GIFT IDEAS!

Creating a Basket of Support for new parents will not only help the recovery process but also help ensure that the nursing parent has the time and energy to just relax and breastfeed, taking care of themselves and their baby.

Something old or Something Borrowed babies are new but they DO NOT need all new things! Its a great time to share helpful tools you or your family used to support breastfeeding!
Do you have a great Nursing Chair you can lend to New Parents?
Nursing Pillows you are no longer using?
Baby Slings or other Baby-wearing gear that is still in good condition but that you and your child have out-grown?

For the Crafty Amongst Us
Sew covers for nursing pillows for when diaper leaks or other spills happen.
Sewn Nursing pads are easy to make and handy to have around.
Know someone who is a a great shot with a camera? Ask them if they would volunteer to do a breastfeeding photo-shoot to commemorate this important time in the lives of parents and children. You could even take pictures at the shower to show the Parents all the supportive people they have around them.
Breastfeeding bracelets to help nursing parents remember what side the babe fed on last.
Using permanent markers and scraps of coloured fabric you can ask all the guests to make a "prayer flag" with supportive wishes, advice and images for the nursing family to hang in their home or in Baby's room. Just attach the pieces to a piece of string after they have been decorated. (picture to follow)

Community Support Coupons: Helping nursing parents does NOT need to mean buying them stuff. Have Friends and Family Create Coupons of support with services ranging from meal preparation, house cleaning, laundry, walking the dog, taking other children on a field-trip, crying baby rocking, fetching groceries... Meal Train is a handy online service that helps to organize all these helping hands. Saves the Parents having to organize who will bring food or do laundry when, and helps to spread out the care over time rather than in just the first week.

Support Self-Care for the Nursing Parent
Gift Certificates are handy ways for out of town or busy supporters to offer support. We recommend things like:

• Massage or other body and energy work,  house cleaning, Healthy take-out or delivery, annual La Leche League Membership (which includes a subscription to their New Beginnings Magazine), Omega 3 vitamins to support energy, mood as well as infant nutrition.
• For an IBCLC lactation consultant - Great problem solving support when things are not going as planned.
• Prenatal breastfeeding classes if they are offered in your area. A great way for the Pregnant Parent and Partner to learn the basics before Baby arrives. Not all classes are created equally, so ask around.
• For a REAL bra shop to be fitted for a good nursing bra by an expert.

It is important for Nursing Parents eat and drink when Baby does

• Healthy snack bars like "LaraBars" and others have very few ingredients and they are all real food. Tasty, and they can sit by favourite nursing spots for when the nursing parent realizes that they have forgotten to eat AGAIN. Try to avoid those with refined sugar which digests quickly and leaves one hungry again very soon. Homemade solution: Fill Mason Jars with Healthy Trail mix for easy snacking.
• Good Refillable Water Bottles or travel mugs that don't spill easily make having hydration at hand easier and other household members and visitors can help by keeping them full.
• Herbal Teas. It takes a long time for babies to excrete caffeine, so that cup of coffee today can mean a crying baby tomorrow.  Having a great selection of herbal teas on hand can make cutting down on coffee easier if babe reacts badly to a cup of Joe. Some are even designed using folk remedies that support milk supply and breastfeeding. And hey seeing a cute breastfeeding pair looking at you out of the tea cupboard doesn't hurt the spirits either.
• Vitamin D Drops for baby are an important part of infant nutrition and are usually the only supplement that a nursing baby will need. Dang Depleted Ozone Layer and Northern Darkness!

Breast-Care Products

• Nipple cream: Lanisol, or other creams that do not need to be removed before latching.
• Breast pads soak up milk that may leak from breasts between feedings, you can make or buy washable or disposable nursing pads, depending on your skills and time. 
• Lilly Padz are a new non-absorbent form of Nursing Pad that many Nursing Parents Really like and that promote nipple health by keeping the nipple moist and reducing leaking

Nursing Fashion Check out your local independent Maternity and Baby stores. Large Chains such as Motherhood and Thyme maternity are connected to large multinational artificial milk companies, and will send out formula samples to their mailing list. PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR FRIENDS ON THESE LISTS and try and find small businesses that are not in bed with multinationals ( not the kind of co-sleeping we want to encourage) to buy breastfeeding supplies from!

• Nursing Tops provide easy access for Parent and Babe. (there are some great independent designers you can find on ETSY like "From the Tap" who will make her styles to order at great prices. 
• Nursing Necklaces offer safe and beautiful solutions for babies busy hands and chewing needs. 

Books on breastfeeding: There are lots of books out there to support breastfeeding parents, but these are some of our favourites. Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding has lots of stories as well as great trouble shooting information and the socio-political implications of breastmilk, breastfeeding and food security. Making More Milk is a great book to help us understand how bodies create the supply of milk their baby needs, and how to use this understanding to make more milk and make sure the babe gets it when there is a concern. The Womanly Art is an old stand by breastfeeding book. You can probably find it second hand easily. The language is not surprisingly over-gendered throughout, but it does have good information about breastfeeding. Breast Feeding Made Simple does just that: breaks down breast feeding into components that make it work, and helps parents to support these 7 pillars to improve their breastfeeding relationships. Jack Newman's Guide is nearly an encyclopedia of breastfeeding knowledge. A favourite of many Nursing Families!

      

Artwork and prints for the home that shows breastfeeding as a positive experience may help on the hard days and creates a welcoming space for nursing.  There is a lot out there but we love work by Kate Hansen! This Portrait is of a nursing pair named Gladys and Elizabeth and is from the Madonna and Child project. This artist has been very supportive of public breastfeeding and has endorsed the "meme" of her art that has begun circulating to remind the internet public that breastfeeding the the healthy norm for feeding the next generation.

What not to offer:

Soothers, pacifiers, Bottles ( these may be helpful to breastfeeding at times, but lets not make these images of artificial feeding the centre of the party)

Formula, and formula coupons

Unhelpful comments about Breastfeeding or urban legends of horror. There are enough negative voices out there, so don't add to them. Instead offer support and an ear to listen to any problems that may be happening and help the family find solutions that support the healthy nutrition of their child.