Sunday, November 15, 2009

Winter:Breastfeeding

With the year-end holidays coming up, many of us might be heading to the northern hemispheres and into colder weather. Some may just be going a little up north, where a jacket alone would suffice, while some may be going even further up north where a couple more layers may be needed, and possibly even thermal scarves and a thick winter coat as you head towards subzero snowy regions. How can we handle a breastfeeding baby without freezing our bellies off? The trick is to layer. The very basic is as shown in this photo:

1. Wear a Bra that can be easily pulled down to nurse. Any of the leisure bras would probably be suitable.

2. Wear a nursing tank top, such as:
- Jean Tank
- Stappy Bra Tank
- Heidi Cross-wrap Tank
- Sandie Tank

3. Layer a long-sleeve nursing top over:
- Cindy Long-Sleeve
- Deana Scrunch Long-Sleeve

4. If the weather is going to be very cold, you can also layer another sweater or a fleece high-neck top before having a jacket on. The sweater or fleece-top would be fairly stretchable so that you can easily lift it up and access your layered nursing tops for breastfeeding, as shown in the photo above. It'd be good to have high-necked top as you might find it tough to have to handle dangling scarves with a baby to manage as well.

Oh, and for me, I usually sling my baby first, before I wear my jacket. Here's some photos of one of our breastfeeding mothers and her baby in wintery Scandinavia.
4 Bfg by the seaside, Danish style.
Baby's in there!
3 Shielding baby from the sun and howling Danish wind. This is the chambray sling you made for me 8-).