I breastfed for 14 months, but…
I got off to a slippery start with breastfeeding. Literally – my son would only latch onto one side, so three days in I had one functioning breast and one football. Every time I presented it to the poor mite he would just slide off. Then I went to a breastfeeding clinic and a lovely, no-nonsense lady called Linda pummelled it into submission. It was one of those agonies that seems small in the mind-bending few weeks after birth. Though it was a relief to have him feed from both sides, I do remember it being uncomfortable for the first month, with that needling pain that curls your toes.
Still, it worked pretty well after that. There is something wonderful about knowing you can feed your baby absolutely anywhere with no preparation. We fed on the bus, in the Groucho, on a hillside, even – in a moment of desperation – on a bench outside a pub one winter’s evening. But we also fed a whole lot in the middle of the night. In fact Benjy didn’t sleep through till I stopped breastfeeding, at 14 months.
Life with no sleep was so terrible that I resolved not to do it for so long if there’s a next time. I have no problem at all with formula; I think breastfeeding is unreasonably overhyped at the moment. I just thought I could avoid all the faff of measuring and sterilizing by nursing through to a year, when we could move onto cow’s milk. You never quite know what will work for your child – perhaps it was the new physical activity of being a toddler that made him sleep for longer, rather than the withdrawal of the prospect of night feeds. I don’t want to lay all the blame on my boobs, enticing as they may have been. And yes, I use the past tense intentionally. Health benefits aside, all that suckling has taken its toll.
Lily Williams is a film producer and is mum to Benjy, 21 months.
Tags: breastfeeding, guest post