Surrey Homes | SH29 | March 2017 | Fashion supplement inside

Beauty
to upset anyone squeamish here, but with someone in my
family reporting not long ago that ‘my nipples have turned
to leather’, the ‘feeding station’ could generally do with some
TLC, for most nursing mothers.) What I would say is that you
need to be very, very cautious about what you smooth into
nipples, if you’re still breast-feeding. Be absolutely sure that the
cream does not, for instance, contain any peanut oil (Arachis
hypogaea); there is some thought that the current boom in
nut allergies may be related to the use of nipple creams which
contained peanut oil. Choose an all-natural brand like Green
People Organic Babies Mum & Baby Rescue Balm, £10.50 for
100ml, or Shea Mooti Mama’s Calming Nipple Cream, £9.99
for 50ml (sheamooti.com); there’s no taste or smell to either.
(Shea Mooti, in fact, is a fantastic range to check out if you’re a
new mother: they make glorious products for mother and baby,
run by Violet Reid, a dynamic mother-of-three who wanted
products she’d feel happy to use on herself and her kids.)
Tackle the tiredness. My mother always used to say: ‘Sleep
when the baby sleeps’ – and while it’s tempting to run around
playing catch-up with housework, work-work or simply
reading this magazine, there’s no better piece of advice. I
doubt that falling asleep (at least when the baby’s not crying)
is your problem – but if it is, I heartily counsel you to head
in the direction of the peerless This Works Deep Sleep range,
featuring everything from hair serums to body oils via a bedside
oil diffuser which pumps out a combination of chamomile,
lavender and vetiver that’s just like knockout drops. While
sleep’s a must, so is exercise: get up, get out there, move your
body. There is no better way to get back your get-up-and-go.
(Though do consider a multi-vitamin supplement, too.)
Rebuild your weakened nails. It’s tempting to head off for
a set of gels to conceal weak nails, or even resort to a nail
hardener. (These work for a short while but can soon overharden
nails, leaving them brittle and prone to snapping. You
just can’t win, can you?) Instead, focus on nourishing nails. Keep
a little pot of nail oil on your bedside table and use it, use it, use
it before you go to sleep at night. Or if you loll off to sleep with
a baby on your boob, then do it first thing next morning. I’m
a massive fan of Fresh Therapies
Nourishing Nail Oil, £11.95
for 15ml (it smells so divine you’ll look forward to
using it)/freshtherapies.com
and good old OPI Avoplex,
£16.95 for 15ml, a vitamin-enriched avocado oil.
By all means have manicures – but keep nails short,
groomed and painted in a pale shade so that chips
won’t show between nail-painting sessions.
Above all, give yourself and your weary body
plenty of TLC. I always use the analogy of
that in-flight warning (which we hope we’re
never going to have to resort to): you’ve got to
‘put the oxygen mark on yourself before you
can put one on someone else’ – and never is
it more true than post-partum. Check out
websites like littlebutterflylondon.com, the
aforementioned sheamooti.com, and loveboo.
com; they all offer natural skincare for
mothers, and for babies – massage oils, body
creams, balms and treats that will have you
feeling pretty again before you know it.
Remember pretty…???
thinkaction
Surrey
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