8) Build up your body strength before your c-section - if you know you're having one - because your arms and legs will need to haul your torso around for a while. You don't want to rely on your abs for sitting or standing up; if you can keep your arms and legs strong during pregnancy you'll have a much easier time moving around in those first few days after the surgery. 

Last but not least, be proud of yourself for birthing your baby! In this case it really is the destination not the journey :)

We are thrilled to get the Parent Tested Parent Approved Seal, but on top of that, we are over the moon after reading the judges’ accolades. Once again we have been called "A must have for breastfeeding"! Judges loved the soothing relief our TendHer Pillows and Pillowcases gave them for engorgement, sore nipples, and general breastfeeding issues. Thanks to PTPA, providing breastfeeding pain relief has never felt so good! Here are some direct quotes from our judges' evaluations:

Cooling them in this heat was awesome. It provided a lot of relief when my breasts were very full.

Very durable, well made product. I would like to see what other products this company has to offer.

Great for engorgement! Would definitely recommend to other breastfeeding mamas.

I did not expect this product to have worked as well as it did. Cold against my sore sensitive breast/nipples?... Or even heat inserted into my bra and walking around with something bulky?.... This product was nothing like that they are discreet and comfortable any time of the day.

…it was actually fool proof. Either freeze, warm or use from room temperature, [then] insert into the pillow case with the easy colour directions (red against body) - can't ask for anything simpler.

I would most definitely recommend this product - in fact my best friend is due tomorrow and I have been bragging about the pillow and told her it's a must have especially since she plans on breast feeding.

These are just some of the highlights... thanks PTPA, for making us so proud and for guiding women to quality products in what can otherwise be a challenging time. We hope to help many more women get past the challenges of breastfeeding and into the joys of it!

Just a few months ago I weaned my second, and probably last, baby. I expected it to be no big deal. My baby and I had been slowly working toward this moment for about a month. My milk supply was slowly decreasing and my baby was getting frustrated with breastfeeding and expressing a clear preference for the bottle. "I've done this before," I told myself. "No problem!" I even planned a trip so that I could make a clean break, which I thought would be easier for both of us.

In fact, I was so confident that I wasn't even planning on bringing my pump on my trip. I didn't want to send my body the wrong signals about continuing production. And I had a set of TendHer Pillows for pain relief and a plan to do some expressing in the shower. Easy, right? Thank goodness for good friends who asked incredulously, "Um, are you SURE you might not need to pump?!" I tucked it into my suitcase, "just in case," never intending to use it. And then I landed in New York. Day 1 = Fun girl time. Day 2 = Fun shopping time. Day 3 = Sore boobs, engorged, and at least one plugged duct. OUCH!!! Thank goodness for my TendHer Pillows. I was using them either warm or cold about 3 times per day to allow let-down, warm-up the plugged duct prior to massage, and then cool down the sore areas. And thank goodness for my pump! I might not have made it through without both of these tools.

So, physically, weaning was difficult - and a bit of a surprise. But I think the bigger surprise was how hard it was emotionally. I was an "experienced" mom and was really proud of my little independent baby. I was ready to have my body back, all for myself. Wasn't I? As I struggled with the physical pain of weaning, I realized that I was sad. I hadn't really said goodbye to breastfeeding, hadn't (even mentally) celebrated that last time. So when I found I still had a little supply left when I got home, I fed her again. Every night for about a week. And it was wonderful and special and I really cherished every moment. And then she was weaned - and I felt better physically and emotionally.

It has been a whole year since Pariday's TendHer Pillows have been out helping mommies with their breastfeeding pain and discomfort! We hope to continue to help all you brave women out there overcome your breastfeeding challenges, be it engorgement, sore nipples or plugged ducts.

We decided to freshen up our web store to better help you navigate our products and to answer your questions more easily! Not too much has changed, but we have improved the product pages, included a new FAQ for the TendHer Pillows and even a  way to contact us. With these changes, we hope to serve all of you better!

Go ahead, peruse our new website, look around, and tell your friends about us! Better yet, if you or if you know someone experiencing any pain from nursing their baby, babies or even toddler, just buy a set of TendHer Pillows so they can help you too!

Please help us spread the word! And if you like the new site, please let us know!

...soothed by Pariday!

Nothing is better than an objective third-party saying how much Pariday TendHer Pillows soothed their sore, tired breasts. We were so thrilled to receive the following endorsement from our partner, MommiesFirst, who highly recommend our TendHers for some serious breastfeeding pain relief. They insisted on evaluating our product before including it in their service. In return, we highly recommend their hand-picked boxes of amazing products for new or expectant moms.

Check them out here: www.mommiesfirst.com.

MommiesFirst Product Review: Pariday TendHer Pillows

Effectiveness: We look for products that are best among their peers at doing what they claim.
Your Ranking: 4.75 (out of 5)
Details: Used by a mom weaning her second baby after 8 months of breastfeeding. I was very engorged and experiencing significant pain. I tried all the possible options for using the pillows - cold (refrigerator and freezer), warm and room temperature application. In fact all four options were put to the test, as the pillows were placed in my bra minutes before several important business meetings – where relief and zero leakage were required. The pillows were 100% effective as I was able to focus on the meetings and forget the pain for a while. I found that leaving the pillows in the refrigerator versus the freezer did not make much difference in terms of the duration of the coolness/pain relief. Furthermore, while harder to qualify but incredibly important, the gels didn’t feel strange or “icky” (apologies for the lack of a better word) against my breasts. As a true testament to the product, I forgot that I was wearing pads one day. The instructions are straightforward (and illustrations helpful). I was unsure about the red pillow covers and worried that they would be visible, but this was not the case at all, even in a white shirt.

Value: As with lots of products, the most expensive isn’t necessarily the most effective or the best. We are always looking for the best products without breaking the bank.
Your Ranking: 5+ (out of 5)
Details: While mom friends had warned me about the pain related to breastfeeding, I remember still being shocked at the size of my breasts and by the soreness endured due to cracked and bruised nipples. Despite what the research stated, I also refused to use any nipple cream or ointments because I was afraid of what my newborn baby might ingest. I would have paid LOTS of money to find relief in those early days. On the flip side, no one prepared me for how painful weaning would be. Tend Her Pillows is a fantastic resource from a mom weaning her baby, especially if she’s trying to this quickly. There are really very few options out there - unless you want to walk around with cabbage in your breasts. (Testimonials on the Pariday website also underscore this point)

It’s been over 2 years since the first TendHer Pillow prototype was born. Since I’ve had mine, I’ve used them in countless other ways in addition to the original reason why they were made in the first place -- soothing my breastfeeding pain! Here are some of the other uses I’ve found them to be useful for!

Ten best uses I’ve found for my TendHer Pillows:

10) Keeping my soda can or bottle cold.

9) Stress ball. Have you played with one lately?

8) Playing patty cake with my toddler.

7) Conversation starter when visitors come and visit. Yes, there are always pillows lying around the house.

6) Icing my wrist when I was experiencing pain from carpal tunnel syndrome.

5) Placing on my son’s forehead or neck when he had a fever.

4) Keeping myself cool on a hot day.

3) Soothing my toddler’s and baby’s painful bumps, bruises and knocks.

2) Reducing puffiness in eyes caused by long sleepless nights.

1) Breastfeeding pain relief of course! Each time I feel engorged, get sore, get bitten, or have plugged ducts! Oh, and my latest breastfeeding issue? A distracted baby who takes it along with her each time she decides she wants to look at something else in the room! 

On Christmas Eve I happend to swing by Healthy Horizons in Burlingame with my in-laws, who were visiting from out of town. (Well done, HH, for helping people out that day!) I'm so proud to say that my mother-in-law, who doesn't just say things to be nice, was truly impressed by our TendHer Pillows. I got a "I wish you guys were around in my day" comment, which I always love to hear. She told me that she would've loved to use them in the inital stages of tenderness and sore nipples, but also, even more so, when she weaned.

She said the engorgement during weaning was excruciating; she BEGGED the doctor to give her something to dry up her milk supply. He told her "absolutely not", and recommended she wrap an ace bandage tightly around her breasts to reduce supply and swelling. Hmm, I thought, it sounds very old school, and painful for that matter. On the other hand, I did recall thinking that a tight bra reduced my supply / engorgement level a bit. Please send us a note if you have a comment on this one.

One consistent cross-generational take-away though: don't expect anyone who hasn't breastfed to be very sympathetic during your breastfeeding woes. I guess it is hard for them to visualize (or visceralize?) the pain you are in!

Our company name is inspired from the Latin term Paridae, which is a family of small songbirds. Since the 14th century they have been called the titmouse or simply “tit.”

As if that alone weren’t enough inspiration, these birds were notorious in the UK for learning to break the seals off delivered milk bottles to siphon the cream off the top.  To really drive it home for us, it just so happens that tits attract their mates by bouncing up and down. These little birds are irresistible!

We also like being in their camp because they are cooperative breeders; in other words, they all contribute in caring for the babies, even when the chick is not their own. It is in that same spirit that we launched Pariday, to ease the burden of other new moms around us. We love the idea of putting something in a new mom’s hands that will really solve a problem for her. Don’t worry though, we’ll leave the singing to the real birds.

What the world needs now… is another mommy blog. Well, that is not exactly true. But we too think we have a few unique ideas. We’ll let you be the judge.

For our very first post we wanted to highlight our gratitude for each being part of the profound phenomenon of bringing life into this world. All those questions you use to put things in perspective, like, “what will it matter to me 40 years from now,” or, “what’s the worst that can happen,” fail to reduce the event to a small matter. In fact having a child will matter for the rest of my life. And if something goes wrong with bringing this child into the world, that too will matter for the rest of my life. It is impossible to minimize the profundity of childbearing.

So this post is not about our products. It is meant to give you a moment to thank whoever you thank for things that are beyond your most awesome will and power. Because no one can bottle the breath of life.