Hartfelt Births- Doula Services

09/02/2024

09/02/2024

16/09/2022

Colostrum – This is the first milk your body produces for your baby. It is often a golden thick liquid and is usually in your breast from about 32 weeks. Some women start leaking colostrum before they have a baby, others never leak. Don’t stress either way, babies are very efficient at getting milk out 🤍

21/06/2022

🙌 a woman being able to feel what’s happening in her body & being able to move accordingly is soooo powerful 👏

06/04/2022

🙌

27/03/2022

Beautiful 😍

17/03/2022

In the hospital they usually tell moms to try to breastfeed every 2-3 hours. Wake baby to nurse every 2-3 hours. That way you can make sure to nourish baby and bring in a good milk supply.

Unfortunately this isn’t exactly how it works🙄 this visual was shared in a post from a friend that I shared a couple years ago and it’s incredibly accurate.

It’s basic math that they use in the hospital to give you the “ideal” feeding schedule. This “ideal schedule” equals about 8-12 nursing sessions in 24 hours which means baby would only have to nurse every 2-3 hours.

This is their way of saying that baby needs to eat often, but this isn’t exactly how it works for mom and baby in real life. Which can cause a mom to really struggle when her baby wants to nurse more often than every 2-3 hours! Nothing like setting new moms up to fail🤦‍♀️

Because they push this so heavily, I’ve noticed that parents seem to think breastfeeding is going to be super simple and perfectly spaced out feedings like the cereal picture. It also makes it look as though all feedings should be the same size so they should be nursing for the same amount of time each time. Which also is NOT accurate.

THIS IS NOT THE REALITY. In reality, baby will have big/long feeds sometimes. Or little/short feeds. Or feeding sessions while they are still mostly asleep. Or feeding sessions that aren’t so great. Or anything in between! They are not guaranteed to sleep better just because their feedings are all spaced out perfectly and done for the same length of time.

Instead of watching the clock and timing sessions, let baby lead! Watch for feeding cues from your little one and go from there😊

I also wanted to say that I love the blueberries portion of this visual. It shows more of a reality for how nursing sessions go. Some are bigger. Some are smaller. Sometimes there’s a longer amount of time in between. And in counting the berries, there are STILL the correct number of nursing sessions for the day.

Amazing, right?! Our bodies and our babies know what they are doing. Let them lead💙💚

Words by: Ariel Kaye
Image by: .dietitian

16/03/2022

Hope this helps someone that’s suffering with this at the moment as it is very painful 😣

Raise your hand if you've ever suffered from the dreaded clogged ducts! 🙋🏾‍♀️

The next time you have one, try this Milky Mama tip.

➡️ Fill your Haakaa with enough warm water to make contact with your ni**le. Make sure that the water is warm but not burning hot as you don't want to burn yourself.
➡️ Add 1-2 tablespoons of Epsom Salts.
➡️ Attach your Haakaa to the breast with the clogged duct and allow the combination of heat, the salts, and suction to help remove the clog.
➡️ Keep the Haakaa attached for 10-15 minutes. You may need to repeat several times for large and/or stubborn clogs.

SAVE this post to keep on hand the next time you have a clogged duct!

14/03/2022

When I carried you
Beneath my beating heart
We shared more than my body
For it was just the start

Our cells begin to merge
As I become your home
A comfort it does bring
To never be alone

Your strength within my bones
Your blood throughout my veins
Healing broken pieces
Nurturing me the same

An instinct so ingrained
Forever now within
Always on my mind
A type of second skin

The divinity of life
To feel you when we’re apart
Mother nature’s imprint
Stored safely in my heart

And to the little babies
Who never made it to my arms
To know we grow together
Is a peaceful kind of calm

We’ll always carry our children
Now science tells us this is true
But in the centre of our being
A mother always knew.

Words: Jess Urlichs, Writer
Art: angelica.ch.r

I have been reading up a bit on microchimerism since seeing an article on page that just had me in tears. It was what I needed to see after my two losses. It’s so special to know that for each child, whether we carry them to term or not, their DNA will live in us forever.

Jess Urlichs, Writer

☀️🌻 For support in your gentle parenting journey, pick up a copy of our beautiful bumper summer issue with gorgeous free Baby's First Year Journal. Grab your copy from supermarkets throughout NZ and newsagents throughout Australia! To find your local stockist, or to subscribe, visit https://linktr.ee/TheNaturalParentMagazine ☀️🌻