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Articles by Pinky McKay
How to Choose the Right Child Care Centre in Perth
Choosing the right child care centre is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a parent. It’s not just about finding a safe place for your child during the day; it’s about selecting an environment where they feel secure, supported, and inspired to learn. With so many options available, it can be difficult to know which one is the right fit for your family. Many Perth parents look for centres that combine nurturing care with a strong focus on early learning and development.
Supporting Breastfeeding to Protect the Planet: Pinky McKay IBCLC
By: Pinky McKay IBCLC As you sit and gaze into your baby’s eyes while you breastfeed your little one, you are not just nourishing your baby, you are saving precious resources that cost the earth – literally. This isn’t about guilt or shaming mums who for whatever reasons do use infant formula, it’s about acknowledging that if we gave more support to women who want to breastfeed, we could have a significant impact on the environment and climate change.
Is Your Breastfed Baby Getting Enough Milk? A Lactation Consultant’s Checklist
Pinky McKay IBCLC If you feel anxious about how much milk your breastfed baby is getting, you aren’t alone. One of the most commonly reported reasons for women stopping breastfeeding low milk supply. While it’s an absolutely primal response to worry that your baby is getting enough milk – after all there are no markers on your breasts telling you ‘full’ or ‘empty’ – there are some reliable signs that your baby is getting enough milk.
How You Can Make Baby Self-Feeding a Breeze
Ah, the joyous chaos of introducing solids! For any parent with a baby delving into the art of self-feeding, you’ll be all too familiar with squishy avocado handprints, spaghetti-splattered high chairs, gloopy mashed potatoes sliding down your kitchen walls or even your little one creating impromptu yogurt facemasks. It’s a messy yet utterly heartwarming adventure involving more food on the walls than in little tummies.
A Lactation Consultant’s Top tips for easier night feeds
Your newborn doesn’t know day from night; tiny tummies don’t hold enough milk for your baby to sleep through the night yet; and night time breastfeeds are important to maintain your milk supply – your prolactin (milk making hormone) levels are highest at night so these feeds are boosting your breast milk. Individual women have varying milk storage capacities, and although this doesn’t mean you have a low milk supply it can influence how frequently your baby may need to feed.
Busting the Booby Traps of Low Milk Supply
Pinky McKay It can seem as though every time your baby whimpers somebody will suggest, ‘he’s hungry,’ or they may even ask, ‘are you sure you have enough milk?’ Then there is the anxiety about having your baby weighed. It feels like a ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ for your mothering, depending how much weight your baby has gained. Is it any wonder the leading cause of early weaning from breastfeeding is cited as ‘low milk supply’?
Safe and sound: safe sleep practices for your newborn
From first-time parents to parents who are adding to their families, bringing a newborn home from the hospital brings a sense of excitement, relief and sometimes a little trepidation on how to safely sleep new bub at home. Loren Rushton, National Education and Health Promotion Manager with Red Nose Australia recommends parents follow the Six Safe Sleep Recommendations for all babies 0-12 months. These six evidence-based key steps help to reduce the risk of sudden infant death.
How Breastfeeding Can Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer For You And Your Daughter
You have most likely heard very good reasons to breastfeed: boosting baby’s immune system; providing breast milk that changes to meet your baby’s needs; a lovely way to bond and allowing instant comfort for an unsettled baby. Another important reason to consider breastfeeding is evidence that it can reduce your own and – if you have a baby daughter – her risk of breast cancer too.
"I breastfeed my son who has just turned one. I’ve never given birth."
I breastfeed my son who has just turned one. I’ve never given birth. I’m 28, a mum of one, a full-time worker and a wife to my wife. My wife and I have been together since I was 19, and she was 20. We always knew we would have children, and I have never wanted to carry a baby. So when we started planning to have a child, there was not much discussion about who would carry. My wife had always imagined being pregnant and I just haven’t.
"Two months of torture." Mums share exactly how it feels to struggle with breastfeeding.
Not breastfeeding, not guilty. As an IBCLC lactation consultant, having helped hundreds of mothers struggling with breastfeeding and hearing women’s stories, I don’t believe it’s guilt that mothers are feeling. There is a huge grief response, there is so much sadness – breastfeeding is not just about ‘the milk’.
"'Self-settling’ has become the holy grail of sleep training. But the idea of its rubbish."
Do you hop into bed, close your eyes and fall asleep easily? Or does your busy brain take a while to switch off, as you think about all the things you need to do tomorrow? Do you need a certain environment or triggers to help you fall asleep – a darkened room? A warm drink? Do you read or listen to music or a meditation? Do you snuggle up to your partner? Now, imagine being all snuggled up enjoying a cuddle and relaxing in your partner’s arms.
The breastfeeding rules you don't need to follow according to an expert.
baby There are so many ‘rules’ about being a good mum, it’s enough to send your anxiety levels soaring. If you are breastfeeding there are even more ‘rules’. And, because these rules are about feeding your baby and actually making them grow and stay alive, is it any wonder you feel anxious?
Newborn babies only sleep for a few hours at a time. Here's why.
You have finally made it beyond the letter-box with your newborn. You are feeling pretty proud of yourself for getting out and about between feeds, poos and spews and you even have your own shirt on the right way round. But then some dear old lady spies your little ‘freshie’ and as she peers into your pram, she can’t resist asking, “Is he a good baby?” Then that dreaded next question, “Does he sleep all night?” Suddenly you are hit by a wave of self-doubt.
"Kids prefer a Christmas filled with laughter. We need to stop stressing."
Every year, as the ads come out weeks before Christmas showing tantalising visions of happy families in beautiful (spotless) homes with dazzling (colour-coordinated) decorations and sumptuous (hot) dinners, I promise myself I will capture the magic this year – I will plan earlier, get organised, write lists, whatever it takes. However, while my Christmas spirit is willing, I don’t actually have any more time or energy in December, despite the doubled up workload I am embracing.
“Some of your grandparents' parenting advice may be outdated and even unsafe.”
It seems grandparents have always offered their two cents worth and most of them would feel that offering advice is part of the privilege of becoming a grandparent.
"Why I believe 'lazy parenting' is beneficial for us and our children."
‘What is baby-led weaning?,’ my daughter Sarah asked me. It’s what I did with you, except there wasn’t a name for it then, I told her. I just popped some food on your high chair tray and you helped yourself. What? You mean, you didn’t even FEED me? I laughed, “look at your baby photos –I think somebody must have fed you.” (She was a deliciously chubby bubba). Sarah was our fourth baby.
'Why it's not okay for a stranger to ever hold my baby.'
Do you remember being little and a relative kissing you with super wet lips? You couldn’t wait to wipe it off but your parents told you not to be rude? Or when you had to line up to go into class and hold the hand of the person next to you, the same person who had been your sworn enemy since yesterday recess?
Why breastfeeding gives you lopsided breasts and how to balance them out.
Reality TV star Zoe Hendrix, from Married at First Sight, posted a photo of her uneven breasts on Instagram – and the internet went wild! Zoe definitely isn’t alone in her lopsidedness – her photo has over 4000 likes and almost 200 mums commented that they too have experienced lopsided boobs while breastfeeding.
A breastfeeding expert on why you should never feed a newborn water.
Drinking water is something we all do everyday. But what are the rules around giving a newborn water? You might be surprised to hear that not only do you not need to offer your baby water but it can be unsafe. For all babies under six-months-old, giving water can dilute the sodium in the baby’s bloodstream to the point where a potentially life threatening condition known as “oral water intoxication” develops. This can lead to symptoms like low body temperature, bloating and seizures.
From green to blue, yellow and red: Here's what the colour of your breastmilk means.
Mother of a newborn, Monique, called me in a state of anxiety. She said, “I think I am going to have to wean, I expressed some milk this morning and it’s green. What the hell is happening? I can’t feed my baby this!” The thing is, if your baby is feeding directly from the breast, you probably wouldn’t notice what colour your breast milk is. As long as your baby is happily feeding, it’s unlikely there is a problem or that your baby is at any risk, regardless of the colour of your milk.
A lactation consultant and mum-of-five warns: "Please, just don't ask me these questions."
I get a couple of hundred emails and messages a day about babies from all sorts of people. Most of my emails are from the ‘Cuddlers’ (you are doing a wonderful job!). Others are from ‘Tamers’ or people who have fallen for the nonsense being pushed by ‘Baby Tamers’ . I know there is a whole spectrum between these two ‘ends’, so I don’t generally use labels. But it makes me frustrated and impatient. I’m not talking about exhausted parents reaching out for help.
Could your breastmilk be what's stopping your baby from sleeping? An expert answers.
Sarah and Tim called me desperately. They were exhausted and it seemed that no matter what they did, they couldn’t settle George, their four-week-old baby. George was squirmy and crying with tummy pains. He would only sleep for very short spells if he was held and rocked constantly. I checked baby George’s feeding and attachment at the breast, took a history, including what kind of birth he had experienced and observed how Sarah and Tim were handling him. They were attuned parents resting at home.
Self-Settling - Why It's Not the Holy Grail of Baby Sleep - Pinky McKay Official Website
Do you hop into bed, close your eyes and fall asleep easily? Or does your busy brain take a while to switch off as you think about all the things you need to do tomorrow? Do you need a certain environment or triggers to help you fall asleep – a darkened room? A warm drink? Do you read or listen to music or a meditation? Do you snuggle up to your partner? Now, imagine being all snuggled up enjoying a cuddle and relaxing in your partner’s arms.
Pinky McKay Official Website Meltdowns
Connecting to your child requires constant work. Not all of that work is visible to other people. But it’s the invisible stuff, the deep down acceptance and tolerance of your maniac child that truly matters. This is usually how the judgment from others goes. You’re out, in public, doing wondrous public things with your beloved cherubs. You have an exchange with your partner, chatting merrily. You may even get to finish a sentence.
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