Mommy Talk: Breastfeeding

As its national breast feeding week I figured I'd do my second mommy talk post on that exact topic! 

I always knew I wanted to breastfeed, even before I became pregnant, just because my mum always did and growing up seeing her doing it, it was just a natural thing. I was quite surprised once I'd had skye and began breastfeeding at just how much hype there is over it!! 

It came very naturally to me and I never had any problems luckily. I love the bond it gave us and I loved having the quiet time just me and her when she would need a feed. It's so nice as well being the only one who can do it, so you get to have that alone time with your child, which you can never seem to get with a newborn!! Especially when everyone wants a cuddle!! 

I felt quite nervous taking her out to start with especially during the first few weeks, incase she would scream for a feed!! Luckily she mostly slept whilst we were out during this time! However if we were out for the day, obviously we would have to stop for a feed, usually I would feed her just before we got out of the car so she would be ok for a little while, but if she did need a feed we would usually stop for a cuppa and snack. I don't really remember feeling nervous about feeding her in public - usually people don't even notice!! I made sure to take a muslin cloth everywhere and would just drape it across my shoulder! This obviously gets more difficult when they become older and start to wriggle more!! - More on this in the next post!! Obviously you get the odd person who notices and sometimes they look at you funny but I'm not sure if that was because I was breastfeeding or because they were shocked she was mine LOL !! 

Other than my mum and a few ladies online I didn't really know anyone who breastfed and many seemed quite shocked when I said I was! I found this quite difficult, especially when returning to work. People didn't seem to understand that while Skye was ok, as I had left milk for her, I may not be as milk is still being produced! 5 hours is a fair while to go without a feed and it gets extremely painful!!

I was lucky enough to be able to stay off work until Skye was 9 months old, so when I did return to work she wasn't as reliant on milk as she would of been if she had been younger! However she was still feeding whenever she liked, and this was quite difficult! I tried to do shorter shifts, as she was going around 4-5 hours without a feed at this point, and on my long day I would come home for lunch and feed her. I found returning to work quite difficult as I had to prepare for this for about a month before hand! I even took my pump on holiday as this was a month before I was due to return to work, and I had to "trick" my body into producing enough milk for an extra feed so I had enough to pump for her for when I did return to work. Luckily I didn't have to do this for very long though as she adjusted really well and barely asked for milk when I wasn't around!

I found it quite sad to read online others arguing over choices other mums had made regarding feeding - I think every mother does their best and I felt breastfeeding was best for me and my child, however it's not for everyone and everyone has their right to feed their child as they wish. It is great though that breastfeeding is more spoken about these days and women are so much more confident about it! 

I have found it to be an absolute joy, and loved every minute of it! 

Here are a few things I found useful or found out from breastfeeding..

- Keep a drink to hand, I literally felt as though she was taking all my moisture when she fed! I got so thirsty!

- Try and eat extra calories as you really need it when feeding! I lost a lot of weight due to feeding even though I was eating a ton!! 

- Keep muslin cloths handy as they are great for keeping feeding discreet if you wish to.

- I didn't really know what to expect when I began pumping, and was shocked at how little actually came out! 

- Use a nipple cream to prevent soreness, look for one which doesn't need to be washed off before a feed.

- I learnt to try holding baby in different positions if feeding does become sore.

- I gave up using disposable breast pads and got washable ones. Best decision ever!! 

My next post will continue on from this and will be on breastfeeding after a year. 

Please feel free to leave any comments if you have any tips to share for other mamas!

Mommy Talk: Morning Sickness.

I thought I'd start once a week to try and do a post on mummy topics. Things that I've experienced, from when I was pregnant, right up to the toddler months we're now in!

I thought what better place to start, than where my journey began.. and where it stayed for quite some time!!

When I first found out I was pregnant, we decided to not tell anyone for a little while,  well that lasted for around a week! We were due to go out for an easter meal with all my family, and as I went to get out of bed, I was hit with a horrid feeling of nausea, the way you feel after a heavy night of drinking! Of course as I knew I was pregnant I knew exactly what this was.. I hadn't escaped it! Damn!! I had expected some sort of morning sickness, but what I didn't expect or know, was that it could (and would!) go on for weeks, and not just be in the morning!

After a few days of being in bed unable to keep any food or drink down, I knew I had to tell my mum what was going on! She had already guessed I think anyway! I decided now was the time to go to the doctor and see what they could do to help! I had been googling (naughty!) ways to help myself but nothing seemed to work for me. The doctor signed me off work and gave me some tablets which should have eased the sickness enough to help me to eat. They did not work!!

I was so fed up of lying in bed and spent hours reading through pregnancy forums to find out when this would be over and I could enjoy being pregnant! Obviously though nothing could give me the answer I wanted, and I just had to wait it out. The worst of my sickness lasted for around six weeks. However it didn't stop there! I still had the odd day here and there where I would feel dreadful, and I was still sick in the mornings right after I'd eaten (TMI!!) all the way up until I was 40 weeks!! It wasn't every day, but quite often!!

Sickness like this was not something that I had ever known about before getting pregnant, I mean I knew about morning sickness of course, but I had imagined being sick once when waking up then carrying on through the day! I did not know it could go on all day or last for weeks!!

Here are a few things which helped me to get through! I hope if anyone is in the same position I was and is scrolling the internet looking for anything to help, that this helps a little!!

- Eating something as soon as you wake up, even if you don't feel hungry.

- Drink lots of water. My doctor said the baby will get what it needs from you as long as you stay hydrated.

- Wear travel sickness bands. I don't really think these helped, but it was more of a mind trick!

- Don't worry about work. - I would worry constantly what people at work would think that I had phoned in sick again, or if I had to go home, but honestly don't worry. Your health and your baby are more important than what other people think. I was signed off of work for six weeks, and when I went back they would let me go home if I didn't feel well enough. Working in retail it is very hard to cope with sickness or hide it!! Especially when you have to stand constantly all day! Any "work tips" that I found online all assumed that pregnant women work in offices and that you have a desk! Well where I work there is no chance to sit down or rest!

- Keep mints or sweets handy! I always found sucking a hard sweet or a mint helped, and it kept that horrible taste away as well!

- If you can't face eating, try drinking a glass of milk. This always helped me! If you don't like plain milk, try flavoured milk.

- Also eating dry things like toast, breadsticks and rich tea biscuits. I lived off of these things for the first few weeks!

- Keep a snack handy. I used to keep a kit kat or small pack of biscuits in my bag at all times. The second I felt hungry I would have to eat otherwise the sick feeling would come!

These are a few things that helped me, and I hope by sharing it will help others!

Did you have pregnancy sickness? What tips do you have? :)

Welcome Back!

It's been a long time since I updated this blog, why you may ask?... (Or not!)

But since the last time I wrote here, I have been pregnant and had a beautiful little girl!

I've been enjoying reading other mummy blogs and have found some useful tips from them, so thought I'd join in and share some of my advice too. Others have helped me so perhaps I could help some other new mummy's too?

I'd also like to document my stories of pregnancy, birth and the first few weeks with my newborn bubba! So even if no one else reads, at least it's here for me to look back on! :)

So.. here's to what I hope will be a great new beginning for this blog!