A NEW mum who was flown home from the Canary Islands via air ambulance after her waters broke while she was on holiday has shared the story of her son's eventful birth.

Chantal Mills gave birth to little George at 31 weeks in Warrington Hospital in May having been transported from Tenerife, where she had gone into labour a week into a vacation with husband Simon.

Now the couple, who live in Lymm, have shared their experiences to mark World Breastfeeding Week - which runs until August 7 - and are hoping to tackle misconceptions that babies born prematurely cannot be breastfed.

The first-time mum said: "I didn't know my waters had broken at first - I thought it was the baby pushing down so I didn't even mention it.

"It eased off and we went for our evening meal, and we even went for a walk afterwards.

"We went back to the hotel room and went to bed quite early because I wasn't feeling too good, but I woke up in a pool of water - Simon just looked at me and said 'I think we need to get to the hospital'.

"There was a language barrier and they wanted us to stay there, but our consultant was trying to get us to fly back home.

"Because it was our first pregnancy, I wasn't too sure what to expect from labour and I was apprehensive about giving birth over there if I couldn't follow any of their instructions because nobody there spoke English."

Consultants at Warrington Hospital intervened and Chantal was flown home before having an emergency Caesarean section the following day.

She said: "Once he was born it was such a relief, because we'd had problems in the pregnancy from week seven.

"We were told a few times that he wouldn't make it, but once he arrived we knew he was in safe hands and he was getting the best care he could get."

George was discharged from the neonatal unit at four weeks and is now nearly three months old.

Chantal added: "I had read online that if you have a premature baby then your body struggles to produce the milk.

"I was a little bit worried about that happening to us and initially I couldn't, but one of the ladies from Sure Start showed me what to do.

"He latched on straight away, and it was such an exhilarating moment for both of us - I cried when it happened.

"I'd encourage anyone to breastfeed - I was so happy that I was able to as I knew I was giving him the best start in life, especially because he was born so prematurely.

"It's so easy to give up, but the benefits that you're giving your little one should outweigh anything else."