A DARWEN mum has spoken about her positive experiences ahead of a week-long celebration of breast feeding.

Katrina Shepherd, 31, of Lynwood Avenue, is mother to three-year-old Matilda and is 27 weeks pregnant with her second child.

After a tricky start, Katrina exclusively breast-fed Matilda from three months and will be looking to do the same when her new baby arrives.

Katrina struggled at first, but with help from the local infant-feeding team and the groups she attended, she gained confidence.

She said: “I don’t think I trusted my body enough at the start but I am certain the help and guidance I got was the main reason I kept going. Once I realised ‘yes, this is working’, I got more confident about it and once it got easy, it got really easy.”

“Everything I was told was that it would better for Matilda.

“She is also a very confident and independent little girl and I do think that keeping her close and breast-feeding her may have helped that as well.”

“I would tell other mums to try it. Do the first feed and go from there.”

Celebrating Breastfeeding Week runs from June 16 to 22 with events all across East Lancashire.

Coun Mohammed Khan, borough executive member for health and adult social care, said: “It is great to see we have keen breast-feeders in the borough like Katrina who can help drive home the benefits it can provide for both mother and child.”