I had a birth plan for both of my labours, which both stated my desire to breastfeed as soon as bub was ready, or at least in the first hour after birth. After the birth of my first baby, my son, I informed the midwife of my wishes (she had not once looked at my birth plan) and she immediately grabbed my baby, grabbed my breast and proceeded to “latch” him on by shoving my nipple into his mouth quite aggressively. Although it didn’t seem right at the time, I didn’t have the confidence or energy to put forward any kind of protest. I was just happy that he was born and content to go with the flow!.........

The first two weeks we had him home were spent expressing and bottle feeding to allow my nipples to heal and every day or two after the two week mark I would try feeding him again. Apparently as he got older and stronger his ability to open his mouth wider and attach properly would improve. Pretty soon it did stop hurting enough so I could bear it and we were off and running. I remember asking a close friend "how long is it going to hurt for" and she said it could take a few weeks, at that stage I thought Oh My God another few weeks, that's such a long time. Now in hindsight it was a tiny blip on the radar! He was around 6 weeks old before the two of us got to know what we were doing and found a nice rhythm. I remember thinking early on how easy it would be to put him on the bottle and how its no wonder so many women don’t persist when it can be downright painful and hard work. I was determined not to give up and was ok with enduring some pain or discomfort in the short term for the long term gains of health and wellbeing for my children. Of course, I’m definately not saying that those who do not breastfeed are not interested in raising healthy children, I’m simply saying that putting my children on formula was not an option. He was breastfed until he was 13 months old.

At the time of posting this I was still feeding my 10 month old daughter who I also breastfed until 13 months, she went straight to Goats milk in a cup as my son did. When I was pregnant with her I had a very clear idea of starting off our breastfeeding relationship differently and wanted my baby to be placed on my stomach immediately after her birth to be allowed to find the nipple and attach herself naturally, in her own time and this is exactly what she did. It was an absolutely amazing! I had the advantage of hindsight this time, I knew the very first feed that my first baby had was a major contributing factor in the initial problems.  

Establishing breastfeeding the second time was easier for a few reasons, it still hurt in the beginning but for nowhere near as long. Again I had the same issue of being given too much advice by too many different midwives but this time I was in a public hospital and only had a 2 night stay. I was able to have a one-on-one session with a great Lactation Consultant who really helped me to put aside any of the not so useful advice I’d been given and go with one method of attaching my baby that made a lot of sense. Unfortunately I have to be honest and say that the initial few days were still very painful as I was silly enough to ‘feed through the pain’ rather than persist with getting her attached properly and was also blessed with a bout of mastitis about a week after her birth. This time around though our issues were sorted out much quicker and we are both enjoying a stress free breastfeeding relationship.

I also love the fact that my son is able to see Mum feed his sister openly and will grow up knowing that breastfeeding in a normal and natural part of life. This morning after I fed my daughter he said to her “did you have a nice drink of mummy’s boobie?” 

At around 11 months old I mentioned to someone that I'm going to stop breastfeeding my daughter soon, she was nearly 12 months. When asked why, I couldn't really answer, I wasn't sure, I hadn't thought about my reasons, but 12 months was just a time I had in mind and it felt right, there was no real physical, psychological or emotional reason.

At 14 months and I gave her her last breastfeed about a week prior. I have to say that I really missed the closeness and nurturing feeling I got from breastfeeding but we get that from extra cuddles and play. I also feel positive about the fact that I gave her and my son a positive healthy start in life.

During a four year period I had 3 months where I wasn't pregnant or breastfeeding so my body enjoyed a well deserved rest!

A year later!

My daughter turned two 6 weeks ago and my son is four in one week. Obviously I can't credit breastfeeding entirely for their strong immune systems, it has to do with constitution, diet and lifestyle as well, but they don't get sick very often (am now touching wood!!) and I do honestly feel that they are better of for being breastfed for the first 13 months of their lives.