Clare Kerswell

Tell us a bit about yourself?

Hi my name is Claire, I’m 32 I live in Queanbeyan with my partner Joe and our three month old Jasper.

What were you doing before babies/children?

Before Jasper I was working full time as a primary school teacher which I’d been doing for 10 years. I started working full time straight from finishing uni so maternity leave with a bub has been a nice change in routine.

How did you come to be a mum?

Before I met my partner I wasn’t sure I wanted kids, but after I fell in love I just knew he was going to be an amazing dad and knew I had to have babies with him. It took us 12 months to conceive and we began working with a fertility doctor but thankfully fell pregnant after some closer cycle monitoring so didn’t have to explore other options further.

What has your feeding journey been like?

Tricky! I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes so my care team wanted me to express colostrum prenatally, but I wasn’t able to. After Jasper was born my milk was slow to come in and he was given formula to top him up between feeds. He was a little slow to put weight on after the initial loss after birth so I was advised to continue to top up with formula and expressed milk after each feed. As you can imagine in those early days this was a big ask and I was concerned I wasn’t going to be able to feed my baby. I also went on motilium to try to further boost my supply for a few weeks. By about 8 weeks Jasper had caught up with his weight and my milk was established. It was definitely an uphill battle but I’m really glad I stuck with it as breastfeeding was important to me.

What has sleep been like in your house?

Jasper is now 5 months old and sleep has changed! He grew out of his bassinet about two months ago as he was rolling and now has started crawling so we’re in the process of transferring him to his cot. Because of those big developmental changes Jasper’s s sleep has taken a hit (and so has ours) we’re trying really hard to keep to our bedtime routine and encourage him to sleep and settle in his own space but honestly it’s been really hard!

The hardest bits…

Breastfeeding! Cluster feeding in particular during those first few weeks was so so hard! I spent so much of my late pregnancy worrying about labour when now I wish I had investigated breastfeeding more.

The best bits…

Watching Jasper learn and explore the world around him is so wonderful. Seeing him smile and hearing him laugh for the first time melted my heart. Also watching his grandparents interact with him; there is so much love for our little boy amongst our family.

How do you make time for yourself?

I wasn’t great at this before I was a mum so it’s definitely something I need to work on. Having said that, we go for walks every week and see family and friends quite often. I'm super lucky that I have a core group of friends who all have kids not that much older than Jasper so we have our own little mothers group! I try to communicate with my partner when I need a bit of a break.

What’s next for you and your family?

Just enjoying being a trio at the moment and adjusting to our new day to day. In the future hopefully there will be a sibling for Jasper.

If you could talk to your pre baby/kid self, what advice would you give?

Maternity leave really is for caring for and enjoying the baby. Adjust your expectations of what you will be getting done and focus on the little wins. Doing one thing a day is more than enough. The housework can wait!