Category

Breastfeeding

Category

If you’re pregnant or a new mum wondering what you might need on your breastfeeding journey, this post is for you. Natural breastfeeding products – the breastfeeding essentials you’ll need for the first six months and beyond. These are my all-time favourite breastfeeding products, which have been invaluable to me. I’ve breastfed all four of my littles from birth until the age of 2, so I’ve tried a lot of breastfeeding products. Here are the products I return to again and again – from the best nipple balms, teas and support for mum, but also the best breast pumps, bottles for breastfeeding babies, and nursing pillows. My breastfeeding back story When I first wrote this post, I’d been breastfeeding Jonah for almost 17 months. We struggled at the start with painful latch, and we overcame it together. My mum breastfed me for a few weeks so had a little experience…

In this post, I’m reviewing the beautiful Weleda Nipple Balm. Weleda is my absolute favourite natural skincare brand. As a family, we use so many of their gorgeous natural beauty and baby care products. I was totally delighted to discover that the latest Weleda product is a nipple balm. Weleda is so supportive of the mother and baby journey, it’s really lovely. There’s a range of calendula bathing products, nursing oil, and tummy oil – and now this nipple balm helps to complete the range. Why do I need to use nipple balm? My baby is almost 16 months old – but recently my nipples have been damaged by Jonah’s teeth. He’s cutting four molars and four canines all at the same time. Biting isn’t really the problem, although he has clamped down on my nipple a couple of times. It’s the digging in of his teeth when he’s nursing…

In this post I’m reviewing the fantastic BeeMom Silicone Breast Pump. I’ve been breastfeeding Jonah for 15 months now. I never imagined we would get this far, as we did struggle at the start. I’m passionate about breastfeeding, and so grateful to the women who helped me learn to breastfeed in hospital – and the lactation consultant who supported me through difficult times. Jonah lost a lot of weight in the weeks following his birth, so we (probably needlessly) supplemented with formula. When his weight gain stabilised, we gradually decreased his formula intake and I pumped to increase my milk supply. We used the Medela Swing Electric Breast Pump. Now we find breastfeeding so easy, and it forges such a strong bond between us – we both love it. Jonah breastfeeds about three times during the day, and breastfeeds to sleep. If he’s poorly, he breastfeeds more frequently for comfort.…

In this post, I review Weleda Nursing Oil. I’ve been breastfeeding Jonah for 14 months now. It’s so cosy and convenient and we love it, but it hasn’t always been easy. We struggled to get him latched on in the first few days and we were advised in hospital to use nipple shields. The shields worked really well and we were able to feed. Yet Jonah lost over 10% of his body weight within the first week. He was very fussy right after feeds, and he cried a lot in the night. Worried and doubting, we supplemented with two 4oz bottles of formula a day to help him gain weight quickly, and satisfy his hunger. And gain weight he did! This allowed us to be discharged from hospital as his weight gain was ample. Did he seem any more satisfied? Not really. In hindsight, I believe Jonah’s fussiness was normal…

In this post, I share why I’ll never sleep train my baby. We were gifted an old-fashioned crib by family, but went out and bought a Snuzpod sidecar crib so we could co-sleep safely. When expecting, we said we’d never bed share because we’d read all the advice about how bed sharing could lead to SIDS and was dangerous. We’d never put Jonah’s health at risk! We stayed two nights in hospital to get breastfeeding support, and were surprised that Jonah didn’t sleep well in his crib. He’d cry when we put him down, and found it very hard to settle in that little plastic box. In my ignorant new mother haze, I genuinely believed there was something wrong with him. I even asked the midwives why he wouldn’t settle anywhere but in my arms. The belief that babies sleep in cribs was so strong with me. After Jonah’s birth,…

Pregnant and still using mainstream beauty and skincare products? If you haven’t already, here are four beauty products to rethink before baby arrives, and some great alternatives that are kinder to baby, you, and the environment. How much of what we put on our skin is absorbed? In researching this blog post, I wondered how much of what we apply to our skin actually gets absorbed. Figures fly around the internet at something like 60 – 70%. Well, this isn’t true, because there is no one magic percentage. This article explains why we don’t know how much of an ingredient will be absorbed when applied topically. To step back a little, penetration and absorption are actually separate things – penetration is where a chemical makes it down into the deeper tissues of the body. Absorption is where a chemical actually enters the bloodstream (source). Both depend on several factors: When pregnant or breastfeeding, and…

We’ve just got back from the Global Big Latch On 2017, where families around the world gather at their local event to simultaneously breastfeed and offer peer support. The children are all latched on at exactly 10:30am so it truly is a participatory event. It’s great to be involved in something so big! The Global Big Latch On takes place during World Breastfeeding Week (1st – 7th August). It aims to create a lasting support network for women, their families, and the wider community, and quite importantly sets out to normalise breastfeeding as a part of daily life. We attended the Middlesbrough Big Latch On. We met our breastfeeding friends at Stewart Park, a gorgeous old Victorian park with sweeping views over the beautiful ancient trees. In total, 34 women and their nurslings took part in the event. History of the Global Big Latch On The Global Big Latch On was…

In this post, I’ll be looking at how to make a breast milk bath, and the benefits to baby and mama a breast milk bath can bring. A little backstory: it’s been a long time since I expressed breast milk on a daily basis for Jonah. It used to be a regular thing for me to have the Haakaa breast pump swinging from one breast whenever Jonah was breastfeeding on the other. I could leave some milk for him while my husband had him for an hour, and I’d take some much needed self-care time in the form of pilates classes. Fast forward a few months, and I’m done with classes now, feeling fully recovered from pregnancy and birth, and feeling like running around after my steam train toddler is just about as much physical exertion as I can handle. This week, Jonah’s had a few stubborn spots across his…

In this post I’m sharing why we choose to vaccinate our children. Poor baby had his one year immunisations yesterday at Norton Medical Centre. Martin took the afternoon off work so we could take him to the appointment together. We arrived in the waiting room, where a little boy was crying after receiving an injection. His mother, trying her best to comfort him, pointed to Jonah and remarked “that little boy isn’t crying”, but we all knew he soon would be – how sad. “The two public health interventions that have had the greatest impact on the world’s health are clean water and vaccines” ~ World Health Organisation The nurses were friendly and helpful, explaining what would happen, providing us with patient leaflets, and asking about previous immunisations. Daddy held him during the four injections, which were performed one at a time, one in each limb. I cupped his head…