Ellie May Maternity

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Ellie May Maternity

Maternity Nurse services to support you in the early days, weeks and months of having a newborn �

13/08/2025

Between measuring spoons and some books, who needs baby toys! 😂🤷‍♀️

11/08/2025

I mean, I saw sharing her beautiful work on Babywearing UK and what else could I do?! 😍

Now I have a literal badge of honour...well, 2 👀 to let people around me know that, if they're struggling, and looking for support, I have skills and understanding that may be just what they need 🌟🤱

So hi 👋 I'm just your friendly neighbourhood:
🙋‍♀️ Babywearing Peer Supporter - trained to inform and support those who want to safely use slings and carriers to keep baby close
🙋‍♀️ Breastfeeding Support - approaching my 2nd annual registration renewal as an Infant Feeding Coach and passionate about educating and supporting parents on their feeding journeys whatever their feeding goals may be

I'm interested to know: if you were out and about and having some difficulty with feeding your baby or comfortably fitting your baby in your sling....how would you feel if I, and my new badges, approached and offered a helping hand? What language do you think you'd be most receptive to? Would the badges reassure you I'm there as a trained Supporter not just a stranger off the street passing uninformed judgement? 🤷‍♀️ Let me know how YOU would feel? 👇

07/08/2025

So, while baby snuggles up at your breast, how do you know that she is actually taking in milk? 🤱

Here's some things to look for:

🥛 Full, rounded cheeks while baby sucks - not sucking in like on a straw

🥛 A pattern of sucking - short, fast sucks while baby requests milk, then slow, deep sucks and swallows, ending with rapid flutter sucks towards the end. You can use your hands to stimulate another let-down when sucking slows or baby gets sleepy or swap breasts

🥛 Feeds lasts between 5 and 45 minutes...longer or shorter may mean baby is struggling (although all babies are different so look at your baby as a whole, and if already concerned, this may be relevant)

🥛 SWALLOWS! Every few sucks after the letdown, baby should be swallowing - baby's chin drops (indicating a swallow) and you may even hear it!

🥛 At least 5 or 6 wet nappies and 2-4 poos in 24 hours after day 3-5 post-partum. There is an unhelpful rumour that days without pooing is "normal" but this, just like if you didn't 💩 for days, isn't true (at least for those first 6 weeks)

🥛 Good weight gain after any early days post-birth weight loss. On average, baby should be gaining approximately 28g/day after they've returned to birth-weight

Meanwhile, your baby, having satisfied themselves and taken themselves off the breast, who you gently lie down (awake or asleep), who starts to cry immediately or wakes...they're most likely just being a baby and are not necessarily saying they're still hungry! As I repeat often, our human babies are Carry Mammals and feel safest in-arms and will, often, be startled or unsettled on being put down even after a lovely 3-course milky meal! 👶

💬 If you have any concerns about your little one's feeding, I can support you as an Infant Feeding Coach

05/08/2025

So many times, formula is given as the solution to any breastfeeding bumps in the road...

🤱 Baby wants to feed frequently
🤱 Baby cries when put down
🤱 Baby wakes at night
🤱 Feeding parent is overwhelmed
🤱 Baby seems unsettled
🤱 Breastfeeding is uncomfortable

The list goes on...and you're told "just give them a bottle", "if we could feed the baby, you could have a break", "they're hungry. They need more. Give them a bottle"

Or the feeding parent themselves is panicking, worrying about supply or that responding to their baby with breastfeeding is creating bad habits and making their baby reliant...or other worries 😫

The reality?

🌟 A very small proportion of breastfeeding mothers have a physiological problem limiting their supply.
🌟 Babies are designed to feed little and often day and night with tiny tummies
🌟 Babies don't just feed for hunger, but for thirst, comfort, regulation etc.
🌟 Babies are carry mammals, designed to be carried close and upright, fed on demand and crying when put down (not wanting to be eaten by a lion)
🌟 While breastfeeding is natural and is not meant to hurt when optimal, you are not failing if you and your baby need support to get to that optimal point!
🌟 Breasts were designed to respond to a baby not a pump so if you pump to see how much you make, know it's probably not reflective of how much your baby gets

🍼 Formula feeding doesn't guarantee more sleep or your baby needing you less
🍼 Bottle/formula feeding also should be done optimally to avoid discomfort for your baby
🍼 It's much easier to overfeed, and therefore create a vicious cycle of an uncomfortable and hungry baby via bottle-feeding
🍼 Just because your baby accepts and downs a bottle....does not mean your milk isn't enough
🍼 There are lots of other ways your support system can reduce overwhelm that do not involve feeding the baby

It is not your fault that society (advertising, social media, media etc.) Have sold the idea of a "good" baby sleeping all the time (in a bassinet/on their own) feeding on predictable schedules and needing to do it all yourself...🙉

It's ok to ask for help 💖

03/08/2025

This is your permission to put away the timers and cover up the clock. Just watch your baby 👶 👀

In an ideal world for a baby, baby would be at the breast more like 16 hours a day!...🤱

Before you say it...yes, that's just unrealistic for most. But there's definitely a middle ground between this and the Formula company rhetoric of babies feeding huge amounts every 3 hours 🍼⏰️

Of course, if you can stay resting with baby skin-to-skin most of the day and night, letting them find and feed from the breast on demand, then go ahead! Amazing! In some cultures across the world this is actively encouraged with family members rallying around to care for the parent-baby diad so they can entirely focus on each other for the first weeks and even months 🥳

But, for everyone else, just forget what you've read or been told by Aunty Susan about baby needing to learn to wait for the next feed time. 8-12 feeds in 24 hours is a minimum to aim for so you don't need to be counting when feeds are 'due' if it feels pretty recent and baby is already rooting around for a ni**le 🤷‍♀️

Watch for baby's hunger cues and offer a feed, letting them take what they need or want. Remember their tummy is tiny! Give them breaks for burps as needed, swap sides - including during paced bottle feeding - and perhaps do a nappy change to wake them a bit and offer more or confirm if they're full 🌟

Just keep watching and listening to your baby as they tell you when they're hungry or full, try and avoid offering a dummy during the day which might mask their cues and don't let the clock be the boss. The clock is not the boss of baby's belly or your b***s! ⏰️❌️

What have you been told about breastfeeding that doesn't sit right with you? Perhaps i can explore it in a later post! 👇💬

01/08/2025

1st-7th August every year is World Breastfeeding Week and this years theme is focused on Prioritising Breastfeeding and Creating Sustainable Support Systems 🤱

I'll be posting all things Breastfeeding this week and would love to hear from those planning, wanting, hoping to breastfeed as well as to hear from those of you currently in, or having completed, breastfeeding journeys! Let's start a conversation and inform and help each other! 👇

Remember, if you need breastfeeding support and advice, there are often free local services to access as well as the 📞☎️

I'll post separately but am also offering FREE support to 1 or 2 families looking for advice and guidance (in person - North-London based or virtual over video call if needed) 🌟

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London

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