Whilst sorting through my paperwork to decide what to recycle, I came across an article I’d written 20 years ago for the LLLGB magazine. It was about breastfeeding my then four-and-a-half-month-old son, Murray. Rereading the article prompted me to reflect on how our breastfeeding relationship … [Read more...] about Bringing Up a Breastfed Baby – Twenty Years On
Breastfeeding Matters
LLLGB members receive a bi-monthly publication in the post or via email. Here are a selection of articles from recent issues of the magazine.
First Impressions
At the top of my to-do list when I was pregnant with Amaya, my second child, was to find a breastfeeding group. I stopped breastfeeding my son when he was four months old due to the challenges I faced with a lack of support. I was the first person in my family for three generations who breastfed … [Read more...] about First Impressions
Pumping and Me
Pumping and Me It’s gone eleven o’clock at night and I am trying to settle my five-month-old daughter who has woken up and is in need of a feed. This is in itself not unusual for a newborn and a first-time mum, however what makes it harder is that I am also attached to my breast pump so that I am … [Read more...] about Pumping and Me
Feeding Gwilym
Background As with my first pregnancy, we had a private scan at 30 weeks with the second,as we wanted to ensure all was going well for our baby inside. The sonographer did all the measurements but kept remeasuring the baby's femur. It turned out that it was shorter than it should have been for the … [Read more...] about Feeding Gwilym
The birth of my second child
E struggled to cope with the change to the family dynamic when her second baby arrived… I have two lovely, scrumptious daughters, A who is nearly four years old and B who is just over a year old. The first year of B's life has been the most difficult year of my life so far. I had no idea that … [Read more...] about The birth of my second child
A week of nursing strike
Just after my son turned one, I returned to work and he started going to nursery. He picked up hand, foot and mouth disease during his first few weeks there, and so began his first nursing strike. He became dehydrated, as he was barely having any fluids, and after six days the doctor sent us to the … [Read more...] about A week of nursing strike
What do you say when people ask why you breastfeed?
“I just don't know what to say to my friends. They can see me struggling with breastfeeding, and they can't understand why I don't just formula feed like they are. They're all going to the cinema next week without their babies, and there's no way I can go with them because I can't be away from my … [Read more...] about What do you say when people ask why you breastfeed?
Twelve Months of Mothering – A Good Night of Sleep
Children’s sleep is a much discussed topic in parenting communities, in the media, on social networks and in families. Often, when a new baby is expected, well-meaning souls warn of the sleep deprivation to come and the challenges of getting enough rest. Before I was a mother I too thought of the … [Read more...] about Twelve Months of Mothering – A Good Night of Sleep
Twelve Months of Mothering: Carrying the Load
Recently, comic artist Emma took the internet by storm with her comic strip illustrations of the mental load carried by women. I looked at her work knowingly, nodding, feeling empathy for so many women in similar positions to me, who have to know and remember everything. This is the part of being … [Read more...] about Twelve Months of Mothering: Carrying the Load
Life with a new baby across the world
I have always been a keen reader, and in the sleepy haze of my first baby's earliest weeks, I was delighted to discover that I could get plenty of reading done during our long breastfeeding sessions. I found my tastes had changed a bit, though; I really struggled to enjoy almost any fiction, as I … [Read more...] about Life with a new baby across the world