I've been sitting on this post a while, it's been bubbling away in the back of my head and today felt like the perfect day to get it out, and down on paper so to speak.

In April last year I did my first shoot after having my 3rd baby, Cora. My first ever shoot as a mum to a daughter.

The shoot was a branding shoot for The Pole Co. It was completely out of my comfort zone, I'd never done a branding shoot at that point and I'd certainly never worked with pole dancers or worked alongside another photographer and I'd never done shoot a big shoot. It was a full day worth of shooting.

I remember driving over to the shoot feeling all the nerves, with my friend beside me who was coming to be my nanny for the day as I couldn't leave Cora as she was still little and breastfeeding, and her youngest daughter and pregnant with her her 4th child, her 3rd daughter.

I also remember feeling so grateful that they had been so understanding of the fact that I'd need to bring Cora and that my friend could be the one to come with me to look after her whilst I worked and bring her own little one too.

In a world where women quite often have to choose motherhood or career, it was such a privilege to not have to choose and do both that day. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to fully express my gratitude for that. Those accomodations meant the world to me.

When we arrived it was straight to work, it was a busy day, there was lots to do and I really had to be on the ball for it. The Pole Co are business who work with pole dancers to help them train safely and stay injury free. They have a strength and conditioning coach, a mindset coach, mobility expert, a sports and exercise nutritionist, and a physiotherapist. They are an absolute dream team and five absolute kick-ass women.

Being surrounded by them all, and seeing and hearing all their knowledge and expertise was quite something, and then they started doing tricks on the pole and I was absolutely blown away. Not only are they all intelligent and experts in their fields, they are also all ridiculously strong, flexible and just generally phenomenal.

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What if my kid doesn't behave during a breastfeeding shoot?

I get it, this is usually everyone's biggest concern when they book a breastfeeding shoot because small people are trouble makers and never do what we want them to, when we want them to.

It’s especially true for little feeders who are getting older and get easily distracted. My camera shutter goes and they fling their head round to see what's going on and why this weird lady is pointing a camera at them whilst they are filling their tummies.

But I've taken breastfeeding photos of kids from newborn up to 3 years old, and I've got pretty good at getting those shots, even if they feed for a grand total of 5mins.

Don't believe me, let me show you.

I took these photos during a shoot where this little lady only fed for approximately 3mins, split between about 4 feeding sessions, and instead wanted to run around exploring and hiding from me.

Her mum was really worried that we hadn't got any good shots because she was just a little whirlwind the whole time we were together.

So I promise you, whatever happens, I can work with it and I'm pretty good at getting those shots. And even if they really truly don't play ball, I'll catch the stuff in between too, so it won't be wasted time.

Want to chat about a shoot with me? Let’s chat!