You tell me you want to breastfeed - super, I'll support and give you all kinds of advice. You tell me you want to formula feed - that's your prerogative and I might not agree, but whatever. If you attempt to breastfeed, but are not supported and given false information at critical times, my heart breaks for you. If you tell me that you want to breastfeed, then do everything you possibly could to sabotage that relationship even though you know better... don't expect my sympathy.
There are certain things about breastfeeding that should probably be considered "the basics" in my opinion. Stuff like, your milk won't come in for a few days after birth and that the baby can happily live off of colostrum during that time - after all, their stomach is the size of a chickpea and colostrum is very filling! If you decide to give your baby a bottle of formula thinking that you are doing them a favor because they aren't getting anything from your boobs... you're just straight up wrong. There is no dancing around it. If colostrum is there... they are getting more than enough to eat. Not to mention, unless that baby is nursing or you are pumping consistently... your milk ain't coming in. There is no point in bottle/formula feeding in the interim while waiting for your milk to come in... because without your baby nursing... that day is not going to come. It is a supply/demand situation. Unless your baby is sucking or you are pumping and creating a demand... there will be no supply.
The hardest part about the scenario for my friend is just knowing that eventually the new mom is going to make a comment about "not being able to breastfeed" or that "my milk never came in". What would you say? You know she did everything classically incorrect and led to the failure, and you knew she had the right information and support. So what went wrong? Was she so afraid of ACTUALLY NOT being able to breastfeed that she chose failure? Why would someone do this? It almost blinds me with upset that someone who most likely could successfully breastfeed would choose to sabotage themselves and end up having to turn artificial means of feeding their baby. They KNEW the right things to do... and choose to become a statistic. It is upsetting beyond words. The ripple effect is endless when a mother "fails" at breastfeeding. So, don't lie and say you tried to breastfeed. Your fib is going to effect the thoughts of other future mothers around you and lead them to believe that breastfeeding is just too hard. Breastfeeding has enough obstacles of myths floating around without that kind of thing. Do the rest of us a favor, and just fess up - you chose to formula feed. Whatever your reasons, it was your choice.
