The Fourth Trimester

You’ll be pleased to know that this week’s blog is much shorter than the last few, and a little more light hearted!

I just wanted a quick chat about the first few months after having your baby and breastfeeding.

Obviously this is such an important time for you and your baby for so many reasons, one of the biggest being establishing breastfeeding. For some this may feel as if all you do is sit on the sofa and feed. But that’s ok, in fact it’s great, your body gets to heal from growing and birthing this amazing baby.

But it also gives the opportunity to get to know your baby, and to learn how to breastfeed. It’s not always as easy as we think it’s going to be. 

And maybe for you mums over the last 6 months the lockdown has helped you achieve this. As much as it’s been difficult not being able to go to groups and socialise it has given mums the opportunity to spend time at home, and to give your breastfeeding journey a good start. It seems that the babies born in the last six months have had smaller drops in birth weight, or it has taken less time for them to put the weight back on. From what I’ve read and seen this seems to be because new mums are not juggling so much in the early stages of motherhood.

So often we feel like we need to be welcoming visitors and getting out of the house to make the most of maternity leave. But just maybe we are better off spending those first few months on the sofa with our babies. 

With a quick google it seems that this year there has been a small increase in breastfeeding rates. And while there may not be true evidence as to why, I can’t help but think it is probably because of the lack of distraction and so many visitors to the house. 

So often mothers are uncomfortable in feeding in public and this has not been an issue with so little open. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months with so many more things opening and more movement within the country. 

I feel so much can be taken from the way we’ve been living this year, I know we have missed holidays and being able to do as we please. But just maybe a quieter pace of life can bring many other achievements and allow us to cherish the smaller things in life. Being able to watch our children grow strong from breastfeeding is a true miracle. 

As always thanks for reading this…..