Together With You

31/08/2022

If you’re looking for something to do with your baby and get out to meet other parents!

26/08/2022

Just popped these on the bookshelf at Turning Point International Counselling Center in Stockholm. If you’re struggling and need some extra support through your pregnancy or postpartum, check out www.turning-point.se

19/08/2022

👏👏👏 Share with anyone you know who is expecting!

Back when I was pregnant,
and excited as can be,
I bought a lovely moses basket,
just right for my baby.

I could picture him there in it,
asleep and looking cute.
Belly full of milk,
and a snuggly sleep suit.

The day arrived, my baby came!
We took him home to rest.
We placed him in his basket, but
all he wanted was my breast!

The next few weeks we kept on,
trying different tips and tricks,
But everytime we put him down,
he'd start to lick his lips.

Was my milk not enough for him?
Or was something really wrong?
We tried every winding tip,
every app and every song.

Finally we spoke to someone,
who put our minds at rest.
It's NORMAL for our baby
to want to be upon our chest.

After being squashed and warm
inside my belly where he grew,
My chest was the best place
to recreate all that he knew.

Warmth, heartbeat and breathing
underneath where he is curled.
It's the very best for him
and supports from womb to world.

So next time when I'm pregnant
I won't be a big investor
Instead I'll do some reading
all about the fourth trimester

30/06/2022

Science keeps telling us to our children. It's interesting how many scientists are now focusing on the thinking that happens not in your but in your . You have spread through your innards, and there's increasing attention on the vagus nerve, which emerges from the brain stem and wanders across the heart, lungs, kidney and gut.

The nerve is one of the pathways through which the body and brain talk to each other in an unconscious conversation. Much of this conversation is about how we are relating to others. Human thinking is not primarily about individual calculation, but about social engagement and .

Stephen Porges is well-known for his “Polyvagal Theory,” which focuses on how the concept of is fundamental to our mental state. Porges tells us that those who have experienced have bodies that are highly reactive to perceived threat. They don't like public places with loud noises. They live in fight-or-flight mode, stressed and anxious. Or, if they feel trapped and constrained, they go numb. Their voice and tone go flat.

Cuddles help develop emotional granularity. If bodily reactions can drive people apart they can also heal. Martha Welch of Columbia University points to the importance of loving physical touch to lay down markers of .

Under the old brain-only paradigm, we told people to self-regulate their emotions through conscious self-talk. But real emotional help comes through co-regulation. When a caregiver and a child physically hold each other, their bodily autonomic states harmonise, connecting on a level. Together they move from separate distress to mutual calm.

When we step back and see the brain and body thinking together, the old distinction between reason and emotion doesn't seem to make sense. Our very perceptions of the world are shaped by the predictions our brains are making about our physical autonomic states. And we can also see how important it is to teach emotional granularity, starting from birth.



Posted •

30/06/2022

Mum Brain Power! 💪

23/06/2022

Wishing you all a glad Midsommar! 🌺 🌸🌼🌺🌸🌼🌸🇸🇪🐸🐸

08/06/2022

What an absolutely wonderful concept/idea/ thing to offer!
Rest is gold.

*applications now closed* apply for a free two-week stay in the Old Knitting Factory’s residency space, open to single mothers and other twice-marginalized single parents. Come enjoy the beauty and peace of Connemara in our inaugural residency.

From the announcement newsletter:

This weekend I had my first fellow-single-mom overnight guest here, with her kids. One kid got the futon upstairs, one got the fold-out bed, and the mom slept in the residency room. We went to the beach and I paddled with her kids while she sat in the sun. I roasted chicken for dinner and flipped French toast for breakfast, and all the kids ate (although my kid, in defiance of his heritage, continues to reject potatoes in most forms).

And it was huge for me, just huge, to be able to offer this space to the people I’ve dreamed of giving it to all along. Even just as it is, leaky window and all.

So I want to offer it, just as it is, to you.

I am opening applications for our first residency, over the first two weeks of August, right now. Inspired by the work of , , and , I am offering it as a rest residency, meaning that you don’t have to be an artist to apply; you just have to be a single mom (or other twice-marginalized single parent) who could use some rest. And couldn’t we all?

You’ll have use of our residency space for the first two weeks of August, free of charge, and you are welcome to bring your children or not, as best suits your needs. I will be able to offer a childcare stipend from the current crowdfund phase.

I want to keep it simple and accessible, so the application will reflect that:

To apply, just email oldknittingfactory@gmail.com with a brief anonymous statement (up to 500 words, shorter is fine!) on why this residency would be useful to you and your children (whether they will come with you or stay with someone else while you rest). Please do not include your name in this statement; you may send it as a Word document, PDF, or in the body of your email. Statements will be assigned a random number and read without names attached.

Feel free to write nominating a single parent in your life, too!

Learn more about the Old Knitting Factory, support our crowdfund, and help make space for single moms to make art:

https://oldknittingfactory.com/our-story

06/06/2022

It’s National Homebirth Day in the U.K. I hope one day soon such a day is marked in Sweden too.
I had the pleasure of one in Scotland and one in Sweden. Both were completely different, but both were exactly what I wanted.

29/05/2022

It’s Mother’s Day here in Sweden, a day I my self have not always felt at ease with over the years.
Sometimes it’s hard to know whether one should ask for something, expect something, or even want something… and in that there is a lot of room for disappointment. For partners to forget, not go all in, to take it too far and it not seem authentic from the kids, kids really not care…

So this year, I thought what do I want from this day that is gifted to me as a mother?

And I decided I wanted to show myself appreciation, and give myself rest and recuperation at a spa. Perhaps my kids learn to do the same for themselves if I show them how.
These few hours on my own were just what I needed - and so I am content and happy with how I celebrated this day.

(Note the picture is of a “sleeping sauna” - cosy bed to sleep in front of a cosy fire! Perfect!)

How ever this day has been for you who are mothers, I hope you have shown yourself appreciation and love, because you absolutely deserve it! ❤️

If your day didn’t pan out how you would have liked, now you get to plan something special for you next year!(or next week!😉)

20/05/2022

Have you met Nicci? She makes gorgeous cloth diapers/ nappies, breast pads and sanitary wear .se . And is an international mamma here in Sverige!

I love her products! So much so that I really want one of her diaper patterns as wallpaper!
Show some love and check out her creations - or simply coo over her little one!

Posted • .se Some of my absolute favourite moments right now are these post-feed, sleepy snuggles 🥰🥰

I have loved my breastfeeding journey with baby 1, and now also baby 2, but let's be honest, at times it can be TOUGH!
Feeding a baby is not glamorous, it is late nights, hours and hours of burping, countless spit-ups on shoulders (or as my hubby calls them "badges"), and then there are moments like these, that just makes it 10000% worth it all 😁

And I am love, love LOVING my super-absorber breast pads! Super soft bamboo/ cotton against skin, and dang cute prints to boot.
So, if you have an expecting friend who is not so sure about cloth diapers, why not gift a set of breast pads in stead! They are a super gentle first step into the wonderful world of cloth ❤

Big love to you all!
Nicci

19/05/2022

How are you finding transitioning to a new culture abroad? Are you in a holiday like phase excited to learn as much as possible, or do you feel like you’re at the bottom of a tall ladder with no energy to climb and learn more, or perhaps you’re on a rope bridge, daily life has just enough adrenaline raising moments but you’re confident that you always get to the other side where it will feel stable again.

Living abroad isn’t a linear experience for most, some times it can feel fantastic and other times it can feel impossible to know why on earth you’ve made the decision to move abroad in the first place.

Having children abroad can be a way to help you connect to the community and meet others and begin to make the place feel like home, but it can also make you long for home like nothing before, to have that secure base of what feels good and “normal” and easy to navigate in a sleep deprived mode.

For some people it is hard to know where home is - and that is ok too!

Where are you on your journey?