Staying Home MAY

​The Covid Lock Down recounts the stay at home joys for all mothers and in a way celebrates staying at home with family. Surely this is an unprecedented time when social time is almost some to a standstill and all activity is focused on the staying safe. There can be feeling of sense of insanity due to not being able to step out despite fulfilment of family time. Most of them may find yourself feeling bored, depressed, bored, worried, or isolated. This is a collective feeling across homes around the world. This can be hard time to cope with. 
Here are some of things a nursing mothers can do with her nursling baby and perhaps also with a toddler or an older children if she has more than one.

• Keeping a Rhythm: Nature’s hidden secret of life is its rhythm and this is the secret of a happy home too and surely the same for happy motherhood. Usually during early days after birth it’s hard to keep a rhythm especially the first 40 days. It’s hard to even get a wink of sleep. However, in this massive transition time too you can still find a way to recognise and keep a small cycles of rhythms — Breastfeeding – Sleep – Change – Breastfeeding. This is the nesting cycle. If baby is older finding a rhythm maybe a bit easier. Aligning with nature is the one of the most profound ways to bring in flow of activities. Early morning breastfeeding is usually the most satisfying for breastfeeding mothers for toddlers. Milk flow is easy during early hours when the hormones dynamics is functioning at its best after a restful night. Spending as much time in the early hours to bond and feed with your baby or toddler can meet much of essential ‘contact’ time baby needs. Soon after this session usually a good chunk of time may become available to get most important chores of the day to be completed cleaning, cooking ect. Meals can be prepared simultaneously and stored away for later use partially prepared for later use. The rest of days can be filled with resting, playing or working from home. All this can run a 45 min rhythm which is a good chunk of time for most things to be completed mindfully and heart fully.
• Keeping active and fit - Exercise or Yoga even for a short 30 min routine can help fight low feel or even depression. One of most wonderful chance is to begin now during the lock down if you had not done it before. Your baby can join you on the routine so easily and help you add fun and some added weight to make your fitness routine bit more challenging.
• Honing your skills – Pick an educational course that hones your existing skills. Breastfeeding mothers with babies’ age between 3 months to 9 months find that they have time to spare to hone a skill or study. Since it’s a lock down period and more hands may be available to care for the baby with your spouse around it could even be a good time to spare a hour for study. There are many online educational programs available of which many are free of cost opened especially for Lock down period.
• Volunteer to support the community – especially breastfeeding families. Volunteering can also be fulfilling. Doing something for a cause is always a great way to cope with hard time and brings in perspective and purpose in a vulnerable time. There are many online breastfeeding support groups that one can volunteer on like Le Leche League Pan-India Group or Breastfeeding Support Group for Indian Mothers. (BSIM). This can be done while you are nursing. Mother to mother support is most valuable support breastfeeding women has have as it is seen across the world for centuries.
• Working from home – If you are a working mother than finding a routine even during these times may become even more essential. Keeping a certain discipline around, house work and breastfeeding and pumping (in case you had been doing that earlier can help you continue keeping that routine at home too and gain a large chunk of time to complete your business work). It may be lot easier sometimes to just nurse your baby if you had been a pumping mom and this might even be a great way to build up a good supply since nursing baby can always way better than breast pump can.
• Redefine your goals – In a way this is also a time that is making us rethink and redefine our lives in a holistic way to go back to primal instincts of what brings you most joy. Many mothers are beginning to feel that nothing ever can be traded for getting to spend joyful time watching children walk, talk, laugh and play. This is priceless to find reverence in the living in the moment. Breastfeeding experience is closest to the living in the moment.

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