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. 😋

07/08/2019

Why Feed play sleep routines make no sense for a breastfed baby - Just to clarify, I don't think it makes sense for ANY baby, bottle or breastfed to be on

06/08/2019

This is such a useful read. These myths might not deter a mother from breastfeeding altogether, but they may encourage a mother to feed for only a small amount of time. For me, I love 2-3 coffees a day and the occasional glass of whiskey. When I was first pregnant, the thought of having a strict diet for another two years, on-top of the 9 months that I was pregnant, seemed awful. Fortunately I quickly realised this not to be the case.

The poster below is a perfect example of anti-breastfeeding "information". This notion that you can't eat certain foods when breastfeeding is not based in science. Let's look at some of the information.

First of all let's look at foods that "okay" for breastfeeding mothers. Nothing really wrong with what they say except that you don't have to take in calcium to make milk with calcium. But the real problem is that this is a diet for people who are relatively affluent. Many mothers could not afford to eat such a diet and thus be frightened into formula feeding, which, I should emphasize is actually more expensive that the foods mentioned here. This is a stratagem used by formula companies. A prime example a few years ago was a campaign by one formula company in Brazil, supported by the Brazilian pediatric society, saying that your breastfed baby eats what you eat. Posters were widely distributed showing a baby suckling at a breast that looks like a doughnut, or looks like a hamburger.

What about the panels of foods "to avoid".

1. Sugary foods. The poster says in this section to avoid fatty foods and salty foods as well as sugary foods. We all should try to keep our sugar, salt and fat intake at a reasonable level. But to imply that if you eat a lot of sugar your baby has an increased risk of obesity is just plain wrong. Breastmilk, in fact, does not change much in response to what you eat. It changes from morning to evening, from day to day, from month 1 to month 6, and later, but not because of what you eat. But if you eat a lot of sugar, your milk will have the same amount of sugar as if you ate no sugar at all.

2. "You might find that just a dash of pepper is enough to make your baby irritated and fussy for hours". This is pure fantasy. There is no evidence for this being true. And it is unlikely that anything in pepper or other spices would get into the milk in quantities that would bother the baby.

3. Citrus fruits? "Certain compounds" are supposed to the irritating to the baby´s gut. Oh, please! If these "certain compounds got into the milk would they not be irritating to the breast or ni**le?

4. Caffeine? Babies do not excrete caffeine as rapidly as adults true, but so little gets into the milk that a cup or two of coffee will not bother the baby. Caffeine is given to premature babies as a treatment and nobody worries about how they might excrete caffeine. It's not right to deprive breastfeeding mothers from drinking coffee and tea in reasonable amounts. This poster eliminates much of what mothers like to eat.

5. Processed foods? Not a great choice for anyone, this is not specific to breastfeeding mothers. But just as above, the preservatives will not get into the milk in any significant quantities.

6. Garlic? Are they insane? Garlic does not bother babies. This is prejudice against people who eat garlic. Most of the world loves garlic and eat it when the baby breastfeeds without harm to anyone.

7. No peppermint, fennel, parsley, or chamomile? There is no evidence for this to show that the way people typically eat these can reach therapeutic levels.

8. Alcohol, no level of alcohol in the milk is safe for the breastfed baby? Except that almost no alcohol gets into the milk. See this article http://ibconline.ca/maternal-medications/. Alcohol is discussed near the end of the article, but it's worth reading the whole thing.

This poster is an appalling attempt to frighten women out of breastfeeding and enjoying what they like to eat. These restrictions on what breastfeeding mothers can eat have been debunked decades ago. Let's encourage good nutrition for everyone, and let's stop haranguing breastfeeding mothers into stopping breastfeeding by worrying them about their diets.

You can find a more about how to prevent problems with breastfeeding, including preventing fussiness, "colic", "reflux" "allergy to something in the mother's milk" and much more in my ebook called Breastfeeding: Empowering Parents: www.ibconline.ca/ebook

05/08/2019

Meme #5 For my “Keep it simple with The Milk Meg for World Breastfeeding Week 2019” series! Sleep is one of the most popular topics in parenthood and I get more questions about sleep than anything else. This is because our Western cultures don't even know what is normal anymore for breastfed babies.
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We have been bombarded with so much sleep training and mainstream parenting advice that we don't even know what is normal anymore. It's not uncommon for people to get horrible sleep advice from their health care providers yet we know that continuing to feed at night is so important to help protect the breastfeeding relationship.
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This is due to many different reasons. Here are some of them: https://themilkmeg.com/why-our-breastfed-babies-and-toddlers-wake-so-frequently/

05/08/2019

Meme #4 For my “Keep it simple with The Milk Meg for World Breastfeeding Week 2019” series! You cannot overfeed your breastfed baby...toddler...or child. It’s not possible! Here’s why: https://themilkmeg.com/can-i-overfeed-my-breastfed-baby/

04/08/2019

Own it Mamma ❤️🤱💪

How often do we say this? How often do we hear this?

'I desperately wanted to breastfeed but I only manged to for.....'

If you breastfed, then you breastfed. It doesn't matter if it was for an hour, a day, a week or a month. You didn't try to breastfeed, but not manage it. You did it.

And I know if you wanted to breastfeed for longer than you got, that hurts. I know if breastfeeding went differently from how you hoped, maybe you had to give supplements, maybe you had to exclusively pump, that can hurt too.

It's so easy when things don't go the way we hoped to focus on what we didn't get. To focus on what we lost.

And, to an extent, it's OK to do that. It's more than OK to let yourself feel pain, and grief, and to process that. That's essential to healing.

But permanently looking only at what you lost is only going to bring more pain. It's also important not to let that pain eclipse what you had.. So also focus on what you did get, on what you achieved.

You didn't try to breastfeed.

You didn't only breastfeed for x amount of time.

You breastfed. Own that. Be proud of it. Celebrate it.

04/08/2019

Meme #3 for "keep it simple with The Milk Meg" for World Breastfeeding Week 2019! I hear this A LOT from people that they were told their baby needs to eat more because they are waking. A baby waking a lot to breastfeed is not an indication that you have low supply though! Check this list here on how to know your baby is getting enough or not: https://themilkmeg.com/im-on-empty-i-need-more-milk-maybe/ SLEEP IS NOT ON THE LIST!

04/08/2019

A happy Mamma is worth so much more than a clean house 💆

03/08/2019

Meme #2 for World Breastfeeding Week "keep it simple with the milk meg!"
The clock will not tell you when to feed your baby next...your baby will! The only exception to this is if your baby needs to be fed MORE frequently due to slow weight gain or breastmilk supply concerns. And remember, you CANNOT overfeed your breastfed baby. Here's more on why that is: https://themilkmeg.com/can-i-overfeed-my-breastfed-baby/

03/08/2019

Such an honour to be with my beautiful friend and Doula Mariana as she birthed her beautiful boy, with great speed, into the water. She birthed her suprise boy in the same room in which I quickly birthed my surprise boy. Mariana unfortunately was a minute too late to see him enter the world. But the role of a Doula does not end with the labour and birth. We both stayed by each other's side as we were stiched and took pictures of our new family in those fist precious moments 🥰

02/08/2019

It's pretty simple 🤱

For World Breastfeeding Week 2019 I am doing a series, "Keep it simple with the Milk Meg!" Here is my first one! Besides the obvious such as your baby needs a nappy change* crying is a indication that they need something and most of these things will be resolved through a breastfeed. Keep it simple! When in doubt...whip it out. Just offer the breast as this will usually be the answer.

28/07/2019

😂😂

https://www.facebook.com/112060638857663/posts/2504609432936093/?sfnsn=mo

06/06/2019

One year ago I birthed my last babe. He came with such speed and force I declared confidentiality that I'm never going to do that again.

Today I'm looking back on this last year and I'm so sad that all these moments are going to be my last.

Isaac Peter, you are my special guy ❤️ I never imagined such a playful and animated baby boy when you were inside. You're a wonderful surprise. Thanking God for you every day ❤️