The Hydrant is a hands free water bottle that is marketed to those on bed rest, in wheel chairs and so on, and is specifically useful during childbirth or breastfeeding. Basically, it’s a standard water bottle with a clip handle so that it can be hung in unusual places, with a 44” pipe and mouth piece.

I first used the Hydrant during my second baby’s birth. We had a home water birth and there wasn’t space to put a bottle that I could reach it, so having a bottle that could rest on the floor with a drinking nozzle that reached all the way up to me was pretty perfect. I drank deep mouthfuls of fresh water between contractions, as I found the gas and air really dried my mouth out, so it was perfect for that.

Then, afterwards, I also found having a waterbottle handy for breastfeeding, which also makes me terribly thirsty, was particularly helpful. I have a bottle I carry around with me, but when a newborn wants to feed they want to feed now, so being able to pop onto my ‘spot’ on the sofa and have a one litre bottle there ready and waiting dedicated to this purpose is pretty great too.

The most useful place for me so far, however, has been in bed at night. I take it up with me when I go to bed and clip it onto the basinet which currently serves as a blanket storage basket. As I cosleep with two under three at the moment, I get very, very thirsty during and after night feeds, and theres little worse than lying in bed with your tongue stuck to your pallet from dehydration, but not wanting to move because you don’t want to wake up your babies!  The Hydrant is just there, I can grab the tube and rehydrate to my heart’s content, without moving much other than my forearm. Fabulous.

This bottle is meant for cold drinks, not hot, and it is dishwasher safe. If used in hospital the tube and valve should be changed and sterilised daily – and as this bottle is highly recommended for c-section recovery, it would be worth having spares.

I’m really chuffed with The Hydrant. It’s such a simple idea, but so useful. And it seems the NCT agree as they sell it in their shop, and there are great reviews on the NCT site from other mums who’ve used it too.

While certainly not an essential to a good breastfeeding relationship, a breastfeeding bracelet and necklace can be a big help in establishing and continuing breastfeeding and Mama Jewels have a lovely range of beautiful jewellery to suit the occasion.

What do you use them for?

Well, in the first six weeks or so of breastfeeding, breast milk reservoirs in the breasts and is readily available. It can be really hard when your breasts are full all the time to remember which side you last fed from, but doing so is quite important as every time you feed your baby, your body produces more milk, thereby establishing how much milk you need and how often. Around six weeks, the reservoir ‘dries up’ and milk becomes supply and demand, and your body now knows how much your baby needs (incidentally, this is when many women incorrectly think their milk has dried up.) For those first six weeks, having a bracelet that you can wear either on the side that you’ve just fed from, or need to feed from next can be invaluable – especially for night feeds.

The breastfeeding bracelet serves this purpose perfectly – but I did find it a bit small for my hand and ideally you want something that slips off and on again without too much fuss. While the heart adds to the prettiness, I found it a hindrance – but I do have larger hands than the average woman, so it’s probably just me.

I have two Mama Jewels necklaces – one in pink and one in blue and they are both beautiful.

They’re particularly handy when baby is a little older and starts twiddling and pinching and grabbing during nursing. It can be extremely painful and with my daughter I ended up so bruised in the throat and chest area, my husband would only leave the house with me if I wore a polar neck or scarf! A necklace gives the child something to focus on, pull on, tug on and twirl without leaving bruises. Bonus.

Mam Jewels guarantee that their jewellery is baby-proof and they’re so sure of this fact that they’ll give you your money back if baby manages to break your jewellery. They are strength tested, and so far the jewellery has a 100% track record. These sets can also be washed and sterilised, and even go through the dishwasher (although secure it tightly!) if they need a thorough clean.

The components that make up Mama Jewels are non-toxic and have been tested in accordance with UKAS and Toy Standards.

All round, these are great, affordable, lovely and fab to wear and use.

If you want to get the mum-to-be in your life a really special something for Mother’s Day, or the new mother something that can help her feel feminine and beautiful in the sometimes difficult months post birth, we have a fantastic offer for you.

Boobie Milk is a supplier of maternity and nursing lingerie, and they stock some of the nicest brands of maternity bras and underwear you’ll find. As a mama-to-be with a two week overdue bump myself, I have absolutely loved not only the service I’ve received from Boobie Milk, but also the products, and cannot recommend them highly enough.

So what’s the offer?

Boobie Milk is offering PlayPennies readers 15% off on their range of maternity and nursing wear

• Discount: 15% off
• Expires: 23 March 2012
• Exceptions: None - also valid on Special Offers
• Discount Code: playpennies15

Of course this doesn’t just have to be for Mother’s Day, as every mum to be will know pregnancy changes your breasts, in shape and size, and the birth of a child does the same whether you breastfeed or not, so having the option of having an at home fitting if you live in Kent or surrounding areas or an online advice service if you don’t is pretty awesome.

When your body is no longer your own, and your once comfy underwear is cutting into your skin, it’s a real pleasure to be treated to professional and helpful service, and walk away feeling feminine and sensual, bump and all.

Pregnancy. It’s like a trial run for motherhood, but without the little person. In this case it’s all the additional things you really don’t need, but that having just make your life that fraction easier. And when you suffer sciatica, PSD and general ‘can’t-get-up-ness’, one of those fractions is something that makes sitting more comfortable and getting up easier: a maternity pillow.

Theraline’s Plushy Moon is my sofa pillow. It is a crescent-moon shaped pillow with fluffy material on one side and filled with micro-beads which are meant to conform to your body to make you more comfortable.

I haven’t been using it as a breastfeeding pillow yet, but it’s small enough that you can place a newborn on it without having masses of bulky pillow around you, which I think would make it a perfect nursing pillow. It tapers to the end, meaning you have the bulk in the centre, but don’t have your elbow up at shoulder height while you’re trying to hold on to your infant, which I remember being a problem with my previous nursing pillow.

The Plushy Moon comes in a zipped plastic bag which is easy to get the pillow into and out of, and makes it ideal if you’ll be travelling, or if you’re storing it away between babies.

The main negative for the Plushy Moon maternity and breastfeeding pillow is the fact that it doesn’t have a removable cover. You can pop the whole thing into the washing machine, but that means that while it’s washing and drying, you’re without a pillow, so if your baby sicks or messes on your pillow, or your toddler uses it to ski around the patio (for example!) you’re pillow-less for a while.

We have really deep sofas, and I have found the Theraline Plushy Moon particularly helpful as a back support while I suffer pregnancy niggles. It forms a perfect mould between me and the sofa, and is the right width that I can get off the sofa without having to push myself up, if that makes sense, which means it’s relatively painless.

Theraline Plushy Moon pillows retail at around £23.95, and can be used for sleep, to protect or support your bump and back during pregnancy and to support your baby while you breastfeed, so as far as pregnancy and newborn items go, they have a pretty good lifespan.

*HAROOOOGA!!* This Closer to Nature electric breast pump has been reduced by £59.99 from £79.99 down to £20 - it's my Deal of the Day (if we had a deal of the week it would be that too!)

• Click HERE to zoom over to Asda for this deal

I'm guessing that at this price these Closer to Nature electric breast pumps won't stay in stock for long, so if you're in the market for one of these I'd be inclined to grab one now.

All health professionals will tell you that breastfeeding your baby is best and that it encourages bonding, great for mums and their babies, but can leave new dads feeling a bit left out.

Expressing breast milk and allowing dads to feed it to their babies from a bottle, gives THEM the chance to bond with their tiny offspring and also gives  mum some much-needed time off - especially dad does the occasional night shift!

This Closer to Nature electric breast pump comes with everything you need to make this a quick and easy process.

It has 'natural feel expression'  which mimics your child's natural feeding action. Soft silicone cup for maximum comfort and perfect fit and light, low, medium and high settings.

Inside the box you get an Electric Breast Pump, Steriliser Box, 150ml Bottle and teat, one milk storage lid, two milk storage pots and six Closer to Nature breast pads.

Standard delivery is £4.95 or you can collect your Closer to Nature electric breast pump instore for freeeee; hurrah!

Thanks to mike321 over at HUKD!

I didn't breastfeed any of my children.

I've got used to the occasional GASP, the subtle headshaking and muted tut-tuttings over the years and I make no apologies for it.  The thought of it actually made me feel quite queasy and want to lock 'the girls' up and throw away the key!

I have a friend, on the other hand, who utterly loved every single moment of it and was distraught when she finally decided to stop (and I'm talking years here not months!).

She's one of these women who are very strong and confident in their own skin so wasn't remotely phased about breastfeeding in public and couldn't care less if someone too offence; she wasn't over the top and didn't 'put on a big show' but she didn't curl up in the corner and try to hide either.

It's a thorny issue! Denise Van Outen admitted to giving up breastfeeding early for fear of being papped whilst doing so and the resulting pictures being published in the papers.

Okay so lesser-famous mothers don't have that to contend with but they DO have to face the rest of it - the stares from some, the surreptitious sideways glances from others, the barbed comments not said to you but uttered loudly enough for you to hear - you get the picture.

So what are you to do?

Don't go out until your child can sit at the table and eat a chocolate chip muffin along with the rest of the Starbucks patrons - that's one option. Don't breastfeed at all - that's another, but what if you WANT to!?

I came across this 'breastfeeding apron' this morning and I when I saw the title I had to investigate further - it's not, thankgoodness, a multi-tasking cooking pinny that allows you to cook and breastfeed at the same time!

It's like a bib that you attach round your neck, it hangs down covering your front and baby and boobs are squirrelled away underneath. I think I'd prefer to call it a backless smock though, it sounds more glam' and less like you can't drink a skinny latte without dribbling it down your front!

But what I want to know is this:  is this money for old rope?

You can achieve the same results with a light muslin square, right? Or, if you're handy with a sewing machine, make something similar of your own for a fraction of the cost (I know this one is priced in US dollars, but there must be an equivalent to buy with our Great British pounds!), or is this sort of item pure genius and only going to make the lives of breastfeeding mums easier and less stressful?

Regardless of the answer, there is still the bigger question to answer: why, in the modern times we live in, breastfeeding aprons/bibs/backless smocks/tents even! are necessary?  WHY is breastfeeding in public still such a taboo?!

Answers and opinions on virtual postcards please - enquiring minds (mine!) want to know.

We're going to be seeing double in today's edition of Celebaby!

I went to school with two sets of identical twins and I always fancied being part of a matching pair - can you imagine the trouble and fun you could get up to if you have a body double! Brilliant!

Twins run in my family but the buy-one-get-one-free  gene has been skipping the generations, so you can understand why me and my cousins were a bit twitchy when it came to the first scan!  So far, we've all escaped unscathed and I've nothing but admiration for parents with twins or more - can you imagine!?

Double Joy for Chris Daughtry

Daughtry is currently my music of choice in the car.  For the uninitiated, Chris Daughtry was the fourth place finalist in season five of American Idol and with the band that subsequently formed has gone on to have massive world-wide success.

He's been married to his wife, Deanna, since November 2000 and they announced yesterday that they are expecting twins at the end of the year via a surrogate. Deanna had to have a partial hysterectomy four years ago so the babies were conceived via IVF and will be carried to term by a gestational surrogate - how amazing!

Chris has released the following statement on his website...

"Deanna and I are overjoyed about this double blessing. Thank you for your expressions of love and support and for respecting for our privacy during this special time."

When the twins arrive in November they will join Chris and Deanna's other children, Griffin and Hannah.  We wish them all the best!

Marcia Cross - 'Breastfeeding twins is a big job'

I already want to run for the hills at this point!  Can you even begin to imagine the coordination and planning that needs to go into breastfeeding twins??!!  Someone give this woman a medal! Marica and all multiple breastfeeding mums for President!!

Her twin daughters, Eden and Savannah, are now three years old but with hard work and dedication Marcia says that breastfeeding twins is doable.

“The fact that I was doing two was a big job.  You had to prop them up on pillows and get them just right and then switch them!”

Desperate Housewives actress Marcia also had the help and support of a nurse who encouraged her to keep trying and a result the girls were breastfeed babies for four months.

When asked during a recent interview whether she fed the girls when out and about, the answer was no but not because of social pressure...

“I didn’t feel sexual about my boobs at that point. I think there’s … this allure that it’s a sexual thing to other people, but I’d be like 'walking through the house with my milk jugs'...you don’t feel sexual at all.”

My word, if the thought of all that doesn't turn you into a desperate housewife then nothing will!