Blog Challenge - Mum Tips
I have decided to set myself and the other members of Mum Knows Breast a challenge - 30 Tips in 30 days! This means posting a new tip everyday for the next month to help breastfeeding mums. I thought it would be a good way to support World Breastfeeding Week and get the ball rolling. It be great to help other mums out there.
So please help me out with your tips otherwise I’m going to be one busy bee. Here goes….
Tip No 1 - Give yourself permission to fail
Sound strange doesn’t it? Let me explain. I think as new mums we put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect then when things don’t go to plan we think we have failed or are a bad mum. The same goes for breastfeeding. Give yourself permission to make mistakes and realise that the early breastfeeding days are hard for everyone. It’s O.K to ask for help and admit that your having problems with breastfeeding. Nearly all mums do. Ask for help and don’t put pressure on yourself to be perfect. Sometimes when the pressure is off you can find breastfeeding can become a little easier. Eliminate ’shoulds’ from your vocabulary. Doing your best is enough. You might just surprise yourself. Hang in there.
gillygirl :: Aug.03.2007 :: breastfeeding support :: 16 Comments »
16 Responses to “Blog Challenge - Mum Tips”
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Breastfeeding tip 2
Ok girls cabbage leaves dont always work to reduce swelling or pain as baby might reject the stench. Try gel packs that you can cool in thr fridge/freezer for pain & swelling or can heat up to make free flowing milk.
so many more tips, Friday nights sadly for my social life is my optimum net night (giggle)
Tip Number 2!
Trust your instincts.
If it feels like you’re doing it right, bub is gaining weight, and you aren’t in any pain, then you doing everything right.
If it feels like something isn’t quite right, do not feel silly about asking for help. Breastfeeding isn’t easy and society places so much fear and doubt on parents. Know that there are resources available to assist you, no matter where you are, even if it is online.
Tip Number 3!
Relax and enjoy feeding your baby. But don’t feel guilty if you don’t enjoy it all of the time.
Breastfeeding can limit you, isolate you and sometimes it can be overwhelmingly difficult. But I assure you that you will remember that special 3am alone time that you once shared with your baby, watching Guthy Renker/Danoz Direct. And funnily enough, you will probably remember it as the most special time of your life
Tip Number 4
Be flexible about how you define breastfeeding.
With insufficient supply for my twins it helped me enormously when I read this: Breastfeeding doesn’t have to mean every feed for every child all the time. It means that your children are getting breastmilk.
Whether that is directly from the breast all the time, from a bottle of expressed breast milk or sometimes from one or the other - that’s fine. It might mean starting a feed with a few minutes on the breast, then finishing with a bottle. If your baby is getting your precious milk, even partially combined with formula, then you are breastfeeding and you shouldn’t feel inadequate that you aren’t doing more. If you are doing all you can - that’s exactly the right amount!!
OK, tip 5 (I think we’re up to 5!)
Buy the DVDs of your fave tv show - saves watching infomercials or crap tv in the middle of the night!!
Well Done ladies - this is great!! We’re actually up to Tip No. 7 so here it is:
When you have to store and freeze expressed breastmilk use ice cube trays with lids (Tupperware ones are great). They are fantastic for freezing and are the right size for small amounts and then you only defrost what you need. Saves wasting unused milk and the cubes are approx 20 ml so it is easy to work out how much you need for a feed.
When you finished breastfeeding the trays are also great for storing babyfood!
Tip No 8 - Look after yourself
It’s really important to eat well and drink plenty of fluids while breastfeeding. Don’t even think about dieting while feeding - often you will find you’ll lose weight just by breastfeeding. If you don’t look after yourself you can become run down which can lead to problems such as mastitis. Ouch! I’ve been there done that and it isn’t fun!
Keep the tips coming…
Tip No 9 - I love Lansinoh!
Despite what everyone said I still had sore nipples in the early days with boy my boys. This was despite attachment looking good. Something to do with sensitive skin! Ouch! Anyway Lansinoh was my saviour and a little air and lansinoh after every feed kept me going. I don’t know if I would have survived without it!
Tip No 10 - Whatever you do is great!
My first two babies were born with cleft palettes, therefore they
couldn’t be breastfed. I was devastated by what we were missing out on together. But I did what I could and expressed breast milk for them for about 2-3 months supplementing with formula when needed. It wasn’t that easy but I wanted to do it.
They’re both now healthy, fantastic boys in their twenties.
So do what you can and don’ beat yourself up about what you can’t do, your love is what counts.
By the way I had two more babies and breast fed them both as long as I could.
Loving tip 10…
But here is tip 11… if for some reason (premmie baby or otherwise) you are expressing and freezing your breastmilk, freeze it in small portions so you don’t waste this precious liquid, cause once you have defrosted it you can’t refreeze what you don’t use!
Tip Number 12
Get comfy bras! You’ll be living in them 24/7 so you make sure you get one that fits properly and doesn’t dig in. Crop tops can also be comfy to wear at night when you don’t feel like wearing a bra and can be inexpensive to buy. I found Bonds ones really good.
Tip number 13
Breastfeeding is NOT a cause of PND. If you have PND & breastfeeding works - keep it up.
Tip number 13
This one is from my Dad! lol.
Breastfeeding is great, cos Dad can play with the empties! ROFLMAO
Lets get this started again - looks like we are up to 15?
If you have any trouble with the let down, I always found a hot pack or a warm towel really helped. That or a shower - I couldn’t stop it flowing the second I stepped in!
Come on ladies we are running out of time. Let’s get up to 30 tips by the end of the month!
Tip 16 - Dealing with a fast let down
In the early days of feeding you can have quite a lot of milk and fast let down. To stop your baby gulping down the milk and having trouble latching on, express milk before a feed to take away the first rush of milk. It helps the baby to latch on and slow the flow a bit.
Tip 17 - Set up a feeding station
To make things easier, set up a little breastfeeding station around your favourite comfy chair or bed. Have everything you need next you on a little table or stool. Have a glass of water, chuck towel, remote control and everything else you need so you don’t have to worry about moving. Then you can relax as much as possible.