10 shows to binge-watch while breastfeeding
Do you get bored while breastfeeding your baby? Fear not! Help is on its way.
By Emily Rivas
Updated Feb 21, 2017
It's 3 a.m., you haven't had a proper sleep, and you're staring at the wall while your baby nurses. MUST STAY AWAKE. While breastfeeding is a great way to bond with your baby, you also need something to keep you awake during those long nights when it seems as though your bundle of joy will never finish feeding. Welcome to the binge-watch!
1. The Mindy Project Mindy Lahiri (Mindy Kaling) is a 30-something OB/GYN, working and living in New York City. In season four, Mindy finds herself struggling to balance life as a working mom. The results are crazy hilarious. One day, Mindy brings baby Leo to work in a cardboard box and lets him hang out out in the cozy supply closet. That's when Mindy's mother-in-law Annette comes to the rescue as Leo’s nanny. And she also supplies Mindy with endless pans of homemade ziti. Yum!
Watch on Netflix.
2. Master of None Aziz Ansari’s new show, Master of None, hits home for parents right in the first episode. After a pregnancy scare with a one-night stand, Dev (Ansari) starts thinking about fatherhood and whether or not he should stay a carefree bachelor or start a family. He has a touching heart-to-heart with his new-dad friend who shares how life changed for him post-kids. But when Dev decides to babysit a friend’s school-aged youngsters, he gets more than his fair share of awkward public-bathroom antics, weird grocery-store misbehaviour, and something called "poop shoes."
Watch on Netflix.
3. Jane the Virgin After being accidentally artificially inseminated with her boss’s specimen in season one (hey, it happens!), the second season presents a whole new set of challenges for Jane now that she's a mom. Although Jane has support from her grandmother and mom, who she lives with, she’s determined to figure things out by herself. Here are a few parenting lessons she learns: how to get a baby to latch, how to balance grad school with parenting, how to navigate baby classes that teach babies to smile, and learning what the hell a plagiocephaly helmet is.
Watch on Shomi.
4. Modern Family Filmed in mockumentary style, Modern Family presents exactly what the name suggests. The show is about three families: Jay Pritchett, his second wife Gloria, her son Manny and their son Joe (who was an oops!); Prichett’s daughter Claire, her husband and three kids; and Prichett’s lawyer son Mitchell, his husband Cam and their adopted daughter Lily. Like any family, they have their ups and downs, and obviously their own parenting styles. Cam frequently dresses Lily up as divas like Cher and Diana Ross, Claire’s husband Phil is forever the dorky dad and Gloria remains the loudest member of the family.
Watch on Shomi.
5. Shameless (U.S) The Gallagher family from Shameless might just be the opposites of the loving and happy-go-lucky unit from Modern Family. With an alcoholic dad, Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy), and a substance-abusing, bipolar mom, the Gallagher kids fend for themselves. The show follows the eldest daughter, Fiona (Emmy Rossum), who tries to raise her five siblings while trying to make it on her own. Despite living under the worst circumstances—poor and in a bad area of Chicago—the Gallagher kids try to overcome adversity with the help of their friends. Though the show is about to head into its sixth season in the new year, catch up on season five for some crazy antics on conceiving and taking care of twins, work-life balance and a possible teen pregnancy.
Watch on Shomi.
6. Friends “I’ll be there for you” is a line we all know too well. Though this iconic show mostly followed the coupled adventures of Monica, Rachel, Ross, Phoebe, Chandler and Joey, who could forget about the finer parenting moments in the final seasons? Iconic scenes like Ross and Rachel singing Sir Mixalot’s “I Like Big Butts” to baby Emma remind us that sometimes being a parent means making a fool of yourself just to get a laugh.
Watch on Netflix.
7. Raising Hope After a one-night stand, 21-year-old James “Jimmy” Chance realizes that he not only slept with and impregnated a woman—she's also a serial killer. Jimmy earns custody of his new baby girl, Hope (who was originally named Princess Beyonce Carlyle), but he has no idea how to raise a child. This show follows Jimmy’s crazy family as they all try to lend a hand in Hope’s upbringing.
Watch on Netflix.
8. Gilmore Girls If there’s any show that encompasses single-parenthood, it’s Gilmore Girls. Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) had her daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel) when she was a teenager. After leaving home at 16, Lorelai raises Rory alone and the two are more like best friends than mother-daughter, who both share a love for food, coffee (and more coffee) and pop culture. Gilmore Girls offers valuable parenting lessons: Don’t have an all-green baby shower, squatting does not make the baby come out faster, and The Bangles songs make for the best lullabies. Every kid could use a Lorelai Gilmore in their life.
Watch on Netflix.
9. Parenthood Parenthood follows the four grown-up Braverman kids, Adam, Sarah, Crosby and Julia, as they navigate the struggles of well, parenthood. No show will make you cry as much—happy tears, sad tears, tears for no reason—than Parenthood. There are many relatable moments, but since it's 3 a.m. and you're wiped out, you will truly appreciate the moment when an exhausted Crosby looks at his newborn daughter and says, "I'm sure you're going to be the best thing that ever happened to me someday, but right now I really hate you.” Truth!
Watch on Shomi.
10. Outlander Outlander is a mix of romance, science-fiction and history all in one show. Claire Randall, a nurse during World War II, is suddenly transported back to Scotland in 1743. For her own protection, she has to marry rugged Jamie Fraser (life is so unfair!). But here’s the problem with Outlander. The show is so darn addictive that the baby will have finished nursing and be sleeping soundly and you will still be binging. Because who can resist a hot Scot in a kilt—especially one who bares his bum. Now that will get you lactating.
Watch on Netflix and Shomi.
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