As an Irish father I had never had much to do with breastfeeding until my wife Mary decided to breastfeed. Both our mums and older sisters had all followed the traditional Irish method of bottle feeding for various reasons .When Mary became pregnant for the first time, there was a bit of fuss made with them donating bottles/sterilisers/other pieces of equipment and a discussion was had on which formula to try.

After the birth of my second child my father passed away unexpectedly. I remember speaking to him the day prior to his heart surgery and he was anxious. That was the last time we spoke as he suffered complications during the surgery and died soon after in the recovery room.The days, weeks and months were passed in a blur of tears and sorrow. My dad was the go-to dad and the fixer dad. You had a problem ? He always was there trying to fix it.