Tiny Tummies Lactation & Nutrition

09/11/2026

Are you getting enough calcium in pregnancy?

Calcium plays an important role during pregnancy, helping your baby's bones and teeth develop while also supporting your own bone health.

The good news is that calcium can be found in lots of everyday foods, so there are plenty of ways to meet your daily needs! Even if you don't eat dairy foods, getting enough calcium in your diet can be very easy with some planning.

Remember, pregnancy nutrition isn't about eating perfectly, it's about nourishing yourself and your growing baby with the nutrients you both need, as best as you can (IYKYK) 💕

25/09/2026

🌿 Folate in pregnancy 🌿

Folate is one of the most important nutrients during pregnancy, particularly in the very early stages when your baby’s neural tube is developing. Adequate folate helps support the development of your baby’s brain and spinal cord and reduces the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida.

Read on to find out what foods are high in folate. If you're planning a pregnancy, are pregnant, or have questions about your individual nutritional needs, speak with your healthcare professional or dietitian.

28/08/2026

This is absolutely true!

Unfortunately, my IBCLC colleagues that work on the post natal wards just don't have the time to help every mum as much as they need. This is a direct reflection on hospital budgets and funding. I was so privileged to do a portion of my training with my amazing mentor Amy Chatburn-Stevens: IBCLC Lactation Consultant Newcastle who used to skip lunch and stay after hours to help as many mums as she could.

Sometimes a quick positioning change or tweak would be all that's needed, but if you are going home and still struggling with pain, latching, needing top ups etc, then this is where a community or private IBCLC will come in. Don't delay getting help.

If you birth at JHH or Maitland, you can access the lactation clinics for 6 weeks. The CFHN clinics also have lactation consultants you can see. Then of course you have all the amazing private IBCLCs that generally you can see very quickly compared to health. We are really lucky to have a large number in the Hunter region.

If you are struggling, please reach out ❤️

One of the biggest misconceptions about breastfeeding is that the hospital lactation consultant is going to “teach you how to breastfeed” before you go home

And I need parents to understand this with love and honesty:
Most hospital lactation consultants simply do not have enough time 😞

Not because they don’t care
Not because they aren’t skilled
But because hospital systems are stretched thin

One lactation consultant may be covering:
• Multiple postpartum floors
• NICU
• New admissions
• Discharges
• Pumps and paperwork
• Babies with medical complications
• Moms recovering from surgery
• Charting and insurance requirements

Meanwhile you’re 24 hours postpartum, exhausted, bleeding, learning a brand new human… and someone pops in for 12 minutes while your baby is asleep 😅

Breastfeeding is not a one-time lesson
It is a learned relationship that unfolds over days and weeks

The hospital is often just:
✨ “Here’s how to latch”
✨ “Baby has jaundice start supplementing”
✨ “Baby lost too much weight start pumping”

And then parents go home thinking:
“Why does this suddenly feel impossible?”

Because the real challenges often start AFTER discharge:
• Milk coming in
• Engorgement
• Cluster feeding
• Ni**le pain
• Pumping
• Bottle refusal
• Oversupply
• Low supply worries
• Weight gain concerns
• Sleep deprivation
• Learning your actual baby

This is why postpartum lactation support matters so much 💛

Here’s what I wish every family knew:
• Take a prenatal breastfeeding class BEFORE birth
• Follow evidence-based lactation accounts during pregnancy
• Have a lactation consultant lined up before delivery if possible
• Don’t wait until things are “bad enough” to ask for help
• One good postpartum visit can change your entire experience

And if breastfeeding felt harder than you expected after leaving the hospital?
You did not fail a class everyone else passed

You were discharged from a major medical event while learning one of the most biologically complex things humans do

That deserves support

13/08/2026

This was going to be my comment on a post by a Labour MP that said something along the lines of "Last year, Labour helped 50000 families on the National Breastfeeding Helpline". But they deleted it, because it was misleading - 'The National Breastfeeding Helpline' is run by Australian Breastfeeding Association volunteers. Their claim that 'Labour helped' is alluding to Labour donating money to the ABA.

There were many comments pointing out the misleading nature of the wording, so I wanted to take a slightly different tact.

Just over 285,000 babies were born in Australia in 2023. Labour’s claim that the National Breastfeeding Helpline supported 50,000 families last year sounds impressive on the surface - but that’s only around 17% of families with a new baby (so probably a lot less if you subtract those who called about older babies and toddlers). And fewer than that number will still be exclusively breastfeeding at five months, despite the WHO saying that 70% exclusive breastfeeding at 6mths is the goal around the world.

In Australia, only 15% of babies are exclusively breastfed to 6 months.

50,000 might sound like a large number (and I applaud the ABA volunteers for helping that number) - but it’s still well below what should be the benchmark for breastfeeding support in Australia.

If Labour is serious about supporting breastfeeding families, they could also help organisations like LCANZ by enabling Medicare rebates for IBCLCs and nationalising breastfeeding protection legislation, similar to what already exists in NSW and Tasmania.

07/08/2026

World Breastfeeding Week 2026, where we celebrate every breastfeeding journey.

The ones that began effortlessly, and the ones that started with uncertainty.

The mothers feeding tiny premature babies through determination, skin-to-skin cuddles, and endless patience.

The mothers expressing milk around the clock, using ni**le shields, SNS, or feeding tubes.

The mothers navigating pain, mastitis, tongue ties, low supply, oversupply, sleep deprivation, and self-doubt.

Breastfeeding is natural, but that doesn't mean it's always easy.

This beautiful photo is a reminder that breastfeeding can look different for every family. Sometimes it happens with an NG tube in place. Sometimes it begins in the NICU. Sometimes it takes days, weeks, or even months to establish. Every drop of milk, every cuddle, and every feed is an act of love.

This World Breastfeeding Week, let's celebrate not perfection, but perseverance. Let's support families with evidence-based care, compassion, and encouragement, because every parent deserves to feel supported, whatever their feeding journey looks like.

To every mother reading this, you are doing an incredible job!

04/08/2026

Is your baby's growth being plotted on the right growth chart?

Growth charts are an important tool, but they're only useful when the correct chart is being used and interpreted appropriately.

Unfortunately, I still see babies who are feeding well, growing beautifully, and meeting milestones being labelled as "underweight" simply because the wrong growth chart was used or their growth wasn't plotted accurately.

Growth isn't about a single measurement at one point in time. It is about looking at the whole picture, including your baby's growth pattern, feeding, development, and overall health.

If you've ever been worried about your baby's weight, don't panic. Seek advice from a health professional experienced in infant growth and breastfeeding who can ensure your baby's growth is assessed accurately. 💕

24/07/2026

Breast milk is tailored for your baby and changes throughout the day, with the seasons, as they grow, and to help them fight off illnesses.

Breastfeeding provides:

💟 Signals that it’s time to sleep
💟 Extra hydration when it’s hot
💟 Specific antibodies when mum or baby is sick
💟 Adapted fat content and nutrients as they grow

12/07/2026

Say it louder!

We need to talk about the “is he a good baby?” question.

Because somewhere along the way, “good” became code for sleeps through the night, settles easily, and doesn’t need much. And by that logic, half the most normal newborn behaviour on earth gets quietly filed under “bad.”

So here’s your official guide to telling the difference. On the left, all the things that get a baby unfairly labelled difficult, the night feeds, the contact naps, the 3am parties for one. On the right, actual bad behaviour. The white-collar crime. The tax evasion. The Ponzi schemes.

Notice your baby isn’t on the right side, mama. Wanting you is not a character flaw. It’s just a baby being a baby.

Tag a mama whose “badly behaved” newborn has, to date, a completely spotless criminal record. 🤍

30/06/2026

Nip Allergies in the Bub is the absolute best resource for introducing allergens to your baby's diet. Better yet, it's completely free! I will be downloading and trying out this app.

The NEW National Allergy Council’s Nip allergies in the Bub online Food Follower App is here to help parents and carers introduce the common allergy causing foods into their baby's diet 🎉

The FREE Food Follower App provides:
✨ Tips, food ideas and recipes to help introduce the common allergy causing foods
📊 Tracking tools to monitor which common allergy causing foods have been introduced
⏰ Reminders to keep offering the common allergy causing foods once introduced

Register now: https://loom.ly/xqUC8To

To learn more, read our news article: https://loom.ly/whtu9Cg

The National Allergy Council, a partnership between the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) and Allergy & Anaphylaxis Australia, receives funding from the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

29/06/2026

Iron is one of the most important nutrients during pregnancy. Did you also know that your iron needs almost double in this time?

During pregnancy, your body needs 27mg of iron each day to support your expanding blood volume, your baby's growing red blood cells, and to build up your baby's iron stores for the first six months after birth.

There are plenty of ways to boost your iron intake through food. If you have been told your iron is low, or you're unsure if you're meeting your needs, chat with us! Small changes can make a big difference for both you and your baby.