The Fourth Trimester

Attention: This is the kind of information you ought to share with a new mother.

Most parents, including myself, suffered/suffer from frustrating crying episodes babies have in their first months of life.

Dr. Harvy Karp said to Newsday: “Crying is not just a nuisance, but it’s a primary trigger for postpartum depression, for marital stress, for breast-feeding failure, for child abuse. for maternal smoking, for SIDS, for the over treatment of children with acid re flux medicine, for mothers overeating and mothers getting into car accidents.”

Let’s start off with a comparison between life in the womb and life in the outside world beautifully set up by Babycalmblog :

Favorite Baby Essentials

As I was expecting my baby, I searched the web for newborn must haves and landed on many lists. So I decided to set up my own list of top baby products:

Boppy Pillow: This pillow is genius. I used to sleep on it when I was pregnant, helped me support my arms while nursing, served as a soft back support for my newborn and I’m still using it now to protect my 7-month-old baby while sitting from bumping his head to the floor. I bought mine from Baby Shop and customized a cover for it.

Breastfeeding friendly tops: If you decided to breastfeed, you’ll have to ditch most of your tops for convenience. Make sure to have a couple of (many) breastfeeding friendly tops.  H & M, Mamas and Papas and Destination Maternity have some great ones in various styles, models and colors.

Surviving Airplane Rides

Given that we are all expats here in the UAE, we ought to visit our hometowns regularly. So that means traveling with babies and infants on long, tiring and annoying rides. In order to make our flight as smooth and stress-free as possible here’s a checklist that I came up with -based on my experience in travelling alone with a baby- of what to pack and do:

What to do:

My baby enjoying the view.

Book the front seat: Try to book a seat in the first row, just behind the business section. Why? More leg room and flexibility in moving around the plane. On FlyDubai the booking costed 100 Dhs but it was worth the pay!

If your baby is still a newborn, a bassinet would help. I personally tried the one on Emirates Airlines, and my baby slept for like one hour in it.

Go Comfy: It’s not a wedding okay, so no need for the high heels and classy clothes. Just go in comfy sneakers or sandals -whatever you feel comfy in- a sweater and sports pants maybe.

Relax: It’s important to stay relaxed the whole time. It’s not easy for the baby to go through the intense change of pressure in the plane; he will cry while landing and takeoff most probably and even during the flight!

SIDS Alert

Brace yourselves mothers, this is a scary issue for all of us!

To start with, I learnt about SIDS by mistake one afternoon when I was reading a couple of articles about newborn sleep patterns. Since that day on wards and I’m guilty of constantly checking my baby’s breathing at night since I put him to sleep on his tummy.

I find it highly important for mothers and caregivers to understand what SIDS is and what measures can be taken to best prevent it. Fortunately in a survey done on a sample of the UAE MUMS community, the majority of participants acknowledged that they were ‘aware of SIDS’. 

Here’s to educate who aren't aware of SIDS and to better explain it to those who are:

Breastfeeding 101

Breastfeeding is one of the most controversial topics in ‘Mama Land’. When asked if I breastfeed, I get constipated and disgusted faces at times and delighted faces with a “Bravo” other times.Abhorred by many and cherished by others, like myself. According to The World Health Organization, globally less than 40% of infants under six months of age are exclusively breastfed.

Breastfeeding is recommended by both the WHO and the American Academy of Pediatrics for the first six months of a baby’s life. Away from the health organizations' recommendations and from one breastfeeding mother to you. Breastfeeding is the only natural and best method to nurture your little one.

Yes it will be hard at first, I have to admit, it might hurt, irritate and drive you crazy at times. That's why it's important to know that breastfeeding is learnt and isn’t an easy practice, especially in the first two months that will be quite challenging in fact.However as soon as the baby masters his latching skills and a rough routine is established, it WILL get much much easier.