Besides medical reasons..why would any woman 'not' breast feed?

Question

It's fairly conclusive now just how important breast feeding is. Apparently, after smoking, not breast feeding a baby is one of the worst things you can do for your child. So, why do so many women decide against it and would sooner give their babies a formular milk? Is it for reasons of vanity and should they be having babies?

this is a genuine question by the way. I'm not judging anyone...just thought I might be missing something. It's just that I've come across answers and questions everywhere from women saying they always put their children first.

KD??? are you suggesting that breast feeding causes cancer??????

I'm not saying that women who don't breast feed shouldn't have babies, I'm just questioning whether a woman who say (six months before the birth) 'I'm not breast feeding' is the right person to be having a baby.

Excuse me...but what are breasts for exactly???????

KD? can I suggest you read the question properly before you go off on one....'besides medical reasons'.....but if you think God put them there so you could look sexy....then fine....and if you think it's all my fault for some reason...then fine again. Maybe you should calm down and read the question with a little rationality.

Nope....I think I can honestly say that I have never had infected nipples or thrush. But thanks for asking.

Answer 1

Just because they all forget that God made our breasts, not to hold our dress in place or for our partners to play with but specifically for our babies to suck on when feeding..

Answer 2

Because a woman can decide how to feed her baby. They say breast milk is healther, but as long as the baby is getting the proper nutrition, it should not matter if its breast milk, or formula milk. Some people dont feel right breast feeding, its a personal choice. A child is not going to grow up with cancer, or tumors, or asthma or depression or anything else like that because it was not given breast milk. The child will still grow up healthy and happy with formula. And should they be having babies?? Yes they should. Thats like asking a mother and a father who are vegan, if they should have a child, because when the child grows up it will not get the proper vitamins and minerals from meat. And so what if a six month pregnant woman says "im not breast feeding" yes she should be giving birth. Why is it that so many people are so quick to judge others?

Answer 3

It should be a personal choice for the couple to make together. People don't have to breast feed their children in order to be good parents, so yes they should be able to have children if they don't want to breast feed.

Yes breastfeeding is best, but some people want their husbands to bond with the baby too, and this happens a lot during feeding time. A bottle would work, and it is easier to make formula for this.

Some women try, but can't produce enough milk for the baby, and the baby is still hungry, or the baby spits up a lot and can't tolerate the breast milk. If the baby isn't getting enough to eat, they aren't being helped by being breast fed, so why not go to formula which you can better monitor how much intake the child has.

Some women aren't comfortable bearing all to feed in public, or they don't want to leak out. They may have to work, and won't be able to keep breast feeding. Why should it matter to you? You have the opportunity to choose what to do with your body and so should they. If they don't want to breast feed, they don't have to. Formula is almost as good, and plenty of babies are perfectly healthy taking it.

Answer 4

FOr several reasons:
a)They were not taught or did not find a good latching position and therefore experienced unnecessary pain and gave up
b)They were brought up in a country where bottlefeeding is seen as the norm, and may find the idea of breastfeeding weird or even disgusting
c)They have to return to work and can't be bothered with the hassle of expressing
d)They are unsupported and feel like it would just be easier to bottlefeed, nan could take baby etc. Of course you could express to do this but obvioulsy people dont think of these things.

I breastfeed my baby for 12 months and would not imagine doing anything else, I believe that women should breastfeed or at least express breastmilk if they are physically capable of doing so.
I also think though that todays society makes it very hard to do the right thing and we need to make some major changes in our attitude as a nation

Answer 5

I'm choosing not to breast-feed because i simply do not want to, its not a question of vanity or embarrassment its simply personal choice.
also as for 'should they be having babies if not willing to breastfeed' what a load of rubbish, many women smoke, drink and use drugs during pregnancy which in my mind is a whole lot worse than making sure your baby is well fed on formula milk, however i would still never question whether they should be having the babies.

Answer 6

many women have never seen anotgher woman breastfeed,and its not as easy as you may think to do.(i have had three kids and breastfed them all)there is little or no suport for you when you first try.i felt as though i would be a failure if i was unable by the pressure of the facts.when i first tried i had never met anyone who had breastfed,my midwife was not very helpful and in the end i nearly gave up as my baby and thats all of my babies,never wanted to be fed the first 24 hrs,i felt like a fool that i was unable to feed my own kids.i tried again the next day after my baby had been born and i fed her much more easily.
the next obsticle was other peoples perception of a breastfeeding woman.if people had there way,when you have a baby you should not be seen in public to feed your baby,other peoples houses are/can be off limits too.people treat you like a leopra when you breast feed.Not every-one of course just most people.Men also do not allow there partners to breastfeed.
May be not all, but some of the reasons.

Answer 7

Here we go blame women! Right firstly a lot of women need to get back to work within weeks (like me) A lot of friend have had to have breast uplifts after breast feeding and thirdly it is painful, yes painful! Do you wish to have infected nipples or thrush on your nipples and so on.

Have you had a baby yet?

Answer 8

Yes they should be having babies i would have loved to have breast fed my baby but due to the fact he was tongue tied and couldn't latch on,Ihave inverted nipples and tried to use a pump which cause a lot of pain and discomfort,so very reluctantly i stopped trying and was absolutly gutted,You do not no why women chose not to it could as in my case be due to somthing which is no fault of there own and besides its there decision whether to breastfeed or not and my son and thousands of other kids fed on formular or completly fit and healthy.Ihope your not offended but i think your talking a load of BOLLOCKS

Answer 9

Most reasons for not breast-feeding are medical/comfort issues. Some women find it difficult to get their strength back after pregnancy - I mean you try carrying this thing round for nine months, squeezing it out into the world, then have it start screaming at you for food all hours of the day and you have to let it suck the life out of you.

There is also a great taboo about breast-feeding in public - remember the women that you see feeding babies from bottles in public may not do so at home.

Also, I'd be interested to know where you got that info that only smoking is worse than not breast-feeding your baby... Hopefully not from the same sources that suggest babies born in the summer are less intelligent, babies who are bottle fed suffer from mental development problems, babies born to underweight mothers are more likely to be stupid, etc... Either they're to be taken with a pinch of salt or I've been incredibly lucky!

Answer 10

Some times mothers just can't. Some infants are difficult to breast feed and do better with bottles, especially if the hospital staff gave the infant bottles right after delivery because the mother had a c-section and was recovering. The infant just gets use to the bottle really quick. Some times a mother's milk doesn't come in as it should either.

Answer 11

When breast feeding it is not possible to give the child to someone else to feed. So inconvenience is one reason.

Inverted nipples would be a medical reason

Generally though, you are correct, if a woman is serious about the welfare of her child, she would breast feed as god intended unless there were a medical reason not to. And society would support her in doing the right thing.