What they don’t really mention about breastfeeding

The Hungry Mouth is about 3 months old now, and it is a convenience and a pleasure to breastfeed her. When I'm out and about, I mostly use the cradle hold. I can also let her feed inside a Baby Bjorn sling, or kneeling on my lap. But at home she seems to feed more calmly and thoroughly if we both lie down – this position needs no hands, if I want to read, for example. (Mamaway's nursing tops are great, and also wearing a stretchy vest under a wrap top works fine.)

I am sure everyone is aware of the benefits of breastfeeding – essentially, it's healthy for the baby and the mum, and cheaper, and convenient. Incidentally these benefits in my opinion, speak for themselves – there's no need to make up other reasons – for example, it is just untrue that breastfed babies don't need to burp, or that they're more likely to attend an Oxbridge uni! But it never seems to be mentioned enough that once the mum's nipples don't hurt any more and once the baby's learned how to latch, it is actually a pleasure to breastfeed. Even before then, I found a great feeling of satisfaction in feeding my baby.

Having said all this, it's undeniably horribly tiring and painful at first. It is incredibly timeconsuming (I worked out that at one point I was feeding for a total of 8 hours in every 24), and my nipples felt like they were on fire most of the time. I recommend Lansinoh cream (or any pure lanolin). My nipples stopped hurting at about 5 weeks but it can take longer. I was extremely thirsty, and felt limp after every feed at first. Plus it's undeniably messy to have leaking breasts and a milk-dribbling baby! So I can very well understand how many mums stop breastfeeding, or never start (if they don't get good support from a midwife or their partner, for example, or just don't fancy the idea).