How to Prevent Sudden Instant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Sudden Instant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a relatively unpredictable tragic occurence leading to the death of the new born, that based on the medical experience with children can be prevented though.

Also called crib death, it occurs during sleep, within the first months of life of the baby. It may be associated with a certain abnormality in the kid's brain, most specifically a disfunction at the level of the part that is supposed to control breathing. The most exposed are usually kids with a low weight at birth or with respiratory infections. For the boys, the risk occurs when there is already a family history of SIDS, with second hand smoke and premature birth. If the mothers are over 20, smoke, take drugs and drink alcohol and with an indadequate prenatal care, the risks are higher.

One of the best prevention of SIDS is to be sure that the kid is sleeping during the night on the back and not on the stomach or on the side. The baby should also have the blanket around the body and far away from the face in order to leave him breath properly. We are using a nice sleeping bag that helps baby D. to control his moves.

It is also important to avoid bringing the kid in the same bed with the parents as they may obstruct his breath during the sleep. The crib of the baby should be bare, regardless how big is the temptation to gather his favourite friendly looking toys around. It is also said that brestfeeding for at least 6 months can reduce the risk of SIDS.

Another important preventive method is to maintain a room temperature between 18 and 20C, as overheating can create breath problems. The air should not be dry either and in order to keep the air fine, once in a while we brought a wet towel on the thermostat. It is a relatively primitive method but it works for now.

As for us, what we additionally did and do, is to check on him regularly. Even he looks fine and asleep, it is always good to keep an eye on him every hour and check if everything is fine.

A busy day in the life of a 4-month baby

The newest  addition, an awesome combination of toys that helps the baby to grow

Being a mom is a very demanding task, but as a baby, there are so many things to do every day that you can hardly have a free time on your own. Somehow, being a baby and being a mom means for both a lot of chores and a very strict program to follow every day. There is almost the same program, a routine that does good to the baby and almost brings the mom to the edges of desperation. But given the exciting times ahead and the permanent development of the baby, we better enjoy the situation as it is and we cut short the complaining part.

As for now, let me introduce you to the daily schedule of my cute baby boy, 4 months and 2 weeks old:

- The day starts around 6.30, 7.00 the latest - without waking up in the night -, with a milky breakfast, followed by some small gymnastic, and the administration of a drop of Vitamin D on the pacifier. Usually we also change him to different clothes than the ones used for the night.

- For one hour, he usually plays with the toys hanging on the mobile playground, the latest add to the baby collection of toys.

- He sleeps in the middle of the playing for around 1 hour when he wakes up for the second meal of the day.

- As we started to diversify the food, he eats besides the milk 2-3 full spoons of carrots or parnsip puree. We give it to him in between milk shots and he likes it. 

- Until the next meal, we usually split the time between our working room, where I try to have some work done, and his mobile playground. If he is quiet, I am trying to put him on the belly or on other sides but the back.

- The next meal - we keep a strict schedule of the meals, with a list of the eating hours - is again a combination between milk and bottle food.

- Around 13 o'clock it is about time to go out - when the strange German weather allows it, of course. I usually do not change new clothes, just add new layers adapted to the outside temperature. We go to do shopping, or to visit and meet friends, or to have coffee and cake. He likes being outside and very often the crispy weather makes him sleep. As I go out, I always carry with me a big bag with: powder milk, thermos with hot water, bottle with cold water, milk bottle, 2-3 diapers and wet napkins. Even we only plan to be out for an hour, it is good to be ready, just in case our plans are changing. Thus, you can keep a certain level of independence.

- After the afternoon meal is finished - if we are at home we have the same menu of milk and solids - it start the most difficult part of the day, when he is relatively tired, regardless how much he slept outside, and needs more attention than during the rest of the day. Usually, I take him in the hands, we talk and play and laugh together, listen to some children music. If he is calm enough, I am trying to put him on the belly again for a couple of minutes. 

- Bath time is the busiest time of the day. There are so many things to arrange and set up in a relatively short amount of time: preparing the night clothes, the towel, the bath tube with the sponge and shower gel, the bottle of milk, the bed with the sleeping bag. The bath takes around 10 minutes, followed by drying up, some oil massage and kissing time. In the last weeks he is falling asleep very easy so I have to be fast with getting the mobile playground out and arranging the room for the next day. The baby days ends around 20.00 the latest.

From now on, I can continue doing some work or just relaxing. Tomorrow is a new day, for me ad y sweet baby.

Sweet dreams!

Book review: Die Mama trickliste für Babyzeit

As during pregancy I did not read too many books about babies and other related information, the first days after giving birth we started to update at the speed of light with various data and answers for basic questions about the baby life. The advantage of speaking many languages is that you can find various resources, but of course, the school of thought when it comes to children may be very different. 

However, I am open to integrate various ideas and tips and I do not mind to take the best from all. As we have the luck of a very good children doctor we are half-way through happiness, but I still feel that I need to improve my knowledge about babies. 

This book by Ute Glaser has the advantage of offering a lot of simple information both for parents - at least about the beginning of the book - and for children. I was happy to realize that some of the tips I was already using, such as to have a thermos for keeping warm the water for the milk. 

For me, the most important part was about what you have to do after giving birth, and especially how wise it is not to try to be the best and keep inviting people. This is exactly what we did and my burnout shortly after made a lot of sense. Wish I was more convinced that 'Relax, tomorrow is another day' should be my motto. It is also says that it is quite normal to feel at the end of a very exhausting day as you have not done nothing and before starting to write intensively every day, this is how I felt in the first weeks after coming back from the hospital.

As for baby-related information, I discover some good ideas: for instance, that second hand baby clothes are better because many of the chemical substances are already out of the materials following repeated washing; or that you have to keep the baby in the arms in the part close to the heart that he is used to hear from the time in the womb; or that the afternoon sleep in the open air is very healthy;

My disappointment regarding this book is the lack of a more structured information about the various stages of life. In the first year, planning every step every month is very important and I am very interested to know how I can deal correctly with various changes - right now, diversifying the food. Overall, a book recommended to GErman speakers parents, but still not that book I am looking for. Search in process...

Month 4 with the baby

Here we are: our beautiful sweet baby is 4-month old. Compared to the first two months of his life, it seems that there were not too many nothworthy events taking place lately. Well, this is because I am looking from outside, from the height of my age and experience. But I am more than sure that for the baby boy every new day and new discovery mean a fantastic improvement. 

We already set a routine, with a specific hour to go to sleep and a long trip, usually before 13 and 15 o'clock. Unfortunatelly, given the cold days when the outside temperatures reached around -13C, we were forced to spend the day at home. Which was not necessarily a bad idea. The boy started to play more and thanks to some special toys we bought - review coming up soon - made of different materials which utter various captivating sounds, he can even play with himself for couple of good minutes. 

His degree of receptivity increased significantly in the last weeks: he is able to follow with his eyes us or a moving toy, to play with his hands and suck it in the mouth. For the last aspect, we were told by a specialist that it is a good thing and a sign of a normal development. 

The sleeping is not always regular, with some nights when he sleeps for around 10 hours and some when he wakes every three hours. The screaming is also more intense and lasts longer. As we made together the first overseas trip this month, he was able to scream for the duration of 5 months of the flight. Hope we will never meet again any of the annoyed passengers. But as a compensation, he smiles even more and with an open mouth and this is enough to forget all the hard noisy hours.

Health wise, we did again the requested vaccination and things went well. We need to deal though with a flat head issue that apparently can be fixed through weekly therapy. The German medicine is focused on prevention and one may need to get used with the many checkings and second opinions which does not mean necessarily that you have a problem, only that you have to work out for avoiding any problems.  

In order to keep him fit, we do some small gymnastics in the morning, and he enjoys it a lot. We continue also with the intensive music program and other relaxing activities.

From now on, we are entering the 5 month, with many new challenges ahead, the most important being the change of the food plan and introduction of solid foods. 

Month 3 with the baby

Predictably, after month 2, month 3 arrived. Although I did not have too much time to write - also due to the fact that in the last weeks I split my time between full time work, family meals and short nights. To be honest though, the nights were not that short as the baby offered us most of the time long sleeping hours. 8 hours of sleep! What a wonder, if you are wise enough to go to sleep shortly after he is falling asleep after the hot bath.

The other big development noticed during this time was the hand movement. He is moving frequently, back and forth, although not yet coordinating, the hands. With strength, catching my fingers during the meals, or just playing with various textures and materials. 

During this time we also made the longest trip, using in just a couple of hours both trains and elevators. It was a long awaited trip for the parents, that we wanted to make for many weekends and everything took place without too many problems during the 5 full hours: we had enough diapers and the bottle of milk. The big big issue took place at home, one hour after we were back, as our beautiful baby offered a high tone concert that brought up at the brinks of panic. He calmed down after a couple of hours - during which we also considered to go to the emergency room, without having an answer to the question: what happened to him? One of the answers was that maybe spending too much time in the buggy without direct contact with us is supposedly paying a price. Since then, we faced several such outburst of tears and screams and we decided that we better take him in the hands and make him feel less alone (after all the other options - such as changing the pampers and feeding him - failed). And we are doing this not only in order to protect our sensitive ears but simply because we feel that this little soul that is not yet able to communicate properly with us deserves more attention and a lot of love and letting him cry for long minutes does not make him stronger or more independent. 

This is all for now. Ready to share more tips and adventures with the baby in the next days.

The 3 important things a new mother should do

After the pregnancy ends and the baby is out in the world, the woman's body goes through just another couple of changes and challenges. Get ready for a lot of sleepless nights and daily trials and worries, especially when the baby is the first. Regardless of your previous baby experience the first days after coming back from hospital are difficult and the woman's body is going through hard times. Although time is scarce, once in a while, you should find a way - especially with the support and understading of your life partner - to pay some important visits. As for now, only 3 of them...

1. Generalist doctor for a medical overview

Women doctor is very important and during the pregnancy it was a regular presence into your life. Now it is time to do one more general check of your post-pregnancy situation. Blood tests, eye test, blood pressure, heart and kidneys are only some of the important things to check. It does not take too much time and you can get in time the right advice about the vitamins and life changes eventually you should make in the next weeks and months.

2. The dentist

Pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding...All of them will require a lot of your calcium and vital minerals. If you already have a history of bad dentition, expect unpleasant decays and even to loose some of your teeth. Added to the unavoidable post-pregnancy weight problems, this will bring you a bad and embarassing mood. The solution: try to get as soon as possible an appointment to your dentist for checking and start planning the next preventive and reparatory steps. 

3. Massage - and spa treatments

Don't misunderstand me...Yes, the life with a baby means a lot of sacrifice and putting the kid on the first place. But if you do not feel well and you go through a lot of stress the baby will be for sure influenced. One of the first consequences is the breastfeeding problem as the more stressed you are the higher the danger for your milk. One more hour can be enough to take most - if not all - the weight away. Handled by a professional, it can be the start of your getting your body back, bringing back wellness and reestablishing the proper blood and muscle functioning. 

As a rule, with the help of an efficient time management and the family help and support you can do it! And you do not need to feel guilty, just to realize that your wellbeing is important for the good life of your baby too.