Painful Memories of the Struggle to Breastfeed | Letters

Reading Niamh Campbell’s article on breastfeeding brought back painful memories (‘Like a cheese grater raking across my nipple’: Why I kept trying to breastfeed for so long, 3 September). Almost 43 years ago, I also found breastfeeding excruciatingly painful. Unlike her, I never had access to a lactation consultant and the only advice I got from medical professionals was to wear a nipple shield, grit my teeth and persevere. I managed to hold out for four months before switching to bottle feeding and from that moment on I began to bond with my baby. All these years later, I still feel a little ashamed that I ‘failed’.
Barbara Thompson
Sheffield

I can totally relate to Niamh Campbell’s experience. I stopped breastfeeding when my daughter was 20 weeks old. I had the same problems, which you can’t prepare for. I was in excruciating pain, with cracked, bleeding nipples, and had to supplement with formula. I envied mothers with milk that flowed like wine and happy babies. There were no lactation consultants in my area at the time, and even if there had been, I doubt they would have been able to help me.
Siobhan McGovern
Edinburgh