There's a massive amount of support available if you want to try breastfeeding and need some encouragement through any rough patches.

Your appetite really won't affect the "quality" of your milk as your body puts your baby's needs before your own anyway and will produce plenty of fantastically rich milk regardless of what you eat. As one reply said, starving mums in Africa manage to breastfeed their children brilliantly!

The first few feeds really are invaluable as colostrum contains loads of antibodies that help colonise the baby's gut and protect them from all manner of bugs waiting out there in the big, wide world. Even if that's only as much as you feel comfortable with doing, it's a helluva good start for baby.

The research on IQ and breastfeeding is very much in its early stages but there is a correlation there. The thing is that nobody's really irrefutably established that it's as a direct result of breastfeeding rather than anything inherited from the parents.

Midwives don't really mean to pressure mums-to-be about breastfeeding but they themselves have a duty to make sure that every mum knows absolutely all the information about breast and formula feeding so they can make an informed decision for themselves. If they didn't hammer it all home, they wouldn't be doing their jobs properly...

If you're really concerned about, see if there's a Baby Cafe in your area or an NCT group and pop along to talk to some breastfeeding mums. You'd be amazed how many started out feeling just as worried as you but ended up really enjoying feeding. The support you get makes the biggest difference imaginable!

Good luck with whatever you choose xxxxx

Sam (gatecrashing from due in jan!)

Alex i feel for you. I am in remission from ME which is very similar to CFS. I have had two awful periods of it in my life which lasted several years and this is one of the reasons I left it until I was 30 to have my first child, I have been very lucky and very careful through my pregnancy to get rest and luckily it has not reared its head. You have to do what is right for you and your condition. If you try and fail making yourself ill in the process what good will that do lo? Sometimes you have to weigh up the pros and cons and make a decision that will be more likely to be less stressful and tiring on you and will have a successful outcome. No one else knows how you feel and making yourself worse doesn't help anyone. Good luck xxx

Hun i think if u dont feel you can do it for valid reasons such as u have written i dont think you should. To be honest i feel really uncomfortable about breat feeding and i will not be able to do it as i suffer from a condition called chronic fatigue syndrome, i have low immunity anyway and i know 4 a fact feeding the baby will make me too weak and i will be no use to him at all. But my mother in law and my oh think i should try it!! Although i feel guilty about it not being able to, i think its best for me to be able to look after him properly!! Hope this helps u decide .... take care and dont lt your oh guilt you into breastfeeding xx

I also agree that it is worth giving it a go and then deciding. i thought I would HATE bf but decidedto try it as I had read so much info about it being best for baby and I felt obliged to atleast try. I am so glad i did! After the initial 2 weeks it was so easy (and cheap). I even had to go back to work full-time when dd was 8 weeks and managed to express so that she still had breast milk from the bottle and I bf on a night. It helped me feel less guilty about going back to work that atleast she was still getting my milk (silly i know lol). I always said i would stop at 6 months but carried on (my choice) until she was 15 months then she came off no problem. I was always adament and am with this one that if it gets too difficult or i don't like it and it stresses me out i will stop as despite all the benefits having a stressed out mum is no use to anyone! My advice would be to try it - I did and was REALLY glad i did, even if you don't like it bubs would at least have got the colustrium - whatever you decide don't feel bad its your choice to make not oh xxxx

I think a happy mummy makes for a happy baby if it is something you are really uncomfortable with and are going to be stressing then this will be passed onto baby.  I tried to bf my 1st but actually found it really difficult and I gave up after 4 days and have to say was really relieved to do so and found the bottle much easier, with ds2 he was prem and because I had struggled with ds1 I was scared to go through all that again with such a tiny baby and he went straight onthe bottle but I did feel guilty afterwards for not even trying. with this one I have said I will give it a go I have bought all the bottles and formula etc but in hosp I will try feeding if I get the hang of it then great but if I don't I have no problems with bubs being bottle fed and at least if I have tried bubs will have had the first couple of colostrum feeds which will have been good for the baby anyway.  You do what you feel is right for you and don't feel preasured but why don't you try giving lo first feed in hosp and see how you feel you may well take to it really well and if not then at least baby got that first feed.  Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Starving women in Africa BF and the babies thrive, so even though it's best for you to eat well while BF'ing it won't make your milk "bad" if you don't eat well.

I second the option of trying it for a few weeks, you give you baby a great start and you may enjoy it.

I wasn't keen to BF my first, but I felt guilty baby was born so small and had problems, so I tried. And you know what, I ended up loving it and trained to help other mums BF.

have you seen llli.org? they have great BF info and you'll find some answers to questions.

I never breastfeed DS atall, as i did not feel comfortable with doing it, an i will not be doing it this time either! DS is now a happy, healthy, very intelligant 2 an a half year old!

I think you should do what you feel best is for you, if you dont want to then dont, an dont feel bad about not wanting to, lots of women bottlefeed now adays.

Like my mum says, times change, shes noticed so many things that have changed from when she had me an my sister, even my brother who is 9, from 4d scans, to hospital care, to breastfeeding!

Dont be pressured into it, please do what best for you

I've breast fed all mine and plan to again, but its the mums choice to make.

I'd like to give 1 small bit of advice and that is at least BF for 1 week to see if it suits you and baby. Coz once u dry up theres no going back, and i wouldn't want u to regret it. For me personnally it is such a great bonding moment when they feed and make eye contact with you.

If it really isn't for u, then don';t do it coz it'll stress u and baby will sense this and won't do either of u any good. Just be comfortable with the dicission u make. Speak to ur oh about how u feel.

hth

xx

Hiya,

Do whatever you feel is the right thing for you.

I breast feed my first until she was 2 years old and my second until she was 19 months (I was also pregnant) My first was born 6 weeks early and I found it very difficult getting her to breast feed and VERY painful. I pushed passed this and ended up breast feeding for 2 years.

I could never express my milk and they would never take bottles of say SMA.

This time around I've gone from day one saying no way, not breastfeeding and have bought bottles and milk ready for him. But, I'm starting to sway to breastfeeding and think I'll try to breast feed for the first few weeks. (I'll probably end up breast feeding for another 2 years ahhhh)

At the end of the day it's your choice you do what you feel is best for you and your baby.

hi ya i think u shudnt b pressured in 2 breastfeedin as if ur heart not in it could a lot of problems and may even make u not bond with baby or get postnatel depression if ur pressured to much it is ur decsion u cud always give it ago if u av a wat if

i breast feed my first well 2 b honest i still am in she is 21 mnths old believe me it hard work and i would love to get her 2 stopher  avin my milk but its really hard and there no help about my df wanted me 2 bf this baby i av said no firmly as much i enjoyed it while she was little i dnt now i do say no most of time but still sum times has it

im bottle feedin this baby and have dne a lot of research on the diff milks and i ve found tht aptimil has the same or closest nutirents and stuff as breast milk so thts wat milk im puttin her on

i agree with the other girls,its YOUR decision,ur oh will understand at the end of the day its better to have a happy full up baby than an unhappy mother who is being pressured into doing something she isnt happy with.There is way too much pressure on women to breast feed,by all means give it a go but dont feel like a failure if u decide its not right for you.All u c nowadays is info on breastfeeding,hardly any help with bottle feeding,it doesnt make u a bad mother if u dont breastfeed your child.And im sure the intelligence thing is just another way of adding the pressure on

xxxxxxxxxxxx

i breastfed my first for 9 months, but that is cos i wanted to and i really think if you dont want to and have your reasons for that then stick with it, believe me brestfeeding is bloodyhard when every inch of you wants to do it and it defeats many women who do want to do it, so if your heart isnt in it then i think you have enough to stress about with a new baby.

maybe what you could do is give baby first feed after birth - your milk isnt in but you will give baby colostrum and then you have done something.

i really think intelligence comes from other sources, such as how you interact with your baby and child, how you respond to them etc, and there may be some link to breastfeeding, but there are a whole other set of links to intelligence that you can support too, not to mention genetics, which was set when sperm first met egg.

stick to your guns, and best of luck hon

xxx

You could always give it a go and see how it goes. You might find it easy and the baby might thrive on your milk. I got bottles and stuff as a back up even though I planned to breast feed and I used them for expressed milk in the end.

I don't think it makes babies more intellegent ( although I am one of those who thinks breast is best!). I think they found it is a coincidence that mums and dads that had higher IQs tended to breast feed more - so it was hereditary intellegence iykwim. That's what I'd read, anyway.

I think there are lots of benefits to breast feeding - if you want to give it a try, but I don't think your oh has picked the best one lol!

You got to do what you think is right for you, i'm not keen on breastfeeding either and with my first my hubby said i should breast feed as it best  but i was crying as had ds on my bob the whole night and told him a happier mum makes a happier baby i made him go out and buy some milk and never looked back ( he was great after that, it just what he read and what mw tell you that s why he said it). My ds is a very health child and i think intelligent too. My bil was bottle fed and he runs his own very sucessful business.

Good luck

I think you should do what you want to do. Breast feeding can be hard enough without feeling pressured into it.

I have also never heard that babies are more intelligent because they are breast fed. Could be wrong as haven't read any literature etc on breast feeding this time round, but don't remember from previous babies.

Breastfeeding is not for everyone, so you shouldn't feel pressured. Then again you might find you are a natural.

Good luck with whatever you chose to do.

Jen x

... hubby thinks it will may bubs more intelligent.  I'm pulling my hair out with him over this.  I have not had a huge appetite during pregnancy and think if it continures after I've had bubs my milk will be no good for her and she will lose weight.

I will feel alot better know how much milk she is getting and that it is of quality, filling her up and leaving her feeling full.

Does anyone else think this??