Tag Archives: breastfeeding

World Breastfeeding Week

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It’s World Breastfeeding Week from August 1st to August 7th, and the Irish Parenting Bloggers have decided to do a Blog March to show support.

Each of us will publish a post this week based on our own breastfeeding experiences, and linked to this year’s theme: Breastfeeding Support: Close to Mothers.

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When I had our first child, I just assumed I would breastfeed. My mother had breastfeed all of us, it was all I knew, I had no Plan B (coupled with the fact that I am staggeringly disorganised and very lazy about doing things that I don’t need to do)

Thomas came very fast, early, was teeny and slept most of the time. He was drowsy because he was very jaundiced. The information I was getting was completely conflicting; this was in the days before Internet and ready information. Only for the fact I was determined, determined to breastfeed, my whole family were supportive and thanks to a marvellous midwife, Rose; I persevered. It took several weeks to get it going, but it just got better and better and despite not knowing one other person actively breastfeeding at that time, nursed him until he was two. Michael, Liam, Grace followed and I breastfeed all of them for several years, gathering supportive fellow breastfeeders and groups; later, Internet forums and support groups. James is almost two, firmly attached still.

If a woman wants to breastfeed, I wish her all the support she needs, if she chooses not to, I wish her all the support she needs to, too. At the end of the day, we mothers need to support each other, irrespective of our differing choices. My decisions suit me, and work for me. As World Breastfeeding Week comes to a close, my hopes are that we get focus on supporting and nurturing those who choose to breastfeed rather than trying to convince non-breastfeeders to breastfeed.

At the end of the day, we mothers are all amazing after all! :-)

This post is part of the Irish Parenting Bloggers BlogMarch to support Breastfeeding Week. For an introduction to the March, and a list of the other participants please visit Mama.ie.

Whilst On a Roll…

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All or nothing with me, that’s what I say…

Some photos from the past few days/weeks of life around here…

This little girl has never faltered in her unwavering adoration of her chubby-cheeked brother (and he just jumps for joy when she or one of the boys come into his line of focus… he bestowes big open mouthed sloppy kisses freely)

This little girl is also in the process of taking over our kitchen/living room with her elaborate games involving hundreds of dolls, her wooden-pig farm, Peppa Pig and family (thank you Deirdre!)

There is a lot of this… he is infinitely more philosophical when in close proximity to a breast and often the longest and happiest chats are supplemented with a bit of nursing (and isn’t his jumper just gorgeous? Made by Tara, it thankfully still fits- aren’t handknits just magical- and I simply love that cow button!!)

Winter was cold last year- colder than it had ever been in my memory… a porch at the back door should act as a bit of a buffer-zone against the elements: (the immensely beleaguered talented harassed and hard-working) Fergal and the boys put it up in little more than a weekend, and already has become a warm, sunny spot (and houses all those piles of wellies, wet coats, wet smelly dogs and wet cats that want, but aren’t welcome, to be in the kitchen!)

I’ve constantly give thanks for being so blessed with not just a wonderful family, but blessed over with fantastic friends… these are little flowerpot-shaped cupcakes with the most light and mousse-y green icing, topped with these show-stopping flowers, made by my friend Sophie who out-does herself every time! (I need to do a talented-friends-show-and-tell: seriously, between handknits to die for (I really need to learn to knit), baking, sewing and general crafty goodness, our home is becoming a showcase for our very gifted and accomplished buddies)

Saturday Sunshine: in Egg Tempera

breastfeeding, Crafts, Mixed Media Art, Painting, , , , , , , , ,

What a dark, damp Saturday we have had. Many times we stood at the kitchen window open-mouthed, as the rain hammered on the roof, rendering it almost impossible to hear anyone speak, as rivers of water flowed past the house. These dark days really start to make it feel like winter, and we have been preparing for the inevitable weather for the past few weeks (heavy curtains hung, unused open fires temporarily blocked up, fuel in the shed: stacked and stored ready)

I have been eyeing up half a large kilner jar of last years mincemeat, but I am insisting I hold out making the first batch of mince pies until November (besides, I’m currently obsessed with making (and eating) apple-tarts) 

 So in the dark of today, I thought we would make our own sunshine:

with egg yolks!

I read Cenninis book years ago, and was always amused by his instruction that to paint (in egg tempera) young peoples skin tone one needed a town hens-egg, and for ruddier country peoples complexion, one needed a deeper yolk from a country hen.

I had 5 yolks from two days ago when I cooked (disastrous) meringues (-I forgot to turn down the heat…) so we mixed these with some watercolour paint to make the egg tempera.

I always loved the sheen and quality of egg tempera, and thankfully this wasn’t lost on little (and not so little) ones (our eldest son usually doesn’t partake in these art and craft activities anymore as he is a practicing moody teenager) 

What we did: we poured the egg yolks into a bowl (there is a filmy sack around it which you remove, and sometimes if they have been sitting uncovered, there can be a hard coating too) 

Into small pots (kept from our Floradix multi-vitamin bottles: ever so useful for so many things) we put some watercolour paint

(my watercolour tubes were in the studio, across the yard, and I really couldn’t bring myself to dash out in the torrential downpour)

so we used watercolour dyes, which weren’t as strong as I had hoped. Nevertheless, no-one seemed to notice or mind. We mixed approximately half and half-paint and yolk, mixed thoroughly then began to paint. It dries quite quickly, so really beautiful effects can be achieved by layering colours, and the paint feels beautifully soft to use.

Just as I began to use some of the paint, our smallest person decided that he needed to nurse. Right now. So tomorrow I am hoping to mix up some more and to use it on the art-angel-dolls I have been making. And to finish these little collage pieces I have been putting together in order to make into printed cards:

In the midst of everything else, it feels so good to be creating in tiny moments that pop up during the day :-)

Yarn Along- Baptismal Shawl In Progress

breastfeeding, Crafts, Crochet, Freeform Crochet, handmade, Our Home, , , , , ,

(Joining Ginny for Yarn Along again this week)

I haven’t made quite as much progress on this shawl as I had hoped, but slowly and surely it will get done.

The book is one my mother gave me- it has been the one nearest while I’m nursing, and as I use bicarbonate of soda for cleaning and cooking every day, it is providing some great new information and uses. 

Can you see the rainbow in the photo? Our friend Bobbie gave Baby James a present of a big faceted crystal to hang in the window, and our kitchen is now sprinkled with rainbows… 

They create untold delight, especially when they land in small girls porridge!!

On a Cold Day

breastfeeding, Cooking, Mixed Media Art, Our Home, Painting, Recipes, , , , , ,

Our boys were gone to a science exhibition today, so our small girl and I were at home with the baby, who, miraculously slept for about an hour. In his little cot.

A dear friend of mine

(one of the many, I must add, who have made dinners, desserts, ran errands, cleaned and took care of me since baby arrived. Once again, I feel truly blessed)

cleaned and tidied the kitchen yesterday while making us dinner. What a delight that was: the worktops were slowly disappearing and every time I started the mammoth task of tidying, baby would wake starving (he seems to be in a permanent state of starvation!!)

So today, Grace and I painted and baked while he slept. These flowers are from my friends garden, and I took a notion to paint them- I’m not a flower-painter as such- but it was so relaxing.
Grace glued every small piece of paper she could find into her notebook, adding stickers and paint with abandon. It was great.

Then we had some warm soda bread with butter before the little boy woke. (I’ll add a recipe later, it is so delicious and easy to make)

So now we are here beside the stove (it is so cold), our boys are home, listening to music before they go to bed. Everyone is tired, I welcome the thought of the weekend being here at last! :-)

Necessity: the Mother of Invention

breastfeeding, Crafts, Felting, handmade, Our Home, Sewing, , , , , , , , , , , ,

(In the mornings, my son, Michael, makes me tea while I nurse our little one beside the stove. What a sweetie!! Edited to add: the funny little face in the background was made after our little girl dunked a biscuit in my tea, forgot as she was mid-dunk, and just as the photo was taken the biscuit melted into the tea… after all my warnings to her!!!!!)

A few days before our Little Man was born I ended up in hospital with a rotten infection- I spent the days in isolation (with my own TV!! We don’t have a television at home, but the novelty wore off after about ten minutes when I realised there was nothing on any of the nine channels; didn’t stop our children’s channel-surfing every time they came in though) After four days of IV antibiotics fluids and stuff to take down my temperature (they weren’t sure what was wrong with me and my temperature went completely mad for three days before it came down to normal) I ended up having a C-section… 

Thanks to all that, my insides were in flitters and both Baby and I ended up with candida :-(   …

(and I with several other mad, crazy things)

 

I’ve been using homeopathy with great success, and have been using cloth nappies (diapers) to help clear the nappy/diaper rash (coconut oil on his skin also- anti bacterial and anti-viral; gosh how I love that oil!!)

 I had hoped to use cloth from day one, but what with having the C-section that was put on hold until I could organise myself properly. When Baby developed the diaper rash, I promptly began using cloth, but came up with a problem: I had no wraps small enough for him. Hence, Necessity being the Mother of Invention. 

My good friend, Bernadette, mentioned making wool wraps, (also anti-bacterial and super-breathable) and so today I went looking for my stash of felted jumpers. I found two arms of a jumper (thanks Terri, that jumper has had many lives since!!) and whilst changing our little sweetpea I cut out and fit this wool wrap. It was very easy, and once I had it cut out only took a couple of minutes to sew up on the machine. 

A quick tutorial!

My plan was to make a pair of wool “shorts” (I know as my beloved mother reads this she is having palpitations at the thought of wool next to her skin… but truly, it is soft and completely non-itchy!) so I cut the arms to approximately 10 inches long 

(Measure? What? Me?!) 

There was a bit of a seam which I cut out and made a slit to the top of the cuff.

I turned one leg right-side out and lined up the other leg inside it. 

With the machine I sewed from where the waistband would be, to the other side. 

As the body looked a bit wide, I re-sewed a centimetre or two in to make a snugger fit.

Thankfully I still had the neck band of the jumper, and so measured how wide the waistband needed to be, and sewed it on, stretching the ribbed neckband as I sewed

I think the wool shorts look hilarious, but most importantly they do the job perfectly.

(look at those skinny little legs!!!)

Tomorrow I am going to make another wrap based on a triangle of wool fabric (Even easier than this one, typically I only found the pattern online after I made this one) 

Oh, who can resist a fluffy cloth bottom?!

Hello Baby

breastfeeding, Our Home,

Our little baby arrived at long last, (amid great drama) last Monday.

Fluffy and soft, he is simply delicious, latched on straight away and has been feeding voraciously ever since…

After a slightly wobbly start, his sister, now demoted to second-youngest, is as besotted as his brothers, and has taken to reading to him on the odd occasion when he sleeps in his cot (possibly hoping it will keep him there!!)

So at last I’m back after a long hiatus… bursting with ideas (breastfeeding hormones are great) and hoping I get another post up before two months dwindle past (yes, it is really two months- oh the shame!!)

Victoria plums, cakes and Dorothy hats

breastfeeding, Cooking, Crochet, handmade, Home Education, tea, walks, yarn, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PICT0046I’m relaxing here with a cup of tea after putting baby to bed; Baby who has been SOOO contrary for the past week, nursing constantly, few smiles… and then she cut her first back tooth-at last! Poor little thing, especially when there are many more to follow….!

We had a day of visitors, tea, plum crumble and cream, -(Victoria plums, I think they are called- from my dads plumPICT0047 tree. I brought home a bag of them to save him from himself as he eats practically the entire crop. Totally fruity, my dad)- tomatoes and courgettes from the polytunnel, onions and raspberries from the garden (yes, yes, the sum total of our days: eating, drinking pots of tea, nursing and crafting amid varied gossip sessions) It’s like Breastfeeding Central at our house these days!! I made the cake above for Grandad Toms birthday yesterday (not actually a relation at all, but we’ve poached him as our own)- this is a fool-proof Victoria Sponge which I filled with vanilla double cream and homemade jam from the market (we ate all of ours within… oooh how long would it have been? approximately a week)

Victoria Sponge Recipe (adapted from Nigella Lawson (being me I could never leave anything alone.))

-I use a cup to measure my ingredients- not as big as a mug-like an old-fashioned tea cup

Gently melt 225g unsalted butter, then, in my Kenwood, I chuck in approx

1+1/4 cups of caster sugar, 1+3/4 cups of self raising flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 cup of cornflour (this makes it lovely and light).

Turn on the mixer and into this: crack 4 large eggs one at a time, then a teaspoon of vanilla essence. While the mixer is turning, I pour the melted butter slowly into the mixture, it will be a bit runny, but pour it into prepared 9″ sandwich tins and bake in an oven, preheated to 180′C, but turn down to 160′C once the cake is in. The filling asks for fruit, jam, and really begs for double cream (with a bit of vanilla sugar mixed in… yum)

Two great baking books I use a lot are “How To Be A Domestic Goddess” by Nigella Lawson, and “Bake” by Rachel Allen. Really great recipes, photos and instructions… and now you know why I’m not like Twiggy!!!!!!!

And meanwhile, in my free time (!) I made a hat for our dear sweet Dorothy. Dorothy has the cheese stall at the Farmers Market here in Ballinasloe, and last week when I went in to get my cheese and fish, Dorothy looked cold. It was a cold, miserable day, and I thought of how cold she would be in the months ahead, and with this gorgeous Japanese yarn crocheted together with a purple cotton, I made a slightly flapper-style hat in double crochet, with a cute turned up brim, decorated with a covered button and little ribbon. Dorothy is just far too lovely to wear a woolly hat!

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PICT0028We are off to Galway tomorrow for a Home Education get-together with other families around Galway county, always great fun and lots of chat. we have new people joining HEN (Home Education Network) all the time, so it always makes for a varied and interesting meet-up. My long-time friend Tara (long story-have known her, literally forever) has helped arrange a Bat Walk and Bat Detection near to us here at the end of the week with her lovely husband Pat leading the group (I was going to say a naturalist, but, is that someone who likes running around in the nip?) Anyway, he’s very “nature-friendly” and full of great information-one of those people who’s so enthusiastic about what they are interested in that they spread that enjoyment to everyone else. So should be a great evening. I think that will call for more banana bread and scones… (Erin, I promise the recipe here next time!!!)

Broody: Homebirths and Babies

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Well, we have been crocheting like loons once more for Kellys Pub (www.facebook.com/kellysgalway) and can see an end in site! Once they are done we are  starting straight into getting ready for our handmade@theNest weekend in October- it is all looking very exciting!

John and Joyce at Pixelcode (www.pixelcode.ie) are working on our new website and we have been having chats about integrating Facebook and Twitter with this blog… just need another 24 hours in every day…

We were blessed with a visit from an extraordinary woman yesterday-Tammy is an American Homebirth midwife over here to “catch” a baby (don’t you just love that expression?) We have a long and varied chat about homebirthing, breastfeeding, attachment parenting… and social media!!

And talking about Americans, Homebirth and babies- an American friend of mine is in my thoughts at the moment-she is in the first trimester of her fourth pregnancy- and hoping for a homebirth in the south of Ireland next year… while closer to home my sister is due her baby in a couple of weeks! I cannot wait!! Doesn’t it make you broody?!

Crochet covers, ribbons and more rain

breastfeeding, Crochet, Handmade dolls, tea, yarn, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s one of those funny days-warm sunshine one minute and dark stormy skies with torrential rain the next. Our boys have decamped from the living room to upstairs under a bed, in the middle of an epic game-one of those which lasts for days and every toy and box is used-in the hope of avoiding a baby attack. Baby is here at my feet, opening and closing my ribbon box and taking them out and draping her head and little wooden trolley with them.  Very cute!!

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I’m trying to work out orders of wooden toys for our shop for Christmas- wooden train sets, pedal-free bicycles, wheelybugs, wooden cash register for all the budding shop owners…. this must be my favourite part of the job!!! My youngest son, almost five, has a list of about twenty “definites” -eeek!!! (hate to disappoint, but…)


Meanwhile, when I sit down later I’ll be back to crochet-I have three crochet workers (a.k.a. crochet slaves) helping me crochet four long bench cushions for Kellys Pub in Galway since the others were STOLEN (you know who you are) Hopefully these ones won’t be as easy to shove under a jumper and walk out… We have a plan, and gorgeous cotton yarn (see previous post), so my hopes are high that these will be just as lovely!! 

(I’m here breastfeeding baby as I type, and every few seconds a foot bends up and types a few letters, so if I have any typos, apologies)

I have a pile of post to send off today, cards I have been meaning to write for ages and eventually getting around to it. I’ll put up a picture of the bag I made for Liz, the lady who ‘gave’ us our little fluffy dog, Pebbles. WEEKS later and it is only being posted. TUT TUT.

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The little dolly to the front is one of the Waldorf-inspired dolls I’ve been making (in my free time, ha ha ha), Once I have a face embroidered on I’ll post detailed photos. I’m so chuffed with them. I especially love the fluffy nappies!! I’m thinking of having a weekend in October where we showcase all the “handmade” delights rather than drip-feeding them onto the shop site as they come through- oooh, the lovely baby blankets, dolls, cards, cushions, felted mobiles that we will have in our shop for Christmas!!! The anticipation makes up for the rotten weather over the summer (just about).

 

I was about to say that I was going to head off and have a cup of tea and a slice of the most delectable banana and chocolate bread I made yesterday, but, lo! My three little savages have scoffed it all (we’ll have to work on their definition of “some”) A plain biscuit for me then……..