Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention

When my baby was just days old up to 3 months , she had bouts of infantile colic. She would cry very loud in the middle of the night for minutes and there were times that her crying would even reach up to an hour. Being a first time mom, I tend to get rattled on what to do with my baby and find out what was wrong. So there were times that instead of just swaying her, I was already shaking her. Then my mom-in-law would tell me not to shake my baby. Just swing or sway her. She told me that it's not advisable to shake a baby. When I read an article about shaken baby syndrome, I now understand why mom-in-law kept on reminding me and my daughter's nanny not to shake her.

What I leraned about the article is that many of the injuries thousands of babies received every year because of severe shaking which can be avoided if parents and caregivers remember just these two words: Be patient.

Shaking is primarily a response to infant crying. But shaking can have dangerous consequences because infants have large heads and immature brains. A baby's neck muscles can't support the stress of vigorous shaking. It's head moves in a sudden whiplash motion that can cause bleeding inside the head and increased pressure on the brain which can cause irreversible brain damage, learning disabilities, mental retardation, blindness, deafness, seizures, paralysis or death.

Here are few tips when the baby just won't stop crying:

1.Make sure the baby is fed and dry.

2. Feed the baby slowly.

3. Burp the baby often.

4. Rock the baby gently or walk for a walk.

5. Take the baby for a ride in a stroller or in a car.

6. Try a wind-up infant swing.

Dillema of a Working Mom

Image by LuisVallecillo via Flickr

When I gave birth to my child, I have always wanted to breastfeed her. I mean, I want to exclusively breastfeed her without using infant formula because I have read somewhere that " a mom's milk is for her child while a cow's milk is for the calf". This statement somehow struck me and I said to myself that I should breastfeed my child no matter what. But the problem comes in when my baby was already two months old because it is already my time to resume to work after my 2-month maternity leave.

So I bought a pump, a rubberized manual breast pump but I cant keep the expressed milk and bring it home for my child's feeding because i see particles of rubber and I'm afraid it's mixed with the milk.

Then, my child had constipation and my daughter's pediatrician would tell me that if only she is fully breastfed, we would have no problems with her poop. Whew! this somehow made me feel guilty. If only I can stay home all day and just take care of my baby and fully breastfeed her! But I can't. I need to work to meet both ends!

Then the pediatrician suggested that I would use an electric pump because it's easier and faster to express milk using it. So, off me and hubby went to the department store and look for an electric breast pump. Though it is a little pricey, we just bought it for the sake of our baby. Truly it works! It pumps like a baby sucking on my breast. It mimics the way a baby sucks in her mothers breast so it worked. I would just store the expressed milk in a refrigerator and when I go home, I brought with me a cooler so it stays cool even when I'm traveling.

Wordless Wednesday

Verbal Hugs and Kisses are Foods for Your Child's Emotional and Mental Health

We parents would really want our children to grow up happy, secure,physically, mentally and emotionally healthy.

I have read an interesting article about developing our child's emotional and mental health. An internationally known psychiatrist says that most of those unhappy and unsuccessful, all angry at the world are among those who have never been hugged and kissed by their parents when they were kids. And the best hugs and kisses that are "food" to a growing child's emotional and mental wellbeing are the verbal ones , words and gestures that say I love you because you are you.

Unfortunately, family counselors say that a lot of parents are unaware of the vital role that "verbal hugs and kisses" like praises and compliments - play in their growing child's emotional and mental development. Many parents think that hugging and kissing aren't their general style. We are quick to criticize our children but slow to compliment them. We often admired them but seldom express our admiration.

Family counselors are one in saying that praises and compliments have more lasting effects on the growing child than the physical ones when these are done not as acknowledgment or an expression of thanks for a job well done but as spontaneous manifestation of parental affection.

Most parents, fathers especially are afraid to hug or praise their children for fear of spoiling them. But ego, they say, enriched by feelings of security and being loved is much better than an ego that has been deflated for lack of self-esteem.

There are ways for parents to learn to see more of their child's good qualities and appreciate them, making hugging them a pleasure and an enriching experience:

• Look for good qualities in your kids which you haven't noticed.

• Treat your kids the way you treat your friends.

• Take note of the good things your neighbor and friends say about your children and repeat what from them.

Hug your children once in a while and hug the one who needs to be hug the most real tight. As family counselors and parenting experts point out, " The child who is hardest to hug usually needs the hugging most!".

Wordless Wednesday