Although she didn't have any trouble physically breastfeeding her daughter Phoebe, a combination of physical and mental factors were taking their toll.

"I was sleep deprived, she was constant feeding and 99 per cent of the time I was the only one who could attend to or soothe the baby, I feared not being able to go out during feed times (which I no longer have any of these) and what society thinks is 'long enough' to feed.

"After six months I was told Phoebe had been breastfed long enough and to make her sleep through the night to stop breastfeeding."

Amy-Lee and her family, which also included two-year-old Stella, had just moved to Smiths Lakes from Newcastle and it was a "full-on" period.

She was ready to make the change and even went as far as buying a tin of formula.

But then a friend added her to a breastfeeding page on Facebook and she hasn't looked back since.

"It inspired me to persevere. I learnt so much from other breastfeeding mums on the page.

"I want to encourage women to feed, to try again or persist and get support if you need it.

"I wasn't alone in what I was experiencing and learnt that in those first few months many babies just don't sleep and it was normal they would want to breast feed every two hours or at times what felt like every 30 minutes."

Amy-Lee has no issue with mums choosing to feed their children with formula but suggests more may have continued breastfeeding or chose to breastfeed if it was "normalised" within society and women were encouraged.

"I mix feed when I don't have enough expressed milk ready to go when I need to work, do grocery shopping or even going out with friends.

"So many mums give up early. Through no fault of their own they might be uneducated, uninformed or don't have the support , and at some stages I was one of these mums too".

Feeding in public also presented some challenges.

With her first daughter Stella, she found it "really hard. I felt really uncomfortable".

"I was constantly trying to cover myself and Stella up, or frantically trying to find a baby room with a screaming baby."

Over time her confidence grew.

"With Phoebe, if she needs a feed she needs a feed. I'm not going to not feed her because someone might be uncomfortable.

"Other people shouldn't feel uncomfortable. How you are feeding a baby is normal."

She acknowledges how hard breastfeeding can be, especially in the early days, but said once it is established and if you have a good, positive support system of people around you, things get much easier.

"Breastfeeding your baby is a privilege and an indescribable journey that you will only share together with your baby."

Positive support is key and she raises concerns, based on her own experience, that the message being sent to the community is that formula is a "quick fix" for problems and the first option for new mums, particularly the younger generation.

"Breastfeeding is normal and natural - how could breastfeeding be the problem.

"Part of normalising breastfeeding in public is having the younger generations of girls and boys see this is a normal way to feed a baby."

She said if she didn't have the support she received about breastfeeding, she more than likely would have given up earlier.

Now 13 months into breastfeeding Phoebe she has no plans to stop until they are ready for their journey to end.

Amy-Lee was one of 11 mums who took part in a professional photo shoot earlier this year aimed at normalising breastfeeding in society.

lauren.green@fairfaxmedia.com.au