Best Breastfeeding Advice: No Bottles, No Formula!

by Angela
(Jacksonville, NC, USA)

Visitor Breastfeeding Tip: The best breastfeeding advice I ever received I got from myself! I was so determined to breastfeed my baby that I was very anti-bottle, anti-formula! I told all my friends and family that I wasn't giving my baby a bottle therefore I didn't want any gifts of bottles, formula or anything related as such.

I remember coming home from the hospital with my newborn. My milk came in that night and I was very engorged and very uncomfortable. It was 3am and she was starving! I held her and tried to help her latch on, it hurt a lot and I sat there with silent tears streaming down my face.

I turned to my husband and said: "I can't do this anymore." He soft, gentle answer was: "Yes, yes you can. You're it, there are no bottles and no formula in the house, no stores are open right now. She is hungry and you have to feed her." I cried a lot that night.

The next morning, when I woke up I wasn't engorged anymore. My baby was sleeping peacefully. Most importantly, I had survived!

It got much easier after that, my daughter and I learned from each other. I was so glad that I had stuck with it. If there had been bottles or maybe even "free formula samples", I might have given up before I had even really started. I have since told everyone I know that if you're serious about breastfeeding, there is no reason to have any bottles or formula in the house. It is to easy to give up.

Just as I was new to breastfeeding, so was she, we both had a lot to learn and a lot to teach each other. This is something I had to remember when I had my son as well.