Half of mothers who responded to a new survey said they felt they let their baby down when they struggled to breastfeed.
Article from BBC News
More than a third of the 1,162 respondents to the UK-wide poll, commissioned by BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and BBC Radio Sheffield, revealed they felt ashamed for giving their child formula.
Four new mums talk about the struggles they faced and how they coped.
'You feel like you are giving them poison'
Amy Quick, 31, had always thought she would exclusively breastfeed her now five-month-old son Oliver.
"He latched himself about 40 minutes after he was born," she said. "I felt like we'd got off to a really good start."
But after three days Oliver's weight dropped by more than 10% and she began topping up his feeds with formula. By day five she had been referred to a feeding specialist.
"I got a prescription for Domperidone, it ups your levels of prolactin [the hormone responsible for milk production] to try and get your milk to come in.
"I was on that, I also got fenugreek - I was eating oats till they were coming out of my ears. All these different supplements I was trying but nothing was really working."
She said she felt "ashamed" at feeding Oliver with formula.
"You feel like you are giving them poison," she said. You get told breast is best, so when you can't do it it's a bit of a hit to the system.
"Now, I look at it all and I wonder what I got myself so worked up about, because he's a healthy, happy little baby."
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