I’ve got nine kids and breastfed for 15 years straight – my husband missed birth of our eighth but I don’t care
MUM of nine Amanda Owen has revealed she spent 15 years straight breastfeeding her children.
Amanda is known for starring on Channel 5 show Our Yorkshire Farm, which follows her, her husband and their life on the farm in Ravenseat, Upper Swaledale with their nine children.
Shepherdess Amanda, 46, and her husband Clive, 67, are parents to Raven, 20, Reuben, 17, Miles, 15, Edith, 12, Violet, 10, Sidney, nine, Annas, seven, Clemmie, five, and their youngest Nancy, four.
Despite having an entire farm to run and all her children to look after too, Amanda chose to breastfeed when all of her kids were young and insists it was easier than turning to a bottle.
"Why wouldn't I?" she told in an interview in November.
"It's easy, the right temperature, and when you're out lambing, what are you going to do?"
Since then, Amanda has revealed she actually ended up giving birth to her eighth child, daughter Clemmie, alone - but she doesn't care that husband Clive missed the birth.
Choosing to give birth at home, Amanda said during an interview on This Morning: "The thought of just staying at home was a really good option.
"I got fed up of ruining people's picnics, so I put the kettle on, stoked up the fire and just had her by the fire with my terrier as a birthing partner."
She explained the turned to the dog to support her through the delivery, after waking up her husband and him opting out.
"I woke up my husband, but the matter of fact is, quite simply, he's seen me give birth to seven children before."
Amanda revealed to that her local hospital is in Middlesbrough - 69 miles from the family home.
"On these roads, that takes a long time, so by baby number eight - I thought, 'Sod it, I'll do it myself.' I knew the baby was in the right position, so when I felt the familiar feelings I went downstairs and had the baby in front of the fire," she explained.
Admitting her husband "wasn't desperate" to be at the birth, Amanda said that actually she found the birth of baby number eight the "best" - as it ended up being more "relaxing" for her.
She revealed: "Clive wasn't desperate to be at the birth, he was asleep upstairs. I went and woke him up with the baby.
"Of all the births I've had, this one has to have been the best - it was the most relaxing, the most quiet, the most peaceful."
Amanda and Clive met 25 years ago in 1996 when she joined his farm as a trainee shepherdess at 21-years-old.
At the time, Clive was divorced with two children and the pair ended up getting together, going on to have that nine-strong brood.
Fans have been keeping up to date with their unconventional family life on Our Yorkshire Farm, with the show now in its fourth series.
With her eldest children now fully grown, viewers watched on as Amanda came over all emotional as her son Reuben - the eldest of her nine kids - prepared to flee the nest and leave the farm to take on an apprenticeship as a mechanic.
Our Yorkshire Farm airs on Channel 5 on Tuesdays at 9pm.
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