i feel bad about the start i gave my child?

Stop worrying about it. I have three children, one was with a different woman. He wasn't breastfed at all, and is very healthy. He is 14 now, and very smart, athletic, and artistic. My other two, 5 and 7 were breastfed for a short time. My wife wasn't producing enough milk, so we had to supplement with formula. These two are also very healthy, smart, and talented. Some women have hang ups with breastfeeding, and others just plane can't breastfeed. I don't know why you didn't breastfeed. It doesn't matter why. Your child is healthy it seams, and THAT is all that matters.

1. Baby - 10 months

2. Breastfed for 2 months

3. Very healthy and happy, has had one bad bug so far (flu) and also has a lactose sensitivity

not school age yet so the others don't apply.

My aunts son was breastfed and has been sick more times then anyone I know. My mom didn't breastfeed me or my 3 sisters and we barely ever got sick. It helps their immunity to a certain extent but it's noot going to make a huge enouh difference that it matters too much.

Ok - I'm not answering your questions, but hear this: all those breastfeeding statistics are skewed. There is no way to take all those external variables into account when linking breastfeeding to health or school performance or anything else. They can say that there is a positive correlation between these things, but there's no way to say the relationship is cause and effect. Cause and effect, however, seems to be the only thing that people in the media understand. Generations of children were reared without breastfeeding and they're fine. Love is far more important than breastfeeding. Put all of the mumbo-jumbo from the breastfeeding nazis out of your head. You're fine, and so is your child. Everyone needs to mind her own boobs.

My son will be 4 on April 1st and he's in preschool. I didn't breastfeed him. I would say yes, my son is generally healthy. Last time he was sick was the beginning of December of last year with Strep throat. He does not get sick often!

School Age...10

Never Breast Fed

Overall Healthy

He only misses school if he begs (but he is a straight A student and in the gifted program so hard to be too difficult with him)

I can't answer these questions because I'm 16 and childless, and I don't have to either :)

Honestly, the past doesn't matter. Just concentrate on giving your child the best your can now and in the future! Anyway, there are a lot of breastmilk substitutes that provide sufficient vitamins and minerals. You sound like a great mother (they're always the worriers :D), and I'm sure your child will grow up in a safe and happy environment. Honestly, don't fret about it! xx

My son is 7 years old and I wasn't able to breast feed him, and to tell you the truth, I didn't like the feeling or the fact that I didn't know how much milk he was getting. I think you are doing a great job and I'm sure you will continue to do so in the future.

My children are now adults and I breast fed them both for 11 months. They are very healthy. So are my friends children and they were bottle fed. It's too late to worry about what you can't change.

Just feed him healthy stuff. Make sure he washes his hands before he's eaten and all that stuff and he should be fine. The only thing I can imagine your kid doing is being an extremely picky eater. Kids usually have a taste for whatever was in their mothers' milk.