11 weeks ago I was called by the local council mothers group organiser. She was calling to invite me to be a part of he upcoming round of mothers group for new mums. I was keen to participate as I know no other mothers of young babies like mine who live close by. Many of my friends with children are over 1/2 an hour away and with a small baby that is not a ‘coffee and a chat’ kind of distance!

So of course I accepted her invitation and a week later fronted up to our first ‘meeting’. We live in the City of Hume and mothers group here is a lovely program which runs for 10 weeks and is moderated by a wonderful woman who is employed by them. Our 10 weeks encompassed all manner of things from sleep and settling to an awesome CPR session where we learned to resuscitate a baby, child or adult and how to deal with choking. It was very empowering. We also covered first foods, introducing solids and home safety. it was all presented in a very relaxed and social environment (except the CPR which was of course more serious and focused) allowing us to get to know each other and connect.

From day one we were lucky and connected well. We all got together the next week and promptly decided once a week was not at all enough and decided that mums and bubs movies and the local cafes were to become our new occupations! In the 10 weeks since we began, we have become so very close. Confiding in each other, sharing our experiences and asking each others advice on such a wide range of topics I don’t know where to begin.

Now that our formal gatherings are no longer we have made arrangements to share out the duty of having everyone in our homes each week and another meeting somewhere else on another day. It is a beautiful thing. Many a Monday we have gotten home in the very late afternoon from our 10am session which lasts officially for 2 hours.

As a new mum it is easy to get into the same simple routine and only leave the house to do the groceries or visit family. Especially in winter the tendency is to stay home and keep your baby warm and cosy. Meanwhile going slowly insane and perhaps not realising it until it is already well set in :) Mothers group will keep you sane, it may help you make some wonderful friends, make friends for your babies that they may end up going to school with and it will most certainly brighten your weeks and be the day you look forward to the most.

Don’t despair in the sometimes lonely days of early motherhood. It can be difficult, especially if like me, you don’t have family close by to help you out or just come over for a cup of tea or to walk the baby while you have a much needed rest. There are other girls going through exactly what you are. Your mothers group may be like mine, a motley crew of girls of varying ages and backgrounds, attitudes and ideas. Or you may find a group who are similar in personality to you. Either way, embrace the experience and give it your all to get to know the others and get as much from the experience as you can.

Mothers group has taken the joy of motherhood to an entirely new level for me. And in spite of the fact that I am sure I am putting on weight from all the lunches and cakes, I would not give up ‘the girls’ and our babies for anything. Mothers Group - Give it a go - You’ll love it!

An interesting thing happened to me a few weeks ago. I was at a routine chiropractic check up for our little bunny (there is nothing wrong with her and we are keeping it that way by having regular spinal checks to ensure she grows and develops well) and I was explaining how she was not having long restful sleeps and how she was often upset after feeds. I was wondering what it was and what i could do to help her as it was very distressing for both of us.

He asked me if I was eating any of the commonly known things that upset babies like cauliflower and onion, coffee/tea or peas. All no’s. And then he said what about chocolate? I looked down and said ‘a little’ thinking the problem would lie with the sugar…. This was when he explained something interesting. The caffeine in chocolate is processed without much to do in an adult body within 6 hours maximum. In an infant who receives caffeine via breastmilk, caffeine is not processed for up to 80 hours! This means it can upset their tummy, prevent them from sleeping, make them irritable, and over tired and also give them headaches as it leaves their bodies….. just like it does to an adult.

i was horrified and instatly stopped. Within three days she was a different baby. So relaxed at feeding time and sleeping much better. It was such a relief to find the cause and be able to do something.

So, I advise not eating chocolate - no matter how tired you are, which is why I was doing it :) -  while breastfeeding your little ones. A devastating blow, if, like me you just love the stuff, but worth the sacrifice when you see how calm and settled they can be.

It is astounding to me - 12 weeks into the life of my little girl - that there was ever a time in our lives when she was not here. Time, however, is slipping away from me. I just adore her little face and cannot bear to clean or do dishes or anything like that while she is awake. This means that many things are left by the wayside in our home these days.

So many other mums had told me that I would have no time anymore for anything and the house would be a mess and that dinner would not make it to the table. I am here to tell you that those things are so unimportant in the  scheme of our lives. When my husband comes home to find our bed unmade or his shirts still in the basket (clean because he washed them himself mostly) unironed he looks at me and smiles. I love you he says and then he kisses me and cuddles our little bunny and our life is perfect.

I guess what i am trying to say is that, no matter what you think you ’should’ or ‘must’ get done in the day and whether your house looked like a museum before you had kids or not…. loving your babies and spending time teaching them and helping them grow and ensuring they feel loved is so much more important than whether you disinfected the bathroom and polished the stove top. And if you come to my house and decide it is your right to judge me for the fact that there may be a few dishes waiting to be washed or because i haven’t put away the ironing board, then that is your perogative.

All in all three months have gone by and she is divine, the light of our lives. And when all is said and done… I don’t regret or begrudge her any of the time we have spent toether just playing or laughing together. I hear her now so I have to run. Remember to love every minute because they grow so very fast.

There is an interesting article in the Washington Post about day care and unwanted infant weight gain:

Infants cared for by caregivers other than their parents tend to gain more weight than children cared for by their parents, a new study says.
And children receiving regular care from people other than their parents are also less likely to be breast-fed and more likely to be introduced to solid foods early, the researchers found.
Other studies have suggested that breast-feeding for up to the first 12 months of life may confer protection against obesity.
More and more evidence suggests that the threat of excess weight gain and obesity is taking hold in America’s nurseries, Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University School of Medicine’s Prevention Research Center said. “Studies show obesity emerging as a problem even in the first year of life. This, in turn, results in a higher risk of diabetes in youth, and lifelong obesity and its many consequences.”

Given how we are following America’s lead in most things, I would suspect the same will hold true for our Day and Early Care here in Australia.

There was another related article I read the other day (to which I can’t find the link right now) that mentioned that there may be a tangible relationship between allergies and the introduction of foods at an early age (<6 months). The article stated that the baby’s digestive system is not developed enough at less than 6 months to handle solids and especially the chemicals and additives that are found in the food we eat.

So, if you can, breastfeeding gives your baby a fantastic start in life. I know that there is a lot of promotion about only breastfeeding for the first 3 months before cycling you baby onto pre-prepared foods, but I think it would be a great idea to stick with it a little longer.

Here is an article for you from the ‘well, that just makes perfect sense’ department:

Exercise during pregnancy is good for you! What a revelation :)
The interesting part is that while we all know the exercise is good for you and your heart, a pilot study by the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences showed that your exercise may also be good for your baby and it’s heart!

Using non-invasive monitoring, the researchers hypothesised that maternal exercise during pregnancy can have a beneficial effect on fetal cardiac programming by reducing fetal heart rate and increasing heart rate variability.

During the study, they found there there were significantly lower heart rates among fetuses that had been exposed to maternal exercise. The heart rates among non-exposed fetuses were higher, regardless of the fetal activity or the gestational age.

Behind the medical jargon, this does make very good sense. We all know exercise at just about any life stage, pregnant or not, is good for you. Walking, Yoga and Pilates are all fantastic ways to keep fit and ’stretchy’ (you know what I mean…) during pregnancy. Just be careful once the relaxin hormone kicks in.  The joints, especially hip joints, do tend to turn to mush in the last trimester :)

Getting a good night’s sleep halves a young child’s risk of being overweight and lowers the chances of later anxiety and depression, a Harvard Medical School study has shown.

In a study involving 915 children in Massachusetts, researchers found that those who slept less than 12 hours a day in the first two years of life were twice as likely to be overweight at age 3 than children who slept longer. Very young children need more sleep and those in this study slept an average of 12.3 hours per day.

Very Interesting! And you thought getting a good night’s sleep during your baby’s first few years was just good for your own sanity :)

Further, television tended to make matters worse, with children who watched two or more hours daily by age 2 more likely to be overweight at age 3, the researchers said.

“Getting enough sleep is becoming harder with televisions, computers and video games in kids’ bedrooms.”, one of the researches stated.

Closer to home, a study at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Parkville, Australia found that children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder commonly had sleep problems.Among 239 Australian children ages 5 to 18 years with ADHD in the study, 73 percent had sleep problems. Their most common problems were difficulty falling asleep, resisting going to bed and tiredness upon waking, Dr. Sung (lead researcher) said.

Compared to other children with ADHD but no sleep problems, these children were more likely to have poorer quality of life and daily functioning, as well as poorer school attendance.

Source : News Daily

There news circling the news sites (here, here) about Canada banning the sale of baby bottles containing the chemical “Bisphenol A” after concluding the chemical is toxic.

Now, this may not be news to you. After all, some sites have been saying this for quite some time. Just google for ‘Bisphenol A toxic’ to see for yourself.

I just wonder why it has taken so long for someone (a government) to take a stand on this. It is mentioned in the reports that some studies have found that even at low doses the chemical can increase breast and ovarian cancer cell growth, as well as some prostate cancer cells in animals. Further, Bisphenol A has been linked to fertility problems, diabetes, hyperactivity and early puberty in girls.

So, what is the answer ? Well, I think Glass Bottles could be a good start. I know they are a bit harder to find and need more care, but the benefits and health implications seem obvious. During the early stage, breastfeeding seems rather handy as well… No plastic there :)

What other areas of your baby’s care could you switch to non-plastic alternatives ?

Here is a concerning little story: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has completed a two year study (2004-2005) that showed that unintentional overdoses were the third leading cause of non-fatal injuries among infants treated in hospital emergency department. For children aged 1 to 4 years, it was the sixth leading cause.

The study estimates that 158,520 patients aged 18 years and younger visited emergency departments for adverse reactions to prescription and non-prescription medications, vaccines, vitamins, dietary supplements, and complementary and alternative therapies during that two year period.

The important part to note was that children from 1 to 4 years old were nearly 10 times more likely than children of other ages to be hospitalised for adverse drug effects. Almost half (45 %) of the hospitalisations were unintentional overdoses, mostly from pain relief and respiratory medications.

It is just so important to remember that our baby’s body does not yet have the tolerances to foreign influences that you and I do. We’re all used to grabbing Aspirin or Paracetamol tablet when we have a headache, but we tend to forget that the dosage is made for a 80kg+ Adult, and not a 5-15kg child. Simply splitting a tablet is just not safe as the medication may not be perfectly evenly dispersed in the tablet. And really, who of us can successfully split a table into 4 or more chunks ? Even then, that quarter chunk is still enough for a 20kg person…

If you do need to give your child medication, please make sure you use the children’s version of the product if it is available, or switch to one.

I just read a very interesting article on Dr Mercola’s Blog Site and also adapted from here:

The mix of bacteria in a baby’s gut may predict whether that infant will become obese later in life. Babies with a high amount of bifidobacteria and a low amount of Staphylococcus aureus may be protected from excess weight gain.

This may help explain why breast-fed babies are at lower risk for later obesity; bifidobacteria are prevalent in the guts of breast-fed babies.

Many studies have found that breast feeding is associated with a reduced risk of childhood obesity.

As in so many cases, it seems that the natural things in life are the best. There have become so many ways in modern society to ’substitute’ the tried and true products of nature. An example would be artificial sweeteners.

It is so sad that natures most perfect food, breastmilk, would be substituted for any reason except a serious maternal health issue that meant breastfeeding could not go ahead. This article is interesting in that it shows that medical research is catching up with what some have always known. When looking at the long term health of your children, thereis nothing better than what you have readily available to give to them. The natural proven methods of caring for them and feeding them will always be most beneficial.