I'm sorry, but someone has to be the bad guy. I'll do it. Hope you all can
see this for the truth that it is, and not hate me.

Unless you are incredible committed to pumping - round the clock, likely -
you will end up giving your little one artificial milk at some point.
Please reconsider!
Formula feeding will affect your child for life. Presenting this issue as a
"personal decision" does not give proper weight to the negative impact of
artificial feeding. Would you consider smoking around your baby, putting
baby to sleep on his stomach, or deliberately exposing your little one to
germs? Of course not! But artificial feeding has PROVEN, LIFELONG effects
on a very small being who cannot defend itself. This decision should not be
taken lightly (just because you are "turned away").

Babies fed artificial milk have lower IQ's than babies given human milk.
Artificially fed babies have a higher incidence of infection, anemia,
diarrhea, meningitis, diabetes, gastroenteritis, asthma, constipation,
allergies, celiac disease, Crohn's disease, dental and speech problems,
childhood cancer, pulmonary disease, cataracts, high cholesterol, and many
more. Artificially fed babies are three to four times as likely as breastfed
infants to suffer from ear infections and lower respiratory infections, and
sixteen times more likely to be sick during the first two months of life.

As for medications, I'll cut and paste from promom.com.
"Over the years, many, many, many women have been wrongly told to stop
breastfeeding. The decision about continuing breastfeeding when the mother
must take a drug, for example, involves more than consideration of whether
the medication appears in the mother's milk. It also involves taking into
consideration the risks of formula feeding for the baby, which are
substantial, the risks of not breastfeeding for the mother, which are
substantial, and other issues as well.

Breastfeeding and Maternal Medication

Most drugs appear in the milk, but only in very tiny amounts. Although a
very few drugs may still cause problems for infants even in tiny doses, this
is not the case for the vast majority. Mothers who are told they must stop
breastfeeding because of a certain drug should ask to be prescribed an
alternative medication which is acceptable for breastfeeding mothers. In
this day and age, it is rarely a problem to find such an alternative. If the
prescribing physician does not know how to proceed, s/he should get more
information. If the prescribing physician is not flexible, the mother should
seek another opinion.

Most drugs may be considered safe for the mother to take and continue
breastfeeding if:
1. they are commonly prescribed for infants. Examples are amoxycillin,
cloxacillin, most antibiotics.
2. they are considered safe in pregnancy. Drugs enter directly into the
baby's bloodstream when used during pregnancy. The baby generally gets much
higher doses at a much more sensitive period during pregnancy, than during
breastfeeding. This is not an absolute, however, as during pregnancy, the
mother's liver and kidneys will get rid of the drug for the baby.
3. they are not absorbed from the stomach or intestines. These include many
drugs which are given by injection. Examples are gentamicin, heparin,
lidocaine or other local anaesthetics used by dentists.

The following frequently used drugs are also generally safe during
breastfeeding: acetaminophen (Tylenol, Tempra), alcohol (in reasonable
amounts), aspirin (in usual doses, for short periods), most antiepileptic
medications, most antihypertensive medications, tetracycline, codeine, most
nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medications, prednisone, thyroxine,
propylthiouracil (PTU), warfarin, tricyclic antidepressant medications,
sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), other antidepressants,
metronidazole (Flagyl), Nix, Kwellada.

Medications applied to the skin, inhaled or applied to the eyes or nose are
almost always safe for breastfeeding.

You can still breastfeeding after general, regional or local anaesthesia. As
soon as you are up to it. Medications you might take afterwards for pain are
almost always permitted. Immunizations given to the mother do not require
her to stop breastfeeding (including with live viruses such as german
measles, Hepatitis A and B).

Get reliable information before stopping breastfeeding. Once you have
stopped it may be very difficult to restart, especially if the baby is very
young.

I hope you can make the right decision for your child - and yourself (have
you looked at breast cancer rates lately?!?)
Hannah

BTW, your DH can lactate if he desires . . .


"Vicky Bilaniuk" wrote in message
.. .
OK, I hate to say this, but practically everything I read on this ng
about breastfeeding is actually turning me away from it. (perhaps it's
good that I read all of this *before* diving into the situation, so I
thank everyone, even though this is probably not the reaction that some
of you would rather see) I would like to know more about the
alternatives. So, we've got 100% bottle feeding, or supplementing
breastmilk with formula.

Someone posted and said that she had pumped at first until her supply
ran dry. I forget who that was and am too brain dead to do a google
search (my apologies - really not feeling well these days). I'm hoping
that she's reading and can post and give more details. I would like to
know more about her experiences. I also know that Daye pumped for the
first 6 weeks.

One more question: how long would it take to basically pump yourself
dry? I am not implying that if I did this, I would be in a hurry (if I
were in a hurry I would just put up with the initial engorgement and
never pump at all). I am just curious about how much one might be able
to expect to get. Maybe Daye can help out here. Was it extremely
difficult to get 6 weeks out of pumping?

I'm leaning more and more towards the idea of pumping and bottle feeding
(using EBM and formula as needed). Personal reasons, as well as a skin
condition that has been haunting me for a long time (was going to see
specialists about it and how to deal with it during BFing - will have to
go on nasty drugs after baby and breastfeeding are all done), are the
driving factors, here. I never wanted to breastfeed, but DH managed to
get me to change my mind. However, reading about other peoples'
experiences is making me go back to what I originally wanted (probably
much to DH's annoyance, but if he complains, I'll tell him to grow
breasts and do it himself). If I don't breastfeed and instead pump for
the first couple of months, or something, I can go on the drugs sooner
rather than later, and with supplementing, hopefully I won't experience
some of the things I've read about here regarding breastfeeding a
newborn. I don't want to lose my mind. I've lost enough of it already.
;-)

I know I'm being bitchier than normal, but I can't help it. My
apologies for the tone of this post.