I (we) did it! Made it through one year of breastfeeding!

First post to Reddit! On mobile TLDR at bottom.My daughter turned one yesterday and I supplied all her milk! She wasn't breathing when she was born so was sent to a NICU an hour away. We didn't start trying to feed her until she was 18 hours old. I had help from the lactation consultants for he first two days in the hospital. They sent us home with nursing shields. Two weeks later, we threw them away. I have successfully fed her from my body.My older child was breastfed exclusively until I returned to work at 8 weeks and then changed to formula at 8 months. I stopped working for the birth of my daughter. My goal was to not buy formula because it is so expensive. I created this mental (and physical) challenge for myself because there is nothing wrong with formula.I love my baby, but breastfeeding was never easy for me. I have a love/hate relationship with it. The hormones made me enjoy it, but not every time. Bites are painful and as a stay at home mom, sometimes, I just want to get away. I live in fear of losing my milk, so I did everything I knew about to keep it up. The list includes: consuming too many calories, exercising less (so I wear sports bra for shorter time), drinking extra water, and drinking less alcohol. This fear effected me more than I realized.TLDR: I wasn't easy, but I fucking did it! I made it! Wahoo! Now I am done! via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2IxpPqK