More on infant education

Wow, this is powerful...



"Every time you gently hold a baby who has been fussing, you are teaching her that the world is a safe place to be.



Every time you feed her when she has been crying, you are teaching her that she can get her needs met by letting others know what she wants.



When you respond to her needs quickly and sensitively, she gradually learns how to comfort herself.



When you talk with her as you change her diaper or put her in the car seat, you build on the language capacity her brain is programmed to develop."



from the childhood affirmation program





Talking about responding to baby's need quickly & sensitively, I think of the Dunstan Baby lanuguge (also on Opera), I watched it with my mum & her friend and it's really useful. It's for 0-3 months infant based on the sound they made on their reflexes, total of 5 sounds for different needs. The author pretty much can pick up what the baby need (even not her own) instantly and settle the baby instantly. That's amazing. I found watching the baby's body language gives me a clue too. Video sampler on youtube.



My mum's friend's just had a grand-daughter and said that her grand-daughter has 7 different sounds, she could even distinguish between when the baby wants milk or wants water! Good ear! Also pick up some tips from her as well:



- only put the baby to sleep when it needs to ('owh' - tiredness), never hold her and swing her to sleep, otherwise he/she won't sleep unless you hold her.



- wrap baby or put him/her in the cot when he/she feels tired, so that he/she associate the cot to sleep



Every little pieces started to come together and started to make sense now, I was so confused at some of the concept in antenatal class and other classes I've attend. The class about raising independent baby said the same thing, the Gerber approach (Your Self-Confident Baby: How to Encourage Your Child's Natural Abilities— From the Very Start)says that to watch the baby's signal and attend to their needs instead of according to ours, for example feed them when they're hungry ('neh', hey I'm getting good at this) rather than according to our schedule (need to feed the baby every 2 hours or need to go out so better feed the baby first)



The baby will be more likely to raise to be independent individuals by the Gerber approach or the 'respect the baby's needs' approach.



Also recommended in the antenatal class, The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer, have some settling techniques, the 5s:



- Swaddling

- Side or Stomach

- Shhhh

- Swinging

- Sucking

Play and learning for infants

Just been to a talk about play in early childhood, it presents a lot of ideas and set me thinking. It was interesting to find out something about child's play that maybe I need to change some mindset about playing & educating.

I've learned:

- Play as a response to life
- Play is a child's way to understand their surroundings, body, relationships, feeling and developing ideas
- A lot of toys may not be necessary for the child to learn
- Adults is better to let the children play amongst themselves rather than supervising
- Adults don't need to teach everytime the child pick up a toy, the children will learn by playing
- Play promotes creativity


Online infant game

Learning, playing & your newborn


Some ways to play & stimulate learning for the baby, as in the above website:

- Gentle caresses, sing with a soothing lullaby
- smile, poke out tongue, making different face expressions
- put baby on their tummy to strength neck/shoulder, always supervise & be ready to help.
- put on sothing music, hold the baby and sway to the tune

Preparing for the baby

Just finished my antenatal class, this week basically is preparing for my new baby & labour, reading other's birth stories, and reviewing the labour process in What to Expect When You're Expecting, chatted with some friends, we all agree that this is really a good book, I'm planning to get their second book too for my baby's 1st year.




Birth Stories Revisit

ohbaby birth stories

Home birth, NZ

With some ads, but some collection on birth stories

A blog on NZ birth stories

US Childbirth org

Have also signed up for the Plunket PEPE course, "Your New Baby", after ringing several nearby plunkets with answering machine, I finally found a number that can go directly to the one who's responsible for the course, it's 09 849 5609 (also need to leave a message, but they reply quite promptly) and also for the car seat if you don't want to get an answering machine, the number is 09 623 8357.

Also a good week to start shopping, and can exercise at the same time, however, after shopping around, finally found that the bargains are all online!

Baby Shopping list for this week:

Baby massage oil/ gel

Bath Toys


Shampoos & baby lotion

Baby Wipes

Bottles

Teats

Bottle Brush

Bottle Warmer

Pacifier

Sterilizer

Breast Shields

Expressor

Baby Brush & Comb

Will check trademe for other larger items, a good website with article on the price and what to look for when shopping for baby stuff, like safety standards, whether to choose cloth or disposable nappies and what to look for & price...etc:

kiwifamilies.co.nz

Newborn budgeting & safety

Up to week 31 now, start reading & learning more about newborn, as I can imagine I won't have much time to read when the baby is born.

There's a useful budget calculator from babycenter.

And a lot of safety issue:
- Sleep the baby on its back on a firm mattress, never on a soft pillow to prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
- Prepare the nursery to be fire-safe, install fire alarm
- Floor is clear of wires...etc that could trip you over, use a night light
- Secure unstable furniture, hanging picutres or decorations
- Make sure change table have a saftey strap
- use layer outfit or a one piece outfit for sleeping rather than a blanket which the baby could trap in

Finally bought Pregnancy without pounds, as I'm up to 31 weeks and have already gain 13kg of my original weight, and it'll keep going during the third trimester. I'd really like to get back into shape or even better to impress after birth. And my back pain is killing me, I can't turn at night. It also show some techniques to decrease labour pain, skincare, prevent stretch marks, sagging breast..etc.

Muscle pain

My tummy is getting bigger and my back is hurting a lot, can't seem to turn when I'm sleeping. I went for reflexology (as the accupuntuist recommend not to get treatment in late pregnancy) last week and it gets better, and this week I went for a pregnancy massage and it's a little bit better, I think I'll need a massage everyday. And my groning is hurting as well, especially in the morning after a full night's sleep, the midwife said it's because the baby and the uterus has put pressure downwards so it's normal. With all these pain, the Braxton Hicks seems to be nothing uncomfortable at all.

I found walking quite helpful to the muscle pain, the groning pain seem to disappear if I walk more. Also some yoga pose & stretching are helpful to release the tension as well.

Also reading a book on back pain, they recommend massage, exercise, relaxation, rest and by chiropractor and all sorts. But one thing interesting that I've never thought of is that the best way to stop back pain is to prevent it from happening. But how to prevent back pain? By using correct posture in everyday activities. It's easy to say that to lift with bended knees, not to drag heavy things when climbing up a stairs/ ladder, use the whole body's weight or kneeding instead of bending when doing the garden...etc. But am I really aware of my posture when doing housework and at work? I guess no, maybe that's what gets added on the back pain.

Pregnancy Stress

Have been having bad dreams lately, I guess it's the worry that we won't be able make it financially, and won't be able to cope with a newborn. And all the rumours heard about the staff's attitude in Auckland Hospital and many untrained student working there.

That stress eases a bit after attending the prenatal class. Jotted down some points to remind myself:

- We naturally know how to take care of our baby, just follow our gut feeling & connect with the baby
- Delegate and don't be afraid to ask for help, kindly accept help from others
- Learn to say no if work is overload, hey pregnant women got all the right to have a relaxed life!
- Go shopping for some new clothes, buy something for yourself, you're worth it!
- Muscle ache (stress in the body) will cause stress, go for a massage or ask my partner to do a massage with relaxing oil or even just baby oil.

Talking about shoppping, just been to Egg Maternity, they're doing a sale at the moment and their outfit is nice and comfortable, the pants have a support system for the tummy which I like. Should also start to shop for some baby clothes, car seat and brest pad....etc for the hospital.

Gestational diabetes glucose test

Phew, my midwife called me for the result of my 2-hour glucose tolerance (GTT) test, luckily she said,'only calling to inform you that you're ok.' I was so worried as we had diabetes in the family and the chance is quite high that diabetes is "in my gene."

Luckily it's over, as gestational diabetes will store too much sugar in the bloodstream and might cause an oversize baby that are too big for natural birth. Not sure if it's the psyllium fibre and Weet-bix I took the night before or other factor. After testing for the 1-hour glucose test and found that my blood sugar level is too high, I started reading more about diabetes before my 2-hour test.

I learned that any food that digest quickly, like anything made from white flour: white bread, pasta or sugar or carbohydrates...etc will cause the blood sugar level to spike. Anything that digest slowly is good, like Weet-bix (97% Whole Grain Wheat) or high fibre food like beans.

I also learned to read the label, a lot of food that name "Wholegrain" was actually made from wheat flour and not really wholegrain. I'm quite surprise to find that most food on NZ supermarket shelves are not the real thing. A lot of them contain less than 15% wholegrain but with the name 'healthy wholegrain' on it. I don't usually eat Weet-bix and this NZ favorite is actually the only thing I could find that contain real fibre.

Changing the diet and regular exercise will help with diabetes and I tried to walk half an hour a day during my lunch break. At first, I didn't know we have to book for the 2-hour glucose test, I took a morning off work and went to my usual Diagnostic Medlab (GTT instruction) and they said I need to book! Then went off to another one nearby and said the same thing but gave me an earlier day. But I can't take another day off, luckily called the one in Ellerslie and they had the drink available. The experience there was so nice, the nurse was so professional, I didn't even feel a thing when she inserted the needle. And she advised me I had 10 minutes to finish the bottle, instead of 'drink it and come back in an hour, and don't eat or drink and do any exercise during that hour' with the one I went for the first test.

Who knows? Maybe because I sip the drink slower for the second time, or had a comfy sofa to sit on or didn't have any breakfast or even the Weet-bix or psyllium fibre that I took the night before or the exercise or eating less sugar that make me ok for the second test, maybe not. But I'm glad that I don't need to go to the doctor every week to monitor my blood sugar level.