I'm a new mum, my daughter is now 7 1/2 weeks old and was breastfed exclusively for 6 weeks. I've always been quite active and having a baby hasn't really stopped that - she is a very good baby, not particularly demanding and I found breastfeeding worked brilliantly for us. In the first week or so it was a case of all clothes above the waist must be removed and a whole mountain of cushions and pillows be strategically placed in order that I could latch my daughter on and feed her successfully.... I soon realised that this was not going to be best practice if I ever wanted to go out anywhere, and almost overnight perfected the technique of opening a couple of buttons or lifting the t-shirt enough to open the feeding bra, placing baby inside clothing and that was that. I fed her in the pub, in a lay-by whilst sat in the car, a very busy car park in a town centre, friends' houses - anywhere really - I was (and still am) feeding on demand and just got on with it. My partner was a bit concerned at first that some of his friends might try to "get off" on catching a glimpse of nipple when I was feeding, but in honesty, most of them didn't even realise what I was doing - they just thought I was having a cuddle with baby - that is until she came up for wind, by which time it was too late for them or me to be embarrassed about it, and at the end of te day it is a completely natural thing to do and I wish I was still able to breast feed exclusively. As it is, a nasty case of food poisoning from my local pub put paid to that. As soon as I stopped feeding her, my milk stopped coming, despite expressing every 2 - 4 hours, and now all I can manage is a very thin watery 3-4oz of expressed milk a day and perhaps one feed during the night. I'm very lucky that my daughter accepts formula milk readily and is happy to take it from the bottle with no problems.
I would like to suggest to all new mums that they give breast feeding a chance as I think it has really helped me feel close to my baby - especially at night, however, it doesn't work for everyone, and my partner has said how lovely it is that he can take over when necessary now without having to rely on me to provide all the feeds. It is a bit of a bind, what with all the paraphenalia attached to bottle feeding and all, what with the bulky tins and the sterilizing and all the counting out scoops; but at the end of the day, my daughter is happy, contented and putting on weight, so who am I to complain? She sleeps 6-8 hours most nights, and at the moment, usually goes down for at least one 3-4 hour sleep through the day. I recognise how lucky I am in that I have had only two nights of very little sleep since she was born meaning that I am still on top of the housework and the shopping etc, but also know that I'm not rushing into having a 2nd baby - you never get two the same do you??!!