Approaching teething naturally

My gorgeous angel did not pop a single tooth out until she was nearly 12mths old. She then proceeded to pop out 6 in a relatively fuss free 2 months. Cue a deep sigh of relief from hubby and I, as we assumed we had a 'good' teether. Damn fools we were.

Little miss then started to cut her last two incisors, and all hell was let loose in our house. Screaming tantrums over everything, poor sleep, constant grumpiness and two overwhelmed parents who were not prepared for this. One day I was holding her while she writhed around in pain, and I realised if I was in this much pain I'd take some nurofen! I dug out the bottle, dosed her up and 20 minutes later we had peace again! Blessed relief. Three days later I realised I was constantly reaching for the nurofen and decided enough was enough. It was time to seek out effective natural remedies.

Still around, and still blogging

I know I have been really quiet lately, but I can assure you that I am still blogging away. A combination of things, mostly revolving around the typical busyness of life and a shoddy laptop, have prevented me from publishing posts recently. I have a ton of draft posts though, that need basic polishing and will be ready to go.

To help you follow my blog, I have installed the 'follow by email' option. I have been reading lots of awesome Mummy blogs of late, and find myself frequently using this option to stay involved with their blogs. I thought I'd do the same for you.

Looking forward to seeing all your lovely comments again soon. Now, off to choose one of these draft posts to polish...

My favourite cloth nappies

People often ask me what brand of cloth nappy is best. Having just been asked this three times in two days I thought I'd blog about it :)

My answer is always the same; I love different ones for different reasons. I have about nine different brands now, so I'll give you the run down on the pro's and con's of each. This is essentially The Natural Mum's 'cloth nappy review'.

And baby makes four :)

It's been awhile since I last posted, and I've been feeling a bit guilty about neglecting my blog. However there has been big news in our house; I'm pregnant! When our amazing daughter was 11mths we discovered she was going to have a sibling soon. While not entirely planned or expected, it was blessed news indeed.

Like a lot of pregnancies, the initial excitement was soon overtaken by fatigue and morning sickness. In my case I also developed antenatal depression. My early fears of how I was going to cope with two children under two soon morphed into a full scale depression, and to be frank, I was not coping.

I think it's important to blog about this, as depression is so common yet still stigmatized. I have a history of anxiety and depression, so both my husband and I recognized the early warning signs: I was crying, stressed beyond normal, easily frustrated with little things and just wanted to sleep all day. It was time to seek help!

The new dirty word

Vaccination.. no word causes more debate or worries a new parent more. Should you or shouldn't you, and what will people say about your decision.

I, for one, am sick to death of this topic and want to stick my fingers in my ears and hum 'la la la la la' every time it gets brought up. So why am I blogging about it? Because I want to ask for a vaccination time out.

Breast feeding 'politics' - a post and a response

I absolutely had to share this recent post and comment doing the rounds on the net.

Well known Australian blogger and social commentator Mia Freedman recently posted on her blog about her thoughts on the over zealous promotion of breast feeding becoming 'borderline bullying'. Within this post she shared the story of a friend in hospital who needed some formula. Read the original blog here http://www.mamamia.com.au/parenting/lets-chill-out-about-breasts/

Model and author Tara Moss, who is also a UNICEF ambassador, responded to this blog post with an articulate and evidence based response. It is one of the best articles I have read in a long time. This response is not supposed to demonise those who formula feed, for any reason. It is instead a comment on the importance of health workers continuing to promote breast feeding at every opportunity. Read Tara's response here http://blog.taramoss.com/index.php?itemid=739

I hope you enjoy these blogs if you have not seen them already, and find them as informative as I did.

Breast feeding baby: a recipe for for a challenging baby?

Not long ago, some new research was released on breast feeding babies. After studying questionnaires filled in by mothers of babies aged 3 months, the researchers concluded that breast fed babies were harder to soothe, less likely to smile or laugh and more likely to be distressed. This research received wide publicity in the media, and triggered much debate and discussion amongst my peer group.

I am massively pro-breast, and find this type of research to be truly alarming. Not because I am worried my baby may be 'difficult', but because I am worried it will influence new mothers decisions about breast feeding.

So is the research right?