Vent...

laurel_howeth

So I am the only woman in our family who has breastfed their baby. My mom and aunt both tried and it hurt too bad and they quit. Everytime I go around them they tell me that "You really should just use formula, he seems hungry all the time" (He eats every three hours) or when he got diagnosed with reflux they said "I bet your milk is bad, my children never had this problem". I feel like I have no support and I am the weirdo for wanting to breastfeed. My mom has even told me I am weird for wanting to past 6 weeks and I will end up starving him. UGH.... I know I am doing the right thing, but I feel no support from them. Which is exhausting. Thank God for DH he is so amazing and supportive. lol He even told my mom "Well alot of things have changed since when L (me) was little, Heck you smoked when you were pregnant with her and now we know that was a BAD idea." Thank you I just needed to vent about how much their lack of support is hurting me.

dunvilles

Just do what you feel is best for you & your baby! You'll get all the support you could ever want here in bump land!! My mom, who is super supportive, even said she thought there was something "wrong" because DS wanted to eat ALL THE TIME lol. She just didn't understand that it is NORMAL to cluster feed often. We have SO much more information now with chat sites like this, websites, videos, tv etc. They didn't have all of that information/support so ppl just have a hard time understanding it.

GL to you!! I thought I'd stop after 6 weeks, but kept going till 8 weeks and it has been SO much easier to BF now!! Still going strong at 11 weeks!

jenniemarie3

Ugh.  Hang in there.  That has to be so frustrating!  We'll keep supporting you!

laurel_howeth

Thank you ladies! It really is a blessing to have websites like these. I love talking you guys about parenting more than my IRL friends, even when we have such different parenting styles.

nemtown

I'm sorry you're going through this. I didn't BF because I didn't want to, but I think it's up to everyone to decide for themselves. No matter what you choose, people should understand that it's YOUR decision. Even if they don't like the choice you make, they should respect that you're the mother and you want to do what you think is right for your child.

Maybe say something like that to them. Say that they don't have to respect your choice but they DO have to understand that it IS your choice and respect that you are the mother--not them.

My parents judge a lot of things, too. For one, they were flabbergasted that we didn't want DS having peanut butter till he is 1 year old. They had US eating PB way before that so it must be ok. Just this weekend they gave it to him anyway. Nope--they don't respect me or my parenting decisions. I don't know how to tell them they have to follow my instructions or they can't see him without me being there, but it has to be said.