Fed is best

Hey readers,

So you probably heard of the news story today regarding midwives been told to respect the decision by the mother if she decides not to breastfeed her baby.

This is such good news to hear because when I could not breastfeed my baby I was devasted and thought that was it I am officially the world's sh*test parent. Even though I tried my hardest I just didn't have the co-ordination due to my spatial awareness difficulties due to being autistic.

I remember going to a breastfeeding group pre-baby and the sheer pressure from the group was scary. I felt like if I didn't do this then I would be such a bad person.

After my eldest was born I tried for two/three days to breastfeed. I was in the hospital for the two days due to complications. Every single time I needed help. I could not do it myself. Even after when I returned home I had my husband do it for me. Again it made me feel like a massive failure and it stopped me bonding with my son. I felt so angry with myself and feel that I was not adequate in being a mum.

I think the guilt of not being able to breastfeed was one of the things that triggered postnatal depression sadly.

Luckily, however, I saw a brilliant midwife who told me to just bottle feed, I was baffled but then I thought well actually yeah why not. She told me she bottle-fed her children and it made me feel so much better knowing that it was OK to formula feed. Having that support was a big deal. Just knowing it was OK to do so and nothing bad was going to happen helped make me feel relief like I have never felt before.

So to hear the changes is such a positive step forward. I am not knocking breastfeeding but I think it is important to be mindful that not every woman can do it and that is OK. As long as the baby is the feed that is much more important.

Cheers for reading X