❤ Daria

I chose to breastfeed again. I breastfed William and even though it only lasted three months, I loved it! When breastfeeding William my milk supply started slowing down slowly. He was on formula and breast milk and by three months my milk was completely gone! I felt horrible, ended up with depression and it really just wasn't a nice time.
Nobody ever told me that you can save your milk supply by expressing even if there's nothing coming out to encourage the breasts to make more milk. I only had a manual pump back then so it probably would've been exhausting anyway.
When I found out I was pregnant again I knew straight away that I was going to breastfeed and I'm determined to do so for at least six months, preferably a year. Maybe I'm slightly obsessed, haha, but it's just such a beautiful, natural thing.
Brendan is now over two months old and still hasn't had a drop of formula milk BUT what a 'painful' two months it has been! I feel like I was really getting tested.
Let's talk about what I did to try and make sure my milk doesn't dry up first.
I googled foods and drinks which can slow down breast milk supply and I avoid all of those. I drink plenty of water, I always have though. I don't use a dummy/pacifier. I heard that when using a dummy, sometimes your baby uses it for comfort too much and sucks the dummy when he/she could be on your breast which would encourage breast milk supply, so.. I don't use a dummy. I also only feed with my left breast right now and express from my right, which means my body actually produces double the milk! I'll explain why later.

As I said, I really felt like I was getting tested. There were days where I really could've gave up breastfeeding and gave him a dummy.
People always ask me if it's painful. I know a lot of mum's stop after a week or two because they find it painful. Is it painful? Yes. Very painful sometimes BUT that only last a week or so and then things just get a million times easier from there. You won't even need to think about what you're doing. Just 'whip it out' and get on with it, haha.
Needless to say I was SO excited to get by the painful bit! But that wasn't the end. Brendan's tongue got really white and it turned out he had thrush which he then passed to me. The pain is horrible! It hurts when anything touches your nipples, they crack and its just really painful. Whenever it was time to feed Brendan I was putting it off for as long as possible because it hurt so much. Then all my teeth became sore and I later realised that it was because of me grinding my teeth so much when he was latched on.
After creams and gels and painful weeks later it FINALLY cleared up! I was so happy :)

Then a few days later I got a tiny, little, red lump on my groin. I had no idea what it was. I went to the doctors, got prescribed antibiotics, etc. as it was a boil starting to form. For those of you reading this who never had a boil, I really hope you never get one! I never knew something like that could cause so much pain. I was literally crying, I couldn't sleep at nights, I couldn't even hold Brendan, which meant I had to express and then Graeme would feed him. Because the boil was in my groin I couldn't walk properly, sit properly or even sleep and as mentioned above I couldn't feed Brendan. Thankfully Graeme took a few days off work to look after me and the kids. It was really frustrating because I wasn't actually unwell, I was just in a lot of pain. The boil eventually cleared up too! It's still healing right now but it's not painful.

I could do everything properly again, woohoo! I cleaned the whole house, organised it, decorated for autumn!
I forgot to mention that when I had thrush, my right breast was always worse than my left for some reason.
After I was back to normal I started feeding again, etc and then boom.. my right nipple cracked so much it was actually bleeding, so I now have to feed on my left side and express from my right.

There are days where Brendan uses me as a dummy and it can be truly exhausting. I could've gave in sooooo many times but I am so determined to give him the best start in life.

Oooh, let's not forget about the funny looks you can also get in public. I think it's really weird. Some people can be really funny when it comes to breastfeeding. It used to make me feel uncomfortable but now it doesn't even bother me anymore. I feed Brendan anywhere. It's so silly because breastfeeding mums seem to get more funny looks than mums feeding their kids formula. I'm not against formula at all by the way, I just think it's really weird how it all works. If you're breastfeeding and you're nervous about breastfeeding in public, don't be. Your baby is more important than someone 'staring'. Sometimes people just look because they find it beautiful :) and if anyone ever tries to stop you, just remind them that it's illegal in the UK to try and stop a mother feeding her baby.



Despite a very painful few months and what I had wrote above I don't regret choosing to breastfeed. I think it's a beautiful, natural thing. It's so much easier than getting up in the middle of the night and making bottles.. it's the perfect temperature, perfect nutrients.. everything! I would encourage breasfteeding to every mum! So many mums out there are scared about the pain or breastfeeding in public but just like everything else it becomes a natural thing after a week or two and you won't even know you're doing it.

Love, Daria xoxo

It's been over two months since our son was born. I haven't made any videos or wrote any blog posts so I figured it's probably time to introduce him to the world. Those who have me on Facebook or Instagram have probably already saw a ton of pictures. I'll try and make this short and sweet, so here we are:

Hi Guys!
It's taken me a while to write this post but better late than never, ha ha. This is just a list of stuff that I have packed and I hope that some of you might find it useful or inspiring. The stuff I packed obviously work for me but might not work for others. Some may think I'm overpacked whilst others will think I didn't pack enough, he he.

I packed two bags. For the baby's stuff I just used a white, leather pram bag. It's big enough to fit all the stuff I needed. I just packed all the clothes and stuff in there and then packed the blankets and nappies in the second bag.

So here's what I packed for the baby:

*3 blankets
I decided to pack three simply because I couldn't decide which ones to take. I think the hospital I'm going to provides them whilst you're in hospital but I thought I would take 2 cellular blankets just in case and also a nice, soft, snuggly blanket which I can use for the car seat, etc.

*sleepsuits (3x up to three months & 2x newborn)
I don't actually know what size the baby will be and also I don't trust the sizes of baby stuff, especially when made by different manufacturers so I thought it would make sense to pack a few different sizes.

*5 bibs
Because you can never have too many bibs.

*comfort blanket
That's obviously not a necessity but it's cute, ha ha.

*4 hats
To keep his little head warm. Once again he probably won't need all four but I couldn't decide which one I wanted him to wear and it all depends on what outfit he ends up wearing home.

*5 scratch mittens
Their little nails are razor sharp. Literally.

*2 cardigans
I packed a white one and a blue one and they go with almost any outfit.

*5x newborn vests
You need vests :)

*3x baby set (tiny baby, newborn & 0-3m)
Again, I don't know the size the baby will be so I just packed my favourite sets in three sizes.

*4 pairs of socks
He probably won't need that many socks but hey.. socks always go missing!

*knitted booties
I don't want to use shoes for the first three months, hopefully. I think the little knitted booties look cute, they're soft just like socks but they can also really bring an outfit together.

*nappies
The hospital might provide nappies but I'd rather just go with the ones we're using instead of using the hospital ones then going home and using different ones which can cause irritation.

*wipes
The midwives do advise that you just use cotton wool and warm water for the first few days, which is okay, I will probably do that for like two days but wipes are handy for wiping sickness. In fact, baby wipes are good for everything, ha ha.

*nappy bags/sacks
Nappies smell. Hospital bins will end up smelly. Your room will smell. Just pack some, ha ha.

For the second bag I just used one of those sports bags. I packed mine and Graeme's stuff in there as well as the babies nappies, wipes, etc.

For Graeme:
-deodorant
-shower gel
-swimming shorts
-plastic bag/s
-socks
-boxers
-trackies/trousers
-t-shirt
-jumper

For Myself:
-pen and paper
-pillow
-thank you card and chocolates
-water bottle
-travel size toiletries
-birthing and baby plan
-toothbrushes and toothpaste
-deodorant
-phone charger
-2 pairs of leggings
-pyjamas
-two comfortable t-shirts
-comfortable short
-2 vest tops
-2 jumpers
-cardigan
-bikini
-4 pairs of socks
-old pants
-dressing gown
-breast pads

So that's it really. If you have any tips or if you want to share what you packed and ended up using/not using, please do comment below, I find those really interesting! :)

Here's the video of what I packed too:




Loads of love from me to You,
Love, Daria xoxo