Infancy

Can babies be lactose intolerant at infancy and how can u tell?

Payge Victoria was born yesterday. Our 3rd wee one, my first all natural delivery. AND, might I add, a VBAC, even here in a town where I was told it wasn't possible.--read more

Lookit the cuteness! Congratulations, Becky, he's adorable! Click through for pictures.--read more

--read more

--read more

Hi,

I am not sure if I am doing this right...Never have been part of a forum. Basically my dilema is- I have an 8 month old who has decided she does not want the bottle...She has never been brest fed. she will take an oz or 2 if i give her the bottle before her jarred food, but then won't eat much of her jarred food. The dr. said to start giving her her jarred food first then offer her the bottle, not to worry..she just may not want her bottle anymore. if she takes formula great, if not thats fine too...They are going to give her vitamines to make up what she isn't getting in formula...I just wish she would take her formula agin...She won't take juice, water, formula or anything from her bottle..or a sippy cup..I have tried both....I am just concerned the jarred food isn't enough and when will she drink anything??? She will drink from a REAL glass..what I drink from, but obviously I can't let her drink from that because then she will never learn to hold her own cup, not to mention I will always have to decide how much goes into her mouth at once...does anyone here have this same problem....basically in a nut shell..she stopped taking her bottle and doesn't want her sippy cup..no matter what goes into it!--read more

Hey, if you want a shot at winning one of two copies of The Complete Organic Pregnancy be sure to enter by the end of today.

--And on that note, some news pregnant girls may wish to skip: Premature births responsible for many more infant deaths than previously thought.

Scientists now say a third of infant deaths are due to premature births — a much larger percentage than previously thought. ...The revised statistic may lead to greater efforts to counsel pregnant women about taking care of themselves and avoiding actions that can lead to preterm births — such as smoking and drug use.

It also may help organizations lobbying for more research into why some women who follow medical advice still have preterm babies. The March of Dimes is advocating to expand federal research into preterm labor and delivery and the care and treatment of premature infants.

--Doing animal studies? Check out The Macaulay Library and its huge collection of animal pictures, videos and sound--some in surround sound!
It's the world's largest collection, and it's free.

--Maybe it's time to bring back Saturday morning cartoons and ditch the rest of the week's TV? Weekday TV watching hurts schoolwork, according to a new study. Weekend TV watching doesn't seem to matter.

That's the conclusion of this study from Australia:

After the researchers adjusted for factors including socioeconomic status and years of education, they found that women who were overweight or obese were less apt to attempt breastfeeding at all and those that did were less likely to continue breastfeeding. ...

Overall, the researchers found, overweight or obese women were 76 percent more likely to stop breastfeeding before their infants were six months old than their normal weight peers.

A number of factors could help explain the findings, the investigators say. For example, excess weight may change a woman's hormonal profile, making sustained lactation more difficult, or it may be harder for an infant to "latch on" to breast tissue if the mother is overweight or obese.

The researchers also report that overweight and obese women were more likely to have pregnancy complications and C-sections than normal-weight women.

Here's one factor they didn't talk about: Lactation consultants and nurses who don't know what to do with big boobs.

When I had Josie, my already-generous breasts swelled 3 cup sizes (and stayed there--I'm still dealing with them). The two lactation consultants sent to my room to help me had NO idea what to do. They were both B cup gals, and very obviously and visibly uncomfortable when confronted with a living Venus of Willendorf. We left the hospital still unable to breastfeed. If I hadn't found another large-breasted mom through La Leche League--and if my mom hadn't helped me pore through every line of every baby book we had checking off obstacles--I would have given up and gone to formula. As it was, Josie and I were a happy breastfeeding pair for three years.

My experience with Louisa was different. The lactation consultant I had was also large breasted (though more normal sized elsewhere), I'd had some experience, and Lou was/is a natural chowhound. But it helped to have an LC who wasn't scared to touch me, didn't act vaguely nauseated by my size, and had navigated a good-sized tit of her own with a baby.

Watching smaller breasted women do it, I was always glad I *was* so generously gifted; I had far more positioning options than smaller women. These things were more like hoses. I could point them in all kinds of directions.

What I'm saying is, body hatred of fat women, by the women themselves and the medical establishment, factors into this. It's not all hormones and/or difficult births.

I've just purchased my DS's first set of cloth diapers. Cloth has seemed so much better to me for a long time, but, when Aidan was first born, he was so high-maintenance that it was all I could do simply to keep decent meals on the table and the house from getting in a real state. Adding 4,000 lbs. of extra wash per week seemed too much. Also, I had been told that cloth diapers might be worse for the environment because of all the energy and water they use--that's not true, is it? How could it be? --read more

Wanna see some cute babies? I have started a blog (mostly homeschooling) and the twins are on it. You'll have to scroll down a bit. http://www.lauralyna.blogspot.com/

Lauralyn

Hi I am Kirsty a first time mum, to a 17wk old girl. She has been exclusively breastfed and up until a fortnight ago was gaining steadily. She has now dropped weight and is on the lowest centile, she nurses every hour in the day and every ten minutes from 6pm to 11pm, then every hour through the night from 2am.--read more

Okay, now I want one of these.

http://www.momandmepouch.com/HotMamaWrap.html

They look great!

I really love the gorgeous mama/child pictures too. Aren't they sweet?

So, who here has tried these new "gDiapers"? They came from Austrailia, they are like cloth (a liner with a cover) but the liner is flushable instead of having to wash it (so a cross betwen disposable & cloth) but they say they're better due to not ending up in a landfill.--read more

If you're a nursing mom in Ann Arbor, Michigan, or you're friendly to nursing moms, there's going to be a nurse-in today at the Ann Arbor YMCA to protest the really rather silly policy of no breastfeeding at the pool. Why? Because it's distracting to the lifeguards.

So, lemme get this straight.

High school girls in string bikinis: Not distracting.

Women nursing babies: Distracting.

All I can say is, they must wean their lifeguards too early in Ann Arbor.

Half-million liquid-filled baby teethers recalled:

Six styles of teethers may be contaminated with the Pseudomonas aeruginosa or the Pseudomonas putida bacteria in the liquid, manufacturer The First Years Inc. said in a statement. If the teether is punctured and the liquid ingested, the bacteria can cause serious illness in children.

The teethers were recalled from both Canada and the U.S. They are:

• Disney Days of Hunny Soft Cool Ring Teether, style number Y1447
• Disney Soft Cool Ring Teether, style number Y1470 or Y1490
• Sesame Beginnings Chill and Chew Teether, style number Y3095
• First Years Cool Animal Teether, style number Y1473
• First Years Floating Friends Teether, style number Y1474

They were sold from July 2005 through January 2006. Call 866-725-4407, or visit http://www.thefirstyears.com or http://www.fda.gov.

Make up your mind, already, Ann Arbor YMCA! They tell a local TV station that Kelly Fuks was ordered to stop feeding her son poolside because "no food or water is allowed in the pool area and exceptions cannot be made." (By that logic, Fuks should not have been allowed in the pool area at all, because where she goes, the milk goes too.) But what did the Y tell Fuks herself? That breastfeeding was a distraction to the lifeguards. Michigan moms, I smell nurse-in.

Categories: breast, breastfeeding, motherhood, feminism, Michigan

Imagine a world where a vaccine can prevent cerebral palsy. It might happen. Australian researchers say virus exposure in the womb, rather than medical malpractice, is to blame in most cases of CP:

[A] study of 443 Australian children with cerebral palsy and 883 babies without the condition has found that exposure to viruses before and directly after birth can trigger the disorder, which can affect movement, sight, hearing, perception and learning.

Alastair Maclennan, leader of the South Australian Cerebral Palsy Research Group, which published the work in the British Medical Journal, said the findings proved that cases of cerebral palsy should not be dealt with by courts.

"Judgments are made in total ignorance," he said. "(Cerebral palsy) is very rarely due to birth asphyxia."

The most likely culprits according to the study were herpes group B viruses, including the chicken pox.

This has huge ramifications for obstetrics, for the health of babies, for the medical malpractice insurance industry, and obviously, for malpractice lawyers. Here's hoping it's something we can fix--I'm betting we can.

Categories: malpractice, medicine, insurance, pregnancy, cerebral, palsy, virus, asphyxia

And Baby Makes Three in One Bed looks at co-sleeping, and how apparently Dr. Richard Ferber's non-condemnation of the practice is causing co-sleepers to come out of the closet:

Ms. Smith said she used to be highly secretive about their co-sleeping, but has begun talking more about it during baby story-time sessions she runs. Her mother, though, "continues to think I'm ruining my sons' sleep habits forever," she said.

Child development experts have said that Dr. Ferber was likely to be reacting to accumulated research since his earlier edition that supports the notion that babies have different temperaments and that their development is best served when parents are able to adapt to their individual needs.

"It is clear that children of differing temperaments need different things at night, just as they do during the day," said Sara Harkness, the director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Health and Human Development at the University of Connecticut.

Dr. Harkness, who has conducted cross-cultural research on infant sleep habits in several countries, said no studies have borne out the connection originally drawn by Dr. Ferber and others between teaching babies to sleep alone and their ability to develop autonomy.

"It's an American myth," Dr. Harkness said. "It's fine to think about training children to be independent, but there has been this misguided effort to extend it to an area where it's really not developmentally appropriate."

We've got 18 years to teach them to be independent, folks; it doesn't have to happen in the first three years. But then, I'm one of those hippie granola mamas. :rolling eyes:

My mom was convinced Josie would sleep with me the rest of her life; I used to say to her, "Yeah, Mom, she's going to come home every night from college with her boyfriend in tow and hop in bed with me." (Aren't you glad you're not my mother?) But Jo's 8 now, and while she likes to cuddle with me before going to her own room, she does go to her own room, along with her younger sister. Lou usually comes back to our bed in the early morning hours, but not always. Often I wake up alone. Woe betide me, though, if I get up without giving them a morning cuddle.

I co-slept with both my girls. Some of the sweetest moments in my life revolve around sleeping with my babies, and I haven't regretted it for a second. I hope when they grow up they sleep with their babies, too. I mean, if that works for them.

Categories: co-sleeping, parenting, infants, infancy, babies, Ferber

My baby just turned 4 months the other day. I left the job that I loved 5 months ago and I miss it. I know that I would miss my baby more than I miss my job if I put him in daycare.
This is harde--read more

Breastfeeding may protect the mother from diabetes:

Women who breast-fed for at least one year were about 15 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who never breast-fed. For each additional year of breast-feeding, there was an additional 15 percent decreased risk.--read more

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | reddit | google | yahoo | technorati | stumble upon | sk*rt

Comment on this item

Hi guys. Its been so long!I missed you all.We had a lil money crisis (van died) and we had to cut expenses. the net was one of the first to go and they dcd it so fast I didnt get to say goodbye. We are back now and all is well.I hope you are all well to esp those who were sharing the joy of pregoness with me. Mine was born oct 8 2005! hes was 6lb 11oz a lil early b/c my placenta was bleeding so after a painful amnio I had to be induced. only 4 hours of easy as pie labor though! .It only took one dose of pitocin and a small one at that so I didnt hurt to bad. Anyhow I have a link to his hospital pic. hope you enjoy and let me know who has had babies and how the still pregos are doing!--read more

I just posted one of our few pictures with both Isaac and Tabitha smiling. Now that I figures it out, maybe I will get some more pictures out. It's always that figuring out part that keeps me from doing things like that. --read more

It's been a while since I posted, but I am still enjoying following along with everyone. It's just easier to read email while nursing than to write it.
Here is a link to some pictures we had done of the twins at JCPenney. They were pretty cranky while we were there, but at least you all can see what they look like and I don't have to figure out how to put them on a website. --read more

Here's a picture of my nephew Sean I just got from his grandma (my mom). Is he adorable or WHAT!

I would like to introduce my adorable new nephew, Sean William, who I am told looks like his daddy Ian. Hard to tell from the photo. I hope to get better ones soon. He was born on Josie's birthday; she now has a birthday buddy!

Ask for help, become an insurance pariah:

In July 2004, my husband and I applied for personal health insurance from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia. ... Because I was blessed with lifelong health, the "medical information" page of my application was relatively brief. I listed a prescription for Clomid, a fertility drug I'd taken while trying to conceive my daughter, and a single appointment I'd had with a psychiatrist after she was born, regarding the possibility of postpartum depression.

Shortly after we submitted our paperwork to Anthem's headquarters in Roanoke, the letters started arriving in our mailbox. My application was under review. More information was needed. Then another letter arrived. My husband and 9-month-old daughter had been approved for coverage at Level 1, the company's best rating. I had been rejected. The reason: the psychiatrist appointment.

ONE psychiatrist appointment, in which writer Whitney Morrill was given a sample of Zoloft she decided not to take because it went into breastmilk. So what did Morrill gain by seeking help for a possible case of PPD?

A week later Anthem approved me at Level 4, its worst rating. My husband and daughter's combined monthly premium was $237. Mine was $730. ... In the end, I had to opt for an inferior and yet more costly insurance policy, at $450 a month, than the one granted to my husband and daughter. After more calls to Anthem, I learned that the psychiatrist's appointment would bar me from a Level 1 rating for five years.

Incredible. And legal. Go read the article to find out just how much money Anthem's CEO hoovered in last year; your eyes will bug out.

My friend Dia Michels sent this to me; apparently it's making the rounds of the mothering lists:

http://www.drphil.com/plugger/respond/?plugID=9244

Strangers Complain When I Breast Feed In Public!

Do you think it's okay to breast feed your child in public places but others complain that your behavior is inappropriate?

Have strangers told you that they are appalled by your breast feeding in restaurants, grocery stores, public restrooms, department stores, doctor's offices, etc. but you think breast feeding is such a natural and beautiful act that you should have the right to do it anywhere and anytime you please?

OR do you know someone who breast feeds their child in public and you are offended by it? Do you need Dr. Phil's help at confronting your friend or family member about their inappropriate habit to breast feed in public?

If you have personal experience AND very strong feelings about this issue please reply by emailing us your story. ONLY RESPOND IF YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO APPEAR ON NATIONAL TV WITH DR. PHIL.

I've got yer strong feelings RIGHT HEAH, Dr. Phil, but no one EVER complained when I breastfed in public so I don't qualify for your little bashfest. The way this is set up, it's obvious where they're going with it: "Do you need Dr. Phil's help at confronting [sic] your friend or family member about their inappropriate habit to breast feed in public?" No corresponding "Do you need Dr. Phil's help to confront your friend or family member who is so hung up on boobs he or she can't stand the sight of a baby breastfeeding?"

So now we know where Dr. Phil stands on breastfeeding. I wouldn't care except that a lot of folks put stock in what he says.