In celebration of International Breastfeeding Week, I’ve written about my own breastfeeding experience and how having an amazing support system has impacted my journey. Breastfeeding has been something that has shaped me as a mother; it’s my go-to to settle my baby, to help him sleep, to comfort him when he’s unwell.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have had (and continue to have) such a special, beautiful breastfeeding experience.
I always feared that I wouldn’t be able to breastfeed. I knew logically that there was no reason why I wouldn’t be able to; I think part of me was perhaps preparing myself, so that the blow wouldn’t be as hard if it didn’t work out. Breastfeeding was something that I always whole-heartedly wanted to do. I did as much as I could to prepare my body for what was to come, I bought all of the products and I began hand expressing colostrum at 36 weeks with the blessing of my care providers. Much to mine, and anybody around me familiar with breastfeeding’s surprise, I expressed almost 200ml over 5 weeks. While I knew that antenatal colostrum supply doesn’t reflect how successful breastfeeding will be, admittedly this gave me confidence.