Breastfeeding Mums Blog

June Carnival of Breastfeeding: Pumping and Breastfeeding

Welcome to the June Carnival of Breastfeeding! The theme this month is breastfeeding and pumping and as usual there are lots of great and varied posts which will be listed below as they become available! Here's mine:

Electrify Me!

When I was pregnant with my first baby I had no idea it was possible to express breastmilk. However, all the pregnancy magazines I read seemed to have adverts for a particular breastpump so it wasn't too long before I realised it must be something pretty important. So I did a little research and duly purchased myself a well-known little manual hand pump which I carefully placed in my steriliser as I awaited the birth of my baby.

Antibiotics and Breastfeeding

SHE magazine is currently working on a feature aimed at women in their 30s-40s who have had a negative experience following a course of antibiotics to treat a bacterial infection. The article focuses on the fact that as more and more of the same antibiotics are prescribed by GPs, the more ineffective they are becoming and subsequently they do not work after someone has had one or more courses of them.

Doctors have been told to stop prescribing antibiotics for colds, coughs and many chest and throat infections as their overuse is ineffective and is fuelling the spread of fatal super bugs. 

Since antibiotics are commonly prescribed to treat mastitis their researcher, Sarah, is interested in speaking to any breastfeeding mothers who have had a negative experience with antibiotics whilst breastfeeding.

If you would like to share your story, please email sarah.barnard[at]natmags.co.uk

Breastfeeding Mums in the News!

How cool is this! I made today's copy of The Newry Democrat, one of our very popular local newspapers. What more need I say... except Thursday's Newry Reporter is also covering the story :-) Read the article below to find out all about my smash hit and don't forget to visit www.BreastfeedingMums.com! (By the way, the surname should read Hoben, not Holden!)

Breastfeeding a 5 year old - so what's the big fuss!

A mother breastfeeds her 5 year old daughter and 3 year old son... so what!

My Daughter's Doodles

I've just set up a blog, My Doodle Book, to showcase some of my children's drawings. Tara, my eldest daughter who's 8, is really good at art and notices the finest of details when she is drawing. It's quite spooky actually how like her daddy she is when she's drawing...

Join the Breastfeeding Carnival: Expressing Breastmilk

For this month's Breastfeeding Carnival we're seeking posts on the topic of expressing breastmilk. We want to hear all about your experiences of pumping and hand expression.

Breastfeeding and Pregnant? See where it takes you!

Some people are a step ahead of the rest of us! Take a very simple idea, add two enterprising young men, a dash of genius and what do you get? The Big Word Project, that's what!

Is Your Hospital Breastfeeding-Friendly?

I've been asked to represent the breastfeeding mothers in my hometown as our local hospital strives to achieve breastfeeding-friendly status. So what do I think is important in making a hospital breastfeeding-friendly?

Preparing for Breastfeeding During Pregnancy

Welcome to the May Carnival of Breastfeeding. Because this is pregnancy awareness month, the theme is pregnancy and breastfeeding. As usual, there are many excellent posts this month, all of which are listed below!

Breastfeeding Mothers in Hiding!

When you made the decision to breastfeed, did you ever consider you might have to go into hiding? I know I didn't, but I know someone who was forced to - by her local maternity unit!

Why don't all mummys breastfeed?

I had an interesting conversation about breastfeeding with my eight year old daughter last night. She asked me at bedtime, completely out of the blue, why some mummys don't breastfeed.

Join the Breastfeeding Carnival: Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

May is Pregnancy Awareness Month, and for this month's breastfeeding carnival we're seeking posts on the topic of pregnancy and breastfeeding.

You might write about:

• What you did in pregnancy to prepare for breastfeeding
• What you thought/are thinking about breastfeeding during your pregnancy
• Your advice to pregnant women about breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding during pregnancy

Carnival of Breastfeeding: Breastfeeding Problems

Welcome once again to the Carnival of Breastfeeding. This month's topic is breastfeeding problems and, as you would expect, all the posts deal with problems breastfeeding mothers have encountered and how they dealt with them! In addition they also look at the online support they found useful.

I'm a Google Page 1 Breastfeeding Mum!

Look at this!!!! Quickly, look at this:

Join the breastfeeding Carnival: Breastfeeding Problems

It's almost Carnival time again and this month the theme is Breastfeeding Problems.

We're looking for posts that illustrate the problems that can accompany breastfeeding - problems such as thrush, blocked ducts, engorgement, leaking, sore/ cracked nipples, mastitis, abscess, low supply, nipple confusion, oversupply and all the rest!

Male Pregnancy

Male Pregnancy? Surely not!

Okay, so there's a story doing the rounds at the moment about male pregnancy.

Review BMums Pregnancy Relaxation mp3

Fancy a free copy of BMums Pregnancy Relaxation mp3 in return for a written review?

Moms - Improve your Vocabulary in just 30 days!

For as long as I can remember I've been fascinated by words. As a child I recall "reading" my dictionary, a present from Santa Claus - Chambers Childrens' Illustrated Dictionary! I read it because I loved learning new words. Of course, at the age of seven I had no idea that what I was actually doing was improving my vocabulary!

Caffeine, Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

When I was pregnant one of the very first things I couldn't drink anymore was coffee. It tasted strange and made me ill (see my article Pregnancy and Morning Sickness for tips on how to cope!) and I simply saw it as nature's way of saying it wasn't good for me in early pregnancy. In the middle and later stages I was able to drink it again and drank decaff just to be on the safe side.

Attachment Parenting

Before I became a mum I'd never heard of attachment parenting and it was only after my third child was born that I realised I'd instinctively been practising much of what was involved in it!

So what is attachment parenting?