I never even considered bottlefeeding a possiblity.  First of all, I was
born 7 weeks early, and I was sick for a while because I had congenital
hypothyroid that was unyet diagnosed; this caused my blirubin to rise real
high, and when they changed my blood I just got sicker.  My mother pumped
for a real long time for me before I got home.  I'm sure this is because of
the group she went to in Philadelphia, which had great support;  How many
women were so dedicated to Bf in 1970?

I grew up knowing I'd nursed 15 mos. (I even remember giving mom a chomp),
and it just seemed natural.  When my son was born my mother was around and
she probably would have thrown a fit if I'd bottlefed.  I think the real
person I owe thanks to though is my husband.

My husband was Bf for a month.  His mom had no support, and quit quickly.
My husband hates seeing three-year-olds with pacifiers and bottles and bad
muscle tone.  He is a Karate teacher and insists he'd be so much stronger
if he'd been Bf.  He also can't stand waste of natural resources.  He also
believes breasts are beautiful and G-d made them for more than just men to
look at.  In short, no Bf is a waste of breasts.

My husband was the one who said he couldn't stand putting the screaming kid
in the separate room and therefore he sleeps with us.  I held off because
all the psychology books I read said it was a no-no, as did the leader of
our parenting group.  My husband said he has too few hours to sleep at
night and he'd be damned spending them walking a screaming kid back to his
room every five minutes.  Incidentally, my husband and I constantly fought
about the kid who wouldn't sleep, and it was a major cause of friction in
our marriage.  The Family Bed actually cut out 7/8's of our fights.
I honestly believe it saved our marriage.

Nofia