We were inspired to write this Hub by reading a 'My Big Fat Sexy Lingerie and Boobies Hub' by pgrundy.  Her hub is hugely entertaining (as per usual), and the comments are interesting and funny.  She says that she wrote that Hub to see if it would make a lot of money, but at present it looks as if it wouldn't make her a cent, because it has no Google Ads.  This is possibly because Google's logic pattern ranks her Hub as 'adult content' and therefore won't give her any ads.

Our Hub is partly an experiment - but then we got all enthusiastic about breast feeding.  If you want to laugh a lot, please take a look at pgrundy's hub.

This hub explains why we chose to breast feed, the good parts and the difficulties we found through our experience.

It does not contain any photos, provocotive or otherwise!

Both of us feel a little sad that there is still a bit of an attitude problem about breast feeding. This results in some women feeling too embarassed to breast feed.

We both have 2 children. All 4 of them are grown up (youngest of them is now 24) and healthy.

When we chose to breast feed things some things were a little bit different then now, but many issues are still the same.

When Tricia was expecting her first baby (over 30 years ago) she was working in a hospital as a medical lab technician. Working in a health environment, she knew that breast-feeding was better for the baby, and like all mothers, she wanted what was best for her child.

She didn't want her baby to have bugs and viruses, and knew that her immunity would pass to the baby.

The other selling point for Tricia was that breast milk was free and she and her husband were young and broke.

When Pat was expecting her first baby (nearly 30 years ago) she was working in a fairly male environment (accountancy) and knew very little about babies. She knew that she would need to return to work when the baby was 12 weeks old, and thought that it would be best to bottle feed, as that would avoid having to change the baby over to bottle feeding.

About two weeks before Pat's baby was due, her health visitor persuaded her to attend a class on baby care. The only thing that she can remember about this class is the demonstration on how to make up a bottle of baby formula.

Today it is possible to buy baby formula that only needs to be warmed up. (Actually, it can probably be served at room temperature.)

In the bad old days, it was necessary to sterilise bottles, measuring jugs, spoons, etc. The formula milk had to be mixed from powdered stuff that came in a tin. The water had to be at boiling point to get the powder to disolve, and then it had to be cooled down before the baby could be fed.

Anyway, the person giving the demonstration on how to make up a bottle of formula got powder on the floor, water everywhere, and it took ages.

Pat decided to breast feed.

When Tricia was expecting her second child, her determination to breast feed was reinforced by learning about a new scheme for premature babies, where breast-feeding mothers could express milk to donate to hospitals.  As it turned out, she couldn't participate in the scheme because she was living outside London and her area wasn't covered.

By a twist of fate, Pat was living in London when her second child was born, and did participate in the donation scheme.  Every other day someone came to her house and dropped off a supply of sterilised containers, and collected filled (or usually half-filled) containers and took them away in a small portable freezer.

Of course, it was healthy for the babies, but there were some positive aspects for us.

Tricia loved the bonding aspect; it is the ideal position to look into your babies face. She remembers her little daughter staring up into her eyes.

Pat remembers fondly packing in the calories so that she could keep up with the baby! She was told that it takes 1500 calories a day (for the mother) to successfully breast feed. After her first baby she lost weight so fast that it felt as if she was melting.

With Pat's second pregnancy, she gained no weight at all. (Sadly, she weighs more today than she did the day before her daugher was born.) When she went into hospital to have the baby, she took along a packed lunch so that she could start eating as soon as the baby was born. She describes sitting up in bed in the maternity ward at midnight, trying to eat cheese and crackers very quietly, so as not to disturb the other mothers.

Tricia recalls that it was convenient when she was out. She didn't do breast-feeding in public - nobody did in those days. But she would go out in her car (remember, she didn't live in London) and sit in the car to feed the baby. Alternatively, she would feed the baby at friends' houses.

Pat had both her babies at a Teaching Hospital, which meant that she was examined by seemingly countless medical students. By the time she'd had the second one, she had lost all modesty. Her attitude had become something like, 'which part of my body do you want to see - its all covered in stretch marks anyway.' So she did sometimes feed the baby in public, but attempted a bit of covering up in deference to public attitudes.

Pat says that the other positive aspect was that for a little while she had a figure like a Barbie doll! Which was fun for a while, but the novelty soon wore off.

 We both recognise that there are some mothers who would like to breast feed, but cannot.

We can remember a few problems.  In the early days Tricia had cracked and bleeding nipples, and for a while could feed on only one side.  She had to get some 'stuff' to put on her nipples to toughen them up.  (What was it?  We cannot remember.)

Pat recalls the baby feeding on one side and falling fast asleep.  Tricia says that new mothers are now taught to just feed on one side anyway, but to alternate sides with each feed.  We were taught to do a bit on each side, which meant that you had to do a sort of baby-juggling routine. 

Tricia says that you can now get special cushions to prop yourself into a comfortable position.  We don't think those had been invented when we were new mothers.  If they had been invented we couldn't have afforded them anyway.

Pat remembers feeling exceptionally tired when feeding her first baby, especially before receiving advice about eating more food.

Both Pat and Tricia can remember problems with getting the baby to 'latch on' to the breast in the first few days.  You would think that babies would get it right first time, but they tend to do silly things like put their tongue on the roof of their mouth.

When we had our babies, long hospital stays were the norm - both of us stayed in the hospital for 10 days the first time around.  While this was in many ways disagreeable, it meant that we had midwives on hand to help us (and the babies) to 'get the hang of it'.

Tricia went back to work when her first baby was 4 1/2 months, and carried on with a mix of bottle and breast feeding.  She breast fed in the morning, and sometimes expressed milk before leaving for work (she used to get up at 5.30am!), but usually her baby was fed formula milk during the day.

Pat returned to work when her first baby was 3 months, and breast fed morning and evening , with formula milk feeds during the day. 

Both babies started on cereal at about 4 or 5 months.  Our understanding (which may be incorrect) is that most babies are fed exclusively on milk for much longer now.