Written by Kat Marjoribanks, BRAS Peer Supporter Sometimes things don’t quite go as we expect when we’re expecting, and babies can be born early for all sorts of reasons. Our peer supporter Kat, was 22 weeks pregnant with her third baby in October 2019 when things started to go a little off course. Kat, can you tell us a little bit about what happened during your pregnancy and when your baby was born? Towards the end of my second trimester,…
What does it really mean to ‘succeed’ at breastfeeding? I am a peer supporter but I did not exclusively breastfeed my baby. That often surprises people but it’s true. I did not even manage to exclusively breastfeed my baby for 24 hours. We were still not exclusively breastfeeding when she was weaned onto solid foods. Recently I’ve found myself talking to people a lot about the concept of ‘all or nothing’ applied to breastfeeding. It often feels to parents like…
How social media is helping the BRAS to support parents during COVID19 Hello, my name is Paula and I am a Charnwood BRA! That’s me, up there, wearing the yellow headband. Some of you may have met me at our breastfeeding cafes or spoken to me online but you probably don’t know that another role I hold within the BRAS is coordinating our social media content and support. When I started volunteering for the BRAS in 2017, volunteering on the…
by Meg Goulter, Charnwood BRA ‘It’s a mother’s job to worry.’ Or ‘You’ll never stop worrying about them.’ Most new parents will be told something along these lines over the first few months of parenthood and to some extent it is true. As parents, we are blessed with these young vulnerable lives to watch over and guide and we hope, dream and pray for them and what their lives might be like. We worry about so much in the early…
Written for Maternal Mental Health Week 4-10th May 2020 For this maternal mental health week, we caught up with our peer supporter Kelly in her pharmacist role to have a chat about some of the help available for breastfeeding mothers who need to take medication for a perinatal mental health condition. In her day job, Kelly is an incredibly skilled specialist pharmacist for the UK Drugs in Lactation Advisory Service. Kelly has worked for UKDILAS for 9 years and graduated…
As our Antenatal Workshops have sadly been suspended due to the spread of COVID-19 here are some ways you can prepare to breastfeed your baby from home💜 💜Watch a replay of our Facebook live on preparing to breastfeed with Emma Pickett IBCLC, Chair of the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers and IBCLC https://www.facebook.com/charnwoodbras/posts/3183396188361423?__tn__=-R💜Join our Charnwood BRAS, Virtual Breastfeeding Cafe! and chat to other mums about what to expect!💜Read a brilliant book about breastfeeding, our favourites are: 📔La Leche League, The Womanly Art of…
In honour of World Breastfeeding Week 2017 and to help promote our recent request for new trainees, we have decided to share a bit of information about our peer supporters. Throughout the week we will share the stories of the wonderful women who make Charnwood BRAS tick. All of our peer supporters are volunteers, most have young families and ALL of them are committed to helping new mums in Charnwood breastfeed for as long as they want to. Since its…