Christmas is a beautiful time of year to show off your new baby to your family. All those extended Aunt’s Uncles and Grandparents ready for a snuggle with your sweet baby!

This is all absolutely wonderful, however did you know that the highest incidence of mastitis is on Boxing Day? The day after big events is a really common time for mastitis to occur. 

Why does this happen? At home, Mum and Baby do lots of regular, frequent feeds, often taking their time and having lots of boobie snuggles. But when your baby is being passed around and held by everyone else, maybe being kept quiet or asleep in those loving grandma arms, you may find that you accidentally skip a feed, or you feel bad taking the baby back, so you go longer between feeds. Another thing that can happen to our lovely Mums who are doing a million things, organising all the joy, presents and food, is that we get a bit burnout and don’t get enough rest or food and hydration for ourselves.

Everyone plans for birth, attends birth and breastfeeding classes and sets themselves up for that big moment in time.

But did you know that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men experience perinatal mood disorders. Planning in the antenatal period for your postpartum mental health is as essential as planning for your birth. Don’t just make a birth plan, make a mental health plan as well. Take some time to consider how you might best prepare and support your mental health. Read the below and then download and complete the mental health plan while you are pregnant.

Trying to work out why your 3-4 month old is acting batcrap crazy and waking up at night all over again?! Feel like you had it all worked out and now it’s all changed?Well, so is every other Mum and Dad! Rest assured it is super normal and here’s what is happening.

The first thing you need to do is reframe it from the dreaded “4 month regression” to a developmentally normal progression. Because it is a big one!

Let’s look at what’s happening developmentally for your baby:

Exclusive pumping is absolutely still breastfeeding. Don’t compare yourself to other Mums! Your output is not the only thing that matters. Remember you are providing your baby with amazing nutrition and you are doing great job. You are doing what is right for you and that is all that matters.

Breastmilk supply in the vast majority of women is abundant and in perfect amounts for your growing baby. However, in some cases, low milk supply can be an issue and close investigation is needed to determine the cause and implement remedies. It can be categorized into two categories, there could be an initial low milk supply due to the birth or events surrounding the birth or there can be true low milk supply and it is important to distinguish between the two. Initial low milk supply can usually be managed and corrected with some hard work and close monitoring but true low supply due to physiological reasons may need ongoing supplementation. The sooner initial low supply is caught and corrected the better the long-term supply outcomes.

Tongue tie or Ankyloglossia as it is officially known, is when a piece of frenulum (tissue) that holds the bottom of the tongue, to the floor of the mouth is too short or tight. There is also lip tie or labial frenulum or buccal / cheek ties. But more on those later.

Everyone has frenulum, but in some babies, that piece of tissue can be really tight, thick or forward closer to the tip of the tongue, restricting its ability to move freely, to lift, to cup and hold nipple, to obtain a deeper latch and to effectively transfer milk. All key ingredients in breastfeeding.

This can lead to some or all of the following feeding symptoms:

Breastfeeding, like anything related to parenthood, comes with a ton of advice and opinions! A lot of it is incorrect and sometimes downright dangerous! Here are 12 myths I would love to dispel!

This years world breastfeeding weeks theme is all about making a difference to working parents.

With that in mind, here are 6 of my tips for planning for returning to work.

When breastfeeding doesn’t work out.

Birth and breastfeeding are emotional times in a woman’s life and come with a weight that is deeply personal. Women will carry and tell their birth story over and over and it will stick with them throughout their life. Similarly, a breastfeeding journey can also be full of emotions. So when breastfeeding doesn’t work out, it can leave a lasting impact. So with that in mind, I want you to know:

There isn’t always one obvious cause of mastitis. Some of the detective work we have to do is asking lots of questions about your history. There can be some strange things that make someone unfortunately more susceptible to mastitis. There are the obvious ones, not fully draining the breast, skipping feeds or a poor latch. But sometimes a perfect storm of stress, trauma coming to surface, lack of sleep, poor snacking habits and a body prone to inflammation can trigger it. As always, seek help and try to be aware of what might be triggering for you so that you can take steps to manage your situation.

Breastfeeding has been recommended for children up to 2 years and as long as mutually desired. And yet we still hear stories of Mums being told to wean because there is no longer a benefit to their baby. So here are some reasons to continue breastfeeding your “older” child.

Connection - I loved feeding my older child, especially after being away from him all day at work. I called it “Reconnection Feeding”. I moment to stop, relax and chill out together!

Immunity - This is the biggest one! Those first years of daycare germs are brutal on the immune system! They get sick with everything (and so do you!). Your breastmilk is an alive substance. By taking in all of those disgusting germs, your milk then changes to combat those germs and get your little one get over those illnesses a little quicker.

It’s that time of year when we sit down and check out our family budget so I thought I would share some of our tips with you!

Jump on Service NSW and see what vouchers you are eligible for. I have a 3 and a 6 year old so we get Active Kids and Creative kids at $100 each for her classes and First Lap swimming for my son. We also got 3 x $50 back to school vouchers which will pay for her new sport shoes! Plus you might be eligible for cheaper rego based on how many tolls you take etc.

Set up a spread

Thank you for the recent announcements to increase paid parental leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks. This is a huge step in supporting women and families and future generations of Australia’s children by getting them off to the best start in life. Whilst 26 weeks is a huge step in the right direction, we do, however, have many concerns around the “use it or lose it” policy discussion that is around at this time. Whilst we understand the government’s desire to achieve economic equality for women, discussions we have had with families overwhelmingly show a desire to be paid for the time taken out of the workforce, not simply to get back to work and have the father or partner replace them at home. When we look at parental leave from health and developmental outcomes for women and children, the 26 weeks has been proven to be what is the minimal optimum outcome.

SO HOW DOES ANTENATAL COLOSTRUM COLLECTION HELP US?

Well, it does a number of things. It helps women get to know their body, learn about their breasts and start stimulating their breast tissue, glands and ducts. The colostrum that is collected can be saved, frozen and taken to the hospital to be given to the baby if required. It can also help to kickstart your breasts so if anything does cause a delay, then we have given everything a little pre birth boost. It can also prevent unnecessary formula use if we have it in our back pocket, so for that reason, I do recommend giving it a go.

Oh how wish I could do a holiday with kids as easily as the Instagram influencers make it look! I do love a good holiday, but since the arrival of my 2nd and a global pandemic, I haven’t felt travel fit!

I dream of getting in a plane and have someone tell me to turn off my phone and zoom into the sky but doing it with a 6 and 3 year old gives me anxiety! We long to go back to New York and see our friends that live there, but the idea of 24hrs of travel doesn’t sound amazing. So then we got this crazy idea that we could hire an RV around NSW, down to Adelaide, Melb and back for 6 weeks over the Xmas school holidays. Well we just did a 12hr drive to and from Noosa and whilst we survived and had a great trip, we have decided we truely aren’t ready for 6 weeks in a camper as a family!! However, I am going to call the Noosa trip, mostly a success! Here is how we did it and the highlights!

8,461 of you signed our petition to increase paid parental leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks back in April of this year and on the 7th of September, Shane and I travelled to Canberra to be able to sit in the gallery while Zali Steggall presented this petition on our behalf. It is now on record within Parliament and we are thankful we were able to be there to witness this. Thank you to everyone who supported this petition by signing, sharing and making your voices heard.

While I don’t generally love telling parents what they can and can’t do or eat etc during lactation, there are a couple of things to be aware of that can have an impact on milk supply. This list isn’t exhaustive and you should always check with your primary caregiver or lactation specialist.

Peppermint - Excessive amounts of peppermint could lower milk supply in some mothers.

Sage Tea - Due to the drying properties of sage and infant gut hypersensitivity, it is recommended to avoid sage either as tea or in foods.

Pseudoephedrine, otherwise known as Sudafed, is used as a decongestant, meaning it is used to dry up mucus. In women with marginal or low supply, this can cause further milk loss and it is generally recommended to avoid it while breastfeeding for most breastfeeding parents.

In April of this year I created a petition to increase paid parental leave from 18 weeks to 26 weeks and I gave a number of evidence based recommendations to justify the increase based on best practice for breastfeeding (because that’s what I do and is my passion!). I also sent letters to various ministers and was told by the then social services minister that the 2009 Productivity Commission Report that was the basis for the decision around 18 weeks. I’ve since gone through the entire 585 page report shows evidence on so many levels that 6 months is the optimal length of time for parental leave, not just for breastfeeding outcomes, but overall child development, child attachment and maternal and parenting outcomes. The petition closed on 27/4/22 with 8,461 signatures and since then the government has changed hands so I am writing to the new ministers with the below information.

I have copied and pasted key highlights below that support 26 weeks parental leave.

One of her closing statements is that the benefits of funding a scheme for more than 18 weeks would not be worth the additional costs of forgone spending on other areas such as health and child care. Breastfeeding is Preventive Medicine. It is proven to reduce the risk of Ovarian Cancer, Breast Cancer, Osteoporosis, Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, Stroke, Hyperlipidemia and Cardiovascular disease in Mothers. In Infants, it provides protection for the intestinal lining, protects against common colds, fever and serious illness. It protects against respiratory infections, ear infections, diarrhoea, UTI’s, sepsis, rotavirus and meningitis. It lowers the risk of breast cancer, chronic and autoimmune diseases, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease and asthma. And that is only the beginning!

So if breastfeeding provides all of that amazing goodness, how is it not worth the investment.

The Australian Parental Leave Pay (PLP) policy is currently up to 18 weeks paid at minimum wage. 

The WHO and UNICEF recommendations for breastfeeding of infants, is for children to be exclusively breastfed for 6 months. 

One of the main objectives of the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy: 2019 and Beyond; is to increase the population of babies who are exclusively breastfed to around 6 months of age by 2025, particularly in priority populations and vulnerable groups. 

The most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Breastfeeding report shows that at 4 months of age 61% of children were exclusively breastfed but at 6 months of age this dramatically drops to only 29% of children who were exclusively breastfeeding. 

There is strong evidence from diverse countries that longer duration of paid maternity leave increases breastfeeding duration and improves maternal health. One of these many studies can be found here.

Increasing access to paid maternity leave will have a direct positive impact on these national and worldwide health objectives. This structural policy change is in the direct ability of the Commonwealth Government to achieve. 

We therefore ask the House to immediately increase of the Australian Parental Leave Pay (PLP) Policy from 18 weeks to 26 weeks in line with the WHO recommendations and Australian national breastfeeding objectives.