"E" wrote in message ...
lots of snips...

Mama: No, that's OK. Formula is much easier anyway. I just gave up it
wasn't worth it.


OK, my stupid question for the day (remembering that I am LAZY, and don't do
something if I don't have to...)
How is ff easier than bf???!??

I posted something about this in the other thread, but here goes:

It really depends on your situation. I think there are combinations
of circumstances that would make one or the other easier or
harder.

IMO, breast feeding is easier if:

* you don't go back to work, so no pumping or bottles required
* you don't have other duties that would be difficult to manage
with the lengthy nursing sessions of a newborn
* you have an ample supply
* you are able to nurse lying down, and/or asleep, and/or you have
a baby that sleeps some longer stretches early on
* you have no latching struggles, so no anxiety or pain

If, instead, you're in a lot of pain, or you've gone
back to work and are trying to nurse a baby every two
hours at night then function during the day with no
naps, ff might seem a lot easier.

The one thing that really distinguishes bottle-feeding from
nursing is that *someone else can do it*. If you have a
child who is waking frequently at night, your partner or a
family member can potentially do some feeding. If you can
pump enough to do this with breast milk, then that helps,
although this is advised against because of possible
interference with supply. If you can't, then it's
nurse or nothing. If you can't figure out how to nurse
lying down or the baby doesn't like that position,
you have to be awake for all the night nursing.

Personally: my son was combi-fed, because I couldn't
pump enough to keep him going during the day. I was
stubborn about night feedings though, and I never
let him have formula at night, although at some
point we had to start supplementing him during the
day even when I was there because my supply would
dip during the hours my body 'expected' him to be
away from me. He went through several growth spurts
while I was working, and BOY would it have been nice
in some ways to have been able to ask his night-owl
father to do some night feedings. I didn't do it,
because getting as much breastmilk as possible into
him was a priority for me, but it sure wasn't the
convenience of the thing that kept me going.

Beth
Sam 8/16/2002