First published on www.facebook.com/breastfeedingtogether on 1/1/2019 as part of the Topic Tuesday series.
Resolutions are everywhere at this time of year, and whether you plan on making changes or not, we thought we’d have a think about resolutions for Breastfeeding Mums. Here’s our top 5……….are there any more you’d add to the list?!
1. Become Informed.
Whether you are a mum to be, a new mum or nursing a toddler (or beyond), make 2019 your year to be informed and educated about why breastfeeding matters and all the benefits for you and baby, then, you can make/carry on making really informed feeding choices.
2. More Skin to Skin.
Skin to skin is just the gift that keeps on giving! It regulates temperature and heartbeat, calms mum and baby (thanks to all that lovely oxytocin being released) it regulates blood sugars and stimulates the milk making hormones, getting breastfeeding off to a great start! Its also beneficial for Dads/Partners and older siblings to do too. What’s not to love about it? Take the time in 2019 for connecting with your baby in skin to skin.
3. Seek Breastfeeding Support.
There’s plenty out there, Join our closed Facebook group, take advantage of home visits, come to our groups, use live chat, phone us, text us and ask us that “silly question” (FYI it won’t be silly and we’ll have been asked it before!). Find your people and be supported practically and emotionally on your breastfeeding journey…….after all they say it takes a village to raise a baby.
4. Ditch the Routine!
In those early days babies are incapable of learning a routine, instead respond to your baby’s needs for food, comfort and reassurance and things will settle into a rhythm with time.
5. Be Proud.
For giving one breastfeed, for feeding until natural term, for expressing when your baby couldn’t latch, for donating your milk, for doing your first breastfeed in public, for reaching a breastfeeding milestone, for getting through a developmental leap, for making informed choices and for doing what is right for you and your baby.