Mom not supportive

I went out to lunch today with my mom. Toward the end Mattie started crying. I threw a blanket over my shoulder and tried to nurse. My mom, who never bf, was horrified. She told me, "I justmake your sister bring a bottle when we go out." I told her I do not wabt to give her a bottle this young and I am not going to starve her. I am going to nurse her when I can. She then sugessted I bf in the car! I was so upset I ledt early. I thought she would be more supportive than that.

Ouch! That is hard...

One thing that frustrates me is that it is perfectly acceptable to feed your baby, but it HAS to be from a bottle when in public. Why is that?? As long as you cover up then I see no shame in feeding a baby in public. Hopefully your mother will get more comfortable with you breast feeding.

Her loss, not yours.
she won't get to spend as much time with you and baby if she is defensive about breastfeeding.
I've had the discussions of [insert name of importat person] was breastfed and I'm pretty sure their mom didn't hide in the bathroom or the car. important person could be Ghandi, Jesus, Einstein(ok I'm guessing on that one hehehehehe)

ignoring her rude comments and actions is hard. however you are the parent of this baby and not her, you make the parent choices. you are doing what you know and what is medicaly proven to be the best for your child. dont ever let anyone bully or tell you otherwise. I am proud of you as a parent for your resolve to do the best you can for your baby.

it really riles me up when grandparents or other family members try and force parenting choices on their children for their grandchildren or other family members.

My mom is fine when I bf at home. My sister bf's her 9 week old but she also gives formula because she doesn't think she produces enough milk for her son. So my mom doesn't think bfing is worth the "hassle". She even gets upset because I won't let her give Mattie a bottle. I know she's just ignorant. She just doesn't know. And my sister has been giving her false information, so she doesn't think bfing alone can sustain a baby. I did tell her about Mattie's weight gain though. I'm trying to educate my whole family but it's hard when they already think one way all because my sister "can't bf."

Practice saying, "Wow, I'm sorry you feel that way." And paste a sympathetic look on your face, which you wear while breastfeeding your beautiful baby.

Maybe your example will change things more than you know. People sometimes change slowly.

I had to laugh at "she doesn't think bfing alone can sustain a baby." Wow! It's so amazing that generations survived before formula was invented!

Some women out of guilt or lack of info and edu honestly think bf is not adequate. They may then say, oh back in the days without formula if the mom couldn’t bf the baby died. No back in the day the moms own mother, sisters, cousins, aunts and neighbors helped her fix any problems. If the mom truly didn’t make enough milk or died then the same family members would have taken turns nursing the baby themselves. If formula disappeared this instant off the face of the earth, yes there would be some scrambling, but in a matter of months the whole "formula conspiracy" as my dh put it would go away and we would go back to what nature intended for our infants. Mothers nursing their babies and in super extreme circumstances family and friends stepping in to help.

The good old "the doctor has advised me to exclusively breastfeed" is always a good one too. While some people will (foolishly) debate with a baby's mother, most people don't question doctors. Which is a shame actually, but here it will work to your advantage.

My mom told me one of the reasons there were high mortality rates among infants was because there wasn't formula. My sister's baby wants to nurse every hour and she really thinks it's because she's not producing enough milk. In fact that's what she told my mom. So when my mom adked me how often Mattalynne is nuring and I told her about every hour or two she told me the baby wasn't getting enough milk and I need to suplement with formula like my sister does. Nevermind Mattie gained an entire pound in a week! And she's on nothing but breastmilk! I feel so sorry for my mom and my sister because they actually believe this.

My mom wasn't supportive either and was mortified I'd actually choose nursing over taking my prescription medications. But my first was a preemie so there was no way I was going to sacrifice her development. Eventually my mom got on board as I helped educate her. Fortunately my mother-in-law and husband were much more supportive.