So I am sure everyone has heard the latest anti-breastfeeding celeb rant from Kim Kardashian.

A couple of weeks ago Kim Kardashian tweeted …. “EWW Im at lunch,the woman at the table next 2 me is breast feeding her baby w no coverup then puts baby on the table and changes her diaper.” Since posting the tweet she has had so much backlash and has been labeled anti-breastfeeding etc.

Now here is my opinion and it is my opinion only. I see where she is coming from, when I breastfed I made sure I covered up. I never smothered my child but I made sure most of my breast was covered so I felt comfortable and so did those around me. I always feel very uncomfortable when a women pulls out her breast to feed her baby with out covering or trying to be a little discreet. I just don’t think it is necessary at all. I don’t think women should have to hide to feed their baby or to go to a smelly restroom but I do believe they need to respect people around them and also respect themselves by covering up a little.

As for changing a nappy at the table, I am sorry but this is terrible and very unhygienic! I would never ever think to change a nappy at a table under any circumstance and if there was no change table I would ask the manager for a suitable place.

I would love to here your thoughts!

How do you feel about breastfeeding in public or how do you feel about seeing women breastfeed in public? Where do you stand on the nappy changing at the table?

Jen xx

Hands up who found breastfeeding easy? ….. *crickets chirp* …. yep that’s what I figured, I am sure most of you had one problem or another – mastitis, cracked blistered nipples, thrush, over supply, under supply and the list goes on!

Me …. I could tick every box (except over supply).

Breastfeeding is not easy, in fact it’s hard, emotional and painful. But no one really talks about it. All you hear is “it’s such a wonderful bonding time” ….. “it’s so beautiful and natural”. Those I do agree with, about 6 weeks after my son was born and we had the hang of feeding it was a wonderful bonding time and it was beautiful. But before that it was hard, painful and stressful. We only fed until 12 weeks as I had really low milk supply.

A friend of mine had a baby last week is very young and told me she thought breastfeeding came naturally. She had no idea that she would have to learn these skills and she said it set her up for a big fall. She had a traumatic labour that ended in a c-section and she held on to the thought of holding and feeding her baby only to be hit with how hard and painful it is.

So lets get it all out in the open, did breastfeeding work for you? What issues did you have and how did you overcome them? Any tips or advice for other mums and mums to be when it comes to breastfeeding?

We will be putting together an article about breastfeeding and will be using all of your answers in our article so share your story! If you have a longer story and you would like to write it down and share it on Beyond The Baby please email us submission@beyondthebaby.com.au

Looking forward to hearing your stories!

A few weeks ago we were at our “Mum and Baby Class”. There is one Mother in the class who always comes with her partner and she is always taking photos! Now I don’t mean happy snaps, I mean full digital SLR and is constantly setting her son up for the perfect photo moment! This normally doesn’t bother me and the only part that annoyed me was the fact this women was spending time with her child through the lens, she was not interacting with him and he was constantly being asked to pose. This wasn’t just one week, this was week 3 or 4 of this happening.

Finally another Mum in the group complained, she walked out of the class with her child and asked the manager to stop this women taking photos.

So what I want to know is, what do you consider appropriate? Do you get annoyed if your child is in photos that other parents have taken? What is your general guidelines when taking photos of your child? Are you careful to exclude other children?

Today I took hubby with me for the first time to our group and I wanted to take photos to record the first time Daddy came. But I was so self concious I took 3-4 photos and made sure it was only when my son was well out of the way of other children.

I would love to here your thoughts!

Jen xx

Times have certainly changed! When I first had Cooper, my Mum told me when I was born there was nothing available for parents. You would feed your baby sitting in the middle of the shopping centre, if it was acceptable or you would feed baby in the ladies room. She would change our nappies in the pram, trying to juggle shopping bags and people looking at her. If you needed a bottle or baby food heated you would have to hope that a cafe had a microwave and they would be willing to heat it for you.

Now life is so much easier! We now have wonderful parents rooms! A clean, safe and practical place to feed and change baby and even with play areas in some!

Our local shopping centre is excellent. It is brand new and has the best parents room I have seen. It has a fenced play area for the kids with a few things to climb on and some activities aswell as a flat screen tv. The change facilities are great with a sink right next to the change tables and bins within arms reach. There is also a little kitchen nook with a microwave and sink for heating bottles and food and 2 private rooms for breast feeding. Plus for the Mum’s with toilet training aged children there is 2 toilets in the restroom – 1 full sized toilet and a smaller kids toilet!

When we were there yesterday there was a new addition which I thought was photo worthy! A vending machine! Not your usual machine filled with your favourite drinks or snacks. But one filled with all of your parenting needs! Here are a few things that were in the machine:

* Sippy Cups
* Nappies of all sizes sold in a single pack
* Bottles
* Small toys – hot wheels cars and farm animals
* Sultanas
* Dummies
* Baby food
*Snacks
* Nappy cream

Those are just some! It was really a great idea and so handy if you have forgotten anything!

Parents rooms are really an amazing luxury we have and I really applaud the shopping centres for allowing us the space and facilities to make feeding and changing so easy!

Jen xx

The amazing people over at Innerb have given us 4 of their beautiful planners to giveaway – 2 Mum planners and 2 pregnancy planners.

Innerb have created some of the most stylish and practical planners I have ever seen, best of all they are functional! Most planners are designed for corporate people with no children with a small space per day to write appointments or notes. However Innerb planners have been designed for a Mum by a Mum!

Here are a few of the features:

• Week to view diary Dec 2009 – Dec 2010
• Yearly 2009, 2010 and 2011 calendars, AUS/NZ school holidays
• Monthly tabs with inspirational quotes
• Standard six ring bind with business card and pocket for your receipts or paperwork
• 50 page Mum Organiser resource section
• Stylish A5 size compendium h 23.5  w 18.5cm  d 4cm
• Available in Fuschia, Sand and Lime Green

My favourite part of this organiser has to be the items lent section! I can’t tell you how many times I lend people things and I forget to ask for them back! These organisers are also refillable, so no need to buy a whole new diary next year!

These organisers are a must for any working Mum or just a Mum who needs help staying on top of things!

The pregnancy diaries are not only practical and functional, they are also a wonderful keepsake. The pregnancy organiser allows you to keep track of all of your appointments, to do lists, maternity leave planner etc. It also has a few fun sections on decorating a nursery and baby essential checklists.

Innerb also stock other handy Mummy needs such as a babysitter notepad and feeding and sleeping journals!

The feeding and sleeping journals are perfect to put in your hospital bag, they are an easy way of keeping track of all the info you need.

If you would like to win one of these fabulous organisers Click Here to fill out the entry form!

Good Luck!

Jen xx

Since becoming a Mum I get really emotional seeing other Mum’s with their children especially Mum’s with their boys. Watching tv commercials or reality tv I almost always end up in tears if there is a sweet moment between a Mum and her son.

I must admit the tears are worse now since I realised a few weeks ago that boys are different to girls … in more than the obvious ways!

When boys grow up they don’t seem to be as close to their Mum’s, they love them and care about them but they don’t hug or snuggle with their Mum’s. It really upset me to think there would be a day when Cooper wont want me to kiss him all over his face till he cried with laughter, or lay and snuggle with him as he fell asleep.

These thoughts really upset me and made me appreciate my own Mum a little more. I will try harder to give her more cuddles and affection and to remember I am never to old to hug her. That Mum’s love you no matter what and I am sure she wishes she could turn back the clock and spend one more day with my brother and I when we were still small enough to love rasperries blown on our belly and crazy kisses all over our face.

This past few weeks I have made sure I snuggle and nurse Cooper as much as I can and take it all in. As one day he will be too grown up for his Mummy’s cuddles and snuggles.

So until that day comes I am going to snuggle with him every chance I get, cuddle him and squish him, kiss him untill he cries with laughter and blow raspberries on his belly until he just can’t take it anymore. So I have no regrets when the time comes and they are all gone.

Jen xx

This seems to be one area I have never been really satisfied in. I have had a few nappy bags, one of them very expensive and none of them have ever really done what I wanted.

Before Cooper was born I splashed out on and Isoki Nappy bag. I loved it (I still do). It came with 2 insert bags – insulated bottle holder and a 2 zip utility bag. It was a really big bag and big enough to hold everything ….. but still not very practical!

After Cooper was born I used to get so frustrated. The bag was so big and there were no useful pockets inside so everything was pretty much thrown in the bag with no real order to it and I always found myself digging and sifting through desperately trying to find something that usually had fallen to the very bottom. The other flaw is it had no sip to close it only a tie in the centre, so when (yes this happened a lot) I would drop the bag, the contents would spill everywhere!

A few month after I decided to find a bag with my pockets and compartments. The only bag I could find was a Ryco one from Target. It had a front zip pocket that folded out to reveal multiple clear pockets for all your bits n pieces, a bottle insulator pouch built into the side and a fold out change mat attached. The change mat is rather annoying, I prefer to have it seperate so ended up still packing my Isoki mat. The pouches in the front pocket are handy but I found there wasn’t enough and they were all the wrong size and the main part of the bag was just too small to carry everything.

By the time Cooper was 9 months old I gave up on nappy bags. He was now on solids almost fulltime and I found it easier to pack a change of clothes, 2 nappies, wipes and a bottle into an enviro bag and keep these at the bottom of the pram and put snacks and his sippy cup in my handbag that would hang off the handle.

My Ryco bag is now packed away in the cupboard and I am sure I will use it in the future for our next baby and my beautiful Isoki bag is now used for swimming, picnic’s and even as an overnight bag.

Finding the perfect nappy bag is never easy and it is sometimes impossible and I wish someone out there would make a nappy bag that is not only functional but also fashionable!