Pregnancy Diary Week 25: LushTums Goody Bag

Week 25

There isn’t much call to think about nipple cream before you have a baby, but advice from a friend on using the stuff before I had my first baby was some of the most helpful wisdom I received. During pregnancy, it can feel like there is so much to do, so much to buy, and so much to organise and it’s very easy to focus all your planning on the tiny human who hasn’t even arrived yet. However, as you are more than aware, this tiny human has been growing and developing inside your rather wonderful and miraculous body for what possibly feels like an eternity, will be making an appearance through your subsequently rather wonderful and miraculous vagina or belly, and will be entirely dependent on you for months and years to come. This all round makes you pretty wonderful and miraculous, no debate needed. It is therefore so important that you are also well looked after during pregnancy and beyond. Although this might sound obvious, it is not always easy to remember when much of our attention (and everyone else’s) is on the small people. Because of this, it was so amazing to receive a fabulous LushTums goody bag at my last pregnancy yoga class, which felt like a little Christmas stocking, albeit in June. The bag contained oodles of lovely and helpful things for pregnancy and the early stages of parenting and was a brilliant reminder about looking after myself. As already referred to, one of these things was a sachet of Lansinoh nipple cream, which if you end up breast feeding is like a little packet of magical unicorn jism (a good thing, trust me). It’s not cheap but a tube lasts forever (I think I bought three during the 15 months I breastfed my first child) and is a complete saviour. I was advised to apply it regularly from the very start of breastfeeding before experiencing any soreness, and this really helped for me. Not that I had thought about it much before but my nipples are something I value quite highly and so caring for them in this way was a big win. But it’s not all about nipples, oh no. The goody bag also contained some nutritious and delicious snacks including local “healthy chocolate”, handmade by a company called Brontie & Co. I thought the concept of healthy chocolate was an oxymoron, but as it contains no dairy, gluten, soya, refined sugar, artificial additives or preservatives, and, as confirmed by my rather experienced palette, was definitely chocolate, ticks both boxes. It was also, perhaps surprisingly, bloody delicious. In addition to this and other healthy snacks, there were a number of discount vouchers for local places that specialise in pregnancy and post-natal treatments. These included things that I have some knowledge or experience of such as osteopathy, acupuncture, massage, and facials, but there was also a flyer about salt therapy. Something that I had never heard of before. Salt therapy is supposed to be incredibly beneficial for strengthening the immune system, which as I know only too well, can need a bit of a boost during pregnancy. I haven’t yet made time to do anything like this but I now have an excellent excuse for some pampering and will definitely be booking in for some kind of pregnancy treatment in the next few weeks. I also enjoyed reading the free copy of The Green Parent included in my little bag of goodness. This is a magazine for conscious living in the modern world, which contains interesting and insightful articles on topics such as ethical living, environmental issues, relationships and physical and mental health. All stuff that is relevant to parents and non-parents alike, but particularly resonates when feeling the responsibility of raising the next generation. As a LushTums mum, you can get £5 off a subscription to The Green Parent (details in the Links under the Resources page on the LushTums website). So, this was a lovely little perk on an otherwise fairly ordinary Thursday morning, and helped me to feel a bit more loved and a bit more special — important messages that we should try to remember at all times but particularly during pregnancy. If you don’t do anything else, make sure you do one positive thing for yourself today and remember that looking after yourself is also looking after your baby.