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‘Breastfeeding 101’ points out the myths and truths of breastfeeding {Giveaway!}
My introduction to breastfeeding was an unwanted one. I was only 18 years old and I remember being so thankful that the challenging pregnancy and pain of childbirth was over. Finally my life (and body) will return to some sort of normal, right? But no… this was not the case. The nurse (probably shocked at my age) sternly instructed me to feed my baby. I felt a range of emotions. My body was still not my own. I had already given up 9 months of my youth to house another life. Do you mean to tell me, I now have to give up my flesh yet again, to feed the…
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Tommee Tippee’s Perfect Prep machine makes the perfect bottle! {Giveaway!}
It’s 3am and I hear Asher waking up for a feed. My heart is saying yes, but my body says no as I try to rise out of bed to see to him. I mean, I had literally just closed my eyes. Need sleep… can’t function. I nudge Hubstopher… it’s a silent “tag you’re it” and he grunts as he tries to escape my plea for help. I decide to grab baby, prepare his bottle and kinda just, you know, deposit him into his father’s arms, as one does. The boy is a giant. And I’m not just saying so because it sounds like a fun thing to say. He…
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Combo-feeding helped me breastfeed longer
Few things in life are as deeply satisfying as seeing your baby’s content face after they’ve been fed and burped. I mean, that’s the ultimate goal, when they are that little… you know, to get them to a place of contentness (i.e. dry, fed and burped). We do this because, well, for starters it’s against the law to starve your child. But also, we do it because when your child is content and happy, you are at peace and can finally rest. And so when I started on my breastfeeding journey with my newest munchky, Asher, I knew that something was up when I wasn’t feel this peace and rest…
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Safe sleep for your baby
It’s 2am. I should be sleeping but I’m wide awake, my eyes fixed on my baby, who is sound asleep in his cot. I don’t want to a miss a thing! I mean, what if he stops breathing in the middle of the night?! What if the blanket isn’t as secure as I thought it was, and he ends up with a blankey over his face? What if he overheats? Is he warm enough? What if, what if, what if?! Yep – I’ve been that psycho mom probably all four times, with each of my kids. I would check on them literally every half hour, and (here’s the “psycho mom”…
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Get sun smart with Oh-Lief’s organic sunscreen {Win!}
Guys, we love Summer! We are water babies and would do anything to be in the pool for, like, the whole month of December. I’m hoping that this love of swimming and sun-soaked pool days will rub off on my kids. To kick start this communal – uh – love affair with Summer, I made sure to get my smallies some funky swimming gear and sun hats. I also knew that I had to stock up on sunscreen because sunburn is no joke. So I was quite keen to try out Oh-Lief’s new range of organic sunscreen. I mean, this local family business has been around for more than 9…
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A swallowed coin and a trip to the operating room
There are few things in life that challenge me the way that parenting does. I mean, if you think about it, you’re responsible for keeping a whole human being alive. Easier said than done, sometimes. Well, this is what I learnt on Friday night when I heard my 2 year old gagging. Now, disclaimer: Thanks for saying my family is beautiful but here’s the (hard, ugly) truth about having three kids under the age of five… you often have to put one kid’s needs on hold, while you’re seeing to the other one. I mean, it’s not exactly ideal. So when the baby made the biggest poo of his life…
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C-Section tips: 10 things you want to know before
If you’re a soon-to-be mom preparing for the arrival of your baby, and you’re freaking out just a little bit, know that you are safe here. This is a safe space. I mean, this here blog is where I “freak out just a little bit”, like, ALL the time. So welcome, friend! Now, if your pre-birth freak outs are anything like mine was, you’re probably finding yourself scouring the internet for every drop of information that would give you some insight into your possible birthing experience. I mean it’s practically science: you always feel a bit better when you know what to expect. In fact, knowing what to expect is…
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My birth story: an unplanned C-Sec that changed everything
You know I’m always joking around about the fact that I’m a (self-acclaimed) preggy expert since I’ve been pregnant very many times in my life. And when it comes to birthing my babies, I’ve always opted for natural labour (unmedicated for the most part) because I know my body and I understand the birthing process and what needs to happen. But when I was admitted to hospital on Monday afternoon, for an induced labour, I had absolutely no peace about it at all. In fact, I ended up crying (no jokes) because something did not feel right. But let’s start at the beginning: “Imma push this baby out!” We visited…
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Baby drop safes: are they really saving our newborns?
South Africa, we have a problem. Well, we have a few problems, but I’m not here to nitpick the state of the nation. I’m here to ask you guys how we are still finding newborn babies in rubbish bins when we’re (supposedly) putting all the preventative measures in place to make sure that this doesn’t happen?! Now, teenage pregnancy rates and the sexual promiscuity of our young people aside (that is another topic for another day, when the very thought of not preserving innocence for as long as possible doesn’t infuriate me), I realise that our current problem of finding dead babies in rubbish heaps have become a shocking norm.…
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What you really need in your hospital bag
Now, given the fact that I’ve been pregnant thrice in under five years, I’m kinda immune to the over-catering of things, when it comes to preparing for my pending birth. I mean, call it what you want (efficiency, wisdom, “she has two small kids and no time”), I’ve just decided to not be extra this time around and it’s giving me life. With that said, when I started packing my hospital bags the other day, I realised just how much nonsense I packed when I gave birth to my other minions children. I mean, have you tried rummaging through a bag filled with stuff, while trying to care for your…
