I love the sun, I love a nice warm summer, and I love spending time outside in the sunshine. I am however also inherently British, in that when it gets just that little bit too hot, I like to have a good old moan (see Things We All do in a Heatwave).
One of the hardest things about being a Mum in summer (with the exception of keeping your baby cool) has to be breastfeeding in a heatwave, when quite possibly the LAST thing you want is to have a small wriggly sticky person stuck to your sweaty chest whilst wanting to be snuggled and rocked to sleep. The last two nights, I have sat melting in a nursing chair in a room so hot that the Gro Egg gets angry and my monitor beeps, with a baby resembling a hot water bottle who likes nothing more than rubbing my hot and clammy arm. I have felt like a milking machine, sharing a bed with my hot and clammy 9 month old who has gone back to feeding like a newborn and today Neve took her first nap at 3pm, after refusing to sleep without a cuddle.
Here are my tips for surviving breastfeeding in the summer months:
Love the H20
This may sound like an obvious one, but drink drink drink. When the weather warms up we should all be drinking more anyway, but as a breastfeeding mum, hydration is even more important, and you burn up to an addition 500 calories a day by feeding. Generally your baby will take from your reserves so they wont suffer from a lack of fluids, but YOU will unless you rehydrate regularly. I have a big flask of ice cold water in the fridge so that I can grab a cold drink regularly. Alternatively you can pop a half full bottle of water in the freezer and then pop in the fridge so you can drink as the ice melts. So refreshing and great for keeping you topped up. Also there is water in ice lollies – so that’s a perfect excuse for popping out a fab! *other ice lollies are available*
Tie back your hair
I’m not sure if this is just me, but when I get hot, I get major sweaty face syndrome, and appear to lose a lot of sweat and moisture from my strawberry red head! On a really really hot day like today, I tie my hair back straight after a shower, as far away from my neck and face as possible. Hairgrips are also my super new best friend. I may look like I have been dragged through a hedge backwards, but my face is significantly cooler. #messyhairdontcare
Hunt out the Shade
Sometimes a shady spot outside is cooler than feeding indoors, particularly if you can find somewhere with a nice breeze. My 9 month old only feeds twice in the day now, but for those feeding more regularly, a nice shady spot under a tree is ideal!
Keep Babies Room cool
For bedtime feeds, its important to try and keep the nursery as cool as possible, although in a house like ours this is pretty impossible! We have tried wet towels around the room to cool down the air, keeping curtains or blinds down during the day, (particularly if you room faces the sun), and avoided opening windows until the air outside is cooler than inside.
Avoid skin to skin
When its really hot and sticky, the last thing you want is skin to skin! Try feeding your baby lying down with them next to you when you can – that way you can have minimal skin contact and keep yourself (and baby!) as cool as possible. Alternatively, wrap a very lightweight sheet or swaddling blanket between you and your baby to avoid the sticking senstation and absorb any moisture! Although it may seem counter productive, a light sheet over your arm can prevent sweaty heads as well and actually help you both be more comfortable during a feed.
Vest Tops
As nice as summer dresses and floaty outfits can be, sometimes on really hot days you cant go wrong with a basic vest top – either a nursing vest / tank or the easy one up one down approach. One up one down works really well for me for discreet feeding as well as keeping a thin layer of clothing between me and my daughter!
Cool Shower for Mum
A cold shower for you before a feed can help regulate your own temperature and cool down potentially sweaty skin before you bring your baby up for a feed. On really hot days like today, I have a really quick shower just before bedtime, and although still challenging, I feel just that little bit more comfortable during the bedtime feed.
Whilst breastfeeding in a heatwave is always going to be challenging, just remember, whilst you may be a sweaty mess today, it is likely to be cloudy and cold tomorrow! In the meantime, I wish you the best of luck – I’m off to crack open a Calippo!!! :
I am now 8 months into my breastfeeding journey with my second child and the first time around, I breast fed my daughter for over 2 years. As a new Mum, it can be a little nerve wracking knowing where to feed. Whilst I have never had any bad experiences anywhere in Solihull, I did find that I soon became familiar with which places were ‘breast feeding friendly’, and tended to stick to them to ensure I felt comfortable and relaxed when feeding.
I recently chatted to the ladies of the Solihull Breastfeeding Facebook Group about their experiences of breast feeding friendly locations. Here’s a little round up of some of both mine, and their experiences, on the best breast feeding friendly locations in Solihull & Birmingham.
The Top Rated:
John Lewis
Bringing up the front it has to be John Lewis in Solihull, which has one of the best equipped, and most spacious parent rooms in the region. This large room has changing facilities, a toilet where parent and child can go together (with room for a buggy too!). If you’ve ever been out with a baby and a potty training toddler, you will appreciate beyond belief all being able to go the toilet in the same place!!! It also has large comfy chairs for feeding in, and little touches such as a water machine for filling up your bottles (feeding can be thirsty work!).
As it is accessible to males too, there are chairs around corners with a screening wall for more discreet feeding if you prefer.
The John Lewis café itself is also very breastfeeding friendly, and has become a regular meeting venue for NCT groups and the like, with high chairs a plenty for older children. I have fed Neve at the table here on a number of occasions and always felt totally at ease (with the exception of the pain in my purse strings from the cost of my cake!)
Mothercare Sears Retail Park
As you would expect from a brand aimed at babies, Mothercare in Solihull also has it’s own Nursing Room. Small but with enough room for 2 feeding Mums at the same time (and a buggy or two!), this room is great for those who prefer to feed with a bit of privacy, with two large chairs and a water machine just next to the changing rooms at the back. The room is also near to the toilets and baby changing areas should you wish to kill two birds with one stone!
Desco Lounge Shirley
Desco Lounge is very family friendly overall. With a selection of games for older children and high chairs a plenty, Desco has quickly become a great location for Mums to meet up with friends during the day, perfect for those on maternity leave. I have personally breast fed here on numerous occasions, and never once felt uncomfortable. They also do a mean fish finger sandwich.
Parkridge Centre, Solihull
We first took Erin to the Parkridge centre when she was four days old, and still visit regularly. I have fed here on numerous occasions. In the early days with Erin, I once asked if I was “ok to feed” and the response was “If anyone complains, I will be asking THEM to leave” 🙂 The Parkridge centre also does a great kids lunch box for older children, and has a beautiful nature walk behind the centre which is fun to explore.
Solihull Library Café
Reasonably priced and with plenty of space for pushchairs and car seats, this venue again is popular with families during the day. During the summer months, this is also close to Touchwood’s Costa Del Solihull, which is fantastic if you have toddlers or preschool children in tow. (I’m praying it comes back this Summer, as it’s rare we get to go to the actual seaside!!)
Mortons Dickens Heath
Another popular daytime retreat and meet up point for NCT groups and the like, Mortons has a relaxed vibe and some fantastic food options. It also has high chairs that clip onto the table so that baby can sit right at the table with you – for weaning babies this makes life a LOT easier!
House of Fraser Restaurant, Solihull
The restaurant in House of Fraser, Solihull has plenty of comfy sofas and you can feed discreetly as its quite a bit space. There are a few toys and a TV in the corner to distract older children – “a bit tatty, but enough to keep them busy for a quick pitstop”
Merry Hill, Family Room
“The Merry Hill Family Room is fab – Nursing booths with dimmed lights and a nursing chair” – sounds like a great way to rest your legs from all that shopping too! 🙂
The Unexpected
Ikea Coventry & Ikea Wednesbury
Ikea cafe’s have a small area in the corner with screens up which are perfect for discreet feeding whilst not feeling like you are locked away in a different room. Nice comfy sofas, and a toddler area for older children to play, perfect for keeping them distracted whilst you feed your little one. “There’s even somewhere to charge your phone and plenty of room for the pushchair!”
Fat Face Solihull
This one surprised me, but great to see that a clothes retailer is open minded to breast feeding Mums! A couple of ladies in the Solihull Breastfeeding group mentioned good experiences feeding here, with the store manager being very supportive and understanding. A great option if you are wanting to feed whilst out and about!
Worth a mention…
“The staff at The Renewal Café are really nice and will often come and check you’re ok or offer a glass of water”
“Starbucks and The Village Hotel are great!”
“Druckers in Solihull”
“George in the Tree in Balsall Common – “The manager told me if anyone commented or was offended he would be more than happy to ask them to leave”
“You+ in Chelmsley Wood were always friendly and provide a privacy screen if wanted”
M&S Café at Sears Retail Park have been fab. “On a side note, the baby change at the back of the store is really clean and a lovely environment to change your baby – it’s tucked away at the back so a little bit hidden”
“Costa Coffee is well known for being breast feeding friendly across the board” One Mum told us how they “Put drinks in takeaway cups as easier to drink one handed”
Supermarket cafe’s such as Tescos and Morrisons (Sheldon) – “My little girl was screaming for a feed and a staff member told me to go and she would get my drink and took my money so she could pay for it”
Café No.1 Shirley – “both male and female staff completely unfazed” and “Staff were lovely and kept my four year old entertained with colouring whilst I fed”.
House of Frazer Birmingham town centre on 3rd or 4th floor – “large carpeted area with sofas and mirrors separate to the toilets but still part of the ladies restroom. Not many people use it so nice and chilled”.
Notcutts café – “Staff were very helpful, and will carry drinks to table for you”.
National Trust property cafes – including Packwood House and Baddesley Clinton (I can second this!!).
Hillfield Farm – “put my food back on the heater for me when my baby wanted feeding as soon as dinner arrived”
Mixed Reviews
Touchwood Feeding Room, Solihull
Depsite being one of the larger feeding rooms in the area, the Touchwood feeding room has mixed reviews- with some saying that it was “freezing cold” and “smells awful”, however was “Clean, spacious and quiet”. There is often very little phone reception there either, which for me is annoying as I tend to blog whilst I’m feeding! 🙂 Appreciate that’s not everyone’s priority though!! 🙂
Café Nero in Solhull has “great sofas to sit on” however their “changing facilities are a little grubby”
Ones to Avoid
Boots Feeding Room, Solihull
Disappointingly for a brand who is otherwise so family friendly, there was a lot of negative experiences of the Boots Feeding room in Mell Square. Not only is this upstairs requiring a very small lift to access (not ideal), but is consistently reported as being dirty or smelling unpleasant, not a place of choice to sit and feed your child!! I have been in there once, and once only – it didn’t smell dirty, but had an overbearing stench of bleach! Never again. Other Mums in the Solihull Breastfeeding group said similar – “It was disgusting. I nearly wrote to complain but never got round to it!”, “Was so dirty, One at the Forte was the same – always a last resort for me”.
Massive thanks to the ladies of Breastfeeding Solihull for sharing their thoughts. If you aren’t already a member of the group do head along and request to join – I have found this an invaluable source of breastfeeding advice and support since I became a Mum! I hope you find this list useful!
How to make your own Breastfeeding Tree of Life Photo
I recently came across the amazing Breastfeeding Tree of Lifepictures #treeoflife trend on Facebook and was in awe of just how beautiful these images are.
I have been lucky enough to breastfeed both my children, and 3 months in to the journey with my second, I am so proud watching her blossom before our eyes.
The instructions for making these Tree of Life breastfeeding images can be a bit fiddly so I thought it would be useful to share a ‘how to’ with images so that you can create your own if you wish.
How to make a Tree of Life Breastfeeding Picture
To make your Tree of Life breastfeeding image you will need to download the PicsArt app. Note – this is not a collaborative post nor do I have any affiliate with the app!
Take a photo of you Breastfeeding your baby. Whilst you may normally be quite discreet, these pics require a rather large amount of your breast to be an display so don’t be shy!!
Search google for ‘transparent tree and roots’ and save the image to your camera roll. To do this you must ‘view original image’ and save rather than screenshotting.
Open up the PicsArt app and start remixing, press edit and open your original feeding pic.
On bottom menu click on Add Photo and choose your tree image from camera roll.
Resize and rotate until the placement of your tree suits your image.
Before saving, ensure blend is selected at the bottom and scroll over to highlight ‘overlay’ – this makes the image slightly transparent.
Click on apply at top right
Use the magic option to add effects to your image. Ours favourite options for tree of life pics are moonlight, rainbow, and feast 🙂
When you have finished, save to camera roll 👍
My Tree of Life Pictures
Here are my favourite tree of life breastfeeding images below! 🙂
These tree of life pictures are great to create every time you reach a feeding milestone – I will be doing one again at 6 months. You could even add text using PicsArt to label each image accordingly.
This post was written in my 7th month of breastfeeding my daughter. After originally hoping to breast feed for 6, I began to reflect back on the ups and downs of my breastfeeding journey, and the things that no one told me before I had my daughter. I hope that my insight from a real breast feeding mum will help paint a more realistic picture of breastfeeding! Here are the 10 things I wish I’d known about breastfeeding
10 things I wish I’d known about Breastfeeding
1) I wish i’d known about breastfeeding, that you can leak milk before the baby is even born.
Who knew!? This was the first insight I had into the world of breast feeding. I started leaking a small amount of milk at around 20 weeks pregnant, usually overnight. The first time it happened, I rolled over whilst stirring in the morning to find a small wet patch on the sheets. I accused my partner of dribbling in his sleep (which is not unheard of!), only to find the next night, there was another one – only this time on the other side!!! I soon established that which ever side I had been lying on, a little wet patch would form on the sheets. I was always under the impression from what I had read that milk didn’t arrive until Day 3 postpartum, so hadn’t been expecting this! I have since discovered that this is perfectly normal, and can happen to some women as early as 12 weeks pregnant. According to the advice I was given from health visitors and midwives it doesn’t however bear any impact on whether or not you will be a successful breast feeder.
2) I wish i’d known about breastfeeding, that even midwives and health visitors have different views on breastfeeding…
I was in hospital for 2 days after the birth of my daughter due to rather a complicated birth, and therefore was lucky enough to receive some fantastic support and guidance surrounding breast feeding. One thing I did notice though, was that there is even variety of thinking between midwives and healthcare professionals about the best way to approach breast feeding. I found this a little overwhelming at the time, being told “try it like this” only for the next member of staff to do the rounds to say “how about like this” and give me a whole other set of instructions. As the days went on, I decided to try various approaches, and eventually found one that worked for me and my baby.
3) I wish i’d known about breastfeeding, that everyone, even strangers, will want to ask you whether your breastfeeding…
We all know the saying, breast is best, as its pretty much engrained into our minds from the moment we find out we’re pregnant. But what they don’t tell you, is that as a result, everyone, even total strangers will want to know whether you are breastfeeding, and form a judgement based on your response. When Erin was 8 weeks, I got asked by family, friends, and random ladies who stopped me to coo over her in the supermarket – “are you breastfeeding / still breastfeeding?” The proud smiles in response to my yes were more deserved of someone who had rescued a stranded cat from a tree, or ran into a burning building. As time has gone on the question has remained the same but this time with shock… “blimy, your still feeding her yourself?” and “wow, you’ve done well”. Either way, people feel its their business, and its something I’ve just simply got used to.
You then have those that judge when breastfeeding in public (we simply can’t win!), at first you might feel vulnerable or nervous about feeding in public (in which case we recommend the Feed Me Mummy Breastfeeding vest or something like the Bebe Chic Breast Feeding Cover. After a while however, you simply start to not care. If my child needs feeding, I will whip them out, and if you don’t like it, don’t look! lol
You pretty soon establish which places are breast feeding friendly.
4) I wish i’d known about breastfeeding, that it’s Relentless…. or at least at first…
When my daughter was born, she went through a phase of feeding on the hour, every hour, including through the night. As an exclusively breast feeding mum, as much as my partner tried to provide moral support, it was physically exhausting. However, my baby would’ve most likely been feeding as often (or almost as often) on formula, which I feel would’ve been a lot more hassle with sterilising and the like. It is easy to underestimate the level of energy required to breast feed though – whatever you do, don’t forget to eat – no matter how much you want to lose those extra pounds – those calories will get you through the night. Cereal bars were my best friend at 4am!
5) I wish i’d known about breastfeeding, that you should express earlier!
I was very reluctant to express my milk into a bottle, largely because I’d been told (or heard on the rumour mill that is google), that giving a teat too early can confuse the baby, and then they might not want to continue with the breast. For that reason, despite desperately wanting some support from family members (whilst still giving my daughter my own milk), we didn’t attempt a bottle until 12 weeks. By that point of course, she didn’t want to know. We haven’t been able to get her to consistently take a bottle ever since!!!
6) I wish i’d known about breastfeeding, that it can still be expensive!
I’d always thought that breastfeeding would be cheaper, and strictly, I guess it is, with no need to purchase bottles, teats, sterilisers, expensive formula milk and the like. However, what no one made clear to me is all the extra purchases that go with breast feeding. First, a few decent nursing bras, (I didn’t manage to find a decent one until recently(!) then, if you’ve a strong let down, you’ll need breast pads, and LOTS of them, as well as some new tops to breast feed in. I gave birth to my daughter in June, and ended up buying about 30 (no joke) vest tops, so that I always had at least one (if not two) to wear so I could easily feed on the go.
7) I wish i’d known about breastfeeding, that it can still be messy!
If your baby even misses one feed, or goes slightly longer than normal, your breasts decide to spontaneously erupt, and leak milk everywhere. Unless you’ve invested in some decent breast pads, then your likely to end up with milk all over your top. In my case, if Erin had gone a few hours without a feed, I would also end up literally spraying milk everywhere when I finally attempted to feed. Thank god we had a leather wipe down sofa, and so much for dignity! Muslin squares are a must for preventing posset stained clothing!!!
8) I wish i’d known about breastfeeding, that you’ll constantly be worrying about whether your baby is getting enough.
As a breastfeeding mum its impossible to know if you’re baby is getting enough, as unlike bottle fed babies, you cant see how many oz’s of milk they have consumed. My daughter always fed for only 5 minutes at a time, and I was made to feel quite inadequate by health visitors who told me I *must* make her have 15 minutes if I could. Well, try getting a baby who’s done to latch back on! I have a strong minded child, and a strong let down, and despite feeding for 5 minutes at a time on every feed, she has gained weight well. With my second, I will trust my instincts, and not feel under pressure from others around me.
9) I wish i’d known about breastfeeding, that it doesn’t look like how it does in the pictures…
We’ve all seen the images, baby looks longingly up into their mothers non sleep deprived eyes, sucking gently and happily lying in her arms. The reality, especially as baby gets bigger, is a wriggly baby, with one leg over your arm, getting distracted and unlatching at the slightest whisper, creak of a floorboard, or noise from the TV. As well as looking up at you, they are likely to be scratching your breast, throwing their hands in your mouth, or tugging on any jewellery they can get their hands on. I can’t think why that isn’t the standard breast feeding image? lol
10) I wish i’d known about breastfeeding, that they’ll be times you want to stop, and then when the prospect of stopping comes, you simply don’t want to.
I have on many occasions, after weeks of sleepless nights, exclaimed “I cant cope!” and pretended I was going to give up. In reality, I knew that I wouldn’t, as I enjoy too much the bonding cuddles and comfort that comes from feeding my daughter. This isn’t just a myth – its scientifically proven that oxytocin provides that warm and fuzzy feeling when you feed. Now, over 7 months in, the thought of stopping feeding her fills me with dread. I know I will miss every second of the experience when I finally have to say goodbye to my milk.
Overall, despite all of the above, I have enjoyed every step of my breast feeding journey, even the hard times. I know that not all women are able to breastfeed, and I know that ultimately mums should do what is right for them and their baby, whether than be breast, bottle or a combination of both. Whatever you decide to do, try and enjoy every moment, but go into it with your eyes open. Breastfeeding isn’t the easy option, but you will certainly look back with fond memories of those special times you shared with your child.
The best thing about breast feeding? Post feed milk drink cuddles… quite simply my favourite thing in the world.
Hi, I’m Lucy, a thirty something mum of two from Birmingham. A memory maker, tradition keeper, stationery addict and Mr Men fanatic. HR Advisor by day and sleep deprived Mama by night!
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