Jo: Having a tough start to breastfeeding Primrose made me determined to get things right from the outset with Wilf. Almost two years of research and time spent in Facebook support groups and the La Leche League meant I was far more knowledgeable than I was first time around. In the hours after he was … More Everything You Need To Know About Tongue Tie
For #MaternalMentalHealth Week 2018. Spend more than ten minutes with any new mama and the subject of GUILT is bound to arise. It is something I was wholly unprepared for and, alongside the anxiety I felt postnatally, it hit me like a freight train. At times, it was completely overwhelming – I felt destined for … More The G Word
As some of you will remember, I had Primrose at our local Birth Centre, also known as a Midwife Led Unit (MLU). I really wanted a homebirth but, as we live in a boarding school and she was due in term time, I felt that the MLU was the right choice for us at the … More Don’t Call Me Crazy: A Beginner’s Guide to Homebirth.
In an attempt to turn this recent run of weather-and-illness-induced cabin fever into a positive thing, I’ve drawn together a little review of our favourite winter into spring reads. With the exception of Hooray for Hoppy, these straddle both winter and spring, so we’ve been reading them for quite a few months already, but they … More Books to help you spring into spring
March 5th -11th is Hip Health Week, run by Steps Charity Worldwide to raise awareness of hip instability in 15% of babies born each year. Tonight, Mother Sider Fen shares her account of daughter Ida’s birth and subsequent diagnosis with DDH, and the months that followed… “OK. I’m going to ask you to take a … More How It Feels: Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH)
My parents gave me a love of reading; of words, books and language, from an early age. Being an only child meant I often had to come up with imaginative ideas for things to do and I believe it was reading so much that aided that. As an English graduate and secondary English teacher, instilling … More Ten Reasons Why You Can Never Read Too Much With Children.
A friend has just had her second baby. A message she sent me the other night brought back memories of those early postpartum days and weeks here – now 6 months ago. Of course, it feels like a lifetime ago but, at the time, when you’re living it, sore, bleeding, exhausted and engorged, with hormones … More What’s Invaluable in the Fourth Trimester when you have a Toddler too?
Despite the WHO’s recommendation that donated breast milk is the next best alternative to breastfeeding your own baby, many people don’t know that it is an option. Others find it strange, which seems odd, given that we rely on others for blood donations, stem cells, bone marrow and organs. There are currently 17 milk banks … More How it Feels: Using Donated Breast Milk and Becoming A Donor
Many of our posts over the last year and a bit have mentioned the African proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ and I’ve previously talked about the importance of having a tribe and a ‘mayday mama‘. Now I don’t live in a traditional tribal village. Neither do I have my extended family close … More It’s a village, girls, but not as we know it…
It’s no secret that we love pretty much anything published by Pinter & Martin here at TFTMS. They’re (partly) responsible for bringing us The Positive Birth Book, which Jo reviewed back in the summer, as well as The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding – the La Leche League book that contains everything you could ever wish … More Review: Growing Up Pregnant
