There's no doubt that breast is best for baby and mum - and don't forget to tell your friends
This week has been a slightly sad week for me as I have stopped breastfeeding my youngest.
I had planned on going on for at least a year and maybe more, as she is to be my last. But my daughter had other ideas, and she decided that she no longer wanted to feed from me.
I had experienced this from the other two before.
My son had been the biggest guzzler ever. But at 11 months old he woke up one day and refused to be fed from me. Despite all the coaxing, he still turned away every time I offered him my milk.
This had happened to one of my best friends 18 months earlier when her son was nine months old. I had never fully believed her, and thought maybe she was just sick of feeding him. But after it happened to me, I realised this was not the case.
Breast feeding is one of the best things mothers can do for their children.
There are so many health benefits for both you and the baby, including helping to prevent loads of scary cancers.
And it really does help you lose that baby weight, which tends to hang about. (Having said that, all those glasses of wine after the children are in bed soon puts it back on though, sadly!)
But, despite all the benefits, breast feeding seems to be something done by the minority rather than the majority.
And it largely depends on what your peers are doing.
I sometimes feel torn in two. I have one set of friends who are avid breast feeders and all have exclusively fed their children from birth for at least the first year of their life.
Then there are other friends who think I am a bit weird for wanting to breast feed.
I think they think I am doing it for "hippy" reasons.
After all I did have home births for my youngest two, which they also think is a bit hippy and barmy.
I am sure they call me an "earth mother", which I most definitely am not!
Admittedly I do like the rather selfish feeling of being extra special to your child because you are the only one who can feed them.
And yes it does save money (artificial feeding is very expensive).
But in reality, the biggest incentive has got to be the fact that even if it only goes a tiny way to preventing something horrendous like cancer happening to them later in life, then it is worth it.
By choosing to breastfeed there is no way your partner can help you out on those late night feeds, so that does make it hard for some people.
But it is so much easier to just be able to walk out the door with baby under one arm without having to have half the house under the other arm just so you can feed them when you're out and about.
Sheffield City Council, in partnership with Sheffield's health community, is dedicated to becoming a breast feeding friendly city, so feeding mothers feel welcome wherever they go.
Already breast feeding peers have been employed at the city's children's centres to help new mothers with the best information and support on feeding their babies.
For more information on your nearest children's centre, and information on the latest centre soon to be opened in the Ecclesall area, visit www.sheffield.gov.uk
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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