Blog

As a mother of two, Lucinda 2.5 years and Xavier 10 months, I’ve come to better understand the anxieties and pressures associated with wanting to keep ones children safe from harm. Also, after having worked for different governments on a variety of child safety and injury prevention projects, it became apparent that there is a need to inform and empower parents and carers in an effort to raise awareness and reduce the incidence of child injuries in the home.

Unintentional injuries to children can have minor to severe impacts on children, their families and even their communities. Most injuries that occur in the home are minor, but some can result in tragedy. Causes of injuries are endless, but commonly include; falls, poisoning, near drowning, choking and suffocation, animal bites, burns and scalds, being crushed or struck, and cutting and piercing.

Safe Spaces for Kids provides a holistic approach home child safety through service and advice. We help expecting parents, parents of young children, grandparents and carers reduce the risk of injuries in their home by performing a thorough home safety check and recommending tailored, preventative strategies. Safe Spaces for Kids can take the stress out of creating a safe home environment by providing the following services:

• Home safety checks
• Advice
• Home safety products and installation
• Car restraint checks and installations
• Playground soft fall

Visit www.safespaces.com.auor get behind us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Safe-Spaces-for-Kids/238314526213235and Twitter @safespaces4kids to support our passion to protect children from harm. Even consider who, in your life, could benefit from attaining the services of Safe Spaces for Kids.

Director: Adriana Hartskeerl

info@safespaces.com.au

“A modern womans guide to A Natural and Empowering Birth”

In-store 17th December 10am to 2pm

Come along and meet Katrina Zaslavsky

and get your pre-christmas sneek peek

at her new and inspirational book..

Great Christmas present! Come along and get yours signed by the Author!

Are you RIPE and READY for this book?

• Embrace Your Pregnancy: You are pregnant and wondering how you are going to get through the next nine months, instead of embracing it as an incredibly beautiful life changing experience

• Be Inspired: All you ever hear is horror stories,symptoms and complaints on the topics of pregnancy and birth and you would like to hear something more positive and inspiring for a change.No one has shared with you the beauty, magic or miracle of giving birth

• Overcome your Fears: When you imagine getting the baby out, it creates feelings of intense fear or panic

• Go Natural: You would really love to go natural if possible and maybe even drug free (you instinctively don’t like the idea of all those drugs and needles or medical interventions) if only you knew how,and was shown the road was totally possible and achievable

• Empower Yourself: You are ready to be empowered for life and reclaim your birth power as a woman and birthing goddess!

What others say about A Modern Woman’s Guide......

"What Katrina has created is like a beautiful, nurturing 'community in a book' which includes the reader.  But this book is not just inspiring for the woman who is pregnant and preparing to give birth naturally; It's a must read for all of us who are on a journey of facing our fears and want to experience the joy of living in the full sense."  ~ Vanessa Finnigan,creator of Holistic Bliss Magazine

“I loved reading A Modern Woman’s Guide to a Natural Empowering Birth....We really need get back to a place where women trust birth, trust the process and above all else, trust themselves and their ability to birth their babies and your book will encourage readers to do just that. I think you are onto something powerful here.... Love it!” ~ Simone Snyder CMT, CD, ICCE, International Childbirth Education Association (ICEA)

“Reading it is very much like being surrounded by wise women teaching the lessons of birth we wish we all had received as young women. This book will be a great blessing to those women who go seeking for birth wisdom. ~ Jenne Erigo Alderks, Board member and Grassroots Advocates Co-Chair for The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services

“A Modern Womanʼs Guide to a Natural Empowering Birth has opened my heart and eyes to how childbirth can and should be. I now know exactly how I want my labour to be and am looking forward to experiencing every second of it. No fear, no worries. Thanks Katrina for giving me and other mums-to-be this incredible gift.” ~ Shannon Dunn, first time mum-to-be, Conscious Life Media

Afterword by Dr Sarah Buckley MD, internationally renowned author of “Gentle Birth Gentle Mothering”

It is really common for new dads to feel resentful and left out when a new baby arrives on the scene.  Up until this point it has just been the two of you and now you are a family; becoming a family is a massive transition, not to be underestimated! It is incredibly common for partners to feel disconnected around this time, in fact one study quotes that 50% of couples rate the quality of their marriage as “in decline”, around this time.

It’s ok that there is a bit of space between you and your partner as long as an effort is made to reconnect again when baby is not as dependant on mum any more….and newborn babies ARE really dependant. Human beings are the most vulnerable of all mammals- think about how other mammals are born and can immediately stand and walk! It helps to remember that this is not forever – your baby will grow bigger and stronger and soon be able to be left in the care of others: this is when mum and dad need to commit to dates in the diary to reconnect with each other!

It is really normal for intimacy between you and your partner to appear to be in decline when bub is on the scene! Often Mum has had so much physical contact with the baby during the day that any further skin to skin contact seems just too much- it might be hard not to take this personally but it truly is not because she has gone off you- she just needs a little bit of space.

Even though there is increasing awareness regarding support for new dads, there is not as much support for dads in the community as there is for mum around the time of becoming a parent. Dads also don’t have the luxury of talking about how they feel with a network of friends, like women tend to do.

If you are a new dad and struggling, the best place to start and find some support is your local GP. Another great resource is the Post and Antenatal Depression Association (Ph: 1300726306) – you may call up during the week and speak to a telephone counsellor, and you don’t have to have postnatal depression to give them a call- you may just want to talk through some of your worries. There are a few male counsellors available that you may feel more comfortable talking with.

Did you know that 10% of dads suffer from post natal depression? They are even less likely than women to seek help for their symptoms and often if they do get help it is only much later on. This I think is for a couple of reasons: firstly the dads are often not as connected to health professionals like the mums are. (New mums spend a lot of time at their maternal child health nurse and GP!) Secondly they are often holding the family together around the time when mum is diagnosed with postnatal depression and fail to look after themselves too. (One of the biggest risk factors for men to be diagnosed with postnatal depression is having a partner who has postnatal depression)

This is a difficult and challenging transition for mums AND dads- so being aware that men need support too, is a good start!

By Dr Melaine Strang - Seminar at Preggi Central on the 4th December CLICK HERE for more information.

Written by Naturopath-Marie Caruso

With approximately 20% of mothers now suffering Post Natal Depression (PND), it is important to be aware of how it presents so it can be detected in friends, partners, family members or maybe even yourself.

Signs and symptoms:

Physical: fatigue, sleep difficulties especially insomnia, faintness, muscular aches and pains, changed appetite, constipation and low libido.

Emotional/mental: crying for no apparent reason, inability to cry, feeling unable to cope, overwhelmed and severe irritability. Anxiety is common, with 30 – 40% of sufferers exhibiting extreme anxiety. Guilt is also a strong feature, with feelings of inadequacies as a mother, loss of self esteem and negative thoughts.

Onset: there is still no general consensus on when PND begins. Some believe it occurs within 6 months of birth whereas others say it can manifest even after a baby is one year old. Other sources suggest that it may be depression that has actually been present before the mother was even pregnant or began while she was pregnant.

People affected:

PND can affect anyone regardless of age and culture. It has been documented that there is a 50% likelihood that subsequent episodes will occur, if it has manifested once before.

Causes: there are numerous causes that can trigger PND. To date not one thing has been determined as the only cause of PND.

Hormonal- recent literature suggests that the result of hormonal fluctuations that occur within pregnancy and that the dramatic drop in hormones could cause PND.

Thyroid Dysfunction-is a condition which manifests similar to depression. It has been determined that 20 -30% of people suffering depression have a dysregulated thyroid. It has been estimated that 10% of PND sufferers have a thyroid dysfunction.

Nutritional Factors-there are many nutritional factors that could result in PND, from lack of omega 3’s and low folate. However the most common being Iron deficiency anaemia. With 50% of females being iron deficient it is a highly probable cause of PND.

Sleep Deprivation- inadequate deep sleep (REM) where you dream, has also been noted to result in mental illness including depression. With a newborn, it is very difficult to ascertain adequate sleep and so this on its own could result in PND.

Diagnosis and treatment: PND is usually diagnosed by a medical practitioner or Maternal Health Nurse via the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) which is a set of 10 questions determining the severity of anxiety and depression in a person. Orthodox Medical Treatment is usually antidepressant medication with approximately 50% of sufferers on them. Behavioural therapies are also commonly used such as counselling and psychotherapy and have been shown to be equally as effective as antidepressants.

            Natural therapists determine what is your individual cause of PND and use a range of herbs, Nutritionals, homeopathics, diet and lifestyle changes to recorrect the internal imbalance on a physical and emotional level and incorporate these regimes to potentially prevent the next episode.

            If you believe you may be suffering from PND or know someone who might be, please speak to your Health Practitioner or alternatively contact The Post nad antenatal depression association (PaNDa) www.panda.org.au or beyond blue at www.beyondblue.org.au.. so that the baby blues can become baby bliss.

Capturing early expressions

Whether your little bundle lays sleeping helplessly in your arms, or alittle squeamish or screaming with hunger, or telling you he is totally neglected although you've cuddled and nursed him or her for an hour or two, or whether he is perched against your risen knees in bed while his wrinkled face and big dark eyes express to you at least 50 expressions in 20 seconds, these moments are moments we have to admit that we do in fact forget, unless that is, we capture them in some way or another.

Having had 3 children, currently 2 adult children and one toddler I know that it has been hard to snatch moments to write down in descriptive form what my baby is doing, I know it has its place. The times that I have done so, have been very emotionally touching moments when reflected on in future days. These have been the words that strengthen my bonds and re-enforce the power of love within my heart during their teen years.

However, because words, wonderful as they are,  can be a challenge to express and do justice to your endearing and time demanding bundle, it is much faster and visually more impacting to make the effort to pull out the camera and capture candid expressions and those first frowns of 100 wrinkles like Dad's on the forehead.

As a recent new Mum I feel that in reality I tend to miss at least 99% of all the wonderful moments that I see pass before my eyes, I only hope that my memory stores them in my knowledge bank. Unfortunately, as life can be stressful and extremely time consuming, these things are blocked from our memory which stress has a tendency to do. Within myself I have a deep sadness that I didn't have a good camera or the money to have professional photos taken when my daughter 18 years ago was born. Also the stress of my relationship situation and living circumstances stole away my early memories of the first few years of my daughter's life. Do I regret this? Yes of course. It still stirs me deep within to even consider this. She has just turned 18 and over the past 2 years since sweet 16 has been wanting me to tell her all about her babyhood and the cute things she did. Also to show her photos and re-live our happy days amongst the not so happy. I found myself repeating things that seem to have stuck which she had already heard. I struggled with tears in my heart as I tried earnestly to dig up, extract, pull out or any manner of recollection that I could in order to bring my daughter's babyhood back to life. All I could think of was the major tantrums and head strong temper she had. Somehow I had blocked anything beyond that. Blurry photos from my $2 garage sale camera were all that I could look at to try to bring up a recollection or two.

felt that although those days of her baby and childhood were past, that through the wonder of modern technology I was able to make that connection with her.

Bubble Pix has been birthed through my eyes as a mother, and motivated through personal experience of knowing the need and place for visuals to stimulate and bring to life the connections we had at first with our children and for their sake to stand as points of reflective reference capturing their first interactions with their family and the world around them.

With fancy technology and the ability to create fantasy photos at Bubble Pix, I have been able to capture my youngest daughter's expressions and interactions from the earliest moment of life.

I am personally happy to be able to help any other mother or father who desire to capture some of those precious moments in full colour and size and be as creative as you would like to enable you to freeze time and memory.

If you have a story of how precious your early photos have been and are to you, please write to me. Lets reveal the preciousness of capturing life in its infancy.

Tanya

Bubble Pix Photography

preggi central

celebrates as we launch shopping at www.preggicentral.com

From October 21^stto 27^th

Buy the HOT Milk (SW) Bra or Sahara Singlet at Expo or on-line* for just
$50

Save up to $20

$5 from the sale of every

HOT Milk (SW)Bra and $2 from every

Top Secret Sahara Nursing Singlet will be donated to the

Mercy Health Breastmilk Bank supporting sick and premature babies at Mercy Hospital for Women

www.preggicentral.com

or visit Preggi Central at stand L27 during Expo and discover why we’re

So much more than a maternity store!

Preggi Central Proudly Supporting the  Mercy Health Breastmilk Bank

*Applies to sales at Expo or Online only between 21st and 27th of October inclusive.Discount and Donation applicable only to

Hot Milk (SW) Bra pictured (see online store for more styles) and Sahara singlets. No further discounts apply