Following on from our story on new research carried out by NUK, about women's experiences of breastfeeding, we're starting a new short series of case studies from three different women.
We start with Shenda, who felt really isolated and guilty when she found, despite her best intentions, that she simply could not breatfeed.
Shenda Falvey is 31 one and mother of Siun, who is one year old.
“I wanted to solely breastfeed my daughter for the first six months but my milk dried up and so I found it really difficult from the outset.
"As a result I felt the worst mother in the world and shed more than a few tears. I felt even worse when I started to go to mother and baby group and they were all happily breast feeding - it's only recently that some of the mums have told me that they used to give their babies bottles before they came so that it looked like they exclusively breastfed!
"Although I could not do anything about the fact that my milk had dried up I still felt very low and I felt like I wasn't doing the right thing. I wish there had been someone to talk me through other options and tell me it was all ok.”
It can be heartbreaking for women who are dealing with an inability to breastfeed when the message we all hear is 'breast is best' .
If you have any problems or questions, or an experience you want to share, you can always join us in the ThinkBaby forums. You should also talk to the health visitors at your baby clinic - whilst the WHO advice to health workers around the world is that breastfeeding is good practice, health visitors must accept that for some women this is either a problem or impossible. They may be able to put you in touch with other women who are going through the same issues as you.
NUK make various products - from nipple shields to feeding bottles - which can help make breastfeeding easier, smooth the transition to bottle feeding, or enable you to combine both in as natural a way as possible. Their website has some great advice on feeding. Go to www.nukbaby.co.uk.
