Breastfeeding was a lot more difficult for me that I was expecting. I read about all the wonderful benefits and had decided during my pregnancy that I would breastfeed for the recommended year. This all changed while I was in the hospital after having my baby. My daughter Madison had a difficult time latching on. I was constantly worried that she wasn't getting enough to eat, it was hard for me to not have an exact measurement. As Madison grew breastfeeding became more and more painful and frustrating. I decided to pump exclusively, which led to decrease in production. I finally gave up around month 4 a good 6 months shy of my goal....I felt both relief and failure.
I recently learned that the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe. UNICEF believes that this statistic is due to lack of information and promotion of "Baby Milk" or formula (UNICEF, 2010). This is starkly different from the US. Here it is driven into mothers to feel, as I did, like a failure for not being able to breastfeed.
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