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Swimming for Babies and Toddlers
A few useful tips about introducing babies and toddlers to the wonderful world of water play and swimming.
Georgy’s Motherhood Musings [5]: This too shall pass
II went through an interesting 2 weeks with Lara recently. Nighttime just wasn’t fun. She would fall asleep, no problem, but then throughout the night she’d be unsettled, feeding almost every hour (sometimes every half hour) and fussing between feeds. She was also waking at around 1am to roll around, play with the blinds, bang her dummy against the wall and generally try and get the party started. It was exhausting. Out of 10, I would rate it about a 1 on the fun scale. It was something of a comfort that at the same time a friend of mine was going through the exact same thing [...]
Breastmilk as a painkiller
"II am a breastfeeding, first time mum of a lovely and funny 7 1/2 month old. Cameron is teething like crazy (yet to get any chompers but all the signs are there) and we have been breastfeeding like crazy at night. I'm very interested in what is known about breastmilk as an analgesic but haven't been able to find very much information on it. I was hoping you may be interested in sharing some on your blog some time. Thanks for your science based and heartfelt based approach to baby rearing! We love it!!!" What an interesting question! Particularly [...]
Toxins in Breastmilk
II’ve had a question about the article that appeared in the ‘The Australian’ recently about the ‘build-up of chemicals in breastmilk’. It comes from a report from Grandjean et al in the Environmental Science & Technology Journal on August 20th. See this reference for the press-release. It also contains the reference for the original article. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/…/breastfeeding-may-expose-inf…/ Prof Philippe Grandjean is a world expert on the issue of industrial toxins in our environment. After a lifetime of work in the field in 2013 he published a book on the subject :“Only One Chance, How Environmental Pollution Impairs Brain Development—and [...]
Georgy’s Motherhood Musings (4): The Breastfeeding Journey
When I was pregnant, I was confident that I was going to breastfeed my baby, and looked forward to having that relationship her (or him!) However, despite my training as a midwife and growing up in a household where the subject was discussed regularly at the dinner-table, I wasn't fully prepared for what lay ahead. Now, nearly 8 months on from that first feed after she was born I can look back and reflect on 5 things that I have learnt on my journey...
Time to Cease Breastfeeding
Gems from ILCA 2015 (No.1) 1 As it is World Breastfeeding Week I think I should relate a gem from the International Lactation Consultants Association conference held last week in Washington DC. Kathy Dettwyler, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Delaware gave a great talk about the time of weaning (meaning 'ceasing breastfeeding' not adding solids). Unencumbered by culture, societal and peer pressure, how long does biology tell us to breastfeed our young? It seems reasonable to compare the timing of weaning in non-human primates, but as they have different lifespans, growth rates and times to mature we [...]
Georgy’s Motherhood Musings (3). I’m actually getting enough sleep
TThere is something I need you to know: I am getting enough sleep. Why do I feel the need to tell everyone this? In this crazy world of motherhood where you need to censor almost everything in case you make other women feel bad, am I just being smug and taking the opportunity to boast about how great a sleeper my baby is? Ha! NO! I’m telling you this in the hopes that people will stop giving me pitying looks when I tell them that, not only does my 6 month old baby never sleep through the night, but [...]
Georgy’s Motherhood Musing (2): Lara’s Hips
LLike many mothers-to-be, I was in profoundly in tune with my baby during my pregnancy. So much so that at 34 weeks gestation, after months of me telling her every day that the best position for her to be in was head down, back to the left, my midwife discovered that she was head up, back to the right. Hmmm. So much for my deep intuitive connection! An ultrasound at 36 weeks confirmed that, despite my efforts to turn her using every method possible (including chiropractors, burning special incense sticks next to my little toes and swinging upside-down from [...]
Important Things About Your Baby’s Skin
NNow that the first few weeks of new grandfatherhood have passed, during which kissing my granddaughter was not advisable (see my previous blog “Six Guidelines for Grandparents”), after three months she became old enough to cope with germs from other than her parents. So now I can succumb to the yumminess of her chubby cheeks. The thing is all babies are designed to be kissable, and huggable. It’s all part of the kindchenschema, a word that describes the face of a baby that we intrinsically find appealing at a very deep level. The big head, the enormous clear eyes, [...]
Georgy’s Motherhood Musings (1)
MMy name is Georgy and I was lucky enough to be blessed with two incredibly loving, amazing parents, one of whom is Dr Howard Chilton. In December of last year my husband Rhys and I welcomed a little pink bundle into the world by the name of Lara. Since then I have been learning the ropes of motherhood by strictly following the parenting style known at "Winging It." Dad has asked me to share some of my thoughts here on his page in the hopes that some of his mummy followers will be able to relate. Since we all know that maternity [...]
Babies and Whooping Cough
Whooping cough is a terrible disease in babies and it is the under-1 year-olds that are the most severely affected with nearly 1% of the infected dying from it. The incubation period is between 4 – 21 days and during this time it is highly contagious with up to 80% of the unvaccinated catching it. The main reservoir of infection is in adolescents and young adults (whose personal immunity has worn off). But for all of us (even if we get the native infection) the antibody level (hence our immunity to the disease) wanes over [...]
Food for Babies – and Iron Needs
Breastfeeding infants after six months of age who have no extra iron-containing foods are at risk from iron deficiency, as there is little iron in breastmilk
