"The only thing I will say is that when you have had your baby do not let the hospital team put pressure on you to breastfeed. I tried to breastfeed my son but he wouldn't latch on so I ended up expressing for two days. By the second night I was exhausted in general and they were telling me that Dylan needed a feed but if I gave him a bottle he would probably never breastfeed. I felt like I was being pulled from pillow to post.

In the end I gave him a bottle and for the first time since he was born I finally started to notice things about him and could relax a lot more. Also my husband was relieved because he could get involved too.

Can I also say that Dylan was bottle fed from 3 days old and he's never been sick once after a bottle - so if people are telling you that Bottle Fed babies tend to be sick more than Breast Fed babies this is not strictly true! If you are going to Bottle Feed I do recommend NUK Orthodontic Teats with their special 'air flow' hole - I think they helped keep the sickness at bay and he had no colic either!

"As first time Mum I feel that I did not push hard enough for help with breastfeedng partly because the help I got was let my baby's head fall back to try to make him wake up which put me off. I did not understanding that to establish breastfeeding I needed to have a go at 3pm, 6pm, 9pm etc & NOT try at 3pm for 1hour, then 4pm + 3hours = 7pm and then 11.30pm."

"I feel very lucky that my baby son and I got on fine with breastfeeding, as it was something I really wanted to do. He got the hang of it really fast even though he had a tongue-tie, where the tongue is fixed to the bottom of the mouth, which is supposed to make it difficult. I'm still at it and he's now six-and-a-half months old and happily eating all sorts of other things.

But now I discover that after all the pressure to breastfeed at birth, there's a strange reversal of pressure at six months where everyone, including some of the health professionals, start muttering about 'iron and vitamins and maybe switching to formula now'. This seems like rubbish to me, why should my milk be perfectly tailored to my baby for six months and then stop being any good.

My NCT breastfeeding counsellor reassured me, saying that though the levels of these things are not as high in breast milk they are much more digestible by the baby. So I shall definitely stick with it until he or I have had enough."

"I didn't really fancy breastfeeding when I was pregnant with my daughter but saw all the benefits and was openminded and ready to give it a go but not be downhearted if it didn't work for us.

I did give it a go, she wouldn't latch on and after four days in hospital where every midwife knew my breasts better than me I realised I couldn't do this. We switched to bottles and it really suited us all. Daddy took on the chore of sterilising everything (he's the sterilisation king in our house anyway). All the family were able to be involved in feeding her. She really suited the rhythm of bottlefeeding and I felt smug and secure. She is generally very healthy and I think it was the right thing for her.

The guilt was still there though because when 31/2 years later my son was born I was determined that this time we were going to do it. I read all the books again, talked to friends who had and went for it. It was great it was like he was born to it! He latched on straight away and I wasn't uncomfortable and I felt really smug for a bit at least. But my husband was away this time, and I hated cooking and eating enough (well anything really) was just too hard. If we went out for lunch then I had to feed him out and about and this was also pretty difficult especially with my daughter to look after as well, good as she is.

After three and a half weeks my health visitor advised me to think about topping him up, that's the end said my friends, it’s the slippery slope. Might as well stop altogether, said everyone else so I did, just like that and it was pretty grim and I felt really bad. Back to what we knew again with the bottles and they were OK, he did sleep through the night as she had done. The colic was there whatever we did. But I wondered for a very long time whether I could have just done it a bit longer.

The bottom line, healthwise they are both quite lucky although he gets a lot more colds than she does and he had breast for longer. Love wise we've all bonded all ways they both feel loved and secure and we all like being together. Being a parent is so much more than this. The moral of the story is don't beat yourself up, know that you're doing the best you can and it will be right."

My daughter is now 8 weeks old and thriving. Immediately after my c-section, whilst in the recovery room, Lucy latched on like a little calf; my fears and inhibitions about breast feeding seemed unfounded. I had been unconvined about breast feeding and only gave it a try based on the health benefits for both Lucy and Myself.

It really went downhill from there on - it wasn't a case of not supplying enough milk, to be fair I was like a dairy cow. Lucy seemed to know what to do, but on occasions just wanted to play! Unfortunately those occasions were through the night, every feed, every couple of hours.

The midwife came out on more than one occasion, and continually applied the pressure to carry on. A couple of my friends suggested expressing and they took me out to purchase a breast pump - elation finally! I moved from breast feeding to expressing which lasted about a week due to the sheer time it required. By which time the health care professionals had instilled upon me the requirement to breastfeed. I decided for my sanity and in order to help me bond with Lucy that I had to stop feeding her, and thus developed my relationship with formula!

I know the benefits of feeding yourself, but if this is creating a rift in the family unit surely the health care professionals should get off their soap boxes and see their way to supporting the family unit and not the government's agenda."

"Struggling with breastfeeding, here's how I succeeded! Ever noticed how there is intense pressure to feed your newborn, but no one much bothers months later? I just didn't have enough supply. Sat about, ate, drank - supportive husband + au pair + 2 gradually less sympathetic older girls to help. Needed milk stimulant tablets from the midwife breastfeeding expert. Got more and more tired and hardly ever put the poor old boobs away.

Well, I nearly fed myself all day - but not quite - my solution? I did the last thing at night and first morning feeds. I fed my baby until 13 MONTHS OLD THIS WAY! It gave her the comfort she needed without completely bottlefeeding - and of course, the immunities. I felt comfortable and had no leaky problems. She is now 16 months and has had only 2 mild colds and mild sickness for less than 1 day - really ! To all struggling Mums, others have done it too - try this because it works better than giving up!"

"As a mother who breast fed, I am glad that I was able to keep going as long as I did, but it was a tremendous tie and I was quite relieved when I finally moved over to bottle completely. Being quite a lazy person, I'm also glad I missed out on all the sterilising that goes on with bottle feeding, especially in the middle of the night when you have to go downstairs to warm the bottle before feeding."

"I gained such a sense of achievement from watching her grow and thrive whilst feeding her myself."

"I found getting settled and comfortable when I was feeding very difficult, especially in the middle of the night. Using a nursing pillow really helped, as it was very supportive. I still use it now, as it's great for propping up my daughter. She's at the stage of trying to sit up but isn't very stable!"

"I used to think how can something that is supposed to be natural be so hard. I used to look at my son and think why can't he just do it?"

"I remember that I wasn't completely convinced bout breast feeding before my son was born but having listened to the mid wives and the NCT trainer I was persuaded that I should at least give it a try. We got past the first three weeks and I started to think that we'd cracked it! Then things started to go wrong.
In the end, at 6.00am one Friday morning, I decided that it had to stop and I did, just like that! Talk about relieved, I was almost euphoric when I realised that I didn't need to feed him ever again. This lasted about two hours and then the guilt set in and I cried almost continuously for 3 days. The strength of emotion was awful. I really thought I was a terrible mother, a failure that couldn't do what was best for her son. On top of this the physical process of stopping milk production was agony. I didn't start to see things differently until someone suggested that I try to get things into perspective. I can remember them saying "you don't put breastfed down on your CV do you. Is it really the only thing that makes you a good mother? Just look at your son does he look bothered?"

"I believe that it is important to stress the benefits of breast feeding to mums and to provide a high level of support to encourage breast feeding but that more support could be given to mums that decide to bottle feed, e.g. guidance on the best way to stop breast feeding, emotional support if needed. Instead of conveying the view that these mums are a failure!

"I believe that if you and baby are unhappy then you're not doing the best for either of you. Being a good mum is about doing what's right for both of you not just about breast feeding because you're told it's the best thing to do!"

"I didn't get on with breast feeding very well at all. Hannah took to it straight away and we didn't have any problems with feeding itself. The problem was that she was a big, hungry baby who wanted to feed all the time. After the birth, I really wanted to get back to normal and have my body back as soon as possible. Sitting in a rocking chair feeding for most of the time didn't allow me to do this at all. I also wanted to eat exactly what I wanted after nine months of checking everything I ate for additives and avoiding everything but extremely healthy food. I felt that I couldn't do this whilst Hannah was still dependent upon me for her food. The other thing I found difficult was leakage - at times I used to walk around with flannels in my bra. Horrible! Luckily, my health visitor was very understanding and I began to stop after 6 weeks. It wasn't painful and took two weeks. I've never felt guilty at all."

"One of the parts of breast feeding that I didn't like was nursing bras! That was until someone recommended trying a Bravado Bra. They're made of a stretchy material that contains lycra so they always fit perfectly. Not only that but they come in styles other than white!"

"When I was reducing my daughters breastfeeding, my breasts became seriously engorged several times. When this happened, my Bravado Bra was still comfortable, whereas I found my all-cotton bra so uncomfortable as to be almost painful."

Huggababy Natural Baby Products supply the Bravado Bras. Click here for more information.