Mammy Monday : Our Positive Breastfeeding Journey

I thought I'd never in a million years breastfeed, I thought 1. I was too much of a prude and 2. Why should I do all the night feeds. As soon as I found out I was pregnant  on my first daughter I knew it was what I wanted to do.

 

I always looked on it with an open mind. I'd give it a go if it worked out it worked out if not there's nothing wrong with formula. Luckily for us we took to it like ducks to water!

The first few weeks were the hardest, Lauren fed almost constantly. Which led to a lot of discomfort. But once she got the supply up it was plain sailing. I am so lucky, I've never had any problems and have for the most part enjoyed the experience. 

 

I naively went into this journey thinking I was in charge lol how wrong was I! I had first said 12 weeks that's it we'll be done breastfeeding by then, wrong! Oh when she has teeth I'll stop nope wrong again, we ended up feeding until my first was 16 months old and my second was 5/6 months old (we only stopped sue to a change in my circumstances not because I wanted to)

 

 

Now don't get me wrong I enjoyed every day (almost) I've learned a lot on this road and the main thing I've learned is that I wanted to make my daughters happy as they are my number one concern.

 

 

I used to get asked a lot when would I stop breastfeeding and I used to have the answer, I used to have a time frame, but then I decided that all that was important wasn't what anyone else wanted but truly that my only concern was that my child's emotional and nutritional needs were being met, and not to be worrying about what "Mary" from down the road thought or anyone for that matter!

 

 I mean no one would ever ask the mother of a 10 month old when they were taking the bottle from them or when they would stop formula! I just wish the same respect could be given to breastfeeding mothers too. No one really has the intentions of breastfeeding a child until they are 16 lol but when they are still a baby its completely normal and I'm saying well done mama if you have fed your child till they are way past the baby stage and fair play to you for doing what is right for your family. Its a hard road so give yourself a well deserved pat on the back.

 

It's been a mostly positive journey for me,  I've met loads of breastfeeding mammies who can advise me and me them. I had no problems feeding her in public but that's been mainly thanks to my nursing cover, it's been the best €30 I've ever spent. I'd highly recommend buying one, especially for when you are out or you have visitors that you aren't 100% comfortable whipping your boobs out in front of ha ha ha.  I got mine in boots similar to this one here Boots don't seem to stock them on their website so that's a link to Bella Baby who are a fantastic baby shop.

 

 

If you pregnant and thinking of breastfeeding my advice is do your research, have an idea what to expect but for the most part just relax you'll be amazed at how much they teeny tiny person might already know. There are loads of support groups on facebook and in the community. At the time I attended a class which was organised by the public health nurses in my area so check that out, ask when the come to visit when you get out of hospital. Ask your own mam or a friend if they breast fed. Also have a back up plan, what will I do if it doesn't work for us. There are also lactation consultants in the maternity hospitals, so just ask for help.

 

I did use a pump for times when I was away from the babies or wanted to attempt bottles (which my first daughter point blank refused and she ended up never having a bottle.) I would say wait until you know if its going to work out for you or not before purchasing one as they are quite expensive, don't throw your money away. And for the first couple of weeks anyway you wont use one as you and baby will be getting used to things yourselves.

 

I'm not an expert by any means, but I found the following items really helped me :

 

An absolute essential : Multi Mam Compresses

Nursing Pads: I used both disposable (these were my favs) and the reusable ones which were so soft. I was given mine as a gift but there are loads of places online where you can buy some and boots have some here

Nipple Cream :) this was the one I used

Nursing cover as I mentioned above.

 

So like I say, I'm by no means an expert, far from it, I'm just a mammy who has a positive breast feeding story. Try relax, go into it with an open mind and remember, once your childs emotional needs and nutritional needs are being met that's all that matters and that can be achieved by breast or bottle or both.

 

Lots of Love

 

Donna

XXX 

 

 

Sunscreens and Sun Safety - Mammy Monday

Having worked in cancer services, sunscreen is something I am very passionate about. Having 2 kiddos in the recent good weather you get sick of applying it but its a necessity. Sunburn is so dangerous in so many ways. Especially for kids.

The following photo really caught my attention. It's got the wow factor big time. It's doing the rounds on Facebook at the moment. And it really shows the damage sun can do to your skin. It prompted me to do a post on sun safety.

I've used an array of sunscreens on myself, I suffer from prickly heat when I'm abroad so I need to ensure I choose a sunscreen that's not going to affect that. I've written a post on my favourite sunscreen for prickly heat suffers I'll link it here. Natural tone sun screen is a brand I 100% love. Its a bit more expensive than other brands but if you are like me and prickly heat has ruined many a holiday then you need to give this a go.  You can purchase from their website here. At home I can use anything as we don't get a long enough run in the sun for the prickly heat to take hold. I use the Aldi one on myself for days in Ireland and I haven't had any issues with it. I chose spf 30, I just feel there is absolutely no point in getting burned or trying to tan in Ireland as there is zero chance of maintaining a tan here so I'm not going to risk it.  And mama's and dada's please remember to also apply sunscreen to yourself too. This is a mistake plenty of parents make. We apply sunscreen to the kids but forget ourselves. And lets be honest, being burnt to a crisp with kids who are cranky from the heat ain't no ones idea of fun.

Did you know that skin cancer is the mist commonly diagnosed cancer in Ireland. In 2013 there was 10'785 of skin cancer diagnosed. So skin cancer is something we really need to take seriously in Ireland. We need to remember that the sun here in Ireland is the same sun that's abroad so is more than capable of causing damage to the skin.

Most of the skin damage occurs in childhood, and although those cute little bodies look adorable with a little tan, tanned skin is in fact damaged skin. Skin cancer takes 10-15 years to develop and is the most common cancer in people aged 15-44. The Irish cancer society website have some great tips on keeping little ones safe in the sun you can visit their website here.

Here are the things I do to keep my littlies sun safe:

• Sunscreen: A factor of at least 30 and with the highest UVA and UVB you can find. (La Roche-Posay ticks all these boxes). Apply 20mins before going out in the sun and at least every 2 hours during the day or after swimming/ pool fun.
• Hats: My eldest is very fair so I "try" my best to get her to wear a hat as much as possible when out in the sun. She's now 3 going on 30 so its hard to get her to wear anything she hasn't picked out herself so I try and pick hats that are character based or sparkly to get her attention. Shes goof most of the time. My baby is as bald lol get that's from me poor child lol so her head is really in danger. She will keep most hats on her head. But I always ensure I spray her head with factor too.
• Sunglasses: Really really important and really really hard to keep on the little shits. We bought my eldest a pair when we were in Portugal a few years ago they are the wrap around type and as babies they aren't too bothered with trying to take them off. In fact they are happy to wear them to take the glare off their eyes. They were expensive enough roughly €30 but worth the money. The older kid is harder to get to wear them. But throw aul Elsa on them and she will wear them 90% of the time. It is important that they are up to European standard en1836 and have UV protection.
• Shade: Where kids are concerned shade is really important so when you are looking for the best spot by the pool or at the beach make sure you have a parasol or there is somewhere you and the kiddos can escape to especially between the hours of 11am and 3pm when the sun is at its strongest and remember this applies to Ireland too.
• UV Index: You really need to be aware of the UV index this can range from zero to +11. the UV rays are what do the damage. I noticed yesterday in Hickey Pharmacy they are giving a free UV index patch when you purchase 2 or more La Roche- Posay products. You can also enter your details on their website where they will be randomly selecting 1500 people to send these patches to. You can visit their site here to join their waiting list to be sent a patch.

I know that the Aldi sun creams got great reviews online and my family and friends rave about them. So I tried them out, they are what I am currently using here at home. I am using the spf 50 spray bottle on the kids its one for sensitive skin, it's really important to use a sunscreen that's made for kids on their skin, they offer a protection with ingredients suitable for their delicate skin. However after a friend used the Aldi one abroad she found that it wasn't great with wet skin, so I have decided to revert back to La Roche-Posay kids sunscreen for holidays instead. They have one that is targeted at kids with wet skin, which will be ideal for us in Portugal as my eldest daughter loves the water. This is available from most pharmacies and retails for around €19.95. I've used it before and loved it. But it is pricey, but in my opinion its worth every cent to ensure my kids skin stays safe in the sun. 

Last year I was sent a bottle of Kiehl's Activated Sun Protector with SPF50+ and it was amazing on the kids skin. Especially on my daughter who was only a few months old at the time. She wasn't in the sun at all but for those moments in the buggy where the sun caught her skin I felt 100% assured she was protected. I used it on myself too and it left my skin feeling amazing after it. The bottle itself isn't very big so doesn't go a long way. But if you have sensitive skin I'd highly recommend it. They have a face one too, I used the body one.


I hope you find the above helpful and if it reaches out to just one person / family, I'll be happy.


Lots of Love

Donna
XXX

Fitness Friday

Hey Lovelies,

Soooooooo.......This week has been a total write off where exercise is concerned. With a 3 year old who refuses to sleep for more than 3 hours and a baby who's not been herself the energy levels have been so low.

I recently had a scope done as I was suffering from pains and discomfort in my stomach, which was worse when my stomach was empty. I thought I might have had a stomach ulcer. Turns out I have Helicobacter, which is a little bacteria which burrows holes into the lining of your stomach, this then allows the acid in your stomach to attack the lining of your stomach and left untreated can cause ulcers. I was lucky mine hadn't done any severe damage yet. So I have 6 weeks of treatment to cure this. And when my stomach is empty it affects me more. So I've been over eating a lot of late. But the past week my eating has improved. I've been keeping a food diary and keeping track of what I'm eating and seeing it in black and white has helped so much.

I'm trying to change my lifestyle and not go on a diet. Making better food choices and getting out and exercising more.

My typical day food diary looks  like this: (keep in mind I'm up most days at 5.30-6 am so I tend to have 2 breakfasts to keep me going. I'm trying to have 5 small meals a day this seems to help my stomach a lot I think because I don't ever get over hungry.

Breakfast:

7am ish:Berries with Low fat Vanilla Yogurt and a small amount of Aldi Almond and Raisin granola.

10am: Fitzgeralds Slim Bagel Toasted with a boiled Egg and a cup of tea

Lunch:

Ham and cheese salad with, Tomato, cucumber, peppers, pickles and some salad cream.

Dinner:

Baby potatoes, Veg and Salmon.

I will then have a cup of tea in the evening with a couple of squares of dark chocolate once the kids are in bed.

I've cut out the rubbish 95% of the time. And the above is a typical day for me. My downfall are weekends. I really need to improve on that.

One thing I done this week was take my before pics, that gave me some motivation to get my ass in gear.

I think the main thing is that you keep going, don't make bad food choices into a bad day then into a bad week. Just draw a line under that bag of crisps that you 'had' to have and leave it at that.

I've been loving Ursulawalsh.com and thenakenblondie for dinner and snack ideas.

Anyone else you guys would recommend for good recipes?

Hopefully next week I can improve on my exercing 

Lots of love

Donna 

Xxx

Changing things up

So after a very long break and a couple of attempted come backs I am most definitely back to doing what makes me happy.

Blogging is something that I love to do, I love reviewing and sharing etc etc. Ive really missed it. But being a mammy to 2 small girls and working full time I really just haven't had the time to sit down and write. Plus I am sooooo out of the loop on all things beauty but that's about to change. I really need to up my game.

So the plan is to start bringing more aspects of my life into the blog and make it a more lifestyle blog than just a beauty blog.

So I plan to schedule 3 blog posts a week:

Mammy Mondays : all things mammy, kids and baby related.
What I'm loving Wednesdays: all things I'm loving at the moment, Beauty, Makeup, clothes etc
Fitness Friday: My fitness journey, healthy lifestyle, weight loss and much more.

I know I gave them tacky names lol

Hopefully from here I can get back into my passions as well as being super mam ha ha ha

So to celebrate my comeback I'm going to run a little competition over on my

So I hope you'll give my blog a like and share the love over on Facebook xxx

Love
Donna
xxx