My favourite pregnancy/birth books

During my three pregnancies I've read a lot of pregnancy books (yes, even re reading in subsequent pregnancies - you forget so much!) I wanted to share my top three.

 How to Grow A Baby by Natalie Meddings - my lovely hypnobirthing teacher Sarah passed this on to me as part of her course and I am SO pleased to have read it before I birth this baby. There are so many labouring scenarios I relate to in this book and wonder if I'd read it last time if I'd have responded differently. While it addresses birth scenarios and interventions I'd say it's still leaning on the holistic side so it's maybe one to skip if you know from the get go you'll be having an elective. Highlights include the concept of "the two rooms" of birth (aka. not jumping the gun and how to relax and take your time at the start of a very long labour), statistic based discussion on birth choices and coping mechanisms, and the importance of cake (seriously!)

 The Positive Birth Book by Milli Hills - this is the book I'd recommend everybody reads as it's going to appeal to the most people - it walks you through what labour "feels like" including lots of accounts from different birth givers, talks about different outcomes, and again gives you the tools you would need to make a positive birth far more likely. Knowledge is power and this really covers scenarios that may crop up while giving birth. For me the two above books work fantastically in conjunction with each other: one offering a no nonsense insight to birth, and How To Grow A Baby for a fresh point of view and plenty of relaxing and empowering choices, the two having a joint motive to make your birth sail as smoothly as possible.

 The Kind Mama by Alicia Silverstone - This one is for the crunchy, earth conscious hippie mama who wants to grow her baby on a plant based diet. Although there is a labour and birth section, I found the pregnancy and postnatal parts of the book most informative and empowering. Straight up, this book is not for everybody - it's very health focused and I GET it if you don't want somebody telling you to deep dive into the sugar cravings. Personally I found this empowering and motivating to get past my beige food stage (still acknowledged during this book!) and I've gone back to it with each pregnancy. It's not an essential but when I was pregnant for the first time and a little anxious about there being NO vegan pregnancy resources available in the UK, this gave me the confidence to grow my beautiful baby on plants (and to do so again another two times!) Highlights include her section on placenta capsules (doooo it) and the excellent nutritional information and inspiration.

Have you read any of these books? How do you like to get informed about pregnancy and birth?

A low waste baby wishlist

Contrary to what marketing would have us believe, the truth is, babies don't need that much *stuff*. Now that I'm having my second baby I've realised how much equipment we had last time that didn't really get used. Carrycot? Nope, she hated it so we used a sling. Baby toys? Nah, not really interested. Cute outfits? Thanks, but she mostly lived in sleepsuits due to those double digit nappy changes. In our loft there's a box full of almost untouched rattles and toys that we'll probably get out again and put away almost unused. We already were trying to live low waste when I had Eden, but this time my baby wishlist has changed even more. Having done it all before, I thought I'd share some idea for baby gifts of dreams without the waste!

TTC // Working with a nutritionist

I've honestly been meaning to write this post for MONTHS considering I'm now 33 weeks pregnant, but better late than never! Trying to conceive is a significantly more emotional process than I ever realised. Eden was a surprise pregnancy (the best surprise ever, as it turns out) so the complexities of actually trying to have another baby were unexpected to me. As women, for much of our lives we often focus on trying not to conceive as the matter of contraception tends to fall to us. So one could be forgiven for thinking that as soon as you started trying to have a baby, surely you'd get pregnant straight away. And that does happen! - for a lucky few. For the rest of us it takes a little more time, patience, and for me, getting in tune with my body.

Our breastfeeding journey

Around a month ago, more or less on her second birthday, Eden "officially" stopped breastfeeding. This was entirely led by her - I'd fully expected to be tandem feeding come August!

Bonding with baby as a second-time mama

The most notable difference with a second pregnancy for me has been the lack of time you have to think about things the second time around! Unlike last time, when baby is ALL I thought about, my energy goes into looking after my beautiful toddler girl and sometimes I kinda forget I'm pregnant until my big bump gets in the way or Sprout gives me a little kick or nudge as if to say "hey, I'm here too!" Luckily, I've found a few ways to bond with our little baby when I get a moment...

Petit Lulu prefold cloth nappies

*This post features PR samples.

Today's post is a spotlight on Petit Lulu nappies, which are a wonderful brand but often seem to be overlooked for some reason! These are genuinely one of my favourite nappy solutions we've had so I want to chat about a few new additions to our nappy rotation and share some love for their designs.

How to have a confident plant-based pregnancy

I'm lucky that I've always been met with positivity when it comes to having a healthy vegan pregnancy, but I know for many this can be a worry. I want to share some of the things I've done throughout both of my vegan pregnancies which reassure me that baby is thriving when it comes to fuelling my body!

Welcome, Shroom 2.0*

I'm beyond excited to share that we are expecting another little one to join our pack in August!

We loved the idea of Eden having a sibling so this is beyond exciting. Recently I've loved looking back on my previous pregnancy posts and reminiscing about my experiences, so I'll be sharing a bit about my experience of this first trimester. Feel free to read on if, like me, you enjoy hearing about how the pregnancy experience differs for all of us, even from child to child.

Lyonsleaf Balms for Nappy Rash + discount code!

If you read the Green Parent magazine, you may have seen that Lyonsleaf won a gold award in the Natural Beauty Bible for their Calendula and Marshmallow Balm. I've been testing this out for a couple of months now, along with their Zinc and Calendula nappy cream (a different variety also perfect to be used as a nappy cream) so I could give them a thorough performance review. I've struggled to find it hard an ethical, natural baby balm that we get along with so I was very excited to have the opportunity to test these products out!

Bra & Bebe nursing bra

 

It occurred to me recently that I've barely worn a "proper" bra for nearly two years. During pregnancy underwired bras can dig into sensitive breast tissue (not to mention I found them extremely uncomfortable) and postpartum I've been nursing for 16 months and counting! I've found this quite limiting to my wardrobe - although some breastfeeding mums are quite happy to work around their regular wardrobe, I've never quite got the hang of it. I hate having to practically undress if Eden wants some milk, so even now 16 months on I'm still living in nursing bras. This isn't necessarily a problem - the main thing is they're very comfortable! - but they tend to be very plain. That's fine most of the time but sometimes it's nice to wear something that feels a bit special, a bit pretty. The high street seems to be extremely limited when it comes to nursing wear in general, so I was thrilled to discover Bra and Bebe. They sell some beautiful designs that are perfect for pregnancy and nursing, and I'm so thankful that the lovely Daria gifted me a grey lace nursing bra for review. It's by far the most beautiful nursing bra that I own.

Flats, terries, prefolds

Something really cool about using cloth nappies is that there are so many options to play around with - different fabrics, different shapes and styles. Our current battle is teething: a lot of cloth mamas have said they like to use terries when their babies have particularly strong teething wee. Terry and flat nappies can be folded to be quite loose and breathable and, around the house, can be worn without a wrap for extra air flow if no nappy time isn't practical.

Enter The Nappy Gurus flats and prefolds trial kit. This contains a Bright Bots white terry, a Muslinz prefold in White, a Buttons flat, a Little Lamb nappy fastener and mesh nappy bag. It's a good opportunity to try different styles individually and find out what works well.

Folding the terries and flats isn't nearly as complex as I expected (thanks, YouTube!) So far I've found these are a good little trick to try when babies are getting sore from their teething wee (bearing in mind that no nappies can fully stop this, and other babies don't seem to get it at all, lucky things!)

It's also worth mentioning, as it's #zerowasteweek, that the beauty of flats is that they can be reused as cleaning cloths long after babies are out of nappies. Plus the mesh nappy bag is something I regularly use for delicate clothes as well as nappies - I find you can never have enough of these!

So now, cloth mamas, as a flats novice I'd love to hear all about how you use these - what are favourite folds? Do you boost them and what with? I've so much to catch up on!

Five things I learned while breastfeeding

It's World Breastfeeding Week! There are lots of reasons why I think talking about this topic is important - one of which is because even as a breastfeeding mama myself, I still find there's so much I don't know and I still feel self conscious about what others might think. It's a taboo topic I'd love to try and help normalise. I've written various posts about our feeding journey in the past, so today I want to share five things I have learned while breastfeeding.

Milestones

Inspired by Mamalina's beautiful blog post, I wanted to share this photo taken a month ago - at the time I was convinced Eden was about to start walking independently, but even now she manages a couple of tiny, teetering steps on her own.

Breastfeeding a toddler

Today's prompt for #setmeplasticfree is "homemade" and it got me thinking I actually want to talk about breastfeeding today - and about breastfeeding a toddler.

Confessions of a cloth addict

A rainy day means catching up with the laundry that needs putting away. With the assistance of some toys and books, Eden's always pretty content to hang out and help me with this job. Of course one of the things that is in a constant turnover of washing and drying are cloth nappies - it's always satisfying tidying these away nicely because ah, the designs are just so pretty.

Vegan Vitamins for Toddlers: What We Supplement & Why

Something I'm asked often about raising Eden on a plant based diet is whether we have to supplement her diet - the short answer is yes, we do! But in fact, I'd give her vitamins regardless of veganism.

Purflo Maxi Nest Review

I really stand by the fact that you don't NEED loads of "stuff" for a baby, their needs are simple and they are not materialistic as much as you naturally want to give them the world. But something I really didn't expect to become indispensable for us was a baby nest! (I'm going to chat about our sleep journey today, please remember to follow all safe sleep guidelines, this is our own personal experience.)

The Joy Journal for Magical Everyday Play by Laura Brand

The  Joy Journal for Magical Everyday Play by Laura Brand: my current bedside reading, this book was a birthday present for Eden via me, as I felt a one year old isn't that into "stuff" but is super into learning and exploring - I hoped the ideas in this book would create far more fun over a long time than any one toy or item. I see a lot of supermums on Instagram sharing excellent structured play activities and games, but as a first time mum I honestly rely on Eden to teach me what she's capable of and what she'd like to do - I've never had to entertain a little one before so I'm a total novice. I hoped this pretty book would spark a few creative ideas we can try out, in a relatively easy and inexpensive way.

One year of breastfeeding

Eden's birthday, also marked another milestone: one year of breastfeeding. I've been thinking about writing this post for a while now but have struggled to find the words, namely because I am still taken aback at how emotional the whole topic of breastfeeding can be for a parent. It still feels like there's a lot of stigma when talking about it.

World Maternal Mental Health Day

It's World Maternal Mental Health Day and raising awareness of this is so important. I chat a fair bit about mental health in a roundabout way in my posts on Instagram but it's not something I've addressed directly.