Earth Babies Blog

Red signifies the highest level of threat.

Sally recently wrote a trio of articles related to this subject for Parent 24

Bleeding in Pregnancy

Bleeding in Late Pregnancy

When the bleeding does not stop

I am not a home schooler and hopefully never will be. Not because I feel formal schooling is better (in many ways I don’t – each approach has its pro’s and cons), but I know MY personal limits as an individual and as a mother.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today is Blog Action Day 2010 with the theme being Water.

There is so many tangents you can take on this subject on why it is important and an issue for all not only poverty or drought stricken areas.

In doing my post on babies & swimming the other day, i was googling the the meaning of water safe hoping to find a specific list of what a swim school looks at before saying a child is water safe.
I did not really find what i wanted but did come across this article which was so co-incidentally in line with what the Blog Action Day theme meant for me. So rather than re-inventing the wheel I am going to simply redirect you to this article which brings attention to what we take for granted … clean water.

SAFE WATER 4 KIDS – what does safe mean?

One of the irritating little side effects of breast feeding is the leaking of milk between feeds. Every pregnant or breastfeeding mother has a nervous fear of the embarrassing little wet spots forming on shirts in the nipple – and the stain it leaves once dry. Breast pads are a new moms armour against this happening and every mother whether breast feeding or not is going to need to use breast pads for a time – towards the end of pregnancy and for the period after the birth until the breasts stop leaking. If breastfeeding most women leak for the first 3 or so months before the milk supply settles down (some leak for longer).

Breast pads are slim lightweight shaped pads that are inserted into inside of the bra to absorb excess milk and protect clothing and prevent embarrassing wet marks.
Read the rest of this entry »

When can you start swimming with babies?

It is not advised starting swimming lessons before 6 months as prior to this their immune system is considered too immature to be exposed to the natural risks that come with public swimming. Parents do need to take into consideration though the pro’s and cons of swimming lessons before enrolling for this activity. It is not an essential skill for babies but is a wonderful learning experience for both parents and babies/toddlers.

(The American Academy of Paediatricians does not recommend swimming lessons as such for children under 4 years of age).

Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday 30th July 2009 (37 weeks 5 days)

I woke up on Thursday Morning after a restless night’s sleep to “period pain” cramps and didn’t think much of it. I had been inserting evening primrose oil capsules into my vagina for 2 nights so I thought my cervix was ripening, but didn’t think it was early labour. I jumped into our bed as I had been banished to the spare room these last week because my preggy snoring was keeping Donovan awake. I had made us oats with fresh fruit, nuts and seeds, which we lay in bed and ate before Don went to work. I fell asleep and woke every now and then to the ‘period pains’. Around 12h30 I started timing the pains as they became stronger and I could no longer manage them lying down, whenever they started I had to get out of bed and pace around the room. I was getting excited because I thought this could be the start of labour, but didn’t want to get my hopes up as they were not regular at all. My little book reads like this:

12h30 – Contraction for 30 seconds, 8 min’s 38 seconds apart
Contraction for 34 seconds, 5 min’s 20 seconds apart
Contraction for 30 seconds, 3 min’s 43 seconds apart
Contraction for 38 seconds, 8 min’s 50 seconds apart
Read the rest of this entry »

Do unto your children as you would have other people do unto your children.

Everyone, children included experience both positive and negative emotions – you cannot prevent them from experiencing negatives but your role as parent is to teach them how to cope. Coping with emotion is not an inborn instinct, it is something that needs to be learnt through experience, guidance, following examples and repetition.

3 most basic tips:
Read the rest of this entry »

(this was posted on a forum – so cute and true, I had to share)
by Dr. Burton L. White

if you wont climb off, i'll climb on

If I give it to you and change my mind later,
IT’S MINE!

If I can take it away from you,
IT’S MINE!

If it’s mine it will never belong to anybody else,
No matter what.
If we are building something together,
All the pieces are mine!

If it looks just like mine,
IT’S MINE!

If it breaks or needs putting away,
IT’S YOURS!

One part of coping with labour is the use of affirmations – an affirmation is a wish stated as being true in the here and now.
What an affirmation does is it prepares your subconscious mind, which in turn influences your conscious thoughts, actions and reactions … mind over matter.

The basic principle is that you need to be in the right frame of mind to cope with any overwhelming situation – the better prepared you are and the more positive you feel mentally, the better you cope with the unpredictable and unknown (both of which are part of birth).

affirmation tree mind map

If you are a disposable using parent I have something for you to consider. I know that not all parents want to use cloth nappies and I respect that but would you consider using a biodegradable liner in your disposable nappy and flushing the poo away instead of throwing it away?
I was just reading about the dangers of human waste on the landfills that were not designed for poo and the problem with disease it can cause to those to pick over landfills to try find stuff to make a living off. And also contaminated ground water.

I was just thinking, I know that a lot of people would just never use cloth nappies but I wondered how many would be willing to add a biodegradable liner than can just be flushed away that dissolves in the sewerage system and then poo goes where it is designed to go.

I know it is a slight extra cost but a pack cost R59 for 100 and is very wide so you could cut them in half. If you change the nappy and it is just wet the liner can be washed and reused up to 4 times. But even if you flushed even the wet one you would get 200 out of the pack that would be 30c extra per change.

Just a thought, a way to be more green without changing to cloth nappies if that is just too much of a adaption. I have given 3 disposable moms a pack of liners each and will update when I get their feedback.