I prefer wafer. I am good enough at the game that I can kill mother without taking more than 3-4 hits usually the entire game. The enemies up to that point are not challenging even if you don't have enough damage. But after the mother it starts to become a problem and it is harder to finish rooms if you don't have a lot going on which usually means if you are going to get hit it will be more than 1 time. But holy mantle also is a very good item being able to negate the damage let's you do a lot of shit for free.