Let's stop guilting parents!

I suppose in my mind one of the areas that mum's are subject to guilt is breast feeding. In my case when I was pregnant with my twins my mother-in-law tried to pressure me to bottle feed - because my husband could give them bottles...great but he worked long hours and that meant that I would have more work whilst he was at work! So I breast fed very successfully for 4 babies. Yes I had it easy, my hospital room was known as the dairy as I supplied 2 hospital milk banks for 5 weeks. I have known lots of mums who struggle through it because they know it is the best thing for their babies. My sister-in-law struggled through a blood disorder and several bouts of mastitis, my daughter struggled with hormone level issues also which meant her supply was down. Most sadly was a friend who had twins and lost one [her son] to cot death. Understandably she was devastated and had difficulty coping. The local breast feeding association's advice was to focus on the surviving twin and make sure she didn't lose her breast milk! I am pro breast feeding but essentially I am pro positive parenting and if breast feeding detracts from that who am I to judge?