Something to terrify the parents..

[vilenspotens]

I have a bugbear at the moment. Something that winds me up an incredible amount. It makes me very glad that this is the current thing in my life that winds me up the most* as it means that the rest of my life is going incredibly well.

Comments

[windzswept]

I can't really comment on whether breast-feeding exclusively is a good thing or not as I don't currently (and will not for at least a year) have a child.

However, I can say that I was exclusively breast-fed as was my little big brother. My littlest brother wasn't however as my mum went back to work really quite quickly after he was born although he was fed on a combination of both breast milk and formula (which did involve mum scheduling her breaks to drive from work to my gran's to feed him). My mum however, started her training as a midwife after having given up on having children (which I happily managed to interrupt), and felt that what she did for us all was for the best (as her main reason for returning to work so quickly after having my littlest brother was the recession in the construction industry during the late 1980s).

There are pros and cons of all situations. It's up to the parents to decide what is best for their child and their own health and mental well-being. If the mother is resentful at the child and the father for having to be the sole food-provider then that is not a good situation for the child to be brought up in. If however, the decision for or against breast feeding is brought about because of external influences, then it sucks. It's a personal choice. The decision must remain with the parents, so long as it is in the child and the mother's best interests.

As for needing to sterilise the bottles, I thought everyone knew that, although Andy has just corrected me about it, and apparently it isn't a commonly known thing. It's just something that I was aware of, however, that may again be the fact that my mum is a sister on a children's ward.

Again, I don't know. Although I do also have the memory of someone telling me that breast-feeding feels like someone sticking pins into your nipple. I don't know how true that is, but it's not an image I particularly wish to experience.

[vilenspotens]

Absolutely. It works differently for everyone and I have no doubt every baby is different. For every story there is an antithesis. As long as people realise there are alternatives, and that varying methods can work, I am good with that. It's the ones that accept no alternatives that annoy me.

On the sterilising thing, we were lucky I have so much experience with kids and laumiere did so much research on children it was unbelievable.