleeping so I would MAKE myself stay awake and resettle him after every feed. I'm bloody glad I perservered now because it's so easy, especially with the co sleeping.

i co-slept too. We both slept through the nightly feedings. he looked for my boob and when i felt him looking (i left the nursing bra unlatched) i would just open it and lift my shirt he nursed til he went back to sleep. once we stopped BFing that was horrible. he had to wait for me to make a bottle, then warm it, by the time he got the bottle we would both be wide awake.

1. I did indeed breastfeed my son for 5.5 months.
2. Adavantages: It helped me drop baby weight faster, built a bond between me and my newborn, the poop didnt smell, i was the only one who could nurish him, helped his immune system, got more sleep at night, never cleaned a bottle til he was in daycare and i had to pump. Disadvantages: Sore and blistered nipples, pain of engorgment, leaking, i was the only one who could do it, pumping is horrible.
3. I never had any intentions of BFing me son when he was born. I did want him to have colostrum to help him pass his first bowel movement but after that i was planning on formula feeding. After he was born he latched like a champ. Then later on we offered him a bottle of formula and it was the most tramatizing experience for a new mother he hated it, he spit up through his mouth and nose, i cried and promised him i would never do that to him again. So i exclusively breastfed him for 3 months. When i went back to the army i hadnt prepared a milk bank for him so it was pretty much pumping around the clock as well as nursing which was exhausting. i went on my lunch break to nurse every day. then i wasnt able to pump anything. but moises was still able to nurse. so he ended up getting formula in daycare, i would still nurse on my lunch break, and he would exclusively nurse whenever he was not in daycare. breastfeeding was the most enriching experience of my life and i am glad i got to do it. my goal was to breastfeed for 6 months. but i had 2 back to back surgeries and after the 2nd one my milk supply depleted and i had to quit but was close enough to the 6 months that it didnt break me up to bad. yes breastfeeding was one of the best experiences ever but it was also very hard. it took me almost 2 months to get it right so i didnt have sore blistered nipples but with the support of lactation consultants and breasfeeding.com i was able to make it very close to my 6 month goal.

1. Have you or would you breastfeed your own baby? Or, if you're a bloke, would you want your partner to breastfeed your child? I did breastfeed, for three weeks.

2. What do you perceive to be the advantages or disadvantages? The statistics are the same, no matter which way you look at it. But new and better formulas are being formulated each day to be closer and closer to having everything that breastmilk has in it. Regardless of what anyone says, eventually, it WILL be just the same.

3. Did you start off breastfeeding and then get put off by the sleepless nights/sore boobs/engorgement and stop? If so, did you wish you hadn't? I don't think the nights are any more sleepless breastfeeding, than they are bottle-feeding ... and I only encountered engorgement after I'd decided enough was enough.

I had to stop because my daughter wasn't gaining weight sufficiently, so she needed to be put on a formula to supplement. When the first formula made her vomit (bad reflux) she got put on a special one. It was too much of a hassle to bother trying to breastfeed her after getting her used to a bottle. Also, I have semi-flat nipples, and had to use a nipple shield each time I fed her ... which was also an even bigger hassle. It just wasn't worth the frustration in the end, to me. It made her and I both very high-strung. And no, I don't wish I hadn't stopped. Three weeks had been my short-tern goal, and I met it to the day. That was good enough for me.

i don't want to start a debate... but its not possible for formula and breastmilk to ever be the same. This is because breastmilk is constantly changing to what your baby needs. like if your baby catches a bug your body adds the extra antibodies to help fight the infection, the fat content also changes as your baby grows amongst other things.
Formula is static. it can't change day to day, although they can put in most of nutritional the properties of breastmilk (but not all, they're always finding more things they didn't know about) they can't add all the extras that the body puts in to help protect a baby.

i can't seem to find a link that doesn't sound nazi-ish but http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/234262/breastfeeding_myths_formula_is_as_good.html?cat=25

I'm completely aware of what is and is not in breast-milk. I have two children. I've read up.
I just don't believe the whole 'my baby never gets sick' line.
I know FAR too many children who get VERY sick, and they were breastfed - whereas my exclusively formula fed first born, is never sick.
*shrugs* People also never thought they'd be riding on anything else but horses and we have flying cars. Anything is possible.

thats not the point. what i was saying was , you said formula and breastmilk will be the same. and thats not possible. because breastmilk is ever changing for that particular child, thats what makes it a step ahead of formula, and its what they can't make.

flying cars? where?

i believe that breast fed babies have a better immune system than FF babies. My son was never sick until i stopped breastfeeding.

My baby's been ill several times already in his short life, usually at the same time I have been, but I have a poor immune system anyway, so I wonder if it's something to do with that.

I was bottle fed and I was a really healthy baby, according to my mom. I didn't even get chickenpox until I was 20 ;D

I'm the opposite, bottle fed and I get every illness going! I think the best thing to do would be to swap immune systems to show me your immense transit love.

Nah I'm ok thanks ;D But that just proves really that every baby is different, irrespective of how you feed them!

What do you think about the theory that people are attracted to others with an immune system most different from theirs? Maybe that's what happened with my parents, producing me! Hahaha.

Yeah, it is your own immune system as well, but if you had been breast fed, the same with me we would both have better immune systems than we currently do, plus with allergies, I don't know if you have any, but I have mild asthma and I have to be really careful with what I eat otherwise I get an upset tummy, my sister how ever doesn't have any allergies or anything and she was breast fed for a while, no idea how long though, mams supply dried out so she didn't even bother to try with me.

No allergies, but I did grow up with a dog which is meant to strengthen your immune system. I also think I maybe ate a lot of dirt as a child ;D
Am lactose intolerant but that only kicked in a couple months ago; one of those random things.

All my life I've lived with cats, this year I randomly became allergic to cats, very strange and very annoying, I didn't realise it was possible to sneeze so much!