Bouquet for Breastmates

A lady recently sent me this lovely email:

 

“Hi Frances

 

Just wanted to drop a note to say thank you for your site, I have just come across it for the first time. My kids are now 5 and nearly 3, but I still have plenty of friends having their ‘firsts’ and see the stress and guilt they go through, and it reminds me of my first time round. 

 

I had a breast reduction when I was 15, and while my understanding is that the procedure is much better now, when I had mine done (ahem, nearly 25yrs ago) the technology wasn’t so flash, and lots of my internal boob bits were just taken out.  I was warned at the time that I probably wouldn’t be able to breast feed in the future, but as you can imagine, meaningless advice to a 15yr old!

 

Subsequently, both my children have been fully bottle fed.  In both cases, I gave the boobs a damn good try, but my milk never came in either time.  I am a strong, educated Mum who had kids in her 30s, and still I was made to feel incredibly guilty when I couldn’t breastfeed the first time round (by the second time round I was a bit wiser and more bolshy!).  And there was no information available – when my husband asked the Waikato hospital midwives what he should look for when buying formula, he was told “you shouldn’t be buying formula and I’m certainly not allowed to give you any advice on it”.  Ridiculous!  If I was made to feel so guilty and useless, I shudder to think how younger, perhaps less educated Mums who can’t breastfeed for whatever reason must feel after going through ‘the system’.

 

So well done to you for your website.  I can see from a quick browse that it is more focused on breastfeeding, and that’s as it should be.  But I love the practical information that is on there about bottle feeding, and the fact that it is non-judgmental.

 

Cheers

 T

Mum to two robust, healthy, cheeky little monkeys!