Milkbug

What a day – it was great to have a stall for our nursing clothes at the barn hotel. It was a great chance to show off our Milkbug range of breastfeeding clothes, the best bit must have been all the mums we met that had set up their own businesses – such as cake making and special gifts for mother and baby.

We met so many mums who are expecting who loved our nursing clothes and tops and it was interesting to hear all of their experiences and feelings towards breastfeeding. Most were worried that they wouldnt be able to feed for some reason, but having been in that boat myself the best advice I could give is that ‘ask ask ask for help from midwives and support workers’ dont be shy.

Our sailor knot breastfeeding top did really well today and the Coral Taara nursing dress also did good as mums loved the colour for summer – the best compliment we had were the comments on the material – all mums loved the softness of the material and also how it would feel against their newborns skin.

All in all a great day for Milkbug – our breastfeeding clothes got a viewing and we met some great mums to be and also mumprenuers!

Have a look at some of the images of the day or view online our nursing dress range: www.milkbug.co.uk

Baby cries……

I think: “oh no…please….NO” (whilst my heart sinks and a feel like crying)

Husband says: “I think she is hungry – are you going to feed her”

I think: “NO….you get your boob out and feel the pain for a change”

I actually say: ” Yes…give me two seconds…I’m on my way”

Those first few weeks of breastfeeding are by the toughest and for me very soul destroying. I had totally not got the latch right with my daughter (she was my 2nd child and I thought breastfeeding would be a doddle). This meant I had cracked, sore nipples – bleeding. The latch on was pain which ran through my very core and feeding her was painful, tearful and something I didnt want to do. Hence my heart sinking when I needed to feed her.

I kept thinking this wasnt what it was like last time – I remember it was hard at first, but this was on-going. I couldnt see how it was going to get better. When my daughter cried to be fed, my heart sank and I was scared of feeding her as I knew what the pain was that was about to come. When she did latch on, I would cry through the feeding. However I suffered in silence, I didnt want to tell my husband or midwife how hard it was. I kept thinking it would be ok, and that by admitting it wasnt right would mean that I would have failed. I soon became disillusioned by it all, and thought forget this – give her formula.

Though thats not something I really wanted to do – and I just wanted to see through it all. In addition to the pain, the milk was coming in and production hadnt regulated which meant the boobs were sore and gorged and no matter how many cabbage leaves I put on – it wasnt helping.

I finally caved in and asked for help when the midwife came and she came armed with improved techniques and advice on how to help the sore nipples heal. In a matter of a few days the pain subsided as the latch on was correct and the nipples started to heal. In a matter of a week I could latch her on without any pain and I wished I had asked for help earlier. That bliss lasted for a few days until the mastitis kicked in and the pain associated with that..however it would be my luck that the masititis got worse and developed into something more serious which required serious medical help in the form of surgery…….but thats another story and not something I want to shock anyone with

However out of all this – I am still breastfeeding and my heart no longer sinks when I need to feed – though the night time feeds I could do without. Finally it all feels natural.

My advice to anyone finding breastfeeding hard – don’t be a martyr. Get support from your midwife, health visitor or anyone else in the medical profession and keep an eye on how your feeding and how often.

Good luck.

Its coming really close to the birth date now – and being organised is normally something us women are brilliant at! However pregnancy hormones can always clutter our minds. Here we extract a list from Babycenter which can be used to ensure you have the essentials packed and ready to go!

For labour:

For your birth partner:

After the birth:

For your baby:

There are days when I just dont want to listen to nursery rhymes with my daughter in the car…there is just so much ‘one finger and thumb keep moving’ I can do! I went to uni in the late 90′s and there is certain music which I like listening to and bobbing my head too. However that same music has now evolved to a new ‘low’ level which makes it inappropriate for me to listen to with my daughter in the car.

Today I just wanted to listen to radio and I had to change the channel a record 15 times in a 20 min journey. I couldnt listen to Jessie J ‘doin it like a dude’ and then came Nicole who ‘didnt want you to wash your mouth out cos she likes it dirty’. Then there were some lame ad breaks we listened to and then came on Nicki Minaj who wanted to know whether you knew who the ‘F’ she was. I then decided to give it one last shot and there was RiRi telling me how much she loves ‘whips and chains and SEX’

In the end it just had to be ’1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive….’

On so many levels this music and lyrics are disturbing, but the immediate issue for me is that my daughter is 3yrs old and she repeats everything…and I mean everything. Yesterday she told my husband ‘mummy said you need to stop nagging her’ so I need to be careful what I say and also what she listens too. I couldn’t  live with myself if I heard her repeating any of the lyrics above.

There will be a time soon when I will be worrying that she is listening and mimicking these so called ‘divas’ of music and the influence they have. There are many women role models for her – its a shame they arent in the mainstream all the time. I just wish that the tone of the lyrics could be improved – as Im not sure why such language has to be used – but thats my age coming out!

I feel if we make it so acceptable to have these lyrics so open in the mainstream where are kids are exposed to it, we are in essence saying that the behavior the lyrics support is acceptable and the norm. Perhaps a watershed would work as it does in TV.

So I have now created a CD which has selected songs from Adele, Michael Buble and Phil Collins and if I ever want to listen to radio I will stick to Magic and Heart!