Congratulations, you’re pregnant! We’re thrilled and delighted about that amazing event and all the excitement surrounding it. There’ll be all sorts of thoughts rocketing around in your head and just when you’ve got them collected, you’ll take a deep breath and eek – you realize your lingerie’s too tight!

Now, no heading for the granny department, no way. This is when you most need to keep in touch with you. And that means wearing gorgeous, sensual lingerie. There is no reason why you can’t, this is one of the most feminine times in your life – relish it!

Well, you’re here now, you’ve seen that HOTmilk has the most exquisite range of gorgeous, sexy yet practical lingerie for your beautiful pregnant or nursing body. But if you’re still sitting on that fence thinking, “Oh, I couldn’t!”, here are some very good reasons why, in fact, you can!

• Sometimes when you’re pregnant & breastfeeding, your body just doesn’t feel like it belongs solely to you anymore. That’s normal. But by wearing beautiful, sexy lingerie, you’ll be put back in touch with you. The very feeling of satin and lace, the look of exquisite lingerie – its all a reminder of your sensuality.
• Just because it’s sexy doesn’t mean to say it isn’t functional. HOTmilk lingerie is the multi-tasker of maternity lingerie!
• It may just help to steam things up a little. You’re pregnant, not 90!
• Regain your femininity – it’s not all about washing machines, high chairs and baby monitors! Take a moment for yourself.
• And…as our mothers told us, you just never know what’s around the corner! You may have everything planned down to the inth degree but these babies have a habit of coming when they want and if you have to make the mad dash to the maternity hospital, make sure you’ve got your lovely bra and knickers on!

We had a ball creating the HOTmilk EverAfter campaign and hope that you LOVE the resultant images as much as we do. ( Had you picked up that they are each inspired by a classic fairytale story? )

Here you can play a wee slide show of the range plus if you like you can watch them in full screen or even download the image collection to your own computer.

Enjoy them, pass them on, and most importantly tell us what you think!

It’s all about expectations really.

You’re expecting a baby, you’re expecting to finish work a week before the baby arrives and you’re expecting to go back to work when that perfect baby you’re currently expecting settles into a routine at three months of age. And then he/she can pop off to nursery school when the creche you’re expecting to get a place at, confirms. Oh, and yeah, you’re expecting to be back in your bikini by then too, because that’s what they do in the mags. Right? Wrong. Big, fat wrong!

The truth of the matter is that there are many alterations to expectations during pregnancy and parenthood. Things just don’t always go as you, well, expected you see? And the belly does tend to take on a mind of its own! Cut yourself some slack, there are some factors here that contribute.

Probably, you are not a celebrity with a personal trainer, private chef, nanny from day one so you can get out and pound the pavements, or even your own plastic fantastic to help remove the extras you’ve been left with.

So here’s what we normal people do. How old is your baby? Fact is, it’ll take nigh on a year for all your bits and pieces to retreat to whence they came. And some never do. Think about what went on in that region!

Breastfeeding. It’ll either make the extra kilos drop off you (lucky you!) or you’ll retain a bit of extra coverage – it’s part of being able to provide for your baby in this most fantastic way.

Did you have a nicely curved belly pre-pregnancy? Give yourself a break, enjoy the changes to your body and revel in what it has just achieved! Do not amp up the stress levels all in the aid of a bikini body, it is just not worth it! You will get back to a place that makes you happy. Do not indulge in creams and fad diets and do not click on that irritating link that boings around on your screen every time you go near a clothing or lingerie site! Your abs will be fab again soon. Just keep your expectations in perspective, girlfriend!

“I think what you ladies do is awesome. I am a mother of a 2 year old girl already and we have one on the way. I was just thinking the other day that I wanted to see if anyone made maternity lingerie because I wanted to buy some. Thought I could spice things up a little.  So I just wanted to say thank you for doing what you do ”

Saritha

This one is close to our heart – in every sense – and definitely a very special week to acknowledge.

August 1 – 7, 2010 is World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) – time to get just a bit more organized with your ante-natal group and friends of friends. The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) and breastfeeding advocates in more than 170 countries worldwide, will celebrate this fantastic week for the 19^th year running. The theme? “Breastfeeding: Just 10 Steps. The Baby Friendly Way.”

Visit the worldbreastfeedingweek.org site to see these 10 easy steps promoting breastfeeding. WABA see them as making a huge difference to the statistics of this most natural and beneficial way to provide for your baby, on local, national and global levels.

So what are YOU doing for WBW? World wide there are all sorts of celebrations, gatherings and activities in the final stages of preparation. Pot luck lunches, mini golf, photo competitions of breast feeding families to be judged during the week, breastfeeding walkers, simultaneous breast feeding record breakers…New Zealand’s nod to the week is in the form of the Big Latch On where women and their babies gather in an attempt to break the record of women simultaneously breastfeeding! Look at the venues!

From Namibia to Norway, New Zealand to Nepal, it’s all happening in support of one of nature’s very own special ways of looking after the little ones. It’s not too late to organize something in your community! Keep us posted on what you get up to!

If you’re pregnant or have a toilet training toddler in tow, we know you will have been caught short at some stage! There’s nothing worse than the angst suffered at this time  – and as you become more desperate, so does the situation! You knew that last drink was a mistake; curse those cleaners and their locked doors; you really thought you’d make it home… Time to take charge and it’s iPhone to the rescue!

SitOrSquat would have to be the most useful free iPhone app ever developed. You can search toilets based on your current location or at any address around the world (handy if you don’t have an iPhone and can text a friend with one, or vice versa!). And then you can finally declare… “ipeed!”.

You can find SitOrSquat, of course, on itunes.

If you too have a favorite mommy/baby smartphone app, please share. Weed (sik) all love to know!

We at HOTmilk like to encourage breastfeeding at every opportunity. Our goal is to make women feel supported, strong and sexy during pregnancy and beyond through the wearing of sexy maternity lingerie. If you feel feminine and fabulous, we fully believe each and every decision will come a little easier. In saying this, we are right behind every woman choosing her own path.

The deputy editor of Britain’s Mother and Baby magazine has found herself the centre of a breastfeeding furore for daring to describe her experience of breastfeeding as “creepy”. Is the ensuing outcry not a little OTT? She expressed her opinion based on her experience in an editorial forum which is where opinions are aired. She does not try to impose her opinion on others; she merely relates her own feelings. Surely this is a sign of an empowered woman?

As ever, we’d love to hear your thoughts?

Carly Flynn is now reveling in her pregnancy and looking forward to the arrival next month of her first baby with husband and cameraman, Dave Flynn.

Carly has this to say about her HOTmilk – Radiant In Her Rescue nursing lingerie,  “Nice to have some gorgeous underwear not just the plain cotton variety at this stage! Perfect fit too! Not long to go now.”

We wish Carly all the very best at this exciting time in her life!

Radiant in Her Rescue

Jennifer

‘Breast Feeding should not be attempted by fathers with hairy chests, since they can make the baby sneeze and give it wind.’

Mike Harding – The Armchair Anarchist’s Almanac.