Studies have shown that receiving breast milk directly after birth and during the first 1 to 2 years afterwards, benefits intelligence (1) and immunity (2, 3).

Sources:
1) Mortensen, E.L., Michaelsen, K.F., er al. The associateion betweent duration of breastfeeding and adult intelligence. Journal of the American medical Association 287(18 ): pp 2365-71, May 8, 2002.

2) Hanson, L.A., Stromback, L., et al. The immunological role of breast feeding. Pediatric Alergy and Immunonlogy. 12(s14) p15, May 2001.

3) Hanson, L.A., Human milk and host defence; Immediate and long-term effects. Acta Paediatrica supplement 88(43): pp 42-46, Aug 1999.

I really do admire such honesty - it shows such a huge strength of character.

This has been really interesting to read (and reaffirmed my decision that I don't want children!).

Can't really comment, I was breastfed for 8 weeks then a combination, ditto the elder of my two younger sisters, the youngest was breastfed longer and she's the thickest of the lot of us ! I jest, but she's not exactly brain of britain.

One comment i really agreed with was people being OTT with their children. I know two young girls with children of similar ages, and i've never heard anyone be so borish about the minutiae of bringing up their children, I can't remember any family members being that anally retentive. They wouldn't DREAM of letting them get muddy or whatever as it might make the child ill. I grew up with horses and my mums side of the family all used to farm, I was never going to be clean! I had a few breathing problems when i was very young, that once did involve a 3am ambulance ride! But I never had a cold/cough bar a few sneezes when i'd insisted hacking in the pouring rain for 3 hours was a bright idea. I ate very well, not overly formulated, no chocolate/fizzydrinks/fat/salt etc, but good home cooked food from scratch, as much as we wanted, and we were never fat, if anything we were all a bit lanky. You'd never believe i was only twenty, all the people i know with kids are so ridiculous over them.

I'm permanently ill now, but i blame that on too much work and not enough sleep!

Thinking back (as people have said not being told anything) when Gary was born he wasn't tiny (a 10lb 5oz) but had such a traumatic birth (breach) his heart beat was very unsound so he was rushed into the baby intensive care unit where he could be linked up to monitors. I was told nothing till mid afternoon the next day.
Dizzi hit a cord with me as I was in a ward with 5 other woman all with their babies and me with nothing
I remember one family coming in all cooing around and suddenly the grand-dad leans over and says..so where's yours

that was it...tears

But keep your chin up Dizzi ...it will all be worth it in the end, s*d what they think

As the last few pages of this thread were posted after I went to bed last night, I cannot respond to all the comments made that I would have liked to.

The most important thing I have to say is to Dizzi, and that is IGNORE the ignorant and unfeeling comments of other mothers. My guess is that you will turn out to be the best of all those mothers.

When my daughter was born in March 1968 I was in an eight-bed ward and was the only mother breast-feeding. No help, no advice. She was cot-nursed for 24 hours and then handed to me, together with a bottle, and I was told "feed your baby". When I said I was going to breast-feed her they took the bottle away and left me to it. And I sat there crying because she would not latch on and I did not know how to help her.

After the regulation X number of minutes they came to take her back to the nursery, whether she had been fed or not. And I was lectured and lectured and told I was a bad and wicked mother who refused to give my baby a bottle.

In those days babies were not permitted to stay with their mothers, and after the first three days when our babies were brought to us we had to queue up outside the nursery to collect them at regulation feeding times, and queue up to hand them back after the X minutes were up. Fed or not.

I was in hospital 13 days after she was born, and the very first time I was allowed to change her nappy was after I had brought her home. I was not even allowed to bath her and dress her ready to bring her home. I had to give her clothes to the nursery nurse.

When I was in labour with my son I was told that my baby was dead as they could not hear a heartbeat. This was at 36 weeks gestation, and when he was finally dragged out with forceps [positioned across his face as he was sideways on, and they did not care as it was going to be a stillbirth] I was vaguely aware of something being wrapped in a white cloth and rushed out.

I was not told until the following day that [a] I had delivered a son, and [b] that he was actually alive. And I was not allowed to go into the special care unit to see him until he was two days old. He had not even been weighed yet, and when he was I got the comment "well, he is a big baby, are you sure you had your dates right?" Apparently 7lb 14oz at 36 weeks gestation is impossible, and as I had walked out on my marriage when I was 10 weeks pregnant, the snide comments were "who was the father".

When I was finally allowed to see him, again I was given a bottle and told to feed him. Breast feed? Why on earth would you want to do that in these modern times? [That was June 1970].

I had actually been booked in for a C-section due to problems when delivering my daughter, but my notes were at the main hospital and I was sent to the maternity hospital without my notes, so they had no details about my pregnancy or previous problems.

Three weeks I was stuck in that maternity ward, three weeks because my stitches kept bursting and had to be re-done. And for three weeks I had new mother after new mother being admitted and all their families cooing and bringing flowers and chocolates and everything. And the maternity hospital laundry workers went on strike so all the mothers were told to ask their husbands to bring in baby clothes and nappies, and my son had to lie there wrapped in muslin nappies as there were no clothes to put on him.

OK - if mothers cannot breast feed, or do not want to breast feed, then it is up to them. But when you really want to and get absolutely no help at all and are told that you are a bad mother for not giving your baby a bottle - sorry - I know it was a very long time ago, but the hatred I feel about the way I was treated, will never go away.

Nothing much changed there then. It's 42 years since I had my son who was 11 weeks prem and not expected to live (he did, by the way). Like others, I was put on a ward with women with their babies which was just so upsetting - so much so that they did move me to a single room after a day or so.

My son was two days old before I was allowed to see him in his incubator.

Not a good time

I actually just came back here to delete my previous post as not being of much use to the conversation, then I saw yours and realised that I was not the only one in that position at the time.

So I will leave it as I wrote it.

I did scare the Bounty woman off (UK posters know what I mean) when she came to the ward and was looking at me, wondering why there was no bedside cot - and I made her run away!

It is really interesting, but also quite alarming, to hear that others have had similar (and worse!) experiences to mine. You would have thought that things had got better since 1970 (and your awful experiences Malka), and obviously some things have (I can't believe you weren't allowed to have your baby with you in the hospital ) - but the general care that many of us receive has obviously not improved a great deal.

My experience was enough to put me off having any other children (although age was also a factor, as I was 35 when I had Ben).

I haven't actually read through the whole of this thread, apart from the first page and this last one, so no idea what has all been written, so my words may not make much sense lol. I have however picked up on the fact the thread has split a little, so here's my tuppence worth.

Regarding the video Azz posted. I'm afraid I don't think it's all tosh as some posters have commented. As the parent of an autistic child I have done a LOT of research on causes etc, and the increasing numbers of children being diagnosed, and in MY opinion, there has simply got to be a link with modern society. Whether it be chemicals, additives in food, immunisations etc, something is causing more and more children to have behavioural, mental and sensory issues. We only have to look at the link between food colourings, E numbers etc and the reaction in kids with ADHD. My daughter has this also and I have to carefully watch her sugar intake, the types of squash etc she has, and whatever I do make sure she can't even SNIFF energy drinks

As for the other part about breastfeeding. A subject very close to my heart. With my eldest daughter she was breastfed right from the start, no problems. At 11 weeks we introduced mixed feeding with formula milk. This wasn't part of the plan, but we had gone to Scotland to attend a relatives wedding, and was informed at the last minute my daughter couldn't attend. After a big row with me threatening not to attend, I went and bought milk and bottles (didn't have a pump with me), and she was then mixed fed until I stopped BF at 9 months. When my youngest was born it was a whole different story. I have rather ahem, large breasts and simply put when my milk came in it was impossible for her to latch on. We stayed in the hospital for a week trying everything to help, and I have to say the nurses were wonderful where I was, but in the end we had to bottle feed with formula and milk I expressed I expressed until she was 10 weeks old and then my milk dried up, and I can honestly say it still upsets me to this day. I adored the closeness and experience of BF my eldest, and felt cheated of that with my youngest. HOWEVER, it has in no way changed how I feel about either of my children, but obv with the issues my daughter has I can't help wondering whether the chemicals in the bottles, sterilising fluids etc have had an effect on her development. Something I will never know, and probably would be better off not knowing!

Same here , my son wa premature , he spentbthevfirstvfew days of his life in an incubator , I was on a ward with new mums.... Mind at some point during that time, I was eternally grateful for my lot, the lady next to me ( was in hospital before I delivered) had died in labour.

Things were no better or worse in my day , just different.