1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your doctor confirms your pregnancy.
2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.

PREPARING FOR THE BIRTH:
1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
2nd baby: You don't bother because you remember that last time breathing didn't do a thing.
3rd baby : You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.

THE LAYETTE:
1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau.
2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.
3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?

WORRIES:
1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby.
2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.
3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.

DUMMY:
1st baby: If the dummy falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.
2nd baby: When the dummy falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby's bottle..
3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.

NAPPIES:
1st baby: You change your baby's nappy every hour, whether they need it or not.
2nd baby: You change their nappy every two to three hours, if needed.
3rd baby: You try to change their nappy before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.

ACTIVITIES:
1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing, and Baby Story Hour.
2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.
3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaner.

GOING OUT:
1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times.
2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached...
3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.

AT HOME:
1st baby : You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children.

SWALLOWING COINS:
1st child: When first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays.
2nd child: When second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the coin to pass.
3rd child: When third child swallows a coin, you deduct it from his pocket money.

GRANDCHILDREN:
God's reward for allowing your children to live!

In response to a request from many parents, I am both excited and relieved to announce the completion and release of this NEW book.

Between the 112 pages of this paperback is a collection of 120 favourite recipes and appropriate food choices for your baby and toddler. The recipes are easy to prepare, nutritionally sound and age appropriate to enhance a child’s growth and development.

Along with recipes there are over 100 professional tips to help facilitate the often stressful task of offering a balanced diet to babies and toddlers.

Obesity in Australia has now been referred to as an 'epidemic' with 1:4 children effected. This book takes a professional look at developing eating patterns at the grass roots level as a way to help reduce the risk of obesity developing.

Slow speech development can be associated with poorly formed facial muscles at a time when words and sentences are being learnt. Too much soft mush for too long!!

Assist your child to have a healthy start with their food intake and the growth and development associated with it's progression.

Day Care Providers are welcome to enquire about a commission opportunity for their centre.

ORDER ONLINE and receive an eBook of your choice ABSOLUTELY FREE
or
BUY IT (first time on sale)
at
Belly 2 Baby's SUMMER LAUNCH EVENT
on
November 28th, 9am-3pm
at
Sunshine Homemaker Centre
Maroochydore

If your baby is:
.unsettled
.having sleeping or feeding problems
.suffering with Reflux or Colic
.developing a flattened head shape,
then it is possible that your baby could have a misalignment in the spine.

Dr Matthew Duncan discovered it took 90 – 140 lbs of pull pressure to produce spinal damage, stating that this amount “is not uncommon in the normal delivery process. … these injuries often occur during the birth process, but frequently escape diagnosis”.

These misalignments (called chiropractic subluxations) not only cause pain and discomfort but also effect functioning of the brain and body. Tiny nerves which exit through the spine control the function of many parts of the body. In fact every cell, tissue and organ in the body is controlled by spinal nerves. Spinal misalignments cause nerve pressure. Minor misalignments may cause enough nerve pressure to effect up to 60% of nerve function. Anything under control of that nerve will function abnormally. It’s like driving a car with the hand brake on, the car drives but not very well.

Commonly, we find spinal misalignments in the neck to cause
-sleeping problems
-breast feeding problems
-irritability
-reflux
-favouring one side of the head which eventually results in a flattened headshape.

Spinal misalignments in the back may cause
-colic
-constipation
-a dislike to lying on their back and be upset during nappy changes.

Misalignments in the shoulder may cause
-irritability
-a dislike to tummy time
-decrease use of that arm.

Correcting spinal misalignments is very safe and gentle.
It allows the nerves to work properly, the body to function optimally and resolves any local pain. When this occurs babies are much happier and the symptoms often resolve.

How many times your baby will need treatment will depend on how severe the spinal misalignment is and how long it has been present. Three is the average amount of treatments required for newborns.

Dr. Scott Baker has been treating babies and children since 2002. He has completed a 5 year double degree in chiropractic and two years post graduate studies in chiropractic paediatrics. He is located at Children’s Sunshine Chiropractic in Caloundra and Maroochydore, Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Ph 5491-7743.

Sleep is vital for our existence and lack of sleep is a form of torture!

You may have discovered for yourself how not getting enough sleep can cause confusion, clumsiness, poor concentration and a short temper. If a baby or child is lacking sleep they too are suffering these effects.

This parent child combination of sleep deprivation is not pretty!

As well as suffering lack of sleep some of you may be stretched financially and I would like to do my bit to help.

I have massively reduced the "Putting them to Sleep" CD for a limited time.

This CD is stacked with 60 minutes of useful and practical information on handling infant sleep.
At this price it would also be a helpful gift for a neighbour or friend with a baby.

After a baby is born a woman’s body undergoes dramatic changes in almost every system. These are often extreme but usually short-lived.

Specific massage techniques address muscle soreness and fatigue, reduce muscle aches and swelling in the legs.
Myofascial release decompresses the lumbar spine to relieve muscle tightness, and eases trigger points everywhere in the body.
Appropriate exercises help the transverse abdominal muscles to heal and strengthen and stabilize the pelvis.

Although nothing takes the place of an uninterrupted night’s sleep, a full body massage is relaxing and appreciably restorative for a sleep-deprived mum.

Loraine understands that postnatal massage can be an emotional experience for some new mums,therefore provides a relaxing and private atmosphere where a mum can feel protected and supported.

Look through the link in the Chiropractic article to find a massage therapist in your area.

Infant massage has been practiced and enjoyed in many other cultures for centuries and is finally being recognised for its benefits here in Australia. The benefits are numerous. To name a few; it can bring relief of
-colic
-constipation
-sleeping problems.

However, the biggest benefit I believe is the bond it can help to build between you and your baby.

In an infant massage instruction session parents are taught how to perform gentle, soothing strokes on their baby's body to assist in their growth and development.

Classes are held either one on one in your home or in a group setting, ideal for mothers groups.

Learn more about infant massage at www.infantmassage.org.au

I saw you on Friday and just wanted to THANK YOU!
My 7month old baby boy has slept through until at least 6am every night since, without waking once!! The first sleep he took 45 minutes to go off, the second sleep only 20 mins, and from then on I have barely had to go in at all, he settles himself so quickly and easily. I was hoping for an improvement, but this is just wonderful. Thank you for giving me the confidence to do it.

Do you need a babysitter for a Christmas or New Year function?

Do you dream of having a nanny so that you can have a short break over the Christmas season WITHOUT the children?

Do you need holiday care for your children?

Are you returning to work next year and need care for your young children?

Active Childcare Solutions services all the Sunshine Coast and provides casual babysitters, short term and long term nannies, and respite care for families in distress.

All carers have a Blue Suitability Card, and current First Aid and CPR certificates. Most have either teaching, nursing or childcare experience and many have mothering experience - specify your childcare needs and we can match you with an appropriate carer.

CHRISTMAS GIFT VOUCHERS available
- why not give that special friend a well deserved 'night off'.

10% discount for the first 10 bookings for the month of December - new clients only, maximum of 5 hours care, 1 booking per family.

Mobiles
- Keep them out of reach to encourage reaching
- Use bright colours and shapes
- You could make your own from a coat hanger or a large one on the clothes line.

See and Watch
- Hold object about 20cm from your baby‘s face, move it side to side, up and down
- Lots of time on the floor
- Put them in front of a mirror

Hear and Speech
- Talk, sing and hum, loud to soft, high to low, short to long
- Rhyming games, rubbing and patting hand on tummy ie. Pat-a-cake
- If your baby makes a sound, cough, or babble make it back to them with a smile in an interested tone
- Read to them


Reaching and Posting
- Have a container with fun safe objects in it
- Your baby can search through the container (ice cream container)
- Have a lid with a cut out hole so they can post toys back into it
- Dangle toys in front of your baby’s face to encourage reaching such as cotton reels on string

Sound and Music
- Plastic juice bottles filled with bits and pieces, glue the lid on well
- Make a noise with a bell or drum when baby is not looking, then let them play with noisy objects
- Music of all varieties
- Put music on and give them a spoon and saucepan, see if they can find the beat!

Kick
- Have hanging toys on stroller or across chair if lying on the floor to encourage kicking
- Put outfits on them with ears or faces on the feet

Hide and Seek or Peek-a-Boo games
- Hide yourself or hide an object under or behind something
- Praise them when they successfully find it

Chasing
- Crawl after them taking your time to catch up

Tug of War
- Have a scarf or tea towel just out of reach, when they take it gently tug on it and if they make an effort to hold on let them have it to play with as a reward.

Cups and Blocks
- Pile them, push them, stack them, roll them put things in them and probably throw them!!

Moulding and finger work
- use edible playdough recipe (in taste it recipe book)with plastic figures and shapes available.