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A complaint about John Lewis – knowingly mis-selling

Since John Lewis opened their shop in Cardiff a few years ago, I’ve been in love with them… loved the ambience of shopping there, loved their little baby feeding area, loved their brand and Christmas TV ads… And I even did my pregnancy yoga classes in their community room last time around!

But they let me down this year, and I wanted to share it as they’re still mis-selling to customers which I can’t believe (spoiler alert… It’s only over a £40 bag but it’s the principle!)

For Christmas, I wanted to get the OH a new toiletry bag as his was battered!
Shopped around and decided on Ted Baker…
Lots of different stores (online) had different ones, and prices were quite similar… But most were wipe-clean fabric whereas John Lewis had one for a similar price (£40) that was made of leather so I plumped for that one
Christmas Eve when it came to unwrapping it and wrapping it, imagine my disappointment that it wasn’t actually made of leather!
As I’d bought him a few things to go in it, I decided to give it to him anyway… I didn’t have time to sort anything else out!
He loved it and started using it right away, transferring all this toiletries into it
I wanted to let John Lewis about it, as a huge fan I wasn’t overly annoyed but they needed to update their website and they might want to offer me a voucher to thank me for letting them know
I did this, but they took a month to reply and confirm via the supplier that it wasn’t leather
They offered me £10 as a gesture of goodwill
But by this point I was a bit annoyed… They still hadn’t updated their website, so they were still misleading customers and when I looked into it a bit more I realised I could take them to court through the Sale of Goods act for mis-selling
IKEA actually got done for this around the same time for selling sofas that they were claiming to be leather that weren’t leather!
Since then there was a bit more back and forth with them to try and get more than £10 out of them as they weren’t taking it seriously (website still wrong) and I was saving them a fortune in legal fees/bad publicity
Alas, last week I settled for £15 as I don’t have the time or energy to argue any more…

So the last screenshot I took a few weeks ago (so 4 months later) and it clearly says ‘leather’ twice…

Now checking it today I can see they’ve changed the first sentence to ‘leather look’ but they still have a misleading sentence ‘mature-looking black leather’…. IT’S NOT LEATHER!!!

So I know this might read a bit ‘first world problems’ and I know we have far bigger things to worry about… But I needed to get it off my chest!

I think it’s been pretty poor for a company that has such strong brand and customer service values and ‘never knowingly undersold’. The most frustrating thing about it all has been how long it’s taking them to update the website… Working in marketing and being a blogger, I know it’s a 2 minute job and surely they’d prioritise inaccurate info?!

Rant over. Thanks for reading.

Changing bag wishlist

When I wrote the newborn wishlist I totally forgot to include a changing bag on there.

We’ve been using our Cath-Kidston-esque one from Next for aaagges now and it does the job but there’s no way it will be big enough to carry enough kit for a toddler and baby…. So….

I’ve always loved Cath Kidston bags, I currently love this ‘button smart’ one and it currently has £15 off so is down to £95… So smart! I love the matching accessories too…

I also love the ‘British birds’ bag, which is down to £80 after the £15 off… So pretty and girly (would love to see my OH using it ;))

As well as Cath Kidston, I’ve always really fancied treating myself to a Pink lining ‘yummy mummy’ bag. Looking at the current range, I think my favourite is this ‘busy bees’ one, it has a bit of a retro vibe. These retail at £79 but I did see some of last season’s in TK Maxx last weekend, I think for about £50… I might have to go back to see if they’re still there!

While I was looking at these bags, I came across this GORGEOUS zebra range on their website…

I normally avoid changing bags that look like big handbags but I’d make an exception for this gorgeous print, so different and quirky… Want, want, want!! (Also, looks like it might be wipe-clean which would be a bonus!) These cost £75-£79, I’m sure I’ve seen a rucksack version around too but couldn’t find it on their website 😦

Talking of bags that look/don’t look like handbags… I’ve seen a lot of bloggers talking about changing bags by toTs by SmarTrike so I had a look and they do look fab, good value starting at £65 (so they’re the cheapest on this wishlist) and I like their use of plain, unisex colours… Oh and they’re rucksacks which I quite like idea of trying. Here’s my fave:

I’m about to finish work so should have time for some research and shopping! They all cost WAY more than I’d spend on a bag for myself but I’ve learnt you do get your money’s worth out of them in the amount that you use them!

Decisions, decisions… Are there any other bags I should look at (that don’t look too much like oversized handbags)?!

Small print: I wasn’t asked to/paid to write this. All the images are taken from the brands’ websites

Linked up to blogger linkies: marvellous Mondays and #KCALOLS (sorry on my phone and can’t access the HTML to put the badge on at the mo!)

W turns 2!

I know every W update starts with ‘I can’t believe how quickly time goes’ etc but seriously… I can’t believe W turned 2 last week!!

Time is so precious and goes so quickly, crazy to think in that time my dad passed away and now we have another baby on the way… Anyway back to W…

W’s second birthday

To celebrate we went to Bluestone for a 4 night mid-week break. We love it there, we were blessed with good weather and W had an awesome time… Swimming, chasing ‘Babbits’, messy play, soft play, jumping in puddles around the lake seeing all the ‘quack quacks’ etc.

With his little brother due in just 6 weeks, it was lovely to give him our full attention and make sure the holiday was all about him.

On his actual birthday we took him to Folly farm and zoo which was BRILLIANT! He loved all the play areas (lots of tractors/diggers etc) but the highlight was seeing the Penguins swimming underwater, he screamed with excitement as he tried to follow them!

We then had a Peppa pig cake and candles back at our lodge, he was more interested in ‘Peppa car’ than blowing out the candles! Presents-wise, we’re still opening them nearly a week later but he’s been given a mini trampoline and lots of his favourite things… Cars, books and Peppa pig! We still haven’t bought it yet but are planning to get him a water/sand play thing this week.

Health

Since the last update W had his third trip to A&E – long story short, he had a cold/cough for a couple of weeks which on a Monday the doc’s said was vital, but by the Friday he had a temperature of over 40 degrees and it had turned into an ear/throat infection so he had his first course of antibiotics (which he didn’t like!)

This was just as I was getting over being off work for 2 weeks with a chest infection.. A testing few weeks for us all!

A few weeks ago I FINALLY took him to the dentist for the first time… W didn’t really co-operate so the dentist didn’t get a great look at his teeth but at least I took him right!?

Sleep and routine

He’s still in the same routine as he’s been for many months of waking up around 6am, having a 2 (sometimes a bit less, sometimes as long as 3) hour nap starting about noon, bath about 6.30 and asleep by 7-7.30pm.

However, since the last update we’ve had a fair bit of sleep regression… Sometimes related to the coughing, sometimes just waking and calling for ‘mamma’ or ‘dadda’ anywhere between 1 and 3 until we cwtch (hug) him back to sleep!

That’s been tough but on the plus side it’s getting us prepared for having a newborn again 😬

As part of his routine, he still has a bottle of milk with his pre-bed stories and a bottle of water in bed with him in the night. I’m still hopeful we can wean him off both of these before baby arrives but it’s going to be tough… As soon as he’s getting out of the bath he’s demanding his ‘ilk, ilk…’

Actually thinking about it, the last few weeks it’s also been a struggle to get him upstairs and ready for bed so his bedtime has slipped a bit… I blame these long sunny days!

Food and drink

Still generally good with his food… Good as long as he gets his favourites… Pasta (loves pesto), pizza, fish fingers, beans, toast, banana, weetabix, cheese, grapes, watermelon, Apple, ham, hoummus…

Still not great with veg and isn’t a huge fan of meat… I’m fine with that, one thing he’s started eating lately is noodles thanks to my sister’s influence and so we’ve even taken him for his first Wagamama’s 🙂

As he hits 2, he’s still only ever had water… No squash/juice which I’m pleased about to protect his teeth as he gets enough sugar in some of the food he eats (like chocolate treats!) and the bottle of milk he goes to bed with 😁

Development/behaviour

He’s such a good boy! He has occasional tantrums out of frustration when he can’t do something (usually trying to carry something that’s too big for him!) but luckily is so far pretty good at following our instructions!

He’s still very independent and will quite happily entertain himself for ages! Usually by sorting his toy cars out! He’s cheeky, quite fearless and has a sense of adventure. He’s not always as fearless when there are lots of people around… He quite likes his own space and usually needs a little bit of time with new people to settle in.

His vocabulary continues to impress us every day! He can count to ten, can count to five in Welsh, knows his colours and has started putting words together like ‘broken car’, ‘yellow car’ etc. And then everyday he’ll say a new word… Like ‘watering can’ where the hell did he pick that up? We do flash cards with him but I think he picks most of it up through copying/repetition and lots through his bedtime stories. As soon as he’s awake he’s babbling away about all the things he can see!

He’s such a sponge: It astounds me how much brain power and energy a two year old can have!

What we’ve been up to

In case you missed them, I wrote about an ordinary but lovely post-Easter weekend including his second haircut and a walk in the bluebell woods.

Nearly a month ago, on the anniversary of my dad’s death we went to the RHS flower show in Cardiff which was lovely, (weirdly we bumped into my dad’s first cousin who I must have only met once or twice… Dad was Defo watching over us!) he enjoyed pottering around on a mini beach and the story time… Oh and he loved his free balloon and didn’t let it go for days!

The only other thing of note I can think of is we went to nearby Warren Mill farm which has all the usual farm amenities, but W’s highlight was chasing ‘meerkats’ (prairie dogs) and shouting down their burrows at them when they hid… So cute!

chasing 'meerkats' at warren mill farm — chasing ‘meerkats’ at warren mill farm

So that’s it for now folks… Happy 2nd birthday my beautiful boy xxx

Cardiff’s bluebell woods (Wenallt): an early morning walk with W

I meant to post this 2 weeks ago when we visited the Wenallt (a bit behind with blogging sorry!) But hopefully you can still catch the bluebells if you visit this week!

Usually on weekends, I’m the one who gets up with W when he wakes up, around the 6-6.30 mark. I don’t really mind, especially now I’m heavily pregnant and struggling to sleep/lie-in!

Usually we’ll spend a couple of hours pottering in the living room, him watching cartoons, me half asleep playing on my phone, trying to stay quiet so dadda gets a good few hours lie-in.

What I prefer is being able to get out and about early… I’ve previously blogged about wanting things like soft play to be open earlier… But now the mornings are lighter and the weather’s much improved then what better than a walk in the woods!?

So at 8am on a sunny morning we headed over to spot magical bluebells… Through Rhiwbina, turning off at the Deri Arms up Wenallt road until we came across a car park leading into the woods.

W headed straight into the bluebells which was great for some nice photos but I was a bit worried about him trampling all over them! It really was a lovely, magical sight… And at that time of the morning we pretty much had the place to ourselves

We then took a long walk around the woods and created some magical memories….

W stopping to play at every brook/stream we came across, dipping sticks into the water and wiping them on stones
Hearing woodpeckers!
W chatting to all the dogs (lots of dog walkers up there!) and one was so friendly that W could feed him biscuits and play fetch with him!
W picking up lots of sticks… All called ‘stick man’

Of course, it was soon back to reality… A heavily pregnant me had to carry him (uphill) back to the car when he got tired…. By then the car park was full and so our special moment of having the woods to ourselves was gone… He was grouchy for the 15 minute journey home… And when we got home past 10am dadda was still in bed!!!

Seriously… magical though, it’s so close to the city yet so peaceful…. So good for the soul… Especially on an early morning Sunday!

Oh and I forgot to mention… Parking is free: bonus! Huge thanks to colleague and fellow blogger twinmummyanddaddy for letting me know about the place months ago! Xx

33 weeks pregnant

I’m 33+3 today and thought I’d write a quick update before the OH whisks me off for a 2 night spa break (typical I’ve woken up with a cold!)

So since my last update 3-4 weeks ago…

Health

Has generally been good. Last week I had the return of morning sickness for a few days followed by a couple of days of painful varicose veins in my foot! So generally good, yoga has been helping and I’ve also been swimming twice this week.

We had a consultant appointment inc scan at 32 weeks. All seems fine, bean is measuring fine but was in breech at the time but plenty of time to turn! Heading back at 36 weeks.

With all the hospital appointments we’ve had, I’ve not seen my community midwife since my first booking appointment! I’m guessing I’ll see more of her towards the end, and I need to look into getting the whooping cough vaccine. (PS I found my maternity notes after losing them.. They were safe in a plastic bag!)

Weight

So far I’ve put on about a stone and a half. Seems about right, last time I put on two stone in total.

Bought

Finally started buying! Since the last update have bought…

Some newborn outfits and clothes – see my last haul post
A Snuzpod (co-sleeping cot)
A box of newborn nappies
A haul at Aldi’s baby/toddler event including storage units, bottles, weaning set, sleep suits!
Some brand new and nearly new bodysuits from charity shops (my new favourite hobby!)

brand new tesco bodysuits from a charity shop

Freebies

I collected our Emma’s diary packs which are great as they’ve got lots of little samples from breast pads to GAP baby socks to washing detergent!

just some of the goodies from Emma's Diary — just some of the goodies from Emma’s Diary

I got sent some free Water Wipes to try out with the newborn, heard lots about these so looking forward to trying them out.

I bought Gurgle magazine the other week and it came with a free shower gel which will be perfect for post-birth as it’s fragrance-free etc.

A friend has kindly given me some newborn vests/bodysuits hand-me-downs etc and lent me a Moby baby carrier/wrap which I’m looking forward to trying out.

What we still need to do

I’m definitely in the nesting phase, which is handy as we have quite a bit of sorting and re-arranging to do. Bean’s stuff all needs to fit into W’s room etc.

Still need to pick up the car seat from our friends.

Sorted out work and handed over most of what I need to hand over…. Only got 8 days left in work now! Feel ready to finish but totally not ready for the baby!

Still need to do some prep for labour… Reading, breathing exercises etc! And get the hospital bags ready…

Coming up

As I said we have a mini babymoon today. Next week we’re off to Bluestone for a few days to celebrate W’s second birthday!

4 things I plan to do differently second time around

As baby bean’s arrival gets closer, I’ve been thinking about what I would and wouldn’t change. I think our overall approach will obviously depend on baby but hopefully I will breastfeed again and go down the baby-led weaning route.

Here’s four things I didn’t do last time that I’d like to try this time…

1- Babywearing – I really wanted to try this with W, I did loads of research and a friend lent me a beautiful woven wrap but I just didn’t really try it/get into it. In my defence it was a hot summer and some days were uncomfortably sticky so prob not the best time to try it. This time around, I hope I get into it for all the benefits it brings… Plus it could really help with logistics as it will leave my hands free to chase W around! I’m going to start with something a bit more structured than a wrap… A friend has lent me a Moby and I’m tempted to try the Tula and/or Close Caboo too and see which one I get on with!

2- Amber for teething – whenever W was teething, those days felt like some of the hardest days for him and toughest parenting days for me… He was inconsolable, we went through lots of nurofen, milk and he’d finally be happy if he slept for hours on end. So assuming that same happens with bean, I’d love to try him with an amber anklet. I know some people think they’re nonsense but I think why not give it a shot?! I know there’s a lot of fakes out there but I’ve got a list of recommendations to check out!

3 – Getting fit – I’m lucky I have a good metabolism and last time around my body shrunk back pretty quickly (breastfeeding helped too!) but I am so unfit!! Years ago I used to love doing Bodypump (weights class) plus a bit of cardio and yoga… So my body was much more toned. After I had W I suffered with a bad back for ages… The time around I might be a bit stronger having gotten used to picking W up, but nonetheless once my body’s healed and my stomach muscles are back together, I’d like to get toned again. I’m also hoping it will give me the added bonus of some extra energy through all the endorphins!

4 – Relaxing – and…. Relax! Last time around, I did loads of classes with W, some days we’d have two classes on! As much as I enjoyed it, I think I put myself under too much pressure to keep busy, make new friends (pointless – I didn’t make any!) and somehow prove myself to be a superhuman yummy mummy. All I did was probably tire myself more than I needed to! This time a couple of besties will be on mat. leave too, but apart from catching up with them I plan to be a bit more selfish and lazy, resting up and savouring every moment knowing that we’re not planning on any more after this one!

What did you do differently second time around?

Baby boy and toddler boy clothes haul: La Redoute, Zara and H&M

As W gets closer to turning 2, he’s starting to outgrow a lot of his 18-24 month clothes. And his little brother is due in about 8 weeks time, we still need to get his newborn stuff down from the loft but every newborn needs some new clothes right?

So… I’ve never bought anything from La Redoute before but a few weeks ago they had 40% everything so the perfect time to try them out!

I’m loving that cacti are in this season… So damn cool! I got these for baby bean, in size 3 months so hopefully he can wear them on a sunny day 🙂 these cost £7.80 (full price £13)

And for his big brother W… Not just cacti t-shirts (paid £7.20, full price £12) but cactus leggings paid £6.60, full price: £11) too!

I’d honestly not really thought about it before but now I can’t wait to get them some proper matching outfits too 🙂

imageLa Redoute cactus toddler t-shirts leggings — La Redoute cactus toddler t-shirts leggings

Staying with W, I can’t resist surfer style t-shirts (this one £4.20, full price £7) and loved this one and by now from previous hauls you know I have a thing for dressing him in leggings! (£3.60, full price £6)

La redoute toddler surfer t-shirt arrow leggings

Back to baby bean, I couldn’t resist these USA vests (paid £9.60, full price: £16) and got them in size 1 month… They look so tiny!!

imageLa redoute newborn american -style bodysuits — La redoute newborn american -style bodysuits

Staying with baby bean’s newborn wardrobe, I got these in size 1 month too, cute long sleeved bodysuits. (Paid £7.20, full price £12)

la redoute newborn lion animals long sleeve sleepsuits

And back to W, he really needs some spring/lightweight jumpers, couldn’t resist this one and a bargain at £6! (Full price £10)

So that’s all our La Redoute stuff, very impressed we got all that for £56! We haven’t used any of it yet so can’t comment on the sizing or post-wash quality but I loved their range and they feel good quality!

You’ll know that my favourites for W when he was a baby was H&M so I couldn’t resist getting baby bean a couple of newborn size outfits from there… I’m thinking one of these could be his coming home outfit? (£7.99 each set)

And for W, again more leggings/joggers covered in bicycles! (£6.99) And some cute roll-up lightweight summer trousers with boats on them (£6.99) I got both of these in his current size (18-24 months) as he’s usually a few months behind in his bottoms compared to tops!

h and m toddler trousers boats and bikes

And staying with W, I noticed Zara had a sale on so obviously I couldn’t resist! The only thing we got in the sale was this quirky crocodile/animals hoodie for £6.49.

Full price we got a lion jumper with cute back detail (£8.99) and you guessed it, more leggings (£6.99) to grow into… Probably his craziest pair yet!

Finally, in McArthur Glen designer outlet last week, I picked up another anchor jumper for W, couldn’t resist… It was only £6.90 (originally £10)

Phew, hopefully that will do us for a while! Let us know what you think 🙂

Our ordinary post-Easter weekend

I know I don’t usually write about our ordinary weeks or weekends, but this weekend has been just lovely and I wanted to make sure I remembered it as nothing overly memorable happened! After 3 weeks of illness it’s been so nice to get out and about, plus the weather was ok, plus it won’t be too long before I’m too pregnant to do much 😉 So….

Friday – my weekly day with W. In the morning we went to a NCT bumps and babies group in Cafe Junior because they were also having a Sling library and babywearing is something I’d like to try with baby 2. So I got a demo of the Tula, close caboo, mei tai and I’ll try and try them out myself closer to the time, maybe without W there… He was a little bit clingy but only because it was so busy in there… School holiday madness!

I’d timed it to get home in time for his daily noon nap but on getting home realised that we were locked out. Typical our neighbour who’s always in and has a spare set was out! So I spent the next hour basically driving around Cardiff picking up a spare set from family – so annoying! I’ll blame it on baby brain!

After W woke from an epic 3.5 hour nap (he hadn’t slept great the night before) we went over to catch up with one of my besties and her two girls, who I hadn’t seen for months! Was great to catch up, and although W was a bit clingy for a while after about an hour he finally started playing with her eldest daughter and it was just so lush watching them playing, chasing each other around, hiding and screaming!

Saturday – W had another really bad night’s sleep which basically meant I didn’t get any sleep after midnight, lucky that I’ve suffered from insomnia for years! We were up at 7 and by 9 we were in IKEA... I wanted to check out some storage options for his toys and baby’s clothes. It was lovely and quiet and so W had a great time running around, playing in the rooms and clambering over displays like stacks of rugs!

We called at my sister’s nearby on the way home and he loved this as she’d put Peppa on tv for him (he’s obsessed with her!) and got a load of books out (Peppa, gruffalo) AND she’d bought him a cute little tool kit from Tiger!

After his nap we headed to Cafe Junior again as we’d booked him for his second haircut. We arrived a bit early so I dragged them to the nearby charity shop and I bought my best-ever-charity-shop-find… A Chicco toy pushchair for £1! He pushed it back to cafe junior (bonus: it actually helps him walk faster instead of meandering ;)) He was so happy and excited that a few passers-by smiled etc… I know it sounds cheesy but I find it so lush when he brings a teeny bit of joy to other people’s lives 🙂

Haircut went well, he wouldn’t wear the bib/overall but apart from that nothing phased him and he enjoyed sitting in the car chair watching Peppa as the lovely lady trimmed his lovely locks! (Read about his first haircut at the same place here)

That gave us free entry to Cafe junior and it was nice and quiet as it was sunny outside so W enjoyed playing around while dada and I had hot drinks and cakes… Bliss! Then….. It was poo time… He hadn’t pooed all week (he does have these phases of constipation at times) so we’re half expecting it… He’d been in pain earlier int he day with it. My OH kindly dealt with the poo and said it was HUGE! Five minutes later and he’d pooed again, another solid performance 😉 then he had a third…… But we’d only brought two nappies with us, we never usually need more than two for a couple of hours out! So I felt awful that he had to keep sitting in his poo for the 20minute car ride home bless him!

Sunday – in the morning we went to check out a local forest – Forest fawr walk – where I wanted to check out the sculpture trail but daddy and W headed straight into the woods… Lots of fun with ‘stick man’, kicking leaves, walking on logs etc! And again, W made plenty of people stop and chat and smile when he started chatting to their dogs etc. A lovely walk, only a 5-10 minute drive away, free parking and peace and quiet…. Bliss! Cardiff mummy says wrote a great blog about this place if you’re interested.

In the afternoon I was glad for a bit of respite while daddy took W over to his parents’ for a couple of hours. While they were gone, I went to retrieve his new pushchair from his garden playhouse…. And found a stash of leaves, crayons and toys in there…. That made me smile, so cute 🙂

And his cuteness didn’t end there… When he dropped some of my crisps and I asked him to pick them up, he ran off into the other room and came back with our handheld dyson to vacuum them up, that made me LOL!

Even today after work he made me smile, as we headed out into the garden to play he said ‘towel’ and pointed at his car and said ‘water’ (there was rainwater in there) clever boy!

So a lovely weekend, helps that W was on form, no tantrums etc. We had a lovely time and hardly spent any money… Just enjoyed life’s little pleasures, for which I am very grateful 🙂

30 weeks pregnant

Today I’m 30 weeks pregnant and despite the big bump, I still can’t believe it in a way!

Since my last pregnancy update…

-we had a 20 week and then 24 week scan and consultant appointment with the fetal medicine department. Everything looks ok, heart is looking good and baby was measuring fine (short legs like his mum!) but of course they can’t give us the 100% ok that baby won’t be born with a genetic disorder as we had a high nuchal fold at the start (but we’re feeling relaxed about it)

-sometime after that appointment I’ve lost my maternity notes/folder… Most annoying thing is all our scan photos were in there 😦 need to try and get it sorted/copied before our next consultant appointment at 33 weeks

-the last two weeks I was signed off work with a chest infection, it really hit me – was bed/sofa-bound for most of the time and even now I have a lingering cold and cough which is doing my head in!

– I started doing pregnancy yoga (with PureYoga who I did mother&baby yoga with) and managed to make it to one Fitbump class which was great, hope I can make it to a few more!

Getting ready for baby

I’m disorganised at the best of times but I’ll blame the chest infection on the fact we are SO unprepared for this baby! I keep thinking we already have everything we need but actually we need to:

Buy some newborn outfits, and dig out W’s newborn stuff from the loft
Buy a Moses basket (I quite fancy getting a Snuzpod/next-to-me)
Create some storage space for baby’s clothes/stuff
Buy some 0 size nappies
Get some replacement parts for my Medela swing pump
Pick up the car seat from friends who are donating us theirs
Pack hospital bags
Confirm my leaving date in work
Work out how many days a week we’ll need the childminder for W while I’m on maternity (any advice on this most welcome!)
Remember how to give birth!

On the last point, this is where I feel totally unprepared! I’m sure by this time last time around we’d gone to NHS antenatal classes, I was doing a NCT breathing (and stretching) class and reading lots of magazines and books about labour.

This time I’ve not any of that! After debating whether or not to attend an NCT refresher class, we can’t make that date anyway! And I feel like I’ve left it too late to join a 6week Daisy birthing course.

So I’ll just have to do lots of reading… Oh and watching One Born Every Minute!

In support of Jamie Oliver… and breastfeeding

So Jamie Oliver has got himself in trouble for daring to have an opinion on breastfeeding even though he’s… a man! (I think actually he’s mostly in trouble for saying breastfeeding is ‘easy’ but it’s hard to tell among the furore!
Well I’m glad that Jamie has chosen this as his next topic to campaign over, highlighting how important it is and how it should start with support for pregnant women.
I was actually really shocked when I read the news a couple of months ago that Britain has the worst breastfeeding rates IN THE WORLD.

Only 0.5% still breastfeed after a year in Britain, our closest neighbours are female opressors Saudi Arabia at 2%. Meanwhile poverty-stricken countries like Ethiopia manage 97%!

Why is this? Well I guess it comes down to choice… British women are asked if we’re planning on breastfeeding whereas it seems like in many African countries it’s the norm and I’d guess that only the super-rich there use formula.

Do we think these African countries have lots of help and support when they run into problems? Maybe… But I doubt it. I suspect they persevere, keep trying and rely on their sisterhood as back-up wet nurses.

I’m not having a go at those that have tried breastfeeding and run into problems, I say good on you! I’m saying that we need to see a cultural shift that makes breastfeeding the norm, not a lifestyle choice. It will take years, maybe a generation or two.

Choices… I know someone who decided not to breast-feed as she wanted her husband to bond with baby… Nonsense! There are plenty of ways dads can bond with their babies! What other reasons do we hear? Wanting to have your own freedom? Wanting to drink? Being embarrassed by your body or boobs? Not wanting to be shamed by people who think it’s ‘disgusting’?
See, we already have a lot to overcome to get people to try breastfeeding, never mind keep it up. So thank you Jamie for trying to raise the issue. We need more positive role models, people like TOWIE’s Sam Faiers… People that you can relate to so that not all the breastfeeding advocates are the mumsnet breastapo that are more likely to put people off than get them to try it!

What else do we need? Well let’s ban the formula milk companies being able to advertise their ridiculous ‘follow up’ milks so that they don’t become aspirational brands that people want to use. Give them less space in the supermarket. I’m not saying we should make it more expensive but maybe there’s a way to get those big companies to donating money to breastfeeding support every time formula milk is sold?

As for me? I’m not perfect, I’m normal, I wanted to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months but got to 3 before we started to top-up. I know I could have persevered with it. I stopped breastfeeding around the 8-9 month mark when I went back to work.

The majority of people were totally supportive of my breastfeeding but there was the odd person that pulled a face like the friend who thought breastfeeding stopped dads bonding with babies.

So let’s start a new era. Let’s talk about it. Let’s see it. Let’s make it the norm. And if you try it and it doesn’t work out, obviously let’s not shame you! #sisterhood

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