Mamma's Instinct

13/07/2020

Truth!

When someone told me this it changed my whole outlook on safe sleeping! 💖

10/05/2020

10/05/2020

15.6.13/6.7.15/6.6.18

💙💜💙

19/01/2020

Via

Let’s rethink and rework how birth is viewed by society these days! 💕💕💕

11/11/2019

Love this! I had such a tough time feeding my first two babes. I cannot say how much harder this was made when I reminded that I didn't "have to" breastfeed. I wasn't breastfeeding to be a hero or a martyr. I was doing it because it's unequivocally the healthiest option for both me and my baby.

Most importantly, if this is your healthcare providers solution to your breastfeeding concerns, DUMP THEM!! They're not doing thier job! Nothing is more condescending and dismissive than that patronising hand-on-shoulder "Honey, you know that there's nothing wrong with formula!" 🤦‍♀️😠😡😤🤬😵

Breastfeeding is blamed for EVERYTHING. Marriage falling apart? Must be the breastfeeding that’s to blame! Baby “too attached”? It’s because you breastfeed so much! You feeling depressed? It’s because you’re always breastfeeding. Well I’m here to say, IT’S TIME TO STOP BLAMING BREASTFEEDING ON EVERYTHING. And start supporting women while we help them continue to breastfeed. Here is one woman’s story of how breastfeeding saved her from post partum depression: https://themilkmeg.com/breastfeeding-saved-post-partum-depression/

04/11/2019

"Hold limits about what behaviors are acceptable, but be careful to avoid criticizing the way they feel. Emotions are always valid, even if they're uncomfortable. Teaching kids to identify and accept their feelings at a young age builds a foundation for better mental health for the rest of their life."

Toddlers and young children are just learning how to deal with difficult emotions, so the last thing we want to do is communicate that those feelings are unacceptable or wrong to experience. Remember the train analogy? We need to show children how to move through emotional distress, not block up the...

28/10/2019

🤣

Too right! 😂


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LOL yes this was me 🙋 Who can relate? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

22/10/2019

Accurate.

Q.1 is wrong for a million reasons, but in this context, it totally ignores the new parents and thier life altering transition.

Q.2 is were the money is. It's the simple question that saves lives but is sadly often unasked.

🙌🙌🙌

26/09/2019

I went right off eggplants when pregnant so I was never game enough to try this recipe despite how effective I was told it was.

Hands up who cooked Eggplant Parmigiana to induce their labour 🙋. Anecdotally we know it works as She Births® has been sharing this recipe from Scalini's Italian Restaurant in Georgia for years. The spices in it can stimulate prostaglandin release in the body and if you add a bit of extra heat it will build endorphins too.
Read the article and get the recipe here
https://www.nowtolove.com.au/parenting/expert-advice/eggplant-recipe-induce-labour-baby-57728
📸Minimalist Baker

17/09/2019

Let's meet -

Somewhere in between,

The person I was before, and the mother I am now.

The ideas you had for who I'd be, and the way things really are.

As it turns out, I'm not cut out to be that mother; the one you imagined I'd be.

As it turns out, I hate making baby food. I only moderately enjoyed breastfeeding, and really struggled at times to continue. Sometimes I love playing and doing baby stuff, and other times, it's a drag.

Are you upset? Disappointed? I know that's not who we thought I'd be. Who we wanted me to be.

But as it turns out, there's another secret I'm keeping. Something you may not know about me.

The way you thought I'd love this baby, isn't exactly what you envisioned - It's a whole different thing entirely.

As it turns out; it is a bigger, heavier, more wondrous, enormously life changing, as deep as it is wide, crack your heart wide open love than you or I could have ever imagined. I know you knew there'd be love, but you could've never expected a love like this. It's magic.

So yes, it's different than you pictured. But it's all going to be okay. We're figuring it out. The unforeseen struggles, the highs and the lows. The take your breath away love. All of it. And it is all so worth it.

I hope you can see me now, the mother that we've become. And I hope that you're proud. It's so nice to finally meet you, in the middle 💜

| Image .ch.r |

09/09/2019

She tells me, "My mum, my aunt and my grandmother all had supply problems and stopped breastfeeding at somewhere around six weeks. Their milk just disappeared."

This myth and this fear of 'drying up overnight' is so strong, it can send intelligent, capable, confident women into a tailspin of panic. So let's dispel that myth once and for all.

IT IS NOT PHYSIOLOGICALLY POSSIBLE.

If you talk to someone who claims their milk 'just disappeared', I'll bet you a hundred bucks that it happened at three weeks, six weeks or four months. This is where babies are having HUGE growth spurts and will want to cluster feed continually for a few days. Your perhaps previously-full-feeling breasts will feel 'empty', and they are getting super high fat milk that is being made on demand -- great for growth! Babies during these phases tend to be really fussy, and you may feel like whatever you try, nothing ever helps. You may be trying to feed them constantly, but they still seem unsatisfied. You might feel helpless.

This, I believe, is where this myth stems from.

But if your baby is still producing enough wet nappies, then they are getting enough. Park yourself on the couch with some curry and some chocolate and hold on tight, with the expectation of three days of continual feeding, and you will be through it and get that wonderful follow-up few days where they sleep longer and recover. Take a bow, you did it!

Milk doesn't just dry up. Women can still squeeze milk out of their breasts many months, often even a year, after weaning. It doesn't just disappear. It's impossible.

06/09/2019

I wish that I had known this when I had my first baby. Maybe then, pacing the hallway at 2am would not have left me feeling like such a failure.

From Neurochild Community on why cuddles (especially standing up and moving) are so important and so calming for our children. When we stand while we cuddle our babies and children we are actually decreasing their stress and changing their vital signs. These are physical changes happening because of a simple gesture. When someone tells you to leave your crying baby, show them this...

Hold your babies, people!! Preferably up, as far as the child is concerned... and much to the dismay of tired parents around the world who are exasperated at an infant’s insistence at holding them standing.

A study by Esposito et al. (2013), published in the Journal of Current Biology, demonstrated for the first time that the calming response to parents holding them is a coordinated set of central, motor, and cardiac regulations and is a conserved component of parent-infant interactions in mammals.

Using electrocardiograms (ECG) to monitor twelve healthy human infants’ heartbeats, along with their behaviour and vocalisations, they recorded mother-infant pairs during behavioural tasks that consisted of the child lying in a crib, being held by the mother who was sitting on a chair ( ), or being held by the mother who was walking continuously ( ).

The researchers found a sustained elevation of heart interbeat intervals due to carrying in awake infants could not be explained by any known cardiac vagal reflex, including the orienting reflex (brief period of heart rate deceleration by mild sensory stimulus), suggesting that carrying evokes a sustained heart rate reduction in concert with the rapid behavioural changes in human infants via a novel mechanism.

The researchers furthermore found that in mouse pups, carrying induced calming responses similar to those in human infants, even though maternal carrying methods differed. This draws parallels between the carrying-induced state evoked in human babies and other mammalian young such as cats or squirrels who adopt a still, compact posture with their hind legs drawn up when maternally carried. The reduced mobility, reduced distress vocalisations, and reduced heart rate appears to be adaptive.

The calming responses evoked by carrying are thought to be an evolutionary measure to increase the survival probability of the infant in cases of emergency escape by the mother and child, and so ultimately works to strengthen the mother-infant relationship. There is adaptive value in this behaviour in carer-infant relationships and, as a consequence, infant survival.

The study found that the effects of carrying on the infant’s parasympathetic nervous system were significant, and it provides a scientific understanding of this physiological infant response that could be beneficial for parents and early childhood educators to understand.

Considering the physiological response of the infant when being carried may lead to greater parent and carer patience, reduced frustration and an increased appreciation of age-old parenting techniques such as and parenting.

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(13)00343-6

31/08/2019

It's a guess date people!

27/08/2019

Sterile water injections! Heard of them? Used them? Would love to hear your story. What a great option to have (if known about) with
・・・
Have you heard of sterile water injections? They’re a quick, side effect free, and painless (well, at least after the first few seconds) form of pain relief during labor. They are easy for one person to administer, though having two people do the injections simultaneously as shown is faster. Sterile water injections provide a powerful effect lasting from 45-90 minutes, and may be repeated during labor.

As you can see here, the sterile water injections are applied around the Rhombus of Michaelis, as that tends to be where many birthing people feel their labor. Sterile water, rather than saline, is used because it is perceived by the body as an irritant. The injections work in a similar way to a TENS unit or applying a hot pack — by irritating the skin, our body shuts down pain receptors in the area (gate control theory). Did you use sterile water injections in labor? Would you?

19/08/2019

There are so many rules about being a good mum and if you are breastfeeding there are even more ‘rules’.Because these rules are about feeding your baby and actually making him grow and stay alive, is it any wonder you feel anxious? Take heart, you can ditch these 5 'rules' and stop worrying.

https://www.boobiebikkies.com.au/blog/breastfeed-things-not-to-worry-about/

17/08/2019

Twice these past few weeks, I've been complimented on my parenting, by being compared to other mothers. First was a grandfather who stated that I was better at interacting with his 1yr old grandson than his own mother was. Second was my GP commenting on how well behaved my kids are and how well they listen to me, unlike other patients he sees (clearly my eldest was at school during this visit 🤣😂).

Both times I recoiled in horror (the first incident more so than the other) and was quick to defend these other mothers. All that these two men had seen of me, was a small little snap shot of me with my kids. Neither of them know how hard I find it. How some nights I'm up, sleepless because the mum guilt is going through every mistake I made that day. Mothering is freaking hard work. We all struggle with it different ways.

These comments did not make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Instead I felt pretty pi**ed off that I was being used to put someone else down. There are ways to build people up, that don't involve crapping all over someone else.

15/08/2019

Via

Research, find your birthing tribe and know that you always have options! 💕💕

08/08/2019

Funny that. 😋