Tag: kidspot.com.au

Categories
4 years and beyond

No Nappies for 1

No More Nappies
No More Nappies

Last night one of my girls went to bed with no nappy. This child is the one that is only using the night nappy as a safety blanket and never uses it anymore. I made sure the mattress protectors were on both beds and asked her if she would like to try again with no nappy for bed time. The answer was YES!

Daddy and Mummy explained that if she had an accident that was fine and just let us know so we can make sure she has dry sheets and clothes to go back to bed. She agreed to let us know if there was an issue. I am very pleased to report she did not wake once, she did not go to the bathroom to go to the toilet and there were no accidents. We are now nappy free for one child! I am doing the happy dance. My little girls is now such a big girl. How proud am I. Well I think you can guess, I am a very proud mummy.

Now I need to see what can be done to get the other one to go to the toilet during the night and eventually have a dry nappy. Problem with the other little one is that she sleeps too soundly and does not stir, so no getting up and needs the nappy. She is fine during the day and goes before bedtime, just does not get up during the night time. It will eventually happen, maybe the peer pressure from her sister will help. Who knows.

If you have twins did you face this? One nappy free and the other not? Was it due to the fact you had a boy or a girl? I have both girls and still in the same boat. I just think everyone is different and both have done it in their own time.

Some links that might help me and you if you are trying to get your little one to be dry at night:

After reading the links above I seem to be doing all of what they recommend. So it is just a waiting game for the other one to be ready as well. I don’t want to pressure her or make her feel bad, it will all happen in good time. Do you have a good tip to help a child be dry in the evening or at least get them to go to the toilet at night? If so send it in.

Why not continue this discussion on our twitter or facebook pages.

Categories
4 years and beyond

New Tinker Bell Film

Waiting to see Tinker Bell – The Secret of the Wings
Waiting to see Tinker Bell – The Secret of the Wings

This is the first week of school holidays and you guessed it a great kids film is on at the movies, it is the latest Tinker Bell film; The Secret of the Wings.  I thought why not take the twins to the movies and have a day out. As you would have thought, this news was met with cheers and giggles. The girls love Tinker Bell and of course fairies, so seeing the latest installment of the Tinker Bell films was very exciting for them.

I managed to get to the centre early and thought it was wise to purchase tickets first, as said it is school holidays. I did not want to leave the ticket purchase to find out the session was sold out. As happened, there was a few people but not as many as I was expecting. Maybe it was due to seeing the early session? Probably the afternoon time might have been busier? Not sure but thought it was a good idea to get in early and then we can have lunch there, and go home. It is a 40 minute drive to the movies at this centre so thought I did not want to come back too late, as then I will have very hungry and tired kids.

The film was a hit and as it turns out Tinker Bell has a sister. Tinker Bell and Periwinkle were born from the same laugh of a baby, so they are twins! Although they never said they were twins, both Tinker Bell and Periwinkle’s wings are identical. So I would conclude they are twins. The only problem is that Periwinkle lives in the winter woods and Tinker Bell lives in the warmer climate so cannot live in the cold and vice versa for Periwinkle.  It was an enjoyable film, Lillian was a bit worried and scared at parts and ended up sitting on my lap for cuddles. It really wasn’t scary, but it was a bit worrying at times for the characters so I think she was upset that it might be getting scary.

According to the Hoyts website the Tinker Bell film is about: “Tinker Bell meets Periwinkle and ventures into the winter woods with her and Tinker Bell’s other friends to find the secret of fairy wings. If you are interested Wikipedia has a great history and breakdown of Tinker Bell. Worth a look.

Both girls were very well behaved and also held on and did not need to go to the toilet until after the film. No nappies so that is such a big deal. I have big girls now. We drove down to the movies and they held on, we go the tickets and then went to the toilet. So I am a very proud mummy that they are doing so well.

Before the movie I purchased new sandals for the girls as Lillian’s are getting too small, although still fit they soon will not be able to be worn. Julia’s seem to be broken and not sure they can be mended. I ended up getting half price on the second pair and of course both girls wanted the same type. Very lucky they had two of the same in the right size in stock. So good deal on the shoes. Cheap tickets at the movies, then had lunch, kids played at indoor play centre and then we went home singing away to a great music CD.

Kids fell asleep in the car, and no one wants a rest in bed now we are home. The girls are watching Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoons.  Will organise an early dinner for them so they get off to bed at a reasonable time. Tomorrow we are off to a family lunch, then free tumbling classes at the gym, and then playgroup. I should contact some parents of the girls friends to organise some play dates. I also need to focus my time on uni study. My job with the school holidays is find things for kids to do.

What are you doing these school holidays? Have you taken the kids to the movies lately? What have they seen and did they enjoy it?

The girls new sparkly sandals
The girls new sparkly sandals

From Kids Spot here are some ideas for school holiday activities:

Categories
News

Pushing the Breast

Breast feeding, Image by FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Breast feeding, Image by FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Michael Bloomberg the mayor of New York is demanding that hospitals in the area stop giving away free baby formula. Bloomberg and the hospitals want to promote breastfeeding with new mothers.  I do believe that breast is best but some people due to medical reasons and non-medical reasons have issues with breast feeding.

In the article, “Call to hide formula to force more mums to breastfeed!” on Kidspot.com.au, states that mothers who want formula need to have a medical reason and will get a lecture from staff on the benefits of breastfeeding.

I do agree with the Kidspot article as not everyone can or does breastfeed, this pressure to do so, can cause more PND (Post Natal Depression) and the mother feeling like a failure. I for one had issues as my babies were so small they could not latch on correctly. I had to get a nipple thingy that goes over my nipple so the babies could suck correctly.

As I had twins, I never managed to do the dual breastfeed correctly and at home I expressed my breast milk till both girls were five months, and during that time I added formula for the night feeds. This break that formula gave me was great as it allowed me to make more milk. I expressed after each formula feed in the evening to show my body that I still needed to make more milk and also drank a pint of water after each feed. This helped me a great deal.

I don’t believe that you can dictate what a mother does, breast milk or formula. It should be up to the mother and her family. The initiative according to the article will start on the 3rd of September and 27 out of 40 hospitals will partake. It will be interesting to see what the outcome of this is.

Many comments from readers on the Kidspot article say that it is not much different to Australian hospitals and I tend to agree, I was told that I was not allowed to leave until my twins were gaining weight and were all on breast milk feeds, via actual breastfeeding. As I said before, I did not dual breastfeed and that left doing it one at a time. As a new mum you are already not getting any sleep, why make it less by feeding kids one at a time, feeding the babies together maximised the time I had to do things and for them and me sleeping. It also fostered a great routine for us, pity that routine has flown out the window, but as the twins are nearly four that is probably to be expected.

I would say that the hospitals here have a negative opinion of formula but when the twins were first born they went straight into intensive care, the nurses were ringing me to ask for breast milk, but I had no idea how to get breast milk, and I only just had them. I felt harassed and just upset about the whole situation. I eventually got colostrum but that was less than 5mls, it did get better each day but I was not making much in the early days.

The NICU (Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit) fed them formula as they needed to be fed, but they did not like it, I had no other option, although one of my twins decided she hated formula and was nil by mouth. All breast milk went to her and if extra was over it went to the other baby. You work with what you are faced with, as a new mother you have no idea if you can or can’t breast feed. This is something you think you can do until you find out you have issues. Why make things worse for new mums, give them options not hurdles.

In a post called “Breast v’s Bottle” I discuss how I felt in the early days about breast feeding with twins. It is very similar to this story but more about a father using bottle feeding to help out. This week is breast feeding week a time to increase awareness and celebrate, maybe this is why we are hearing more of these pro breast feeding stories. I do think breast is best, but it is up to the individual what ends up happening. You can plan to breast feed and not be able to. What are your thoughts? Were you able to breast feed? Did you supplement with formula at some stage or was it all breast milk? Send in your comments.

 

Categories
3 years and beyond Birth

Placenta for energy anyone?

In the news recently was a report stating that actress January Jones has eaten her own placenta, well actually via capsules not actually eaten.  Jones was saying how she did not know if it would work but was willing to give it a try. I have heard of this, most animals do this although not a lot of humans do.

The actress says that she has had so much energy and the reason behind the energy is eating well, vitamins and placenta capsulation. I personally think it all makes sense. The placenta was the life force for the baby or babies in my case.  I just don’t know if I can do the eating part, maybe if someone did the placenta capsulation I might have been oaky with it, and I did not see it or the preparation and just got the capsules.  I know I am a wuss.

After the birth as you all know you have to wait for the placenta to deliver, once mine arrived my husband was very curious about it. He told me it was massive and I really would not want to look at it, as it was weird looking. According to James it looked like a Doctor Who prop. After this I had to look, he was right, it looked like it had tentacles everywhere.

I honestly was never that type of mother or person who was going to eat her own placenta and for that matter take it to someone to make it into capsules. Maybe I should of, it does hold all the nutrients that the baby needed and your body could use after the whole experience of childbirth.  Maybe if I had done that, I would have had more energy in the first year or so. However, dealing with two babies at once would drain anyone I would have thought.

I think if it works for you, why not.  On the placenta benefits info site they list all the health benefits, maybe we need to get over the yucky idea of it and give it a go.  If there was a service at the hospital to turn the placenta into capsules and you just paid a small fee for this privilege, then I think more women might give it a go.  Personally it is the yuck factor and the issue that the placenta appears like a big disgusting blob (I do know that it is wonderful and miraculous, but not that good looking), having no contact with the yucky thing, would make sure that I would be more interested to try.

Did you eat your placenta or have it in capsules? Did it help with energy levels, and other things?  Did you decide to not eat it and bury it under a tree in honour of the birth? My friends mum did that after her baby brother was born. What are your thoughts about the hospital providing the service for the capsules? Send in your comments.