Celebrating the Realities of Breastfeeding: What Our Mummy Community Had to Say...

As we mark World Breastfeeding Week, we’re shining a light on one of the most personal, powerful, and sometimes unpredictable parts of early motherhood: breastfeeding. Whether it’s a journey that’s lasted days, months, or years, every mum has a story—often filled with love, learning, and a few surprises along the way.

We asked our amazing mummy community to share their real experiences—the best parts, the hardest moments, and the things that caught them completely off guard. From magical bonding to midnight challenges, here’s what they told us.

Best

• Seeing your baby grow with what your body is giving and the connection it creates.

• Tandem fed baby 2 and 3 for a year!

• That instant connection and bond.

• Super convenient when you’ve got it cracked.

• Not having to carry bottles around.

• How rewarding it is when you’ve got the hang of it.

• When they looks up and smile.

• How relaxed it makes you feel and how amazing feeding snoozes are together.

• When they look up at you with that big milky smile.

• Feeling loved and blessed.

• Saving money on formula!

• The fact you always have milk with you.

• How it comforts them instantly.

Hardest

• Huge oversupply made things hard.

• The lack of support and misinformation!

• Getting through mastitis - ouch!

• Can be physically and emotionally draining when also trying to recover from birth.

• Cluster feeding! At the start I felt like I couldn’t do anything and just fed 24/7.

• People’s opinions on feeding past 18m and especially after two.

• Teeth!

• Those first five days, no one talks about how hard those days are. Lean on your partner for help.

• How painful it can be.

• Mastitis.

• Powering through while waiting for my daughter’s tongue tie to be cut.

• Bottle refusal for 1 year meaning I couldn’t leave my daughter for long.

• Always being needed.

• People telling you the ‘weight will just drop off you’ - it hasn’t for me!

• Biting!

Most surprising

• I thought it would feel weird but it just didn’t.

• Assume nothing! Three successfully breastfed kids and then baby 4 was a curveball.

• Health benefits for mummy as well as baby.

• The spray!!

• How it’s possible for only one boob to work!

• It’s something you and baby learn and work out together.

• How little I care if people see my boobies!

• How hard it is to actually stop feeding once you’re in the swing of it.

• The insane hunger it caused.

• How much sprays out and lands on baby’s face!

• Different size pump flanges.

• How much you bond - it’s just magical. I miss it so much!

• How much power pumping works for boosting your supply.

• The size of your boobs.

• How much you leak in the early days.

We appreciate breastfeeding isn’t for everyone - by choice or otherwise. So, whether breastfeeding, pumping, combo feeding, or formula feeding, what matters most is love, care, and nourishment. Together, let’s continue creating a world where every mummy feels empowered, supported, and proud of the path they choose.