Member of the Breastfeeding Mafia

How time flies!! Olivia Isabella is 6 months old tommorow, I really can't believe how quickly that has flown by. I can't believe how much my life has changed in 6 short months. Having this gorgeous little beauty in my life has altered things so much. Definately for the better.

And now that she has reached 6 months, I feel that i have accomplished a massive achivement - the '6 month Breastfeeding Milestone'! Ive been looking forward to this day for so long, sometimes unsure if I was ever going to get here, but i have. Olivia is a very frequent feeder. Averaging about 10 breastfeeds a day, but ranging from anything between 8-12.

I feel like im entering into a elite club, only 2% of mums carry on breastfeeding past the age of 6 months. Am i carrying on?? HELL YEAH!

Im sure people will have thier opinions about how long you should breastfeed for, I know that a lot of people think that as soon as food is able to be introduced, then babies dont need it anymore. Ask me 5 years ago, and i would have said 'as soon as baby has teeth, then no!'. Ask me 3 years ago, and i would have said 'As soon as they can ask for it, then no.' My answer now... 'She will get it as long as she wants it' (well, within reason!).

Don't get me wrong, breastfeeding isn't without its disadvantages. If, like me, your baby is completely head-over-heels in love with your breastmilk, then you may have a hard time getting them off! And i have found, that Olivia loves feeding so much, even the faintest whiff of a silicone bottle teat is enough to send her into hysterics! She downright refuses the bottle, which doesnt really bother me, but it could be useful if she would have an odd bottle of expressed milk, once in a while! For example, my mum looked after her for 30 mins one afternoon, while i went to the dentist. I took a small bottle of expressed milk with me, incase she would feed for my mum because i wasnt there. I swear i heard her screams half way down the street! As far as she was concerned, Mummy had ran away, took her boobies with her, and was never coming back! (Little did she know i would be coming back shortly, albeit one wisdom tooth less) And naughty nana was trying to poison her with lukewarm arsenic. It didnt matter that the milk was the same, that it tasted the same, It wasnt mummys boobies.

After that, I stopped even trying to attempt the bottle. At 4 months old i introduced a little cooled boiled water in a Tommee Tippee beaker which she took unknowingly, and she also sipped for the lip of a Steady Co cup. But this is no use for milk!! I have accepted that I dont get a break. Sometimes all i want to do is lock myself in a room, childless, and just read a magazine, or, dare i say it, have a nap! But at the end of the day, Olivia is only little once. I dont want to regret things, like I did with Erica. I stopped breastfeeding her at 2 weeks, and I regret it to this day.

I think sometimes as a mum, you make very specific sacrifices, ones, that only mothers in the exact same position as you, understand too. All mums sacrifice sleep, and time with friends, time with thier partners, and a little of thier sanity. But Breastfeeding mums, especially ones with boob-addict babies like mine, we sacrifice something a little more - the ability to give your baby to daddy or to nana, just for that little bit of time that allows you to do the simple things like have a hot shower, or have a glass of wine or 2!

There is one more sacrifice that has to be made too - The ability to wear an underwired bra!!

Thank you Olivia for being such an amazing baby to feed. I look forward to the next 6 months. X