Breastfeeding

I have never felt so angry in all my life as in the last two weeks.

I'm certainly not immune to anger, but it often passes pretty soon. Until the last fortnight, the worst bout of anger I've had in recent years was the week I spent writing my book chapter on anger (funny that).

This time though, it's been epic. I didn't have a blue with my partner, and nothing particularly awful happened, but every tool in my tool-belt has been called on to avoid throwing the child I love most in the world acr…

Your hormone balance and mood in the early weeks relies on frequent suckling from the baby, which releases a hit of oxytocin to make you feel loved up and makes you more resilient to sleep deprivation (maternal health, science).

Babies expect to be in arms and studying your face at close range lot. They are calmed by sucking and feeling your breath pattern, and their brain is making connections about feeling safe as you feed them (infant development).

Understanding latch, mechanics and feeding on …

An insta post grabbed my eye this week: a pretty graphic titled "How to soothe your teething toddler".

With my bub struggling through I don't know how many teeth (including molars) coming at once, I was all eyes and ears.

The ideas shown suggested I should "give dummies or chew toys" and "distract with milk" with a picture of a bottle.

Many mums experience a glistening high or adrenalin rush the first couple of days post-birth. Sometime around day three to five, they suddenly feel like they've been hit by a steamroller. Tiredness catches up with them and they can feel fragile, teary and a little lost in her new role. Mama's mood slumps, she may be irritable or have difficulty sleeping, and she can start to question herself - am I really cut out for this? Here's what is actually happening behind the scenes hormonally.

During…

Again, already?!

Ummm yeah.

Newborn tummies are tiny and breastmilk is very easily digestible. Feeding schedules are made in response to infant formula, not boob. As much as some professionals still recommend watching the clock, this has been debunked for years.

When you have a baby, visitors can be a blessing or a curse. Here are some ideas on how to set boundaries around visitors during the time when your needs are just as high as your baby's. This is an area where your partner or support person is vital in enforcing your agreed rules - healing post-birth, feeding a baby and maintaining any kind of adult conversation is hard enough without having to get up the courage to tell your mother-in-law it's getting late and time to leave.

1. Set up a time for…

There’s nothing quite like a horror bushfire season and a pandemic to make me thankful for mammalian breasts (my own, to be precise). Yes the first six or eight weeks of breastfeeding my little leech were relentless, those later patches of cluster feeding were a smash, and then the teeth started coming... but right now being my child’s portable milk bar has never felt so reassuring.

Earlier in the year as fires raged across as Australia, a piece from The Conversation about what to pack in b…

While birthing in the midst of a global pandemic does pose great challenges to mums and their healthcare providers, the COVID-19 era presents newborn mothers with incredible opportunities for a truly restful, rejuvenating and loved-up postpartum period. This may sound counterintuitive in a chaotic world, but it is possible that your experience of early motherhood, be this your first or third baby, could be the most beautiful time of your life, with better breastfeeding and bonding outcomes than …