“Here, this is like magic cream.” The midwife smiled as she handed me a sample sachet of lanolin, the recognisable purple branding leaping out at me. I was experiencing painful feeding, and it appeared that the answer was “magic cream” at least, according to the staff at my local maternity unit.

4am is strange, isn’t it? It’s too early to be morning, but it’s not really nighttime still either. As a breastfeeding parent it felt to me like a liminal space between one day ending and another starting; my baby and I held in the predawn darkness through yet another feed…

“…And, as I always do, I marveled at the magic that happens when someone is held, heard, and believed. “

“While on the surface, there is a push to breastfeed, that can in itself can come across as pressure…”

“… crying and expressing feelings of disappointment, sadness, frustration, or anger is normal and healthy. We have an opportunity in that moment to teach our children to feel secure and loved with whatever feelings come up for them. “

“…STILL in 2022 you don’t have to look far to come across the message that by X weeks or Y months old your baby “should” be going however long between feeds, or should be able to soothe themselves without reassurance and support from an adult.”