Is Your Significant Other Supportive of Your Breastfeeding?

Jessica - posted on 04/28/2010

I don't have a significant other because he wasn't supportive at all even before my little guy was born. He was more interensted in when he could get sex then helping me take care of my(I say my because at this point his father hasn't seen him for a year) son when we were together even when Corbin started eating baby food his father didn't want to help so yea you are lucky that you have a good man in your life

Alana - posted on 04/28/2010

I am convinced that if it wasn't for the support and encouragement I received from my husband about bfing I would have given up on it during those first few tough weeks. I was fully planning on ebfing while i was pregnant, but was really shocked to discover how hard it was to get the hang of after my baby was born. If my husband would have been cool with it I totally would have switched to formula (as much as I hate to admit it now!) but he was adamant about it and my son and i couldn't be more grateful for it. we've been going strong since and I'm SO glad we did!

Bobbie - posted on 04/28/2010

My husband keeps trying to force me to stop breastfeeding. My daughter just turned one year old. She drinks juice from a sippy, but refuses milk. She spits it out. He has yelled at me and demanded answers as to how long I plan on doing this, 4 or 5 years old? My goal had only been a year, but I don't believe in forcing her to stop if she won't take anything else. He tried to hold her down and force her to drink milk a week ago. I think part of his attitude is because his friend's wife is a La Leche member who bf until around 5, and people would make comments behind her back. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if my mother-in-law has something to do with it. She's never been able to take the baby for more than a few hours because of the breastfeeding. But that's an entirely different story...

Virginia - posted on 04/25/2010

He has been very supportive of my exclusive BF-ing for the first 6 months and then of continuing to nurse after the intro of solid food. Our daughter is 2 now and has never had a drop of formula in her life. My DH is getting ready for me to wean as we start to think about TTC this summer, but he would never push it. I am happy to let her wean herself, and he is not forcing the issue. We're going away for the weekend in two weeks to attend a Bat Mitzvah, so we'll see if my milk dries up. I would be a little sad if it did, but it would also be an easy way to wean her. We'll see what happens when we get back. But, to the main question, he has been great.

Krystal - posted on 04/25/2010

My husband is actually the one who told me I needed to breastfeed. lol, I felt weird at first since none of my family ever nursed and my own mother is like disgusted by it but it was the best decision we ever made. However, haha he would so not be all about going until my girls were 5 or 6. He thinks 2 is weird since I only nursed my first for a year (her choice, she prefers milk from a cow sadly) but I want to try and breastfeed this baby until she is 2. He was breastfed until he was a little over 2 so I know he'll get over it with the help of his crazy mom.

Aicha - posted on 04/24/2010

My husband is supportive of breastfeeding

Chloe - posted on 04/24/2010

Im no longer with the dad of my daughter, and i can say with confidance he wasnt supportive with anything at all, he didnt care about her or me, and didnt show an interest in her at all, ive recently found out hes now doing drugs all the time, sleeping with a school girl and getting in trouble with the police, i can quite happily say im glad hes not in my daughters life.

Amanda - posted on 04/24/2010

My fiance is great, not only is he supportive but he thinks i'm sexier when i breastfeed. LOL. During our 20 month olds first christmas (and over most of the following january) i was HORRIBLY sick with the flu. He'd take care of her, change her, do anything she needed, only bringing her over to nurse every few hours. He seemed almost as sad as i was when our little one decided she was done with the nursing. Expecting another, due in August, and he sort of pokes fun at how much i'm looking forward to nursing, but he does it with a silly smile. He's never had a problem with me nursing in public and would probably stare down anyone who even attempted to say something against it. His family also didn't even bat an eye at my nursing during the holiday gatherings, which is great.

Jeannette - posted on 04/24/2010

My husband is very supportive. I'm the only person he knows who has breastfed pat a couple weeks (same for me.) I tell him I am gonna stop when our son is one year old. Of course it will be a little longer, due to weaning. Sometimes I think that he thinks our son is too attached to the breast. When I am home with him, he eats every 2 hours (during the day), no matter what and he is 5 months. When my husband has him on the weekends (when I am at work), he might only take a bottle 2-3 times, whereas if he was with me, he would have eaten 5 times. But I'm glad he is supportive and he doesn't mind if I do it in public. :)

Jessica - posted on 04/23/2010

oh & also, he is very knowledgeable about all the benefits of breast feeding and any time someone suggests we start solids or ask why we are still breast feeding, he is right there to back me up. i love it :)

any time i come home with a story of how some rude person made a comment about my breast feeding exclusively for this long he always says, "good thing i wasn't there b/c that would have been a nasty argument." haha :)

Jessica - posted on 04/23/2010

Tomas is super supportive. He agrees that we should keep her exclusively breast fed until she is at least a year old and even then we will start solids very slowly. He agrees that we shouldn't stop completely until she is at least 3 or 4, or whenever she self-weans. Not only does he support my opinion, but he is always there for me whenever I have to pump to keep my supply b/c here are times when Lulu goes through nursing strikes and if I don't pump, my supply will decrease! He really has been the main reason we have been breast feeding for this long! I really don't think that even with my best efforts I could have done this on my own without losing my sanity! Lol.

Sarah - posted on 04/23/2010

Good for him! My husband is very supportive of breastfeeding and likes the fact that it saves us lots of money on formula. With our 1st child I tried to bf but my son rejected bf at 2 months and it cost us a fortune in formula and accesories because I could not express enough milk. So with my daughter the question never arose and she has just self weaned at 15months. I think this is because my hormones have changed again because our 3rd child is due anytime ( 1 day overdue). Good luck with bf for that long.

Jeramie - posted on 04/23/2010

My husband is very understanding about breastfeeding. His mother breastfed all five of her sons, of which my hubby was the first. He just sees it as natural, as it is. As a Muslim man, modesty is very important to him. Even though, he has no problem with me breastfeeding in public, because he understands it is a necessity, and important to the health of our child. He wouldn't dream of asking me hide in the bathroom or something. I am very grateful for having such a loving and understanding husband.

Virginia - posted on 04/23/2010

My husband is very supportive. He thanks me every day for breast feeding our son.

Alison - posted on 04/23/2010

My husband is very supportive of my decision to breastfeed. He lets me know that I can breastfeed for as long as I want. We are going on 7 months of breastfeeding and still going strong. As for feeding in public Travis isn't the best at it, if I do it then I use a nursing cover or else we have a bottle as a backup.

Zoe - posted on 04/23/2010

My husband didnt even consider formula with any of our babies, and luckily neither did i.
If he is with me and i have an encounter with a person who doesnt want my child to eat he is the first one to moan. I was asked to cover up with a nasty looking England flag one summer as someone had complained. Before i had a chance to respond, he had rather curtly told the lady where she could take her flag and shove it. He also bought a t shirt when i was having my last baby that says "proud husband of a breastfeeding Mama" and he loves wearing it. My first weaned at 13m, my 2nd was also 13m when she stopped, my 3rd was 11m when she stopped and my new fella is about to turn 6m, i am hoping for a long time to go yet!

Katie - posted on 04/22/2010

My husbands family bottle-fed all of their babies. So when I told them I wanted to breastfeed, absolutely nobody was supportive of it. They kept telling me "You can't do that because you're on anti depressents" or "The baby is going to be too skinny". That's the only thing my own mom supported me on (long story short, she hates my husband because he's not rich). I live with most of his family, so it was awkward for them whenever I had to run into the bedroom to breastfeed. They eventually were ok with it once they realized that we didn't have to pay for formula.

Stina - posted on 04/22/2010

My husband has been very supportive but also of the opinion that it's my body/my choice to BF. He has told me he is thankful that I want to BF our children b/c our oldest to are so very healthy. (2 ear infections in our son AFTER his second birthday and no ear infections in our dd)

He is happy that I'm willing to nurse because it saves us so much money. Formula is EXPENSIVE!!!

He is happy that he isn't expected to get up and feed the baby at night, although he is kind enough to bring the baby to me sometimes.

Our third baby is one year old today and still nursing several times a day. This will be the first baby I nurse past a year of age and I am so happy that she doesn't show any signs of weaning yet.

I am also thankful to have a husband who doesn't have the hangups that I've read other guys have. I'm thankful to have such a wonderful husband and father of our 3 kids and that he has been nothing but supportive of an accumulative 2 years, 10 months and counting of nursing our babies.

Jacky - posted on 04/22/2010

100% supports me....he has even said how proud of me he is!!!! That was wonderful to hear! I nursed my 24 month old for 11 months and am currently nursing our 5 month old as well.

YOU GO GIRL!

Jacky
Facebook breastfeeding group Mummies Nummies

Celeste - posted on 04/22/2010

My DH is very supportive! At first he was a little "iffy" with our first daughter. She nursed until she was 17 months. He's on board with me nursing my 3 1/2 year old twin boys. He's never said a negative thing about it and also encourages other moms and dads to breastfeed.

Myra - posted on 04/22/2010

my hubby is supportive to whatever my decision was. when i first came out of hospital, baby wasnt latching s i felt bad as he hadnt eaten for 2 days and started formula for 2 weeks. i made the decision that i really wanted to breastfeed and he encouraged and helped in every way he can. when baby was 2 months, i had weined off formula completely and fully breastfeeding. Am very thankful for my hubby.

Denise - posted on 04/22/2010

I breast fed for 18 mths with my daughter. He was super supportive. He thought it was so awesome that I did it for that long. Hehe I think he liked even more so that he didn't have to get up in the middle of the night and feed her. I am due with my son in 2 weeks and I plan on breastfeeding for just as long if not longer than the last time. And he is already just as supportive as the last time.

Jenny - posted on 04/22/2010

My husband is extremely supportive and always has been. I think with our first he felt a little left out at the beginning because I didn't pump at all, but he soon realized there are so many other ways to bond with baby and now, with our second, he's completely on board. We had a natural birth with midwife care all along, so there was never any doubt that I was going to breastfeed. It certainly makes it easier when you're supported.

April - posted on 04/22/2010

I, too, am extremely lucky. When I was pregnant my hubby didn't understand my commitment to breastfeeding, but as I taught him the reasons it was so important to me, he soon understood and became my biggest cheerleader!

Stevie - posted on 04/21/2010

That is excellent that your hubby supports you, that is the most important thing in relationship! Your child is lucky to be be brought up in a strong and nurturing partnership :)

Emily - posted on 04/21/2010

You are very lucky!
My husband is very supportive now, but wasn't always, though I think it just had to do with lack of information. When my first child was nearing one year old, my husband made some comment about how I wouldn't be nursing much longer and I was like.. "What???" He was under the assumption that when a baby hit one year old you automatically stop nursing. LOL It took some time, but eventually he got used to the idea of self-weaning. Here I am still nursing my 3-year-old plus our new baby and he doesn't even bat an eye.

However, he's still weirded out by nursing in public and is always horrified every time I nurse in public, even if we're just in the car! For some reason he thinks everyone will be staring. I have never had a bad experience nursing in public though.. my hubby is just paranoid. ;)

Stefanie - posted on 04/21/2010

hes sooo supportive, he always gives me encouragement & defends my decisions

Jacquelyn - posted on 04/21/2010

With my first he wasn't that supportive after about 1.5 yrs old but with #2 he was great and now with #3 he is even better!! I think he just had become comfortable with it himself - which is something many Americans have problems doing.