Hi there Not sure exactly what sort of thing you are after... but here goes...

I was 20 when I fell pregnant with Brendan and 20 when he was born. He was also born premature (30+1 weeks) and in the first 9 months no-one (medical personal) took me seriously. I always felt looked down on and also got the feeling they were thinking 'what would you know'.

During my hospital stay(in Perth) prior to giving birth (I was admitted at 28 weeks after my waters broke) a lot of the midwives in the hospital treated me like a child, or as if I'd done something majorly wrong. I also got looks from them when I would say that Brendan was planned. One even saying to me, 'you are too young to plan a pregnancy'!

When I sought help for BFing issues I was simply told to 'keep trying' they wouldn't even listen to my concerns about Brendan and his feeding. It also didnt help that I lived in a small country town with only one doctor and one CHN. Neither of which had any experience with premature babies.

I've also found, in my experience, that when I say my children were born premature alot of people assume it was because of drugs, smoking, alcohol ect. I dont know whether thats because my age, or because of all the attention focussed on drugs and their relation to premature birth, or a combination of both.

I cant think of anything else right now... but feel free to PM me if you have any questions

Good luck.