I have been M.I.A. the past ten days; so much so, you’d be forgiven for thinking I’d abandoned these daily scribbles once again. Not so my friends! I just had so much going on – from helping my husband over the Jazz weekend to breast scans to a barely-squeezed-in coffee-date to sleepless nights (yes, still, but we are getting there) to exhausted tears – that getting to my scribbles was not an option. Not if I wanted to keep my sanity.

And I figured that was probably worth hanging onto.

Life this past week was hectic to say the least. The good news is that, despite having a few jam-packed days that were exhausting and stressful and my anxiety creeping back again, so far I haven’t gotten mastitis. I may have had the beginnings of it yesterday but at the very next feed I used a rather awkward but highly effective feeding position and it seemed to work.

I found this feeding-technique through a Whatsapp Mum group I’m in. One of the Mamas recommended it after it worked its magic on a particularly stubborn clogged duct for her. They nicknamed it the “Dangle Boobie”. Allow me to explain:

When feeding baby, lie him on his back then rest on all fours over him, allowing the troublesome boobie to, quite literally, dangle over his little mouth, then lean down so he can reach it. His suction combined with the help of gravity is the key to success.

It’s awkward, feels utterly ridiculous (a bit like playing twister with a boob stuffed in your baby’s mouth!) and if you’ve a feisty baby with wriggly, squirmy legs, you need to mind your lady parts. But it blooming works! And, for someone who’s been as plagued with these blocked ducts as I have, I’ll take a weird game of boob-twister over a fourth course of antibiotics, thanks very much.

That may be more than many of you ever wanted to know about the art of clearing a clogged duct while breastfeeding, so let’s move swiftly along.

It’s been a funny few days; between being a bit frazzled by all the stuff going on and a few bad nights’ sleep, I’ve been struggling with a tummy full of anxiety. The main culprit is trying to keep Bowie’s day-time routine running smoothly and then being stressed when our day goes hay-wire, as it has today.

I really should relax and go with the flow, I know that. Too rigid a routine will just create more problems and anyway, worrying about how much (or how little) sleep I’m going to get at night (because Bowie hasn’t had all his naps or his feeds have been a bit haphazard) isn’t going to help.

But that’s hard to do when you’ve got the Crazy Lady hormones spinning around in your system, on top of tiredness and stress. As one Mama recently commented:

I can’t understand how the world is overpopulated?!

And sometimes, it really is hard to see how so many women can go through the challenges of motherhood, several times over. But then my little munchkin does something ridiculously sweet and smiles up at me with that innocent adoring face…

Babies. They’re just too darn cute.

Ciao darlings!

Liz