Seriously what is the huge issue here???? Everywhere you turn there is always a big debate going on, people trying to force their opinions on others. Surely what matters is that you have a well cared for, extremely loved baby?
Breast Feeding:
I breast fed both Eva and Jack, Eva until 13 months, Jack until 11 months, but i would never try to make anyone feel bad for bottle feeding...I chose to breastfeed, but i always had the attitude from the start, that if i couldnt do it or really struggled for whatever reason i would turn to formula.
Yes a mothers milk in tailored specifically for your baby, but if you cant, or for whatever reason chose not to breastfeed, formula milk is specifically made to suit babies.
Why can't people respect others decisions.
When i had Eva i would always find a baby feeding room in mothercare or such like, as i didn't feel confident in feeding her anywhere. That started to change a bit, but then having Jack i fed him anywhere and everywhere.
I think that anti-breastfeeders, who think breastfeeding, and more so breastfeeding in public is disgusting and shouldn't be allowed, need to take a good look at themselves and grow up. It is completely natural, believe it or not, that is the actual reason women have "boobs". I never had it happen to me, but i have heard so many stories about women being asked to move, or go sit in the toilet to breast feed their babies, yet the same people asking them to move, wouldn't even look twice at a baby being bottle fed in the same place.
Why can't people just accept, babies are fed in 2 ways, bottle and breast, and whichever way they are fed, both are perfectly "normal" and neither should be made to feel like they are a bad parent.
There are pro's and con's of both breastfeeding and bottle feeding, to name just a few,
breastmilk is there as soon as baby is hungry without the washing sterilising, making and heating of bottles.
Not all, but many breastfed babies, especially after say 2 months or so of being soley breastfed will refuse a bottle. So if you need to leave them, or even just to catch up on some sleep, you will end up being woke after x amount of time to feed a hungry upset baby.
Without going on, yes people are entitled to their opinions, but if they haven't got anything nice to say, then please, don't say anything at all...especially to a mother where her well looked after baby is concerned.
Nappies:
Another hot discussion topic is cloth nappies and disposables.
I used disposables on eva, Jack started in disposables but at 2 months old we started using cloth full time.
Again both have advantages and disadvantages, but surely it is a parents given right(as with feeding) to chose which type of nappy they decide to use?
I do think cloth should be more widely advertised, as its only when Jack, the biggest milk drinker going, was outweeing every brand of disposable i thought, right i need to try cloth nappies. Until then, as most people think, i was expecting the old terry towelling, nappy bins, soaking and all of that palava. Actually there still are terries, then theres prefolds, and then the main ones i use, all in one, for easiness this is a washable disposable. Pocket nappies, waterproof pul, with a top layer of fleece, that you "stuff" your absorbant insert into, and fitted nappies, which were a godsend at night for us, which is a abosrbant nappy and then a separate waterproof wrap. You can use reusable liners, or flushable liners, so if you used an all in one nappy, all you would do would be put a flushable liner on top, pop it on, and if theres a poo, take the nappy off, and tip the poo and liner down the toilet and flush, then put your nappy in your lidded bucket or wetbag until you do your nappy wash. You never run out of cloth nappies, and once you've bought your "stash" no need to buy anymore, unless of course you can't help but be tempted by the gorgeous designs.
But disposables, you put on, then throw away, even simpler.
With everything in life, everyone has, and are completely entitled to their own opinion on things. Just because something is what you do, that doesn't make what everyone else does wrong. Many things are not black and white with a definate right and wrong, in fact most things have so many different ways they can be done.
At the end of the day, lets face facts here, does it really matter to you what other people do, other peoples right way of doing things, i think not. As long as you are happy with what you're doing, and when it comes to parenting you have a happy, and well cared for, and incredibly loved child, surely that is all that matters. If only everyone could start excepting that, or at least stopped voicing unwanted and sometimes nasty opinions people would feel a lot better about themselves, and how they are chosing to raise their child/children.
(this post was long enough without going into even more pro's and con's etc)
Loren xx
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