Newborns

MANY FIRE STATIONS HAVE SIGNS POSTED THAT they will accept certain items that can be dropped off by the public.  These range from jugs of pesticide to toy donations and even unwanted babies in some areas.

But one woman in Calgary, Alberta, didn’t quite follow the rules when she dropped off a live hand grenade yesterday.  She was doing some cleaning out of a rental property that she owns when she came across the grenade.  Instead of calling for help, she just picked it up and took to the firehouse.  The engine crew was out at the time, but they came right back when they were notified by the medic crew about the donation.

For the next 90 minutes the street was closed, the firehouse was in lockdown and the neighborhood was evacuated while the bomb squad transferred the device into a sandbox.  It was later determined that it was a “live fuse, dead grenade” which is normally used in training.

See the original here

1. Touching the soft spots on baby’s head. If you’ve done this, don’t worry about it! When you touch your baby’s soft spots, known as the fontanels, you’re not touching his brain. So what are you touching? A thick, very protective membrane. The soft spots exist because, in order to safely negotiate the narrow birth canal, a baby’s skull is flexible, so your little one’s downy head has already survived a pretty rough ride with no harm done.

2. Seeing baby’s pulse in his fontanels. What you’re seeing are the normal workings of your baby’s circulatory system. Because the fontanels cover areas of the skull that have not yet fused together, they’re soft, making veins and arteries visible.

3. Blood in your newborn girl’s diaper. During pregnancy, a surge in maternal estrogen levels can stimulate a female fetus’s uterus. Within the first week of life, it’s not uncommon for baby girls to have a mini period in which the uterus sheds a little blood.

4. A small hollow in baby’s chest. Relax, this isn’t a heart problem. According to experts, the breastbone is made up of three parts. The indentation you see is likely the bottom piece, angling backward. As your baby grows, her chest and belly muscles will pull it straight. Even before then, layers of yummy baby fat will cover up this very normal bit of newborn anatomy.

5. Soft, squishy poops after every feeding. Breastfed babies may poop after each feeding because breast milk is so quickly digested. (Bottlefed babies may have less-frequent bowel movements.) As far as the squishy issue is concerned, most newborn poops are soft simply because babies are on an all-liquid diet.

A shoe salesman in Maine never went to college and wants to offer this opportunity to those born in 2008 and in the state of Maine. $500 will be put into an account for each child and is expected to grow to $2,000 by 2026. He recommends to all parents adding an additional $50 a year and that will increase the college fun to $25,000 by the time the child turns 18.

To read the full story go to ABC News website.

Every time I am looking for information on Newborn I see the sweetest pictures that I would like to share with you. Here is one of the links…

Dragonfly Design

As moms in this day and age, we are bombarded daily with media about the safety of the things we are eating, using, cleaning with, etc… Studies are popping up constantly linking potential toxins in our foods and products we use daily as being the causes of the rise in cases all sorts of diseases, especially affecting our children. It can become very overwhelming and scary quite frankly…

…Wait, it gets better, or worse really… a recent study conducted by EWG found over 200 common household toxic chemicals from cleaning products and beauty products found in babies placenta at birth. This is scary. So we know to watch what we eat while pregnant, but now it’s even more than that, now it’s also what we use on our bodies and the products we use when we are going through that inevitable nesting thing we do towards the end when we have that overwhelming desire to scrub everything in sight senseless and re-organize all the closets. Our babies are polluted before we even start wiping their bottoms with toxic baby wipes.

For the full article visit Mom2momlounge.

This is hilarious!

So, this guy has proof of his thoughtful side through the poses of his newborn baby, which is absolutely adorable.

Check it out here.

Infants are born with a number of instinctual responses to stimuli, such as light or touch, known as primitive reflexes, which gradually disappear as the baby matures. These reflexes include the:

• sucking reflex, which triggers an infant to forcibly suck on any object put in the mouth
• grasp reflex, which causes an infant to tightly close the fingers when pressure is applied to the inside of the infant’s hand by a finger or other object
• Moro reflex, or startle response, which causes an infant to suddenly throw the arms out to the sides and then quickly bring them back toward the middle of the body whenever the infant has been startled by a loud noise, bright light, strong smell, sudden movement, or other stimulus

This day and age everything is downloadable…. including soothing sounds to put your baby to sleep! That’s right newborn Napster but not so illegal. It is said that babies cry to create a white noise that will soothe them to sleep by reminding them of the noises made in the womb.

Many of the noises you can create yourself like a hairdryer, vaccumm cleaner, dryer and an electric fan. Although if you want to get a little noise variety you can always download some ocean surf, a relaxing river or simply the original womb.

Take a peek!

Pediasleep.com

Few things can add up to trouble as quickly as a newborn with sleep problems.

Sleep deprivation is at least as serious for infants as it is for adults. The underlying causes remain an area of active investigation, but scientists believe they’ve identified several key ones, and some possible solutions.

Causes

Sleep deprivation occurs for any cause that prevents adequate quantity of sleep. Infants vary considerably in how much that is, with the amount changing for the first year. A one month old will need as much as 16 hours, sleeping off and on all day and night. From 6-9 months the number decreases to about 14, with the nighttime taking over about 3/4 of the total.

Quality of sleep counts, too. Several different sleep disorders can decrease it.

Nightmares, night terrors and other conditions are foremost examples. Nightmares are familiar to adults. Night terrors differ in that children are generally able to fall back asleep right away. The key neurological difference is that night terrors occur during deep sleep, nightmares during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) portion of the cycle.

Sleep apnea is a different type of sleep disorder, one in which breathing stops. In some cases the underlying neurological reasons are still unclear. In others, it’s simply the result of enlarged tonsils or adenoids, a sub-category called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In either case, the episodes are invariably short. Still, they interrupt the normal sleep cycle and can lead to lack of restful sleep.

Psychological issues may be at the root of some cases of newborn sleep difficulties, though this is likely more common in older babies of 9 months to about 3 years old. Separation anxiety, in which the child fears being away from the parent, can lead to a form of infant stress that interferes with the ability to sleep.

Treatments

Nightmares or night terrors may be the result of tension in the home, but they’re just as often mysterious. Closeness and reassurance can go a long way toward helping the newborn fall back to sleep quickly.

Apnea that results from obstructions can be treated surgically, if the physician counsels that it is warranted. Typical pre-surgery evaluation includes careful monitoring of brain waves using an EEG and eye and chin movements. For this and other types of apnea, monitoring systems are available that will alert the parent when breathing stops for more than a few seconds. Gentle waking, followed by reassurance will let the child resume breathing and fall quickly back to sleep.

Separation anxiety is more difficult to detect, but easier to treat. Simple closeness, perhaps even co-sleeping, may be enough. Attachment bonding is desirable to let the infant know someone is close by to meet their needs at all times, even though they obviously aren’t consciously aware of the need.

Avoid creating sleep problems by not feeding solid foods before infants are ready. For the first six months breast milk or formula is all they need. Also, avoid juice or milk near bed time after about 3 months of age, and don’t feed in order to induce sleep. A full tummy doesn’t necessarily lend itself to restful sleep. Instead, associate sleeping with positives by providing closeness, a pacifier, a stuffed toy or other safe object.

Summary

At bottom, parents need to be realistic. Individual babies vary widely in how long they sleep through the night normally, especially in the first six months. And, in almost all cases, even the most restless child will grow out of any sleep problem with time.

Source

They may be newborns, but two girls from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula already have a head start on paying for college.

Raina Koryn Ledzian and Ellise Marie Dove were presented with $20,000 savings bonds today from Bell Hospital in Ishpeming, which recently moved to a new building.

Raina was honored for being the last baby born in the old building, while Ellise was the first to be born in the new one.

Ellise’s mother, Rebecca Roy of L’Anse, broke into tears when given her daughter’s bond, calling the experience overwhelming. She gave birth Saturday.

Rita Martin of Iron Mountain, who gave birth last Wednesday, said she hoped Raina would be a good student and make productive use of her gift.

The bonds will mature when the girls turn 18.