This week is World Breastfeeding Week (1st Aug to 7th Aug), run by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action - WABA. WABA is a global network of individuals and organisations dedicated to the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding worldwide.
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Breastfeeding is a personal choice and there are a few reasons why women will choose not to breastfeed (or may not be capable of doing so). WABA have been running World Breastfeeding Week since 1992 to promote the benefits of breastfeeding and to encourage a world where it is accepted and safe for women to do so in public too.

The objectives of World Breastfeeding Week 2021 are to:

- Inform people about the importance of breastfeeding;
- Anchor breastfeeding support as a vital public health responsibility;
- Engage with individuals and organisations for greater impact;
- and Galvanise action on protecting breastfeeding to improve public health.

How can you support a breastfeeding mother?

As a woman:
• Play an important role in securing unbiased information and support for breastfeeding and providing it to others
• Aim breastfeeding for the first six months, if you can andnif appropriate, having the courage to ask for support if needed
• Discuss complementary foods/feeding and continued breastfeeding from 6-24+ months
• Speak about breastfeeding as a feminist issue and support each other to breastfeed in public
• Share experiences to build a mother’s own confidence in her breastfeeding journey

As a man:
• Be aware of the negative influence of industry promotion practices on breastfeeding
• Play a proactive role in the decision to breastfeed and attend antenatal and postnatal classes to learn more about breastfeeding
• Promote the participation of men in parenting and domestic responsibilities including providing emotional support to their partners
• Empower breastfeeding mothers by raising awareness of and maintaining optimum breastfeeding practices
• Form a network with other fathers and family members within the community to support breastfeeding mothers

Breastfeeding mothers are protected under the Equality Act 2010. The Equality Act 2010 says that it is against the law to treat a woman unfavourably because she is breastfeeding. This covers any business or organisation that provides services to the public and it applies to any staff and customers of that business or organisation.

Lou x
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​​Honestly, what a waste. And given there's such a thing as 'clothing poverty' makes the waste even more horrendous. 

So what can you do to give you unwanted clothing a longer life, and potentially help someone out?

1. Transform and upcycle them into something new! For instance, make jean shorts out of jeans, or dusters from old tea towels or tshirts. 
2. Donate them to a local textile or fabric recycling centre. You can find a list of such places on Recycle Now.
3. Ask your council about textile collections (many offer a free service).
4. Donate to an animal shelter. They might be used to make blankets or beds, to make abandoned pets feel more comfortable. 
5. Donate to charity. Easy and feel-good!
6. Pass them down. I think I speak for most mums when I say reasonable condition kids clothes are always welcome as hand-me-downs!
7. Rent your clothes. MyWardrobeHQ and ByRotation are clothing rental platforms. Renting out your clothes can save you space, without your having to give up your garments in the process. And choosing to rent someone else's clothes can also be a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly way to get an eye-catching outfit for that one-off occasion!
8. Swap your clothes with friends and family. 
9. Trade your clothes for ca$h. It's what ebay was made for! Also try Vinted for vintage clothing, while Rethread, Hardly Ever Worn It and Vestiare cover high-end fashion. 

It's clear-out time!

Lou x

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Charity shops are closed.
Marathons have been cancelled. 
Public events (like cake sales and summer fairs) are off.
I bet you anything government funding cuts are in. 

Charities have very limited ways of getting crucial donations during these strange times. However, I saw something advertised on my Facebook - possibly the first ad I've ever clicked on! - which said the Alzheimer's Society was running Cupcake Day (again), remotely. 

Now, cake and volunteering are two of my favourite things, so on the 31st of May (this Sunday) I'm going to be baking cupcakes for people I know around Bristol. They've kindly donated something between £5-20 to have a batch, so I'd better make them good ones!

I've raised £150 - smashing my first target of £100 -  which has already gone to the charity, helping those with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. It must be truly terrible to have such a lonely condition when the whole world is already feeling a little isolated. 

So that's my something for someone else today. Proud. Stay tuned for photos of the bakes!

I've also been thinking how else I can help charities in this time. I've had a huge clothes clearout and bagged up three lots for when the shops reopen. Any other ideas welcome!

----

Something for me: I read loads today. I'm shooting through Sue Perkins' EAST OF CROYDON. What a luxury when you have an under one year old!

Something productive: I collected some spare sand my brother had on his driveway so we can crack on with our paving outside the backdoor, and did his Sainsburys shop as payment in kind. 

Lou x

So, El Husbandio and I became dog owners in February. We'd been thinking about getting one for a while, and saw what seemed to be the perfect dog advertised on Gumtree. We collected her from a family in Swindon who'd (stupidly) bought her for Christmas and couldn't cope with a puppy's energy and costs after a month, so she's kind of a rescue - and we got so lucky!

Chumi (short for "Chumiko", which means "black conker" in Spanish) is a Collie, with a hint of Whippet hips and legs about her. She's now five months old and just gorgeous. She's slept through the night (I sound like a mother!) from the start, she could already sit and would poop outdoors, she's so friendly with other dogs and people, learning more every day.

I'm not going to just brag about our wonderful pup, here, though. There's a real, useful reason for this blog today. As it's Mental Health Awareness Week, I want to share how having a dog has improved my mental well-being. You may scoff, and people have scoffed, at the idea of how the presence of a dog has helped, but I'm a convert to the idea. It works.

I was a non-believer. I thought the benefits of a dog were limited to having company at home and perhaps more walking to boost your physical health. However, since Chumi came into our lives, I've discovered so much about how having a dog in the house can be beneficial to more than just your exercise regime.

Some of you may be aware that I've struggled with my mental health over the last two to three years. It's a long story, but the up-shot is that I'm definitely on the mend and slowly returning to my old self. Being able to realise that is an important and significant step.

I've tried several things to help me through anxiety, depression and a general emotional confusion: three forms of medication (one made sick, one I was petrified of, and the one I settled with, I'm starting to wean off - yay!), 121 counselling, CBT group classes, more exercise, reading up on mental health blogs, talking openly with friends and family, quitting booze, and trying to re-discover what made me more content and 'me' in the past.

Now, I know what you think I'm going to say. The dog was the key to it all. That's not true. I believe a mixture of all the things above helped me to re-stabilise and begin to function in a way that is normal for me again. However, I have a feeling that having a dog in my life has given more the final push to returning to good mental health.

The answer to solving the conundrum and debilitation of depression is not 'one size fits all', but I sure think a dog should be prescribed on the NHS! *tongue in cheek*

So how has becoming a dog owner assisted me on my recovery?

1. The obvious one is I'm getting more exercise. Exercise is a key part to recovery from mental illness. Chumi has a walk first thing from El Husbandio, then a longer walk when I'm back from work. We're out for a minimum of 40 mins at a time, and I often forget the time, enjoying the time out so much. I've been trying to lose a little weigh since November, and it's no coincidence that I'm my lightest (and have been for seven weeks now!) now we have a dog.
2. Linked to this, is the additional fresh air I'm getting on these walks. Always a good thing!
3. I've also realised, since walking Chumi, that dogs live in the moment; they're masters of Mindfulness, without even knowing it! Our walks together have helped me 'switch off' and she's helped me, in a weird way, to become more mindful and relaxed as a result.
4. Dogs lighten the mood. El Husbandio and I haven't had the easiest start to marriage, and Chumi allows us to make light-hearted or grumpy comments about situations to someone who won't challenge your gripes.
5. Chumi is a great distraction - for good and for bad! She needs attention, feeding, walking, and all the rest of it, which adds another element of routine and a distraction from things which might worry our little brains too much.
6. There's less pressure in the household. Bless him, El Husbandio is a neat freak, who can't relax if the dishes haven't been done. However, playing with the dog has seemingly become more important than household chores. Not in a bad way, we're far from living in squalor, but we're a little more relaxed about when things get done now. Yay!
7. I'm feeling the love - Chumi gives us unconditional love. She isn't a captive, she loves being with us and shows us every day by playing, 'dog smiling' and licking kisses all over our hands and faces. Naturally, she's a pack animal, and she loves being part of our small 'pack'. It's not just that we're the ones who feed her - other people give her treats, but it's us she comes home too, even when she escapes the harness! She's not a human substitute, however much I love her, but she's a great companion.
   
8. I'm also sharing the love. As in Gary Demonte Chapman's 'Five Languages Of Love', one of the main ways I like to show love is by giving gifts. I'm always baking for friends and family, often sending fun post to those I love, and grabbing a little gift I come across for El Husbandio when I know he'd love it. Sharing the love with Chumi is easy and so gratifying. She takes about three minutes to suss out a new toy and then plays with it to death. She's happy, grateful, curious, and a pleasure to watch.
9. My social circles have widened, almost with immediate effect upon starting to walk Chumi in our local area. I have, I guess, one new friend I now walk with regularly, and new acquaintances I bump into (mostly known by the name of their dog, admittedly!), and it's so nice to be able to have those community links. We're thinking of taking Chumi to fly-ball classes, which again, will widen both her and our social circles.
   

Take a look at this website for more on how dogs can help with mental therapy. For a more hefty read, try this recent study on pet owners and increased levels of self-esteem. You may be surprised - I was sceptical, never having had a dog before, but I can't believe the difference Chumi has made to my mental health well-being. Just the fact I can reflect and notice the difference shows how far I've come in this short time.

As the author Julie Myerson puts it

"Most of all, when your confidence is at its lowest, when you feel battered – by life, death and (especially) other humans – a dog will shove her nose in your hand and tell you, with conviction and feeling, what a really good person you are."

And in such grim times as these, a little sunshine in a simple way is something we could all benefit from.

If you think you could benefit from a dog's company but can't commit, why not take a look at Borrow My Doggy? You can meet up with local owners who need extra walking for their pooch and get the benefits of having a dog without the long term commitments. Let me know how you get on!

Lou x

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When the world is eating, singing, celebrating
Tuning into the news can be grating.
Refugees and war are not on theme
But such stories continue to be seen.
 
Christmas is a time of giving
These conflicting images conflicting,
Dominating the current issues
Causing some to reach for tissues.
 
Christmas comes and soon it goes
Resolutions and sometimes snows
Normal life resumes at speed
Drifting away from those in need.
 
Little keeps stark images in your mind
Lasting past the fleeting appeals of kind.
Yet Christmas is a time for thinking of others
From neighbours to global sisters and brothers
 
Remembering the much less fortunates
While we gorge on roasted chestnuts.
Carry these thoughts of injustice and pain
Through January and into the main
 
And spare more than a thought in Christmas cheer
For those children, people, who wish to be here.
Pick out the easy wins, that’s a good start
A tin in the charity box from your shopping cart.
 
Contact your MP for changes in acts
Facebook and Twitter are tools of attacks
Check local press for news of the worthy
Helping those lives topsy-turvy.
 
Monthly donations to your chosen cause
And doing it all for no applause.
So when you pause to think of the many
Who have no food, no home or penny
 
Take it forward from Christmastime
And prove there’s a reason for my rhyme.

Lou x

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To say ‘so shoot me’ seems a little inappropriate, but that’s how I felt this weekend when a friend of mine (let’s call her ‘L’) told me she’d been told by a ‘mate’ that her inaction on changing her Facebook profile picture to a French flag was ‘offensive’.
 
I too haven’t changed my Facebook profile picture to the watermarked French flag. 
 
The reasons I haven’t changed my picture to the red, white and blue in support of Paris and the French after the atrocities, sadness and horror over the last few days is because I refuse to be a part of a minute symbol going viral over social media. Of course I feel angry, scared, horrified, sad following the events of the Paris attack, but I refuse to jump on the band wagon here. Many won’t know Beirut (Yemen) and Baghdad (Iraq) also suffered Isis attacks in the same 24 hours. Where are those two flags on Facebook?
 
There’s been 289 terror attacks so far in 2015. Given 16th November is the 320th day in the year, that’s pretty astounding.Sure, some of them happen on the same day, but that’s still not far off one a day in the world.
 
Where are the Facebook flags for the other countries hit by similar horrors?
 
My point is, as you can hopefully gather, that similar events of terror happen around the world almost every day, yet why do we give special attention to the Paris attack? Yes, France is our next door neighbour. Yes, the attacks are creeping into western nations, not just restricted to ‘dangerous lands’, but this has been happening for decades now, I think it’s fair to say. My awareness of terrorism started on September 11th 2001, news coming in from New York city and Washington.
 
But why the media storm and public support for this one? Perhaps it’s because of the British links. We’re more than just neighbours, with 0.8% of the Parisen population being British (17,500 people). There’s been no census taken in Lebanon (capital being Beirut) since 1932, so this kind of data is just not available, but my assumption would be there’s far fewer British people living there. Same goes for Baghdad – I can only find stats for British Iraqis living here, or troops in Baghdad, but no population numbers of British people living there.
 
Maybe that’s the secret: France features strongly on our radar for jobs, second homes, holidays, politics.... From an early age we’re aware of France. History education when I was at school focused strongly on the Allies in the two world wars and the royal family tree, with French ancestry. My school also taught French to all students from the age of 11-16. And how many British people haven’t visited France? Myself, I’ve been to Nantes (French exchange at school), skirted in and around Calais and the surrounding villages (booze cruise), I’ve spent at least three family holidays in and around Frejus, I’ve driven through it on a road trip to Rome, and spent a weekend in Paris with a friend. There’s probably more occasions, but memory fails.
 
Should the fact France is our close neighbour be the reason why we bowed our heads this morning, and leave other nations, like Iraq and Yemen, ignored? The close relationship link does make sense why we may be more supportive to the French, but then why would USA-owned and Latin America dominated Facebook choose France to support so openly over all the nations under the force of terror? No one created a widget for the Yemen flag this week.
 
The two minutes silence today held across Europe was, of course, respectful and supportive. After all, why shouldn’t we show our respect for those who died and support for those who live on? We did the same for the Charlie Hebdo terror attack in Paris in January.  
 
Perhaps it’s the sheer numbers of casualties involved that we feel so connected and shocked? It’s obvious the attacks with bigger impacts will make more of a global media impact.
 
Here are the terror attacked in 2015 (so far) which, as in Paris, killed over 100 people each time:
 
137 people were killed in Yemen’s Sana’a mosque on 7th March
25th June: 148 people died in Syria in a massacre involving car bombs on the Turkish border
In July, 145 people died in a shooting in a Nigerian market place
It’s estimated that 100-180 people were killed in July’s car bombs in Iraq
In Turkey itself, 102 people were killed in Ankara in October, 508 injured, when suicide bombers decided to destroy a peace rally.
 
There’s similar numbers of dead involved in all cases, and it makes it no less horrifying when the attacks happen somewhere most Europeans probably won’t ever set foot in (with the exception of Egypt), and most know nothing about the atrocities.
 
Perhaps terror is accepted as inevitable in these countries? How awful. Just because France is deemed safer than many parts of Asia or Africa or compared to the Arab nations… but those innocents affected by the violence won’t care about that. That’s their town, their country, their family. The one glimmer of hope is that the Egyptian plane bombed last month, killing 224 people, was in the news for weeks, and there were no British people on board for national morbid interest. However, although Egypt is not seen as a particularly ‘safe, western area’, we as a nation have been happy to holiday there. The incident being a bombed flight was also bound to produce more media attention than a terrestrial attack. So that’s why. Horrendous. Still no Egyptian flags on Facebook.
 
I wonder if Syrian, Yemen, Turkish, Nigerian, Iraqi nationals posted their flag on Facebook in solidarity? I don’t have any Facebook friends from these countries, but it sure didn’t make the viral waves the French flag did. (PS. Wonder what Syrians are posting and searching for on Facebook?)
 
It’s all politics. That’s what sucks. Often devoid of human traits, politics is a powerful thing. Egalite, fraternite et liberte, indeed. However, I am no politician. I am a member of no political organisation, but I try to keep up with world events. I don’t watch the news, preferring to get snippets when I choose instead of being bombarded constantly with negative stories.

So, what was ‘L’s’ response to her offended friend on Facebook? “If you’re offended, that’s your problem”, she argued, and pointed out that L’s profile picture is too small to host all the flags of terrorist tormented nations and peoples. Well said. I, like ‘L’, would rather reflect in private, and pray on a wider scale. Pray for the world. 

​I’m a caring, thoughtful, sympathetic person and I don’t need to colour my photo to prove it. I choose to pray for the world and I don't believe it's all French. No offense.

Lou x

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P.S. What's worse that posting the flag as a watermark on your face - and I won't go on about this for long, I promise - is when people have posted pictures of them on holiday in Paris, perhaps under the Eiffel Tower. So what, you've been? Show off. 

I made it - it's only the third time I've cycled to work from the new house, and I think (hope!) it's getting easier. That 25 minute uphill ride is challenging, I'll say that!_

Still, I wanted to use this opportunity to signpost you, lovely readers to my travel blog, Born to be a Tourist. I have a category on that blog roll on cycling, which, if you're reading this post, you may enjoy. It's loosely linked to travel as I've been around a lot on it (Wales, Gloucester - more to come!), but it's full of fun stuff. Take a look!

So... did you cycle to work today?

Lou x

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Last night I had The Chop For Charity. I cut off my hair to donate it to the charity Little Princess Trust. They make real hair wigs for kids in the UK and Ireland who have lost their hair due to illness - an incredibly worthwhile cause. 

I'd been growing my hair (with two 'tidy-ups' for wedding and post braids) since January 2012, more or less. The original idea was to grow a 'Princess Jasmin' style braid - you know, the princess from Aladdin?! Yep, I'm that sad... But she's definitely the best Disney princess! 

However, not only am I not an Arabian beauty, I am also made of flesh and blood; I'm no cartoon. My hair is nowhere near thick enough to have those luscious locks. So I investigated donating my lengths of locks. 

After Googling a bit, I found several charities who ask for hair donations. I wanted one I could trust, and one which needed what I had, plus possibly another month or two. I was getting sick of washing, drying and product bottle draining!

Little Princess Trust was the charity that singer Jessie J chose when she shaved off her hair in 2013, so I decided, if it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me. Also, they were only asking for 7 inches - most others want 15. I easily had that!

So, last night, I went for the chop. I was extremely excited, thinking about the kids I might be able to help and the drastic change to my hair do. I ended up with 11.5 inches snipped off - could have gone for more but I wanted to have something to tie back still for work. And clean eating. All I had to do was have it plaited, tied at both ends, and bagged before it hit the floor. There's a UK address to post it to, and the charity does the rest. 

And... my hair? I love the result! I'm hearing it's a mix of Yael Stone (Orange Is The New Black), Dora The Esplorer (my personal favourite!) and Arya from Game of Thrones.... Lush! 

I think everyone should do this at least once in their lives - I'm going to do a repeat, for sure. 

Special thanks to Hannah, my lovely hairdresser, and to Hilary who inspired me from about 10 years ago. I got there eventually! 

Find out more about donating YOUR hair here - you don't have to go for a shaved head, just 7 inches of a plait is needed! 

My haircut journey was posted on Twitter, so come and have a look at the posts from around 5pm last night (13/7/15). 

Lou x

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