Earth Babies Blog

The story: At about 10 pm on the evening of th 15th January, I started getting a funny feeling in my tummy area. It didnt feel like contractions, neither did it feel like cramps. It was a slight, constant, pressure kind of feeling. A bit like someone was touching a bruise. I thought it was a bit of nerves as I knew I had to be induced in 2 days time.

One and a half hours later, the feeling was not funny anymore.

I could not sit or lie down and I’d want to scream. The only comfortable position was bending forward slightly with my legs apart. Persperation was dripping from every single pore of my body and now i was worried that I might have some kind of infection. The thought still hadnt crossed my mind that I was in labour. I decided to have a bath and see if it would ease the pain. It was a big mistake. Like I said, the only comfortable position was standing wide legs and half bent.

At 01:56(I know this because we argued about the time later and I went back to my phone to check) I SMS’ed my midwife aunt from the bath to ask what could be the matter. She phoned me back immediately and asked me to explain what I was feeling. I told her “it’s not contractions but it feels like my fanny and butt is going to fall off”.She said that I must leave for the hospital immediatly to get checked out.

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answered by Erica Neser – South African author of Sleep Guide for Babies and Toddlers.

• What is the difference between normal baby sleep behaviour and a true sleep problem?

The reality is that most babies wake at night, even several times per night, for at least the first year, and often even until 3 years. Most babies wake on average 2–3 times at night until they are 6 months old, 1–2 times between 6–12 months, and once a night between 1–2 years. This is considered ‘normal’ sleep behaviour. Breastfed babies tend to feed more often than bottle-fed babies, both day and night, due to the fact that breastmilk – the ‘perfect food’ for babies – digests easily and quite quickly. A true sleep problem is where a baby wakes much more than these figures, stays awake for extended periods at night, is very hard to settle or does not sleep adequately during the day.

a Barb disclaimer: I do know babies are not meant to tummy sleep

• What are the most common reasons for waking?

Loneliness (in other words, needing to be close to mother’s milk, warmth and protection), hunger, thirst, illness, teething, milestones such as crawling and walking, habit, too hot or too cold, needing a sleep association to be returned (e.g. Mummy’s loving arms, dummy etc.)

• What is the average age (as a guide) that one can realistically help them to sleep

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Remember playing with paper dolls, hours of fun spent changing outfits and folding down tags to keep them on.

You can download many from the internet – fun variations on the theme.
I found this one The Jessica Paperdoll on Balancing Everything today and ♥♥♥ it because look it has a baby in a sling *swoon*

Boys & Girls & different nationalities
Making friends – these are quite cute for older kids in that you get to create your own character by choosing hair etc
Brother & Sister Paper Dolls (3 nationalities)

Beautiful complete sets with a vintage feel which will keep girls busy for hours
Strawberry Shortcake (the original)
The Ginghams
Friends around the World
Liddle Kiddles Paper Dolls
The Candy Stripers

Nice for boys (also vintage)
Wee Willy
The Elves & the Shoemaker (lovely for little boys)

There were also a couple of links in this blog post “Make your Own”

translated into English by J. Alison James

I read this book to the kids this week and found a you-tube clip of the story.
It is a simple yet sweet story about the joy of sharing – not only about the giving of an item but about the joy it bring those that receive as well as those that give.

On the flip side it can also be a good introduction to talking about how we treat those who are different. How having ‘more’ does not make a person better and that just because someone looks different does not mean they need to be treated differently.

Youtube clip of The Rainbow Fish (6 minutes)

Another book/you tube clip blogged about was
Where the Wild Things are

Seth James Pearce’s Birth Story

This is the story of how Seth, our firstborn son, was born.

It was my first pregnancy and all went really well. We had tried to conceive for a while and even before I finally fell pregnant we had decided we wanted as natural a pregnancy and birth as possible, which led us to seek the services of a midwife rather than a gynae.

We finally found Xoli, our midwife, and decided to have our baby at Linkwood Clinic as we couldn’t find a midwife we were happy with to help us with a homebirth.

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SHOP LINK: an Earth Babies product

This makes a lovely baby shower gift.

♥ this one from www.creative-baby-nursery-rooms.com

What is a belly cast?

A belly cast is a plaster of paris moulding of your pregnant belly. A 3d memory of how it was.

What comes in the kit:

Plaster of paris bandages, tub of Vaseline, Disposable gloves, Tealight candles and relaxing organic Tea (for the ambience) and instructions

How is it made:

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(I originally wrote this for @play in Cape Town)

“It takes two people to communicate – one to talk and the other to listen.”

Many of us live in a two language household – how to approach this is a concern. Do you only teach one language or do you raise them bilingual? If bilingual how do you approach this – do you each speak both languages, alternate from week to week or each parent speaks their mother tongue?

How to approach raising a bilingual child:
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This is the story of the birth of my little miracle baby – Andrew Roy Cross, (older brother to Birth story of Michael Cross)
born on 24 June 2004.

I found out that I was pregnant on 2 December 2003. My due date was 10 August 2004. It was so exciting to tell everyone. My sister was the first to know and then I told my mom and my grandmother. My mom and sister were flying to visit my brother in Canada for the month that evening and I called my brother from the airport to tell him the news. Everyone was very excited, with it being the first grandchild on both my and my husband’s side of the family.

My pregnancy was great, except for the nausea, which lasted the whole way and was not only confined to morning sickness. I really felt like I was glowing. I love being pregnant.

I don’t know when exactly I began leaking amniotic fluid. I was feeling dampness downstairs for a week or so. I had been ill with bronchitis for a few days and had really been coughing a lot. I just assumed that the dampness was due to incontinence because of the pregnancy and that this was just worsened due to the coughing. I wore a pad and though nothing more of it.
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Every year there is a breastfeeding awareness week where they focus on a specific theme/subject.

This years focus is on Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding .

This Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) was launched by WHO & UNICEF in 1991 and started in South Africa in 1994. The first health facility to be declared Baby Friendly in South Africa was St. Monica’s Maternity Hospital in Cape Tow n in 1994. The next 2 were only listed in 1996 and The last listing by Unicef of Baby Friendly Hospitals in South Africa is from 2005 where the total listed was 176 (of about 480).

UNICEF recently noted that the reduction of child deaths from 13 million globally in 1990 to 8.8 million in 2008 is partly due to the adoption of basic health interventions such as early and exclusive breastfeeding. More and more studies have shown that implementation of the Ten Steps with continued postnatal support contributes to increased breastfeeding initiation and exclusive breastfeeding at the local, national and global levels.

Breastfeeding ♥ collage

Last years theme was The First Hour- in which focus fell on making the world aware of the global change that could be made in terms of child health and infant deaths if certain steps were taken within the first crucial hour after birth to assist babies and mothers in successful breastfeeding initiation. This information is still available on our site as even if the focus week has long past that information and initiative should be ongoing.

The World Breastfeeding Week site
Wikipedias listing on breastfeeding and it’s benefits

One of the biggest stress factors of a newly pregnant couple is how are they going to afford all the ‘things’ babies need.
Do babies really need all the things that as new parents we get caught up in the stress of buying and affording? Are they really as expensive as we make them out to be or is it more a case of wants than needs?

Part of my original motivation of Earth Babies, was to try share with others a simpler, less stressful approach to parenting and lessen (for those open to it) that consumer push for more and more gadgets that babies ‘need’ (this makes me a very bad sales person as I am always trying to find a way to save someone money even when they are not concerned about this ).

Our baby start was very affordable as we got practically everything we needed pre-loved and gifted. The first time we needed to buy clothes for our son was after his 3rd birthday. The only baby item we needed to buy was a cot mattress.

What for you is a must have with babies?
What was your least used baby gadget that you bought?
How do you feel about using pre-loved items?

♥ BABYLOVE ♥