By Kelly Gough

Now the cooler weather is upon us, it’s time to start thinking about your winter breastfeeding wardrobe. With some clever planning your breastfeeding clothes will take you right through winter and beyond with ease. A few easy tips will help you put together a stylish kit without breaking the budget.

Stay Warm – breastfeeding tops really do make a difference and keep your back and belly warm during winter. No more exposed skin - brrrr! The difference from regular clothes, is that breasfeeding clothing is designed to keep you covered while giving you quick and easy access for feeding. It really does makes breastfeeding more comfortable in cooler weather.

Great Lengths – choose a selection of sleeve lengths so your breastfeeding tops will take you through all seasons, giving you much better value for money. T-shirts, and ¾ sleeves are great under a jacket for winter and perfect on their own for spring and summer. Creating a versatile fashion kit will mean you have something to wear all year round.

Layer Up - add a nursing tank and layer up under jackets, cardigans and winter PJs. A great bra replacement for sleeping and an old-favourite to keep you warm during those cold night time feeds.

Grab a hoodie - a winter must-have and one of the leading trends for winter. Our Funky Nursing Hoodie is a comfortable casual basic that will take you from home, walking and to mother’s group with ease long after you finish breastfeeding.

Get Stripey - not stroppy that is from the cold and a hungry baby! Stripes are another big influence this winter, so be sure to add them to your wardrobe including accessories such as scarves or beanies. Black, red and grey are hot colours this winter so look for stripes in these colours.

Classic Style – choose tops that you can still wear long after you finish breastfeeding. By selecting designs with discreetly hidden openings no one will know you are wearing a breastfeeding top. Stretch your dollar just that little bit further with classic designs that will become wardrobe favourites for years to come.

Remember that just because you’re breastfeeding, it doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice your sense of style! With fashion breastfeeding tops you can still take your baby out with friends for coffee and discreetly feed in public. Best of all, it does wonders for your self-esteem when you have something nice and new to wear.

Kelly Gough is a business mum who manages Nuvo Maternity, an online boutique and nursing wear label that specialises in fashion breastfeeding clothes and tops.

Babies and Infants can benefit from a Chiropractic check-up of their spine and nervous system. Mums are amazing women doing everything within their power to ensure their baby’s health and wellbeing during pregnancy. Then there is the magnificent birth and arrival of their precious little one and mums natural instinct is to be protective. You have your baby’s eyes, ears, heart checked – what about the system that controls everything – baby’s nervous system?

Why is it necessary to have the precious little baby checked by a Chiropractor?

The answer is quite simple really. Baby has gone through quite a lot in the birthing process. It is not unusual for baby to have subluxations and some misalignment of the spine. Towbin A, reported in the article on latent spinal cord and brainstem injury in newborn infants – Develop. Med. Child Neurol., 1969. “The birth process … is potentially a traumatic, crippling event…. mechanical stress imposed by obstetrical manipulation — even the application of standard orthodox procedures may prove intolerable to the foetus. The view has been expressed clinically that most signs of neonatal injury observed in the delivery room are neurological…”. Chiropractors are trained to correct subluxations and spinal misalignments. It is therefore important to have baby’s spine and nervous system checked by a chiropractor sooner rather than later. Mums are amazed by how much better baby tends to sleep, feed and behave after their Chiropractic check-up.

Why do babies feel so much better after a chiropractic check-up? 

The chiropractor identifies and treats any subluxations and misalignments in baby’s spine, this generally allows baby to move more freely, also it removes any interference to transmission of messages through the spinal cord and nerves to the baby’s body, organs, tissues etc. The interference free communication through the nervous system enables the baby to naturally grow and develop optimally.

Want more information feel free to see our website: http://gfc.dr-robyn.com

Dr Robyn Leeder is a Melbourne Chiropractor, with a practice in Greensborough for the past 11 years. She has special interests in womens health, pregnancy and paediatrics supplemented by post graduate courses. She is also currently studying to be a diplomate of the prestigious American Chiropractic Neurology Board.

Travelling with children can be very challenging at times, especially when it comes to sleep time.  The Travel Buddies™ neck pillows are the perfect answer as they are designed to comfortably support sleepy heads on planes, trains, and automobiles and keep everyone well rested!  They are so snugly and soft that kids will take them everywhere and won’t leave them behind.  Available in adorable animal designs, the Travel Buddies™ are machine washable and suitable for ages 18 months and up.  RRP $26.60

Stockist details: www.littlehelpers.com.au

Baby is your baby no-more, quickly moving towards kindy or school, with a brief peck on the cheek and barely a glance over the shoulder – oh, how did it go so quickly? But before you’ve had time to adjust to this new situation an awful thought hits – you haven’t got space for the school clothes, the paintings, the works of art, the sports wear… in fact you haven’t got room for ANYTHING!

Baby “stuff” takes up an enormous amount of room – from the cot that you can’t find the time to disassemble to the copious amounts of teeny-tiny baby clothing, socks, shoes and hats we manage to collect.

Now before you pack it all off to a family or friend who you are “sure can use it”, really ask yourself if they can, or have they in fact got most of what they need – will you just be transferring your lack of space to their place? Remember, friends often find it hard to knock back freebies, even if it is nothing like what they want! Review your motives!!

How about listing your items on eBay or other auction sites? This can be great fun, but make sure you read the fine print regarding fees.., there are listing fees, fees for more than one photo, bold type fees, and selling fees to mention just a few and be warned that if you accept payments via Paypal, there are fees then too. Do your sums on the small stuff – by the time you spend on all the fees, not to mention the time it may not be worth the effort. A neat trick that you will see a lot of on the auction sites is to bundle smaller, more generic baby wear items that may not attract a lot of attention alone into bulk lots, add a few stand alone pieces of well preserved clothing in great brands like Osh-Kosh or Fred Bare and you should see more interest. Larger items like cots, change tables, drawers can be sold as a “lot” too – do some research, take into account your location and how desirable the items may be separately.

You could always have a stall at a local market, providing it isn’t a “crafts only” style affair. There are also specific baby stuff markets (see, you’re not alone!) – check out www.babyandkidsmarket.com.au for more information. These options, along with the trusty garage sale, have the benefit of REAL people contact – nothing quite as nice as chatting to a loving grandma who is thrilled to have picked up a bargain for her new grand child! If you do choose the garage sale route, and advertise in the local paper word your ad carefully – you don’t want 5am visitors thinking they might just pick up the ultimate collectible, when your main saleable items are a baby bath, car seat and jolly jumper!

Then there are ads in the “for sale” section of the local paper, on different web sites and in the Trading Post – also online now. With normally limited word space, you may find you get a lot of queries from people for whom the item just isn’t what they are looking for – but advertising the items separately can be expensive… it may be worth checking with your local paper though, ours has a bargain section where ads for items under $50 are free.

Another option is the exchange sites like www.freecycle.org.au - you may also find people looking to exchange or purchase items on your favourite parenting site or forum – you’ll be amazed!

If you would prefer to give your items away, check with your friends what they might GENUINELY like and give the rest to a local charity. One of our local groups, St Luke’s, can use just about anything, from books  to children’s toys, baby clothing, furniture and things like maternity wear that some of their clients simply can’t afford.

Whatever method you choose to de-clutter, be kind to those on the receiving end and make sure items are clean and in good repair. Whether you sell or gift you are a winner in multiple ways, more cash in your pocket or a warm fuzzy feeling, but most importantly MORE SPACE!

Cath Freemantle is mummy to Cameron and Jack and director of online discount maternity, baby and chidlren’s wear store, Bump, Baby & Beyond.