You are currently browsing the archives for February 2008.
I know you are probably sick of hearing about the fact that you are supposed to exercise during pregnancy but it is really important as it keeps your muscles strong which you will need to carry your baby especially those in your back. Here are some other reasons why you should exercise during pregnancy:
- Keeps your weight down thus making it easier to return to pre-pregnancy weight
- Keeps your energy levels up
- Can induce labour in the later stages of pregnancy
- Make you feel better
What type of exercise to do?:
If you already have a regular exercise programme from before you were pregnant continue with that as long as the midwife or Doctor say that it is OK to do so. If like the vast majority of women you don’t already have an exercise regime then gentle exercise such as swimming or walking are good, other exercises that can be good are things like swissball or yoga. Your local leisure centre staff can advise you on other options available to you. The only advise I can give is to avoid road running, martial arts involving contact and other vigorous exercises such as boxing, rugby or some exercises done in the gym.
Listen to your body and do as much as you feel able even if it’s just a walk round the block you’ll reap the benefits!!!
Valentine’s Day a day for being really romantic?
Why wait until February to be romantic? Me and my partner make small gestures all year for example if I’m relaxing in the bath sometimes Andy will bring me a hot chocolate, the gestures don’t have to be big it’s just about doing small things, I’m not saying that big gestures aren’t good but the small ones mean just as much.
Here a few ideas:
- Run your partner a bath
- Cook your partner’s favourite meal
- Let partner have a lie in while you sort out the child
- Snuggle up with your partner and a DVD
Hope these give you some ideas; as I know it can be hard keeping your love life on track when you have a child.
I don’t know if it’s just me but I’ve had a fair few funny looks or people mistaking my daughter for a little boy. Why?
The confusion seems to be caused by the fact that she has a steering wheel attached to the front of her pushchair, basically it seems that the stereotypes still exist (girls have dolls and boys have cars) I think that this is wrong so I have tried not to impose them on my daughter, she has both dolls and cars.
According to various studies it can put pressure on the child to conform to the “norm” also it can take away your child’s individuality if you impose the stereotypes. So basically don’t stifle your child with outdated ideas
Everyone has their likes and dislikes but everyone knows someone who is labelled as a “fussy eater” these people seem to dislike the majority of food.
My advice would be to offer your child a variety of different food from the very start (of weaning that is) also give your child the opportunity to try foods that you don’t like as it is unfair to stop your child having things purely on the basis that you don’t like it for example I tried my daughter with peanut butter; neither me nor my partner like it but she loves it.
Also DON’T offer cakes and biscuits (nice things) as an alternative when your child won’t eat the food you put in front of them, they need to learn that they eat what they are given obviously if they clearly don’t like it then offer them a substitute but again don’t make it something like a biscuit. I’ve found that if you try a child with something and they don’t like it doesn’t mean that they wont like it later. Lucie wouldn’t eat banana when we were weaning her but now she does; basically this is purely the result of their taste buds developing
When me and my partner moved in together, worked out how much money we had coming in and then our outgoings (we used excel but the old fashioned pen and paper is just as good) this means we know how much money we have left after bills this usually pays for our social life, any unexpected bills or gets saved for holidays etc.
I would recommend this to anyone, as you can avoid getting into loads of debt and it also means that you can recognise any problems and deal with them. Thus making the most of your money
I know that many people probably already do this but doing your food shopping online can actually save you money because:
- You don’t impulse buy
- You can see exactly how much you are spending, so don’t spend more than you had budgeted
Other benefits include saving time as you don’t have to travel to the supermarket then all the stuff there (the actual shopping and the queueing etc) also less stress.
Whether you still prefer the old fashioned way or shopping online here are some handy hints:
- Make a meal plan for the week, it reduces the amount of waste food
- Make a list and stick to it
The last few weeks my daughter hasn’t been well; so I took her to the doctors, the first time we went the doctor dismissed her symptoms as those of teething. So when she seemed to be getting worse I took her to see our Health Visitor, she told me to make an appointment with a GP (by this point I was feeling pretty fed up, thinking this was yet another person fobbing me off) so I went to make an appointment for her not feeling very optimistic but this time I decided I’d had enough so was quite forceful and actually found out that she had a virus.
So to deal with annoying professionals
- Trust your instincts, you know your baby better than anyone
- Be assertive
- Ask questions….often professionals bombard you with medical gibber or are very vague so if you don’t understand ask
- If you think that the professional hasn’t given your case the attention required seek a second opinion
Remember in some cases the professional will say things that you don’t want to hear, but the truth can be hard to swallow at times so it is often better to simply bite your tongue and accept it as having a shouting match with them will not help most of the time it basically stresses everyone concerned out and professionals can refuse to treat you or your child if you become violent or abusive.