General Mills monster-themed breakfast cereals (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I never really understood the term Yummy Mummy. As far as I knew

Yummy mummy is a slang term used in the United Kingdom to describe young, attractive and wealthy mothers.
The term developed in the late 20th century, and was often applied to celebrity mothers such as Liz Hurley[3] or Victoria Beckham,[4] who appeared to quickly regain their pre-pregnancy figures after giving birth, and would continue to lead carefree and affluent lifestyles. Episode 13 of series six of The Nanny (airing in 1999) was called “The Yummy Mummy”. More generally, a “yummy mummy” is an often younger version of a milf, a term used either appreciatively or lustfully, usually by a man, to refer to a young mother with whom he would like to have a sexual encounter.
The stereotypical yummy mummy was described by Nirpal Dhaliwal in The Times as having an existence “bankrolled by a husband working himself to death in the City, [dressing] in designer outfits… carries the latest must-have bag [and] whose hair and nails are perfectly groomed”.[3] A yummy mummy would have several children and yet remain a “girl-about-town”, dressing fashionably and appearing well-groomed and carefree.[5]It was reported in 2008 that celebrity yummy mummys were contributing to levels of depression in young mothers, making new mothers feel “saggy, baggy and depressed” about their own bodies.[4

However, with my current exposure to grannyhood, I feel that a Yummy Mummy is one who is a 24 hour Coffee Shop!

Making a fashion statement.

This led me to a frantic hunt for perfect clothes for a nursing mother. Just as my current experience in looking for Maternity Clothes proved difficult, so also shopping for a suitably fashionable post natal wardrobe proved equally frustrating. The last time after I had so painstakingly explained to my tailor how I wanted the garment to be designed, he cleverly used the cloth to make TWO copious blouses with zips down the front. When I told him that I wanted a dress, he looked aghast and crest fallen that I didn’t appreciate his ingenuity . According to him, the tights which could be worn before the baby could be substituted by a skirt post delivery. This works fine if you have a natural child birth but if you have a cesarean section then anything over the waist becomes uncomfortable. So that leaves you with no option but to buy maternity gowns – those billowing shapeless garments that do nothing for your figure and even less for your self esteem which seems to plummet every moment with the challenges of new motherhood.

In the hunt for the perfect garment for nursing mothers, RTI at Hughes Road emerges a distinct winner despite the fact that the choice is limited to  diaphanous, embroidered gowns in see through mulls or dull and boring ENORMOUS tents. It would seem that every woman naturally billows out into Large, XLarge  and XXLarge so don’t try looking for Small or XSmall!  That size just does not exist in RTI’s vocabulary.

However, baby had to be fed and mummy had to be clad so I came back home triumphant with my purchases only to find Anna Shetty looking distinctly unhappy. From skimpy tops and spaghettis she seemed doomed to colourless shapeless garments that were more suited to the middle aged women rather than young happy mothers. So in the afternoon I made another trip to the shops to find something more trendy and cheery.

I was more successful with my trip to the mall at Phoenix Mills where  I found some distinctly fashionable clothes in AND, and Wills Lifestyle Store. All that I had to  look for was a dress that could open all the way down to the waist. I also found a great wrap dress.While these are definitely not cheap, they do wonders to your confidence and serve the purpose of being great dresses to wear while you are a nursing mother! Remember though, the fabric should be child friendly, preferably cotton hosiery which can do with frequent washing and won’t irritate the baby’s skin.