Parent Gossip

Half term may be great for the kids, but it is often a thoroughly exhausting time for parents. Mums and dads have to keep the kids entertained, ferry them around to their various activities and desperately try to keep the house clean amidst the chaos.

It’s time for a break, and for parents to claw back some fun and relaxation time for themselves. The posh bingo website is running a special promotion especially for stressed-out parents this half-term, so send the kids to a friend’s house and get ready to play some bingo!

Here’s what’s on at posh bingo from now until Sunday 5th June:

• Half Term Happy Hours – Play for double chat points between 12pm and 2pm, then 4pm and 6pm, every day.

• School Day Misdemeanours – Check out the posh bingo Facebook page to find out how to win yourself some extra bingo funds.

• Old Skool Chat Game – Play in the Cocktail Club at 2.30pm every day until Friday 3rd June for the chance to win a share of 25,000 bonus points!

If you want to find out more about posh bingo and many other sites you can play at on the net, make sure you get all of your essential online bingo info from ohmybingo.com.

There has been a trend towards Baby Led Weaning over the last couple of years. But while this may work for some, it’s not for all parents or all babies.

Some of the benefits of Baby Led Weaning include:

• Baby eats solid food from the outset
• No problems weaning off pureed food
• You can all eat the same meal
• The baby takes control and choose what they want to eat

Some of the negative aspects of baby led weaning include:

• It’s really messy
• You can never be sure how much your little one has eaten
• The risk of choking

It’s perhaps the choking risk that puts most parents off Baby Led Weaning. But if you attend a baby first aid course and are a confident parent it can work really well for you.

If you have a toddler, you will most likely know how difficult it is to keep your highchair clean. Most highchair covers are now made from wipe-downable plastic so they can be wiped over. Most chairs are made from plastic, so these too can be wiped over. However our bone of contention concerns highchair straps.

The straps on a highchair play an important role - they keep your little one safe. But because they can’t be cleaned easily, we are sometimes left wondering if our children are less likely to catch some sort of horrible disease if we were to do away with them completely.

The straps on a highchair quickly become ingrained with all manner of uneaten food debris and no matter how hard you scrub, they rarely come clean - especially if your toddler loves spag bol. The orange hue that was once spag bol seems to highlight everything it touches, as those of you that have dishwashsers will have undoubtedly noticed.

So when we have a Google to find replacement highchair straps we notice that replacement items are black in colour, whereas the ones that manufacturers supply are white. Perhaps the manufacturers need to take note that black straps are what the consumer wants - not white.

The benefits of breatfeeding cannot be understated. However there are a few downsides, and we don’t just mean getting your brests out in public.

Breastfeeding on-demand is easy to do and is quick and convenient. There’s no bottles to sterilize and no formula milk to buy. However, you need to bear in mind that a baby who is solely breast fed will struggle to adapt to a bottle if you try to introduce one after a few months. And indeed nipple confusion can occur if you try to introduce one earlier then that. So what does this mean? Well it means you can’t be separated from your baby for long periods of time, so no visits to your favourite restaurant on a Saturday night.

Also it’s far more difficult to stop breastfeeding your baby at night than to stop bottle feeding. When your little one is crying at 3am it’s easy to pop your breast in their mouth to shut them up. They will however get used to this easy on-demand source of food, so many breast fed babies take a lot longer to be able to sleep through.

We wholeheartedly approve of breastfeeding and breast is best up to six months, but you do need to be prepared for some of the difficulties that go hand in hand with this way of feeding your baby.

There is lots of conflicting information being thrown around at the moment about how best to feed and wean your baby. On one hand the government are saying that babies should be weaned at 6 months and then on the other hand the University College London’s Institute of Child Health are saying 4 months might be ok too.

This is all because of the information laid out by the World Health Organisation has to cover many different countries and continents. So while they advocate breast is best up to 6 months on a global scale, it may be better for those parents in developed countries to try to wean their babies slightly earlier. Why? because they say that there is little chance of contaminated food in developed countries and the baby may suffer iron deficiency, or even be more prone to allergies if exclusively breast fed for the first six months.

The worrying thing about this recent revelation is that no organisation wants to categorically state what is right. Most likely because they just don’t know what’s best.

If there is one thing that you have to get right with your newborn, it’s their sleeping regime and how you get them to sleep.

Establishing a bedtime routine early on is really important. Doing things like reading your baby a story, giving them a bath and then giving them a feed should always be done in the same order, at the same time every day. It’s also really important to make sure your baby falls asleep on their own in their cot. Don’t be tempted to rock them to sleep in your arms as you will only cause you a serious problem in the future.

When you establish a routine you will be amazed how relaxed bedtime can be. Otherwise your evenings together will be a melee of rocking, singing and frustration.

One of the most difficult things a mother needs to overcome is the night feeds which will in some cases involve waking up every 2 hours in the first few weeks. This takes it toll on you as you no longer get the uninterrupted 8 hour sleep you were used to. For those mothers who decide to breastfeed the way nature has designed your body is that it recognises the hormones and sleep patterns with the babies and match them. Midwives advise that due to the short sleeping patterns in the night, mothers need to take naps during the day when the baby sleeps to ensure they catch up on the missing hours and let the body recuperate.

One of the things both parents need to be prepared for are the sleepless nights! These are most certainly a given for the majority of parents for at least 6 months and could go onto 3 years in some cases. When a newborn baby is born there is no established sleeping pattern and time and effort from you they will learn the difference between Day and Night. One of the most amazing things about newborns is the amount of time they spend sleeping – on average in the first couple of weeks this can be a outstanding 16-18 hours a day.

One of the things people automatically assume is that they will have the birth of their child in their local hospital. However through the pregnancy depending on the risk levels i.e. high risk or low risk will actually determine the level and type of care you will receive. Shared Care is when the mother is looked after by the local GP and midwife. Depending on your pregnancy complications you may also have to see the obstetrical consultant at the local maternity ward. The other option is being looked after by a team of mid wives who cover your local residential area. They will normally run clinics at the GP practices or local clinics.

For couples who are trying for a baby once your pregnancy has been confirmed it sets a rollercoaster of things to think about ranging from staying healthy during the pregnancy, coping with the changes happening in your body as well as thinking long term about the birth, classes to help with the birth, bringing the baby home, and the effect and the change this will bring to your existing family. If you’ve already had a child then you will know the kind off things to expect and the process that follows. However you need to take into consideration that every pregnancy is different – sickness levels etc may be different 2nd time round as well as the effect the growing baby is having on your body and hormones.