Jasmine Simons had difficulty latching on to her mother’s breast when she was born back in 2002, but her mother was determined.

Jeanann Simons said when she had problems feeding her daughter some of the nurses in the maternity ward gave Jasmine a bottle nipple. “I didn’t want that and I told them to stop,” she said. “I was going to breast feed.”

Mrs. Simons said one of the night duty nurses took extra time with her and helped her to feed her daughter but once out of the hospital she decided to contact a lactation consultant.

In the end, Mrs. Simons could feed Jasmine directly from only one breast. “One of my breasts was inverted so Jasmine could only feed from one,” she said. “That was fine. She got enough milk and nutrients from the one breast and I could pump from both.”

It was almost two weeks before Mrs. Simons was at ease nursing Jasmine but she feels her effort was worth it.

“Breast feeding was a comfort to me and helped the bond between me and my daughter.”

Mrs. Simons had been the secretary to La Leche trainer Jill, so was familiar with the group from the outset of her pregnancy.

“My husband and I went to meetings when I was first pregnant,” she said. And Mrs. Simons continued attending meetings for close to a year. “I went for support and to listen to other people’s problems.

A long time advocate of breast-feeding, Mrs. Simons highly recommends it, citing the convenience and weight loss as hidden advantages.

“I lost about 30 pounds when I was breast feeding and that really was 30 pounds because I didn’t gain any weight when I was pregnant,” she said.

She said she only ate a bit more than usual having three square meals a day and three snacks.

“I drank a lot of water and got a lot of rest,” she said. “There are some foods you stay away from for the baby. In my case I did not eat lettuce because it made her gassy.

She said when she returned to work after three months, she expressed milk for her baby.

“I pumped once in the morning and once in the afternoon,” she said. “It is important if you want your baby to have the best possible nutrition.” And she said she didn’t find it difficult.

“You have to arrange with your employer to let you have half an hour in the morning and in the afternoon to do it,” she said.

“You need a clean area to work in, clean utensils and a refrigerator.”

Mrs. Simons said she usually got eight ounces of milk each time she pumped and that was sufficient for Jasmine.

“I was stressing about detaching,” she said, “but it was an easy process. My daughter detached herself at nine months.”

Now four years old, Jasmine is more resilient to infections than many of her schoolmates. Her mother said she believes that’s because she was breast-fed.