Tag: essential baby

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News

The Power Of Lavender

You should be careful how much lavender you use.

Yes this is true! I would have thought oh, you are being silly and don’t be stupid.

BUT…

Pretty Lavender looks nice in a garden. I think that is where it will stay for me now. I am no expert, but maybe hubby knew all along? He does not like it and doesn't even want it in the garden. So due to this we have barred lavender. He will say he knew now.
Pretty Lavender looks nice in a garden. I think that is where it will stay for me now. I am no expert, but maybe hubby knew all along? He does not like it and doesn’t even want it in the garden. So due to this we have barred lavender. He will say he knew now.

 

A toddler prematurely developed breasts and it was all due to the overuse of lavender products.

Who knew this would happen? Or could happen? I feel for the poor parents and toddler in this story.  I personally would not have known lavender could manipulate the body to develop when so young.

Did you know that lavender was this powerful?

What happened?

  • Doctors at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne saw a 14 month girl due to her parents concern due to 2.5cms of bilateral breast tissue.
  • Tests did not reveal any other signs of abnormal development and all other factors of puberty were non-existent aside from slight breast growth.
  • 12 months later, the toddler’s breasts grew another o.5cm so in total it was 3cm.
  • The parents noted that breast development started at 6 months.
  • The parents saw a documentary on a link with lavender oil and breast development. This is when they told the doctor that the products they were using contained lavender.
  • This is not just due to the child being female. Boys have had this happen as well. In the Essential Baby article it states that in 2007 three healthy boys began to develop breasts as well. A parent simply using a “healing balm containing lavender oil” made breasts develop on her boy.

According to the article:

“[The toddler’s] daily exposure included lavender wipes (20 wipes/day), lavender shampoo (5ml alternate days), lavender body wash (5ml daily), lavender moisturising cream (10ml daily) and lavender skin soothing lotion (10ml daily). Specific lavender oil concentrations are unknown.”

“Past laboratory studies have suggested lavender oil can have an oestrogenic effect without causing elevation of actual oestrogen levels. These findings match the Melbourne toddler’s case, as tests on her showed no elevation in oestrogen.”

“Doctors told how once the parents stopped using lavender products on the girl the growth stopped, and her breast tissue immediately receded.”

(Letitia Rowlands,”Warning over lavender after baby develops breasts”, Essential Baby, Published:February 26, 2015)

 

This is an excerpt from the following book. Taking Care of Your Girls: A Breast Health Guide for Girls, Teens, and In ... By Marisa C. Weiss, M.D., Isabel Friedman. I am not a perve. The reason the word breast is highlighted is I was searching for that term and also lavender and it highlighted every word with the keyword.
This is an excerpt from the following book.  Taking Care of Your Girls: A Breast Health Guide for Girls, Teens, and In … By Marisa C. Weiss, M.D., Isabel Friedman. I am not a perve. The reason the word breast is highlighted is I was searching for that term and also lavender and it highlighted every word with the keyword.

 

Links for more information on Lavender:

While researching about lavender and breast development I came across a site that said that lavender has been used naturally to enlarge your breasts for hundreds of years. It did say that this is not proven way to do this. However it did state that people are doing it and it seems to be working. Not sure as never tried it, and don’t want my boobs any larger than they are already.

It got me thinking.

As a busty woman, or blessed individual in the breast department.

What natural oil or thing could make mine smaller? What natural oil gives you a breast reduction? If you know you can send me a message.

 

Disclaimer: I am no expert, I am not a doctor or scientist. I thought this was interesting as it has happened to real people, and real doctors have reported on this as well. As a parent I had no idea and thought that it is best to share.

 

Have you had a problem with lavender? Has it caused an issue for you or your child? Or do you think this is just silly? Let us know.

 

Let us know your thoughts. Why not continue the discussion on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

 

Categories
5 years and beyond

Reading With Kids Has A Big Impact

Do you read to your kids? Do your children love books and want to know how to read? The twins have been desperate to learn ever since they understood what a book was. Hubby and I of course have read to them since birth and we make sure we impart the love of books and what reading well can do for you in life.

In a recent study it has shown that if you grow up with a lot of books, get read to and of course love books it will have a big impact on a child starting school and their performance at school. I know this might not be a surprise to some but of course if you are surrounded by books and your parents love reading it might flow onto your children. Mostly it does. Of course you might say that people who have more time or more money can do more for their kids and that might be so.

Sam and Bingo. Level 3 reader. Story by Jenny Giles and Illustrations by Pat Reynolds.
Sam and Bingo. Level 3 reader. Story by Jenny Giles and Illustrations by Pat Reynolds.

However this is not so…. according to Professor Walker it does not matter if you are well off or not. As long as you read to your child and show an appreciation for books it is all good. (Well that is good to know. I am still working on getting the mansion, the yacht and the city abode. I still have time…. but not liking my chances)

“Professor Walker said that if a parent placed a high value on literacy, as shown by the number of books they had, they would read to their child regardless of their socio-economic status.” (Essential Baby, 1st June, 2014)

The girls have come on with their reading very well. It might have something to do with of course being surrounded by books. We have a bookshelf just for them and they take books out and pretend to read them but mostly look at the pictures and play. I end up coming in and finding piles of books that need to be put back into the bookcase.

Since the twins started kindy they have now progressed to level 3 readers. Some kids are on that level, some not, and some on higher levels. All fine and doing well for them. It is great that the school sees how well the individual child is doing and progresses them so that they keep learning and don’t get bored.

We have had issues of one child doing well and upsetting the other. This has caused an issue on her confidence with reading. I have made sure that I have told the child in question that she is reading very well and there is nothing wrong. All she needs to do is to just practice and it will all work itself out.

Sam and Bingo. Level 3 reader. Story by Jenny Giles and Illustrations by Pat Reynolds.
Sam and Bingo. Level 3 reader. Story by Jenny Giles and Illustrations by Pat Reynolds.

If you have twins have you found that one twin was excelling at something and the other twin was upset with the success? How did you cope? All I have done is make sure to say that both are doing an excellent job, and find ways to give big praise to good work for the kid that is doing well and the other that is doing well also. It is hard. Especially when you are faced with very competitive children. They always have to be doing well and get upset when they don’t. Are your twins like this?

According to the Essential Baby article:

“Being read to often increases a child’s vocabulary and enjoyment, and requires them to pay attention and remain engaged.”  (Essential Baby, 1st June, 2014)

So make sure that you are reading to your child every day. It does not need to be at night time. Just make some time for you and your little one to have some time together and read a book. The kids are at the stage now for me to show them more words in books that I am reading. I put my finger on the words like they do with their school readers. This way they know what word is what. Hopefully next time they will reconigse it and it will be easier to read it on their own.

The kids learn to read differently than I did. It is all about sight words. Knowing these sight words by heart so that they are able to read simple books. The sight words are common words like, and, this, I, me and so on. Once the child understands these words reading a simple book and starting at stage 1 these books are very basic but that is fine. You gotta start somewhere. I am also teaching the kids to sound things out, phonetically like the way I learnt to read. Yes I know it is not like the sight words way.

Sounding out words is helpful as it allows the child to figure out a word themselves. I have done it a bit now and have noticed that the twins are doing it more and more.

I also volunteer to do school reading at the school. When the kids read their readers they put their fingers on each word and the text is aligned to their sight words. They have been told to look at the picture to help them understand the story and it is a good idea to look at the book before you read it so they have an idea of what it is about. I hear a group of kids read and make sure that all is correct and they are doing well. In my group I of course have the twins but other kids as well. All of the kids are doing very well and are all at different levels.

Having a chat to the teacher is also a good move if you are worried or think that all is good and the child in question just needs some motivation. I was saying all great things but as soon as it came from the teacher it meant more. Give it a go and see!

Sam and Bingo. Level 3 reader. Story by Jenny Giles and Illustrations by Pat Reynolds.
Sam and Bingo. Level 3 reader. Story by Jenny Giles and Illustrations by Pat Reynolds.

Do your kids pile up books in their beds like mine? Do they leave their night lights on wanting to read all night? Mine do. I suppose that is a good sign. Although it is hard to turn off a light when it is on the top bunk. To do this I need to climb up and over a kid to turn off the light.

I suppose it is just good they love books and are doing well. Let us know how it is in your household.

 

Categories
News

Weightlifting while pregnant

Would you weight lift while pregnant? I don’t know if I could have. Pregnant with twins made things ten times harder to do. Even normal things, like open a jar. Maybe that was my form of weightlifting? Weightlifting was not even the thing I thought about. Mind you I am no athlete or gym junkie.

Lea-Ann Ellison has posted a picture of her lifting weights while eight and half months pregnant on her Facebook page. This image has created a big outrage and upset. Lee-Ann is a female bodybuilder and this pregnancy is her third s

Weights, not as big as what Lea-Ann Ellison was lifting. Image courtesy of artemisphoto at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Weights, not as big as what Lea-Ann Ellison was lifting. Image courtesy of artemisphoto at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

o she does know what she is doing and in for.

I can understand the concern but believe that if you are super fit as Ellison is, she can do more than I could when I was pregnant.  I am sure she takes care and rests when she needs to, but if CrossFit training is part of your make up that is what you live and breathe. How can you just give it up?  I do understand some of you would say, “You are pregnant, take a break!” I do agree as I was very tired so I took lots of breaks when pregnant, but I am not a super fit athlete.

The concern from doctors is due to heavy lifting there is a chance that you can sever the placenta, go into early labour, or even have a miscarriage. I would hate for that to happen and can understand that is why doctors say to not lift things that are too heavy and to take it easy.

However in an Essential Baby article that discusses this issue, it mentions that “There is evidence that weight-bearing exercise can reduce the length of labour but experts stress that women should avoid activities that could result in potential trauma to the foetus.”

I do think she looks amazing for a woman pregnant with her third child and I was very worried to hear that she is lifting heavy weights while very pregnant. Although I wonder if I was more athletic how better would have I handled the labour? Would it have taken 30 hours or more? Or was that just a twin thing or a first pregnancy?

The shock of this picture posted by Ellison is not due to wanting to exercise during pregnancy but with what she is doing, very heavy weights. I would not do this when pregnant as I would not want anything to go wrong. I’m not saying it will, but you never know, and if it does you would always blame yourself.

Would you weight lift when pregnant? I did do some hand held weights and some other things in the

Categories
3 years and beyond

Mental or Not?

The government has implemented a new program to test three year olds for signs of mental illness.  This new program will start from July 1, 2012 and will be run by GP’s with the standard health check for kids; it is a voluntary program that allows parents to go to the doctor with any concerns.

The idea is that behaviour/issues will be noticed and help will be found for these children.  However I am a big believer in labels and kids will be marked as early as three years old for being shy, upset, and anxious or other things and some or all of these things kids grow out of, some might not, but most do.

According to Jill Stark who wrote “Mental health checks for preschoolers” that is published online at Fairfax’s Essential Kids website, the program:

“…will consider behaviour such as sleeping with the light on, temper tantrums or extreme shyness as signs of possible psychological problems.”

I for one would not want to bring my kids for a check-up to then have normal behaviour seen as possible signs of mental illness. I do understand that early diagnose for kids that need help is essential and I applaud any program that helps families and especially these kids. However I worry that kids who are just being kids will clog up the system and not give the time for kids that really need the program.  Unless my girls give me any sign to worry, which has not happened and I think not, I will not use this service.

Another worry for me is who is this information shared with? Schools – pre-schools, primary, secondary, universities, future work places, and the list can continue. Is giving the child a label going to hurt the chances of recovery if there is an issue? I do know that finding out what ails you is helpful, as then you can work to fix it, and I do agree.

However for me it is like telling a kid that they are stupid and then hoping that they achieve. When I was at school, if you were not good at maths you were put in the dumb class. Teachers gave you easier tasks and did not attempt to teach you what you really should know, for example algebra. If these teachers did not tell you were dumb/stupid and spent some time teaching you in different ways how to understand the maths problem, then this would lead to kids getting better at maths and achieving.

What are your thoughts to this new program for mental health checks for three year olds? Currently it is a voluntary program, but what if it becomes mandatory?  I for one would not want to have to go and do it, some things are just private. Although, I do think that this service is great for people that really need it, and I hope they can access the service that should be for them, not the average kids who are just being challenging children. Send in your thoughts?