Dear Erin- How long did you breastfeed?  I am particularly wondering about the issues with multiple children -- did you breastfeed all children the same length? Were there challenges nursing a second child when you had a toddler running around? Thanks! H Dear H, I have 4 children and nursed them all ranging from 1 year to 2 years 2 months. The one who stopped at a year weaned himself, cold turkey, about 2 weeks after he turned 1. Nursing a baby with a toddler around has its challenges but isn't a problem if you do it with planning. Keep some of the things your toddler is apt to ask for when you are nursing near by so you can appease him and distract him until you finish feeding the baby. Make it clear, from the beginning, that when you are feeding the baby you are not going to stop until baby is finished. Invest in a "My Brest Friend" pillow so you can walk around while baby is latched on if necessary. Make sure baby gets a full feeding. Small drinks that are interrupted so you can tend to the toddler make for less than adequate nutrition for baby b/c the milk changes from the start of a feeding to the end. The first milk is more to quench thirst while the later milk is more full of fat and will help baby feel more full. Babies need these fats. Good Luck! -Erin Newborn babies are literally a bundle of nerves.  Their nervous systems are not fully developed so you must protect them while they develop.  Keep him from being overstimulated.  Too much light and noise can make your baby fussy and lead to fits of prolonged crying.  It's good to interact with your baby when he is awake, well fed and not tired but watch for signs of sleepiness and ease him to sleep when he is ready.  When he begins to yawn, look away from you or fuss a little, change his diaper, and nurse or rock him off to sleep. Swaddling helps.  Your baby has a startle reflex.  You may have noticed that his body jerks and his arms flail when he hears a sudden noise.  This is normal.  When it happens during sleep, whether because of a loud noise or a random event, it is likely to wake the baby before he is ready and lead to him being overtired.  By swaddling the baby, you restrict the startle reflex, leading to a more peaceful sleep.  Large blankets can work but I have found the only thing that works consistently well is the Miracle Blanket (www.miracleblanket.com).  It's easy to use, even in the dark.  I own 3! Dear Erin, For every new mom, our greatest fear is SIDS and we all take the "back to sleep" motto very seriously. So you can imagine the terror I felt the first time I walked into the nursery to find my little girl --- who I placed on her back to sleep --- had rolled over and was now sleeping on her belly.  I put her back on her back... and proceeded to spend the next few days checking on her every hour of the night to turn her back over.  She's now 6 months old and I still roll her over every time I find her sleeping on her stomach. I would love to know, at what point is it ok to leave her on her stomach.  And is there a certain age where I can breathe a sigh of relief and not worry about SIDS? Thanks Erin! Warmest Regards, -Worried Mommy Dear Worried,     SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is a major worry for all parents.  Putting your baby to sleep on her back, not smoking or exposing your baby to smoke, giving baby a pacifier at sleep time can all help reduce your baby's risk. The Research I've done suggests that once your baby has the ability to roll from back to tummy and tummy to back, the risk of SIDS significantly reduces.  Also, at the age of 6 months, the risk is reduced. I did the same thing you are doing, turning my sons every time I found them on their tummies.  It can't hurt.  I did not check on them every hour, though, after my doctor told me it was unnecessary since they were turning themselves over and were strong enough to lift their heads. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests you keep your baby's bed in your room for the first six months of life because studies have shown this can greatly reduce the baby's risk of SIDS.   -Erin Dear Erin, My 4 month old loves to stand while I hold his hands.  He smiles and laughs when he is standing but my mom and aunts say that this is bad for him.  They say that he'll be bow legged and one cousin even said he'll be dyslexic if I let him do it too much.  Are they right?  Should I stop letting him do it? Thanks, -A leg to stand on? Dear Leg, There is no medical research to support your well intentioned family members' assertions.  There have been no studies regarding these issues.  While it is possible for a baby who stands a lot to get slightly bowed legs, it is highly unlikely that this would be a  permanent state. Babies' bones are made of more cartilage than ours, making them more apt to bend, but just as they can bend out of shape, they can quickly bend back into the correct shape.  Also, I could find absolutely no evidence to support the claim that standing will make a baby become dyslexic. -Erin   Have a healthy pregnancy and baby... Include the following in your diet: Omega-3s-  You can get prenatal vitamins that include Omega-3 supplements.  These fatty acids are crucial to the development of a healthy brain and central nervous system.  They can also lower your risk of postpartum depression.  Women who take Omega-3 supplements during pregnancy have children with IQs points higher than those who don't.       Good sources include:  salmon and flaxseed. Choline- This vitamin B like compound also is important in fetal brain development and can help prevent spinal cord defects.      Good sources include:  beef, eggs, soybeans and wheat germ. Fiber- A high fiber diet can help you avoid pregnancy constipation and possibly gestational diabetes.      Good sources include:  whole-grain foods, oatmeal, fruits and vegetables. Calcium:  Your bones need calcium to stay strong and calcium might play a role in keeping you free of complications such as pregnancy induced hypertension (preeclampsia).      Good sources include:  low fat milk, hard cheeses and any calcium fortified food or drink.	Is it ok to have an occasional glass of wine during pregnancy? This is a controversial issue.  If you ask 10 pregnant women to answer it, you will probably get 10 different answers.  The bottom line is this: In 2005, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a statement urging all pregnant women and all women who may become pregnant to avoid any alcohol consumption.  The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and prevention, too, states that there is no safe level of alcohol during pregnancy.  Your doctor or midwife might tell you that it is ok to have an occasional glass of wine and in some countries, it is common practice to have a glass of wine at dinner every night but this is clear:  Alcohol crosses the placenta immediately.  You drink, your baby drinks.  Woman who drink put their baby at risk for fetal alcohol syndrome.  Severe effects include learning disabilities and physical abnormalities and central nervous system disorders.  Mild effects include decreased IQ.  A 2007 study at Indiana University found that children of mothers who drank even a little during pregnancy had behavioral problems in early childhood.  Is it worth the risk? Could You Be Pregnant? Here are 10 signs you could be... •  10. Tender, swollen breasts •  9. Fatigue •  8. Implantation bleeding •  7. Nausea or vomiting •  6. Increased sensitivity to odors •  5. Abdominal bloating •  4. Frequent urination •  3. A missed period •  2. Your basal body temperature stays high •  1. The proof: A positive home pregnancy test Could you be pregnant? Most likely you won't notice any symptoms until about the time you've missed a period — or a week or two later. If you're not keeping track of your menstrual cycle or if it varies widely from one month to the next, you may not be sure when to expect your period. But if you start to experience some of the symptoms below — not all women get them all — and you haven't had a period for a while, you may very well be pregnant. Take a home pregnancy test to find out for sure! 10. Tender, swollen breasts One of the early signs of pregnancy is sensitive, sore breasts caused by increasing levels of hormones. The soreness may feel like an exaggerated version of how your breasts feel before your period. Your discomfort should diminish significantly after the first trimester, as your body adjusts to the hormonal changes. 9. Fatigue Feeling tired all of a sudden? No, make that exhausted. No one knows for sure what causes early pregnancy fatigue, but it's possible that rapidly increasing levels of the hormone progesterone are contributing to your sleepiness. You should start to feel more energetic once you hit your second trimester, although fatigue usually returns late in pregnancy when you're carrying around a lot more weight and some of the common discomforts of pregnancy make it more difficult to get a good night's sleep. 8. Implantation bleeding Some women have a small amount of vaginal bleeding around 11 or 12 days after conception (close to the time you might notice a missed period). The bleeding may be caused by the fertilized egg burrowing into the blood-rich lining of your uterus — a process that starts just six days after fertilization — but no one knows for sure. The bleeding is very light (appearing as red spotting or pink or reddish-brown staining) and lasts only a day or two. (Let your practitioner know if you notice any bleeding or spotting, particularly if it's accompanied by pain, since this can be a sign of an ectopic pregnancy.) 7. Nausea or vomiting If you're like most women, morning sickness won't hit until about a month after conception. (A lucky few escape it altogether.) But some women do start to feel queasy a bit earlier. And not just in the morning, either — pregnancy-related nausea and vomiting can be a problem morning, noon, or night. About half of women with nausea feel complete relief by the beginning of the second trimester. For most others it takes another month or so for the queasiness to ease up. 6. Increased sensitivity to odors If you're newly pregnant, it's not uncommon to feel repelled by the smell of a bologna sandwich or cup of coffee and for certain aromas to trigger your gag reflex. Though no one knows for sure, this may be a side effect of rapidly increasing amounts of estrogen in your system. You may also find that certain foods you used to enjoy are suddenly completely repulsive to you. 5. Abdominal bloating Hormonal changes in early pregnancy may leave you feeling bloated, similar to the feeling some women have just before their period arrives. That's why your clothes may feel snugger than usual at the waistline, even early on when your uterus is still quite small. 4. Frequent urination Shortly after you become pregnant, you may find yourself hurrying to the bathroom all the time. Why? Mostly because during pregnancy the amount of blood and other fluids in your body increases, which leads to extra fluid being processed by your kidneys and ending up in your bladder. This symptom may start as early as six weeks into your first trimester and continue or worsen as your pregnancy progresses and your growing baby exerts more pressure on your bladder. 3. A missed period If you're usually pretty regular and your period doesn't arrive on time, you'll probably take a home pregnancy test long before you notice any of the above symptoms. But if you're not regular or you're not keeping track of your cycle, nausea and breast tenderness and extra trips to the bathroom may signal pregnancy before you realize you didn't get your period. 2. Your basal body temperature stays high If you've been charting your basal body temperature and you see that your temperature has stayed elevated for 18 days in a row, you're probably pregnant. And finally... 1. The proof: A positive home pregnancy test In spite of what you might read on the box, many home pregnancy tests are not sensitive enough to detect most pregnancies until about a week after a missed period. So if you decide to take one earlier than that and get a negative result, try again in a few days.
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COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARKS WWW.EveryBabyBook.com, it's logos, page headers, custom graphics and icons are trademarks and /or service marks, or copyrights, are owned by www.EveryBabyBook.com.	REDUCING YOUR BABY'S RISK OF SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)  - from www.SIDS.org What Can Be Done? Unfortunately, we cannot expect to prevent all SIDS deaths now. To do so requires a much greater understanding of SIDS, which will be achieved only with a commitment from those who value babies and with a considerably expanded research effort. However, there are things that can be done to reduce the risk of SIDS. Parents-To-Be... 1. Get medical care early in pregnancy, preferably within the first three months, followed by regular checkups at the doctor's office or health clinic. Make every effort to assure good nutrition. These measures can reduce the risk of premature birth, a major risk factor for SIDS. 2. Do not smoke, use cocaine, or use heroin. Tobacco, cocaine, or heroin use during pregnancy increases the infant's risk for SIDS. 3. Don’t get pregnant during the teenage years. If you are a teen and already have one infant, take extreme caution not to become pregnant again. The SIDS rate decreases for babies born to older mothers. It is highest for babies born to teenage mothers. The more babies a teen mother has, the greater at risk they are. 4. Wait at least one year between the birth of a child and the next pregnancy.The shorter the interval between pregnancies, the higher the SIDS rate. Parents... 1. Place infants to sleep on their backs, even though they may sleep more soundly on their stomachs. Infants who sleep on their stomachs and sides have a much higher rate of SIDS than infants who sleep on their backs. 2. Place infants to sleep in a baby bed with a firm mattress. There should be nothing in the bed but the baby - no covers, no pillows, no bumper pads, no positioning devices and no toys. Soft mattresses and heavy covering are associated with the risk for SIDS. 3. Keep your baby’s crib in the parents’ room until the infant is at least 6 months of age. Studies clearly show that infants are safest when their beds are close to their mothers. 4. Do not place your baby to sleep in an adult bed. Typical adult beds are not safe for babies. Do not fall asleep with your baby on a couch or in a chair. 5. Do not over-clothe the infant while she sleeps. Just use enough clothes to keep the baby warm without having to use cover. Keep the room at a temperature that is comfortable for you. Overheating an infant may increase the risk for SIDS. 6. Avoid exposing the infant to tobacco smoke. Don't have your infant in the same house or car with someone who is smoking. The greater the exposure to tobacco smoke, the greater the risk of SIDS. 7. Breast-feed babies whenever possible. Breast milk decreases the occurrence of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. Studies show that breast-fed babies have a lower SIDS rate than formula-fed babies do. 8. Avoid exposing the infant to people with respiratory infections. Avoid crowds. Carefully clean anything that comes in contact with the baby. Have people wash their hands before holding or playing with your baby. SIDS often occurs in association with relatively minor respiratory (mild cold) and gastrointestinal infections (vomiting and diarrhea).  9. Offer your baby a pacifier. Some studies have shown a lower rate of SIDS among babies who use pacifiers. 10. If your baby has periods of not breathing, going limp or turning blue, tell your pediatrician at once. 11. If your baby stops breathing or gags excessively after spitting up, discuss this with your pediatrician immediately. 12. Thoroughly discuss each of the above points with all caregivers. If you take your baby to daycare or leave him with a sitter, provide a copy of this list to them. Make sure they follow all recommendations.