Good Hands mei tai

Here's a picture of my mei tai design--I have more, but my camera cord is broken! This is my friend Grace, carrying her brand-new baby boy Rhys <3

The mei tai is a Chinese baby carrier, and this one is updated with some modern features, such as funky reversible design (you should see the fabric Grace picked for the other side--fancy!) and wide padded straps and headrest.

Does the Vaccine Matter? and how to stay healthy this season

This is an article from the Atlantic that addresses the issue of whether any flu vaccine, for either the seasonal or swine flu, is actually helpful. Not maternity-related, but pregnant & nursing women are being encouraged by some to get vaccinated, and to vaccinate their small children.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911/brownlee-h1n1

Nutshell:

• The composition of the seasonal vaccines is determined by an educated guess, based on previously-widespread strains. They may be pertinent to current strains, and they may be irrelevant.
• Flu vaccines do boost immune response to the virus in young, healthy people (who are not considered at risk), but not nearly as much or as reliably in the elderly, the sick, children and the immune-compromised (ie those undergoing chemotherapy, those with an autoimmune disease such as AIDS, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, and pregnant women). Immune response is an imperfect measure of vaccine effectiveness, but this does suggest that the vaccine may not be effective for those for whom protection is necessary (or necessary for those on whom it is effective).
• The trials for vaccine efficacy have not been very rigorous; they have largely been based on "cohort studies," which are notoriously difficult to control, rather than placebo studies. Many in the medical community, convinced of the vaccine's helpfulness independently of scientific trials, say it would be unethical to provide some patients with the vaccine and others with a placebo.
  
• Anti-virus drugs like Tamiflu are also not well-supported by scientific research; the virus can become resistant to them in days. In otherwise-healthy people, Tamiflu cuts the duration of the disease by up to 24 hours, but as many as 1 in 5 will experience nausea and vomiting as a side effect; it produces neuropsychiatric effects in 1 out of 5 children, including suicidal behavior, and it has also been responsible for fatal cardiac arrest.

Here's how you can take care of yourself this flu season and boost your immune system:

• Drink lots of water and get plenty of sleep.
• Cut as much refined sugar and flour out of your diet as possible; these shut down immune response.
• Stay off antibiotics. They don't fight viruses and they weaken your immune system.
• Wash your hands frequently with a non-antibacterial soap; your skin has friendly bacteria that make up your body's first line of defense, and it won't kill viruses anyway.
• Get a good probiotic supplement, and/or consume probiotic foods (active yogurt, kombucha, kefir, there are many out there) every day.
• Vitamin C supports your immune system, and you need vitamin D as well.
  
• Echinacea also bolsters immune response, and tincture of osha kills both families of seasonal flu. Alfalfa is also a great immune and energy booster.
  
• If you feel ill or fatigued, stay home! Rest is good and you expose fewer others to whatever you have.
• Don't go to the hospital or emergency room unless you absolutely must; it is the best place to catch a virus.
  
• Chicken (or turkey) soup is really proven to help! Add cayenne to break up congestion and lots of garlic to fight the secondary bacterial infections that cause many flu complications.

Breastfeeding Basics

This is an online course I'm taking for my doula certification, and it has a lot of great information on the most important choice you can make in your baby's first year--breastfeeding. The modules are in pretty bite-size pieces, but I'll nutshell them for you and provide a link so you can read more if you're interested or if you're looking for documentation. You may have to register, not sure, but it is free, they don't send spam and you can hop around to the pages that interest you if you don't want to read the whole thing.

Link: http://www.breastfeedingbasics.org/cgi-bin/deliver.cgi/content/Introduction/history.html

We start with a short (or long, depending how you think of it) History of Breastfeeding (in a Nutshell): Breastfeeding started when humans started. Routinely using alternatives like cows' milk- or soy-based artificial baby milk (ABM) began in the 20th century.


Next time: Benefits & Barriers: Nutritional Advantages

Cord Blood Banking

Cord blood banking is marketed as either blood donation on a higher scale (can be used to save someone else) or biological health insurance (stem cells to treat future diseases in your child). This article highlights the reasons why one family decided against it.


http://alternativebirthservices.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-cord-blood-banking-was-not-right.html

Nutshell:

• 75% of donated cord blood samples are too small for a transfusion and are sold for research into such things as cloning and biological weapons, and the donor's family has no say in this.
• Any genetic disease the child has which might be treated with stem cells will be present in the cord blood; thus, while it could be used for a sibling, it is ineffective for that child.
• Early clamping of the umbilical cord, which is required for banking, is harmful to the newborn baby, depriving him/her of up to half his/her total blood volume, taking up to six months to regenerate. Babies need that blood at birth - it isn't waste, it's there for a reason.