You always hear the phase “breast is best” but there is never any mention about how and what your breasts go through. This story is not about problems I had with breastfeeding - this was fine. My story is about the problems I had with my breasts due to milk supply. I had too much milk. I have two children. My son is now 9 and my daughter is 6. I breastfed both of them and had the same problems with my milk supply. I always intended to breastfeed as I had never heard of any breastfeeding problems apart from inverted nipples.

In fact, my milk supply was so abundant, all the time, that in between feeds I had to lean over the basin and squeeze the milk out. The milk would squirt out like a fountain. My husband always joked that people would pay to see that done! When I was feeding I would have to put a towel over the non-feeding side as that breast would leak like a tap and baby would get wet.

Sleeping was a nightmare as my breasts would leak and I ended up sleeping with flannels inside my bra to prevent waking up with wet sheets. Even doing a workout at the gym required more than breast pads. After 10 minutes on the treadmill there would be huge wet patches over my breasts. I always had to take extra t-shirts.

It went on like this about four months but I never considered giving up. After four months my supply slowed down and I stopped leaking all the time. I still had to use heaps of breast pads though.

I thought it would be easier with my daughter because she was the second child and I knew what to expect. In fact it was not any easier. I am lucky having excellent family support and was able to leave my son with them, which helped. I ended up breastfeeding my daughter until she was four years old. She was fully breastfed as she never took the bottle. My son was breastfed until he was two and half years old. I was pregnant at the time as well.

I went back to work full-time, having taken a year of parental leave with both kids. For the first two months during working hours the full breasts started again. It wasn’t as bad as when they were newborns but they were at least 60% full. I remember thinking “oh no, here we go again”. My filing drawer at work was always full of breast pads. I had no worries about anyone seeing them.

I have no idea why my milk supply was so abundant. My ethnicity is Indian and I am very petite. I don’t know if it had anything to do with what I was eating or the amount of water I drank. I always drink over two litres a day.

I remember reading that the milk supply dries up after seven days when you stop feeding. Well, 7 days after I stopped feeding my daughter I expected not to be able to squeeze any milk out but, to my surprise, the milk was still there. Even after 12 months I had milk. It actually took over 18 months for the milk supply to completely stop. My breasts are a lot smaller than my pre-baby days but I’ve always been really active and exercised my whole life so they are still in good condition and not sagging. I know of some people who did not want to breastfeed as they’d heard what happens to the shape of your breasts after feeding.

I don’t intend to have any more children but if I had to I would not hesitate to breastfeed again.

How I wish this web site had been around when I had my first child.

I had planned to breastfeed – it seemed the natural choice – easy (I thought), fast and no need for bottles and sterilising equipment. I thought it would be straightforward to get the hang of and in the long run would be the best solution. No matter what I tried, I just couldn't get my son (now a healthy 5 year old) to latch on correctly. Both my midwife (who I would like to stress was great during pregnancy and the birth) and lactation consultant said there was nothing wrong with my technique but still applied pressure to keep going.

With all my family overseas, I found things just getting harder and harder. All the healthcare professionals I came across made me feel inadequate and made it seem as though I would be harming my son if I gave up breast feeding.

I tried for six weeks and on top of the issues with latching, I was producing heaps of milk leading to painful, swollen breasts. I had been prepared for sore nipples, but it went much further than that. Even to the point where I found it hard to sleep and most of the time had to try and sleep sitting up. I tried using a breast pump, but found I was expressing several hours a day. Also using the breast pump and bottles was frowned upon by the lactation consultant.

In desperation I bought some formula (and made sure it was well hidden)!

I got to the point where I would burst into tears each feed time and was finding it extremely difficult to cope. When the midwife was no longer looking after me, I turned to my mom in the UK. She came from an era where formula was the norm and after many long conversations, she reassured me that I was not a failure. She pointed out that neither my sister, brother nor I were breastfed and we turned out fine.

When I had my daughter (now 18 months) I was a much more determined character. I tried breastfeeding for the first few weeks and although my daughter latched on fine, I just found it extremely uncomfortable. Again I was producing heaps of milk, so much in fact that my breasts were too swollen and a week or so in my daughter began finding it hard to latch on.

I had a very sympathetic midwife and although she initially pushed me towards breast feeding, once she could see I was having issues and wanted to stop she was supportive.

I think that made a difference and also the fact that I was more experienced and knew what I wanted.

I'm full of admiration for women who can and do breast feed, but its not good for the mental and physical health of the mother to push breast feeding at all costs. As I've learnt, you should do what you feel is right.