New booklists and articles coming in 2012...stay tuned!

I started this blog quite a number of years ago as a blend of my dual passion for my role as Family Network Librarian at the Burnside Library and my role as Mummy to baby Lachlan!

Well, now Lachlan is 5 years old, off to school in 2012 and he has a baby sister Sophie who is now 2! (Not exactly a baby anymore either, but she is my baby!)

So much has happened since starting this blog, and it never really got off the ground in the way that I had originally hoped that I want to revamp it so that it can promote what your Burnside Library Family Information Zone has for you to help you on your parenting journey - whether it's baby sleep, toilet trainining, activities to do with your little ones or anything else under the sun that encompasses parenting and children I hope bit by bit you can find some help, laughs, and great reads here.

From time to time I might even "mix it up" and include some "non-parenting" reads here too, as many of us like to read for leisure too, however brief our leisure time might be for little ones. As an example the two books I read most recently were "Meltdown" by Ben Elton and "The Marriage Club" by Kate Legge.

Stay tuned...from February my plan is to post at least once a fortnight so two new booklists or articles per week. I also plan to update previous booklists so content about all parenting topics on this blog should remain fairly current.

If at anytime you are looking for books, DVDs or magazines to help you on your parenting please phone the Burnside Library to enquire about resources in the Family Information Zone that may assist you...

Sleep for Babies, Toddlers and YOU!

Sleep (or more accurately the lack of it) is a topic of interest for many parents – there are a whole plethora of techniques and “solutions” – from gentle child-led approaches which include bedtime routines and cosleeping to more parent-directed baby training approaches – there are also some resources that include a balanced middle-of-the road approach to discussing sleep issues and potential solutions.

For parents who are at the end of their tether and have tried everything a more parent-directed approach may be warranted and while “controlled crying” as such is no longer recommended by children’s and women’s health services like CYH, some parents swear by controlled comforting techniques, teaching babies to “self-soothe” and feed, play, sleep routines. It’s important though to realise that some of these techniques may not be suitable for babies under 12 months of age and especially not those under 6 months of age as young babies do need to be fed frequently including overnight, so expecting a baby under 6 months of age to “sleep through the night” may be unrealistic, bear in mind also that sleeping through the night for a baby under 6 months old is defined as 5 hours not 12 hours!

Breastfeeding mothers need to be aware that introducing a rigid feeding and sleeping routine many adversely affect milk supply as it is restricting the frequency and length of time that a baby is allowed at the breast to suckle and stimulate the production of more milk (supply = demand). Therefore breastfeeding mothers are encouraged to contact either the Australian Breastfeeding Association or Child and Youth Health helplines before implementing a sleep program.

It can be useful reading a range of ideas, however, all parents are advised to contact their GP, pediatrician or child health nurse before implementing a sleep program to ensure that any potential medical problems that may be affecting sleep are diagnosed and addressed.

If planning on using some form of “sleep training”, it’s advisable to do some reading around the reasons why some are cautious or wary about these techniques – eg. CYH fact sheets, Australian Association for Infant Mental Health.

The following sleep resources are available from Burnside Library’s Family Information Zone:

If you are looking to take a gentle child-led approach try…

Helping your baby to sleep – Anni Gethin and Beth McGregor
No-cry sleep solution – Elizabeth Pantley
No-cry sleep solution for toddlers and pre-schoolers – Elizabeth Pantley
The baby sleep book – William Sears
Sleeping like a baby – Pinky McKay
Co-sleeping – James McKenna
What every parent needs to know – Margot Sunderland

If you would like a more parent-directed sleep training approach try…
It’s time to sleep (DVD) – Maree Viotto
Save our sleep – Tizzie Hall
Contented little baby book – Gina Ford
Contented toddler book – Gina Ford
Silent nights – Brian Symon
Toddler Taming – Christopher Green

If you would like a middle-of-the-road approach to baby and toddler sleep try…
Baby Love – Robin Barker
The Mighty Toddler – Robin Barker
Sleep right, sleep tight – Tweddle Child and Family Health Service
Happy child, healthy sleep habits –Marc Weissbluth

Finally, I encourage parents to do all the reading in consultation with your medical advisors, then trust your own intuition. Know that you can pick and choose from a plethora of suggestions depending on what suits your individual situation. My own situation is that up until my son was 12 months of age I was fairly relaxed about sleep and used co-sleeping and breastfeeding to sleep as tools to send Lachlan off to sleep so we could all get some sleep. Once Lachlan was 12 months, I decided I wanted him to sleep in his cot in his own room and that I no longer wanted to breastfeed him overnight. Setting up a consistent bedtime routine of bath, breastfeed/bottlefeed, story and music was an important first step and with a bit of help from Elizabeth Pantley’s No-cry sleep solution, Robin Barker’s Baby Love and Child and Youth Health’s Parent Helpline we got there!

Great reads for the expectant mother

While pregnant, as your tummy expands daily, it can be easy to be caught up reading pregnancy books, those week-by-week books with photos of what’s happening inside and out are especially fun, like Stuart Campbell’s Watch me-- grow! : a unique, 3-dimensional, week-by-week look at baby's behaviour and development in the womb. Many mothers including myself have found Kaz Cooke’s Up the Duff to be a an amusingly entertaining week-by-week read.

It’s hard to go past Dr. Miriam Stoppard’s Having a Baby DVD for a great introductory resource. Grabbing a bundle of parenting magazines is another great way to start your research as they contain articles from pre-conception right through to parenting teenagers and everything in between. Parenting magazines stocked in Burnside Library’s Family Information Zone include: Australian Parents, Practical Parenting, Mother and Baby, Essence: the magazine of the Australian Breastfeeding Association, My Child and Kindred.

Birth: conceiving, nurturing and giving birth to your baby by Catherine Price and Sandra Robinson is the childbirth bible, covering everything from pre-conception to transitioning to parenthood. Both vaginal and cesearean birth, including VBAC (vaginal birth after cesearean) are discussed. The authors also have an excellent companion website at http://www.birth.com.au/. For further reading about both vaginal and cesearean birth try Pelvic Health and Childbirth by Magnus Murphy and Carol L. Wasson.

If preparing for a natural birth is your thing a great resource offering birthing techniques and discussion of natural pain management try Juju Sundin’s Birthskills.

However, don’t forget to read-up about babies as well as pregnancy and birth as there won’t be much time to read up on what to expect re breastfeeding and baby sleep after baby is born! Breastfeeding…naturally published by the Australian Breastfeeding Association is your breastfeeding bible and a hospital bag essential for any breastfeeding trouble-shooting you may encounter. Robin Barker’s Baby Love is another great reference book for early parenthood. Two other great books which are gentle and reassuring reads for new parents are Pinky McKay’s 100 ways to calm the crying and Sleeping like a baby. Pinky McKay is a mother of five, lactation consultant and regular columnist for Practical Parenting magazine. I can safely say Pinky is my favourite parenting writer and now that my own bundle of joy is almost two I’m looking forward to reading her new book Toddler Tactics. Visit Pinky’s website at http://www.pinky-mychild.com/.

Baby signing: could it be for you?

The trend: Since Robert De Niro used baby signing in the Hollywood comedy movie Meet the Fockers (2004) the interest in using some form of baby signing with hearing babies seems to have taken-off! While at the time I thought baby signing looked as crazy as the strap-on breast in the same movie, now that I’m a mum I’ve joined many parents and researchers in coming to appreciate baby signing for the valuable parenting tool that it is (and that strap-on breast for Dad to feed baby ain’t looking half-bad either come to think of it!). Hollywood movies and jokes aside though, baby signing is a valuable concept because it respects the intelligence of babies and young children and acknowledges their ability to communicate before their speech is fully-developed.

Starting baby signing: Good first signs are those that relate to baby’s every day activities, eg. breastfeeds, meal times, bath time, bed time and nappy changing. For example some signs that relate to meal time are “eat”, “drink”, “milk”, “more” and “finished”. Introducing baby signs to your child’s day needn’t take a lot of time, there doesn’t need to be signing lessons, signing can be integrated into regular day-to-day activities, meal-times, bath time, story time and while singing nursery rhymes, the Tinytalk website has a free downloadable booklet of nursery rhymes to using signing with (visit www.tinytalk.com.au to request a copy). As signing may be used while singing nursery rhymes and while reading books to your child as part of discussing the pictures baby sign language can enhance early literacy skills.

Keep signing fun: Remember signing is a communication-enhancer, rather than a necessity, even though there are proven cognitive benefits from using baby signing, don’t let it be just one more thing to feel inadequate about - just have fun! There are no hard and fast rules about how long to sign for, do it for as long as you find it to be a useful communication tool, most parents find their children naturally become less dependent on communicating through signing as their speech develops.

Baby sign language resources available from Burnside Library’s Family Information Zone include:

Australian Baby Hands by Jackie Durnin (pictured)

Tinytalk DVD pack (includes booklet and chart)

Baby Signs: How to talk with your baby before your baby can talk by Linda Acredelo and Susan Goodwyn

Baby Signing 1-2-3: The Easy-to-Use Illustrated Guide for Every Stage and Every Age by Nancy Cadjan

To request these items visit Burnside Library's Online Catalogue.

To read more about Baby Sign Language - and share your thoughts and experiences on this topic - click into the comments section of this article.

Mother-Baby Yoga: Me time with your baby by your side

Imagine practicing yoga with your baby by your side. You get to do some exercise and reconnect with your body again. Yet your baby is right there– looking up at you with her navy eyes – telling you when it’s time for a breastfeed. So you take a yoga breath, come out your pose and attend to your beautiful baby’s needs, then once baby is settled, you go right back to your yoga practice. Your baby gets to watch you doing something positive for yourself, as well as be fascinated by the other little people in the class. Welcome to a Mother and Baby yoga class.

Many women do pre-natal yoga classes and it is possible to continue once your baby is born. If you attended pre-natal yoga classes, ask if there is a post-natal class you can attend with your baby. You can also practice yoga in the comfort of your own home, Caroline Weinstein (pictured) is a Melbourne-based yoga instructor who created the Calm Om Mother Baby Yoga DVD program, “I created the DVD program as I kept hearing from mums who couldn’t get to class because there wasn’t one close by or if there was it was always on during their baby’s sleep time,” she said.

Postnatal yoga has many physical benefits for mums including:
- strengthening the pelvic floor muscles
- strengthening the deep abdominals which are important for core stability – a strong - core means less pressure on other parts of the body like the back and neck
- strengthening the back – lower and upper
- opening up the chest
- stretching out aching muscles including the backs and necks

Yoga is also good for the psychological wellbeing of new mums and “Yoga helps mums reconnect with their bodies after childbirth,” says Weinstein, “Yoga will relax and calm their minds and increase their sense of well being which is important for warding off potential post partum blues.”

Babies benefit from yoga too, believes Weinstein, “Baby yoga helps promote growth and muscle development, improve flexibility and coordination, - it can even help relieve colic,” she says. “Participating in mother-baby yoga increases babies feelings of wellbeing, as well as helping them to relax and sleep better.” As every sleep-deprived parent knows, when it comes to sleep we can only hope for more…Stay tuned for a future article on “Baby Sleep” and FIZ resources to help you get more Zzzzzs!

Mother-Baby yoga resources available from Burnside Library’s Family Information Zone include:

Calm Om Mother-Baby Yoga DVD – Caroline Weinstein

Baby Om: Yoga for Mothers and Babies by Laura Staton and Sarah Perron

Itsy Bitsy Yoga: Poses to Help Your Baby Sleep Longer, Digest Better, and Grow Stronger by Helen Garabedian

To request these items visit Burnside Library's Online Catalogue.

Two Adelaide centres which offer mother and baby programs are Coast Yoga Centre and Kensington School of Yoga.

To read more about Mother-Baby Yoga - and share your thoughts and experiences on this topic - click into the comments section of this article.

This article and associated image is adapted from an article originally written for Essence: the magazine of the Australian Breastfeeding Association. Text Caroline Munchenberg Image Caroline Weinstein.

Books from Birth (or even earlier!)

Are you a parent of a child under 12 months or are you expecting a baby in the not too distant future?

If so, I would like to introduce you to Burnside Library’s Baby Chat and The Little Big Book Club.

Baby Chat is 30 minutes of songs, rhymes and finger plays for the Under 2s, 10.30 am – 11.00 am every Monday during school term. Best of all it’s free and bookings are not required.

The Little Big Book Club consists of a free early literacy pack for all babies aged 6-12 months. Simply present “Your Child’s Personal Health Record” (the blue book) to staff at the Information Desk. There is also a fantastic website with book suggestions for children aged 0-5 including monthly selections, visit www.thelittlebigbookclub.com.au.

Books to share with your children…Some personal favourites of mine:
Wibbly Pig series – Mick Inkpen
Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see – Bill Martin Jr
Families – Odette Ross
Hug – Jez Alborough
Dear Zoo – Rod Campbell
Owl Babies – Martin Waddell
Cuddle time – Libby Gleeson
The way I love you – David Bedford
The very hungry caterpillar – Eric Carle
We’re going on a bear hunt – Michael Rosen
Time for Bed – Mem Fox
Possum Magic – Mem Fox
Where’s Spot? Or any other Spot book- Eric Hill
Who Sank the Boat? – Pamela Allen
Green Eggs and Ham, Cat in the Hat or anything else by Dr Suess
Guess how much I love you? – Sam McBratney
Peace at last – Jill Murphy

Books for parents
These books offer tips, reading games and booklists:

Reading Magic: how your child can learn to read before school and other read-aloud miracles – Mem Fox (2001, Pan Macmillan, Australia)

The Reading Bug…and how you can help your child to catch it – Paul Jennings (2003 (Revised 2008) Penguin Books, Australia)

Reading with babies, toddlers and twos: a guide to choosing, reading and loving books together – Susan Straub and KJ Dell’Antonia (2006, Source Books, US)