A lot of people on Minti are currently blogging about breastmilk v's formula and I think that is great. This contraversial topic has people talking, debating, and expressing opinions. The info is out there and people are looking it up and posting what they have found. I thought I'd take 
a few minutes to blog why I chose breastfeeding over formula as the primary sustinance for my kids. My blog received such a good reaction - from formula-feeding mums and breast-feeding mums alike - that I decided to post it as an advice as well after receiving a few comments that I should do so.
There is a lot of advice posted about breastfeeding and formula feeding, so I initially decided to avoid doing an advice on it. However, I hadn't noticed until now that most of the advice goes heavily into the health aspects of it. My decision to breastfeed had very little to do with the baby's health to be honest. My reasons were more practical.
As I said in a comment I once made in Q&A: "See, being a breastfeeding mother doesn't necessarily mean you're a good mother, it can mean you're a lazy, impatient, forgetful poor time manager like me! LOL"
My top ten reasons for breastfeeding my kids:
1. It was cheaper. I couldn't afford formula.
2. It was easier. I only had to pick up baby, sit and relax, put him to the breast and he did the rest.
3. It was safer. I didn't have to worry about accidently making the milk to hot, missing something when cleaning, or leaving the formula out of the fridge too long on a journey and having it go off on a hot day. No burns, wastage, or illness as a result.
4. It was less tiresome. I didn't have to spend extra time mixing formula, cleaning bottles, warming milk, etc.
5. It was less stressful. I didn't have to put up with baby screaming the house down impatiently while I got his formula ready.
6. It was more convenient. I didn't have to pack anything if I was going out or worry about where to find facilities to warm up milk.
7. It was cleaner. I didn't have to worry about accidently spilling formula powder or milk when I was dealing with it and then having to clean it up. Babies are also a lot less inclined to squirt breastmilk all over the house or drop a breast on the floor!
8. It smelled better. Breastfed baby poop is not as stinky as formula baby poop.
9. I had an excuse to be lazy. I was able to take time out and sit and do nothing but feed baby whenever he needed a feed and have daddy weight on me while I was doing it. Otherwise, it could have been me weighting on daddy while he fed baby!
10. I was able to earn more money. I worked as an art model, and I never made more money than when I was heavily pregnant and breastfeeding, as the availability of pregnant or breastfeeding art models is very slim, so I was getting called in to work for a lot of money from all over the place. And it was great as I actually had to take baby with me to work, and when breastfeeding, he got paid too!
My kids all received some formula now and then, particularly in the early stages of growth spurts when my milk supply was struggling to keep up and they got impatient. When they had as much breastmilk as they could get out and were still grizzly for more, I'd give them a formula bottle and hand them to daddy to top up while I frantically pumped extra breastmilk to get my supply up and running better - which was then stored for the next feed's top up if there was enough. It kept baby happy during the hard times and once my milk was able to keep up, the formula was back in storage for next time bubby decided to get extra hungry again.
The things I didn't like about breastfeeding were:
1. Mastisis. I couldn't even wear a firm fitting shirt let alone any bras! I just had to hang loose and full of juice or I'd clog up very quickly and painfully. I was very prone to it unfortunately.
2. Leakage. Black shirts are a blessing, and so is sleeping with a towel and spare cot mattress protector underneath the top half of me.
3. Sore nipples. Biting babies hurt!
I never was worried about public opinion or criticism, as I've always been willing and able to ignore it, or give as good as I get when I can't ignore it. If ever anyone tried to tell me that I should be feeding my baby in a more appropriate place, I'd quite readily tell them where it would be a more appropriate place for them to go and stick it.
All in all, for me, the advantages of breastfeeding outweighed the inconveniences. I plan to breastfeed my baby-on-the-way until s/he is fully weaned, just as I did with my other kids, keeping a small container of formula in storage for those extra hungy and my supply isn't keeping up moments.
I must add that the best gift I was given at the birth of my children was a breastpump, some baby bottles, and a "daddy feeding voucher." Anytime I needed a break from feeding I could hand baby to daddy with a bottle of expressed breastmilk. Then daddy had to wash the bottle! hehe!
(August 2007) (
