A
female
age
36-40,
anonymous
writes:I'm not pregnant, I don't have any children, I'm not in a relationship. But I have been asked the question if I did have a child would I breast feed. I don't want to. Now, I'm willing to pump the milk and bottle feed. People have reacted so hostile and negatively towards me for my answer. Why is that? What is their problem? Reply to this Question
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female
reader, Luverlee +, writes (19 January 2009):
There is no problem with that. If you ask me it's an awesome thing. Not all women are into breast feeding anymore ((likd my mom)) but studies have shown breast fed children are smarter and healthier than those who were bottle fed. so no you're not a bad mother... and besides you are your childs mom, you do what you think is right. and remember, you have people like me who are willing to back you up on your idea.
A
male
reader, NITRAM BLUE  +, writes (17 January 2009):
 A child under 4 years old does not remember anything when she/he was an infant until she/he reaches the age of 4. In no way will the infant be affected psychologically if she/he was breastfed or bottlefed. Based on this point, there is no relation between the use of a breast pump with that of a mother and infant bonding.
People who are loners or who despises their parents are a separate issue and it is hard to believe that it has anything to do with milk. Since, memory retention only comes after the age of 4. People who are loners, hermits and not close with their children have existed even before the breast pump was invented. Don't tell me the likes of Adolf Hitler, Ted Bundy, John Dillinger and Al Capone were not breastfed, of course they were. It took a series of unfortunate traumatic events for them to appear in the pages of history. Have you seen a hermit lately? I guess not. They were known even before the breast pump was invented.
It is true that 60% of women who breast feed are least likely to develop breast cancer. But the trick is not the suckling of the infant to obtain mother's milk but the simple extraction of breast milk. Whether the extraction of milk is done by the infant or done by the breast pump, removing the hormone rich substance (the breast milk) reduces breast cancer.
Breast milk suckled by a baby directly from the mother's breast is O.K.
Breast milk pumped out and transfered to a bottle and given to the baby is O.K. too.
Animal milk given to the infant one year and below, is NEVER o.k.
Come to think of it, men have a thing for women's breast because of breast feeding. Does that mean, breast feeding is somehow related to pornography? I guess not. So breast feeding is no way connected to an adult's psychological make up.
Got milk? =)
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A
reader, anonymous, writes (17 January 2009): pvtguy: ...could be why I'm not very close to my adult children...I didn't breastfeed!!!
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A
male
reader, NITRAM BLUE +, writes (17 January 2009):
I don't prefer breast feeding, but I have an alternative, what do you think?
That is the title of the topic starter.
Her alternative is - Now, I'm willing to pump the milk and bottle feed.
Her problem is - People have reacted so hostile and negatively towards me for my answer.
Her question is - Why is that? What is their problem?
The topic starter doesn’t prefer breast feeding apparently because:
Many women who are breastfeeding end up with engorged breasts. This involves the breast being overfilled due to the infant's demand for breast milk not being as much as the breast is actually producing. One of the best things you can do if your breasts become engorged is to use a breast pump to relieve the built up pressure of breast milk.
Breast engorgement can cause the breast to be very swollen and painful and may cause a slight fever. Unfortunately, engorged breasts can cause difficulty breastfeeding as it may cause the nipples to flatten out and the infant may not be able to latch on to get breast milk.
Many women treat their engorged breasts by using ice packs in between feedings and applying heat and massaging the breast to express a small amount of breast milk just before feeding time.
However, if your breasts are overproducing breast milk, the breast pump is the best treatment to relieve your symptoms. A breast pump is simply a device used to extract milk from the breasts.
The milk extracted can be stored overnight to feed the infant the next day or you may simply extract enough milk to relieve the breasts and allow the infant to latch onto the breast properly.
Using the breast pump will relieve the pressure in the breast. However, if your infant has a difficult time with breastfeeding, you can certainly use the breast pump and feed your infant the breast milk in a bottle.
There are many types and styles of breast pumps on the market today. Some breast pumps are manual where you will control the pressure to relieve your breast of an overabundance of breast milk.
Others are electric or battery-operated which may be quicker and more efficient. Some main considerations when choosing a breast pump may include cost, efficiency, how easy it is to use, the size for easy portability, and noise level of the machine.
The important thing to remember is that every woman will have their own preference when it comes to the breast pump. Extracting breast milk with the use of a breast pump is quite easy to do thanks to the invention of the breast pump.
The breast pump has made things easier for the working woman, allowing her the option to feed her infant breast milk. Moreover, women no longer have to suffer from breast engorgement and no longer have to try to extract their breast milk by hand.
Back to her problem and question - People have reacted so hostile and negatively towards me for my answer. Why is that? What is their problem?
My answer is – Because some people attack something that they do not understand. Because they are not aware of any manual or battery operated breast pump. They have not seen those gadgets before and they do not see those advertised when they turn on their TV sets. The best way for people against breast pumps is for them to learn what a breast pump looks like, what does it do, what are the advantages and disadvantages. Here are the links:
http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com/breast_pump.htm
http://www.babiesonline.com/articles/breastfeeding/breastpumping.asp
http://www.pregnancy-info.net/breastfeeding_pumping.html
Mothers in Philippines break Guinness World Record for breastfeeding
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/philippines_33982.html
Breastmilk Bank in the Philippines!
http://mom.exchange.ph/2007/06/27/breastmilk-bank-in-the-philippines
How will I not know what breast milk and breast pump are? I live in the Philippines and our mothers have broken and held the Guinness World Record for breast feeding!
We have milk. =)
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A
male
reader, NITRAM BLUE +, writes (17 January 2009):
Point of clarity in this topic - the topic starter "willing to pump the milk and bottle feed" I presume the milk will be pumped from the woman's breast not from a cow then bottle feed. It is still breast feeding except that the baby will be extracting this from the bottle not directly from the mother's breast.
The thing about breast feeding a baby from the mother's breast is having the mother's nipples blackened or darkened due to the constant sucking action of the baby to extract milk from the mother. To remedy turning one's nipples from pink to black, women can manually pump milk from their breast, place it in a bottle then have the baby extract the breast milk.
It also works on babies whose mothers could not produce milk and mothers who have embedded nipples. Are we going to make it hard for the baby to suck her mother's milk from an embedded nipple?
It does not matter what mode of delivering breast milk to the baby for as long as the baby receives breast milk. It does not matter if it was pumped from her, manually or electronically and it does not matter if the baby receives it in a bottle.
Others are not aware and repulsed by this method. But this method is being done around the world and there are even Milk Banks for it. Some say it is unnecessary. Well, my when my mother was born, my grandmother could not produce milk because she gave birth at 45. Had there been a milk bank, then it would not have been a problem. It would be lucky to find somebody who just given birth, willing and not tiring to be to be a wet nurse. Will the potential wet nurse complain: "Can you let me rest for a while? Both of my nipples are swollen!" But chances of finding a clean wet nurse are slim. Now days, we have AIDS and other communicable diseases like hepatitis. Are we just going to take the risk for the healthy newly born. So what do you do, if you are a mother?
MILK BANKS where breast milk are screened, properly stored and monitored by the your Department of Health in your country will solve the problem.
Mother's fresh breast milk pumped is just the same quality and nutritional value as taken from the source. Refrigerate To Keep Freshness In.
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A
female
reader, aunty_rach  +, writes (17 January 2009):
chill. you will never make up your mind untill you actually have a baby. my friend used to say that she would not breast feed a baby, but then she had a baby and breast fed him untill he was 6 months. alot of it also has to do with the fact that your breasts will fill with milk and if this milk is not fed or pumped it will make your breasts hurt. whether it is good for the baby or not, i don't no. it's a personal choice and i don't think anyone else has a right to tell you whether it is right or wrong. just wait untill you have a baby one day and then decide.
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A
reader, anonymous, writes (17 January 2009): Whether you breast feed or not, the important thing is that your baby gets your milk for a certain period of time. That is how it gets its first immunities to disease, etc., which is very important. A baby is born with virtually no natural immunities. In Europe and many other parts of the world "wet nurses" are still hired by some wealthier families to nurse a baby even longer. Opinions vary on how long is optimal. I think a few months is probably enough for the immunogens to take effect. The baby's own system will take over from there and replicate the immunogens it has received. But since it is going to be living in your environment, it is important that its initial immunogens come from you.
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A
male
reader, anonymous, writes (17 January 2009): I believe breastfeeding is also a way to pass some more of the mother's immunity over to her child.
I personally don't understand why women don't want to breastfeed their children, if you can xplain then maybe I'll be more sympathetic.
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A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (17 January 2009): If you haven't had a baby yet, I would say it's best not to commit yourself to something you haven't tried. As you clearly want your baby to have breastmilk (I think that is fantastic by the way), is there some other issue/belief you have as to why you won't consider breastfeeding? eg boobs are sexual not for feeding, peer/family pressure; you haven't made this clear in your post.
I'll let you know some of my and my friend's experiences - not to try and sway you - to let you see that you won't always have any say/choice in the matter (and neither may your debating circle of friends).
I have two children one 4 and one 5 months. When I was pregnant with the first, my preference was to try and give breastfeeding a go as for the first three days or so you only produce pre-milk called colostrum which is a sweet watery liquid choc full of antibodies to protect your newborn against infections and disease - what mum wouldn't want to offer that head start? (I'm not hinting you won't by the way as you say you will express, it's just that after you have gone through labour and birth, I am fairly sure (in fact certain) the last thing you'd want to do is get the pump out, put the newborn down for 20 mins and make them wait for their first meal while you express, you honestly will just want to hold your new baby close they are so gorgeous). I was very lucky as both me and the babies took to breastfeeding like ducks to water. After the first few days when you both get the hang of it, your barely feel a thing. I personally cannot recommend it highly enough - super easy, no bottles to carry about, no sterilising, no temperature worries, totally instant etc etc. Sure you've heard all this from your friends.
My friend who recently had a baby wanted to exclusively breastfeed but unfortunately her baby had a forceps delivery which caused some damage to his cheek muscle which has affected his ability to breastfeed. She does a combination of formula feeding and expressed breastmilk feeding. She really wishes that she could have breastfed because now she has the time commitment of all of the bottle feeding regime and the additional time commitment of expressing milk - it isn't an exact science either, sometimes you can express 4oz, sometimes only 1 or a half oz of milk, so it can take a few sessions to pump enough for one meal. You can never normally pump as much as a baby would take from a breastfeed as this is what they are designed to do and you naturally get the 'let down' reflex which is not always easy to do on a pump. You can feel like a dairy cow - my hubby finds it funny to sing Madonna's Express Yourself when I do it occasionally. It's also pretty noisy so generally the baby won't want to sit on your lap when you do it. It's also something you won't want to do in front of friends or family other than maybe your mum or partner (please trust me on this) so if you have company (a given when you have a new baby) you will find yourself alone a lot and missing out while you express.
Out of all of the feeding options available, you certainly seem to be picking the most difficult and time consuming - I think you should be exploring why that is and why you are closed to other options. One of my top parenting tips for the future is, wherever possible, make it easy on yourself, the job is hard enough as it is. Best of luck!
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A
female
reader, Ask JenniHearts  +, writes (17 January 2009):
 some people say that breast feeding is another way a mother and her child connect on a special bond. some people are just old fasioned and think it should be doe that way. some babies now a das refuse to breat feed because of the chemicals we put in our body with fast foods...
but on the opisit end of getting your breasts bitten studies have shown that when you breast feed you can reduce the risk of breast cancer
hope this helps
jenni hearts
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A
male
reader, NITRAM BLUE +, writes (17 January 2009):
Their problem is being hostile to something that they couldn't understand. But do tell them that what you said is being done in different parts of the globe. In the Philippines, August 15,2008 the news was:
MANILA, Philippines – Over 130 women donated breast milk to the country’s first community milk bank in Makati City Thursday to help babies who could not be breastfed by their mothers.
Women from all over Makati City went to the Guadalupe Nuevo Barangay Hall to express at least five ounces of milk for processing.
Maricris Capote, a 26-year-old mother, was one of those who donated her milk, using a manual breast pump for at least 15 minutes.
“It doesn’t hurt at all, especially if you’re accustomed to breastfeeding your child,” she said in Filipino.
The community milk bank is a project of Sen. Pia Cayetano, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, in coordination with the Makati City health department and Makati Rep. Abigail Binay.
The project coincided with the celebration of World Breastfeeding Month.
Awareness
In an interview, Cayetano said she hoped to raise breastfeeding awareness by encouraging mothers to share their milk with others.
“The idea is to tell moms who are breastfeeding to take it a step forward, to help other moms who cannot immediately breastfeed,” she told reporters.
The community milk bank is the first of its kind in the country. Cayetano hopes to encourage other barangay to establish their own milk banks.
The project’s next stop is Pateros town in Metro Manila.
After the collected milk was transferred to a sterilized container, it was stored in a cooler and sent to the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila that has a milk bank.
Newborn babies in the hospital whose mothers could not immediately breastfeed because of complications such as hypertension or diabetes will benefit from the milk bank.
“But residents of Makati City can request breast milk from the bank for free, as they are the original donors,” said Dr. Vivian Eustaquio, a member of Cayetano’s staff.
Others would have to pay P200 for 100 ml of breast milk, she said.
Eustaquio said mothers with hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis B or Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome were usually unable to breastfeed.
Manual pumps
For the project, Medela, a supplier of breastfeed care equipment, donated 10 manual breast pumps.
Each breast pump costs at least P1,800. Hospital grade electric pumps can cost as much as P90,000-P100,000.
The idea of a milk bank will encourage a community to help one another, Cayetano said.
Click this link for a glimpse:
http://www.samarnews.com/news_clips11/pia_cayetano.jpg
http://www.samarnews.com/news_clips11/news194.htm
There is a decline in breastfeeding in the Philippines, but we still hold the World Breast Feeding Record recoginized by the UNICEF and the Guinness World Records.
Got Milk? =)
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