Friday 24 June 2011

Breastfeeding Awareness Week


This week is Breastfeeding Awareness Week, so I thought I'd share a few things that we've found invaluable! We have been exclusively bf for 10 weeks now, so while I obviously don't claim to know everything, I can share a few things that have helped us :)

In the first few weeks, lansinoh cream was a miracle cream. It's a pure lanolin cream to help with cracked / bleeding nipples, and it really does make a difference. It is a little expensive, but the other creams are a waste of money in my opinion! Don't be mean with it either - it is your friend! After a few weeks you probably won't need it, so use it after each feed.

It also really helps to have a lot of "top off" / naked time in the beginning, to try and get some air. Obviously you will have lots of visitors in the first few weeks, so maybe don't walk around naked all the time (unless that's your kind of thing!) but whenever you get chance. Breastmilk is also a wonderful thing, with tons of healing qualities, so a little expressed milk will do wonders to help heal painful nipples.

In the beginning, I think something that really helped was having realistic expectations. This counts for both you and your partner! I'd explained to Mitchell what would happen, and that she would be feeding a lot over the first few weeks, and what I expected / wanted him to do. A supportive partner is a must for successful breastfeeding, and if they don't understand what's happening how can they be supportive?

Mitch's jobs for the first few weeks involved making me food and drink (winner!), tidying up, and nappy changes. This meant that I could get little naps where possible, stayed hydrated (very important), and occasionally even shower. Mitch has added that it helps to be very specific with what you want doing - e.g. could you clean the bathroom please. I found this really difficult as I hate asking for help and was trying to do everything myself for the first week. It took a massive breakdown in tired tears to realise I wasn't wonder woman and I needed help! We're still working on me delegating, as I do like to be a super hero :P

Along with having a supportive partner, make sure your family and friends know what you want to do. I know in the first few weeks that I was really sensitive about bf, and negative comments would have really hurt me.

Even though I'd done tons of research and spoken to people, I still had a slightly unrealistic idea of what to do / what would happen. I cannot stress enough times - it is painful and you will feed ALL THE TIME. But it gets better. Promise.

Invest in some decent nursing bras - I thought 2 would be enough, but didn't factor in baby sick / milk leakage! I have 4, which seems to do me fine. Mothercare ones are also quite pretty and have some nice patterns, which saves you feeling super gross.

You can purchase specific nursing tops, but I found their to be a limited selection and they were quite expensive. I'm quite happy with tops I can pull down - but I have wrecked the neck on a few tops because of this. At the moment I find a vest top and cardigan / boy shirt works best for discreet boob access.

It all depends on how discreet you want to be I guess - I don't mind showing a bit of boob but would be embarrassed showing my entire tummy, so would never dream of lifting a top up! Wear something you feel comfortable in, and maybe practice feeding discretely till you get than hang of it.

Not that you should have to be discreet - just may make you feel a little more comfortable at the beginning. I'm not putting any nursing covers or anything on this list, as I've found that every time I try and cover up when feeding, it only makes it more obvious what I'm doing! I've found that if you seem to just get on with it, no-one really notices and everyone is happy. When baby is latched on there is literally nothing to see anyway.

One recommendation from a friend was pillows. I'd bought a Widgey nursing pillow but I hate it - I can never get the latch write using it! But, 2 cheap Tesco pillows have been a lifesaver - I can prop baby up on them any way I need to and take some of the pressure off my arms, because babies are heavy! The first few weeks Alice was here my wrists just ached so much from supporting her head all the time.

This week I've just discovered Lilypadz reusable breast pads, and I must say I'm really impressed. They're about £14 but I'd definitely recommend them so far.

Finally, don't feel guilty whatever happens. Breast is undoubtedly best, but what is most important is a happy baby and a happy mummy :). Do what feels right for you - you're in control and you make the decisions.

With love and light xo

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Finished Bump Series!

Also, I realised I never got around to posting this! Here is my finished bump photo series! :)




Look at them all in full by clicking on Week By Week!

With love and light xo

Happy Fathers Day!!

Sunday was Mitch's first Father's Day, and both daddy and Alice seemed to enjoy it! The day started with cuddles and breakfast in bed, and lots of love was had all day.

Alice bought daddy a chinese (obviously!), a mug that changes colour - pictured below, and a present that hasn't yet arrived! The mug was from Snapfish, and I'm really happy with it. I'm using snapfish to create her photobook too - currently a work in progress! But I thought it would be good to keep lots of photos all together.






Not a lot is happening to blog about at the moment! Every day Alice is smiling and awake a little more, wanting to play more and take the world in. It's nice to not just feed and sleep, and it's fascinating to watch her personality to develop day by day.

She is fantastic, but obviously I don't need to say that in every blog! So anyway - a few pictures :)








With love and light xo

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Questions

I've added a little question widget to the side of the blog, so feel free to leave any questions you want answering on this post and I'll try and answer them within a blog at some point!

With love and light xo

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Dear Alice - 2 Months


(Your daddy loves this picture for some reason!)

Dear Alice,

Today you are 2 months old exactly. That means it is exactly 2 months, pretty much to the same time of day, that you came into the world. How amazing is that?

So much changes every day that it's so difficult to remember how quickly you are growing up. I keep trying to take a step back and appreciate how perfect you are, and how big you're becoming!

At 2 months old:

- You weighed 10lb 10oz a few weeks ago, so I would guess you're probably just over 11lb now. You are still very long, so we think you're going to be a tall little lady!

- You are now completely out of your newborn clothes, and struggling to fit into a lot of your 0-3 sleepsuits - mostly because of your length rather than your size! I'm trying to cram as much wear into your beautiful little clothes before we have to start putting some of them away.

- We are now using cloth nappies exclusively, including at night. So far we're still doing really well, and as mentioned in the previous post we are really happy with these. You seem to really like having a big cuddly bum too! We are also using reusable wipes when we are at home now to avoid using chemicals as much as possible :)

- You had the first set of your jabs, which was awful but necessary. You have another 2 sets to go at 12 weeks and 16 weeks. Mummy doesn't like seeing you in pain!!

- The most exciting development for us (well me!) is that you are now smiling! And what a beautiful smile it is too. You completely beam at daddy, and it just makes everything seem perfect. You don't smile as much for mummy but I think that's because you see me all the time! You smile in the bath, and especially smile in the mornings when you're in bed having a cuddle with mummy and daddy.


- You're holding your head up and looking round a lot more. You always want to be sat up and seeing what's going on in the world - you don't want to be lay down as you want to be a nosy bear!

- You're also now awake a lot more during the day. I'm hoping that this means over the next few months your night time sleep will get better, but we're not going to force you into a routine. You're in charge little one :)

- Mummy is getting a little more confident with feeding, and we've been feeding out and about. I finally feel like we've cracked it, and that I can hopefully carry on breastfeeding till we're both done!

- You react a lot more to voices and noises, and you follow people round and focusing on their eyes. It also means you want to be looking at mummy all the time, so you love being in your bouncy chair and watching me make lunch or vacuum up!

You can read the other Dear Alice posts by clicking here :)

With love and light xo

Sunday 12 June 2011

Useful Things

I was thinking last night about things I could write about, and thought about a few items I've / we've found incredibly useful over the past 2 months. This is by no means a list of things you need, but definitely things that have helped us out a little :). Infact, I might split the list up and make it a regular thing! If you have any suggestions / advice just let me know :)

- Hotsling
(I got mine second hand for £5, but new about £40)

Alice pretty much wants to be carried all the time - she wants to be able to see what's happening and what everyone's
doing, and be close enough to me that she can pull on my top to remind me that tea time is happening!

The link is to the adjustable one and mine isn't, but the ease of it is amazing - it's literally just a pouch of material that I c
an put her in to carry her round. It's comfy, easy to use, and takes up no space at all in my nappy bag. I just chuck it in and it saves my arms carrying her round if she wants cuddles when we're out and about.

It's a lifesaver at home too, I can do the washing up, peg clothes out, tidy up etc. She has a nice l
ittle doze and I don't feel guilty about not getting anything done - winner!

Plus mine has a lovely pattern on (as pictured) and I get lots of compliments, that must mean I need another one right ;). I must stress how much I prefer the Hotsling to the Babasling - I find
that faffy and uncomfortable!


(£5.97)
By no means a necessity, but I find being able to see her in the back seat when we're driving really reassuring. I can easily see what she's up to, and if she's awake or sleeping - often a key factor in the decision making of where we're going and what we're doing!

And this is super cheap and easy to fit - it just attaches to the back head rest. One thing I did forget to check is if we had read head rests though, and turns out we didn't. However Mitch did a quick switcheroo for me! Problem solved. Would definitely recommend. It also has the added effect of distorting her head slightly which makes me giggle.


(I paid £5 each for these I think on an offer, but normally around £14.99 new)

I could write pages and pages about how fantastic we've found the cloth nappies and how happy we are with the decision to use cloth, but I just particularly want to focus on the type of nappy, and I'll maybe do a longer cloth post later.

The V3 are the old version, but just as good as the V4s. I also want to mention the BumGenius All In One Nappies which are sized, and we had 6 small ones of these for the first few weeks - they do from 8lb to 15lb so we're still using these but they take longer to dry.

The V3 nappies are classed as Birth to Potty nappies, so fit from about 8lb to hopefully when she potty trains - because they have various poppers to adjust the size and fit for the age she is (better explanation here).

We love them for many reasons, but a few include: Saving money - obviously a big reason, and a very important reason. Although the inital outlay was more, we should hopefully save a significant amount in the long term, and obviously these can be reused again and again. Reducing landfill, this is really important to me / us. Comfort, they look so super comfy! And I'm trying to avoid using chemicals on Alice wherever possible.

We've found the BumGenius the best so far for fit, ease of use, speed of drying, and absorbency.

I might sound like some crazy hippy, but that's fine. I have no confidence in most of my decisions, but I've been really happy with this choice so far.

Okay, little one is crying so I'm off for now. Will do some more of these soon, but please leave any comments with questions or suggestions :)

With love and light xo

Saturday 11 June 2011

Injections

I'm working on a few longer blog posts, but just while I had 5 minutes I thought I'd do a little update.

On Thursday we went for her first set of injections, and the newborn check up at the doctors. I'd not really been looking forward to it, but I know it had to be done. The check up was fine, Alice was all okay, and we actually had a really lovely doctor do it. Then we had to wait a little while for the nurse, so of course Alice fell asleep in my arms.

So we were called through to the other room, and I held her while the nurse prepared the jabs. I wish I'd woken her up first, but she was woken by her first jab. Then I had to quickly switch sides for the second. It was awful, she screamed. Literally screamed - not cried. She held her breath for about 30 seconds before turning red and just shouting in pain! I hated every second of it, especially knowing she's got to go back in 4 weeks for another set. But it's better than her getting ill I suppose!

Other than that we're both well - she's awake much more in the day time now so I get less time, but we have lots of fun and cuddles so that's all that matters! She is now over 8 weeks old, which is just incredible. Where has the time gone?

We've had a wander into town today and picked up 4 packs of vests in various sizes in the Mothercare sale to hopefully see us through till the end of the year. I don't think it will be much longer before she's out of the 0 - 3 clothes!

I'll post more over the next few days, but here's a quick snap of her little smile :)



With love and light xo

Friday 3 June 2011

7 Weeks


Yesterday I took little owl to be weighed with the health visitor - the first time since she was 3 weeks old. Last time she was 8lb 7oz, and yesterday she was 10lb 10oz! That means she's spot on with her weight gain, and is still right in the middle, on the 50th percentile.

She was also measured, and is on the 95th percentile for her length - meaning she is a suuuuper long baby! We knew this anyway, but I was quite surprised at just how long she was. She fits really well in all her tops and trousers, but has nearly outgrown her 0 - 3 month sleepsuits because of her length. Luckily eBay has provided a few little bargains! And she has lots of lovely 3 - 6 month clothes from presents.

Today she's been a little fussy because of the heat - lots of tears and food, but she seems to have calmed down with the cool of this evening *fingers crossed*. Even throughout the tantrums I still catch myself thinking how beautiful she looks! But obviously I'm bound to think that.

We're also still having a few smiles - not many but a few sneaky ones throughout the day. Especially in the morning when daddy is getting ready for work! They really do make everything worthwhile.

I've been asked to make sure I keep blogging a little bit about wedding stuff, so here's a bit of an update! I haven't done anything yet - I've sent lots of emails out but still no closer to any decisions.

We're looking for a really simple, unfussy, relaxed wedding. I'm not big on formality and neither is Mitchell, so we want a simple ceremony, followed by a reception where everyone can have a lovely time and a dance! Our priorities for a venue are somewhere we can do our own catering, somewhere with a little bit of outside space hopefully, and somewhere low cost.

We toyed around with the idea of hiring a barn but haven't been able to find one we can hire yet, so if anyone has any ideas feel free to get in touch! I'm completely open to suggestions at the moment.

With love and light xo