Parenting

The 10 commandments of breastfeeding

When it comes to feeding a child, every parent knows there are things you must have in place first whether you’re breastfeeding or bottle feeding. If you forget something, you’re likely to regret it for the rest of the feed. It’s even worse if you get nap trapped after they’re finished!

The other day, I finally managed to boob Reuben to sleep after hours of him being a bit grouchy. He slept in my arms while I did some writing and caught up on admin tasks. The thing was, I forgot to get myself a fresh glass of water before I fed him. He slept in my arms for hours and I made the most of it. However, I couldn’t stop looking up at that empty glass, feeling increasingly thirstier as the minutes ticked by. It got me thinking about all the things we need to have in place before breastfeeding. Being a bit tired and dehydrated, for some reason I started thinking about it in a 10 commandments kind of context. So without further ado, here are my tongue in cheek 10 commandments of breastfeeding:

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Breastfeeding struggles due to posterior tongue tie

After my breastfeeding journey with Autumn came to an end, I was devastated. I had been so determined, but her being seriously ill had had a serious impact on my mental health. The right thing to do to was to give up so I could take the medication I needed and get better. Breastfeeding this time round was going a lot better, until I began to realise there was a problem. At 8 weeks old, Reuben was diagnosed with a posterior tongue tie which was affecting our breastfeeding.

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Introducing Your Children To Music

Collaborative Post¦ There are a lot of small pleasures in life, but introducing your children to music for the very first time is one of them that you don’t want to miss out on. Music is a great way to not only connect with children, but to allow their imaginations to start turning over from a young age, no matter how old they are. Newborns benefit from soothing music and as they get older, they benefit from a range of music types that will enable them to dance, find their own rhythm and introduce them to a world of sound.

Children will learn to love music of all genres, and they will be able to immerse themselves in a specific music type as they get older. Some kids hit their teen years and bury themselves in rock music, wearing the clothes and makeup that reflect their favorite artists. Then there are others who love to emulate the rappers of the past with solid gold Cuban link chains and oversized basketball jerseys! The point is that music helps children to develop their own sense of taste and style, and introducing them to all ranges is so important. So, here are some of the best ways that you can introduce your kids to music while they’re still young.

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The surprise of health anxiety with my 2nd born

Trigger Warning: Anxiety¦ If you’ve been with me from the start of my blog and parenting journey, you’ll remember the trauma we went through at the beginning. Our 4 year old daughter had a huge ovarian cyst which sparked sepsis or a similar response. We ended up with her in PICU in St. George’s Hospital, London, where she required open surgery at only 5 weeks old. I was also severely anaemic after losing too much blood at birth and the combination of these had a big impact on my mental health. So much so, that it was years until I felt able to have another child. However, it has still continued to effect me in ways that have surprised me with my newborn son.

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Pregnancy in a pandemic

Trigger Warning: Miscarriage

My 7 week old son was conceived in early April last year, only a week or two into the first UK lockdown. It was still the very early days of the pandemic. I did have my concerns about having a baby due to what was happening with coronavirus. However, after a couple of months of lockdown things seemed to be much improved in Wuhan, so I assumed that by the time I gave birth things would be a lot better. I was so wrong! Pregnancy is tough at any time, but even more so during a pandemic, as I found out.

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