Okay, so you just had a baby or you are in the process of having on, and you are deciding whether to use formula or to breast feed.

We quite often have a birth plot, and in the process of making this birth plot, we choose this. Unfortunately, we can’t see the future, and so we don’t really quite know the outcome of this. Sometimes our bodies don’t quite cooperate with our minds and what we reckon is right.

Many situations will help us choose what we will do, and we always try to choose what is best at that point in time for our baby. Multiple births tend to lean towards the bottle feeding, but some mom’s do both. Single births, depending on complications as well, will help with the choice whether or not the mom is going to breast feed.

Another situation is if the baby is born premature. The mother may be going through way to many things to be able to breast feed, or in some instances, the milk may not even come in, or the baby may not have his or her sucking reflex and the mother will have to pump to provide the milk for her baby. My son was born 8 weeks premature, and I had to get my milk to come in by constantly pumping. He didn’t quite have his sucking reflex yet, so he couldn’t stimulate my milk to come in normally. I wanted him to have my milk because of the antibodies in the breast milk.

Although breast milk was the best for my son because of his prematurity, and the antibodies would ward off any extra germs that he could have picked up, if I had chosen formula to feed him then he would have gotten stronger quicker and gained weight quicker. This is not necessarily right for all cases, but for mine it was because for some reason, my breast milk did not have enough stout in it to help him gain weight. So, I finished up having to add more calories with a substance called human milk fortifier, supplied by the hospital. And, he also had to have liquid vitamins on top of all that, producing extra work for me. But, at the time he was my only child and so I could devote all my time to him.

And devote my time I did. He had such a sensitive tummy when he was small. I would pump for him, then I would bottle feed him the breast milk (mind you, it took him an hour to drink 1 ounce) and sometimes he would throw up everything and I would have to start again. I only gave him my breast milk at the time because I believed that breast is best. Not all moms who have other children will have time and patience to do this.

My other two children were simpler in a sense because they were born full term with a suck reflex. I nursed my second son for 9 months and my daughter for 11 months. In that process, I had mastitis tons of times and that is very painful. I reckon that if I had known all the complications involved in nursing, I may not have done it. But, like I said, every case is different.

Formula today has come a long way. Sometimes mothers choose it over breast feeding because of its convenience. Breast feeding can be convenient too, but not when you are going out and want to leave the small one with someone else.

I reckon that the best thing for this day and age is for the mom to be able to do both, breast feed and bottle feed the baby. That way the baby can have the breast milk, and the mom can take a break and give the baby a bottle as well. (Time for bonding with Dad!!)

Some women may not be able to breast feed and I reckon that it is okay. These moms need to stop being frowned upon because they choose to formula feed their baby. There are tons of medical cases and reasons why they choose to bottle feed and formula feed, and I reckon that it is a matter of choice. The baby is still being fed, and is pleased and just as healthy as the breast fed baby.

So whatever you choose to do, take day by day. Don’t let anyone tell you that you did the incorrect thing, or made the incorrect choice. You as a mom know what is best for your baby, and for yourself.

Anna Snyder is a young mother to 3 gorgeous children. Her birth experiences have made her who she is today. Come and visit her online store, it is filled with Gorgeous Swimwear For Gorgeous Women!

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