Breastfeeding - 6 Month Update

I am so proud that I have been breastfeeding for 6 whole months. I remember when I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. Although I knew that I wanted to breastfeed, I was extremely nervous because I literally had no clue about breastfeeding. I had no idea how much it hurt, how I would feel, how I would be feeding out in public if there were certain things I needed to know, how much they fed and so on. So many questions were going through my head and I was lucky that one of my close friends breastfed her baby (my nephew), so I had a few answers from her. I was disappointed that I wasn't given any advice from midwives.


The closer I was getting to give birth, the more nervous I was. I just had no clue. However, when I gave birth to Freddie I was extremely lucky that he latched on straight away. He has fed well since day one and I felt lucky that I was the first one home on the ward because I was feeding him well. I had to pass some small breastfeeding assessment, which I didn't quite get but I passed and that's how I went home pretty quickly the day after he was born.

The hardest and most painful time of breastfeeding was the first few weeks when your breasts get really big and full of milk. It was a very uncomfortable type of pain and a few times made me cry but never once did I think of giving up. Breastfeeding was something I wanted to do and something I want to keep doing until Freddie is either 18/24 months or weans himself off.

Freddie has cut his feeds down a lot compared to the past few months. He can now go up to 4 hours without a feed. It feels strange but it does feel nice to have some kind of break. Feeds don't last as long either, he can feed for around 10-15 minutes or sometimes less. During the evenings he will feed for around 20-30 minutes but that's with a stop in between and falling to sleep with comfort too. When Freddie was around 4 months old he cut two bottom teeth and he's managed to bite me a few times and it hurts! I have had tears with the biting and I am dreading when he gets more teeth.

I am a lot more confident feeding in public and don't tend to get that nervous unless it's extremely busy or if my anxiety is playing up. I have had a couple of negative comments which have put me down but it hasn't made me want to stop breastfeeding. I am enjoying every minute and breastfeeding is the best decision I have ever made.

Follow my breastfeeding journey - 1 Month, 7 weeks, 4 Months