• MamaBabyBliss

    Supporting and celebrating the journey of motherhood

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    Baby Health

    At MamaBabyBliss it is part of our mission to work towards better health for and wellbeing for babies. This page features all our blog posts filed under the 'Baby Health' category.

    Eczema – A Mum’s Tale

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    Categories: Baby Health, Products

    When my eldest first broke out in a red rash all over his face I was mortified.  My beautiful little boy had become a mass of sores overnight.  At first, I panicked – was it something serious or just teething rash?  Then after doing my research I found out it was likely to be childhood eczema, which a trip to the GP confirmed.

    This was my first experience of eczema. I was lucky enough to escape its infliction in life, despite having asthma and being susceptible to hayfever.  It transpired later though, that my husband suffered from eczema as a boy, so I guess in was almost inevitable our children would experience it too.

    Now, I am lucky as my sister is a paediatric nurse, so help was at hand for me.  Despite living a couple of hours drive away, I could pick up the phone and she could help me find ways to treat it.  A bath with Epaderm really did the trick, and whilst it didn’t cure it, it really helped him. His eczema was aggravated during the winter months and when he was dribbling, so we knew to get armed early over the years.

    Then along came number 2 – a bundle of fun and my little monkey.  He was fine for a couple of years, as eczema didn’t grace us with its ugly presence.  However with the toddler tantrums came the double insult of more red sores.  Now he is a different child, and everything he did threw – he rolled earlier, crawled and walked early, so of course the eczema outbreak threw something new at us too!

    With Jacob, the daylight and warmer summer weather helped and he would go through the summer with barely a mark.  But with Archie, oh no!  His was in fact diagnosed as light induced eczema, which meant it was aggravated by sunlight!  So back to the drawing board and finding ways to help.

    By this time, I had discovered MamaBabyBliss and their fab MummyBabyBalm – this was back then my savior and still is today when he has the slightest sign of an onset.  We call it the magic cream in our house!

    At 8 and 5, we have very rare outbreaks now, but we are lucky.  We know for many parents and children eczema causes a lot of tears and is really upsetting.  As a child it hurts, and as a parent, you feel helpless.

    I think my words of wisdom (for what they are worth!)  would be –  try different things – no cream, lotion, potion or diet is going to be perfect for every child with eczema, as they are all so different.  I know its heartbreaking seeing your little one with sores and blotches all over their body, but take heart in that for many, they do grow out of it, and if they don’t grow out of it, they live with it.  We are lucky there are so many things out there to help us, and we are not alone

    Useful links:

    https://nationaleczema.org/eczema/child-eczema/infants-toddlers/

    MamaBabyBliss founder Justina Perry’s response to the ‘extreme baby yoga’ video

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    Categories: Baby Health Tags:

    After watching the ‘extreme baby yoga’ video that quite rightly has caused an uproar I wanted to set the record straight and alleviate any fears that parents might have regarding the safety of baby yoga.

    Baby Yoga

    Baby Yoga “Jumping Bean” song and move – a favourite with babies and their parents!

    The first thing to say, is that what is being practised in the video is not baby yoga. Not in any shape or form.

    The techniques in the video are based on a form of “extreme developmental gymnastics” which were devised by Igor Charkovsky, a Russian midwife known primarily for his ideology of mothers birthing underwater with dolphins and for these extreme movements with infants, that have absolutely nothing to do with yoga for babies or otherwise. His techniques have become very popular and are practised by parents in Russia.

    They are however, completely alien to anything practised in baby yoga classes in the UK. Baby Yoga is a safe and gentle practice, where the key focus is ALWAYS on the baby and movements are adapted safely to his or her physical and developmental milestones.

    Baby yoga moves are always practised by parents ‘WITH’ their babies never ‘to’ or ‘on’ their babies. A class is gentle and slow and builds up at a pace that suits the baby.

    There is NEVER any shaking of babies as this can cause Shaken Baby Syndrome, nor are babies ‘dangled’ by their arms or legs as their joints are soft and not fully developed yet. Any force could cause dislocation or damage.

    Finally, we never ignore a baby’s cries. Crying is a baby’s only form of communication and to ignore a baby’s cry, particularly when it is a sign of discomfort and distress (as is evident in the example of the video) is quite simply cruel.

    The philosophy of true and genuine baby yoga is simple. A happy and contented baby is a happy and relaxed parent.

    That is what we all strive for. Safely and healthily.

    If you have any questions or concerns, please leave a comment below or email justina@mamababybliss.com.

    For added reassurance and to watch examples of a MamaBabyBliss Baby Yoga Class in action, please visit our MamaBabyBliss Nottingham page.

    Hush those Cobwebs and Be Happy with Now – through Baby Yoga

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    Categories: Baby Health Tags:

    We thank you Joanne Godson of Mama Baby Bliss for this introduction to the benefits of what Baby Yoga classes are about…. look out for more information from Joanne in the future.

    We live our lives at such a fast pace these days don’t we?  In fact we are encouraged to do so, so much of what we read and see is encouraging us to make the most of every day, strive to be better, always look for ways of improving and fulfilling our dreams and ambitions.  And all of this plays an important part in having a fulfilled life, but amongst it all we mustn’t lose sight of being happy with now, and this becomes even more important when we become a mum.

    A friend of mine told me these wise words when my twin boys were tiny babies, they are 13 years old now and I still try to treasure the sentiment :

    Hush Cobwebs

    Now’s not the time for cleaning and cooking, because children grow up when we are not looking, so ‘Hush now you Cobwebs – Dust, go to sleep – my time’s for my baby because babies don’t keep…’

    The time with our little ones is so precious as it passes so quickly and they grow up before our eyes; but what better way to give you and your little one some quality time together than with some baby yoga moves. Baby yoga has many health benefits, and not just for baby but for mummy too, through baby yoga you learn moves that help your baby strengthen core muscles and encourage neural development, aswell as developing  babies body-mind awareness and co-ordination and encourage both bonding and interaction.  And as for mum, well amongst other things you are releasing the hormone oxytocin into your system which helps us to cope with stress.

    Most of all, baby yoga is about spending some truly quality time, just you with your baby, having fun, capturing the now, the added beauty of it is that once you have the moves you and your little one can just keep practising at home as often as you wish, so you can extend that feeling of contentment into your daily routine, each day, just treasuring that moment, knowing that you and your baby are benefiting greatly from doing so.

    Another potential benefit of Baby Yoga is that it may also provide you with skills to help you relax and focus within those moments of despair or extreme tiredness – these skills reaching far beyond the baby years  …..

    We thank you Joanne Godson of Mama Baby Bliss for this introduction to the benefits of what the classes are about…. look out for more information from Joanne.

    HAVE YOU EVER ATTENDED BABY YOGA ?? PLEASE DO COMMENT BELOW ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES…..

    Joanne godson, from time2behappy is a baby yoga and baby massage teacher with MamaBabyBliss and explains why enjoying the moment and having fun with baby yoga can bring huge benefits to both you and your baby.

    Joanne Godson
    Regional Associate Teacher.
    MBB North Notts and Mansfield – Baby Yoga and Baby Massage
    MamaBabyBliss Dedicated to the wellbeing of mothers to be, mothers and babies
    Specialist in Developing Personal and Organisational Effectiveness

    Air Ambulance Second to None!

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    Categories: Baby Health Tags:

    The Children’s Air Ambulance is the first and only dedicated helicopter emergency transfer service for seriously ill children and babies, flying them from one hospital to a more specialist unit, alongside their team of clinicians; a journey usually made by land.  They are a charity that receives no Government funding and instead relies entirely on the generosity of members of the public to fund their vital service, which costs approximately £134,000 a month to run.

    Unbelievably, it’s estimated that approximately 5,800 children need transferring between hospitals every single year. Currently the majority of these transfers are performed by land, meaning sometimes long and arduous journeys for seriously ill youngsters.  The Children’s Air Ambulance is able to drastically cut the time it takes to carry out these types of transfers, which means sick children and babies can get lifesaving care as soon as possible -giving them the very best chances of survival and recovery.

    One day old Theo Mikova was the first infant to fly in the children’s helicopter earlier this year. Weighing just 4lb 14oz, Theo was transferred on a fifteen minute flight from Scarborough Hospital to Hull Royal Infirmary after complications were revealed at his birth.

    After a difficult labour, Theo’s mum Denisa Mikova had to be put under a general anaesthetic in order to give birth to Theo by emergency Caesarean section. Once Theo arrived, doctors realised that he needed an operation on his oesophagus, which had failed to join correctly to his stomach and would make him very ill if left.  Theo was transferred for emergency surgery via The Children’s Air Ambulance, while being looked after on board by the Embrace Yorkshire and Humber Infant and Children’s Transport Service, part of Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. This was the first emergency airlift of its kind to happen with The Children’s Air Ambulance and Embrace teams.

    Pilots Shaun Tinkler Rose and Paul Hogan took off in the Agusta 109 Grand helicopter, specially adapted to carry the latest specialist paediatric medical equipment, at 0925 from Coventry Airport. They collected the specialist medical team from Embrace headquarters and travelled to Scarborough Hospital to pick up little Theo. Once Theo was on board, flight time to Hull took just 15 minutes.  The Children’s Air Ambulance lead pilot Shaun Tinkler Rose said: “We estimated that by road this journey would have taken over an hour. Our total flight time was only 15 minutes with the patient on board. As we flew along, we could see congested roads and the difficulty a land ambulance would face especially if it needed to travel in rush hour traffic. It’s cases like this where every minute can, and does, count.”

    After arriving at Hull Royal Infirmary, Theo underwent a tracheo-oesophageal fistula operation and is now recovering well with no expected complications.  Such a swift and efficient move helps reduce stress on both the baby and the parents and quick intervention helps speed recovery.

    Dr Stephen Hancock, Lead Consultant for Embrace in charge of Theo’s care on board said: “Embrace were delighted to work with The Children’s Air Ambulance on their first ever transfer, providing the medical and nursing teams to get this baby to a specialist centre where he could undergo surgery. All the teams involved have been working really hard to get to this point and it is gratifying to see the helicopter in the air. This service is so vital because quicker transfer times mean that our medical teams are available to look after more critically ill children.”

    As mentioned already, the charity does not receive any Government funding, and relies entirely on public donations.  There are many ways you can help support this service and keep it flying. Please visit their website for more information on making a donation, volunteering your time and skills, or taking part in one of their events or partnering with us.

    You can also follow them on Twitter and find them on Facebook.

    World Prematurity Day

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    Categories: Baby Health Tags: ,

    Kylie had her baby at 27 weeks gestation 4 and a half years ago. When Joseph was was 9 months old she began a blog Not Even A Bag of Sugar to try and make sense of the experience, and to help other parents. Now she works for Bliss the only UK charity devoted to special care babies and their parents, recruiting volunteers to provide support, signposting and other services to families.

    At some point during your neonatal journey you will have the conversation. There are a number of conversations that take place during a neonatal stay, the “consent” conversation – here are the things we could potentially do to your baby, the “odds” conversation – here are your babies chances of survival and then perhaps the final one; “The future”.

    For any baby the future is always a bit uncertain. No one knows any baby’s course of their life, babies can have a number of conditions some that are obvious at birth like Down’s Syndrome, others that may not appear until pre-school years, like Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

    However for the baby born preterm doctors know, through research, that there are higher likelihoods that things may not always be plain sailing. The brain, having to develop outside the womb, will have been affected by a number of factors, like oxygen, the medications delivered, even separation from the primary caregiver, usually the mother. Sometimes things go wrong like brain bleeds.  During a neonatal stay crises can occur like bowel conditions such as necrotising enterocolitis, sepsis (systemic infection), heart problems like PDAs.

    The conversation we had was that whilst Joseph’s later neonatal stay was largely uneventful “the future” was still uncertain. Our consultant team were fairly sure Joseph would need additional support at school, there were concerns he may need ongoing feeding support, and that he might have cerebral palsy.

    As time progressed feeding sorted itself out, Joseph began to develop, whilst slower than other babies, at a rate that reflected the fact he was born 13 weeks too soon, and had experienced a number of problems.  Once we got to 21 months the consultant was deeply concerned that Joseph wasn’t walking. I wasn’t bothered, he was pulling to stand and cruising, he just preferred crawling to get around. That resolved by 2 years and Joseph began to walk. There still concerns, raised by nursery, when he was 3 and we went back to the consultant team, who didn’t feel his walking was of grave concern and again no treatment was prescribed.

    The fact is there is absolutely no magical age at which prematurity just “goes away”. A lot of people, even some doctors and health visitors say, “Oh by 2 they will have all caught up”.  That, quite frankly, is utter nonsense. There is no “catch up” it’s not a race where the baby has received some sort of handicap like a fast runner might to level the playing field. Prematurity is a complex medical condition.

    Now Joseph has started reception it is clear that on some levels he remains far behind his peers. His physical skills are behind, although his mental acuity is fine. He can’t write yet or hold a pen. Yes there are other boys, especially, in his class who are having trouble holding pens, so it “may” not be a prematurity issue, but I think it probably is.  And, in a sense, this isn’t an issue for me, because its expected. No baby can be born at 27 weeks gestation and be expected to just “get over that”.

    What is needed, in my opinion, is a bridge over the disconnect between neonatal service delivery and education services, and other services delivered to parents of children with prematurity. Put simply, as more and more babies can be saved prematurely there will be more and more of these children in our schools, dance classes, GP services etc. It’s not enough to leave neonatal care at the door of the special care baby unit.

    If a child is struggling at school I think amongst the usual questions such as, “Is there anything going on at home?” teachers should ask, “Was the child born prematurely?” because, quite frankly, it can explain a lot.

    Joseph is now 4. He is proud of being a “Bliss special baby” he has volunteered on neonatal units, he has attended fundraising events.

    And his mother and father are immensely proud of him.

    World Prematurity Day is on Sunday 17 November 2013.

    Five Core Principles to Raise a Healthy Child

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    Categories: Baby Health

    Ion Doaga is writes about the principles of a healthy life on his blog, ‘Massage Dreams‘. As a child he was into sports and he believes it was the happiest period of his life. His passion for a life without pills comes from the education that his parents gave him, as they raised him that way.  Today he writes about, what he believes are, the essentials to raise a healthy child.

    Good health is priceless.

    No wonder why people getting to a certain age begin to care about their health, about how they feel and how they look. However, the foundation of a healthy body is established since the first day of a child’s life and as a parent you play an important role in teaching your children the necessary habits to live a healthy life. It’s like planting the seeds that will give fruit their entire life.

    Here are a few key principle parents need to follow as their child grows.

    Proper nutrition

    • To prevent frequent illnesses or recovering fast when the child gets sick, the child must receive the required amount of nutrients on a daily basis.
    • A child’s nutrition begins with breastfeeding and as he grows, you can slowly add meat, fish, dairy products, fresh fruits and veggies to his nutrition.
    • A balanced nutritional diet needs to be served in an optimal eating regimen. The ideal formula is three main meals and two smaller ones during the day.
    • Avoid feeding your child with sweets like cakes, candies, and pies since they lead to teeth decay. Don’t feed them with fast food and sodas to prevent your child from obesity.

    Physical activity and active way of life

    Movement is life.

    • For children of any age physical exercises are very important. It develops their core muscles and strengthens their heart and lungs.
    • Encourage your children to move and exercise. Leave them down on the floor, so that they will have to move to his destination. Boys of an older age should play sports, participate in various competitions and play games with other children. Create family rituals and physical activities that you can do together, like cleaning the house, washing dishes, all kind of activities that your children can be involved in.
    • In this process children learn more about the movement of their own body, about their creative activities, cognitive abilities and willpower.
    • Regular physical activity allows members of your family to develop strength, endurance and thinking.

    Respecting the rules of personal hygiene

    “Wash your hands before you eat and your feet before you sleep.”

    • An important element of a child’s health is – personal hygiene. Keeping your body clean makes you feel healthy and good about yourself.
    • A child needs to learn the habits of personal hygiene which includes in itself body care, wearing clean clothing and shoes to maintain a good exterior look, the timely change of teeth brushes and other things of personal hygiene.

    Proper regimen of work and resting time

    • To work well you need a good rest – this refers to grown ups as well as to children, especially to those at school.
    • All family members need their adjusted and harmonious day regimen that makes time for work and rest, regular meals and leaves enough time for a restful sleep.
    • A correctly planned day improves health and mood, brings energy and optimism and improves work efficiency. As a result your children will be more successful at school.

    Avoiding harmful habits

    Children don’t make a distinction between good and bad habits. They mimic their parent’s habits and behavior.

    • If mum and dad smoke or drink alcohol, it’s likely that their kids will learn to do the same.
    • Harmful habits like smoking, alcohol abuse, drug addiction, disrupt a parent’s life and their children’s too. These parents’ addictions have detrimental effects on a child’s healthy development of their intellect, mind and their social adaptation.
    • As a parent think what example you give to your child. Parenting isn’t just a regular job. It’s a lifelong commitment.

    Take care of yourself and loved ones – and stay healthy!