Mums and Tots Magazine - Issue 36 - Autumn 2020

In this issue

Amanda Hatton of Your Story Photography photographed our beautiful cover from a series for National Breastfeeding Week last August. We love how poignant this shoot is - socially distant and masked up but beside each other, like pillars of strength and support. Saying of her own experience breastfeeding her three boys Amanda says, ‘I was blessed with a huge community throughout all my feeding journeys… I didn’t find any of them easy, they all came with struggles but is a stage I will truly miss.’. Breastfeeding, more often than not, comes with challenges, particularly in the early days. It is so important to have people to turn to if we have questions, or doubts, on this journey. Jennifer Phillips’ offers us some tips on connecting with other breastfeeding mums and experts in Ireland.
Resolving the stand-off at bedtime with your older child can push you to your very limit. As your child grows, their ability to dispute, refute, bargain, negotiate and stall at bedtime is unequalled. It can result in bedtime taking hours and may include parents spending a long time lying beside their child, or returning their child to bed on multiple occasions. If this sounds familiar, join Author and Sleep Expert at Sleep Matter’s, Lucy Wolfe as she explores some suggestions to reduce the struggle and reclaim bedtime as a calm time that results in sleep for your child and some down time for you.
One of the main issues that women face during pregnancy is how people react to their body as their pregnancy advances. There does seem to be a culture where unsolicited comments from family, friends, co-workers and even strangers - as to the size of a pregnant woman’s bump - are deemed to be acceptable. It’s not. A woman’s body and her pregnancy bump is hers, it’s not something that should be open for discussion or for people to touch without permission. Read more on bump shaming from registered midwife, and co-founder of My Expert Midwife, Lesley Gilchrist.