Support and confidence while breastfeeding

I am a breast feeding mother, and have been doing so for 5 months. I didn't always want to breastfeed, while growing up i saw my sisters and many family friends bottle feed their babies. So I thought that bottle feeding was they way to go, and I always thought that breastfeeding was a little bit wierd. 

When my husband and i found out that I was pregnant, we started talking about it, and he automatically pressumed that I would breastfeed. As he and his brothers were all breastfed until the age of 2. And during all the antenatal classes and hospital visits, we found out all the benefits to breastfeeding and decided that this was the way to go. Now the thing is, Even though I said to myself and others that I was going to breast feed, It didn't actually occur to me that it would be hard, or that I might not even be able to do it. Which I think that more mothers to be should be aware of. It doesn't necessarily come to you, and some mothers just can't do it. Wether they don't want to, they dont have enough milk or it just doesn't feel right. There are many more factors than to just breastfeeding.

After I gave birth to my son, we both found it hard adapting to this natural process. All the midwives told me that it was natural and it would just come to the both of us. Which to me was a joke. We both did not know what to do, we had no support from the midwives, who whenever i asked for help kept getting annoyed with us and just didn't seem to have the time. My family was a major support, they kept telling me how good I was doing and my husband cuddled me everytime I cried and was constantly helping. After 1 week  my son still hadn't got the hang of it and had trouble latching on, so my nipples were constantly sore and everytime i fed him it would be so bad i would cry. So i went and saw the Midwives at the Breastfeeding centre of WA, and they were very helpful. They not so much helped him latch on, but they gave me the support i needed to continue, as I felt like giving up (although determined not to). The midwife at the breastfeeding centre recommended I read the book 'Breastfeeding with confidence' by Sue Cox. It really is a good book, it goes back to what out mothers were taught to do, Why we should do it and tips on how to manage it.

So after some time, My son and I learnt how to breastfeed, our way. It helped to much to have the support of the people who cared about me, even if it was just making me a sandwich while feeding, or helping with my housework. Everything that people did for us helped in different ways, and made it easier for me to focus on getting used to our new baby. So I do recommend to anyone, that support is so good. Even if you don't have your family around, the breastfeeding associations are so helpful. Any kind of support will give you the confidence to persist or to make the right choice for your baby and yourself, to either continue or not. Because if you have the confidence to say and do what you want, then it will always be the right choice, because it is yours!

I hope that I have helped someone!  Because it felt important to me, to write this and let everyone know.