Blackrock Baby Massage

It is with a heavy heart that we tell you Imelda of Blackrock Baby Massage has passed away. She loved meeting all the little ones and their parents, they were the best days of her week.

I love their gaze most of all 🍕

We have all heard the side effects of smart phone and tablet use. This piece summarises a recent study's findings on the link between speech and smart phone use in toddlers.

Giving toddlers tablets and smartphones can 'harm their speech development' Every half hour a toddler spends with a smartphone increases their risk of delayed speech by 49%, say researchers.

We are all the same, all trying to do our best.

I get comments on here sometimes from people who don't understand, people who get upset about some of the things I say. They vary of course but the underlying theme is always the same...

'You should be grateful for your children!'

When I had my first son I went through a difficult time, having previously lost our first pregnancy, a little girl diagnosed with conditions incompatible with life, I put myself under a lot of pressure to be the perfect mum (and yes I do feel very uneasy writing that in a Facebook post).

'I should be so grateful!' I thought. 'I am so lucky to have a beautiful baby, some people never get this opportunity.'

But I didn’t always feel grateful. Some days it felt so hard. I made myself sick with the overwhelming guilt that I was not doing a good enough job, that I was not a good enough mum. I thought there was something wrong with me.

And soon enough there was... I developed severe insomnia and anxiety and started having panic attacks.

What could have helped me?

It would have helped if I had felt less alone, It would have helped it I knew other people had those feelings too, It would have helped if I could have seen through the glossy magazines and happy, smiley Instagram photos and found an honest voice.

Different things allow different people to cope but this much I now know:-

1. Telling other people how they ‘should’ think, or how they ‘should’ feel is bloody dangerous.
2. Being grateful 24/7 is unrealistic and exhausting.
3. It's ALWAYS better to talk. Talking and asking for help can help prevent depression and anxiety before they become serious problems.
4. Occasionally wanting to eBay your child does not make you a bad person. It just makes you as painfully human as the rest of us.
5. There is no such thing as ‘the perfect mum’.
6. Everybody is winging it.
7. You are doing a brilliant job (trust me).

This week is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, it is so important! Please pass this on to any mum (old or new) who needs to hear it. Thank you.

Delighted to see that 'Baby Boxes' are being rolled out to more hospitals:

Free 'Baby Box' to be given to all new mothers in Wexford Hospital Wexford becomes only the second hospital in the country to provide the boxes for newborns.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/maternity-unit-welcomes-quads-triplets-and-twins-1.2861457

Maternity unit welcomes quads, triplets and twins Limerick hospital staff believe it is first time they have cared for a set of each at same time

Fantastic idea!
http://jrnl.ie/2993241

Free 'baby boxes' to be given to new mothers at Limerick hospital The use of these boxes has been credited with helping reduce infant mortality rates in Finland.

Sophisticated Communication from 8-Month Old Babies A clever experiment shows infants ask for help by reaching for objects 

This is truly fascinating. I love science.

Placenta’s alarm clock signals when it’s time for birth to begin Slowing the timer, or speeding it up, could provide a way to avoid potentially dangerous premature and late births, which cause millions of deaths globally

I never heard of this before. Please take note all my lovely Moms.

Baby Died Minutes After Daycare Worker Put Him In Car Seat For A Nap. I Had NO IDEA This Was Possible! Every parent needs to know about this!

More studies.

Study Reveals Baby's Heart And Brain Suffers From Sleeping Alone | HerFamily.ie Study Reveals Baby's Heart And Brain Suffers From Sleeping Alone

Like Grandma said......

Early preschool bedtimes cut risk of obesity later on: Kids in bed by 8 p.m. have half the risk... Preschoolers who are regularly tucked into bed by 8 p.m. are far less likely to become obese teenagers than young children who go to sleep later in the evening, new research has found. Bedtimes after 9 p.m. appeared to double the likelihood of obesity later in life, according to a study.