- I feel like this delightful picture needs a caption 😂 This morning I had the pleasure of going to @sheffhallamuni along with some of the other incredible ladies who run sessions at the @angelictouchbabymassage studio to speak to 59 student midwives & tell them all about what we do & why ☺️ Invited by Jane, their tutor & a Midwife Led Pregnancy Yoga practitioner, there was Angela talking about Angelic Touch, Lindsay talking about Nottinghamshire Birth Company, Joanne talking about @keepabeat_first_aid_swyorks , Radha talking about @radha.wilsonjeffries - Reclaim Your Birth & me, talking about The Carrying Works. It was so amazing to listen to such passionate women talking & to talk to some of the student midwives, hearing them speak so passionately about supporting women & families to make informed choices about all aspects of pregnancy, birth & parenting is just wonderful ❤️ #TheCarryingWorks #AngelicTouchBabyMassage #NottinghamshireBirthCompany #KeepaBeatFirstAidSouthWestYorkshire #RadhaWilsonJeffries #ReclaimYourBirth #StudentMidwives #InspirationalWomenToday is World Kindness Day. So often we focus on being others, making sure everyone is ok. But what about you? Do you give yourself the same kindness that you give to others? I’d love to know what you do for you. Maybe it’s a day off adulting to just look after yourself. A visit to the gym. A therapy session. Or something else entirely. Let me know in the comments below ❤️ #TheCarryingWorks #WorldKindnessDayAt the start of this month, I finally relented & reported one of our library carriers to as stolen. The first in almost six years. This is something that I have found hugely difficult to do because one of the most important things to us is that we are supportive & understanding. We will do what ever we can to help. But there comes a point where we have to take matters further to try to retrieve the carrier & any outstanding fees, when someone is not responding to any attempt of contact or us reaching out to offer our help we are left with little option. And sadly, this means reporting the carrier to the police as stolen & beginning small claims proceedings to recover the outstanding fees. At last Fridays sling meet, we had a visitor many people were surprised to see but one we are hugely thankful for. This lovely officer from South Yorkshire Police popped by to return the carrier having managed to retrieve it for us & for that we are truly grateful, I don’t think we could thank them enough. We run the library as volunteers because we want to support families, we want to support them to find the option that works best for them & all the positives that come from finding the right sling. We have all been through our own difficulties & have found carrying has helped us through some truly dark times, as well as being a part of some of our best times. If we can bring those positives to even one families life, then we will do everything we can. Every penny that comes in, goes right back into the library & helps us be able to offer what we do, helps us buy new carriers & helps us to attend training so we can continue to offer you the best knowledge & support that we can. We don’t take deposits because you told us that would help us remain accessible to all of you. We have a huge selection of carriers, regularly adding new ones & taking requests for what to add next. We even offer families with a newborn under six weeks the opportunity to borrow a stretchy wrap for a month completely free of charge. All of this because of the support we receive from you all. Please, if you are struggling to return or to pay fees, talk to us. If we don’t know, we can’t help ❤️Here is our candle for the International Wave of Light, it is burning brightly & will do for the rest of the evening 🕯 This candle isn’t just for our babies but for all of those babies who are gone too soon, for their families, for everyone who has been affected. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Please feel free to add your candle in the comments or to share what you need, be that a name, a date or a picture or simply just a heart ❤️ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ One last thing for #BLAW2019, please reach out if you need support. I am always happy to talk or listen & I cannot sing the praises of JOEL -The Complete Package (@joeltcp) highly or often enough, I don’t think I would be where I am now without them 🌈 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #BreakTheSilence #WaveOfLight #BabyLossAwarenessToday is World Mental Health Day which takes place on the 10th October every year. The aim of this years campaign is to raise awareness & reduce the rates of suicide around the world. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ One of the things the Mental Health Foundation discusses being something which can help reduce these rates, is building community & support for those who are vulnerable. But how do we know who is vulnerable? There are many groups of people who may be considered vulnerable or at risk, but not everyone who IS vulnerable may be considered so by professionals or those around them. Some people who are really at their lowest may be functioning, going to work & appearing like they are coping, when the reality is that they really need someone, they really need some support. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Everyone has been or is going through something that we don’t know about. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ What can we do? Reach out to someone today? Text that person who has been a bit quiet? Message someone to say hello, to see how they are? Let someone know that you are thinking of them? Invite them to a sling meet, to come join you for a coffee & some cake? Ask if they are ok & then ask again. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I’m asking right now...HOW ARE YOU? Are you doing ok? Are you struggling? Are you swimming along happily, maybe just plodding along & treading water or do you feel like you are drowning? Please don’t struggle alone & be afraid to speak out. Reach out to a friend or family member. Speak out here in the comments, in our group (The Carrying Works Waffle) or at a sling meet. Meets aren’t just about the slings & the carrying, they are an opportunity to come & just be. We will hold your little one whilst you have a cuppa. We will offer an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on when you’re having a really rough day. We’ll do all of the above. We’re all here to talk, to support each other. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Should it really still be taboo to talk about our mental health in 2019? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #WorldMentalHealthDay #SuicidePrevention #40Seconds #BreakingTheSilence #BLAW2019 #TheCarryingWorksToday is the beginning of Baby Loss Awareness Week 2019. Miscarriage, still birth & infant loss are all still considered taboo topics by many. They shouldn’t be & this display at our local hospital, Bassetlaw Hospital, shows just one of the reasons why. Each butterfly represents a miscarriage, diagnosed before 16 weeks, between January & October 2019. There are 254 butterflies on the display. One of those butterflies represents one of our babies. I don’t know who the other butterflies represent, whether any of them represent babies of the same family, whether any of those families are someone I know or have perhaps even visited our library sessions. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ This year, the focus is on calling on the government & local authorities to ensure that all parents around the UK, who experience pregnancy or baby loss, and need specialist psychological support can access it, at a time and place that is right for them, free of charge, wherever they live. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I was lucky enough to receive the most incredible support from Tracy Bankier Counselling and Psychotherapy who works with JOEL -The Complete Package (@joeltcp), an incredible charity who not only support the mother but the family, not only with loss but with pregnancy after loss too. But they are one charity, one counsellor. We need to ensure there is provision for everyone, when & where they need it. Whether that be at the time or months, maybe years afterwards. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #BLAW2019 #BreakingTheSilence #IAm1In4 #JoelTCP #TheCarryingWorks #BassetlawMaternityVoicesPartnership #DBTHToday is #fathersmentalhealthawarenessday & I am a huge advocate for the mental health of everyone, no matter who you are. The incredible @ginger_webster is a dear friend of mine who’s writing is inspiring & his work with @lightsheffield is truly amazing. Head on over to his Facebook page (A Blog In The Life of a Ginger Webster) to read some of his work 🌈 Posted @withrepost • @the_positive_planner Today marks #fathersmentalhealthawarenessday. We created this image to help support the cause #bringittolight // Reposted from @mumologist // It has only been in recent years, and largely thanks to the campaigning work of Mark Williams @mark_williams_fmh and Andrew Mayers @drab dymayers among others, that we talk about how fathers and partners can struggle with their mental health. For too long, partners have only been discussed in relation to the mother - but of course becoming a parent can raise difficult issues, memories and challenges for both parents. We have turned our feed black today, thanks to the ladies at @the_positive_planner who created this beautiful image for us , to signify how hidden fathers’ and partners mental health issues still are. We’d love it if you’d join us to raise awareness of the stigma that still exists around male mental health. This isn’t just about getting men to talk about their thoughts and feelings. This is about saving lives. According to the Campaign Against Living Miserably, suicide is the biggest killer of men aged under 45 in the UK. For same sex partners too, the stigma and lack of support they often face can lead to increased mental health problems in this period. Please join us in spreading awareness of this stigma and encourage our partners to #bringittolight If you’d like to help us raise awareness of fathers’ and partners mental health, please post this square (you’re welcome to repost directly using an app like @repost) with this caption or any other caption of your choice. Please tag @the_positive_planner, @mark_williams_fmh, @drandymayers and us at @birthbetter If you are a father or partner and would like to share your story this week, please get in touch with @birthbetter . For support, please look at thecaThis week (17th-24th June) is Black Babywearing Week and the inspiring This Woman's Word, Doula Mars Lord, Johan Plus 3 & Mataanolife have launched the week here in the UK. The post shared & the caption below explains a little more about the week, where there is more information & links to profiles in Instagram. Posted @withrepost • @thiswomansword BBWWUK19: Our first article introducing the UK team behind @blackbabywearingweek is now live (click link in bio). Looking forward to sharing more. X from @blackbabywearingweekuk - BLACK BABY WEARING WEEK 17th-24th JUNE 2019 🤰🏿 Want to learn a little about the four co-founders of Black Baby Wearing Week UK, how it all happened and came together? 🤰🏿 The fabulous Dani of @thiswomansword has written an article setting it all out. You can find that on her blog. https://thiswomansword.com/parenting/black-babywearing-week-17th-24th-june-2019-uk-launch.html 🤰🏿 We are the UK branch of the wonderful @blackbabywearingweek set up by our US cousins 🤰🏿 We look forward to sharing fabulous images, great blog posts and articles and INTERVIEWS and the occasional giveaway. #BlackBabyWearing #BBWW19 #BlackBabyWearingWeek #TheRevolutionWillBeCarried #CarryingBabies #BBWW19UK - #regrannWe’ve have kindly been sent these beautiful stretchy wraps from @smallhausenstore & they will be joining the library as part of our stretchy wrap scheme! The scheme offers a one month hire of any stretchy wrap completely free of charge to all families with a baby under 6 weeks 😃 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I’m looking for two more local families (ideally with babies under 12 weeks) who would like to try these beautiful wraps for a month. You simply need to let us know what you think of the wraps & we’d love to see what you do in them; be it a trip to the shops, the school run, a holiday or even simply a snuggly nap at home ❤️ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #TheCarryingWorks #Smallhausen #CarryThemClose #CarryingMatters #StretchyWrap #FourthTrimester
- My Tweets
Tag Archives: Girasol
COTD Day 20: Taiwanese
Day 20 & the carry of the day is the Taiwanese. This one was one I hadn’t even heard of before & I was quite daunted when I looked at the pictures on Babywearing FSOT so YouTube was definitely required. … Continue reading
COTD Day 18: Poppins
Poppins. A hip carry & yet another new carry at that. I tend to find a carry that works, robins hip carry for example, then stick with it which is how I ended up stuck in a rut & doing … Continue reading
COTD Day 17: Robins
Robins hip carry is a carry I’ve done previously & I do use it quite regularly. It uses a size 4 wrap & the wrap I’ve used today is one I have borrowed from a friend. It is a Girasol … Continue reading
COTD Day 5: Mermaid
Day 5 & another new carry, the mermaid carry. I had no idea what this carry even was so I popped over to Rucking Marvellous & had a nosey at this tutorial I found linked in tutorial corner… I used … Continue reading
