Breastfeeding Stories - Maria

Maria is photographed with her two sons Cormac and Ruairi.

These are her words.

I feel so incredibly lucky to have two healthy, happy and active gorgeous little boys in my life. 

I'm so proud of them and also proud of myself for breastfeeding them both on two very different breastfeeding journeys.

There's only 13 months between my boys and if anything the most important gift  you can give them is love but every drop of breastmilk and every feed counts. Managing to feed one for a few weeks and the other exclusively into toddlerhood has taught me so much.as a Mother. 

I was very overwhelmed as a First Time Mum and had lots of challenges with oversupply and latching, nothing could have prepared me for how hard it was. When we stopped I felt massive guilt and upset and was really hard on myself. It took me a while to come to terms with it all but looking back I'm so proud of what I achieved with the knowledge and support I had at the time. My second experience was a lot smoother and I've fed for more than 2 years this time. It's been such a great parenting tool when you've a small age gap. On the whole I'm so happy I fed both my boys  and if sometimes it doesn't work out as you planned try not to be too hard on yourself, every ounce counts and all that matters is love at the end of the day!