The Lonely World Between Nursing and Formula

I know that breast is best, but we also live in a fallen, sin cursed world. I am thankful for all your insight and encouragement on my first post in this subject. I was very relieved to hear I was not alone. I am learning there are many women who can not breast feed their babies. http://rachelwards.blogspot.com/2007/12/to-nurse-or-not-to-nurse.html
I know there are many people who would continue to judge my decision to go to the bottle.

I felt very lonely during this time. Friends and family encouraging me to keep on, friends and family encouraging me to give the bottle. My personality is people pleaser. I was so torn. No matter what I chose to do I was going to make some one upset. There were the advocates for nursing on one side "telling" me I would be a "bad mother" to go to the bottle. There were practitioners "telling" me I would be a "bad mother" to continue breast feeding. I did not FEEL that I had support for doing both at the same time...supplementing. I wish I could have felt comfortable doing both. I know there are women who supplement comfortably. Who are you and how do you do it?

Out of this ordeal, I am grateful. It forced me to make my own choice, to not consider who would be happy or upset. This decision had to be my own. It always was.

Many of us women breast feed. Many of us go to or start with the bottle. There is nothing right or wrong with either. The wrong thing is to make a mother FEEL bad for the choices she makes. The right thing is to encourage her in her decisions. Babies continue to be born and survive to adulthood. I had to nurse for my own self. I wanted to be able to say, "I did it!" That was reason enough for me. When it came time for the bottle, I could not sacrifice my baby on the alter of my pride.

We are not having any more children, but if we did I would try to nurse again. With each baby the path got easier because I had travelled it before.