Beautiful photos show what breastfeeding and prematurity look like

What does breastfeeding look like when it comes to premature babies?

I think most of us assume it's difficult and it is but it's definitely achievable as this mum shows. Mum and parenting blogger Emma Reed shared some photos of her breastfeeding journey on Facebook and it's honestly inspiring. Emma starts out by saying that the beginning of her breastfeeding journey wasn't as straight forward as people assume it was.

"It involves filling a syringe with colostrum, pumping around the clock 10 times a day, delivering that milk with the pot fully labelled with dates and times to the hospital fridge, watching your baby being tube fed, learning how to tube feed your baby and both learning how to achieve exclusive breastfeeding. Why am I telling you this? Because people seem to assume that I just did it, that breastfeeding was simple, that I’ve never had any issues."

Emma then went on to say that she wanted to share her journey so that others mums would know that breastfeeding when your baby is premature isn't impossible.

"What I want my journeys to show you is that with the right support, the right help and the advice that you can successfully breastfeed if you want to. It’s not a competition, no story is comparable and I know some women don’t even want to breastfeed but if you do and if you need some help, some inspiration to keep going, a kind word when you feel like giving up then there are people like me here. I want to show all sides of breastfeeding and raise awareness that a premature baby can in fact feed, that a difficult labour doesn’t have to always affect your journey and that the discomfort won’t always be there. There may be a lack of support in real life but if you turn to some online help I promise you it is there."

I experienced a lot of ups and downs on my breastfeeding journey and honestly, I felt like the only one so it's brilliant to see other mums coming forward and saying 'nop I found it tricky at first too. I loved being able to breastfeed my daughter and think it's something that all mums should get the chance to experience.