I'm a full-time mummy

Welcome to the World Breastfeeding 2013 Blog Carnival cohosted by NursingFreedom.org and The San Diego Breastfeeding Center!

This post was written for inclusion in the WBW 2013 Blog Carnival. Our participants will be writing and sharing their stories about community support and normalizing breastfeeding all week long. Find more participating sites in the list at the bottom of this post or at the main carnival page.

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"Online Breastfeeding Support: More mothers are finding their breastfeeding villages online. Through social media, blogs, podcasts, and YouTube videos, mothers are connecting, having conversations, and supporting one another both far and near. How has online support helped you to meet your breastfeeding goals? Where have you found your online support and how have those connections made support more accessible and time-sensitive?"

I started looking for support and tips from online mummy groups and blogs when I got pregnant with my first child back in 2008. Other than buying and reading up on books, I find that it is also useful to read up on other mums’ experiences and how they deal with their obstacles as well as learning from their tips and experiences.

The most critical period when I totally needed information and just encouragement would be in September 2011 after I gave birth to my second child, Alyson as I was suffering from tandem nursing aversion then. I was still breastfeeding my first, (Benjamin) by then he’s 30 months old and I had to nurse them both.

It is really not easy to find information from Malaysia side as not many mums nursed past their maternity leave, let alone 1 year, 2 years, THROUGHOUT pregnancy and then went on to do tandem nursing. So I reached out for help through online mummy groups and blogs in US particularly as a lot of mums there tandem nursed and understand how it was like to suffer from nursing aversion. After acknowledging my tandem nursing aversion, I managed to overcome it in 1 month time. Just knowing there are other mums out there experienced the same (or even worse!) thing like you and survived it gives you enough encouragement to shoulder on and overcome your obstacles.

I do not think I will be able to have any support offline as the family members around me either do not breastfeed or breastfeed until 1 year. None breastfeed past 2 years like me, let alone throughout pregnancy and definitely none tandem nurse. Friends and ex-colleagues wise are the same case.

People out there are just so supportive!There are some real life experiences which you just can’t read from the books or ask around your own
network of people.

I feel so happy to be able to get information and encouragement online that I too shared my own experiences and tips on my blog, such as factors for choosing my birth hospital, how do I make my breastfeeding work, tips to overcome tandem nursing aversion and what to do if your child had prolonged jaundice. These few topics are the popular posts on my blog that people keep coming back to ask questions and shared their experiences as well.

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Visit NursingFreedom.org and The San Diego Breastfeeding Center for more breastfeeding resources and WBW Carnival details!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants. Below are a list of links for today's participants; you can find a complete list of links (updated throughout the week) at our main carnival page:

(This list will be updated by afternoon August 1 with all the carnival links.)

• If You're Worried About Your Kid Seeing Me Breastfeeding, You're Doing It Wrong — Dionna at Code Name: Mama is living the breastfeeding-as-a-cultural-norm dream. She has first-hand experience that kids, teens & adults who see breastfeeding accept breastfeeding.
• Supporting Breastfeeding Online — Wendy at Breastfeeding Utah reaches out to birth and breastfeeding support professionals who are interested in knowing more about supporting their clients online.
• Breast Friends — Mama Bree, guest posting at San Diego Breastfeeding Center, shares a baby's journey to blissful breastfeeding with a little help.
• World Breastfeeding Week 2013 Blog Carnival - Online Breastfeeding Support — Other than buying and reading up on books, Jenny at I'm a full-time mummy finds that it is useful to read up on other mums’ breastfeeding experiences and how they deal with their obstacles.
• It Takes a Village... — Meredith at Thank You Ma'am talks about the support she got from her family, especially from her own mom, who is a lactation consultant.
• Community Support — Ashley at ModerationMama tells about her supportive community surrounding her breastfeeding journey, and she talks about the importance of the breastfeeding class she took while still pregnant.
• Finding a Nanny to Be Part of My Village — Before returning to work, Gretchen of That Mama Gretchen, posting at Natural Parents Network, needed to find a trusted caregiver for her daughter. Someone who supported her parenting goals and was ready to become part of a family.
• A Nursey Love Letter — When asked about her nursing support group, KassK of Get Born Tribe surprised herself with the answer: her husband!
• We are mammals. — To be a mammal . . . what does that mean? Practicing Mammal educates us.
• Building a Solid Foundation for a Successful Breastfeeding Journey — Tia at Tia's Sweeps Go 'Round shares how she built a strong support network to help her successfully breastfeed her newborn daughter.
• Stubbornness and Support: My Breastfeeding Journey — Diana at Munchkin's Mommy shares her breastfeeding journey, from unhelpful nurses to a gentle guide, and her sheer stubbornness.
• Looking online for breastfeeding support — The author at "Just" A Mom has found many ways to use the internet to support her mothering and breastfeeding journey, and she has learned how to keep her online experiences positive.
• The Village that didn't feed — Nona's Nipples at The Touch of Life explains how our communities influence our choices. She explains how she came to breastfeed and how it was taken away.
• Nursing By Example — Krystyna at Sweet Pea Births decided to nurse through a pregnancy and to try tandem nursing thanks to the support from her La Leche League leader and another mother in her community. Read about the resources that were helpful and the lessons she learned on her journey into tandem nursing.
• A Burden Shared: How my IBCLC Lightened my Load — My IBCLC rocks!! smscott at In All Things...One Step at a Time's journey would not be possible without a huge contribution of time and energy from her IBCLC. Her difficult times were measured in weeks and months instead of moments.
• Fathers Need Breastfeeding Support Too — Destany at They Are All of Me recalls that the biggest detriment to her breastfeeding success was her husband's strong disapproval.
• Breastfeeding Support Over the Years — Valerie at Momma in Progress discusses the range of support she received over her seven-year breastfeeding journey.
• Uncharted Territory: Breastfeeding — Michelle at Oh, The Simple Joys describes her change of heart regarding breastfeeding and the kind souls who helped along the way. From thinking formula was the norm to extended ecological breastfeeding, this is her story. Her story also includes breastfeeding after a hospital birth, dealing with inverted nipples, and the lactation consultant who helped to name her daughter.
• Online Breastfeeding Support: Finding Success, Acceptance and Friendships — Author and CLEC Lara Audelo of Virtual Breastfeeding Culture shares how online breastfeeding support changed her entire life, and why so many mothers are drawn to it, rely upon it, and place such value on their virtual mother-to-mother connections.
• Staying Connected---Online Breastfeeding Support for AD Military Moms — Breastfeeding in Combat Boots shares how important online support is to the success of breastfeeding for mothers serving in the military.
• Breastfeeding and Community — Amy W. at Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work discusses ways in which community affects breastfeeding dyads and makes suggestions for accepting and supporting nursing as normal and necessary.
• World Breastfeeding Week 2013 Blog Carnival - Community Support — Jenny at I'm a full-time mummy has been breastfeeding NON-STOP since 4th March 2009, the day her first child Benjamin was born. Jenny shares who has been in her community of breastfeeding supporters.
• Oversupply as a Blessing in Disguise: Milk Sharing and Wet Nursing — Tooele Birth and Breastfeeding, guest posting at Code Name: Mama, tells how she ended up donating breastmilk and wet nursing several babies. She shares the benefits from both a recipient and a donor.

"Community Support: The theme for this year's WBW highlights the importance of helping each mother throughout her breastfeeding journey. Today we are featuring posts that discuss the need for and benefits of a community of breastfeeding supporters. Share your thoughts on and stories about your own breastfeeding journey - was there someone who made your nursing relationship a success? What is access to Lactation Counselors like in your area - did you know where to find them? Were they accessible to you? Did you ever attend a La Leche League meeting or other breastfeeding support group?"

It has been a while since I participated in a blog carnival and since this is for World Breastfeeding Week, I definitely gotta join in the fun! Now, as to whether there are anyone who made my nursing relationship success, of course there is! I have been breastfeeding NON-STOP since 4th March 2009, the day my first child Benjamin was born. Breastfed him past 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, then throughout my 2nd pregnancy, then went on to tandem Benjamin and his baby sister Alyson for 1.5 year before he finally self-weaned at 45 months old.

So who do I give the credit for my nursing success to? Here goes the list - not in any particular order btw...

* My sister-in-laws: My 3 sister-in laws (hubby's side) all breastfed their children though average between 3 months to the most, less than a year. They do inspired me into going to this journey as well.

* My hubby: He stuck by me when I was having my nursing aversion, followed me to the antenatal class where we learned how to care for and breastfeed a baby and how beneficial it is to breastfeed.

* My antenatal class trainer: For telling us the benefits of breastfeeding, what to expect, how to handle and so on.

* God: Without Him, I won't be here today. My children and family will not be able to reap the benefits of breastfeeding.

* My MIL: She helped boiled this black beans and red dates drinks throughout my breastfeeding journey to keep my breastmilk production up.

* Myself

I don't have any LLL support here so during the initial stage, I Googled and read up as many breastfeeding websites I could searched and remembered the tips and tricks and what to expect and hope for the best.

How about you? Do you get any support when it comes to breastfeeding?

I actually received a set of handmade soaps from Laven Soap after winning a logo designing contest on my mummy FB group that I joined last year and promised the owner that I will do a product review for her handmade soaps, so here it goes:

Description from the product page:
"LavenSoap Bath and Body is dedicated to creating handmade soaps that are gentle and moisturizing to naturally clean the skin. Our soaps are handmade from scratch using cold process method in small batches, retaining all the natural glycerin within, unlike mass produced commercial soaps. All of our products are handmade using all natural ingredients such as vegetable oils, butters, milks, organic salt & sugar, vegetable waxes, beeswax, with the addition of botanicals and clays as natural colorants and pure therapeutic grade essential oils to scent.

Not only do our products smell good naturally, they also offer the many wonderful therapeutic and medicinal benefits and qualities associated with the essential oils, clays, plants and herbs they contain. No animal fats, artificial colours or fragrances, artificial preservatives, chemicals, sulfates or parabens are added in any of our products. You will have no worries using LavenSoap's products knowing that they are natural and safe for your skin."

I received the following items for my prize selection:

* DIY Soapmaking Kits - Clays or Powders

* Soy Milk Soap (Unscented) => 2 bars

* Coconut Milk Soap (Unscented) => 3 bars

* Almond Milk Soap (Unscented) => 2 bars

*Christmas Lip Balm => 1 piece

It took me over half a year before I can get to trying the soaps out and the first one I chose to use is the Soy Milk Soap. I just want to share how the product was nicely packaged, wrapped up in a nice glittery pouch. I like the simple product info on the soap as well.

When I unwrapped the soymilk soap, the first thing that impressed me is the cute little touch on the soap, one side showing the brand name, the other side the type of soap you are using. It has been weeks now since I started using the soap and yes, I can still see the wordings on the soap! It's nice to be reminded of what soap I'm using as I happily lathered on to my body and scrubbed away thinking, 'Hmm.. nice soap, what soap is this?' and I just flipped the soap and see the wordings.  

The soap size is just nice to fit in the palm of my hand, it does not smell (I chose the unscented type) and I like that the soap does not crumbles/cakes off at all compared to the commercial soaps I used before. I also noticed that my skin is not as dry as it used to be and can't wait to try the other 2 soap types I got!

Btw, I also like that they also sell DIY soapmaking kits, something I've wanted to try (which is why I got it for my prize selection as well) but with 2 kiddos and 3rd one coming in 3 months time, I do hope to be able to try it out one of this day!

You can find more info at Laven Soap's Facebook page.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I won the products by Laven Soap from a logo designing contest and promised to share my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.