Since the early days of your pregnancy, your parents have warned you not to wash your hair for 40 days after giving birth. They said, you can easily get sick if you wash your hair within 40 days of baby delivering. Now is this a myth true or false? Find out below

I have consulted to two doctors, and they said that there is no medical explanation relating 40 days of no washing hair with the mother’s body immune system. This practice was however more like a tradition, in the old days there were no bathroom or shower like nowadays, if people want to wash hair or go shower, they have to walk really far away and go to the river where there is water. Many new mothers at that time got sick because along the way to wash their hair in the river, wind and coldness stroke them sick. Now, in this modern world, you do not have to go through jungle and dangerous slippery path to go wash your hair, so it is perfectly okay.

My own experience

My dad also warned me not to wash my hair for 40 days, he said my mom did not also. But as always, I got naughty and wash my hair the day after delivering instead. Right now, I am perfectly healthy and now my baby is 3 months old, nothing serious has happened. So I guess it is perfectly okay to wash your hair after delivering baby. What a relieve, right?

Tags : delivering baby myth, do not wash hair after delivering 40 days, pregnancy myth, washing your hair after delivering

Now that your baby is already 4 months old, your relatives have begun suggesting you to shave your baby’s hair bald. They said, it’s good to grow a thicker hair for the baby. Now is this myth true? Find out below

I really hope that shaving baby’s hair can make baby’s hair grow thicker (my baby has really thin hair), unfortunately according to experts, this practice is more like a routine in some cultures, but it has no effect on how the hair grows in.

The reason is this: hair grows from a follicle beneath the surface of the scalp. What you do to the hair that’s on the outside has no effect on the hair that’s developing in the follicle.

Usually around 4 months old, it’s very common for babies to lose some or even all of the hair they were born with. After that, the new hair might take a while to grow again and when it does it may be thicker or curlier or even a new color. But the fact ism whether you shave, or brush, it won’t affect how the hair grows in. Thick or not thick, long or not long, that’s up to genetics.

Tags : shave baby's head bald, shaving baby's hair, thicker baby hair

Congratulations on your newborn baby. Now that you are a mother, you may want to give your baby breast milk. Since breastmilk comes from your body, you should watch what you consume also. Here’s a bit info about what to eat and not to eat during breastfeeding period

Interestingly,breast milk can meet your baby’s nutritional needs even if you’re not eating well. However, this doesn’t mean that you won’t suffer. Getting enough vitamins and nutrients is important because you need energy to meet the physical demands of caring for a new baby. Think of nursing as continued motivation to follow the healthy diet you followed during pregnancy. Focus on eating whole grains and cereals, fresh fruits and vegetables, and foods that provide plenty of protein, calcium, and iron. Also, drink plenty of water to stay well-hydrate and stay away from alcohol and smoking. Smoking and alcohol might spoil your breast milk thus making the baby sick.

Experts also recommend that nursing moms get an extra 500 calories a day. Your energy needs will depend on your current weight and a lot on your activity level — there’s no one-size-fits-all recommendation.

So breastfeeding moms, please watch your diet! You don’t want to have a son/daugther that is not fully healthy, right?

Tags : breast feeding, breast milk, diet while breastfeeding

For those of you new moms who are working, it might be a hard choice to choose between work or breastfeeding your baby. Most career women ended up just giving her baby formula milk. Now is there any way that career mom can both work and breastfeed her baby? Here’s the answer

1. Pump your breast at work
Ideally, you’ll have access to a private room at work where you can pump, such as an unused office or conference room, or even a large, clean closet with a chair, countertop, and electric outlet. (Most pumps come with a battery option, so you won’t necessarily need an outlet.) Try to find a room with a door that locks so you don’t have to worry about anyone intruding on your privacy. Ask the building manager or human resources staff for suggestions, and enlist the support of a co-worker or supervisor if necessary.

Your milk supply may vary daily. To maximize your milk flow, try to pump at the same time and place each day. Relax and look at your baby’s picture or visualize him while you pump. Stress and fatigue are your biggest enemies. Remember, you’re still a nursing mom, so eat well and drink plenty of water while at work.

Pumping every two to three hours is ideal. This timetable should provide all the milk your baby will need while you’re gone and allow you to keep up your milk supply so that you can continue to nurse your baby in the morning and evening, and on weekends.

2. Store the pumped milk in glass or plastic bottles.
Pump and store your milk in glass or plastic bottles or in plastic collection bags. Label the bottles or bags with your name and the date so you can use the oldest ones first. Store them in the office refrigerator or a cooler while at work. You can also find those temperature proof container by Dr Brown. They are very effective, especially for those of you who commutes.

3. Keep your breast from leaking at work
Pumping regularly (during your morning break, lunch break, and afternoon break) will prevent leaking. Use breast pads in your bras to protect your clothes from stains, or look for the new self-adhesive silicone pads (called LilyPadz) that prevent your breasts from leaking.

Tags : breast feeding, breast milk

Higher education seems to effect the average age in which women get married. Nowadays, you can find more and more 35 yeard old an up women who are still unmarried. If they get married late, usually they will give birth late also. Now, what are the risk of having baby when you are already 35 year old or up already? Here’s the info

Unfortunately, the risk of having baby with Down syndrome rises from about 1:760 at age 30 to 1:300 at age 35, and also 1:80 at age 40.

Moreover, the older you are when you get pregnant, the more likely you are to have a chronic disease, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, that may be undiagnosed.These undiagnosed diseases can also affect your pregnancy.

More risk developed in old age such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, placental abruption (in which the placenta prematurely separates from the uterine wall), and placenta previa (in which the placenta lies low in the uterus, partly or completely covering the cervix).

More bad news: research shows that your chances of having a low-birthweight baby (less than 5 1/2 pounds) or a premature delivery are increasing with age. The research also shows a significantly higher rate of delivery by cesarean section as age increases. The risk of maternal death is also higher for women who give birth 35 years old or older. The increased risk of these problems is largely due to underlying medical problems more common in older women. Proper diagnosis and treatment will help reduce the risks for both you and your baby.

But of course, the biggest obstacle for women age 35 or older is getting pregnant in the first place. Fertility rates begin to decline gradually at age 30, more so at 35, and markedly at age 40. Women 45 and older rarely get pregnant without some kind of fertility treatment.

So if you are 30 and still single, you might want to find someone real quick!
Good luck!

Tags : having baby in old age, risk of having baby

If you are having your first child, you might wonder when you can start introducing your baby solid food. Here’s some information about it

Solid food is usually introduced to babies when they are between 4 and 6 months. Until then, breast milk or formula provides all the calories and nourishment your baby needs and can handle. Baby’s digestive system simply isn’t ready for solids until 6 months old.

Nevertheless, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies be breastfed exclusively for at least six months although babies already eat solids earlier.

Below is the list of signs hinting that your baby is ready for solid food:

• Head control. Your baby needs to be able to keep his head in a steady, upright position.

• Losing the “extrusion reflex.” To keep solid food in his mouth and then swallow it, your baby needs to stop using his tongue to push food out of his mouth.

• Sitting well when supported. Even if he’s not quite ready for a highchair, your baby needs to be able to sit upright to swallow well.

• Chewing motions. Your baby’s mouth and tongue develop in sync with his digestive system. To start solids, he should be able to move food to the back of his mouth and swallow. As he learns to swallow efficiently, you may notice less drooling. He may also be teething around the same time.

• Significant weight gain. Most babies are ready to eat solids when they’ve doubled their birth weight (or weigh about 15 pounds) and are at least 4 months old.

• Growing appetite. Your baby seems hungry — even with eight to ten feedings of breast milk or formula a day.

• Curiosity about what you’re eating. Your baby may begin eyeing your bowl of rice or reaching for a forkful of fettuccine as it travels from your plate to your mouth.

Now that you know that your baby is ready for solid food, here are types of solid food that is suitable for your baby:

4-8 Months
“Baby” cereal and soft cooked thinly pureed fruits and veggies should be baby’s first solid food experiences. Single ingredients only and at a space of 4 days apart with introducing each new food. You may skip the cereal and begin with a fruit like avocado or begin with a veggie like butternut squash or sweet potato

8-10 Months
Bring on some spices and the softly mashed, or chopped into fine pieces of fruits, vegetables, meats, pasta and dairy such as yogurt and cheese. Pasta, veggies, and fruit should all be soft cooked and possibly mashed with a fork or masher. Raw fruits are often introduced at this stage. Meats and proteins such as egg yolk, should be cooked and pureed or chopped into small soft bits. If offering Tofu, you need not cook it first. Ensure dairy offered is easily manageable.

11-12 Months
By this stage, your baby should be just on the brink of or is already eating “table foods”. Your baby may already love self-feeding and may enjoy a variety of spices in her cuisine. Encourage a healthy exploration of foods, tastes and textures as well as eating utensils. However, always keep in mind that certain foods may still pose an allergy or other type of reaction risk.

Tags : baby food, baby solid food

The only thing a newborn should consume for the first six months is breast milk. You can start giving your baby water when they are old enough for solids. As a newborn, however, water should never be offered because many times it would take the place of a feeding. Moreover, too much water can prove toxifying. It is suggested to start offering water when your baby is at least 8 to 10 months.

While on the water subject, avoid tap water for mixing formula. Tap water is full of some really harsh chemicals, and is not really fit for drinking by anyone. Flouride is public drinking water is dangerous.

Tags : baby care, can newborns drink water?

In the old days, the only baby bottles available were made of glass. However, due to glass’ heavy and breakable properties, plastic bottles came along with lighter and shatter-proof benefit compared to glass bottles. Nevertheless, recent reports that a type of plastic found in baby bottles might cause potentially harmful changes in developing babies has left parents wondering if perhaps old-fashioned glass wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

Glass Bottles

Glass Cons:
- easily shattered: drop one on the floor in the middle of a late-night feeding, and you’ll have a roomful of shattered glass to clean up. Glass is also heavy and cumbersome.

Glass Pros:
- glass bottles are sturdy
- glass doesn’t contain any chemicals that could potentially get into the baby’s formula.

Plastic Bottles

Plastic Cons:
- concerns have arisen about the polycarbonate type of plastic bottles because they contain a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA). Bisphenol A is also used in everything from compact discs to the lining of cans, as well as other consumer products. A 2007 report by the organization Environment California showed that when heated, five popular brands of BPA-containing plastic baby bottles leached high levels of bisphenol A.
In studies of lab rats, low levels of BPA were linked to changes in the brain and reproductive system that researchers say may contribute to an increased risk of prostate and breast cancers, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, and early puberty.

Plastic Pros:
- Plastic baby bottles are lightweight, strong, and unbreakable. However,

Having known the facts, it would be wise to just choose plastic bottles which does not contain the Bisphenol A. If you want to avoid any bottles that contain it, look for the #7 recycling symbol or “PC” on the bottom. That’s usually a sign that the bottle contains BPA. However, not all plastics labeled with #7 recycling code contain BPA. Some bottle brands, such as Born Free, explicitly say that their products are not made of Bisphenol A.

Here is the list of Bisphenol A free plastic bottles:
bottles by Born Free, MAM and Adiri, breast pumps and supplies by Medela and Mother’s Milkmate, and sippy cups by Born Free, Klean Kanteen, Thermos, and SIGG.

Tags : newborn baby bottles, plastic bottles, plastic or glass bottles

Congratulations on your newborn baby. As the nurse measure your baby in the nursing room, you begin to wonder. Is my baby too small or too big? too tall or too short ? Find out the average newborn baby length and weight

AVERAGE NEWBORN WEIGHT
Just like adults, newborns come in a range of healthy sizes.
Most newborn baby weight who is born between week 37-40 weight between:
6 pounds, 2 ounces (2.812 kg) to 9 pounds, 2 ounces (4.173 kg).
If your baby is below 2.8kg then your baby might be too thin or maybe he/she was born before 37 weeks
If your newborn weighs more than 4.173 kg, then you should deliver with a c-cut (since the baby is too big for your vagina)

AVERAGE NEWBORN LENGTH
Their average length ranges from 19 to 21 inches (48 to 53 centimeters).
Consult with your doctor is your newborn is not between those two numbers.

Tags : newborn baby, newborn baby height, newborn baby weight

As you are breastfeeding, you find that you sexual desire changes, but unfortunately not your husband. Here are some tips about sex while breastfeeding your baby

The following may help you to have sex while breastfeeding.

1. Try different sexual positions.
Your breasts may be sore or have sudden leakage if touched, you may want to consider alternatives to the missionary position. Woman on top should be more comfortable.

2. Avoid having your breasts being caressed
If you’re worried about sudden leaking from your breasts, talk to your partner about not touching your breasts during sex or foreplay.

3. Consider wearing a bra with nursing pads in place.
Oxytocin is the hormone that helps control your milk ejection reflex which is released during female orgasm, This means that you may leak milk during sex. That’s why you should consider wearing a bra with nursing pads.

4. Use a lubricant.
While breastfeeding, you may experience a shortage of vaginal lubrication. A water based lubricant should ease any discomfort for you and your partner.

5. Be patient.
You may not want to have sex, or might be too exhausted and overwhelmed to think about sex after the birth of your baby. Communicate with your partner-many men express affection and comfort through sex. Let your partner know how you’re feeling and find other special ways to convey how important he is to you.

6. Wait around six weeks after you deliver to have sex.
If you have sex too soon, you could damage your perineum, causing infection and further damage to this sensitive area.

So those are the tips, we wish you and your baby great health