Phew, I made it!

[SolasEile]

DD just turned six months - and so that means I managed to make it all the way to my goal of six months' exclusive breastfeeding! I thought I would share here because I never thought I would make it this far. No-one in real life cares particularly but for me personally it feels like an achievement.

I hated breastfeeding first time around with my DS and had all kinds of problems and he was FF from about 8 weeks old. So with my DD I was determined to try and make it work. And there were definitely challenges along the way and I was tempted to give up many many times. But I stuck it out and we made it to the magic 6 months! And just as everyone told me, bf is now actually pretty easy so I think I will probably keep it up until she is 1 anyway, as long as she's happy to keep bf-ing too.

So I thought I would share on here as I got so much advice from these pages and also I'm hoping to encourage anyone who is struggling with bf. It does get better! Eventually...

[Pointlessfan]

Well done!!

[Mamab33]

Well done!

[Lagoonablue]

Another well done from me too.

[imnotproud]

And from me.
Struck a chord as the details about baby 1 and 2 are exactly the same as mine were, it's such a wonderful feeling knowing you cracked it, isn't it?

[curlyclaz13]

Well done

[DuckChowMein]

Good for you Now the fun of weaning begins..!

[Chatty987]

Well done! At what age did it start to feel much easier. I'm ebf my 10 week old and it's still a bit hit and miss (albeit ds is thriving etc).

[weeblueberry]

Congratulations!! I remember this feeling well with my first. With DD2 im now counting the days (even though she's only four weeks!).

[splendide]

Really well done. I've managed to keep 2 breast feeds a day but also ended up giving formula at about 8 weeks. I still feel terrible about it but it's nice to hear it can be different next time.

[SolasEile]

Yes, 8 weeks was when I really struggled with my son too, splendide. Everyone said it would get easier by then but it was still awful so I got really demotivated and switched to FF. This time around I just kept on feeding through the hard times and avoided formula from the start. It helped that DD was just a better feeder than DS too, not as big a baby or as hungry.

It started to feel physically easier around 12 weeks Chatty but I complicated things for myself by using nipple shields at the beginning which most midwives / bf support workers hate but they worked for me to persist through the early weeks. I was able to get DD off them around 10 weeks in.

[knittingbee]

Well done!

I had a similar experience to yours - DS was a sleepy baby, latched but didn't suck, I gave up trying to BF at all at 7 weeks. DD was a champ at BF from the start - midwives left me to it in hospital (I felt really pressured and manhandled first time) and DD is still BF now at 11 months (I've been back at work from 9). Never ever thought we'd make it to 6 months, let alone this far! Just shows that each baby is completely different.