“You can avoid the “mum uniform trap” with a funky t’shirt or shirt. Lisa recommends the Mama Feels Goodrange, “they sell great maternity and breastfeeding t’shirts, with some fun graphic prints to brighten up an outfit.” Wearing a specially designed nursing t’shirt means you’ll avoid flashing your post-baby tummy and may find it easier to feed discreetly without showing the world your chest! ”

Thanks guys at Real Parenting, it’s so cool to get a mention off of the back of how great our maternity & nursing clothes are

Always does make you feel good to get some recognition .

Well check out the Baby Love festival held at The Paintoworks in Brislington This sunday from 10am till 4pm.

As taken from the Baby Love festival website:

Brought to you by Love Food Festival, Born and Relaxed Birth and parenting,

Things are getting really exciting in the build up to the first ever Love Baby Festival! Come along and be part of a very special day..

There are some great people exhibiting and offering advice on many areas of pregnancy and parenthood, there’ll be the chance to try treatments, buy gorgeous clothing, toys and some delicious food. There will even be a birthing pool for you to see and try – feel free to bring your swimming costume!!

You can take part in one of the fantastic free workshops including baby massage, ante and postnatal, baby yoga and reflexology.

Relax in the café, indulge yourself with a massage, a beautiful pedicure for those hard to reach toes, or get your bump painted by the very talented ‘Art Tart’ Rose Popay!

The fantastic baby sensory palace will provide the perfect place for the younger visitors to explore and make some new friends!

It’s also a great opportunity to meet other parents in and around the area, to share stories, advice and look to arrange meet ups and activities within the community. These bonds can play an essential and very enjoyable part during those early years.

With delicious hot and cold food, the well loved blend of laid back grooves (suitable for ears of all ages) and the Love Baby fairies adding a touch of sparkle to the proceedings, this promises to be a really gorgeous and fun event.

I hope to see you all there!

Lorna x

Will look forward to seeing you there

Mama Feelsgood Breastfeeding Tops in Green PArent Magazine

It was a really nice article we were featured in basically showing that there are quite a few options open if you want to breastfeed in public without flashing your wongers or baby belly at everyone!

Everyone is different and some women are more comfortable at feeding in public, and it is something that take s a bit of getting use to. But hey you shouldn;t ever feel that you can’t go out when you are breastfeeding , Ok i know in the beginning if you are anything like me it took me ages just to get myself and my girls up and dressed to go out and when i did they would fill their nappy and i would have to start all over again! But it’s really cool to get your butt out of the house and enjoy some outdoors time with your baby. With Amelia i think Starbucks was my first destination, so nice just to try and chill out (OK maybe chilling out is an over estimation because i was a little highly strung at first about her screaming the place down, which she didn’t!) . So where was the first place you went out solo with your new little baby?

So what methods do you use to make breastfeeding in public that bit easier for you? I’ll be honest and say the whole idea of using a cover wasn’t for me, Erin i know would just pull at it like and probably pull it up but i haven’t ever used one so i might have gotten it totally wrong. How have you guys gotten on with them?

I also heard that baby slings are good at covering your bits when breastfeeding plus it takes some of the strain off of your back and arms because you can let the sling do some of the supporting. ?

Anyways take a good read of our article and let me know what you think; Green PArent magazine is SO cool for ideas and tips for parents so it;s SO luch to be featured in it. I have bought the magazine and am going to laminate the page this afternoon!! I know i am a sad case!!

Happy weekend guys, Liz

The new legislation means that both the mother and father are allowed to leave work for an hour during the day or reduce their working day by half an hour during the first nine months following the birth of a child.

Fathers are currently only allowed to apply for breastfeeding leave if the mother is employed full time.

The Spanish man who challenged the law, Pedro Manuel Roca Alvarez, said his request to take breastfeeding leave from his job in Galicia was rejected because the mother of his child was self-employed.

The top court said such a refusal could have the effect of forcing self-employed mothers to limit their work because the father cannot share the burden.

Not giving dads the same right as mums in this case “is liable to … keep men in a role subsidiary to that of women in relation to the exercise of their parental duties,” the court ruled.

Breastfeeding leave should now be considered as “time purely devoted to the child” in order to reconcile family life and work after maternity leave.

As taken from The Telegraph.co.uk

Wow that is really cool, they are allowed 1 hour per day to leave work for time purely devoted to the child

Not sure how the logistics of this would work as some fathers work a long way from their home but wow!

I’m so sorry but the lady’s name escapes me at the moment but she looked so lovely after the make over ( not saying she looked hanging before because she defo didn’t) but i can;t help thinking is it really possible to look like that everyday? Her hair was beautifully blow dried etc and her make up was lovely. If i tried that Erin would have ripped half my hair out ( as well as the mouth thing she adores to pull hair) so i generally have to scrapped back ( not quite a coventry facelift but nearly!) and i’m just too tired to put on the full make up. Am i alone in this ? Please say i’m not ha ha.

Anyways back to the makeover, they choose some lovely jeans from Dorothy Perkins for her to wear but i must admit i was a little dissapointed with the top they chose , it;s not the fact that it wasn’t a nursing top but they picked a silk one. Don’t know about you but i drop of milk goes a long way on fabric and on silk it would only take a little spillage and i’d have a mooosive wet patch .

Ok maybe i’m not being objective, after all i do sell nursing tops!

Did you see the feature, what did you think?

Our friends from Mama Scarf were approached to provide a nursing scarf, such a shame it wasn’t featured as they are really handy for breastfeeding in public.

I just don’t get why they would be such a big issue about them? OK so if i am being honest they are not my cup of tea, and i know i am one of the most forgetful people never so i would go out and forget them but hey if ladies want to wear them then just wear them, anything which makes your breastfeeding experience better can only be a good thing? There is SO much pressure on ladies on how they should be feeding their babies ie breast Vs bottle i don’t think we need extra stress about what we wear whilst we do it.

Ok i sell nursing tops so you could say i am biased but i created Mama Feelsgood to provide an option for women who want a choice of maternity wear / nursing wear i’m not saying you Got to wear them, breastfeeding tops are like chocolate, you can live without it but it makes your life that little bit better ( ha ha well i suppose that depends upon if you like chocolate or not!).

i don’t know if it is the culture we live in here in the UK but people love to judge others and give their options, maybe it’s because shows such as the X Factor are popular where basically they have celebrities passing judgement on others we think it;s acceptable to do this in everyday life. If a lady likes to / feels more comfortable wearing a Hooter Hider or breastfeeding top then whats the problem?

What do you think?

So they running a competition where they are giving away everything featured in the magazine ( well not sure if absolutely everything but loads of stuff) so why not enter, you can win tons of stuff for you and your baby and of course could pick up a Mama Feelsgood nursing shirt

Check out our Nursing Top page 90 !

Happy days!

UNICEF has awarded this and it take quite a few factors into consideration, from the ante-natal care through to birth and after baby is born, through to breastfeeding help and advice.

NHS Bristol is the first PCT to gain the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative 

community accreditation. This is a city-wide staged approach to achieving 

best practice in supporting breastfeeding mothers.  

NHS Bristol joins both city maternity units in gaining the coveted Baby 

Friendly Award – presented to health care facilities which have implemented 

globally recognised standards for infant feeding – making Bristol the first Baby 

Friendly city in the country. 

The award means that mothers in the city are now being cared for by NHS 

staff trained to deliver best practice standards from the beginning of 

pregnancy, through birth and into the postnatal period. 

With less than 2% of babies being exclusively breastfed at six months, 

breastfeeding rates in the UK are amongst the lowest in the developed world.  

Evidence shows that breastfeeding is by far the best way to feed a baby, 

giving protection against many illnesses for both mother and baby. 

Implementing the Baby Friendly standards has been proven to increase 

breastfeeding rates. Since the start of the project, breastfeeding rates in 

Bristol have risen and more mothers are breastfeeding for longer.  

Dr Hugh Annett, Bristol’s director of public health said: “This is fantastic news 

for Bristol. It demonstrates the hard work going on in the NHS and with other 

agencies in the city to promote breast feeding. 

“We decided to join forces with UNICEF UK’s Baby Friendly Initiative to 

increase breastfeeding rates and to improve care for all mothers. 

“Breastfeeding protects babies against a wide range of serious illnesses 

including gastroenteritis and respiratory infections in infancy, as well as 

allergies, diabetes and obesity in childhood. We also know that breastfeeding 

reduces the mother’s risk of some cancers, as well as being cheaper and 

often easier than bottle-feeding.”  

To achieve this award, NHS Bristol has worked closely with the health visiting 

service through the North Bristol Trust Child Health Partnership, Bristol City 

Council, the maternity services, Barnardos and voluntary breastfeeding 

organisations. 

Other support for Bristol’s breastfeeding mothers includes: 

• A network of volunteer peer supporters who can support mums  

• Breastfeeding support groups where mothers can meet  each other  

and gain help and support 

• A ‘breastfeeding welcome’ scheme where cafes/restaurants and 

other premises sign up to say they welcome breastfeeding mothers. 

• A paid peer support scheme for mothers in 12 wards of the city with 

the lowest breastfeeding rates (beginning in the summer)  

• A scheme to promote breast feeding to teenage mothers (beginning 

in the summer) 

Sue Ashmore, UNICEF UK Baby Friendly director, added: “This is a 

momentous development for mothers and their babies – and for breastfeeding. 

Consistently good care around infant feeding from the beginning of pregnancy 

onwards should be something every woman can expect. Unfortunately this is 

often not the case. 

“But at last Bristol has shown it can be done. NHS Bristol has become the first 

PCT in the country to gain Baby Friendly accreditation and joins both city 

hospital maternity units, at St Michael’s Hospital and Southmead Hospital, in 

implementing evidence based best practice around infant feeding.  

“Bristol has worked incredibly hard to achieve this award ensuring that 

mothers and babies will be getting the care they deserve throughout the city, 

antenatally and postnatally.  We hope this news inspires the many other PCTs 

and hospitals currently working towards Baby Friendly status – it really can be 

done.”

This article on Netmums recalls how a heavily pregnant mum went to the Glastonbury festival and went into labour there , went to local hospital the same day, had a baby boy and the next day went back to the festival….

I quote from netmums ” First-time mother Victoria Iremonger, 30, realised she was about to go into labour when she arrived at the festival site in Somerset on Wednesday.

She went to the Glastonbury medical tent where doctors confirmed that her waters had broken and she was ready to give birth.

Ms Iremonger wanted to have her baby at the festival site but medics insisted that an ambulance was called and she was taken to nearby Yeovil Hospital.

She eventually gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Reuben, at 7.30pm on Thursday and then returned to the festival the next day.

Ms Iremonger, from Boston in Lincolnshire, said giving birth to her first child at Glastonbury was ‘amazing’.

Read more: http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/showthread.php?p=4677635?utm_medium=twitter#ixzz0s5OOpCEy 
Netmums – the local parenting network “

OMG have you seen the toilet at Glastonbury….. there is noway i would want to have my baby there. I know we are all different, wish i could have had my baby like that (not at Glastonbury) and got on with things, beats being in hospital for 3 days (had c section) , but man have  a baby at a music festival, i’m sure a lot are conceived there but not born.

Wish new mum and baby all the best, he is bound to grow up to be a true rocker