Innholdsfortegnelse for SWEET NOTHINGS - Issue 23 i Nurture Parenting Magazine

Welcome to Issue 23 of Nurture Parenting Magazine. Well, first, can I say ‘wow’! We’ve been absolutely blown away by your response to our relaunch issue. The feedback has been wonderful to hear, the entire team worked hard on bringing you a beautiful, value-filled read, and ensuring that our advertising partners (most of them small Australian-owned business themselves) were able to showcase their products and services with maximum effect. From the content to the layout, it seems we nailed our brief, although someone asked if we had left any topics to cover in future issues! I am delighted to say that I think the calibre of articles in this issue is just as high as the previous issue. Issue 23 has the theme of ‘Sweet Nothings: nourishing our children’. The…

EVERY MOTHER’S NIGHTMARE On Mother's Day 2016, I was 30 weeks pregnant when my son stopped all fetal movements. I went to the hospital, and all checks showed he was fine, including a scan, but I was still sure something was not right. I was told to give it a week or so before coming back, but I didn’t wait and went back the next morning, and this time the tests showed what I already knew, something was very wrong. My husband was told to get to the hospital ASAP, and they injected me with steroids for the baby's lungs and magnesium for his brain, but before they could have any effect, he was born just a few hours later, silent and terrifyingly still. There were none of the beautiful…

If you had first asked me what gentle parenting was, I would have looked at you with confusion, wondering if you had spoken to me in a completely different language. The truth was I had a common misconception of what being a gentle parent was. I was raised in a single-parent household, that was ruled by my mother’s iron fist. When she met my stepfather, that changed into an abusive household. I fought my way through my childhood every single step of the way. I often looked down on softer kids because they never struggled. This mixed with a contempt that I developed as I became an adult and saw a glaringly obvious perception that children were spoilt brats that lacked discipline. As a child, I was often quite prone…

Have you ever watched a bird building a nest? Whilst indulging in some rare quiet time recently, I watched in amazement as one of our feathered locals starting meticulously selecting sticks and other material and flying back and forth to a high point in one of the tall towering gum trees in my back yard constructing the perfect place to raise their young - a safe haven where the Mum will hatch her eggs and feed her young until they are strong enough to venture a little further. As parents, we too have a strong desire to love and protect at all costs and a responsibility to prepare our babies for the road ahead. To truly survive and be well equipped for the future, our kids should be physically healthy,…

BEEGOOD WAX WRAPS BeeGood Wax Wraps are the perfect replacement for plastic wrap in your everyday life; just wrap, wash and reuse. When making healthy lunches and snacks for your family, seal in the freshness with our beeswax wraps. Being fridge and freezer friendly you can even prepare well ahead for those busy school and kindy mornings. As a natural sustainable food storage system, our Australian made BeeGood Wax Wraps will keep your food FRESHER for LONGER saving you money and creating less waste. RRP $7.00 For Sustainable Living and Giving and to see our complete range of BeeGood Wax Wraps visit: www.beegoodwaxwraps.com BUSH BITES Bush Bites are wholesome snacks made by mum, backed by dietitians, and loved by kids. We believe that it’s not only important to find the…

The Baby Bum Shower was born out of necessity when Jess was faced with the need to clean her nieces very dirty nappy in the back of a car, the lightbulb moment happened… there had to be an easy and more hygienic and safe way to clean nappies! Faced with a very dirty bottom and 100s of wipes, that just weren’t cutting it, Jess was determined to find a better way! That’s when the Baby Bum Shower was born. Since its creation the Baby Bum Shower has always been centred around ease of use, with your family’s hygiene in mind. The Baby Bum Shower has been years in the making. We went from strength to strength with our prototypes, and could not be prouder of what we have accomplished, a…

Night Ollie The Night Ollie alarm stops bedwetting at night within weeks. Our friendly character brings comfort and builds confidence. The sound & vibration alarm plus large mat surface increases success. Non intrusive to the child’s body. Suitable for children 7+ Deep sleeps & teens Pediatrician Approved, Australian designed. Dependable. Effective. Trusted. Proven. Sustainable. Safe. RRP $385.00 www.nightollie.com Ergobaby NEW Ergobaby Carrier Omni Breeze – Our most breathable carrier! Rated #1 in Airflow. When you’re wearing your baby, the key to comfort is breathability. New Omni™ Breeze uses SoftFlex™ Mesh to maximise airflow, keeping you and your baby comfortable and dry all day. RRP $369.00 www.ergobaby.com.au My Little Gumnut My Little Gumnut is passionate about creating eco-friendly products for Mum and Baby. Our Reusable Cloth Nappies have been specifically designed…

According to the Australian Institute of health and welfare (AIHW), two of the top 8 chronic diseases affecting Australians are cardiovascular disease and diabetes and findings in their report Impact of overweight and obesity as a risk of factor for chronic conditions; Australian Burden of Disease Study found that there was strong evidence linking an increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions when individuals were overweight or obese. With such alarming information on what is causing chronic illness in the population, the question arises: is it all a result of people not eating right or is it a combination of environment, diet and genetics? We often use the phrase “He or she has good genes”, or “it’s all in the genes” but is it?…

Just as it is important to feed our children the right foods and teach them about healthy eating habits, it is equally important to fill their souls with love and teach them how to manage themselves and the different situations they might find themselves in. From infancy, our goal is to provide our babies with nutrition to give them the best chance of developing into healthy children. It is our purpose as parents to teach them about healthy foods, how to make the right food choices and to have treats and other less healthy options on occasions only. We hope that the values we instil in them over the years we teach them will help them develop into adults who make the right food choices and who will then pass…

Amie-Jane, Growing Kind ‘My favourite thing about co sleeping is when my 3 years old wakes in the middle of the night. I glance over and see her eyes open slowly. She checks I’m there, her arm reaches out to touch me, and then she smiles whilst half asleep. She knows she is safe. Then she peacefully falls back to sleep. No tears, no wake ups, no rocking or patting.’ Jacquie, The Brave Space ‘Love listening to their little breaths.’ Katie Rainbird ‘The stand-out part of co-sleeping for me, was the amount of sleep I got, even with a newborn and a toddler; compared to the amount of sleep I had gotten with my first baby (whom I had in a cot). It was the thing I’d remarked upon the…

For many parents keen on wanting to wear their newborn baby, a stretchy wrap seems to be the most popular style of carrier when starting out. I know that for myself, I started with a stretchy wrap before exploring the other styles, and this was over 11 years ago now. So much has changed over that time with many new brands and styles on the market. But what makes them so great for a newborn, and how do you get your head around all that fabric? Stretchy wraps are undoubtedly a perfect baby carrier for newborns and smaller babies. It is a long piece of material that is around 5 meters long and made from a combination of cotton and some kind of elastic fibres like elastane and spandex. The…

As a travelling doctor in the Solomon Islands, I have often been called upon to reach deep into my medical training to address a variety of health and surgical issues for men, women, children and babies who often times travelled many hours across this South Pacific terrain for care. I had barely finished treating a woman with a hypertensive crisis and resulting stroke, when the nurses called for me. “Doctor Robert! A baby is coming!” As an experienced obstetrician gynaecologist dedicated to gentle birth and the empowerment of families during pregnancy, I rushed to the woman’s side ready to reassure her through the intensity of her labour pains. I was prepared to calmly guide her through a quiet, safe and loving birth. What I encountered as I pushed aside the…

Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a mother, right from a very young age. I knew parenting would be both challenging and rewarding. But I don’t think anyone prepared me for the weight and the pressure that comes with being a mother in this age of social media, big houses and consumerism that is in overdrive! Every single day we are exposed to messages that tell us that we are not enough without ‘this’ product. Or that we will never be happy until we have ‘this’ item. Again, and again we are shown images of perfect homes styled like a magazine cover or doing craft with smiling faces and a magically tidy backdrop. I was less than three years into motherhood when this pressure caught up with…

The sense of smell and our memories of scents be they conscious or unconscious is our most primitive sense. For good reason too, we have evolved to literally smell danger. The olfactory threat perception that is our ability to smell trouble is part of the olfactory cortex stores where we store sensory threat codes related to smells as acquired associative representations formed via life experiences thereby enabling coding of these threat cues directly related to certain smells. We can smell when a fire is starting, the proximity of other humans and animals and this historically would have been lifesaving however in today’s world the smell of a meal could ignite certain unwarranted feelings of unease or harm without us necessarily being fully aware of the influence present. Where the research…

Touch is arguably the most important nourishment that all humans need for optimal growth, health and development. With adequate exercise, and a balanced diet, including the right amount of nutrients, we will follow normal developmental patterns, and thrive. If there is a lack of essential nutrients, our emotional and physical development will be impaired. Touch is equally as important as essential vitamins, minerals and proteins. As with diet and exercise, we all need a daily dose of touch. Human touching provides essential nutriment for all babies. Touch has been referred to as ‘the mother of the senses’ … perhaps because it is the earliest sensory system to develop. The word ‘touch’ has the longest entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, and can be defined as ‘the action, or an act…

part 2 of 4 Part 1 of our series explained the idea behind baby-led weaning (also known as BLW or baby-led solids) and why it makes sense. In Part 2, Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett, share their tips on how to introduce your baby to solid foods using this approach. THINKING AHEAD If you are thinking about introducing solids to your baby soon, you’ll probably have all sorts of questions. You may have already decided on baby-led weaning, perhaps based on the rationale explored in our previous article, or maybe because you’ve seen other babies start solid food like this, and been struck by how natural and instinctive it is. Either way, you’re sold. So, what can you do ahead to prepare? Some of the preparation for introducing solids, for…

Our urine tells us a lot about what’s going on inside our bodies, but did you know it can also contain early warning signs about mental health too? We all know about the common ‘pee signs’ that indicate physical problems like dehydration (dark yellow urine) or an infection (pink or red urine), but our urine can also point to the possibility of behavioural, emotional and mental health issues. These include autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, ADD, depression, oxidative stress and bipolar disorder - but the trick is to know how and where to look for these hidden signs. I’m referring to a condition called pyrrole disorder (also known as krytopyrroluria or pyroluria) which has been linked to early signs of mental health issues and learning and behavioural problems. Yet despite the…

We immerse ourselves in conscious parenting blogs, podcasts and videos and any other information we can get our hands-on, and it’s really helpful to have all this knowledge. We’re listening to the likes of Dr Shefali Tsabary, Dr Vanessa Lapointe and Janet Lansbury. We’re absorbing all they are saying and picturing ourselves behaving differently with our kids in future. We may feel alone, like the black sheep of the family. There seems to be very few people who are willing to talk about this new parenting paradigm on a deep level. We notice it can even offend or upset people close to us. We’re learning that it’s not about changing the child in front of us; it’s all about changing ourselves by healing and integrating the wounded child inside of…

Us & The Earth We all know that self care is crucial as a Mum, both pre and post the arrival of our bundle of joy. Why not be kind to yourself, whilst being kind to the most important mother of all … Mother Earth. With a 20 piece ‘Eco Beauty Box’ you can pamper yourself and prevent loads of single use plastics from going to landfill. This kit contains all you need for conscious beauty care. Included is a gorgeous green frosted glass and bamboo set, a sisal glove for exfoliating, a soap saver bag and hemp facial rounds for reusable washing - all 100% biodegradable. Keep those teeth sparkling with our home compostable bamboo toothbrush. A trio of all natural konjac sponges and a divine crystal roller bottle,…

The trusted and proven treatment of bedwetting supports the growth and wellbeing of every child. The alarm and mat is a natural solution that is safe, sustainable and effective in stopping bedwetting forever. The result empowers families to embrace the calm that evenings can bring while ensuring the child is secure, comfortable and confident. WHAT IS BEDWETTING (NOCTURNAL ENURESIS)? Bedwetting describes a child over the age of 6.5 years which shows no control over their bladder overnight. Primary nocturnal enuresis is a child who has never been dry at night while secondary enuresis is a child who was dry for a period of approximately six months before starting to wet the bed again. For these children, bedwetting is the inability to rouse from their sleep overnight which can be an…