Above, I'm wearing You Lingerie's Lark Maternity & Nursing Bra ($52) The most depressing part of breastfeeding is the ugly nursing bras. They remind me of brassieres our grandparents used to wear: Boring, full-coverage, and made of unflattering material. When I was approached by You Lingerie, I was in shock that their undergarment collection for mothers was so beautiful. Their nursing and maternity bras, sleep and lounge wear are designed to not only be sexy, colorful and luxurious, but they also have been crafted to provide great support and functionality to pregnant and nursing mothers. Pictured: You Lingerie's Lennox Nursing & Pumping Bra ($56). You Lingerie's mission is to make breastfeeding and expecting moms feel confident and look beautiful everyday and let me tell you, they do exactly that. Finally! A lingerie company that understands that maternity wear can and should be pretty and therefore make you feel good wearing it. Below, you'll find a quick review of the Lennox Nursing & Pumping Bra ($56). In the blur of motherhood its really easy to not feel sexy so, do yourself a favor and invest in a great nursing bra, it works wonders for your self esteem. Well, at least, it did for mine.
4 Comments
Whether you're a first-time parent, second- or third-time parent, you can still ensure that your birth announcement has all the necessary information. When to send announcements, who to send them to, and whether paper or electronic are okay—we've compiled everything you need to know about birth announcement etiquette below. Information to include: Full Name of the Baby Names of the Baby's Parents and Siblings Baby's Birth Date Baby's Weight Baby's Length When should you send it? That depends on you and your schedule. You've just welcomed a new baby into your home, so friends and family will understand that you're too busy to send them right away. There's no official cut-off time to send an announcement, so don't stress if a few months have passed. We sent ours 5 weeks after Ryder was born but I definitely rushed to get them out. Who should you send it to? This is entirely up to you. You don't have to send it to everyone you know. We didn't. We sent it to everyone who we consider close to us and of course, those that would feel hurt if we didn't send one their way. If you're working with a budget you could send printed announcements to just your immediate family and closest friends and then do an email announcement or a Facebook post to let everyone else know. Electronic or paper announcements? The type of announcements you choose to send depends on your preference and what you think family and friends will appreciate. Electronic announcements can definitely be more cost-effective, but printed announcements are lovely as keepsakes. We went with printed announcements. We chose Basic Invite for our prints and could not be more pleased with the outcome. Basic Invite is one of the few websites that allows customers almost unlimited color options with instant previews online. Once you select a design you can change the color of each element on the card to over 180 different color options so you can make sure the card is exactly how you want it down to the littlest detail. They also offer more than 40 different color envelopes. Their foil options - silver, gold and rose gold - are super pretty too. Basic invite offers so many unique baby announcement cards to chose from. Since we had so many beautiful pictures to share, we decided to go with a folded option. That way, we were able to showcase multiple images of the baby, a family portrait as well as a shot if the two boys together. The name of the card we went with was called "Modern Magazine Mini Fold" and we customized all the colors of the card. We were so impressed with how many options there were. Basic Invite also offers custom business cards. Their holiday card selection is also beautiful and right now they are offering 30 percent off with code HOLI30. We'll be ordering our Christmas cards from the site for sure.
PLAN We planned our newborn photo shoot well in advance and I would suggest this for anyone planning to do one. Babies are the easiest to move into positions and photograph within the first two weeks they are born so its important to have it set up a month or two before the baby arrives. The photographer will likely slot you in around your due date then have you text or call them once the baby is born so that they can fit you in within that time frame of two weeks. PREPARE Preparation is key. I bought a few items for the baby to be photographed in but also allowed the photographer to use her own props, outfits and creative design. That's why it's important to choose someone you trust to take the photos. Also, someone whose work you like so do your research. Our photographer, Ella Blue Photography did an amazing job, was easy to work with and her studio was super clean (so important for a brand new baby). I also really liked her work so I knew they would come out the way I wanted. THEME Come up with an idea of how you want the shots to look - soft and light, bright and colorful or dark and moody. I liked the idea of using light colors against a white backdrop for the shoot. CLOTHING Keep it simple and skip busy patterns because they don't photograph well. I wore all white and we dressed Ryder in white, grey, tan, and taupe outfits/swaddles. I wanted to add a touch of color so I had Rich and Richie wear matching light blue shirts. They also both wore tan pants to match one of Ryder's outfits. We all stuck within the same "family" of colors/shades. COMMUNICATE Your baby’s safety comes first. If there is ever a point where you become uncomfortable, just let the photographer know. Also, don't be afraid to let the photographer know if you don't like something or if you want something done differently. Communication is key to a successful shoot. FEED A well fed baby is a happy baby so most photographers will tell you to feed and burp your baby right before your session to ensure a happy, sleepy (“milk drunk”) babe. Same thing applies to a toddler. We made sure Richie had a great breakfast prior to the shoot and brought a ton of snacks. RELAX
Photoshoots can take up to four hours so its best to be patient and enjoy it. Moms tend to stress out when it's a new experience for them and they aren’t used to the waiting game that is newborn photography. They see their baby being fussy or having a difficult time getting settled and panic. Choose a photographer that has plenty of experience and knows what they are doing so you don't need to worry.
As a breastfeeding mom I have a double duty. My job is to nourish my baby and myself. What I put into my body is my top priority. It’s ideal to ensure my food choices are full of nutrients that may have a positive impact on Ryder and myself.
One of the most important nutrients to consume is calcium. A breastfeeding mom has a storage of calcium in her bones. Should their diet be lacking in calcium, the body will remove calcium from the bones to supply it to the breastfeeding infant. Some studies have shown a 3 to 5 percent reduction in a mother’s bone mass during breastfeeding, most likely due to insufficient intake of calcium from diet. This can lead to osteoporosis later in life. Breastfeeding moms should consume 1,000 mg of calcium per day to protect themselves from this bone loss during lactation. Also, your baby needs calcium to develop healthy teeth, bones, muscles and heart. That said, it's important to have three servings of calcium every day. In addition to milk or yogurt and cheese, I'm a huge dark leafy greens fans. Broccoli and kale are life! I also love Viactiv Calcium Soft Chews as a calcium supplement because its difficult to meet the daily calcium requirement of 1,000 mg every single day especially when I'm chasing a two year old toddler and nursing a newborn. The Viactiv chews also have Vitamin D which is an important nutrient to absorb the calcium. I took them while I was pregnant as well because many prenatal vitamins provide only 20-30% of the recommended daily amount of calcium for women who are expecting .
The Viactiv chews are available in either milk chocolate or caramel flavors. I'm a huge fan of the milk chocolate. I purchase them from my local Rite Aide but they are also available nationwide at supermarket, drugstores and major retailers, including CVS, Target and Walmart. You can find all locations here.
You can read about my favorite breastfeeding foods here. |
natalie ferro aurigemaSharing all the things that make me happy through this blog. *Disclosure*
Some of the links I use are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission when you click on that link and make a purchase. All content is subject to copyright and may not be used without written permission from me. Instagram
|