Breast or bottle - how did you decide?

'It can be hard in the first few weeks, but women who persevere with it find life becomes easy once breastfeeding is established. Women who give up on breastfeeding tend to do so within six weeks of giving birth, when the baby is still wanting to feed very frequently and the mother is unwell or suffering from mastitis or bleeding nipples. The early days aren't representative of the whole breastfeeding experience. By the time a child is six months old, they generally reduce the length of their feeds to between 3 to 5 minutes, so women who continue to breastfeed don't spend their whole lives plugged in. It depresses me that bottle feeding is seen as a liberating thing for mothers to do. There's nothing selfish about having time to yourself. Breastfeeding doesn't stop you from having a life or from spending time away from your baby.'

Hot potato or what!

'I desperately wanted an earth mother, natural birth with my first child, but ended up with pethidine, epidural and then an emergency Caesarean. He was very flat and was whisked off to SCBU, and so we did not have skin-to-skin contact for about four hours. Then my baby didn't want to feed, and I got cracked nipples. I could bore you all with my sob story, but I was absolutely devastated that I wouldn't be able to breastfeed. Then a fantastic midwife spent lots of time with me, and I breastfed for the next nine months. Yes, it was a hard start, but don't slag the NHS off, there are lots of dedicated midwives and health visitors, who will move heaven and earth to help us breastfeed. Another plus for breastfeeding is that it reduces the risk of ear infections for children, because the action of breastfeeding stimulates growth and development of the Eustachian tubes. Also, did you know that the formula milk companies have an annual budget of around £7 million to promote their products, whereas the government allows an annual budget of around half a million to promote breastfeeding. It's no wonder breastfeeding gets a poor press. I would like to see some famous women get their breasts out (not literally) in support of breastfeeding.'