It's the natural way to feed a baby, but breastfeeding rates in Northern Ireland still remain the lowest in the UK, something that Breastival NI is determined to help change.
The annual festival returns this August from 1-7 filled with family-friendly events aimed at promoting and supporting breastfeeding. While many mums might choose to breastfeed and see the health and bonding benefits it gives to both them and their baby, one Co Tyrone mum says breastfeeding her children actually 'changed her life', and her career.
Catherine Muldoon, from Aughnacloy is the co-ordinator of Breastival, but admits having never been around breastfeeding when she was growing up, she didn't know much about it until her own son was born.
Read more: Breastfeeding tips from NI expert on how to overcome early challenges
"I come from a family who did not breastfeed, I think I had two aunties who breastfed and they had children much later than the rest of the family. I live in Aughnacloy and there is a very low breastfeeding rate in Tyrone in general. "It was only because I started reading about it and found out the health benefits for myself and the baby that I decided I would give it a go," said Catherine.
"I remember when I was 16 in a shopping centre with my mum and my auntie and she was breastfeeding her baby who was 18 months and I remember having the conversation with my mum saying 'that's a bit weird, I'd probably breastfeed until they're six months and after that, you just put them on the bottle'. And that was the norm for me that that would be a possibility.
"As I started breastfeeding myself I realised not only what it was doing for him, he was teeny tiny when he was born and he was growing so well with me feeding him and it did so much for both of us, it just did us both so much good I continued until he was 18 months until I fell pregnant with my daughter and he naturally weaned."
Despite her breastfeeding journey with second child being 'much more difficult', Catherine continued and has never looked back since, with her experience now serving her well for a new career, having previously worked in Tech Start-Ups and as Digital Projects Officer in a Regional College.
"At the same time I was feeding my daughter, which was a much more difficult journey, but we worked on it, I was training to be a breastfeeding counsellor, and because of my experience I was able to take that into my education.
"I'm qualifying this year as a breastfeeding counsellor and post-natal practitioner, so it has changed my life, from breastfeeding my children to the job that I am in now, to the support that I am able to give to others and the information I'm able to offer to others.
"Because of my experiences and being able to be supported by the likes of Surestart in breastfeeding meant that I am now able to offer that support and highlight the importance of breastfeeding to more people," added Catherine.
Although the rates in Northern Ireland are going up slightly, Catherine admits more needs to be done to highlight and support breastfeeding here.
"In Northern Ireland, we can see that the numbers are going up and we can see they have increased by 7.1% but we are particularly low at continuing breastfeeding and maintaining breastfeeding.
"In Scotland the breastfeeding rate drops after 5 weeks, here in Northern Ireland it's about five days after birth to the 50% mark. There is a lot being done antenatally to promote breastfeeding but once the baby is born a lot of that support starts to drop off or it isn't being highlighted in the way that it could and should be.
"It's everything from the pressures that are currently being faced with NHS to not seeing it out and about. A lot of people will say you can't do something until you see it so with breastfeeding comes with seeing it out and about and normalising breastfeeding is what is going to help us increase our numbers.
"In Northern Ireland, we also have multi-generational trauma which is going to impact us and we have to recognise that is something which has impacted on our general health and wellbeing. Taking that time to support each other in our health is something we are getting better at but something we are still very behind the times with," added Catherine.
The mum-of-two says supporting and removing the stigma, particularly around breastfeeding in public is something we can all do as a society.
"I think the fear of [unwelcome comments or looks] whilst breastfeeding in public is one of the biggest hurdles that people need to get over and something that has been brought up time and time again is how we help overcome that fear.
"So much of it comes down to recognising where you are in your experience and not being put off by people around you. We are a much more welcoming society I think that we are tricked into believing, a lot of people expect a negative experience when they are out and about, but what we are seeing more and more is people celebrating breastfeeding parents.
"It's just about having that visibility to help people get over that initial fear. But hopefully, we are getting to a way now where we are getting past the worry that somebody might pass comment."
Catherine says the festival is also keen to help signpost breastfeeding mums to the range of support systems that are available to them.
"The numbers are improving we are seeing more people signing up to do the course to become a peer support worker and it's incredible the work that they are doing, it's just about trying to find a way to highlight access to that support and that really is what Breastival is trying to do.
"We have a specific session this year that looks at the pathway to support so who are the people you come into contact with that can signpost you to that support so for example your SureStart, your peer support worker etc, it's just about highlighting that support and making them more visible. the support is there, it's just about being able to access it."
For more information on this year's festival, you can visit the Breastival NI website.
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