My Story <3

 When I became pregnant it was "fantastic news worrying at first but with a long-term boyfriend and many of the couple's I knew had already started families I didn't feel out of the norm.

"I find I tend to act a bit older than my real age and feel comfortable around women older than myself." I felt strongly that this baby was wanted, I decided to bring her into the word even if I had to do it alone, I had enough love for her alone.

But still people assume that we teen parents that are in a stable relationship or not, that pregnancies are all mistakes, and that the child will be a great burden.

As a parent, you have to find your own way, and you don't want to be told what to do." Perhaps that was one reason why i decided to breastFeed — because everyone expected me to formula-feed.

I chose to breastfeed my baby because it was the healthiest and most natural choice for my baby and me. In addition, I longed to have a special bond with my daughter. I felt I needed a special bond because her father would not be about 24/7 So I wanted her to know that she is very loved by me and his was one way I wanted to show her. Then after reading all the benefits; higher IQ, less chance of allergies, easy to digest, me losing weight faster, and the convenience of it, it was exactly what I was looking for.

I remember the first special feed I gave my daughter, late at night most women were asleep with their baby's in their cribs, and there was I sitting up in bed with this small baby in my arms looking up at me so happy and quiet, I remember thinking “im responsible for this little one, for as long as I shall live’ but a feeling of fear came over me, I was only 18 at that time and only just started looking out for myself so how was I going to take care of this little one. Then her first cry of hunger! I wasn't sure quite what to do, but without the help from midwifes I lay down on the bed with my daughter at my side and put her to my breast. Lucky for me, she took to it like a duck to water and was obviously was such perfectly natural thing for her to do.

After a few feeds that night, the fear of motherhood disappears and I couldn't wait to spend the rest of my life looking after the little bundle of joy that was lying in my arms. For the first time in my life I felt I accomplished something fantastic and felt proud of a decision I made by not taking the easy way out regardless of the pressure I was put under to have an abortion.

When my family came to visit the the following day i was faced with many negative facts some were “why in the world would you want to nurse your child”, or “I tried to but it hurt too much and was too time consuming, or even “If you nurse your child he won't get enough to eat” and once your milk supply comes in you wont be able to get rid of it!”

Im a strong minded person and decided to ignore the comments but someone not so strong could have taken this negative approach to heart.

Each time I put my daughter to the breast I felt that the bond between us grew stronger, I felt proud that I was continuing to grow a strong healthy baby by providing her with the best nutrition just as she would have in the womb,

The first 2 weeks were painful, Mentally and physically. But the chapped nipples, nightie feedings and leaking breasts were all worthwhile as I remembered the great things I was doing for my baby by breastfeeding.

My daughter started looking for solid food a couple of days before she turned months old, I hung on for as long as I could, she wasn't showing any sign’s of hunger and was still continuing to gain weight on breast milk alone. It was amazing how just from my body’s resources I managed

When I decided to breastfeed I thought I'd probably wean when the teeth came through everything was going well, so I thought I'd probably wean when my daughter started walking/talking, but my daughter just turned 18months and with 13 teeth I would never thought in a million years I'd still be breastfeeding at this point! but it just kind of happened this way for me and I found I enjoying breastfeeding a lot more than I thought I would.

Although teen mothers are capable of breastfeeding, most do not choose to try. Fewer pregnant adolescents say that they plan to breastfeed, and, of these, even fewer actually follow through on their decision. Most teens have little, if any, knowledge about breastfeeding, and those who think they know something about it often mention common misconceptions and old wives' tales. teens need to know about the physiological and psychological benefits of breastfeeding to both mother and baby.

I feel so very passionate and opinionated about this subject. When a woman tells me that she could not breastfeed, I ask why? I get a few different responses, from sore nipples to inconvenience or feeling tied down or they were afraid that the baby was not getting enough to eat! But in my opinion the most common reason I’v had with teenage mothers is because of the breast fetish of American culture, aided by the Playboy centrefold, teenage girls are extraordinarily sensitive about their breast development. It is one of the most worrisome perils of puberty for girls." Teens are not only afraid that breastfeeding will change the shape and size of their breasts forever, they also fear--even more intensely than the average nursing mother--being ridiculed if they are seen breastfeeding in public and in my opinion this is the main reason why many of the girls I know don't breastfeed their children.

Breastfeeding is not only great for the baby and convenient for the mother, it is a strong emotional MAGICAL bond that I can't quite explain. You don't know how many times I looked down at my daughter as she nursed and tears of joy fell on her face. What comfort she must fell there so warm and secure in my arms at my breast.

I have recently finished a peer support breast-feeding course; I enjoy meeting new people helping mothers and mothers to be. By giving support and providing them with the information needed, this gave me the scope to help people every day and I decided to give up some more of my free time and to become an amber medical local voluntary ameda Breast pump agent, giving mothers the opportunity to hire quality breast pumps form myself, I also help my clients with any problems they have, I feel the training has provided me with the knowledge to answer some of their questions.

I am also a breast-feeding peer supporter at a local support group run by mother's voluntary. Our support group is there for women when ever needed, the breast feeding counsellors are always to hand. I really enjoy helping other mother's, I feel breastfeeding awareness is important to me

I have a kind and sympathetic attitude, I am non judgmental, of mothers bottle feeding, as I understand the pressures that come along with it, I understand that all mothers are in different situations and have different problems and circumstances. And it can be a distressing experience for a new mum. It can be extremely uncomfortable, but it is certainly not a reason for a breastfeeding relationship to be prematurely end, it is important to me that these mothers get the right support and advice.

Breast feeding support groups are in my opinion highly important to breast feeding mothers, they offer the support and drive breastfeeding mothers need to survive the tuff times before feeding is established and they give mums the determination to breastfeed for longer and also give mothers information and communication about breastfeeding in a no pressured environment where they can talk freely about emotional feelings to mothers that have been in the same position as themselves.

I was 18 years old when I had my first daughter kamran, I knew that breastfeeding my daughter was highly important for my daughters health, I personally felt very embarrassed while breastfeeding in public and a little uneasy about breastfeeding my daughter around other people even close family members,

I attended a young mums group weekly, but none of the young mums at that time were breastfeeding, so they suggested the breastfeeding support group, attending the group for the first time was a nerve racking experience but as soon as i arrived the women at the group welcomed me and I didn’t feel at all out of place,

I was aware that the mums were feeding their babies and chatting comfortably with each other, by attending the group it gave me grate confidence to breast feed in public and around my family and raised the awareness to me that it was a natural thing to do, I also felt that the group gave me more self confidence.

After I had been attending the group for a while I was offered to attend a breast feeding peer support course, I attended 10 sessions of training, I was enlightened by the course and after I had attended the sessions I had confidence in informing other mum’s of what I had learnt and gave me confidence in answering question’s that mums tend to ask about breastfeeding. I always do my best to give them a solution to their problem, and if not a solution I offer my support

Its amazing how much I use the resources that the course gave me, I’m happy that many of my friends have decided to breastfeed their children because they feel I have influenced them, one friend in particular didn’t’t consider breastfeeding, but by her watching me breastfeed my daughter she considered trying to feed her baby. Today her son is now 15 months old and still breastfeeding she feels that by watching me breastfeed my daughter until I was four months pregnant on my second, I made her feel that she could breastfeed her son for as long as he wanted it, so that he can continue getting the benefits from his mothers magic milk. She call’s me day or night when she need’s support and has done from day one, I learnt her how to express so that she could still have a social life and still breastfeed her son, and so that she could also return to work,

I am also involved in a breast pump hire seam, the training educated me on how to express and I find this highly useful while hiring out the breast pumps,

I have been attending a breastfeeding support group since I had my first daughter, I had a wonderful experience feeding my first daughter, she took to breastfeeding like a duck to water, I thought I was a expert until it was time to feed my second daughter we experienced many problems from start, sore nipples were a big problem and the attachment looked fine to me, turns out kruiz my second daughter is tongue tied, thankfully to the support of the group it got me through the first couple of weeks of feeding and now kruiz is a 12 week old little pro!

Breast feeding support is needed beyond the first couple of weeks of feeding, even after the first child we can experience difficulty feeding the second, and it important that the groups are here to help.

I felt so strongly about this I decided it was only fair to tell mothers about this wonderful experience that I have had, hopping that it will come to light that Breast is Best.

Zoe Bull

Peer Supporter.