I'm still reeling from the news of the Federal Government's commitment to provide all parents with 26 weeks of paid parental leave. Check out this document for details. I nearly fell off my chair!! It will surely be good for helping families make a strong start - and a fantastic boost for breast feeding success. Return to work for many new mothers signals the end of breastfeeding. Despite best attempts, juggling work and child care can place a strain on new parents, one that leads to breastfeeding being given the flick.
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When I see a child with sleep problems, the first question I ask is; does your child snore? Many parents are surprised, not knowing the link between snoring and night-waking. Let me explain. Snoring in small children is most commonly caused by swollen tonsils and adenoids. During the child's deep sleep when they are most rested... Here Maggie Dent does a great job at explaining why some children have angry outbursts after school. Its clear, accurate and hits the spot. Well done Maggie! The morning after our first child was born over 16 years ago, I remember my first experience of fierce fatherly love. A powerful experience of needing to protect and provide for my baby and family. The poor doctor who was also wanting to care for my child was unaware of my newly found protective instincts. She walked into the hospital room and collected our baby for some tests. Dad bringing himself into his Fatherhood role.Fathers Day approaches - So what is special about fathers? Well, I am a father - I'm biased - but one thing I've learnt about fathers is that there are all sorts - they can be very different! Apart from their biological contribution at the beginning, what else defines fatherhood - the specialness of fatherhood? I reckon there are as many answers as there are different expressions of fatherhood. For me, it is the choice made by a father to give of himself for his child and family - not just time and money or doing things - but of his self, in each moment. I am not a mother, and so as an observer I want to highlight one particularly remarkable aspect of mothers that I am in awe of. The physical and biological act of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. This is a gift of motherhood, and a gift that mothers offer to their children. These gifts are rarely without significant suffering and sacrifice. A well timed research paper in JAMA Pediatrics Journal published last week has shown breastfeeding to be linked to higher IQ scores at age seven and better receptive language skills at age three. The authors say the longer parents fed, the higher the scores. Well, that unleashed a storm when published in Daily Mail UK. Within 24 hours there were almost three hundred responses, and many of them were pretty angry. Im a bit sad we cant talk about feeding our babies without all the strong statements that seem to make some people feel superior, and the others feeling judged and guilty. Any parent will tell you, the parent role has a lot more challenge than they could have ever expected. Many look back and say it was a moment of sheer madness - when they threw care and contraceptives to the wind and took the plunge into parenting. In contrast I also meet many people (in fact its often the same people as from the previous group) who says that it is the most besotting, deliciously addictive, best-ever decision they have made – and they wouldn’t have it any other way. |
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