What were they thinking?

I've read numerous blog posts this week describing the importance of the 'fourth trimester' for newborns and unhurried post-partum recovery for their mothers.  However I have to admit that whilst I totally agree with these blogs, I myself have singularly failed to enjoy an extended 'babymoon'.  

Not that I wouldn't like to - you understand - it's just that I have a very energetic and demanding two year old, a husband who has to work, and no childcare.  Sitting on the sofa luxuriating in my gorgeous newborn daughter whilst gently healing just isn't an option for me.

So, I've been out and about a bit more than I would ideally have liked at two weeks post-partum.  

Whilst I'm happy to feed pretty much anywhere, I do need to change a nappy fairly often (!), and this brings me to the point of my post.

I had a pit-stop at the café in one of my all-time favourite shops today.  Everything in it is GORGEOUS - from the products on the shop shelves right down to the café's milk jugs (if you'll pardon the pun..).  

I had high expectations of their feeding/ changing room too...

On first glance I wasn't disappointed!  It had a lovely pink sofa and muted lighting.  There was a changing station and a sink.  All lovely.

Then I had a look at the walls which were covered in retro adverts.

I took photos:

*nb.  I've since discovered that this advert is actually in internet 'fake' - see comments

Now - I like a good bit of irony.  

However, (and maybe it's those pesky hormones again..), this is a room intended to be used by mothers with young children.  Some of them so insecure about breastfeeding in public that they have chosen to hide in the subtly-lit feeding room to do it.  

The ads on the wall - retro though they may be - are for cigarettes, carnation milk, baby food, and cola.

I find all kinds of things amusing - but not this.  I can't see how - even under the guise of 'humour' - this can be appropriate?

What do you think?

(Please leave your comments below rather than on the group wall as I intend bringing this blog to the shop's attention.  Thanks.)

Tandem Nursing.

Some of you will know I had our second daughter one week ago today - on my birthday - the most amazing present anyone ever got :)

A proper birth story will follow at some point - although perhaps not on this blog.  It was an amazing experience, and our home birth was truly everything I'd hoped it would be.

We regularly gets posts on the group asking:

• 'Can I get pregnant whilst breastfeeding?'
• 'Can I breastfeed through pregnancy?'
• 'Will my newborn still get the goodness of colostrum if I'm also breastfeeding my older child?'

The answers to the above are well documented elsewhere, but basically they're Yes, Yes, and Yes!

As you can read elsewhere in this blog, I didn't just get pregnant at the drop of a hat.  However - continued breastfeeding had absolutely nothing to do with it - and in fact it didn't make a pick of difference to my fertility once my cycle returned!  Everyone is different, but for the vast majority of people breastfeeding won't make a difference to your ability to get pregnant.  Kellymom has some good information on breastfeeding and fertility here, and on breastfeeding through pregnancy and beyond here.  
A 'must read' for anyone wondering about tandem feeding is 'Adventures in Tandem breastfeeding' by Hilary Flower.  It is full of information, and answers a whole host of questions, including discussions about the range of emotions you might experience.

I never really expected to find myself breastfeeding through pregnancy - I just didn't want to make my daughter wean before she was ready so we kept going.  At one point I thought that she had self-weaned as my milk dwindled right down towards the end of the first trimester.  However, about 9 weeks later when I started producing again she came back.  Once the new baby was born there's no doubt that there was tons of colostrum.  Trust me - the colour was a dead giveaway!  None of this was 'planned' - all I've done is let nature take it's own course.  I'm very glad I did.

So here we are.  When my older daughter saw her new sister feeding shortly after the birth she immediately wanted to feed too.

I have no idea how long it will be before dd1 decides she doesn't want to feed anymore.  Perhaps not long.  However, I'm glad that they were able to meet each other this way, and when dd1 decides she's too big to nurse anymore, it will have  been her decision.

Did you nurse two babies?   Have you any tips for a newbie?