Kids

First time mums – Hints and tips

I have a 2 and a half year old son and becoming a mother for the first time was stressful and overwhelming.  I did learn some things along the way that I would like to share.

 

Before birth

Sounds obvious but read as much as you can so that you get an idea of what to expect, that way you’re not completely clueless about what is happening with your body and what to expect when you bring your baby home from the hospital.

Books

I read many books and these were the ones that really helped

–   Birth Skills by Juju Sundin with Sarah Murdoch – this book gives techniques as to how to manage pain while you’re in labour with or without the use of pain relief.

–   What to expect when you’re expecting by Sharon Mazel With Heidi Murkoff –  a good comprehensive book which gives you a week by week guide to the development of the baby and other useful information such as what you symptoms you might have at certain months of your pregnancy.

 

Stretch marks

To help with stretch marks, I used Palmers Coco butter lotion on my tummy, bottom and breasts every night while I was pregnant.  I am happy to report that I don’t have any stretch marks.  There are other brands of lotion for stretch marks, so choose one that appeals to you and see if it works.  May not work for everyone but it doesn’t hurt to give it a try.

 

Private vs public hospital

If you have private health insurance which covers pregnancy, this is an issue you’ll need to address early on in your pregnancy because if you decide to give birth in a private hospital you will need to find an obstetrician that delivers at the hospital that is covered by your private health insurance and the fee that the obstetrician will charge.  Private health insurance only covers for the time you’re in hospital – that is when you go in and the few days after delivering your baby.  The advantage of going to a private hospital is that you get to choose the obstetrician that will be caring for you during your pregnancy and will be delivering your baby.

If you decide to go to a public hospital, you won’t be out of pocket for any appointments or ultrasounds.  However, there will be long waiting time at your appointments and you don’t get to choose the obstetrician.

There is also what they call share care.  With share care you are booked into a public hospital to deliver your baby and have certain appointments at the hospital and the rest will be with a share care doctor.  You will have to pay to see the doctor for those appointments.  The advantage of share care is that it will end up being cheaper than going private.

I chose the share care option, even though I had Private Health insurance with BUPA (HBA at the time), it was cheaper going public and the nearest private hospital was 40 mins away.  I didn’t want to risk giving birth on the freeway.

 

After birth

Baby capsules/seats

Baby products are quite expensive, a great alternative is hiring some of it especially things that are only needed for a short time.

I hired a baby capsule for 6 months rather than spending hundreds of dollars for something that was only needed for a short period of time.  Also, those bigger toys like the activity stations are also great to hire since babies out grow them so quick.

 

Breastfeeding

For some women, breastfeeding is easy but for others it’s a nightmare such as getting cracked nipples, mastitis and baby not latching on.  I breastfeed my child for 2 years.  That was how long I wanted to breastfeed for and as time drew closer I did wonder how I was going to get him to stop. When he began eating solids, he naturally breastfeed less, and only needed breast milk at night to sleep.  Sometimes he would ask for it in the mornings, it soothed and comforted him.  One night, after I breastfed my son, I showed him the teeth marks and mentioned that it was sore and he understood and didn’t ask for breast milk anymore.  Was shocked that it would be that easy to get him to stop!

My son suffered from colic and wind at the beginning until I realised that it may be due to certain foods that I ate.  I knew that certain foods made me bloated and it got me thinking that maybe it might cause the same thing to my baby.  So I decided to take note of what I ate that day and if there was any irritability or discomfort in my son the next day.  I began to see a pattern and was more careful about what I ate.  I believe that by reducing or eliminating certain vegetables such onions, cabbage, broccoli, bean shoot, caffeine and dairy made a big difference because there were less tears from my son.

I found an interesting article recently that confirmed my theory called “Breastfeeding and your diet”  which is worth a read if you’re planning to breastfeed your baby.

 

Sleep

There are many techniques and there will be many tears and not just from baby.  This is a tough one and there is no right one. I think it’s more to do with which one works for you and which you feel more comfortable with. For some babies or toddlers sleeping through the night is not an 8 hour stretch like it is for adults.

I was not comfortable with the “controlled crying method”.  I had read that when babies cry for a long period of time, they get very stressed and they shut down.

We would usually put my son into his cot when he was asleep, this sometimes resulted in him crying as soon as we placed him in there.  We would try and soothe him with gentle pats or we would bend over the cot to place our face close to his to soothe him.  Didn’t always work and so we had to pick him up and rock him to sleep again and the process began again.

I recently heard that you should place the baby into bed while awake and to get them to drift off there (soft alternating two hand pats on baby’s bottom or leg helps them to drift off.).  I never tried this, though most of the time my baby fell asleep while feeding.

For the first year, my son slept in his cot in our room and never slept through the night.  When I moved him into his own room I was surprised that he slept through the night.  Just quietly, I think my husband’s snoring may have woke my son up during the night!

I attended a baby sleep seminar by Pinky Mckay and found it very interesting and helpful.  Pinky’s has gentle and caring approachs to helping parents care for their babies.

I recently read an interesting article called “Five baby sleep myths – busted” by Pinky Mckay.

 

Colic/wind/reflux/teething

For relief from Colic/wind/reflux/teething I tried the following:

Gripe water – my son did not like the taste and it has a strong smell as it contains: Dill Seed Oil , Caraway Oil, Cinnamon Bark Oil, Clove Bud Oil, Cardamon Oil.

Infant’s Friend – has a pleasant smell and tasted better.  It helped settle my son.

 

 Baby signs

Baby signs or gestures make it easier for babies who are unable to talk to communicate with you.  It teaches simply signs or gestures such as eat, drink, all done.

My son didn’t start talking til after his 1st birthday so I found baby signs useful when he wasn’t able to speak.  I started teaching him baby sign language when was he was only a few months old.  I would say the word and also use the sign at the same time.  For a few months, I didn’t think it was working until one day, my son signed for more biscuits.  I thought, yeah he was actually paying attention to me!  Don’t get me wrong, we still had tears but not as much as if I hadn’t taught him baby sign.

 

Nappies

Huggies – one of the best nappies in the market, very absorbent and thick.  My son was on the small side when he was born and Huggies newborn nappies were the only newborn ones I used because there were no leakage which I experienced with the other brands.  Keep the barcodes, Huggies sometimes have promotions where you send in the barcodes to receive toys.

Babylove toddler size nappies and nappy pants – cheaper than and just as good as Huggies.  Retains the moisture well for overnight use.

Snuggles Crawler and Toddler size – Thin but very good even for overnight

Aldi swimming nappies – just as good as the other brands but cheaper.

Aldi Toddler nappies and nappy pants – thin but absorbent.  I have also used the nappy pants overnight and it does the job.  I have been told by other mothers that all the Aldi nappies are also great but I didn’t have much luck with the newborn ones.

 

Wipes

  • Huggies Baby Wipes – Great wipes as they are thick, soft and just the right amount of wetness.  It’s a bit expensive but I think it’s worth it.  Stock up when they go on sale!

These brands are a bit cheaper but found them a bit too thin and too wet.  They leave baby’s bottom very wet that you need toilet paper to dry their bottom.  It still does the job but I felt like I was getting my hands dirty too.

  • Johnson’s Baby Skincare Wipes
  • Curash Baby Wipes
  • Mamia Baby Wipes (Alidi)
  • Dribots (Target)

 

Potty/Toilet training

We introduced the potty to my son when he turned 2 years old.  The warmer weather is a great time to start toilet training because there will be less clothing to wash when they have “accidents”.  In the colder months, we weren’t very consistent with toilet training but we would let him know when we had to go to the toilet which I think helped him understand.  Also, reminding him to use the potty when he needed to wee and that friends/favourite characters all went to the toilet.  We got children books about going to the potty for him to read, role played with his stuff animals and sticker rewards for using the potty.  Eight to nine months later he lets us know when he needs to go to the toilet and went a whole day without wetting himself.

 

Skincare

There are a lot of skincare brands for babies but I wanted to use only organic skincare range for my son.  You may wonder whether or not it’s worth it?  I know mothers who use normal skincare range such as Johnson and Johnson for their babies without any problems.

When I was pregnant with my son, I made a choice to try and avoid chemicals whenever possible so I decided to only use organic skincare.  I know it’s more expensive to buy but worth it as babies’ skin is very sensitive.

  • Billy Goat’s Soap – skincare range made from goats milk.  Good for sensitive skin but left my son’s skin dry.  A bit expensive for the amount you get.
  • Gaia Natural Baby – organic skincare range for babies and adults.  Good for sensitive skin.  Leaves an oily residue after use.  A bit cheaper than Billy Goat’s Soap
  • Little Innoscents – organic skincare range.  The baby hair and body wash has a strong spearmint smell.  It can cause stinging in sensitive areas I found out when I gave it a try which is not good for little ones.  A bit expensive.
  • Avado Organics – organic skincare range for babies and adults.  Has a nice pleasant smell.  Reasonable prices.  Good for sensitive skin.  I have been using this skincare range on my son for over 2 months now and has help with his dry skin.

Food Additives

Artificial food additives in processed foods can have an effect on your childs behaviour, so check the ingredients of the foods you give your child and whether there are any changes in their behaviour.  It may mean the difference between a enjoyable day for you or not.

I believe foods that contain artificial additives has an effect on my son’s behaviour.  I only realised when I noticed that on some days my son was hyperactive.  It was uncharacteristic behaviour.  I finally made the link to a type of biscuit that I gave him.  When I checked the ingredients I noticed that it contained the code 621 which is MSG.  I have since stop giving him any biscuits that contain MSG or any artificial additives and he’s not hyperactive anymore, just a regular 2 year old.

I have noticed quite a number of foods contain MSG that most people may not know because they usually label it as Enhancers (621).  Examples: flavoured potato chips, 2 minute noodles.

See examples of “Food additives kids should avoid“.

 

Dentist

It is recommended by The Australian Dental association that children should have their first dentist appointment within six months and no later than 12 months of their fist tooth appearing.  You can take your kids to either your local dentist or a paediatric dentist.  The advantage of going to a paediatric dentist is that the dentist has experience with kids.  However, it is a bit more expensive than your regular dentist.  I decided it would be better to take my son to a paediatric dentist as I prefer for him to have a good first experience with going to the dentist.

 

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