Natural Nursery Blog

I am very excited to be featured as a Mumpreneur on the Family Friendly Working site.  It is such an honour to have been choosen, thank you Caroline and Antonia.

You can learn all about how we first set up and the inspiration behind our pro-breastfeeding stance here at The Natural Nursery.

And don’t forget, our special discount code for Breastfeeding Awareness Week – BAW2010 – which will give you 10% off all breastfeeding products such as breastpumps, sterilisers, pro-breastfeeding clothing, nursing pads and nursing bras.

As it is breastfeeding week this customer review for the Medela Swing Electric Pump is a perfect review for us to share with you:

We bought this pump in the first week of our baby’s life after he was diagnosed with severe jaundice. Because of his condition we had to top up after breastfeeding with formula- something we hadn’t  intended to do! Once our sons condition had improved we were able to top up with expressed breast milk using this pump and I am now back to 100% breastfeeding. It was a complete life saver!
I would recommend this pump to anyone, its natural sucking rhythm and adjustable strength of suck is really gentle, even for a first time mum like me! I didn’t find it painful to use.

It’s easy to get started and can be battery powered or powered on mains electric. Most importantly it gave us the opportunity to feed our son in the way we wanted to against the odds.

Remeber as it is breastfeeding awareness week, we are offering 10% discount on all our breastfeeding related products. So go into the website and have a look www.naturalnursery.co.uk

This is a great review of a Widgey Nursing Pillow:

Having breastfed my first son without a proper nursing pillow, I wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about. But I knew that I needed a caesarean for my second son, and everyone I spoke to said that a nursing pillow was essential after a caesarean. Many other mums recommended the Widgey to me.
They were right. This is a wonderful product. It is lovely and firm and means that I don’t have to lean over to feed. It curves round my waist nicely without pressing down just the right amount of stuffing to make sure that it can curve round all different sizes of mums.

I’m pretty much recovered now, but I still use my Widgey because it makes feeding so much more comfortable and has stopped me getting backache this time around. and it has
I also use the pillow for propping up my son for sitting because he can’t quite sit up on his own yet. He loves this because he can see what we’re all doing and doesn’t get bored – especially useful when we’re all trying to get dressed in the morning.

We have the design with the cows and my youngest likes looking at the cows and smiling at them.
My toddler son also likes to use it to lounge on when sitting / lying on the floor.
All in all, a great buy and far more useful than I ever thought it would be when I first bought it. Great product.

Don’t forget our free postage offer on all standard UK orders, which ends on 20/06/10

This is another customer who has been kind enough to review a product for us, this time it was the Medela Supplemental Nursing System:

I bought an SNS when it was clear that I had nursing supply issues. I used it to give my son his supplement from 3 weeks, until we recently stopped supplementing at 8.5 months (we are still breastfeeding). I honestly don’t think I would still be breastfeeding if it wasn’t for the SNS. I found it easy to use and straight forward, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

In celebration of Breastfeeding Awareness Week next week, I thought I would share my nursing story.
 
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I knew that I wanted to breastfeed – I had done lots of research and I knew that it was the best start for my baby and would provide additional health benefits for me too.
 
I had read that it was the most natural thing in the world and seen many friends and family nursing their babies and it seemed a wonderful experience for both mother and baby.
 
What I hadn’t expected was how difficult it would be to start.
 
My daughter simply didn’t want to nurse, she just wanted to sleep.  For 4 days solid.  No matter what the midwives did or said, she simply would not latch on.
 
I spent many miserable hours sitting in an over-heated hospital ward frantically pumping away and waking the poor protesting baby to try nursing her again or force spoonfuls of my laboriously produced colostrum into her fast shut mouth, all to no avail.
 
We must have been poked and pulled by a dozen different midwives, all very well meaning, but all telling me something different.  In the end we were both so upset, tired and emotional that we just sat in our cubical and cried for 3 hours.
 
After 3 days, I discharged both of us, against doctors’ orders as she had lost some weight and wasn’t yet feeding, but I was getting increasing pressure to give a bottle and I knew that once we started down that route, it would be even harder to establish breastfeeding.
 
Almost as soon as we got home, my baby woke up and was hungry and I was able to latch her on.  It wasn’t very easy and it was very painful but we were nursing!
 
It took several weeks and lots of support before we were both truly comfortable, (plus several packs of nipple shields and tubes of nipple cream) but we got through it and nursed until she self-weaned at 14 months.
 
My advice if you are facing similar issues:
 
Keep going, it WILL get easier but

GET HELP and I mean help from a lactation consultant not a midwife or health visitor.  No disrespect to midwives and health visitors but I found the support and information from my lactation consultant to be invaluable.

Useful links to get help:
http://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/supporterline.html
http://www.nct.org.uk/info-centre/getting-help/helplines
http://www.laleche.org.uk/pages/about/helpline.htm
http://www.abm.me.uk/

If you know a new mother who needs some spoiling this Sunday, why not take a look at the beautiful Sublime Breastfeeding Bra from Bravado Nursing Bras.

This is the prettiest breastfeeding bra we have ever seen and will make any nursing mother feel special.  It is right up there as a piece of gorgeous lingerie, yet it comes will excellent nursing features such as drop away cups for lots of skin to skin contact.

If you are unsure about sizing, rest assured that we are always happy to exchange sizes or why not buy the Seamless Nursing Bra instead?  With its simple sizing and oh so comfortable fit, you can’t go wrong!

We dispatch every day using First Class Royal Mail and we have express delivery options available too.

Today’s top bargain in our stock taking clarance sale is a boon for any breastfeeding mother as we have reduced the price of the Lansinoh Breast Milk Storage Bottles to just £5.95 per set of 4, saving you £2.

The breastmilk storage bottles are made from food grade polypropylene, the preferred plastic for storing expressed breast milk and are Bisphenol-A Free.

You can view our full range of breastfeeding accessories and buy the reduced Lansinoh Breastmilk Bottles online now.

Many breastfeeding mums are happy  to breastfeed just about anywhere and in all circumstances. For them the very idea of a breastfeeding shawl is confusing. Why would you need one? “If my breastfeeding offends you, just put a blanket over your head” says a series of messages going around Facebook and other social networking websites. I write from Scotland mums have a legal right to breastfeed in public. In nearly 5 years of breastfeeding my children, I have breastfed in many places and never received a negative comment, only smiles and nods. Sometimes a giggle when the person sitting across from me didn’t realise there was a baby hiding in the sling, only the gurgling sound gave it away! One day, breastfeeding my two-year-old in an overcrowded train got the ticket inspector to find me a seat in first class.

So why would you need a breastfeeding shawl?

Not everyone is comfortable breastfeeding in public and having a shawl to give yourself some privacy feels reassuring.

Even if you don’t mind breastfeeding in public, it may make some people around you more uncomfortable. Maybe you don’t mind, maybe you do and that’s fine too. If it helps make parents, grandparents, other relatives and friends more supportive of your breastfeeding then it may be worth it.

A  breastfeeding shawl will also make breastfeeding more comfortable as it protects you from the cold. It allows you to see clearly how your baby is latched on while respecting your privacy. This might be important when your baby is a newborn and you need to check that the latch is optimal.

It also creates a quiet space for babies with less stimulation. Some babies are easily distracted by sounds and light, the breastfeeding shawl will help isolate them slightly from what’s going on around them.

Breastfeeding shawls are well designed and convenient to use to breastfeed your baby, whether you’re in the house or out and about.

What makes a breastfeeding shawl different from any other scarf is that it has a weight in one corner which will help the shawl stay in place. Your hands are free, you can rest, eat a biscuit, hold your baby, drink some water, read a book to your toddler…

A great present for a new mum.
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breastfeeding in public

“Excuse me madam, were you about to nurse your baby?” asked the waiter.
“Oh no, here we are!” I thought

I was in a restaurant with our families and my 2-month old son. Friends had told me stories of how nursing mothers had been harassed when they were breastfeeding in public and asked to leave or cover up. I was fully expecting a negative comment when the waiter continued:

“Would you like a more comfortable chair?” the waiter continued.
“Oh!….yes, thank-you”, I was dumbfounded.

After changing my chair, he brought me a complimentary decaffeinated coffee and some chocolates. Talk about VIP treatment!

Fay sent us this story when her little boy was 7 months old and still happily breastfed.

Breastfeeding a baby is hard work, it takes determination, patience and perseverance so such warm welcome and recognition of their commitment to their children is always very much appreciated. Every time someone smiled to me or offered me a seat while I was breastfeeding my babies, it warmed my heart and left me smiling for the rest of the day, no matter how tired I was.

So if you come across a breastfeeding mother, don’t sigh and turn your head straight away. Look at her in the eyes, smile then turn your head! She is not doing anything illegal, she is feeding her child the way nature intended, the way that guarantees the best start in life for her baby. What would you prefer in the bus? A screaming baby? Or a contented baby snuggled up against his mum? Most likely you’ve come across dozens of nursing mothers before and never noticed them.

In the name of my fellow nursing mothers, we thank you for your support.