Pregnancy massage

Therapeutic massage has been used for centuries to restore naturally body and mind. Just think how a caress can be beneficial to a person.
Every time in history, massage has been employed during pregnancy as well both as a support during labour and birth both as a sort of “language” of communication between mother and infant during the 9 months of expectation.
Indeed, during pregnancy every mother massages unconsciously the baby and she is given massage by the infant as well understanding his needs and desires he conveys with movements and positions.

Importance and benefits of pregnancy massage

Prenatal massage therapy can be a very instrumental ingredient in woman’s wellness as it is proved to be the most successful and natural method to prevent and address different problems without any risk or side effects.
The massage can positively act on many different levels:

- healing: relief from muscle cramps, lumbar pain, spasms, circulatory disorders in the lower legs. Indeed, belly weight can cause a worsening of lumbar hyper-lordosis and consequently backache, a sensation of heaviness in the legs and varicose veins. In this case, massage will relieve pain and improve muscle and joints functions as well as circulation

- antistress: it helps reduce naturally stress and anxiety during pregnancy. The possible risk is being affected by muscles rigidity and consequently by uterine stiffness bringing pregnancy problems like preterm birth

- physical and psychological wellness: thanks to partner’s help, the mother will be able to establish a deep emotional contact with her baby. In this way, the baby will feel protected by the harmonious relationship with them

Among the benefits that prenatal massage may bring, there are relaxation, insomnia and depression reduction, joints relief to better support belly weight, a pleasant neck and back relief both exhausted by the overall weakness and muscles imbalance.
Furthermore, the prenatal massage helps maintaining the right posture, getting the muscles prepared for delivery, reducing swelling of hands and feet and finally soothing headache and breast congestion.

Massage frequency before and after birth

Some doctors advise women against receiving massages during the first trimester of pregnancy because of the great physical and hormonal changes that naturally occur.
Only after the second trimester, when the future mother becomes acquainted with her new condition she will be able to benefit from the massage effects.
Indeed, during this period, the best frequency at sessions is about once a week from 10 minutes to maximum 1 hour.
Only during the third trimester, it will be possible even to double the attendance.

Soon after birth, it is advisable to wait at least 40 days before resuming sessions: indeed during this period, the uterus needs time to heal delivery’s wounds and to revert to its original dimensions and position as well as the intestine that during pregnancy get displaced.
Postpartum massage will help restore the body to its pre-pregnant condition, it will also speed up the recovery by bringing relief to abdominal muscles.

Side effects

Prenatal massage does not bring any particular risk to woman’s health but it is always advisable to consult the doctor before relying on a therapist, especially if you don’t trust enough his expertise.
Anyway, before starting any session, it is necessary to inform the massager about any possible problem you are experiencing during pregnancy.

The main situations in which the massage is not recommended are:

- Loss of blood or water
- Diabetes
- Temperature
- Morning sickness, vomit, diarrhoea
- Dizziness or palpitations
- High blood pressure
- Abdominal pain

Bonding with your baby

yaBonding is the intense attachment that develops between parents and their babies. Bonding is a process that takes place soon after birth, when baby and parents are able to know each other and develop an “ attachment “.

The need of attachment is a physiological need that depends on the massive quantity of hormones released immediately after birth. In the specific, here are the hormones released by cells:

• Oxytocin: about 30 minutes after birth, the level of oxytocin is very high especially when mother and baby share the first glances and it guarantees the establishment of the maternal behaviour and make mothers become attached to and nourish their baby immediately after birth;
• Maternal adrenaline: is the hormone that makes birth sticked forever in mother’s mind and at the same time helps mothers to recognize every single signal of their newborn;
• Foetal adrenaline: is the hormone that allows all the stimulations received after birth to be sticked in newborn’s mind;
• Endorphin: it allows mothers to always remember birth as a very positive experience.
• Prolactin: a peptide hormone primarily associated with lactation that stimulates the production of milk. Apart from this, it helps to develop the maternal instinct.
  

Many scientists have studied the development of the bonding in human beings and during the course of time, it has been highly demonstrated how it is possible to encourage or obstruct this process.
Granted that bonding is influenced by some aspects which are impossible to avoid ( parents’ characteristics, the type of birth, newborn and mother’s help ), there are some behaviours that favour the attachment between parents and baby. One of these consists in trying to hold the baby on the bare chest to promote a sense of protective closeness, especially soon after birth.

Touch is the first sense that baby develops inside the womb. During the 90 minutes subsequent to birth, baby is in a state of strong attention in which she can perceive what’s happening around her, especially through touch. For this reason, it is extremely important that, during the 2 hours immediately after birth, mother and baby have a skin-to-skin contact. Obviously, this contact can’t be possible if the health conditions of mother and baby don’t allow it, especially if there is the need of doing urgent medical surveys. Sometimes, it happens that newborn babies are put into heated cribs and they are entrusted to the care of doctors and nurses; or, it can happen that mothers are not able to hold baby in their arms. In this case, the best thing to do is to let the father take care of the baby which is very important as it is the first contact he has ever had with her.Studies have shown that if parents remain alone with the newborn, there is a higher chance for her to stop crying quicker.

Another sense highly developed in newborn is olfaction and at the beginning, both mother and baby use this sense to recognize each other. The first milk product, colostrum, smells like the amniotic fluid and the newborn feels safe just like he was inside the womb.
An essential factor to encourage bonding is breastfeeding soon after birth. Indeed, breastfeeding raises the immune defenses in babies and increases the quantity of oxytocin and prolactin released in mothers.

Even if the sight is reduced, newborns use sight to perceive what’s around them. Newborns’ eyes can only focus up to a distance of 17/30 cm, enough to focus the face of the parents who’s holding him. At the beginning, newborns are attracted by round, dark objects, as for example, mother and father’s eyes.

Hearing is also very important for bonding. A newborn quickly learns to recognize mom’s voice and as a related effect, he tries to get her attention by crying.

Some scientist have studied the development of bonding in animals and studied have shown that if the offspring is taken away from the mother and then reunited to her, she will refuse him.

Obviously, for human beings things are different: in fact, bonding and attachment and all the relationships related to them can take place later on too, without any consequence on parent-baby’s relationship. There will be many other occasions to cradle the baby, take her for a walk in the stroller, feeding her, rock her or just live special moments with her, such as bath, feeding time and nappy changing.

And what about you? Did you feel an overwhelming rush of love when your baby was first placed in your arms or you developed an attachement only later on?
We are curious to know more about your experience!

Rooming-in

After birth, the baby is often removed from the mother not considering that most of the interactions that will affect the newborn’s life are in close relation with the time he will spend with his mum.

An early mother-infant contact will positively affect the relationship between them, the maternal attachment process, the success of breastfeeding and above all it will strengthen the capacity to face stressing situations.
Furthermore, the mother with her bacteria will facilitate a bacterial colonization, vital for the baby to defend himself against diseases.

What is rooming-in?

Rooming-in is the practice whereby a mother stays with her newborn throughout the period of her postnatal hospital stay. Rooming-in has proved to hold psychological benefits and it promotes greater bonding giving the mother the opportunity to learn and develop confidence in feeding and caring for her new baby.

Mother and baby are separated only to allow nurses and doctors to give the baby the necessary medical assistance she needs but at the same time they have also the greatest task to do not be too intrusive and let the mother feel free to show her personal emotions after birth.

It is extremely important that the mother is given proper support by nurses when she is welcoming the baby with the right discretion and attention especially if specific clinical conditions of both mother and infant don’t allow the mother to take care autonomously of her baby.

According to a wider meaning of Rooming-in it is possible to include in the same room the dad and other family members so that if the mother needs some rest they can hold and take care of the baby.

Positive aspects

Undoubtedly, the practice of Rooming-in allows to carry out the close symbiosis that lasted 9 months and that both mother and infant need to be in contact with each other since the very beginning.

Furthermore, taking care of her baby as soon as possible means for the mother to familiarize with the daily problems (sucking, breastfeeding, nappy changing, etc..) and face them easily also counting on the precious help of nurses.
A further positive aspect of Rooming-in is the possibility to count on the maternal instinct to promptly recognize a possible newborn’s neonatal adaptation syndrome and any signs of possible pathologies. In this way, it would be possible to promptly intervene.

Moreover, Rooming-in is proved to be a valid organizational pattern to encourage breastfeeding in particular the so called “on demand” that means feeding the baby whenever she is hungry.
In doing so the need to assume additional liquids apart from mother’s milk reduces considerably and it may represent an occasion to establish a deep mutual relation between mother and infant.

How long should the Rooming-in last for?

Every mother is free to decide whether to practice the Rooming-in and its length; indeed no rules from medical staff are actually imposed in this respect.

It is also scientifically proven that the more time the baby spends with her mum, the less the infant is confused by different sensory stimulus: just enough to think that newborn babies have a overdeveloped sense of smell (they recognize mum’s and maternal milk smell) and a restricted field of vision of 20/30 cm that actually is the distance between mum and baby’s eyes when she is attached to breast.

“Open nursery”: a valid alternative

A valid alternative to Rooming-in may be the "open nursery": it means that nursery’s rooms become accessible at any moment to mums and dads who can enjoy a prolonged contact with their baby.

The "open nursery" allows first-time parents to get the proper experience and practice in taking care of their baby as regards hygiene, umbilical cord treatment, breastfeeding and so on along with nurses and doctors’ support.
In addition, this practice also allows the mother to have some rest and a moment to dedicate to her family whenever she desires.

Exanthematous diseases in children

Exanthematous diseases are infectious diseases having as a prominent feature a skin rash, apart from other symptoms such as cough, sore throat and fever (the thermometer can measure up to 40° C). They are highly contagious diseases and they are very common among people who don’t have a developed immune system, that is children. Exanthematous diseases are spread through respiration especially in places attended by children, such as nurseries and schools. Usually exanthematous diseases are not dangerous and can be easily cured, but paradoxically, they become dangerous if the contagion happens in adulthood because they can bring numerous complications.

Among exanthematous diseas in children the most common are measles, chickenpox, scarlet fever and rubella. For some of those diseases, vaccination is available to protect children from the contagion.

Measles

It is an infection of the respirastory system caused by a virus, specifically paramyxovirus and is highly contagious. The infection has an average incubation of two weeks, after that, the so called pre-exanthematous period starts in the form of tiny red spots that, starting from the face and the neck, quickly spreads to cover most of the body. There is no specific therapy to cure measles, the only thing to do is to keep the child in the cot, and give him medicines to soothe, somehow, fever and cough. Children affected by measles have to eat light food, drink plently of liquids and assume Vitamin C. Measles, even though is an exanthematous disease and not dangerous, can bring various complications such as encephalitis, pneumonia and corneal scarring. But a vaccine is available and it can be somministrated to young babies too and it’s really helping to reduce the diffusion of this disease.

Chickenpox

It is caused by Varicella Zoster virus. Chickenpox han an incubation of two or three weeks and during this period, it’s not contagious. It generally starts with a vesicular skin rash appearing in two or three waves and fever. The tiny spots that appear after three or four days become itchy raw pockmarks, small open sores which heal mostly without scarring. Even in this case, a pharmacological therapy only helps to relieve the symptoms: for instance, it is possible to give paracetamol for the fever or an antihistaminic for the itch. The virus stays in the body and it can spread again ( usually in adulthood ) in the form of the so called Herpes Zoster. Vaccination is available for children from 12 month onwards.

Scarlet Fever

Scarlet fever is caused by an infection with GROUP A streptococcus bacteria. The bacteria make this toxin (poison) that can cause scarlet-colored rash from which this illness gets its name. The bacterial infection that cause scarlet fever is contagious. A child who has scarlet fever can spread the bacteria to others through nasal and throat fluids by sneezing or coughing or it can be passed through contact with the skin. The infection has an average incubation of 3 – 4 days, after that, there is a phase in which symptoms start appearing: a child with scarlet fever may have chills, body aches, nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite. The rash is the most striking sign of scarlet fever. It usually begins looking like a bad sunburn with tiny bumps and it may itch. The scarlet fever rash usually fades on the sixth day after sore throat symptoms began and the infection itself is usually cured with a 10 day course of antibiotic but it may take a few weeks for tonsils to return to normal.

Rubella

Rubella- commonly known as German measles – is an infection that primarly affects the skin and lymph nodes. It is caused by Rubella virus ( not the same virus that causes misleas ). It has an average incubation of two or three weeks. Rubella infection may begin with one or two days of mild fever and swallen, tender lymph nodes, usually in the back of the neck or behind the ears. A rash then appears that begin on the face and spreads downward. Rubella is not a dangerous disease and it fades spontaneously after a couple of days. When Rubella occurs in pregnant woman, it may cause congenital rubella syndrome with potentially devastating consequences for the developing fetus. To avoid this risk, it is highly advisable for young women to get vaccinated in case they haven’t been affected by the infection before puberty.

Other exanthematous diseases in children are Fourth disease, Fifth disease and Roseola.

Exanthematous diseases are very common among children and, properly cured, they don’t cause permanent consequences. The right thing to do is to seek medical advice immediately in order to have all the information you need to make your child better.

If you have experience regarding this matter and you want to share it with other mothers, just write us!

Help! My baby won't eat!

Lots of babies, once they have reached the age of 1 year, go through a critical stage in which they refuse to eat. This makes parents worrying and drives them to seek help to specialists in educational psychology dynamics.

Indeed, mums get seriously worried when their babies start to refuse food and transform meal time in real food fights especially if they have always eaten heartily overcoming the weaning time smoothly.

Why does she refuse to eat?

During its first year, every child triples its weight: this is a growth rhythm that has no equal in life.
It is logical that in order to meet such a huge calories requirements, the baby will always eat heartily seldom refusing the baby bottle.
From the first year on, growth starts to assume a slower pace, calories requirements diminish and consequently the amount of food the baby needs diminishes as well.
The baby will naturally eat less and you, like any other mother, will inevitably start to worry about your child’s health.

Food’s refusal is a problem that goes far beyond the change in the baby’s growth pace: indeed it may depend on many different reasons such as baby’s age, emotional condition and attitude.
Nutrition is indeed where the baby reflects her inner emotions of life and consequently the parent-son relationship. That means that often at the root of lack of appetite there may be a child’s desire to communicate an intimate trouble that parents must meet properly.

Just think about that baby’s nutrition starts soon after birth with breastfeeding that takes on a special significance: in its first months the newborn is used to have mother’s milk while she holds him in a safe hug.
When this close intimate relationship ceases, food’s acceptance or refusal may takes on important psychological meanings.
Meal time has to be a joyful moment as the breastfeeding was: it is necessary thou to create an atmosphere of confidence and avoid to make those mistakes that risk to compromise the moment of meal.

Another reason that may lead the baby to refuse the food is a overly concerned family that convey anxious emotions and feelings.
Indeed, mealtime is not only aimed at nutrition itself but the moment in which mother and baby have an important and delicate relational exchange and the baby absorbs all the emotions that parents convey.
No needs to say that a hungry baby who eats everything her mum cooks, gives mother a great sense of satisfaction and acceptance of her role.
In order to satisfy this need to feel approved, mother may risk to give meal time excessive importance. Indeed, since babies also communicate their feelings with food, it is highly probable that they refuse to eat to show a discomfort when a negative behaviour of their parents occurs.
Children clearly perceive if their mother is concerned about meal time and they may feel so annoyed that they refuse even to sit at the table for this reason.

In this case, the best approach may be that mother learns to recognize and respect her baby’s refusals and to understand that she, as anyone else, may have her personal tastes.

Here is some specific suggestions:

- Use natural products in your cooking according to the time you have at your disposal and what is available on the market in that season. A home-made food is the greatest gesture of love.
- During the first months, do not force your baby to eat. It is not necessary that weaning starts the 6th month and a slight delay will not affect your baby’s overall nutritional contribution.
- Once the weaning time has started, pay attention to respect your baby’s needs complying with her tastes and feeling of satiety. Coaxing or forcing her will just have the opposite effect.
- Make your baby sit in a comfortable position so that the food is within reach.
- Get her used to a more diversified diet even though she doesn’t seem to accept positively the change. In this particular period, most of the babies tend to require always the same kind of food and then suddenly abandon it for what they have always refused.
- If mealtimes are pleasant your child may begin to eating with all the other family members. It may be useful to sit at the table all together. Try to offer your child a spoon of your food and let her play with it.

Expecting twins

If you are expecting twins and don't know what to expect, you are not alone. Many women pregnant with twins have no idea what to expect, but that doesn't mean they - and you - can't learn. So here is some information to help you understand what's happening when you're expecting twins.

Pregnancy and Birth

About 1 out of 3 expectant women give birth to twins.
The factors that cause a twin pregnancy are very difficult to establish. But some of them increase the possibility of twin deliveries.

1. Hereditary predisposition
2. Women’s age: the older a woman’s age, the greater is the chance to give birth to twins. In particular, you are more likely to become pregnant with twins naturally when you are in your 30s and 40s.
3. Some medicines, such as gonadotropin and clomephene, utilized to cure some forms of sterility.

Twin birth is an overwhelming event that fill parents’ heart with joy but, at the same time, it brings major difficulties to the mother. These difficulties appear during early pregnancy that also carry greater risk than singleton pregnancy. This is inevitable because human beings, compared to other mammals, normally give birth only to one foetus and twin birth is considered an exception. Moreover, symptoms such as nausea and morning sickness are accentuated. As twin pregnancy is actually a particular pregnancy, it is advisable to seek extra guidance in a specialized antenatal clinic for multiple pregnancy, without abandoning the trusted gynaecologist that represents a very important support in this special moment. Anyway, twin pregnancy doesn’t have to be considered only as a troubled pregnancy but simply as a delicate pregnancy that has to be faced with particular caution.

Breastfeeding and nappy changing

Soon after the birth of twins, a mother needs absolute rest. From now on, she must concentrate all her energies towards the babies and it is essential for her to receive help from her partner or relatives. But breastfeeding is a task that is only up to her and in this case, it’s a very onerous task. The amount of milk that a mother can produce is directly proportional to the newborns’ request and when they are two, mother’s commitment is doubled. Twins have to be fed at the same time in order to synchronize their feeding time. It is advisable to feed twins contemporaneously even if only one baby is demanding it and it is extremely important to alternate the breasts, because most of the time, one is fuller than the other one. Usually, even if the fatigue is double, there is no problem at all in breastfeeding twins. Problems come when babies are more than two! In that case, commitment increases in an exponential way and a woman apart from her family’s help, has to resort to bottle feeding. At this point, mixed feeding is the only solution but a mother will need a big help even just for preparing bottles because it requires a certain organization.
Twins eat together and consequently they will be changed together, as nappy changing is usually after feeding. If the mother can count on help, babies can be easily changed at the same time. With regards to bathing, it is better to bath one baby at the time at least up to 1 year.

Sleep time

Since they eat together, twins usually falls asleep at the same time. But, especially during the first months, it is highly probable that they might wake up at night time one at the time. As a result, the mother may not be able to sleep 3 hours in a row. If that is the case, father’s help is absolutely essential. In any case, it is very important to reduce night feedings and avoid attaching babies to the breast every time they cry.
As they shared mom’s belly for nine months, during the first weeks of their lives, twins need to sleep together in the same cot in order for them to feel secure. After this period, they can start sleeping separately, but it is better to keep the cots next to each other.

Transportation

Transporting twins, especially with other siblings, may be very difficult and because of that, it is necessary to choose the more practical prams and pushchairs on the market in order to meet all the family’s needs. If parents go for a twin pushchair, it’s important to take the measurament of doors, lift and car boot to make sure the pushchair will fit smoothly. When it’s time to go for a walk, an ideal solution would be to transport one baby in the stroller and the other one in the baby carrier. When travelling in the car, twins has to be positioned one on the front seat and one on the back, always remembering to deactivate the air bag of the passenger seat.

When is the right time to wean your baby off her dummy?

Mums and dads know very well how important the soother is in their baby’s life: from the first months onwards, a baby turns most of her attention to this object also showing particular interest. The reason is very simple: sucking satisfies the natural and primary need of nutrition and it’s an antidote against fear and feeling of loneliness, very common feelings for both newborns and toddlers.

The dummy reminds of the shape of mum’s nipple, allowing the baby, when the mother is not around, to soothe and comfort herself; it represents a valid psychological help as a sobstitute of the mother figure.

The dummy has the following positive effects:

It induces sleep;
It helps to relieve tension;
It makes the baby feel protected and secure;
It causes pleasure: in the period that starts from birth up to two years ( named “ oral phase “ by psychologists ), the mouth represents the main source of pleasure and the sucking is a valid way to explore the world around her.
By using a flat teat that adapts to the mouth’s roof, the risk of deformation is highly reduced.

Sooner or later, the moment in which a baby will have to abandon the dummy comes: sometimes, it is spontaneously abandoned by kids around 2 or 3 years of age ( usually within 4 years ), that is when a child becomes more self-confident and independent, but in general, it is absolutely impossible to establish when it’s the right moment to wean a baby off her dummy, because it depends on babies. In any case, it doesn’t have to be a sudden interruption because it will only cause the opposite reaction: baby will be obsessed by the idea of having lost a so important and essential thing and soon, she will replace the dummy with the thumb.

Advices to gradually wean your child off

The first and most important advice is to be very patience and understanding, avoiding hurry and strictness. A good tactic is to show the child a tiny box or a proper dummy holder in which he can keep the dummy in order to use it only in particular moments. From now on, the dummy will be given only if requested ( for instance, at sleep time ).
Other tactic is to propose the child to give the dummy to his favourite baby toy that needs it more because it’s still a baby.
A more drastic remedy, more incisive is to associate the detachment to a proper ritual, like for example, throwing it into the sea, into a lake or into a river, or simply giving it to someone as a very important gift.
Moreover, another valid tactic is to set a limit to the use of the dummy in specific situation ( for example when the mother is not around ) or focus the attention on other activities that babies are not able to do with the dummy ( like singing ).
Apart from the tactic chosen, the mistake to avoid is to concentrate too much on “ the dummy matter “ even because the abandonment of the dummy has to take place only when babies feel psychologically ready to avoid inducing them to start sucking the thumb, with negative consequences for the mouth roof and teeth.