First time mothers should pay particular attention to their feelings, some “baby blues” is to be expected with the hormone changes and it is important to realise that these feelings are quite normal and will fade over the first few weeks. However, if you feel that you are more depressed than you expected and these feelings persist for more than a few weeks you should discuss this with your doctor as you may be suffering from “postpartum depression” (sometimes called postnatal depression). Symptoms to be on the look out for include:

• Overwhelming feelings of sadness, depression and isolation.
• Feelings of guilt and worthlessness, thinking you don’t deserve a baby.
• Having extreme feelings towards your baby, ranging from lack of interest to obsession.

Coping with a newborn baby can be hard work, especially for first time mothers in the first few days at home. It takes time adjusting to your baby’s sleep routine. Having a baby is a wonderful and life changing experience, but it can also be a challenging one. To avoid or reduce the “baby blues”, try and get as much rest as possible, take a nap every time baby is asleep. Get friends and family to help with housework. Take advantage of any visitors by letting them look after baby for a little while why you take a bath or have a little personal time. Take it easy on yourself, don’t try and rush to get your life back to normal as quickly as possible. However don’t completely neglect exercise, when you feel up to it, start taking gentle walks with your baby, exercise, fresh air and simply getting out of the house will work wonders for both of you. Try to eat healthily, you need lots of nourishment as a new mother, especially if breastfeeding. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables along with plenty of water is recommended. You may also find it helpful to meet up with other mothers and discuss how you are feeling, you may find that you are not alone and many of them also struggled to cope in those first few weeks.

You will find that many online baby car seats reviews will actually score car seats on ease of fitting and clarity of instructions, this further re-enforces the importance of correct fitting. Please read the following tips which will help you to ensure your child seat is correctly fitted.

1) Push down on car seat when tightening the straps, this eliminates any excess movement caused by soft upholstery and ensures a secure fit.

2) Adjust the harness every time the seat is used. Many buckles will allow the straps to gradually loosen over time so this has to be checked regularly. Once you get into the habit of doing it every trip it only takes a few seconds. When doing this also check the condition of the straps for fraying or splitting, if you see any evidence of this then do not use the seat again.

3) Once harness is fastened make sure that it is tightened correctly by ensuring you can only get two fingers in-between straps and the child’s chest.

4) Make sure the belt is around child’s pelvis – not the tummy!

5) Don’t put a child in a front facing seat too soon, there is a temptation to use a front facing seat as soon as possible as the child becomes more aware of the surroundings. Do not put a child under 9kg in a front facing seat.

6) Children are very inquisitive and as they get older will attempt to play with buckles on the car seat and may succeed in releasing themselves. This can be avoided by making sure they have in car toys, music or audio books to keep their attention.

7) If leaving car for extended periods in hot weather always cover the car seat. Some of the fittings on the car seat can become hot enough to cause burns on sensitive young skin.

Ease of removal and fitting

• How heavy is the seat? many seats weigh over 25lbs, this can be difficult to manoeuvre into the car and difficult to adjust to a snug fit once inside.
• Can you easily remove/fit the seat without straining? Sometimes a combination of the size of the seat and narrow door openings on smaller cars, can make it really awkward to position seat correctly
• Are the headrests/backrests/tensioning systems easy to adjust? Do you constantly have to refer to the manual for every small adjustment required, or are all adjustments intuitive and straightforward?
• Is it easy to quickly get a snug fit? Is it difficult to fit seat snugly due to the shape/size of your rear seats, some cars have very narrow seats which makes it difficult to fit some baby seats without fouling seat belt buckles and fittings. If you have 3 children which all require baby seats – can you fit all three across your rear bench? Many cars cannot.

Ease of use

• Are straps easy to loosen/tighten? If you adjust straps every journey to ensure correct fit (as you must do), is this simple and straightforward to do, or frustrating, difficult and annoying?
• Is it easy to place child in seat comfortably? Some baby seats have considerable side bolster protection – which is great! However, it can be difficult – depending on car model – to manoeuvre child around these side bolsters and fit them into seat without being a contortionist!
• Are there any extra convenience features like one handed strap adjustment? The best modern car seats are full of features like these and are worth paying extra for. Imagine the rain is pouring down, you are laden with shopping, are late (as usual) and have to spend 5 minutes getting soaked to the skin while baby is screaming as you fumble with car seat fittings!
• Can you adjust backrest from sleeping/sitting positions smoothly (so you don’t wake your child!) Good baby car seats have smooth damped adjustment mechanisms allowing you to adjust seat without disturbing baby.

Cleaning

• Will the fabric colour show up every grubby finger mark? We all know that the seat will get dirty – with young children this is impossible to avoid! So you want to choose a seat that does not show up every little mark and look grubby almost immediately.
• Can you remove the fabric and wash in washing machine? (a great feature). The better seats will have this option and it makes life much easier.
• Does the manual give clear instructions on cleaning? On many seats you are paying extra for fancy fabric designs such as Disney characters. You need to know exactly how to clean the seat to avoid ruining the fabric.

Baby car seats are a matter of law in the UK since 2007. However, this is not just another “petty” law targeting motorists. Every year in the UK, 30 children (under 12) are killed while traveling in cars, with another 7000 injured. The proper use of baby car seats would have prevented many of these deaths and injuries. An unrestrained child (including children using adult seat belts or being held on parents lap) can be thrown forward with a force greater than 60 times their own weight, potentially seriously injuring other occupants and with a high risk of being ejected from the car through a window, often with horrifying results. The only safe way for a child to travel in a vehicle is to be secured using a car seat specifically designed for their weight and size, ensuring that the seat is fitted correctly, if you are unsure about fitting please see How to fit child car seats correctly.

Choosing the best car seats for baby. The first thing to remember about car seats is that the features you look for will change as your baby grows. For a newborn baby car seat a rear facing seat will be required, progressing to a forward facing seat for toddlers and finally a booster seat for young children.

Rear-facing car seats for baby are designed for infants under twelve months, sometimes referred to as “newborn baby car seats”. The seat has to be big enough to support the baby’s head, neck, and spine. If you find that the baby’s head is higher than the top part of the seat, then you need to get a bigger size. There is a choice between 3 and 5 point harnesses, 5 point harnesses offer slightly better protection but are very restrictive.

Forward-facing car seats are for when when your baby is 12 months or older (or is too big for rear facing seat). Remember that if forward facing seats are fitted, they must be in the back seat, or in newer cars, the front air bag must be deactivated. Otherwise the impact from the air bag could seriously hurt or even suffocate your child in the event of an accident.

Finally booster seats are for children who have outgrown car seats. These seats are designed just like adult car seats, you simply fasten and adjust the belt just like you would your own seatbelt. Just ensure the strap goes over the shoulder and not the neck.

Nowadays there are a range of accessories and add-ons available for baby car seats. Such as convertible car seats which can be used a strollers, covers for baby car seats, sun shades, activity toys which attach to car seats to keep baby occupied. These all cost extra but many parents feel the expense is justified with greater convenience and comfort.

When deciding which car seats to purchase for your baby, try reading the many online baby car seats reviews on different seat manufacturers and models, such as Bebe, Graco, Maxi Cosi and Recaro.

Other common causes of crying include:

• being uncomfortable – a soiled nappy, itchy nappy rash or restrictive clothing can cause crying in many babies. Ensure that your baby’s nappy is always clean make sure clothing is comfortable and loose fitting.
• Being too hot or cold – try and keep a steady temperature in your home, some babies will cry when exposed to sudden temperature changes when they are being bathed or changed.
• Lack of attention or physical contact – some babies cry as they want almost constant reassurance and cuddles. It is important that you find the right balance in this situation as you don’t want your baby to come to expect cuddles any time of the day or night or you will never et any sleep!

Just in case you had not realised, with a newborn baby you can expect to be woken up at least twice during the night for the first few weeks (at least). No matter how many books you read, the best laid plans will likely fall apart in those early days. The main reasons for your baby not sleeping through the night initially is the fact that newborn babies stomachs can only hold around 2-3 hours worth of nutrition. For this reason alone, your sleep will be interrupted. It is important to be firm – without being cruel – from a very early age, that night time is for sleeping and not for cuddles or playing. This does not mean letting your baby cry all night or going hungry! It simply means trying to set some ground rules early on. Try leaving lights off at night, even when feeding and give your child less attention during the night, feeding is OK but cuddling, singing and entertaining the child are not. After first few weeks you can try keeping your baby awake a little longer and perhaps missing that late afternoon nap. This will encourage them to sleep better/longer at night.

You can also try feeding your baby more during the day which may help them to last longer through the night without getting hungry. Some baby’s will respond well to soft music or singing and will drift off to sleep, but others will find this stimulating and will just want more! It is important to be flexible with your baby and try different approaches until you find something that works.

If possible, the first feed should be given within a few hours of birth, however this is not always possible for a number of reasons so don’t get unduly worried if this is the case. Avoid giving the baby any pacifiers or water bottles in the early days of breastfeeding as this will confuse the baby.

Don’t try and rush breastfeeding, a baby can take 30 minutes or more on each breast, so make sure you are comfortable and relaxed. You can hold baby sitting upright in a cuddling position, or lying down on your side, whichever feels more comfortable. Make sure when you position baby the gums are on the the top of the areola rather than the nipple itself to reduce soreness.

There are no hard and fast rules about how often or how much you should feed your baby, just let the baby decide when feeding is required. Generally speaking babies will simply release the breast once they have had their fill.

It is extremely important for a breastfeeding mother to have a very healthy and balanced diet. A variety of foods are required during this period such as 5 portions a day of fruit and veg; rice, pasta or pulses for energy; wholemeal bread, vegetables, pulses, cereals and pastas for fibre (many mother suffer constipation and other bowel problems after childbirth); Proteins like lean meat, fish, eggs and poultry;two portions of fish per week (including some oily fish but no more than 2 portions); Dairy products such as cheese, milk and yoghurt for calcium.

Be very careful with consumption of caffeine and alcohol, the only safe amount of these is none at all! If you are a smoker (obviously it goes without saying you should give this up, if not for you then for your baby!) then you must wait at least an hour after your last cigarette before breastfeeding, if you don’t, the nicotine and other harmful chemicals will be passed to your baby via the breast milk.

Check this out too: Caring for newborn babies – Bathing and Changing

After the first few weeks baby will be ready for the first bath, use a small basin filled with lukewarm soapy water and place baby in the basin sitting upright, ensuring that the baby’s chest is well above water level. Then gently clean as you did with the sponge bath. You can now wash the baby’s hair once a week taking care to keep soapy water away from the eyes. When washing your baby’s ears, wash the outside only, never be tempted to clean inside the ears with a cotton bud as this can cause damage.

For changing your baby you should make up a pack containing all the essentials, such as nappies; changing tables; baby powder (talcum – non fragranced); rash ointments such as E45; Cotton balls; Baby wipes or cloths; Changing pads and towels.

When it comes to deciding which type of nappies to buy, most mothers choose disposable nappies due the convenience. However re-usable nappies can be a lot cheaper, but will mean you will be almost tied to your washing machine until baby is potty trained. As far as the baby’s health is concerned, there is no difference, it really is a matter of personal choice. To change your baby’s nappy, lay a fresh nappy on the changing table, place the baby on top of the nappy with tummy facing you, then gently unfasten soiled nappy and pull away from baby so that you can wash the genitals and buttocks with baby wipes or cotton balls and dry the area. Apply cream if necessary. The remove old nappy and wrap new nappy fastening tabs securely. Many babies will suffer nappy rash at some point no matter how thoroughly you clean and dry them, do not worry unduly or engage in self recrimination, simply apply rash cream to soothe the area and always ensure you thoroughly wash and dry the affected areas every change. Some mothers like to leave their baby’s without nappies for a while after removing the soiled one to help keep the skin dry and help heal the rash. However, if nappy rash persists for long periods or looks like it may be infected then consult your doctor.

Baby massage seems to offer a practical solution to problems with crying, sleeping, feeding and behaviour. Through massaging their babies, first time parents can gain confidence in handling them. Parents who used massage to soothe and calm their babies reported their children seemed happier, calmer, cried less and slept better. In the case of mothers suffering from postnatal depression there is growing research evidence that infant baby massage helps to establish the relationship between them and their babies.

There are many great books and guides for mother looking to learn baby massage and even baby massage courses run in many areas. It is worth bearing in mind however, that apart from a few safety essentials, there is no right or wrong way to massage your child. It is more about being together and enjoying the physical and emotional closeness of mother and baby.

Make sure the room is warm enough and the atmosphere is warm and relaxed. Note, if you are feeling stressed or anxious your baby will pick up on this so best to leave the massage for another time. There are no hard and fast rules in terms of the best time to massage your baby, but many mothers enjoy massaging their baby’s after bath time. Whilst massaging try and find a position where you can keep your back straight at all times.

The main safety essentials are to make sure you remove any jewellery that may damage babies sensitive skin (also ensure fingernails are trimmed). Use a hypo-allergenic oil or a natural oil to avoid allergic reactions. Do not use aromatherapy (essential) oils unless directed by a trained aromatherapist. You can check the suitability of oil by doing a small patch test, place a small amount of oil on the inside of your baby’s wrist and leave for 12-24 hours, paying special attention for the first 30 minutes in case of severe reaction. Finally oil can make the baby slippery so take special car when lifting after massage.

As always if you have any doubt as to whether or not to massage your child, seek advice from your doctor or a paediatrician.

Pregnancy Without Pounds

Prenatal screening tests are done for a large number of women in order to identify those who have a higher-than-average risk of giving birth to a child with a serious or life-threatening health problem. Screening tests do not state that there definitely is a problem. Just a higher likelihood that there MAY be a problem.

Diagnostic tests, are specifically designed to determine whether there is, in fact, something wrong with the baby.

It is important to stress that screening tests, due their design, are created to ensure as many potential problems are identified as possible. This means that many pregnant women despite having been identified as at risk of having a problem, find that in fact both mother and baby are perfectly healthy. In some positive screening tests up to 95% of women and their babies are found to be totally healthy!

Perhaps the best way to look at screening tests is to consider them a reasonable indicator as to whether or not further diagnostic tests should be considered.

If prenatal screening tests do throw up some potential problems, there are several points to consider. First off all, there are no 100% effective prenatal tests, it is impossible to check for every eventuality and a clear result on a prenatal diagnostic test does not ensure a healthy baby. In addition, with some diagnostic tests such as amniocentesis, the risk of miscarriage due to the test itself may well be higher than the risk of the baby having a birth defect. However if problems are identified during a diagnostic test then they can provide the parents with options. For example, with many defects there are treatments which can be carried out during pregnancy. Delivery options can be decided and in the worst case scenario, the pregnancy can be terminated.

Certain mothers are of course at higher risk than others of having children with birth defects and may well decide that they want to go the diagnostic prenatal testing route. High risk groups include mothers who have previously given birth to a baby with birth defects; a family history of birth defects; being exposed to any harmful or toxic substances during pregnancy; being exposed to a serious illness or infection during pregnancy and women over 40.

Before making any decisions you should discuss with your doctor at great length and make sure all aspects of the tests and possible outcomes are explained fully. A clear understanding of both the risks and the benefits of having the test performed are essential – Pregnancy and prenatal testing.

Pregnancy Without Pounds

Prenatal exercise has been shown to

• keep energy levels high
• keeps your pregnancy weight gain within the target range
• help to regulate your blood sugar levels (which may reduce your chances of developing gestational diabetes)
• help to lower your blood pressure, which can reduce your risk of developing pregnancy-induced hypertension
• can prevent or alleviate common problems such as backache, soreness, cramps, and constipation
• helps to regulate your sleep preventing pregnancy insomnia
• helps to prepare your body for the rigours of childbirth, physically fit women have shorter labour times and fewer birth complications
• will greatly reduce the amount of time that it takes your body to recover from the birth.

Gentle exercise is the key here, in fact it has been shown that excessive exercise during pregnancy can increase your risk of giving birth to a low-birth weight baby. Good choices for exercise during pregnancy are walking, swimming, stationary bike riding, low impact aerobics and of course prenatal exercise classes. Kegel or pelvic floor exercises are also recommended as during pregnancy an enormous strain is placed on the pelvic floor which can lead to incontinence post pregnancy in addition to greatly reduced sexual sensitivity. Many Pilates classes offer specific exercises for strengthening the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles, these are obviously the main muscle groups used during childbirth which has led many to dubbing Pilates the “wonder” exercise for pregnancy!

Warm up slowly with all exercise and don’t strain, if you are huffing and puffing you are probably trying too hard. You should aim to be slightly out of breath but still able to hold a conversation. Start small and build up gradually, always finish your workouts feeling energised. Aim to build up to 20-30 minutes, 2-3 times per week. If you feel drained or are shaking/trembling after exercise then you are definitely doing too much! Avoid the sauna or hot tub after a workout as this can harm your baby.

After the 28th week of pregnancy you should start to decrease both the length and exertion of you workouts, don’t stop altogether, just start a gentle wind down, start taking things a bit easier.

Obviously avoid all contact sports (football, basketball etc.) Or activities with a high risk of falling such as skiing, horse riding etc. Always consult your doctor or midwife before starting a
prenatal fitness program.

FIT and HEALTHY during PREGNANCY