Ok - spent the day with OH researching and creating the text below seriously considering Breast-Feeding Vs Bottle-Feeding as there seemed to be so many different sites with confusing information - always biased towards one way or another.

My Midwife has been telling me I need to Breast-Feed but has given me no information on Bottle-feeding and to be honest, made me feel like I was an idiot for considering it. So I've gone out and found out for myself =P

I thought I'd post my findings in case it helps anyone - though I won't tell you what we decided as obviously - it's a very personal choice for each child and I wouldn't want to influence anyone!

Oh to add - I looked into five topics, Baby's Health, Mum's Health, The Dad's relationship, Ease and Cost.



All Pro Breast-feeding facts are in Blue (Dark Blue =Pro-Breast-Feeding and Light Blue = Anti Bottle-Feeding)

All Pro Bottle-Feeding stuff is in Purple (Dark Purple = Anti Breast-Feeding and Light Purple = Pro Bottle-feeding).

BABY'S HEALTH

* Breastfeeding gives everything the baby needs, including things not in the forumla.
* It strengthens her immune system and protects her against infection, diseases and obesity.
* Your milk is always on tap, at the right temperature, and its composition alters to suit your baby's changing needs.
* Babies taking formula have more problems with gas and constipation and have firmer bowel movements
* Antibodies are not found in formula making the baby more susceptible to illness.

MUM'S HEALTH

* It helps you bond with your baby.
* It helps you get your figure back: as your baby suckles, you'll feel your womb contracting.
* Mums who breastfeed are less likely to develop ovarian and breast cancer and osteoporosis.
* It can be exhausting.
* It may hurt. Some women find it takes months before they feel completely comfortable when their baby latches on.
* Your boobs will get bigger (if you were already a 36E, you might not regard this as a plus).

DAD'S RELATIONSHIP

* Some dads feel ostracised by the bond between breastfeeding mother and baby, and this can be detrimental to your relationship.
* Leaky (and/or sore) boobs, plus libido-dampening breastfeeding hormones, may scupper your sex life.
* Anyone can feed the baby with the bottle at any time. This may also give your partner chance to be more involved in the feeding process.

EASE

* You don't have to make up (or sterilise) bottles.
* The formula available in the market needs to be mixed with the proper quantity of water each time and bottles and nipples need to be sterilised. There are ready-to-feed formulas available, but they tend to be expensive.
* If the bottles or nipples are not properly cleaned there is a risk of transmitting bacterial infections. Formula left in the bottle for more than one hour must be thrown out.
* Breastfeeding is a one-woman job: you can't delegate, so those 4am feeds are down to you. It takes as long to express milk (so someone else can feed it to your baby from a bottle) as it does to feed your baby.
* Breastfed babies may not learn to sleep through the night as early as those who are bottlefed.
* Formula usually takes longer to digest than breast milk, so the time gap between feeding is longer and babies need to eat less often.
* The mother can go about her daily chores, or to work without frequent feeding intervals or pumping. She can also leave the child under the care of her partner, or other caretaker. In public, bottle-feeding is much more convenient.
* With bottle-feeding, you know how much milk your baby is drinking.

COST

* Breastfeeding is free.
* Formula is a constant expense while mother’s milk is free.

Sorry if it's confusing and I also can't say that everything I've read is the 'truth' as I haven't experienced it yet - so when it says formula takes longer to digest than breast milk - this is just something you have to trust the websites aren't lying about =P

Edit:

Make sure you use something other then b/f when saying what you did with your children as b/f could mean either =P Maybe BoF and BrF.

Futher Edit:

Please feel free to share your own experiences on whether these points worked for you or not. It'd be interesting to see which are true, partly true and not at all =P Opinions are good if they are pro one or the other, but try not to make it seem like the people that do the opposite are bad for doing the opposite

I.e.
"I'm going to Breast Feed because I want to do what's best for my baby." says people that bottle-feed aren't doing what's best for their baby.

It would be better to say "I'm going to Breast Feed because I think that's the best start for my baby."

Links:

PlumFairy brought this thread 'Been there, Been here' to light by Leeanna on her experiences - very good and useful read

Umm, this thread could turn a bit heated, just a warning!

lol.. I must admit I was ranting at some of the statements... I have sucessfully b/f my 2 children (1st for 8mths 2nd for 9mths) and was totally shocked at the myths that people state as fact (btw not saying you here).

If you like I will give you my thoughts on all the comments - I just dont want anyone thinking I am pushing b/f down their throats as that would be totally out of order for me to do that.

I'd like your opinions Part of the research is getting experience from others that have done it

Btw - when you say you b/f'ed your two children - does that stand for bottle feeding or breast feeding? x

Didn't know if it would or not since this is just information I've gathered from several websites and books and I did say I'm not sure of the truthness of said information. Just thought it might help and I did try to do it as unbiased as possible Noone can complain about that ^_^

I tried to b/f my son but it didn't work, I had surgery 12 days after delivery. But I am going to try this time. I think breastfeeding offers such enormous benefits to the baby if you can make it work but if not don't feel bad for bottle feeding.

there are some rather un-true facts in this post

i will comment further if you want to know which ones im talking about, and this is coming from a mum who has done both methods of feeding

I am going to give BF'ing a go, but will go onto formula if it does'nt work out. I do agree though that it really is pushed to BF, if I'd not wanted to do it I wouldn't but anyone who is easily swayed would be overwhelmed by the amount of jargon your given on BF. I've had ample amount of leaflets, CD-rom's on BF but not one on bottle feeding.

As an undecided mum I enjoyed this thread as it has showed both sides of the coin. A new baby is hardwork and I don't want to make things even harder to be honest!

Thank you for this thread because I have appreciated it xx

Futher Edit:

Please feel free to share your own experiences on whether these points worked for you or not. It'd be interesting to see which are true, partly true and not at all =P

lol.. sorry I mean breast feeding (am just lazy at typing). I found this website too. It gives some really good info http://www.milkmatters.org/breastfeeding/myths

I also just chatted about this thread with my dh to get his feeling on the 'dads bonding' and he said that he was completely happy for me to do the feeds and it was totally his responsibility to do the winding (I was always so rubbish - I have tiny hands and could never get it up easy). He also bonded in different ways like he was good at bathing etc.

My experience of expressing was also very positive. I found the manual worked best (I had both electric and manual). Litrally while I was feeding on one boob I could express the other. The flow was amazing and I could fill a 9oz bottle in less than 10mins. I was then free to go out if I wanted straight after the feed and if I felt uncomfortable to feed myself in public I could then give the bottle for the next feed (or other caregiver). I could freeze what I didnt use and managed to return to work after 4.5mths and continue giving her breast milk albeit from a bottle by her childminder.

Lol.. Just thinking back and we were travelling back over to the IOM and was stuck in a jam on the motorway and my dd needed feeding. I just hopped into the back and fed her with no need to heat bottles. We ended up missing our flight home and was stuck in a hotel. We could have been stranded with no serilising equip but with breastfeeding I didnt need to worry. Oh and I have been known to express in the car too.

On the other side, a friend of my did mixed feeding too, so breast fed during the day/middle of the night and gave formula as the feed before bed.. just a thought for those who are torn.

Both my children slept just as long as my friends lo did and she used formula.

Oh and this is totally personal, but before I had babies my boobs were 32A (barely noticable) and after my first they filled with milk but NEVER totally disappeared, then with my ds they got bigger and again didnt go back to where they were pre pregnancy. So breastfeeding has actually given me a new size of 36C and OMG my DH LOVES THEM (sorry maybe TMI). Admitedly going up to 42DD last time at the height of feeding was rather difficult to get used to (I kept getting them trapped in doors or hitting people with them) but I quite like that side of things.