Megan Faure and I attended and exhibited at the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) Conference in Swansea on the weekend. I was so pleased to see that so many of the NCT workers were recommending Swaddling and Baby Wearing in their classes as well as doing this with their own children. Megan presented a workshop to over 40 NCT workers on “Womb to World”, describing how senses develop in utero and exploring ways to sooth newborns using techniques that mimic the womb world. The feedback from the talk has been amazing with comments like “Best talk at the conference” and “incredibly informative and enlightening presentation full of information that will be essential when working with parents in the early days of parenting”. Our best sellers at the conference were Baby sense, Sleep sense, Baby Sense Slings and our Cuddlewraps.
If anyone is interested in hosting Megan to speak at your events please get in touch with me on antoinette@babysense.com.
My son Daniel will turn 2 in September. He has never slept through the night … until now! Daniel had a pretty tough start to his life and has been on medication since birth. It turns his medication is a stimulant so this may have been the reason he continued to wake up every night. With the lovely dryer summer weather now in the UK Daniel has been so well and has come off all of his medication. Result…within a week he was sleeping though. A few nights of disruption, but for the past 2 weeks he has only woken at the humane time of 5am.
I cant believe the difference in myelf now that I am getting better sleep at night. I am beginning to lose weight as I no longer grab as many high calorie snacks and fizzy drinks just to get through the day. I want to get out an get some exercise, I want to socialise more and I feel I can devote more to my work. I feel like a new person. It is amazing what sleep deprivation does to you, and even though I was only up for a few minutes at a time each night I never got good sleep. I now feel so much more positive about things and each day does not feel like a marathon.
Did you take the online poll on our Facebook page? We asked you when your baby first slep through the night. Results will be announced in the July Newlsetter. Make sure you sign up for it.
I have been a bit scarce lately. The office hardly recognise me, my family are feeling a little neglected and of course I have not been great with responding to your questions. So where have I been? I am deeply entrenched in my next book. It will come out next June (2010) and is being published in the UK. I am excited as it is a colourful book full of images! I have got a new section on your baby’s personality that I hope you will love.
Thought I would drop you all a note before escaping to Grey’s Anatomy! Cheers
Did anyone else in the UK see the program “My Child Wont Sleep” on ITV last night? It was a really interesting program about 3 families whose children suffer with severe sleep disorders. The 3 children featured were a sleep walker, a boy with Narcolepsy and a 6 year old who was sleeping for only 3 hours each night. In each case the parents and the child was terribly sleep deprived and you could see the strain that this was placing on each family as a whole.
I thought it was tough going just getting up for my toddler once or twice each night, but to see what these families were going through was quite something. It is amazing though, that going through all of that life just seemed to carry on and through a sleepy fog they somehow coped.
I would be interested to hear from anyone else who saw the program.
It’s the simple solutions that sometimes make the difference. How many times have you started to search for a solution to a problem and it is right there under your nose? You peruse the books, call the doctor and are tearing your hair out and then discover that the answer was the simplest solution on earth.
Today, a mom called me to say her baby’s sleep had been a disaster for a week. The weather had changed in Cape Town and we are faced with chilly winter nights. Since her baby kicks his blanket s off and doesn’t like a sleeping bag, she was pumping up the heat in his room to keep him warm. At her wits end, she bought a room thermometer to determine just what the temperature in his room was. She reduced the temperature in his room back to 21 degree – and guess what? He slept through again! He had been over heating all along and she was making his room warmer and warmer.
I am busy potty training Em from her night time nappies and we were really battling. After three kids, I know that every baby is different so I have simply been very relaxed – certain that she will stop wetting her nappies when she is ready. Last week I went away and Dad looked after the kids and guess what? She no longer needs night nappies! I could not believe the rapid progress my husband made in this area. Asking him the secret, he just said “I stopped giving her a drink of tea at bedtime” Obvious? Yip I thought so too!
So the next time you can’t solve a problem, stop trying – the simple solution will probably present itself in no time. Do you have a ridiculously obvious solution to something? I will post this letter on the blog and you can respond with your simple solution – it may save another mum a lot of time and worry!
I recently heard about the Million Mums campaign. When my first son was born I almost died in Childbrith. I was lucky enough to have had the doctors and the facilities needed to save my life available to me. I know that not every woman has this and still today in Africa and Asia, pregnancy and birth complications are the number 1 cause of death in women because they cannot get the healthcare. Million Mums is aiming to raise 1 million pounds by having 1 Million people sign up. The money will go towards buying much needed basic medical equipment in hospitals in third world countries. The initiative is headed up by Sarah Brown. For more information go to
http://www.millionmums.org/index.cfm.
This weekend made me realise how much the Baby Sense book meant to me, and I just have to say thank you!!!
We went away for the long weekend with another couple. Susie is just over a year and their baby is 10 months old. I followed Baby Sense with absolutely every thing right from Susie’s birth. The other mother also read the book but decided that the “routine” will not work for them. There were days during the past year that I doubted our routine: Shopping could not be for longer than an hour (only during awake times and with feeding and driving deducted). We never took Susie with us to a busy restaurant in the evening and made her fall asleep with a bottle under the table (she was placed in her own familiar bed at home happily awake). This meant that we spend most of the first year at home or with close friends and family. The other couple had a ball of a time and travelled the country, went to music festivals, and had very late nights in pubs (their baby did not change their world at all). I thought I was doing this baby thing all wrong until this weekend….
Susie loved it at the sea during her normal awake times. When it was time for her nap, I would calm her and put her in bed with her white noise cd (this blocked out all the new and strange sounds). It took me less than a minute and we could continue having fun. In the evening she would go to bed with her slumber sack around 6:30 and sleep through the night until 6:30 the next morning. What a bliss! The other couple struggled for hours to get their baby to sleep. Eventually they would give up, and keep the baby awake for another couple of hours, guessing what could have been wrong - hunger, nappy, wind? Their baby was over stimulated and cried a lot. They could never relax and just have fun with us.
I realised that our first year at home was worth it. I understood Susie, and she felt secure. Everything continued as normal and we could relax and have fun with her.
Thank you Baby Sense
Hi Baby Sense mums and dads
I am going to be on Great Expectations tomorrow morning at 11:30 speaking about baby wearing. As you know I am a big fan of baby wearing. Please join me at 11:30 on Tuesday 5th May and phone in to have your say.
See you on air
Meg
One of my favourite times when I had newborns was the part of the day that I would massage them before bed. At around 8 or 9 months they would no longer lie still and so massage in our household hasnt happened for a long time. After a bath every night, both Tom (4) and Dan (19 months) jump on the bed and and scream excitedly. Both my boys have skin conditions that require cream frequently, but most nights it is a bit hit and miss as I try to get cream on them whilst they jump on the bed, run away or hide under the blankets. It certainly is not a calm time of day. This week I decided to change things. I told Tom he needed a massage and how relaxing it could be. I did get him to lie down and started at his toes and worked my way up. Within seconds he had calmed down and was actually enjoying it. When I did his back I noticed that he even began falling asleep. Drool started to flow and he was lost in the moment. Dan ofcourse wanting to copy his brother also calmed down enough for a massage, although he liked to stand for his and we cuddle and whisper in each others ears. Each night since Tom has asked for his massage and truely it has calmed our evenings down. Taking the time for a massage, even just a few minutes is both calming for them and for me. I am once again loving it.
Five years ago with two toddlers in tow I was asked whether I was having anymore babies. I replied that as much as I was desperate for another baby, Philip was not having any more so I was sadly not going to have another baby. The wise personwho had asked turned to me and said that while those yearnings existed, I would not settle until I had another baby. I was not sure because I thought maybe I was just a terminally broody person who would always want another and another baby.
A few months later Philip changed his mind and sure enough I was preggy with a little one who I called “my bonus baby” because she was the baby I yearned for but thought I would not have.
On the 23rd April 2005, little Emily Faith Faure appeared to the world. She arrive not as the other two did but by an emergacy cesarean section. She had relfux and did not sleep through until well into her first year and she has a will of steel. I adore her and have been so blessed by her little life.
Em has taught me more lessons than almost anyone else. She is precious beyond words and is my sunshine girl. She also proved the wise person right: The week after she was born, I knew I was finished. I no longer feel broody. I love babies so much and love holding the little ones who I see in my practise. But my baby days are done.
Em turned four last week and this blond headed bundle of life teaches me new lessons each day!
