s/o Breasfeeding--Economic Status

[fairfarmhand]

The breastfeeding thread got me thinking about my relatives.

 

On both sides, my dh's and mine, both of our sets of parents, AND our GRANDPARENTS were totally supportive of breastfeeding. They all behaved as if it were the most NORMAL, NATURAL thing ever and were tickled that I (and my sil's and cousins, etc) were nursing our babies.

 

Even our grandparents who raised babies in the 1950s nursed (or did their best to) their little ones.  (the exception was my mom's mom, who worked as a nurse and had to use a babysitter, and my aunt who had to be raised on goats milk due to severe allergies)

 

I was wondering about the supportiveness that I received and the factors that influenced it.

 

In my and my dh's family background, there was remarkable poverty. Most of our families really had no other option but to nurse their babies, because they saw bottles of milk as an unnecessary expense at a time when every penny counted.

 

Do you think that the poverty influenced their attitudes?

 

I wonder if families who were a little more affluent (perhaps delivering in hospitals, rather than at home) got the idea that bottles were better. (I can't say, because we don't have affluence in our backgrounds) Or since they had the option to bottlefeed, they came to rely on it more?

 

Thoughts?

[mommymilkies]

It was definitely family culture for me.  I have a picture of my Mom and aunts lined up on the couch nursing. :)  It was totally normal to me, even when my mom had to pump and bottle feed one of my brothers when she worked.  So to me it was just normal.  There was no question as to whether I would breastfeed or not.  My family is poor.  Very, very dirt poor from the hills of KY (the same ones on those "hardest places to live" articles).  My stepfamily was very rich and they all breastfed, too.  

 

But my dh's family is blue collar, lower middle class or so and they all ff.  The looks of horror I have been given when they knew I was breastfeeding...it was awful.  This was such a shock to me.  And poor dh caught in the middle knew it was my decision but the fist time he was uncomfortable with it and kept asking when I'd quit so he could bond with baby.  He quickly learned that was ridiculous and is now fully supportive.

[vonfirmath]

Do you think that the poverty influenced their attitudes?

 

I wonder if families who were a little more affluent (perhaps delivering in hospitals, rather than at home) got the idea that bottles were better. (I can't say, because we don't have affluence in our backgrounds) Or since they had the option to bottlefeed, they came to rely on it more?

 

Thoughts?

 

Maybe? I don't know, My mom delivered in a hospital but she breastfed both my sister and I. However, she was quite supportive when I switched to half formula with DS and supportive when I switched to 100% Formula with DD. She was just supportive, period.  Her mother also breastfed. She was born at the end of WW2 and I don't know if there were any other options or not. I also do not know if my mom was born in the hospital. I hope so because she was 11lb+ baby!

 

 

My husband's mother only formula fed. They were more affluent than my parents when my husband was born (FIL was a doctor at the time). I don't know what Grandma R did. I know MIL bucked her mother, who insisted you must take your baby home from the hospital in your arms, and DH went home in a car seat buckled into the back of the car.

[Just Kate]

My parents are from a rural state, but very middle class. My mom says that when she had my brother and me (in the 70s), breastfeeding wasn't even discussed as an option. The hospital gave her the pill to dry up her milk and that was that! She says that she thought that the only people who breastfed at that time were those who couldn't afford formula. 

 

I bf both of my children and my family supported me in that. My mom expressed a bit of regret that she was misinformed about so much when having her babies.

[Joker]

We were poor but my mom didn't breastfeed any of her four children. She didn't care one way or the other about her grandkids, though. She was supportive when I wanted to breastfeed and was supportive when I said I was going to bottle feed instead. I don't know if my grandmother's breastfed but I think probably not since they both worked outside the home because they needed the money.

[zoobie]

My grandmothers delivered in hospitals but they were married to military men. I know one nursed because she refused to waste money on formula. ;) The other I'm not sure, but her kids were 11 mos apart and they were stationed in Germany while GF fought in Korea. She was 18 and isolated. I'm guessing she used formula. Definitely no affluence there! My parents were not affluent either. My mom nursed for a while until she lost her milk (?) then switched.

 

I had never seen anyone BF before my two best friends had children and we visited them. In my sphere, it seems that affluence currently makes it more likely to BF due to flexibility with work. Either the moms are home with the babies or they have offices and can pump at work. I've nursed all 4 with as little formula as possible (I had to supplement for 6 weeks with #3 as my supply was crazy low after losing a good deal of blood during the surgery). Length of time ranges from 14 mos to 28 mos and counting.

[LostSurprise]

Economic status is part of it, but also upbringing/experience/social expectations. 

 

 Poverty in 1949 was a bit different than poverty in 1975...at least in my family. My paternal line comes from deep poverty and I believe bfing was no big deal (either positive or negative, it just was, no one cared when children/grandchildren use formula). The maternal line has all kinds of bfing problems, but I think some of that is my mother overwriting it with her own experience. Her parents were comfortable and my grandmother had problems so they used formula. It was one answer to her problems. My mother had an extremely bad (month long +) bout with mastitis while she was pregnant with morning sickness. In my opinion when she says she couldn't it means she had a traumatic experience and her milk dried up as a part of that and she didn't understand (or perhaps was traumatized enough to not even want to think about it) she could try again with her next child and it might be better. Even though my parents were poor my mother could fall back on my grandmother for support. 

 

I think people fall back on their experience when under stress. 

BTW, my mother was very supportive of breastfeeding when my sister and I declared our intentions even though that wasn't her experience. I didn't even know her breastfeeding background until I was deep into my own bfing "failure." I think a lot of what she told me was to assure me that there wasn't anything wrong with me. I was still a woman and a good mom. I wasn't alone. 

[Elisabet1]

Other issues came to play for us. My husband was adopted. His adoptive mother hated to no end that I nursed. She wanted to pretend she was the mom. She tried to tell my husband that she had a right to "bond" with my newborn and wanted him to drop my newborn baby off at her house and 2-3 days at a time. Obviously, we never did that. But she would go ballistic and was so angry.

 

My older sister also hated nursing. But for her, she never had children and was never a "kids" kind of person. So breastfeeding and everything else child-oriented seemed to bother her. Kids are just a messy thing in her opinion. She was never angry and hostile like my MIL though.

 

No issues seemed related to financial status. 

[VeganCupcake]

My parents were middle class professionals in the 60s and 70s and my mother never breastfed. My mother doesn't really understand how breastfeeding works and what types of behavior are normal for breastfeeding moms and babies, so she is not really very supportive of me in my breastfeeding journey.

[Carrie12345]

I really don't know my family's feeding history.

 

My grandmother was born in 1929, the first of 6 in 6 years. They were Depression poor, but I have no idea how my g-grandmother fed babies.

My grandparents were not well off while raising children.  They had 5 babies, raised 3. No idea how they were fed.

My parents were neither poor nor well-to-do.  I know *I was not breastfed.  I found out my sisters were, but I don't even remember that!

 

I had zero bfing support.  I chose to exclusively formula feed my first. Nobody ever mentioned bfing to me.

I had trouble bfing my next two. No helpful hints.  My MIL looked down on it and loved to recount her personal horror stories.

I EBF #4 close to a year, which is actually when I found out about my sisters!

 

ETA: I was a poor, young mom with my first.  Very financially comfortable with the fourth.

[VeganCupcake]

 In my sphere, it seems that affluence currently makes it more likely to BF due to flexibility with work. Either the moms are home with the babies or they have offices and can pump at work. I've nursed all 4 with as little formula as possible (I had to supplement for 6 weeks with #3 as my supply was crazy low after losing a good deal of blood during the surgery). Length of time ranges from 14 mos to 28 mos and counting.

 

Studies show this as a general trend today--more affluent women have the "luxury" of breastfeeding because of more flexible work, maternity leave, better access to lactation help, etc. I'm sure there are other reasons, too.

[Farrar]

I think it's hard to tease out the role, though I'm sure there is one. My parents were solidly middle class and they breastfed. My mom was a bit of a hippie and I think that was part of it for her. Her parents didn't bf, I'm pretty sure, and I think it was that they were middle class and got the message that formula was better. My paternal grandparents did bf and they were very poor. They also fed my father all kinds of odd things as an infant though, so there's that. Dh's parents were also solidly middle class, but they didn't bf. I think it had more to do with the fact that their previous child was adopted though.

 

Basically I think it probably a bigger factor among my grandparents' generation than among my parents' when there were more choices having to do with lifestyle that had a bigger impact.

[wendy not in HI]

My mom's mom breastfed her 5 kids in the 40's.  I think middle class.  My mom breastfed her 7 kids 70's-early 80's, though had some trouble with baby #4 and bottlefed after a couple of months.  I also remember giving my youngest sister a bottle on occasion when babysitting, though she was breastfed, too.  My mom said she felt like the was the only person in the world breastfeeding at that time.  She also said that her mom had been encouraged to bottle feed, but that HER mom encouraged her to breastfeed.  Lots of moms helping moms there!

 

I was a poor young mom in the 90's with my first and it never occurred to me to bottle feed.  I just sort of thought everyone breastfed.  I did have some trouble breastfeeding baby #2.  I guess I thought I knew what I was doing and it would be so easy the second time around... and it wasn't... but we worked through it.

 

I breastfed all 4 for 18 months - 2 years each.  We were more financially stable with babies #3 and 4.  Breastfeeding kept my period away for about 18 months.  When it returned with each kid, I remember feeling like breastfeeding wasn't worth it anymore if I was going to have to deal with that, too.

 

My dad's mom did not breastfeed at all.  She was very concerned about the health of her grandchildren and would buy formula for my mom when they would visit... Her babies were born during WW2.  My grandpa was a drill instructor in the Army in Texas at that time.  

 

My dh's mom didn't breastfeed at all.  Her mother also didn't breastfeed.  I would say they were middle class. She didn't think she would be able to as she had small breasts...  But she was very supportive of my breastfeeding.

[Just Kate]

Studies show this as a general trend today--more affluent women have the "luxury" of breastfeeding because of more flexible work, maternity leave, better access to lactation help, etc. I'm sure there are other reasons, too.

 

Good point! I breastfed my babies while working at a professional job. I also have to do some travel for work, but was always able to work out pumping while working (what a PAIN it was to pump at work...but I did it!). I assume some jobs wouldn't be so flexible.

[shawthorne44]

For my mom, they had the idea that formula was better.  I was breastfed for a few weeks and then they cut me off cold turkey.  They said I cried for the breast so bad the first time that they gave me one more time, but after that I didn't ask for it again.  With my maternal Grandmother it was because she couldn't be bothered.  With my paternal grandmother, it was that she was a farm wife and had work to do, but she used the canned milk and syrup combination.  

[Slache]

I think poverty lends itself to many natural decisions as natural tends to be cheaper. My husband, who had money growing up, is amazed at the things I'll do to avoid a doctor bill. I'll cranberry juice a UTI away, cut out my own ingrown toenail (side only), etc.

[HS Mom in NC]

My maternal grandmother was the youngest of 7 kids, born in 1922 Louisville, KY.  They were all nursed.  They were poor.  All born at home.

 

In 1944 she delivered her first baby in a hospital in Nebraska who had a heart defect and an abnormal esophagus died 3 days later.  The doctor came in and asked if she would pump for another baby whose mother was not able to.  I don't know if the mother died or was unconscious or what. I don't know what the motivation was to not use formula or other milk. My grandmother did and was always glad she did because she thought it was nice to have something good come out of a bad situation. 

My mother was born in 1945.  She grew up here in PHX. She was a member of La Leche League International when my brother was born in 1972.  She pumped extra milk for someone who had presented herself to LLLI as someone "unable to breastfeed."  After it was discovered there was no reason for that woman to breastfeed, she was perfectly capable of it, she just has some hang up about doing it herself, the donations of extra milk stopped.  I was born in 1973 so that would've ended on her part shortly anyway. She was blue collar income then so formula would've been an option but she chose not to formula feed.

Her OB had done homebirths for quite a while but her schedule demanded she do hospital deliveries when we cam along.  She required all her patients to attend LLL meetings before their due dates and recommended Bradley Classes. She was a very low intervention OB.

 

We're white collar income. I nursed my bio kids until I weaned my oldest at 5 years old and my middle self weaned at 4. 5 years old. The first was a homebirth and the second was a planned homebirth that ended up being a hospital transfer.  I relactated for my adopted kid. I opted to use hormones (Whew! Those were intense!) in addition to pumping to get my supply going as there was a 3 month window of time for her arrival.  We would get 3-4 days notice before she arrived.  I had some stored milk and my supply was fairly goods when she arrived at 7 months  but she was so traumatized and hyperactive that getting her stay put and latch on was causing far more stress than it was worth.  She loved the stored milk but we ended up going to formula. Bottles are a total hassle. I've done both and a $50 consult from an IBCLC is well worth it in normal breastfeeding situations to get off to a good start for people having trouble.

My husband's mom's side of the family has all sorts of sexual abuse and body issues in multiple generations so I'm not surprised at all that they use bottles. They do hospital births and are middle class.  Also, there was lots of breastfeeding mythology in the part of The South his maternal grandmother was born in. She was convinced her milk was "no good" because she had no concept of the differences between foremilk and hindmilk. She was wealthy enough to have hired servants take care of the kids, laundry and meals.

[fairfarmhand]

It's interesting to me that poverty in some time periods equalled breastfeeding for lack of other alternatives, but now poverty seems to equal formula feeding as moms lack information/education and must work.currently, the more affluent working moms or the stay at home moms with a husband to support them can bf.

 

(gross generalizations I know. Just remarking on trends)

[kewb]

I can tell you my mother's thoughts on the matter were that breast feeding was for poor people.  If you nursed it meant you could not afford formula.  That was the attitude of many of my relatives.

[SKL]

My mom had her first kid in 1961 and breastfeeding was definitely considered subpar.  My mom said that she differed from others (and intended to breastfeed) because she informed herself by reading a lot.  (Of course this was pre-internet and she was dirt poor, so I am not sure what she read exactly.)  The nurses physically prevented her from breastfeeding in the first days after giving birth, which caused her to fail at breastfeeding that child.  She didn't stop trying though.  She breastfed all of us as long as she could up to 2 years.

 

My sister's MIL was disgusted by my sister's decision to breastfeed.  Her husband only became supportive when another guy at work started talking up breastfeeding.

[Loowit]

My mom's mom didn't want to spend money on formula.  However, her first born (my mom) wouldn't nurse no matter what grandma tried, so she ended up feeding my mom a mixture of canned milk and corn syrup.  She was able to successfully breastfeeding her other three children that came later.  She didn't have a lot of money and grew up dirt poor.  She was very frugal.

 

My dad's mom saw formula as a status symbol.  Those that could afford to feed formula were a better class of people in her mind.  She formula fed all of her babies.  She never really got it when almost all of her granddaughters years later were big on breastfeeding.

 

My mom tried to breastfeed but her MIL was very unsupportive and her mom didn't have the ability to be around he support her.  My older sister was breastfed for almost a month, I was breastfed for 2 weeks, and by the time my little brother was born she didn't even try.  I know it is something she regrets not doing, even though I don't blame her.  The medical community at the time was very much pro-formula because it was measurable and controllable.  My MIL OTOH was living in a bigger city that was more progressive in its thinking and she was supported in breastfeeding.  All of her children were breastfed for a year.

 

When my sister had her first baby was the first time I really even thought about breastfeeding as an option.  I had always been around formula fed babies and the idea of breastfeeding never crossed my mind.  I have always been very grateful to my sister for helping me learn the benefits of breastfeeding.

 

From my reading up on the issue it seems like formula feeding for many years was considered a status symbol of the wealthy that they could afford to do it and not be tied down to a baby.  Before that the wealthy could use wet nurses.  It seems that there has been a change in the view of society with more medical research coming out about the benefits of breastfeeding, and now those with money and education are more in favor of breastfeeding.  But like others have said having a job that is supportive of pumping at work or even having baby brought to you multiple times a day are not available to those in lower class jobs.  My sister was very fortunate to have a supportive boss that allowed her enough breaks to pump and my mom could bring her children to her at lunch time to nurse once a day.  It seems now that the societal shift is that poorer people are the ones using formula, some out of necessity because of their job situation and some because of the convenience and WIC covering all or most of the cost of formula.  But of course this is a somewhat simplistic view of a very complicated issue.

[Shellydon]

My family on both of my parents side were very poor.  No electricity, outhouses in the 1940s  type poor.  They did not breastfeed because their doctor said formula was better.  My great grandmother's did nurse all their babies in the 1910's and 1920's.  My mother did not breast feed in the 70s and I nursed all 4 of mine.

[Arcadia]

Only my BIL's wife breastfeed on hubby's side, none on my side. My grandparents and his grandparents started family businesses so whoever is free fed the babies. Since they are mainly self-employed, I guess family income doesn't play a part. They would be considered middle class by income.

My lady cousins and cousin's wives are mainly self employed or SAHM. Hubby's lady cousins and cousins' wives are employed in public and private sectors.

[AndyJoy]

My great-grandparents farmed and were poor but not in total poverty. Great-grandma breastfed her kids in the 1920s-1930s.

 

Grandma was a widow then single mom then divorcee who had to work, so her kids were fed the canned milk/Karo syrup concoction in the 1950s. Her last child, born in the 1960s, may have had a commercial formula. She had a lot of drama/tragedy/issues going on that complicated the possibility of breastfeeding.

 

My mom breastfed both my sister and me in the 1980s. She was mocked a bit by others who thought it was old-fashioned or lower class to nurse rather than embrace the modern convenience of formula if you could afford it.

 

When I nursed my firstborn my grandma (who used canned milk/Karo syrup) was super-supportive and encouraging. She couldn't stop gushing about how wonderful it was that I was nursing.

[AimeeM]

I'm not sure. Me and all of my sisters were bottle fed (one out of necessity, as her mother's epilepsy meds didn't allow for safe breastfeeding. Nevermind - I take that back; my youngest sister was breastfed.

We were lower middle class growing up. My mother was simply stretched for time and energy - at any given time her and my father had us AND several foster children (ranging in age from infant to older teen). 

My husband was bottle fed. I'm not sure why. It actually struck me as odd because his mother was an Italian immigrant and while I know it's stereotyping, most of the Italian women from that generation that I know (she would be well into her 70's if she were alive) breastfed. DH's brother was bottle fed as well, but their mother passed the day after he was born. By the time my husband and his brother were born, the family was pretty solidly middle class, I believe.

 

Most of the moms I know these days who bottle feed are working moms. 

 

Both families have been wonderfully supportive of me nursing. Never batted an eyelash, even though few, if any, of them breastfed their own children, or were breastfed themselves.

[Momof3littles]

I was an extended BFer with all 3 kids.  When my oldest was an infant, MIL said basically, "I thought only poor people BF."  She associates formula with privilege. She couldn't imagine why I would attempt to BF if I didn't "need to" financially.  She's almost 70.

 

My mom is in her late 60s and BF me for 18 months (long back then!) in the late 70s. She's always been supportive of BFing.  She did not nurse her first two children, as she was young and in an abusive marriage at that time with her ex, and it just was much more uncommon I think.  There is a 10+ year age gap between my siblings and me, so things turned a bit in that time.  In contrast, my mom and dad (mom remarried) did Lamaze, my dad was present in the delivery room, my mom BF, etc. in the late 70s, so just a very different approach than with my siblings.  I grew up middle class.

 

 

[Laura Corin]

My mother breast fed us all, although she only fed me for a couple of months - she said she was too tired and busy.  Breast feeding was completely normal in the UK in the later 50s and early 60s.  My MIL in Texas, however, was persuaded that formula was better for babies (modern, scientific) and that she didn't have enough milk anyway.  She tolerated my breast feeding the boys but made a few comments about 'taking the opportunity to stop'.  Both families were middle class and reasonably comfortable.

 

L

[Guest]

Do you think that the poverty influenced their attitudes?

 

I wonder if families who were a little more affluent (perhaps delivering in hospitals, rather than at home) got the idea that bottles were better. (I can't say, because we don't have affluence in our backgrounds) Or since they had the option to bottlefeed, they came to rely on it more?

 

Thoughts?

 

Yes. For a long time, not bfing one's babies was a status symbol. It could not be done in public, expensive clothing did not facilitate breastfeeding, it was immodest and "animalistic" to many affluent women (and their men), and it required an availability of the mother that was actively discouraged in some classes of society and some locations. Also, through the 50s and 60s, there was a belief that science was better than base, "animalistic" products.

[DesertBlossom]

My mom said she remembered being taught that formula was better, but I think she breastfed because it was cheaper. I also think there's a bit of an LDS subculture where I live that is very pro breastfeeding. We're middle class (as were my parents) and I grew up thinking breastfeeding was very normal. I knew plenty of FF babies too, but breastfeeding was/is very common.

[ErinE]

Blue collar grandparents: My paternal grandmother formula fed; it was definitely a status issue. My maternal grandmother nursed; the family was too poor to afford formula.

 

My parents: blue collar when children were born. My older sibling and I were formula fed; my younger sibling was both breast and formula fed. My mother worked full-time so she had to supplement.

 

My generation: mainly white collar. As far as I'm aware, I am one of two women who exclusively nursed her children. A few relatives had serious problems, but the overwhelming majority preferred formula feeding. Ease of feeding factored into the decision far more than work or economic status.

[Jackie]

My mother did some of both. Her first baby spent the majority of her life in NICU and she was not allowed to nurse. The next three babies were exclusively breastfed. The last three were primarily formula fed. My parents were lower middle class throughout all the childbearing years. What changed for her is that she realized that she could not *have* to always be attached to the latest baby and was relieved to have formula as an option. I don't believe she was aware of pumping as an option as an alternative to formula.

 

I nursed DD until she was 2yo. We are upper middle class and I had a workplace that was reasonably supportive of basic parenting leave and pumping at the office. All of my current friends (and my co-workers at the time) nurse or tried to nurse.

[dirty ethel rackham]

My parents were products of the depression and grew up dirt poor.  But they had a more "city" upbringing.  I don't know if my grandmothers nursed.  It was considered "unscientific" and "unsanitary."  My parents had nothing when they started out, so it wasn't an issue of poverty, but "low-class" and "something immigrants did" (even though they were 2nd gens themselves.)  Two of my SILs did nurse, but not for a long time - maybe 6 weeks.  My oldest sister was adamantly opposed and thought it was gross.  Younger sister nursed her oldest for 6 weeks.  She really didn't want to (as it just took too long - she is one who just can't sit still even at age 47.)  When that child ended up with severe excema, allergies and asthma, she decided to nurse the 2nd one for 6 months (not really excited about it either but knew that she had to do something to reduce the health risks to her children.)  

I was the odd one and nursed in terms of years, not weeks or months.   My family just calls me "the crunchy one."  With my first child, my mom was embarrassed that I bf past 3 months.  With the other ones, she either just got used to it or learned to keep her mouth shut. 

[Artichoke]

My grandmother, now 86, despises breast feeding and always has. She worked during WWII at a shoe factory and took the trolley where a lot of tired women nursed openly and quite nakedly -- at least to the waist. To this day, she thinks nursing is dirty and something low class. She and her twin were the youngest so they never saw nursing at home. This attitude carried down to my mom. When I nursed our dc, there was absolutely no support. If it was a family gathering, I either had to go to the back bedroom or nurse in the car that was parked around back. Sure, I didn't like it, but it was something that I learned to overlook. Grandma tried to talk me out of nursing so I knew her reasons, and that made it easier for me to understand. We came to a compromise that I'd only say it was time to feed the baby and then disappear.

[VeritasMama]

Grandparents: Working class, they were told in the 1950's that formula was best by their doctors, and so they bottle fed.

 

MIL: small farmers, pretty poor in the 1980's when they started having kids. She bf to save money, but enjoyed it and nursed her younger children even after finances improved.

 

My mother: Didn't bf, simply didn't want to. We were all born in the late 70's and 80''s, we were middle class. Later my mom went back to nursing school and then joined the Air Force and worked as an OBGYN nurse for the first 7 years. She now knows more than I do about nursing, lol.

 

Myself: I had no exposure to bfing. But my first baby was a preemie, and the hospital sent in an LC with a pump to my room right away. The NICU was excellent at educating mothers and supporting mothers so they could bf. I was even able to rent a hospital grade pump from the NICU to use at home. What a difference a Medela Symphony makes! There was also a very active LLL and I met other nursing moms, which made another huge difference, learning from other's practical experience. Very ideal for a first time mom.

 

Fast forward to my fourth baby. He was full term but ended up in critical condition with PPHN and a pneumothorax in each lung. He was in a NICU in a different state from my first. He was gravely ill but finally recovered. He was finally able to eat on his own when he was 3 1/2 weeks old, but the doctor didn't want him to even attempt nursing. The nurses and LC at this hospital all tended to parrot the doctors advice no matter what, and the doctor wanted him to drink breastmillk from a bottle as nursing would be too stressful for him and she thought he'd be too weak any way. Well, I insisted on at least trying, and she told me in a very annoyed manner that I could try but that she knew for a fact it wouldn't be successful. Of course, this motivated me even more. A week later he was at home nursing like a pro and had gained a whole pound. It took a few days and a lot of patience for him to get the hang of it, but my stubbornness paid off. But if I had been less experienced or uneducated, I probably would have listened to the doctor and not even tried. He nursed for a year.

 

I have nursed all my babies for various amounts of time, longer when I wasn't working as opposed to periods when I was. Some of them had formula as well, and I feel no guilt over this. We are middle class.

 

ETA: My mother in law was supportive and helpful with nursing, but she lives pretty far away. My husbands grandmother has also made supportive comments about breastfeeding, and she has said that after seeing her daughter and myself nurse she wishes she had tried it herself, but she listened to the doctor because he was the expert.

[Sunshine State Sue]

My mom's 8 children were born between 1953 and 1966.  The doctor told her that she didn't have enough milk, and she formula fed all of us.  She was a SAHM.  Definitely middle class.  I think it was typical of the times.  I remember she also got knocked out during the hospitals births and she told me she got an episiotomy with each birth.  I think forceps were involved with each birth as well.  I know my Dad regreted not being allowed to be present at any birth.

 

I have no idea about my grandparents.  Only 1 grandma was alive by the time I came around and she died long before I ever thought about breastfeeding (or even heard of it probably).

[Crimson Wife]

In my family it wasn't SES but rather religion that made a difference. The WASPs FF while the Catholics BF. La Leche League grew out of a Catholic moms' support group. My maternal grandma was weirded out by my mom deciding to BF but my paternal grandma (who didn't even like my mom very much when I was little) was supportive. I think it actually helped soften my grandma's attitude towards my mom.

[LucyStoner]

My mother's family was poor and extraordinarily dysfunctional. Not that one means the other, but they were both. I do not know if she breast fed any of her kids. My mom was raised by a single mom and didn't learn who her father even was until she was 35. Her mom barely cared for them or fed them at all. Her mother was 14 when my aunt was born, 16 when she had a baby who died of suspicious circumstances (likely abuse) and 18 when my mom was born. Her mother was raised in small town Kentucky on the wrong side of the tracks and my mom was raised all over the place, mostly in urban midwest cities. I suppose I could ask my mom's mother who is still alive and kicking it in central Florida, but I don't even let her have my phone number so it's not like we are are speaking terms, lol. It seems statistically probable that she was breastfed as a baby given the era and location but it seems unlikely to me that she was around her own babies enough to nurse them. Both my aunt and mom were in and out of foster care while their mom was in and out of various criminal schemes and jail.

 

My father's family was a dad who was an orphan and a mother whose big Irish Catholic family was 1 generation out of poverty. My grandmother had 9 children from the early 1940s to the early 1960s. From what I understand she nursed the older ones for a short time and then it was karo syrup and condensed milk formula with vitamin drops.

 

My mother had her first child in 1974 and was pretty much a flower child hippie sort and she really wanted to nurse us but was told that she couldn't without harming us due to her seizure meds. Not being able to breastfeed was something she felt she missed out on as a mom.

 

I think class issues are tied to current breastfeeding rates as well off moms are more likely to have longer maternity leave and better pumping possibilities when they head back to work. It's hard to get nursing established when you are working FT just a couple of weeks postpartum.

 

Both of my parents were supportive of breastfeeding when my sons came along. My middle class MIL who nursed her 2 children for a few short time after birth before going back to work was also supportive.

[Laura Corin]

To add my overseas experience: I had the impression in both Hong Kong and China that formula feeding was considered the modern, middle class thing to do, that breast feeding was for peasants.  I did a bit of propaganda with my household helper in China, chatting happily about how much simpler it had been (for me) to breast feed than to mess with bottles.  I didn't pressure her and I don't know what she finally chose when she had her own child.

 

L

[Heather in Neverland]

I can tell you my mother's thoughts on the matter were that breast feeding was for poor people. If you nursed it meant you could not afford formula. That was the attitude of many of my relatives.

This is my family as well. My grandmother had 12 kids and was very, very poor and breastfeed all her babies. My mother associates breastfeeding with poverty and formula with affluence. That is how I was raised and it influenced my decision with my first child (unfortunately). Now that I'm older I might do it differently.

[BlsdMama]

My dad's family had 11 children.

My mom's had 12 - 11 living past infancy.

 

Neither breastfed.

 

Of those 21 children (I'm counting my mom & dad as one unit because obviously they had babies together  ;) ) only one aunt breastfed and one other aunt attempted nursing.

 

All families are solidly middle class, blue collar workers.  The one that breastfed is the only one with a four year college degree.

 

IME, people who are better educated / higher income tend to nurse.  Now I have to go read breastfeeding myths, lol. My own mama was a little astounded I would want to nurse.  Tandem nursing was mind boggling and extended nursing probably shaved a year or so off her life. ;)  Poor woman.  I shaved my rough edges off her than any of my siblings.  She still claims me though! ;) :D

[waa510]

I remember my mom being aghast at my choosing to breastfeed my babies. She was under the impression that those who breastfeed only do so because they can't afford formula. To breastfeed was to look poor and lower-class....something that she had a lot of issue with as she grew up very poor but married into the upper middle class. She also used formula with my brother and I so my breastfeeding was a "dig" at her choices *eye roll*

[QueenCat]

I think part of it is also cultural and time period? My mom bottle fed us. I bottle fed both of mine. Not a clue what dh's mom di. When I had the first child, I did not anyone who nursed. By the time I had the second child, two years later, tons of the same friends were nursing. Wasn't an option for me. Lived in the same area, affluent but we weren't, but we weren't under the poverty line either.