Bliss Newborn Care

Not surprisingly, the American Academy of Pediatrics has updated their recommendation regarding adding freshly expressed milk to chilled milk. They have now confirmed what all of the other researchers have found: combining different temperatures of milk does not increase the risk of bacteria in breast milk. Their latest revision acknowledges that many common recommendations are not evidence-based or practical, stating that, "“Mothers can mix warm milk and cold, or even consider pooling milk from 24 hours together, which may help even out variability in nutrients due to pumping time or breast emptying (which influences fat content of the milk).”

Adding warm breastmilk to chilled: We know it’s controversial, but the science is too exciting not to share! Moms often want to combine their milk because they're interested in the benefits of the “pitcher method” or are just plain looking to simplify their challenging breastfeeding journey. A growing number of moms have reached out to us with questions about whether they can pool their breastmilk.

Who has heard the advice, “Stop holding the baby so much — you’re going to spoil them”. And did it make you hesitate to do what your instincts directed, to calm your crying baby?

There are no reasons to think twice when cuddling with your upset infant, no matter what well-meaning advice you receive. It’s impossible to spoil them. J. Kevin Nugent, director of the Brazelton Institute at Children’s Hospital in Boston and a child psychologist, says that a newborn baby learns from their interactions with their parents that the world is reliable, and can trust that their needs will be met. Responding to baby’s cries “isn’t a matter of spoiling,” he said. “It’s a matter of meeting the child’s needs.”

Babies are neurobiologically wired to stop crying when they are being carried. This is a part of our evolutionary biology that helps our species survive. Studies published in the Current Biology journal, the first of which was by Esposito et al., show that the infant calming response to carrying is a coordinated set of central, motor, and cardiac regulations that is an evolutionary preserved aspect of caregiver-infant interactions. These studies also help to have a scientific explanation for the frustration many new parents struggle with... that a calm and relaxed infant will often begin crying immediately when he or she is put down.

Scientists have known for years that the cerebellum is directly linked to a feedback loop with the vagus nerve which keeps heart rate slow and gives you resilience under pressure. The cerebellum only accounts for about 10% of the size of a baby’s brain but it contains over 50% of its neurons. As adults, we can calm ourselves by practicing mindfulness, which puts the cerebellum at peace and creates a parasympathetic response of well being. This appears to be the same response that occurs in infants when they are being carried.

Notre Dame psychologist Darcia Narvaez led a research team that found children become healthier and happier adults when they have parents who treated them with affection, sensitivity, and playfulness since birth. By surveying over 600 adults about affectionate touch, free play and positive family time in their childhoods, it was found that adults with less anxiety and overall better mental well being had positive childhoods.

Professor Narvaez encourages parents to respond to their baby’s cries, whether it means holding them, touching them, or rocking them; it’s all optimal. “What parents do in those early months and years are really affecting the way the brain is going to grow the rest of their lives,” explains Narvaez, “so lots of holding, touching and rocking, that is what babies expect. They grow better that way. And keep them calm, because all sorts of systems are establishing the way they are going to work.

“If you let them cry a lot, those systems are going to be easily triggered into stress. We can see that in adulthood — that people that are not cared for well, tend to be more stress reactive and they have a hard time self-calming.”

The researchers found that free play is vital for child development, as well as growing up in a positive, warm home environment. Narvaez believed that humans need these important things from the time they are born. Therefore, she recommends parents follow their instincts.

Although it places a large responsibility on parents to be responsive to their baby’s cries, she adds that we really didn’t evolve to parent alone. Our history is to have a community of caregivers to help, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends in the baby’s life. Professor Narvaez says, “We need to, as a community, support families so they can give children what they need.”

https://theheartysoul.com/holding-your-crying-baby-isnt-spoiling-them/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-athletes-way/201304/the-neuroscience-calming-baby

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236251169_Infant_Calming_Responses_during_Maternal_Carrying_in_Humans_and_Mice

No matter what parenting style you choose to follow, the inescapable truth is that the blur of new parenthood drains us on every level. Nobody can prepare us for the effects of sleep deprivation, the unbelievable level of self-sacrifice nor the tests our personal relationships may face...

How Science Proves New Mothers Can Trust Their Instincts - Raised Good New motherhood is so challenging but its ok to trust your instincts. Here's five ways science proves it.

This father was so excited to meet his daughter, that he spoke to her all the time, even when she was still in her mother’s belly.
Tarsila Batista, his partner, explained that every morning before she went to work, Flávio would greet her baby, and stroke her belly, saying: “I’ll always be there”. Whenever he did this, the baby would start to kick and move.

Newborn Baby Greets Dad With A Beaming Smile The Instant She Recognizes His Voice

"Everyone warned me about how difficult the transition back to work after having a baby would be, what it would look and feel like. And like other trimesters, regardless of the advice, I felt blindsided by a harsh reality of learning how to be a working mom.
"It’ll get easier as time goes on", someone would say. False. I ached for my child all day long.

"You’ll pick up right where you left off". False. I was distracted. Exhausted. Slower than I used to be.
"It will give you purpose outside of motherhood". False. I didn’t know who I was anymore outside of motherhood."

Returning to Work As A New Mom: The Fifth Trimester - Expectful Returning to Work As A New Mom: The Fifth Trimester - Parenthood

In one of the largest sleep studies ever conducted, Michigan State University’s Sleep and Learning Lab found that previous sleep research has vastly undervalued the harmful impacts of sleep deprivation, and it affects us much more than previous theories have implied.

Sleep Deprivation Is Even Worse for Us Than We Thought According to a new study, science has been underestimating the dangers of too little sleep.

Denmark Doctors Declare Circumcision Of Healthy Boys 'Ethically Unacceptable' They believe the procedure has no meaningful health benefits.

Why So Many Babies Are Getting Their Tongues Clipped In recent years, surging numbers of infants have gotten minor surgeries for “tongue tie,” to help with breastfeeding or prevent potential health issues. But research suggests many of those procedures could be unnecessary.

Very interesting perspective - She discovered what it takes to raise a child during her time at Pedra Branca, a Kraho village in north-central Brazil. There, she says, the village is the key. And if that means another woman breast-feeds your baby? There’s a beautiful reason for that.
I want my daughter to be Happy and I’ve never seen anyone as happy as a Kraho child. In a city, I don’t see that this kind of freedom and this connection to Nature, can be possible. … I want Mira to learn from them. I want her to know there are other things in the world apart from cellphones and tablets, many children are wasting their childhood with those devices and I don’t want that to happen to my daughter.

Perspective | A child raised by many mothers: What we can learn about parenthood from an indigenous group in Brazil Indigenous children are raised to develop high autonomy from a young age, a valuable skill in adulthood. That allows them to be surprisingly agile and strong, as well as familiar with their surroundings.