It really wasn’t much of a choice. I had always planned to breastfeed, understanding the nutritional and emotional aspects of it. But, I was also a first time mom with no experience with babies. I thought breastfeeding was the most natural thing in the world – it wasn’t! My newborn son had no problem latching on, but he became lazy after a few attempts to suck and quit. Nurses at the hospital tried to help me, we tried different positions, but nothing worked.

By the second night, I was worried my son was hungry. Although the hospital heavily promoted breastfeeding, they brought out a bottle of Enfamil with my son. I finally gave in and gave him the bottle, which he took right to. The nurses yelled at me for giving him formula that was over two hours old (they had brought it!) and for not trying harder to breastfeed. I bought a hand pump (the electronic pumps are quite expensive) and did manage to pump a little breast milk for my son the first couple of months. But it was hard and I was getting very little. I had a friend who was a nurse finally tell me to stop beating myself up and just give the baby formula. Today, he is a healthy, active, intelligent two year old who frequently crawls up in my laps to give me hugs and kisses.

So, while breast milk is important and has its benefits, I believe that some people push it to the point of extremism. I honestly feel that my baby was in no way harmed by not breastfeeding him. So my advice to you is, if you try breastfeeding and it doesn’t work, for whatever reason, don’t beat yourself up about it. I was a bottle fed baby, as was my husband and I think we turned out pretty okay.