Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

With so many different baby monitors now available on the market, it is difficult to know where to begin when choosing which Baby Monitor you should purchase. It seems every monitor available offers differing capabilities and features.

Here are some of the features you may wish to consider before purchasing a baby monitor:

• Number of channels/ Privacy options (using wireless technology)
• Temperature Display
• Night Light
• Two Way Talk Back Facility
• Movement Sensor Mat (alerts parents when infants stop moving for certain time periods)
• Light Display
• Video Capability
• Distance/ Range

At present, there are no baby monitors on the market which include all of the above features. There is however the option of purchasing two items to monitor all of the above features, these include optional Movement Sensor Mats.

MBM has researched ten of the most popular monitors currently on the market and has identified which features these monitors do/ do not have.

 

The Baby Monitor which ticked most of MBM boxes was the ‘TOMY Video Monitor’. This Monitor retails at £149.99 from www.mothercare.co.uk

Although this is the most expensive of the monitors that MBM researched, we believe that no cost is too much in comparison to the safety of our infants and children as well as the peace of mind for parents.

If you would like to review your infant/ baby monitor, then we would be happy to share your thoughts and opinions with our readers. Please email your review, along with any relevant images to review@mumsbabymagazine.com

The Department of Health issued Guidelines in 1998 suggesting that infants should now be weaned from six months onwards rather than the traditional ‘four month’ milestone that many Health Visitors previously suggested.

So when is it right to begin weaning your infant? The Department of Health suggest that the following signs are a useful way in which to identify when your infant is ready to begin weaning.

1. Your infant shows interest in chewing, whether its their hands or on objects
2. Your infant is able to grab and reach things with accuracy
3. Your infant is sitting upright unaided.

The NHS ‘ Start 4 Life’ campaign recently introduced ‘The Banana Test’ which is said to be an efficient method to identify whether your infant is ready to begin weaning. According to the NHS, if your infant is able to grab a piece of banana and put it into their mouths and eat it, then they are ready to begin eating solids.

With current guidelines suggesting that we should withhold weaning until six months of age, it does seem odd that many of the infant foods on supermarket shelves suggest that they are suitable from ‘four months upwards’. According to the Government Guidelines, these foods are not following recent research and therefore the age guidelines printed on infant foods are outdated and incorrect.

Weaning before your child is ready can increase the chances of your child contracting infections and allergies. Until six months of age, your child’s digestive system is still developing.

Although parents are now warned that they should be in “No rush to mush”, it is hard when your infant who has been sleeping through for the past three or four months begins to wake in the middle of the night. The Governments current guidelines state that infants under six months who wake in the middle of the night are not hungry for solids and should be quenched with either breast milk or formula.

However, if it were completely wrong to begin weaning at four months of age, as has previously been suggested (until 1998 when the Guidelines suddenly changed) then surely the companies selling baby foods advertising from four months onwards would have a fair share of legal battles to pursue. Upon reading more into the Government Documentation upon weaning it actually states “Solids should never be introduced before four months.”

It is important that your child is ready to begin weaning when you make the decision to introduce solids but this should be BABY LED not Government led! Each child is different and each child will achieve different milestones at different times in their lives, this includes when they are ready to be introduced to solids. You, as a parent will most likely know when your little one is ready for food, as they become interested in watching you eat and start to reach out to try foods around them.

Here are some basics for what to do first when you and your baby are ready to begin weaning.

1. Ensure that the equipment you use (feeding spoons, bowls, etc) is clean. It is advisable before six months to sterilise all feeding equipment. After six months, putting items used into the dishwasher should suffice.

2. Sit your child in a high chair so that they are upright and comfortable. Many high chairs now on the market can be used from birth onwards. You may want to use your high chair before your child is four months and able to try solids, perhaps as somewhere safe to place your child for a moment or simply to allow your child to become comfortable in their eating place for the future.

3. Ensure that you have a muslin cloth/ wipes close to hand and have protected your child’s cloths with a bib, Long sleeved bibs tend to be very handy during weaning!

4. Start by offering your child one to two teaspoons of baby rice mixed with their milk (breast of formula milk) during the first week of weaning.

5. Slowly introduce new fruits and vegetables which have been cooked and processed into a mush. (pear, apple, sweet potato, and carrots are excellent foods which can easily be mashed up). These foods can be offered along with baby rice, so that your infant is offered something they are familiar with.

6. Increase the amount of food according to your babies needs. If your baby would like more then offer more! From around nine months onwards you should offer 3-4 servings of food per day as well as the milk feeds. A routine such as Breakfast and milk, snack , dinner, snack and milk , tea, supper milk will soon fall into place.

7. Let babies try finger foods as soon as they show interest. Try to offer a wide range of foods and textures.

8. Rather than plumping for what seems to be the easier option and purchasing bottled foods and tinned baby foods, TRY COOKING YOUR OWN. Not only is it fun but its more nutritious for the child and is far more satisfying watching your child eat the food you prepared by hand.

9. Try to sit down to eat as a family, start as you mean to go on.

10. Remember to encourage foods that you yourself may dislike! Just because you aren’t keen on your greens doesn’t mean that your little one should miss out.

 

Here are some NO NO’s for weaning…

• Never force weaning, One piece of advice that the Department of Health give which SHOULD be followed is “Enjoy it, Encourage it, Don’t force it”.
• Do not use refined sugar or salt in any of your infants foods.
• Do not offer your infant nuts, honey, low-fat foods (those created specifically with lower amounts of fat such as low-fat butter)

If you do decide to wean your child before six months then also avoid the following foods:

• wheat based foods such as bread, rusks etc which include gluten
• eggs
• fish
• shell fish
• nuts
• seeds
• soft unpasteurised cheeses

Upon weaning your child, you will often find that they drop their intake of milk. Before twelve months infants should have between 500-600ml (about one pint) of milk per day. Also, remember that cows milk is unsuitable until your child reaches the age of one year. When introducing cows milk, ensure that it is full fat and pasteurised.

There are many infant and child nutritionists out there who have written and produced a wide range of popular publications upon weaning. These can be very helpful in finding suitable recipes for your little one. Two of the best known child nutritional authors are currently Gina Ford and Annabel Karmel, both of which have a range of books published upon weaning and feeding infants. Although, it is wise to bare in mind that there is some debate as to whether some of the routines and weaning techniques suggested in differing books are correct. As always with parenting, it is down to the parent and the baby to decide what is best for them!

Sarah Collins (34 from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire) is Mum to Eva (2 years, 5 months) and Daniel (10 weeks). Sarah tells MBM more about the Tommee Tippee Nappy Wrapper.

“Having used nappy sacks for the first few weeks when my daughter was born and trying to juggle nappy, cotton wool and wipes going successfully into the nappy sack and then remembering to take it downstairs and out to the bin after every nappy change I quickly looked for an alternative and found this. It’s not the most expensive baby gadget we bought, but now with baby number two on the scene and my daughter just about still in nappies, it has been the best investment and addition to the nursery.”

Suitable from birth until your child is potty trained, The Tommee Tippee Nappy Wrapper is available from www.kiddicare.com for only £9.99, the triple refill packs are £12.99 and well worth their value, Sarah explains further benefits of this product to MBM:

• The Tommee Tippee Nappy Wrapper is easy to use.
• The Nappy Wrapper doesn’t take up a great deal of space
• By using the Nappy Wrapper, it makes the process of getting rid of used nappies hygienic.
• The Tommee Tippee Nappy Wrapper stores up to twenty eight nappies at a time
• Each refill cassette can last last up to one month
• There is no need to fill your outside bin with mounds of individually wrapped nappies.
• The Tommee Tippee Nappy Wrapper makes the disposal of waste products such as wipes, cotton wool and the nappy itself easy and quick, there is no juggling nappy sacks.
• The product is great value for money in comparison with using standard nappy sacks
• The Tommee Tippee Nappy Wrapper saves multiple trips out to the bin to dispose of used nappies.
• The Tommee Tippee Nappy Wrapper is odour free.
• It only takes on simple twist to seal each wrapper.
• An Internal blade in the lid is used to cut the plastic wrapper when you need to empty the tub.

Sarah found it difficult to identify many drawbacks to this product. The only two negative aspects that she could identify were:

• Sometimes the blade does not always cut the plastic so you have to do this manually
• There is no indication when the cassette is going to run out, so you need to have a spare one in the house all times.

Sarah strongly recommends this product to all parents who are struggling with the struggle which nappy sacks can cause. MBM would like to thank Sarah for her time.

Stacey Turnbull from Fleet, Hampshire is Mum to Amelie (2 years, 10 months) and Isla (7 weeks).  Stacey first started using Dr Brown’s bottles when her eldest daughter, Amelie developed colic at three weeks of age. Stacey told MBM that she had tried all the ‘tried and tested’ methods of relieving colic and had bought almost every colic relief product available upon the market to no avail. After only a few days Stacey found that her daughter’s colic subsided and after only one month had completely disappeared.

Dr Brown’s Anti- Colic Bottles are suitable from Birth onwards, available from a wide range of supermarkets and chemists (£5.79 for 120ml Bottles or £5.99 for 240ml Bottles). The Dr Brown’s Starter Kit comes complete with 1 x 120ml and 2 x 240ml bottles, 2 x stage 2 teats and 3 x stage 1 teats, therefore saving money. The Bottles come complete with a mini bottle washer and sealant caps to prevent the bottles from leaking.

The Dr Brown’s Anti- Colic Bottles use a anti-colic vent system which prevents babies from taking in air during feeding thus reducing potential wind which can be painful for infants. The reduction of wind therefore prevents colic from developing.

The Dr Brown’s Anti-Colic Bottles are long-lasting and extremely durable, there are a large variety of teats available for the bottles (stage 1, stage 2, thicker liquid teats etc) thus enabling bottles to be used for a long period of time whilst your baby grows.

The Dr Brown’s Bottles easily fit into a variety of different sterilisers, Stacey explained to MBM that she has used these bottles in both the Tommee Tippee Steam Steriliser and the Advent Steriliser.

 

When asked, Stacey told MBM that the only downside to this product is that when put into very hot water, or when put in a highly pressurised environment such as an aircraft cabin, these bottles can sometimes leak. This can however be combated by removing the air vent system until required.

 

Stacey swears that the Dr Brown’s Anti-Colic Bottles were a Godsend for both herself and her husband as they were able to get some sleep during the early hours of the morning. When Isla, Stacey’s second child was born Stacey and her partner chose to use the Dr Brown’s Anti Colic Bottles straight away as they felt that these bottles had changed their lives immeasurably during the time that they used the bottles with Amelie, they would therefore no risk using any other brand.

 

Although the Dr Brown’s Anti Colic Bottles can seem pricey in comparison to other bottles available upon the market, they are well worth the cost. Stacey recommends these bottles to all Mothers who have babies that are bottle fed and suffer from colic.

 

MBM would like to thank Stacey for sharing her opinions and time with MBM. The Dr Brown’s Starter Kit and  Bottles featured in this article are available for very reasonable prices from www.boots.co.uk

During the past few years there has been great debate over the effect that Television has upon youngsters. Numerous studies and research projects have been carried out which have found that television does indeed have some rather worrying effects upon our infants and children.

Parents need to be aware of the dangers that Television can pose:

• TV is a distraction from reality for babies, infants and children. Whilst the TV set it on children from birth upwards are less able to concentrate upon the voices and faces that are around them everyday.
• TV puts a stop of communication, ‘Talking’ is reduced dramatically when the Television is switched on. Not only are youngsters far more likely to become absorbed in watching the television but adults too. Be honest, even if a program which may be of little interest is on, do you find yourself watching it anyway? This is exactly the problem for parents, often enough they watch more of the children’s based programs than the children themselves!
• Television can damage eyes, especially when viewed from a young age.
• TV can become addictive. Introducing a Television set to your child can be a fatal mistake, you are providing your child with a consistent background noise and flicker which can become a comfort to children over time. This is yet another reason why children should NEVER have a Television in their room. It is far easier to say relax the rules later on in your child’s life than have to fight a Telly Addict.
• Youngsters who view violence upon the Television are far more likely to display aggressive behaviour later in life. This is ultimately the reason why children should NEVER have a television set in their room, parents are unable to ‘vet’ what their children are watching and have no control over what their child sees.
• A recent study was carried out into Television and how it affects academic achievement. Three groups were setup, The first being parents who offered children unlimited amounts of Television, The second group offered children moderate amounts of television viewing time (some of which were supervised by parents) and finally, the third group were offered no Television whatsoever. The highest scoring academic achievers were found to be those children who were simply not offered any Television.

Getting the Timing Right

It’s all very well promising ourselves that we will ‘ban’ the Television but in reality it is far more difficult to carry out. Worryingly, many adults are indeed ‘addicted to the box’ and may find cutting down Television viewing time and ‘switching off’ harder than expected. If this is the case, try using Music as background company. Why not use some classical Mozart or Nursery Rhyme’s to sing along to with your infant?

Here are some guidelines on viewing times for infants and children.

• Children of two year and over should only be allowed to view up to sixty minutes of Television per day, this should preferably be split into four sets of fifteen minute chunks.
• Children under the age of two should only view up to twenty minutes of Television per day. Some American Studies suggest that children under the age of two should not be offered the chance to view Television at all.

 

MBM’s Top Television Tips

• Never use the Television as a ‘Babysitter’
• Try to link the subject of the viewing to real life where possible.
• Encourage your child to talk about what they are viewing
• Join in with activities such as dancing and singing. Also try to use children’s viewing time as a stimulus for further activities such as drawing, taking part in puzzles, acting, trips out etc. Make viewing time engaging and interactive!
• Try to prevent the viewing of commercials when possible.
• Ensure that you give your child a ‘two minute transition’ warning before turning off the Television in order to prevent your child from becoming upset or being unaware of what is going to happen next.
• Try to select calm, quiet programs.
• Limit viewing time.