I really wanted to post as a means of support and encouragement to those considering breastfeeding and to those who are starting out. Obviously there are many many successful breastfeeders on here but there are also frequent posts asking for help from people having difficulties so I wanted to give brief but a positive report on our experience.
S turned 1 yesterday, we exclusively breastfed until she was weaned at 6 months and are now down to 3 feeds, morning, mid afternoon and bedtime feeds. She has only recently dropped her mid-morning and nightfeed so I think she can be officially classed as a milk monster!!
I'm very aware of how much of a challenge establising breastfeeding can be and even more so to keep going as your baby grows and develops so I am so proud and thankful that we have managed to get to this stage. She has her 3 feeds from me when i am not at work and as bottles of EBM when she is at nursery, so far expressing at work and not been an issue.
I am also lucky that it hasn't been too difficult for us. When she was first born, she seemed to latch on very quickly but would drop off within a few sucks so I was squeezing colostrum/milk out by hand and letting this drop into her mouth. Within 24-48hours S really figured out what to do. It was agony for maybe 3-5days but I managed to use creams to stop my nipples getting cracked. I then suffered quite badly with engourgement but again found ways to overcome this with advice from 2 breastfeeding counsellors and advice from Hitched too. So i'd say within 2 weeks it became comfortable, easy and very natural.
S really thrived, she never lost any weight and quickly jumped from the 50th to the 75th then 91st centile! I honestly can't remember her suffering with even a sniffle until she started nursery at 9months of age. She did develped eczema at 2 months but she was always at high risk as I have eczema, hayfever, asthma and food allergies and there are allergies on my husbands side to. It was initially quite bad, but with intense use of creams, it because managable to the point that my GP kept trying to stop prescribing creams as he believed she had grown out of it. Maybe she had but we kept using the creams until we weaned then down from 8/9 months and haven't seen so much as a hint of a dry patch. I do believe her eczema would have been much worse and she may still be suffering badly now if we hadn't breastfed.
As well as the many many health benefits for my daughter from being breatfed in her first year of life, breastfeeding for 12months + now gives me additional health benefits such as a lower risk of developing ovarian and endometrial cancer. My husband does like to remind me that we didn't benefit from saving money by not buying formula as I spent all the potential savings on pretty bras and breastfeeding tops!!!!!!
It has been such a pleasure and a joy to breastfeed my daughter, I have loved every second of our experience, even now when she pulls my hair and tries to poke me in the eye when she feeds!! I have made a conscious effort to breatfeed in public as much as possible as I believe that much the negativity surrounding breastfeeding is due to people not having much experience of actually seeing mums and babies doing it. I was shocked in my NCT classes that 8 out 0f 14 of the parents had never seen a woman breastfeeding. I am lucky that noone has ever dared challenged me in public, although there have been times when I would have preffered this to dirty looks and under their breath muttering as I would have liked the chance to pass on some education.
Now that she has started nursery, she does seem to catch colds quite often, and the first thing that happens with a cold or when she is teething is that she completely goes off her food. She also isn't great at drinking water, so being able to go back to feeding on demand when she's been poorly has avoided me from ever having to become concerned about dehydration and has also provided her with extra comfort when she has needed it most
It saddens me that there is such a profound lack of community support to mothers wishing to breastfeed but i am lucky that my job allows me to provide education and promote breatfeeding as a professional as well as a mother.
I really hope this post can help a few people who are trying to decide what the best method of feeding is for them or anyone already breastfeeding and perhaps having difficulties.
Sydney Georgina 
, 7lb 9oz, November 2008.
Taylor Michael 
, 8lb 2oz, August 2011.