I'm a full-time mummy

Welcome to the World Breastfeeding 2013 Blog Carnival cohosted by NursingFreedom.org and The San Diego Breastfeeding Center!

This post was written for inclusion in the WBW 2013 Blog Carnival. Our participants will be writing and sharing their stories about community support and normalizing breastfeeding all week long. Find more participating sites in the list at the bottom of this post or at the main carnival page.

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"Celebrating Each Mother's Journey: Not every breastfeeding relationship looks the same. There are mothers who exclusively breastfed, exclusively pumped, breastfed with supplementation, breastfed for three hours or three years, never breastfed but wanted to, or did some combination of these. The important thing is that each mother is supported and given accurate information. Today let's discuss how we can celebrate every breastfeeding relationship."

Nursing my first child, Benjamin when he was 19 months old... love those gorgeous eyes gazing up at me!

I just want to share my experience and my journey as a breastfeeding mother, so I think I'll list them down for easier reading, so here it goes:

~ Started in 4th March 2009 when I delivered my first child, my dear cheeky Benjamin.

~ Learned to hand express while I was serving my 1 month notice (tendered my resignation a day after I returned back to work from my 2 months maternity leave).

~ One of the reason I quit my job is so that I could at least breastfeed my boy for 6 months but since I have quit my job, decided to continue on as long as there is still milk left in my body.

~ Exclusively breastfed Ben for the first 6 months (very minimal water, that too given on hot days as I'm living in a hot country all year round)

~ Exclusively breastfed my 2nd child, Alyson for the first 6 months (no water given)

~ Am not sure whether it is caused by my breastfeeding, but I did not have my menses for 25 months since I got pregnant with Ben in June 2008. Those 25 months were such a bliss!!!!!

~ As for 2nd child, I did not have my menses for 14 months.

~ Breastfed Ben for total of 45 months until he self-weaned at that age.

~ Tandem nursed Benjamin and Alyson for 1.5 years.

 ~ Am still nursing Alyson NOW even though my breastmilk has stopped from 5th month of my current 3rd pregnancy

Nursing my second child, Alyson at 22 months old... and I'm 7 months pregnant with our 3rd child :)

~ We do not have a speck of formula powder at all in the house since Ben came along!

~ Am hoping I could repeat tandem nursing with Alyson and our 3rd child few months down the road!

So there you go, the summary of my journey as a breastfeeding mother! Here's to many more wonderful breastfeeding journey to come!

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Visit NursingFreedom.org and The San Diego Breastfeeding Center for more breastfeeding resources and WBW Carnival details!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants. Below are a list of links for today's participants; you can find a complete list of links (updated throughout the week) at our main carnival page:

(This list will be updated by afternoon August 5 with all the carnival links.)

• An Unexpected Formula-Fed Attachment — Kyle (of JEDI Momster and) writing at Natural Parents Network, exclusively breastfed three healthy babies. So when she was pregnant with her fourth, she assumed she would have no breastfeeding troubles she could not overcome. Turns out, her fourth baby had his own ideas. Kyle shares her heartfelt thoughts on how she came to terms with the conclusion of her breastfeeding journey.
• It Take a Village: Cross Nursing — Shannah at Breastfeeding Utah shares how cross-nursing helped her baby in their time of need, and how that experience inspired her to create a community of cross-nursing and milk-sharing women.
• Random little influences and Large scale support communities lead to knowing better and doing better — amy at random mom shares how her ideas and successes involved with breastfeeding evolved with each of her children, how her first milk sharing experience completely floored her, and how small personal experiences combined with huge communities of online support were responsible for leading and educating her from point A to point D, and hopefully beyond.
• Mikko's weaning story — After five years of breastfeeding, Lauren at Hobo Mama shares how the nursing relationship with her firstborn came to a gentle end.
• My Milk is Your Milk — Lola at What the Beep am I Doing? discusses her use of donor milk and hhow she paid the gift back to other families.
• World Breastfeeding Week 2013 Blog Carnival - Celebrating Each Mother's Journey — Jenny at I'm a full-time mummy lists her experiences and journey as a breastfeeding mother.
• Working Mom Nursing Twins — Sadia at How Do You Do It? breastfed her twin daughters breastfed for 7 months. They made it through premature birth and NICU stays, her return to full-time work, her husband's deployment to Iraq, and Baby J's nursing strike.
• So, You Wanna Milkshare? — Milk banks, informed community sharing and friends, oh my! So many ways to share the milky love; That Mama Gretchen is sharing her experience with each.
• Milk Siblings: One Mama's Milk Sharing Story (and Resources)Amber, guest posting at Code Name: Mama, shares how her views on milk sharing were influenced by her daughter receiving donor milk from a bank during a NICU stay, and how that inspired her to give her stash to a friend.
• Humans Feeding Humans — Krystyna at Sweet Pea Births shares ideas on how we can celebrate all the different ways modern mommies feed their babies. While we are comfortable with the breastmilk-formula paradigm, she proposes that we expand our horizons and embrace all the different ways mamas feed their infants.
• When Breastfeeding Doesn't Go As Planned — MandyE of Twin Trials and Triumphs shares the challenges she faced in feeding her premature twins. She's still learning to cope with things not having gone exactly as she'd always hoped.
• Taking Back My Life By Giving Away My Milk — When Amanda Rose Adams's first child was born, he was tube fed, airlifted, ventilated, and nearly died twice. In the chaos of her son's survival, pumping breast milk was physically and mentally soothing for Amanda. Before long her freezer was literally overflowing with milk - then she started giving it away.
• The Tortoise and the Hare — Nona's Nipples at The Touch of Life discusses why we care about breast milk and formula with everything inbetween.
• Finding My Tribe of Women Through Milk Sharing — Mj, guest posting at San Diego Breastfeeding Center shares her journey breastfeeding with low milk supply and supplementing with donor milk using an at the breast supplemental nursing system. She shares the impact milk sharing has had on her life, her family, and how it saved her breastfeeding relationship.
• Human Milk for Human Babies — Sam at Nelson's Nest shares her perspective on milk-sharing after an unexpected premature delivery left her pumping in the hopes of breastfeeding her son one day. Sam's milk was an amazing gift to the other preemie who received it, but the connection was a blessing in the donor mom's life too!
• Sister, I Honor You — A mother feeding her baby is a triumph and should be honored, not criticized. Before you judge or propagate your own cause, go find your sister. A post by Racher: Mama, CSW, at The Touch of Life.
• Every Breastfeeding Journey Is Different, Every One Is Special — No two stories are alike, evidenced by That Mama Gretchen's collaboration of a few dear mama's reflections on their breastfeeding highs, lows and in betweens.
• A Pumping Mom's Journey — Shannah at Breastfeeding Utah shares about her journey pumping for her son, who was born at 29 weeks.

Welcome to the World Breastfeeding 2013 Blog Carnival cohosted by NursingFreedom.org and The San Diego Breastfeeding Center!

This post was written for inclusion in the WBW 2013 Blog Carnival. Our participants will be writing and sharing their stories about community support and normalizing breastfeeding all week long. Find more participating sites in the list at the bottom of this post or at the main carnival page.

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"Breastfeeding Tips and Tricks: Did you overcome any breastfeeding challenges? Do you have tips for new moms (or new partners)? Do you have gentle advice for getting through breastfeeding aversion or toddler gymnastic nursing? Share your wisdom with our readers!"

Throughout my journey in breastfeeding my children since March 2009, I have shared countless tips and tricks in the topic of breastfeeding.

Now before you brush me off thinking who am I to be giving you tips, oh well, up to you whether you want to read and follow/try my tips. All I can tell you is as of this date (19th July 2012 - I blogged way in advance), I have:

• breastfed both my children exclusively for first 6 months (1st child had some sips of water thanks to nagging and concerned MIL) but other that, both my children are 100% on my breastmilk with no formula or water to supplement

• breastfed THROUGHOUT my second and third pregnancy currently at 8 months
  

• tandem nursed both my children for 1.5 year
  

• still 0 formula in the house

• my first child self-weaned at 45 months old and second child still nursing now at 23 months old
  

Back to my tips and tricks posts, here are some of them:

* Initial Preparations When You Found Out You Are Expecting

* The 5 Ds to Remember If You Plan to Breastfeed Your Baby - I just had this idea the other night and told myself I must write this down. In case you don't know, I am quite crazy with coining words and keywords (check out my 'BE AWESOME' approach in potty training my boy) so when I thought of these few words that started with the letter D and then I make the connections for these words to be applied and practiced by new mums (or mums-to-be) who wants to embark (or just step) into breastfeeding journey, I think this is a cool idea! These are the few tips that I always shared with mums-to-be who asked me questions on breastfeeding previously.

* How Do I Make My Breastfeeding Works? - Sharing some of my personal tips in how I make my breastfeeding journey a success.

* What To Do If Your Child Bites You While Breastfeeding? - You have to be firm and serious in disciplining your breastfeeding child if you want to spare your nipples from anymore biting incident. You CANNOT scold and smile at your child at the same time. They will not be able to know that you are serious and meant that it hurts if you are smiling at them. Or immediately offered your breast back at them.Read up this post of mine for more details!

* What I Needed During My Pregnancy While Still Breastfeeding - I have currently breastfeed both my kiddos throughout my pregnancies and am delighted to share my personal tips in doing so.

* How to Wean Your Breastfeeding Child - If you are looking for methods on gentle weaning, do read up this post of mine for my personal tips!

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Visit NursingFreedom.org and The San Diego Breastfeeding Center for more breastfeeding resources and WBW Carnival details!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants. Below are a list of links for today's participants; you can find a complete list of links (updated throughout the week) at our main carnival page:

(This list will be updated by afternoon August 3 with all the carnival links.)

• Breastfeeding and NIP: A Primer — Rachel Rainbolt of Sage Parenting, featured today at NursingFreedom.org, uses her informative and candid voice to share with you everything you need to know to breastfeed successfully in public, from the practical how-to's to handling the social stigma.
• Lactivist Ryan Gosling — Breastfeeding mamas, the time is long overdue for a Lactivist Ryan Gosling. Fortunately, Dionna of Code Name: Mama has created some for your viewing pleasure.
• In Defense of Formula — Amy of Mom2Mom KMC, guest blogging for Breastfeeding in Combat Boots, asserts that formula is a medical tool rather than a food. She examines how this perspective supports breastfeeding as normal and eliminates the negative tensions between breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding mothers.
• World Breastfeeding Week 2013 Blog Carnival - Breastfeeding Tips & Tricks — Throughout her breastfeeding journey (since March 2009), Jenny at I'm a full-time mummy has shared countless tips and tricks on the topic of breastfeeding.
• Nursing in the Wild — Meredith at Thank You Ma'am posts about how seeing other moms nurse can make all of us more comfortable with nursing in public.
• Normalizing Breastfeeding — Sara Stepford of The Stepford Sisters confronts the social stigma vs. the reality of breastfeeding and opens up about the steps she takes to make herself and others more comfortable with the process.
• Breastfeeding Alrik at two years old — This is where Lauren at Hobo Mama and her second-born are at in their nursing relationship, two years in.
• Perfectly Normal — Stephanie from Urban Hippie writes about the way she and her family have done their part to try and normalize breastfeeding in a society that doesn't get to see breastfeeding as often as they should.
• Diagnosis: Excess Lipase — Learn about excess lipase and how to test if your expressed milk has it. That Mama Gretchen shares her own experience.
• Redefining Normal — Diana at Munchkin's Mommy reflects on how we can normalize breastfeeding in our society.
• Nursing Openly and Honestly — Amy W. at Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work feels that the most socially responsible thing she can do as a mother is to nurse and nurture her children openly, honestly, and with pride.
• Wet-nursing, Cross-nursing and Milk-sharing: Outdated? — Jamie Grumet of I Am Not the Babysitter shares a response to the Wendy Williams quote about milk sharing being akin to slavery, by giving a brief history of the wet nurse.
• Tackling Mastitis with an Older Nursling — Much of the advice available for supporting recovery from mastitis seems to be aimed at mamas with younger nurslings. Juliet of Twisting Vines, posting at Natural Parents Network shares tips for dealing with mastitis while breastfeeding a toddler.
• Milk in the eye — Gena from Nutrition Basics discusses how breastmilk cured her 3 year old's case of pink eye.
• Boobie Biter — Rachel Rainbolt at Sage Parenting offers guidance on how to survive and thrive a boobie biter with your breastfeeding relationship intact.
• My take on breastfeeding advice — Diana at Munchkin's Mommy shares her insights on nursing for both new moms and new dads.
• My Top Five Breastfeeding Tips for Delivery Day: Think "A-B-C-D-E" — Mothernova shares how her continued success at breastfeeding with her second child rests on a foundation of five key things she did to prepare for baby's arrival, along with things she did when she and baby first met. Easily enough, these tips can be categorized as "A-B-C-D-E": Access to lactation consultant, Baby-friendly hospital, Communicate your plan to breastfeed exclusively, Demand, and Expect to room in.
• Breastfeeding Buddies: Twin Brothers Nurse while Living in the NICU — Twintrospectives at How Do You Do It? shares her 5 tips for learning to breastfeed multiples while in the NICU.
• Breastfeeding on a Dairy-Free Diet: Our Journey and Our Tips — Finding herself nursing a baby with food allergies, Jenny at Spinning Jenny embarked upon a dairy-free journey with her son for eight months. Here she relates her reasons for making the decision to give up dairy in her diet, why it was worth it, and tips for moms on the same path.
• Normalizing Breastfeeding in my Home — Shannah at The Touch of Life shares how she plans to help keep breastfeeding normal for her own children, even when her breastfeeding years are over.
• A Year With My Nursling — The more you see and hear, the more normal it becomes, so That Mama Gretchen is sharing her heart on the last year of breastfeeding - the ups and downs, but mostly the joy of her priceless relationship with her son.
• From Covered to Confident — Krystyna at Sweet Pea Births shares her personal NIP evolution: she started by covering up from neck to ankle while nursing in public. Eight years later, she has gained confidence and the ability to nurse without stressing about flashing a little skin. She shares her views on normalizing breastfeeding - what influenced her and how she hopes to help others.
• Normalizing Breastfeeding for Older Kids — Sadia at How Do You Do It? hopes that openly discussing breastfeeding with her (now weaned) daughters will help her children feel comfortable with breastfeeding and their bodies in general as they grow.
• Nursing in Public — Listen up, mammas. Those other people around . . . they don’t matter. It’s not about them. It’s about you and that beautiful baby. Nurse on, says The Swaddled Sprout!
• How to Nurse a Teenager — Sarah at The Touch of Life declares: the purpose is to help normalize breastfeeding a toddler.

Buying your first home is an amazing, challenging, exciting and often-exhausting experience. Sometimes the mountain of paperwork and endless phone calls to solicitors can make it tricky to remember that at the end of it all you will be in possession of your very first home and there are many preparations to make before you move in. If you are moving in directly from your parents home, then you'll be surprised at how many of their home comforts you take for granted. If you are moving from a shared or rented accommodation then the chances are you'll have more of an idea what you're likely to need.
 
When you are a child you sit down to a cooked meal at the family table, enjoy a delicious range of tasty food and have a fairly endless supply of snacks. But someone is working hard behind the scenes to make sure you have all of this, as you'll discover when you buy your own property.
 
Kitchen essentials
Ask anyone what the most important thing is in their kitchen and kitchen kettle is most likely to be the top answer. You will also need saucepans, cooking implements, crockery, glasses, cutlery, a toaster and a microwave. Don't forget the extras like a tin opener, vegetable peeler, corkscrew, oven gloves, measuring jug and chopping boards. Depending on the size of your kitchen you will also need to think about furniture such as chairs and a table.
 
Living room must-haves
The most obvious thing in your living room is some comfortable furniture. You'll probably want a few bookshelves too and maybe a coffee table and some soft-lighting lamps. Most people keep their television and DVD player in their living room, so you'll need a TV stand. Don't forget the finishing touches, such as curtains, cushions, pictures, plants and candles.
 
Bedroom basics
Yes it goes without saying you need a bed. But you'll also need bedding, pillows, a wardrobe and chest of drawers, a bedside table and lamp and a dressing table. A full-length mirror is also great in your bedroom to check your outfit before you leave the house!
 
Bathroom bits and bobs
Some fittings might already be there, but you'll need a towel rack, toilet roll holder, toilet brush, bathroom mat and a shower curtain if you have a shower.
 
White goods
Again, some houses are sold with white goods, others are completely bare. You will need to think about a washing machine, fridge freezer and maybe a dishwasher and tumble dryer.
 
Anything else?
It's always a good idea to have a tool set, a first aid kit, a set of stepladders and plenty of cleaning products and equipment. If you have a garden, you'll need a lawnmower, rake, trowel and spade. Don't forget the ironing – get yourself an iron and ironing board, too.
 
Sounds like a lot of stuff, but setting up home is a big deal and it's worth getting it right. You don't need to spend too much, but make sure you have these essentials to get you started.