Baby | Hear Mum Roar

Category Archives: Baby

How do You Choose the Best Baby Formula?

Written on May 17th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, Care, Challenges, Food, Health and beauty, May 2011

If you plan on feeding your baby formula milk, making a choice as to which brand to use can be a minefield. Manufacturers are not permitted to advertise their products, and in Australia, health professionals are prohibited from giving advice as to which brands are better than others.

Before I go on, I’m going to add this disclaimer: when I say, ‘if you plan on feeding your baby formula’, I’m referring to any situation that may call for this plan. You might be an adoptive mother or foster carer. You may have tried breast feeding and it didn’t work out. Or you may not want to breastfeed. This post is not about women’s reasons for using baby formula. Everybody knows that breast milk is the best possible way to feed an infant, and this is not an anti-breastfeeding post. I write this piece free of any judgement of any parent or carer who finds them self using baby formula.

In the ten years that I’ve been a parent, a lot has changed. I had my first child then, born a month premature. She was fed a combination of baby formula and my milk for the first two weeks; mostly my milk, though. I won’t go into the reasons why today, but breastfeeding ended up not working out for us, and so after two weeks, we switched her to formula. I was able to talk to health professionals about formula brands, and what the differences were. Some gave opinions on which were better than others or more suited to my daughter’s needs.

In hospital, the brand she was given was Enfalac, but by the time she arrived home, she was fully fed on breast milk. When I put her on formula, I started her on S-26. She had dreadful, painful constipation. Back then, the Tresillian nurse I spoke to on the phone was easily able to tell me that little babies such as my daughter don’t always do so well on S-26 due to it’s high iron and sodium content. She suggested I check the label for these levels, then choose a formula milk that had lower ones. We followed her advice, switched over to Karicare and voila! Crisis over. Happy baby.

Fast forward to six years later when I had our next child, my son. We breastfed for five weeks, then changed to formula after that. Oh my god! What a nightmare it was trying to get any useful information! The brands had changed in that time, and good old Tresillian this time were restricted from being able to advise me on which brands were better than others. I was kindly told this, and she muttered, ‘all I can say is, they’re pretty much all the same’. (Except, in my opinion, when you factor in that all children are individuals and react differently to different brands)

I googled the subject, and got no answers there, either. The only way I could find what I was looking for was to take myself to the store and research the labels myself. With a high-maintenance baby boy, I decided to wait until my partner came home so that he could help with bubs and I could take my time to read in peace.

So, how do you decide which formula to choose these days? If you need advice, who do you turn to?

It’s not great to change a baby’s formula regularly, as it can wreak havoc on their little tummies, so it’s no wonder as mums we feel the pressure to try to get it right as early as possible. I have some suggestions here on points you might like to consider before choosing a brand. Of course, if your child has reflux, lactose intolerance, is premature, or has other medical issues, definitely talk about this with your doctor.

Read the label

Pretty obvious, but read the nutritional information on the back of the tins at the shop, or your friends’ at their home. Do you want your baby to have omega-3′s added, or probiotics? Do you feel comfortable with the nutrients offered, in the amounts given?

Some people choose to boycott Nestle

Many of us are aware of this, and if you aren’t, you can read a brief summary on why here. I mostly boycotted Nestle, but I did go through a stage when formula feeding my son, where I did use it. It’s your choice, but it’s important to know what goes on behind the scenes so you can choose whether you want to vote with your dollar or not.

Think about your budget

Think about how often you get paid; is it weekly, fortnightly? How many tins will you need in that time? How much will this cost? Some brands are more expensive than others. Cost may not be a factor for some, but if it is for you, this could heavily influence the choice you make. The first formula my son started out with was Bellamy Organic formula. It was one of the more expensive ones. At the time, we could factor it into our budgets, and decided to use it. In the second half of his first year, we wanted to tighten our belts a little more, and so we then changed brands to Nestle, which was one of the cheaper options at that time. He was also on solids, so we felt not as bad doing this as we would’ve when we was a newborn.

Try to gauge availability of different brands

When I had my son on Bellamy organic formula, I was very happy with it, but sourcing it each week was often a nightmare. Stocks often ran low in my town, which made it difficult to buy on many occassions. I’d end up having to look for it in other towns, often spending a lot of time and money travelling to do this. This was almost five years ago though, and hopefully things have changed!

Obviously, I had no clue this was a problem when I started my son on this brand, otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen it. If you know other mums who are formula feeding, it’s a good idea to ask if they ever have problems with low stock for their brand, or if they’ve ever heard of it happening to mums who use other brands. It’s especially important if you don’t live in a metropolitan area.

Sometimes it takes trial and error

Despite our best attempts to choose carefully, sometimes certain brands simply don’t agree with our babies. Like the S-26 with my daughter. Or my son, with a particular brand (the name which now escapes me) with high levels of acidophilus. He got a terrible rash with that formula, and I had to switch to something that had no acidophilus instead. Although I said earlier that it’s not good to switch products regularly, sometimes the only way to know what’s best for your child is to experience it first hand.

Have you ever been in a position where you’ve used baby formula? How did you choose which brand to use? Who did you turn to for advice? What would your advice be to other mums in this situation?

Cute Sandwich Cutter

Written on February 5th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, February 2011, Food, In the home, Preschool aged, School aged, Toddler

I got this cute little gadget when I had a bento splurge recently at J List.

I get so bloody sick of making the same old boring sandwiches everyday. Sure, Missy 10 helps out when she can, but it’s nice to break up the monotony for the kids and I. All you do is press the cutter into a sandwich, and it cuts four bite-sized sandwiches with crusts removed. (The crust that was cut off was so thin, I was hardly wasting any at all)

I love that it’s probably easier than dragging a knife through the bread and ripping it. I love knowing that the kids are more likely to sit down for longer and actually eat what I’ve made them. Most of all, I love the smile it brings to their faces. Plus, it’s so much more fun to open your lunch box to something so cute.

PS – this isn’t a sponsored post, just something I bought myself and loved the idea of.

Letting your child witness birth: is it immoral?

Written on January 28th, 2011 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, Challenges, Emotional, January 2011, Parenting, School aged, Social

I follow many facebook ‘like’ pages, and one conversation that appeared in my feed inspired me to write today. It was at Designer Mama’s page. The question was raised about whether or not it was appropriate for children to witness the birth of their siblings. As a mother who has allowed this, obviously I have strong opinions about this.

This photo was taken minutes after I cleaned up after giving birth to my son. As you can see, my eldest daughter was right there with us, looking happy and unscathed.

There was quite a bit of negative discussion on this facebook page about this topic (including questioning the morals of mums who do this), so I felt moved to share our story. I also knew that sharing on the facebook page would not give me enough space to express my feelings fully.

When I fell pregnant with my second child, my eldest daughter was five years old. She already had three step siblings who don’t live with us, and was so excited that I was having a baby. This would be a new brother or sister for her that would be raised with her! More importantly to her, she was going to finally be a big sister.

In the first five months of my pregnancy, my daughter was being homeschooled at the time. She was attending all of my appointments at the birthing centre with me. It’s important to point out here, that by this time, she had asked me how the baby would come out, and had been told all about vaginal birth. We told her that’s how she was born, and probably this next child would be born that way, too. We also had already told her about c section births as well, that some mothers need that option when vaginal birth doesn’t work out for them.

One day, my daughter said to me, ‘am I going to be left at home alone when you go to the hospital to have the baby?’ We told her, of course not! We would make sure someone would look after her. She then asked me if she could come to the hospital to watch the baby’s birth. My partner and I told her we needed to talk about that idea first, then we’d get back to her.

Now, this wasn’t a first for my partner. He had been married before, and his then wife had an emergency home birth (in other words, not by choice) and their eldest child witnessed the whole thing (he was four years old at the time), also not by choice. Everything happened so quickly, there was no time to find something else for him to do.

My partner’s eldest son from his first marriage handled the situation quite well, and as children, he and his sister had a very good bond with one another. So, we knew it could work, and saw the positives. My partner and I were still worried, though. Just because one child handles a situation well, doesn’t mean all children will. We wanted, like all parents, to protect our child from any unnecessary trauma.

We laid down some ground rules. We told our daughter that she could come to the birth, but only if she was prepared to do certain things first.

1) If she watched some birthing dvds beforehand and still felt fine about coming, she could come. If she wasn’t prepared to watch the dvds, then we believed that she wasn’t ready for witnessing our birth, either. We didn’t force her to watch the dvds, but not watching them would mean she’d need to stay at home with a sitter. We felt this was more than fair, and so did our daughter. We wanted her to have some insight into what she could expect to happen. We told her if she changed her mind at any time and didn’t want to go, that was fine.

2) We gave her lots of books to read about giving birth. These were picture books, and were very informative for her.

3) If she was scared during the birth at any time, she could leave the room.

4) We would have a babysitter attend the birth to look after her.

The midwives at the birthing centre were very supportive of our choice to let our daughter attend the birth. They loaned me dozens of birthing dvds (we chose dvds that mostly featured water birth, as that was my plan for this birth) and books for my daughter to read. We discussed all material that our daughter read or watched at great length. We continually asked her if she wanted to change her mind, and made it clear it was ok to do that. She was adamant. She did not want to miss this birth for the world! I think it’s important to mention here that my eldest daughter is obsessed with science and has always been this way. She is naturally very inquisitive, to the point where she will gladly witness something quite revolting in the name of science!

Given that my first birth had been a 12 hour birth (but had a lot of intervention), my partner and I gave plenty of thought to how our five year old daughter would spend her time during the birth. I was shown the birthing centre room, there was a lounge suite with a tv and dvd player, a double bed and a bathroom. We let her pack a bag of things she’d like to do, and told her she could also watch tv, sleep or go play outside with an adult if she got bored or tired. The birthing centre also had a kitchenette, and my daughter and partner enjoyed some raisin toast in the first hour of my birth.

At one appointment, my daughter and I were walking past the hospital kiosk, when she noticed the ‘it’s a boy!’ and ‘it’s a girl!’ balloons for sale. She thought these were the most wonderful idea! We promised her that when the baby was born, it’d be her job to go to the kiosk with dad to choose one for the baby, and Dad would buy it. Now she she was really psyched.

I won’t recount the entire birth here, as I’ve already shared my birthing stories as much as I intend to. But I will share here what’s relevant to the topic. On the day my waters broke, it was quite early in the morning. The sun was just coming up. We woke our daughter, and hot-footed it to the hospital. That’s why my daughter looks quite bedraggled in the photo above, because she’d just gotten out of bed a few hours ago, and thrown on the first clothes she found!

We ended up abandoning our idea of bringing in a babysitter, as we felt we didn’t have enough time to make arrangements and get me to hospital. As it turned out, the whole thing was over pretty quickly.

Plan B without a babysitter was that my partner would take care of her during the birth. This worked very well for us, because this was a nice, easy birth. It was a short birth, so our worries about our daughter getting bored went out the window. She stayed to watch the whole thing. The biggest problem she had, was that because I was water birthing, she wanted to get closer to the action to see what was going on! But never mind…

After my son was born, he floated under water for a little while, then the midwife asked me to pick him up out of the water. As I carefully did this, I heard my girl shrieking, ‘oh, he’s so cute!’ For all the pain I’d just gone through, my five year old daughter helped to reinforce that this whole birth was a joyful time. Don’t get me wrong, I was excited, holding my new baby boy in my arms, but I love the fact that my daughter’s presence just made the whole experience so much more blissful.

Her and my partner ended up like two silly, excited little kids together! It was so funny. They went to buy the balloon as I cleaned up, and I think my daughter loved that ‘it’s a boy!’ balloon more than our son.

We made sure to give our daughter plenty of chances to talk about the birth afterward, and mostly her memories from it are how cute her brother looked, and the funny sound he made soon after. Another mum friend from my daughter’s school told me that her daughter found out from my girl, that babies come out of the mother’s vagina. She said she was a bit miffed, but then she joked that, ‘oh well, you’ve saved me the awkwardness of having to tell her!’

I have found that with such a wide age gap, my daughter who is now ten, and my son who is now four, have an extremely tight bond. I’m so relieved, because when my daughter found out I was having a boy (via ultrasound), she was sorely disappointed. Those first few weeks were obviously hard for my daughter to adjust to not being the only child in this house anymore. However, I feel that having witnessed the birth, she was more compassionate towards me. I tried to give her as much attention as I could (which is always a challenge with a newborn), but she was very understanding of how tired and sore I was because she was there to see why.

I like knowing that when she gets to the age that her peers are having sex, she will have the awareness that sex is not a decision to take lightly. Pregnancy is not something to take lightly. And although I’ve let her witness that birth is a painful thing, I’m so glad that her first exposure to child birth was a positive, relaxed one.

Once I fell pregnant with our third child, of course we asked her again if she’d like to be at the birth. Early on, she wanted to. We had decided that our son, who would be two months shy of two years old, shouldn’t be at the birth. We toyed with the idea of having him there with a babysitter, but it just didn’t feel right. We organised a babysitter for our son at home during the birth, and once our eldest daughter found out about it, she didn’t want to miss out on whatever fun our son was having, so she decided to stay home too.

The birth of our last child was much tougher than our son’s. I’m so glad my children weren’t there for it. I went to the hospital in the morning and stayed there the whole day with nothing happening. By the afternoon, I was induced, but nothing really happened until the evening. The birth itself took six hours. I had complications; labour wasn’t progressing for a while, my daughter had her umbilical cord strangling her, and for a short while, it looked like I was going to need an emergency c section. Thankfully, I didn’t.

I think my children would not have handled the lengthy process of this. I don’t think they would’ve handled the fact that we had to move from the birthing centre to the delivery suite. The facilities in the delivery suite were dreadful for children, and I was having severe anxiety about being there myself, due to a bad experience last time I gave birth there (with my first child).

Do I believe all children should witness childbirth? No. I don’t believe children should ever be forced to be present at a birth against their wishes. I believe sometimes it happens by accident, and I’d imagine parents would have to deal with any repercussions afterward. Do I believe that parents who choose to allow their children at a birth are immoral? Of course not!

The only advice I’d give to anyone thinking of this (who actually wants advice, of course!), is to think about your potential for complications. Think about your child’s personality. If you’re planning this, prepare them, arm them with knowledge. Make sure you talk to them after the birth. Also, as a mother, ask yourself how it will affect you. If you think it’d be too distracting, that’s important to consider. My daughter at one stage when I was on all fours in agony, asked me for more raisin toast! I said, ‘ah, I’m kind of busy right now, babe…’ thankfully, my partner stepped in and got it for her! Because it was an easier birth, these distractions were, well, distracting, but not a problem for me at all. If any of my kids had distracted me during my last birth, they may have gotten their heads bitten off.

I asked my daughter today, now that she’s ten, how she feels about having been at the birth of her brother. She said, ‘man, that was a long time ago.’ I asked her if it was scary, gross, etc. She said, ‘it was a bit gross’. I asked her if she wishes she hadn’t gone to it, or if she’s glad. She told me she’s glad she went. I asked her how she feels about giving birth one day herself. She shrugged and said, ‘I really don’t know. I don’t think about it.’

Of course, now I’d like to hear from others. Have you ever allowed your child to be present at any of your births? Would you? How do you feel about it?

Smart Trike – the Bike Stroller

Written on December 13th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, December 2010, Gross motor, Preschool aged, Reviews, Toddler

Sponsored by The Mother Media

I was fortunate enough to receive the Rolls Royce of bikes. And prams. All in one. I’ve seen these tricycles before with the pram handle at the back, and always coveted them.

The model I’m reviewing is the Smart-Trike 3 in 1. There’s already been fights over it between Missy 2 and Mr 4. Luckily, it can be adapted to suit them both!

Some of you would already be familiar with the original Smart-Trike Deluxe. The Zoo 3 in 1 offers all those award winning features, with a unique design that kids love. (Of course, I love the design because it’s in the Hear Mum Roar colour scheme!)

You can use the Zoo 3 in 1 with babies from the age of 10 months, as a baby stroller. Missy 2 below is sitting in the bike, set up the way it would be used for a baby. It’s still very comfortable even for a two year old with this set-up. Set up for babies, you get a quality, padded, washable seat and padded seat belt. It also has padded arm rests. I’m a bit jealous, because it looks more comfy than our lounge…

The seat has long back support, and there are these little side foot rests for when your child might not feel like pedaling. These fold up and out of the way for older children. I love all the special little extras, too. It has a cup holder on the front of the handle bars. I couldn’t believe Smart-Trike even went to the effort of providing a toy mobile phone and a cute little place to clip it onto the back of the handle bars! And the toy phone actually lights up and makes sounds. I’ve made a short video showing the phone in action:

Too damned cute…

When your child is 15 months and older, you can easily remove the padded seat, seat belt and arm rests if you like. Once your child is 24 months and up, you can take the pram handle off, letting your child ride it around like a regular tricycle:

…But it’s much trendier than your average tricycle!

For mums and dads, the steering handle can be adjusted to suit your height (being a short-arse mum, I can’t tell you how grateful I am). It has telescopic, five-point steering and a built-in clutch.I love how when I’m steering the pram, I’m actually moving the handles on the child’s part of the bike, too. This gives your child an excellent sense of steering early on. I find the zip-up pouch on the handle useful for my spare change and keys.

This bike is extremely sturdy, exceeding all European Safety Standards. It has a sun shade which can be adjusted up and down at varying angles, and makes such a cute clicking noise. I took the Smart Trike for spin, walking to the shops and around the block.

Because it has anti-slip resistance and great road performance, I was able to push my daughter along grass, bumpy rocks and tree roots. I also could easily push the bike up our local shop’s steps with no hassles. There is a little brake at the back of the trike, similar to that of a pram.

What I love about the Smart-Trike is the fact that if I’m out shopping with my daughter, she can still have some gross motor exercise as we go. It keeps her busy, what with riding and talking on her little mobile phone. I love knowing that once she grows out of the stage where I push her in the bike, she can take her gross-motor skills and co-ordination to the next level. Also, Mr 4 can ride it as a bike, too.

Now, as some of you may know, we don’t celebrate Christmas. However, if you do, this is a present that would definitely last a child through to the next Christmas, possibly even the one after that, so you’re getting value for money.

Take a look at the Smart-Trike range in this online catalogue. You’ll be able to see that this bike comes in a range of colours.

So, where can you buy the Smart-Trike? You can find it at Toys ‘R’ Us, Target and Big W. The price ranges from $179-$189.

I have received the above product for free courtesy of Smart-Trike

Pin It

10 Comments -

Mattel’s Laugh and Learn Learning Book

Written on November 2nd, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, Cognitive, Fine motor, Language, Music, November 2010, Reviews, Toddler

Sponsored by Nuffnang

Look at what Missy 2 was lucky enough to receive in the post. It’s a Laugh and Learn Learning Book from Mattel. This title is called, ‘Counting animal friends’. It’s an interactive book with a cute sun button which lights up and depending on which page your child is looking at, makes different sounds. It:

- reads the story to the child
- counts the animals
- makes the animal sounds
- plays songs

I think this book is adorable, and the sound isn’t too noisy or annoying, like some toys. My kids are all obsessed with books, so this caught everyone’s attention. Anything that promotes a love of reading to my kids is encouraged by me.

This book is aimed at babies and toddlers between 9-36 months old. Missy 2 has become utterly attached to it. She sits down playing with it for long periods, pointing at the animals and making the sounds. She likes saying the numbers, too. Her favourite part is looking at the ducks in the book, pretending to flap her ‘wings’ and saying, ‘quack quack!’. She’s even taken to falling asleep on top of it every night.

This book is highly age/stage appropriate, being very simple and appealing to this age group. Mr 4 is extremely interested in counting and numbers at the moment, and as soon as he spotted the book, asked, ‘has this got numbers? Cool!’

I’d also like to add my own little story about Mattel toys. We have always bought a lot of Mattel toys over the years, because they last a very long time. My two younger kids are still playing with a lot of Missy 10′s toys from when she was a baby. They love pushing around her push-along activity puppy and playing with her Little People dollhouse, car, bus, and of course, the dolls that come with it.

As any parent could tell you, little kids can be rough on their toys. Most of our Mattel toys have been thrown around at some time or another, either due to a tantrum, or just from excitement. But all our Mattel toys are still going strong.

But what I am really wanting to tell you about it, is what happened with some of our Mattel toys during our flood in the childrens’ playroom. We had a Mattel Flip Phone on the floor, and a Laugh and Learn Learning Home, which you can see here, both got saturated.

At first, the electronics in these toys didn’t work. But after a couple of weeks, once they’d dried out, they were working again! So please, if your Mattel toys ever get wet and stop working, don’t throw them out! Let them dry out, and they should be fine. We’re very impressed here.

Now I’m going to leave you with a quick video of Missy 2 enjoying her new book. It shows you how the book works, and how much she likes playing with it.

What’s your child’s favourite Mattel toy? Or your favourite, even?

Pin It

Please Comment -

My eldest daughter is 10!

Written on October 1st, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, Good times, October 2010, Parenting, School aged

Ten. Oh. My. God.

Missy now 10 had her birthday a few days ago, but we’ve been a little bit in crisis mode with my fiance’s health issues, so Missy 10′s birth story is a little late…unlike her actual birth, which was rather on the early side.

Unfortunately I’m unable to share baby photos of Missy 10, unlike my two younger children. I’m pretty sure digital cameras hadn’t been invented just yet, so all those photos were taken on an old-fashioned camera, and because we got rid of our scanner… well, you get the idea.

Anyway, the story! I fell pregnant very quickly and easily with Missy 10, within 3 months of trying. I was 26 years old.

My fiance (then boyfriend) and I were planning to go out for dinner on Valentine’s Day, and the weekend before we went shopping for an outfit for me. I became quickly frustrated to find that everything I tried on that would’ve usually suited my slender frame, made me look decidedly thick-waisted. I ended up opting for a dress more on the stretchy side. We stopped for lunch, and I demanded a large bucket of KFC’s potato and gravy. You know, the one that’s meant to serve an entire family? Well, I greedily scarfed down the lot myself!

Fast forward to Valentine’s Day: I got a phone call that afternoon from my father, letting me know that my brother’s wife had just announced their pregnancy. I excitedly told my boss, and she said, ‘oh, you’ll be next!’ I laughed and raced home from work. I was late for our dinner!

Dinner that evening was at the Novotel at Brighton, and was a buffet style set-up. For the most part, I enjoyed it, except for one mystery white meat in particular. I thought it looked like chicken, but on eating it, found it tasted disturbingly like fish. I asked my (now) fiance if he thought it was fish or chicken. (I hope this isn’t making me sound like Jessica Simpson…) He looked at it, and said it was chicken. I forced him to taste it.

He did. ‘It’s chicken, sweety’. I demanded to speak to the staff, who also assured me the meat was chicken. ‘Then why the hell does it taste like fish?’ I replied testily.

The following weekend, I was feeling very delicate and teary. I was due that day, and began howling uncontrollably to my fiance: ‘why can’t I get pregnant? This is really bad PMS!’ And although I wasn’t convinced I’d be pregnant anytime soon, my fiance and I decided to buy a test, because I was so upset and hormonal, and needed something.

As soon as I’d finished setting up the test, the positive result rapidly came up before my disbelieving eyes. When my fiance heard the news, he put his arms around me and said, ‘your body is going to have a history now, and it’s a history I helped to create’. This of course made my bottom lip wobble for the umpteenth time that day.

Being pregnant for the first time, was so exciting and new to me. I enjoyed the morning sickness, the cravings, the tiredness, with all the zeal of a sadist. I went berserk buying baby things and maternity clothes yonks before I needed to. It was a very fun and carefree time.

Then on the exact day I hit three months into the pregnancy, I had a fall, and my waters broke. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew something was up, so I went straight to the nearest doctor. She casually told me, ‘Oh, it means you’re losing the baby. Or if it does survive, you shouldn’t be having it.’ She told me to go to the hospital, which was a 5-10 minute walk.

I sobbed my heart out during the entire walk, and tried to convince myself that I was going to have to accept that this was over and try to be ok with it. I knew deep down in my heart, that I couldn’t accept that, it just felt to me that this child was meant to be.

I reached the emergency ward, by now my dress was covered in blood all over the bottom half of it. The nurses kept asking me if I had any pain. I didn’t. One hinted to me, ‘usually when women miscarry, they are in a lot of pain’. I was sent to take a urine test, and as I entered the restroom to do so, I caught a glimpse in the mirror. My face was glowing, beaming almost, back at me. I don’t remember any other time in my life where I looked so healthy. Did I dare let myself see this as a sign?

I did. I was told by the end of the examination that I appeared to still be pregnant. Of course, they would bring me back for an ultrasound to check my baby in a few days. I was told to rest until my bleeding issues subsided. I was also told not to exert myself too much during the rest of the pregnancy, but I was fine to keep working.

I cannot describe the relief I felt to see my beautiful child on the ultrasound screen! She was bouncing all around in there as if there’d never been anything wrong. So, I spent the rest of my pregnancy working and trying to get rest when I could, and I did lots of shopping! I quit the bowling team I was on with my fiance and took things easy.

When I reached 8 months into my pregnancy, I was sure the baby’s head was engaged. Everyone else who’d had babies before told me I was dreaming and it was impossible. I got checked out by the doctor, and sure enough, it was engaged. I’d now left work and my fiance and I took a quick break in our hometown for the weekend. Thankfully, my fiance’s mum took some photos of my pregnant belly whilst we still had the chance!

I had a hairdresser’s appointment in this town (my mum’s shout) on the Monday, but we decided to head back to Sydney, then we’d take a second trip just for that. Except…

…on Monday morning, I rolled over in bed and my waters broke again! I told my mum that I wouldn’t be coming, because we had to go to hospital just to check if anything was wrong. I was sure it was nothing, and no, I wasn’t having the baby yet, because I was only 8 months along, right?

Wrong. I had no idea at home that my waters had broken, and once the staff found out, I was to stay and be induced. After a 12-hour labour, my work was done. We weren’t allowed near our baby girl at first, because the hospital staff were attending to her, but as they left to take her to the special care nursery, one nurse gave us a glimpse of her sweet face over her shoulder.

She was so precious. Her lips were pursed in surprise, and I ached to hold her. After I showered, the nurses let my fiance and I go meet her in her humidicrib. We were allowed to touch her, but couldn’t yet hold her. After I’d had a long nap, a nurse woke me to give me a cuddle of our new little girl. She was so pretty, and still had the cute pursed lips!

Now she is ten years old, and showing no evidence of ever having been an underweight, little premmy baby. She’s pretty, smart and funny, and has always brought a world of joy into our lives. Happy birthday, princess! We love you, and we are more amazed by everything about you with every passing year.

Pin It

12 Comments -

10 Speech and Language Activities for Children Under Five

Written on September 14th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, Care, Language, Parenting, Preschool aged, September 2010

1. Reading books.

2. Naming objects with your child.

3. Encourage your child to talk to other children and adults.

4. Give them opportunities to listen. A great example is listening to a recorded story.

5. Dramatic play – eg, dressing up, puppet play, etc.

6. Talk about feelings. This can make it easier for your child to put sad or angry feelings into words as they arise.

7. Encourage your child to draw and talk about what they are doing.

8. Go sightseeing. Your child will be full of questions! It’s also a great way for children to name the things they see.

9. Sing and dance to music. Talk about your movements: shaking, twisting, wobbling, going faster, going slow, stop, go! Talk about the music: is it quiet or loud? Happy, sad, angry music? You get the idea.

10. Sing simple finger play songs together.

Pin It

8 Comments -

Brianna Lopez – why we need to speak up

Written on August 25th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in August 2010, Baby, Care, Parenting, Soap box

I found this story on facebook about a beautiful five month old baby girl, and was first moved to tears, then moved to speak up. Watch the video below about this poor child. Warning: graphic content, may disturb some readers.

As a mother of three precious children, I, as I’m sure all of you cannot imagine how this could happen. How could family do this to their child? How could family watch this situation and not intervene? How could they not take a single photo of such a sweet girl, not once in her entire life? How could they refuse their little girl the love from her community even in death? The angel inside her memorial cage tells us to be quiet, don’t speak about this. Bollocks to that.

We should speak about this loudly. We owe it to this baby to remember how lovely she is. How undeserving.

We owe it to all children everywhere to speak up if we know it’s happening.

All these bastards who did this to her want, is for people to pretend it never happened. When we hear about child abuse, it’s common for people to say exactly what they’d like to see done to these evil people. Well, I say, speak up! That is their punishment. But more importantly, we must speak up so that little Brianna’s life, which was void of joy, protection and love, can amount to something positive. To take away the pain of the children who are still living, still being mistreated.

Let’s hug our children tighter after watching this. And let’s report child abuse. Speak for those who have no voice.

Pin It

6 Comments -

Remembering the birth of my son

Written on June 6th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, Good times, June 2010, Preschool aged

A few days ago, it was Mr Four’s birthday. It feels like only yesterday that he joined our family.

I remember when Missy 9 was about two and a half years old. I had a vivid dream that I had twin babies. I woke up, and I knew I wouldn’t be having twins, but the desire to have a second baby was now alive. My darling partner was just as excited and enthusiastic about my idea when I told him. It only took us three months to conceive Missy 9, so we were sure it wouldn’t take long at all.

Three years later, after discovering that I had endometriosis and having surgery to remove it, I was finally pregnant again. By this stage, we were unsure if we would ever be blessed with a second child together. I’m sure many can imagine just how excited we were.

I got to have a beautiful bump again:

Missy 9 had started school, and was five and a half years old by the time he was born. She desperately wanted to be there for the birth, and we agreed to this, as long as she was prepared well in advance. Considering that my first birth was induced and a month early, I really felt inexperienced with this pregnancy on so many levels. I’d never had Braxton Hicks before this second pregnancy, so this led to several false alarm visits to the hospital. I also worried that I wouldn’t know when I was in ready to give birth, as that was decided for me last time.

At the ultrasound, it was very obvious that we were having a boy. Missy 9 came with us, and was a little dissappointed as she was hoping for a little sister. But we were glad it gave her time to accept it.

In the last week of my pregnancy, I felt very anti social and just plain over it. I went to the school in the afternoon to pick up my daughter on a Friday, and a friend told me she had a feeling I’d have my baby on the weekend. I nearly cried, not believing her!

Saturday morning, I woke up to my waters breaking, I started labour like a normal, un-induced woman, and had my baby at 11:35am. Missy 9 and my partner came too, and I had a lovely water birth. If only all of my births could have been this easy!

I was amazed at how relaxed and pink waterbabies are! As soon as I pulled him out of the water, Missy 9 squealed, ‘awww, he’s so cute!’ The midwife took him to the other room to clean him up, and my fiance and daughter watched. They came running back to the bathroom where I was, like two little kids to tell that our son had made his first cry/sound: ‘Wah.’ No mucking around, just ‘wah.’

It’s never been a dull moment since he entered our lives.

Which brings us to now:

How did he come to be four so quickly? My god, in two years’ time, he’ll be at school. We had a great celebration for his birthday, and I’m so glad to know that with his dare devil antics, he’s actually survived this long! Haha, we love you, son.

Subscribe to Hear Mum Roar

Pin It

11 Comments -

New toy from Mattel – Peek a Boo clock

Written on June 4th, 2010 by Hear Mum Roar in Baby, Cognitive, Fine motor, July 2010, Language, Music, Preschool aged, Reviews, Toddler

Sponsored by Nuffnang
It’s time for another Mattel review! Last time it was the adorable Flip Phone, and this time we were lucky enough to receive the Peek a Boo clock in the post. You can imagine how excited my little ones were. In case you can’t imagine, you can watch Missy Two’s reaction below.

The Peek a Boo clock is so cute! It has so many surprises for children to enjoy. This toy is aimed at children aged six months to three years old. You can press the green button on the top of the clock to see a little bird pop out of the door (just like a cuckoo clock) and light up brightly. Each time it pops out, it makes a different sound. Some of the sounds are:
Peek a boo! I see you!
Cuckoo!

Hello! Then when the door closes again, good bye!

It also plays a variety of songs when the bird pops out. My daughter also likes to pull the door open to make the bird pop out, and this is easy to do, as it has an indent for little fingers.

Little kids can turn the handles on the clock, and in the centre of the handles, is a little light-up button. This also plays a huge number of songs, Mr Three’s favourites being the alphabet song and the counting one. He enjoyed reading the alphabet displayed along the top of the toy, and counting the numbers on the clock.

There is a little disc on the side at the top, that displays a sun and a moon as you turn it, to represent day and night. Of course, this cool clock takes it one further, and actually says ‘day’ and ‘night’ at the right times! There is a little spot on the other side with little sliding shapes for the younger babies to play with; my two year old still enjoyed looking at those, too. On the other side is a key that makes a rewarding clicking noise when the child turns it.

I found even Missy Nine really thought it was cute and enjoyed playing with it, too. Her and Mr Three took turns at holding it facing each other and saying, ‘now I’m going to put on a show with the clock, who wants to watch?’ In this household, the more kids who enjoy one toy, the better. Because there’s a large age gap between Missy Nine and the younger two, it’s nice when no one feels left out. Plus, I always feel if all the children get some enjoyment out of our toys, then we’re getting good value.

I was so impressed with this clock. I love the fact that the volume can be adjusted, and that it explores the concept of cause and effect with my children. The most important thing to me is that my kids like it, and if you watch my little video below, you will see how much Missy Two loved it, and hear her squeals of delight.

Pin It

4 Comments -