Contest Winner!
One contest winner for today’s drawing!
You Could Win!
I am happy to award the Kindle version of my book to Kathy Ball for her entry regarding premature babies and what to expect. Thank you for taking the time during these busy days right before Christmas to enter this contest. I will contact you with details for receiving your winning eBook. Congratulations!
The contest will continue to run through this next week, so everyone still has time to enter to win a copy of Newborn Baby—Tips & Videos. Here is a reminder of the contest rules to help guide you:
Anyone may enter the contest.
You may enter as many times as you like, a different concern or question per entry.
You may give you winning prize as a gift to someone else.
If you have an iPad, start your contest entry with the word iPad for the Apple version of the book.
If you have a Kindle or Kindle Reading Application, start your contest entry with the word Kindle for the Amazon version of the eBook.
Entries will be numbered consecutively as they appear on the website. All iPad entries will be assigned consecutive numbers (1-n) as they appear in the list. All Kindle entries will be assigned consecutive numbers (1-n) as they appear in the list.
Research Randomizer will be used to generate the random winning numbers, one for each group, each week, for a total of 6 possible winners.
Winners will be posted on Sundays, the day of the drawing.
Each week will start with a new Post to announce the last winner and to request new entries. You may resubmit entries from a prior week, and you may add new entries too.
You will have 2 days to accept your winning eBook. After 11:59 PM on the Tuesday following the Sunday drawing your win will be forfeited if not claimed.
Prizes will be sent via email.
Apple Codes expire 4 weeks after issue.
Good Luck!
For you and yours,
Doris Fravert, RN
CONTEST! WIN YOUR FREE COPY!
Enter to win your free copy of Newborn Baby—Tips & Videos
You Could Win!
‘TIS THE SEASON
In the spirit of giving I would like to give away my book to 6 lucky winners in this easy contest. There will be 3 eBooks given for iPad, and 3 eBooks for Kindle. The drawings will be held on the last 3 Sundays in December 2013. Odds of winning this weekend Dec. 15th are high with only a couple of days to enter!
PURPOSE
I have been sharing observations, experience, wisdom, and research about newborn babies, and about the experience of having a newborn. Perhaps I’ve missed some things along the way that are important to you. Here is an opportunity for you to share your newborn concerns, questions, requests for more or new information about newborns and newborn care. You may enter as many times as you like.
RULES
Anyone may enter the contest.
You may enter as many times as you like, a different concern or question per entry.
You may give you winning prize as a gift to someone else.
If you have an iPad, start your contest entry with the word iPad for the Apple version of the book.
If you have a Kindle or Kindle Reading Application, start your contest entry with the word Kindle for the Amazon version of the eBook.
Entries will be numbered consecutively as they appear on the website. All iPad entries will be assigned consecutive numbers (1-n) as they appear in the list. All Kindle entries will be assigned consecutive numbers (1-n) as they appear in the list.
Research Randomizer will be used to generate the random winning numbers, one for each group, each week, for a total of 6 winners.
Winners will be posted on Sundays, the day of the drawing.
Each week will start with a new Post to announce the last winner and to request new entries. You may resubmit entries from a prior week, and you may add new entries too.
You will have 2 days to accept your winning eBook. After 11:59 PM on the Tuesday following the Sunday drawing your win will be forfeited if not claimed.
Prizes will be sent via email.
Apple Codes expire 4 weeks after issue.
THAT’S IT!
So jot down all of those questions that have popped into your mind, and go ahead and start entering them here at the end of this blog. Remember to start each entry with iPad or Kindle.
GOOD LUCK!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Note: There were no entries for the first drawing Dec. 15, 2013.
Baby’s Stuffy Nose Keeping You Awake?
Your baby’s stuffy nose may sound really bad.
Sleeping Baby
First Cold
When your baby gets older and has his or her first cold it can be very distressing. It is very difficult as a parent to see your baby suffering from any illness. Here are some tips that may help to guide you.
Behavior
When your baby gets sick the first symptom you will notice is a change in behavior. Perhaps your baby is more quite than usual, more sleepy, or more fussy. You’ll just know that something is not right. Your doctor has learned to pay attention to the expression “something is not right” because it frequently is the best way you can explain what is happening with your baby. And your doctor already knows that a change in behavior is typically the first symptom of illness that usually precedes fever, rash, runny nose, or any other symptoms that may be part of the illness. Your baby’s behavior is also a guide to how sick your baby is as the illness runs its course.
Stuffy Nose
If a stuffy nose is part of your baby’s symptoms, sleep can be difficult. Because your baby’s nasal passages are so tiny, even a small amount of mucus can cause an obstruction that sounds really bad. The first question an advice nurse or doctor will ask you about your baby’s stuffy nose is “Does it keep your baby awake … or does it just keep you awake?” Your answer to that question helps determine treatment, if any, and is also meant to give you reassurance. If your baby is sleeping just fine, even though you can hear that your baby has a stuffy nose, the treatment is to let your baby sleep. Being aware that your baby is sleeping fine despite this symptom will hopefully give you the reassurance you need to go back to sleep too. Rest for both of you is the best help for getting through this difficult time of illness.
When to Call the Doctor
If your baby is less than 3 months old you should call your baby’s doctor when you first suspect that your baby may be sick. There will be an advice nurse to guide you and help you make decisions about care. Fever in this age group is not common, so if fever is noted (a temperature greater than or equal to 100.4 degrees) you must see a doctor as soon as possible.
Information Is Good
Unfortunately science has not been able to eliminate the common cold from the human experience, but hopefully it will be a very long time before your baby does get sick. And hopefully this information will help you manage more confidently, and perhaps give you some measure of reassurance when that time does come.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
http://www.aboutyournewborn.com
Learn Newborn Care Before Your Baby Is Born!
Be safe and confident learning newborn care.
Grab a Bear, a Blanket, a Diaper, and a T-Shirt!
I Want to Help
My passion as a baby nurse is to help you enjoy your newborn baby from the first moments of your new life together, without letting fear of the unknown get in the way. I believe feeling confident in handling and caring for your newborn will help tremendously. I have witnessed this transformation repeatedly in my practice, and I have now figured out a way for you to gain this confidence before your baby is born. Feeling confident in your ability to provide newborn care will allow you to truly enjoy your new baby, starting on Day 1.
Here’s How
Remember how you learned to drive a car? … someone with experience was by your side to keep you safe and give you confidence to try new things. Now, you can learn newborn care the same way. And with this new approach you can practice and perfect your baby-care skills before your baby is born!
Your Virtual Baby Nurse
With today’s technology you can have an experienced baby nurse “by your side” to keep you safe, give you peace of mind, and make learning easy and fun. Newborn Baby—Tips & Videos gives you your personal baby nurse to demonstrate baby care, step by step, through delightful how-to videos embedded into the text. Learning to change a diaper, change clothes, give a bath, trim tiny nails, swaddle your newborn, and more, becomes easier too with the gifts of instant replay and repetition as you watch and learn in the comfort of your home.
Practice Makes Perfect
And like learning to drive, you can practice what you learn too! Grab a 15-inch teddy bear … your newborn baby stand-in … a diaper, a T-shirt, and a blanket. Watch the videos, imitate each step, and practice! … over and over again until you feel good about your new baby-care skills.
Confident and Optimistic
Imagine feeling confident and optimistic when providing baby care from the very first moments with your newborn. This confidence, and peace of mind, will give you the freedom to truly enjoy your newborn baby. So, get this video book, grab a bear, and start practicing today! You’ll be glad you did.
Newborn Baby—Tips & Videos is available for iPad and for Kindle.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
A World of Beautiful People
I believe the future holds a world of beautiful people.
Beauty
Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And beauty can mean different things to different people. But for this particular observation about newborn babies let’s go with the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition: “the qualities in a person or a thing that give pleasure to the senses or the mind.”
Observation
As a baby nurse specializing in newborn care I have seen literally thousands of newborn babies. All of them are beautiful in their own way. But, over the years I have made the observation that the newborns of mixed-race parents definitely stand apart in their “qualities … that give pleasure to the senses.” Other baby nurses have shared this same observation, that these babies have something beautiful about them that gets your attention.
The Future
I believe that when we become a world of people without judgement about our differences, that we will become a world full of beautiful people. I believe we will no longer have distinct differences that today keep some of us apart, but rather we will be universally open to the beauty that surrounds us with everyone we meet.
What If
And what if that beauty was not only skin deep. What if the beauty we see on the outside that gives pleasure to our senses, actually goes much deeper and gives pleasure to our mind too. What if the world of the future is full of beautiful people, both inside and out. Imagine the possibilities!
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
Golden Hour Benefits
The Golden Hour offers benefits for both of you.
Skin to Skin in the Golden Hour
What Is the Golden Hour?
As you may remember from the last post, the term Golden Hour is used to refer to the time immediately after your baby is born when being in close contact with you is beneficial for both of you. Holding your baby skin to skin is one of the most important parts of this practice that allows a myriad of benefits to unfold.
Special Opportunity
Because your newborn has a sustained period of wakefulness in a quiet-alert state, this hour or so after birth presents the perfect opportunity for bonding, imprinting on each other, and learning about each other to occur. Although other shorter periods of wakefulness will present themselves later, the high levels of oxytocin present right after birth play an important role in establishing, and maintaining, this special bond between you and your baby. Oxytocin acts to lower stress levels for both of you, setting the perfect stage for short and long-term benefits to unfold. Oxytocin generates changes in brain chemistry that increase your desire for nurturing, and creates the desire for further contact for both you and your baby. Dads who have significant contact with their newborns also experience a rise in oxytocin that creates this desire for further contact too. All of this bonding activity is beneficial for your new family, and provides long-term benefits for your baby’s overall health and development.
Benefits
Skin to skin contact makes it easier for your newborn to transition from the womb to the outside world. Research has shown that your baby will be able to regulate heart rate and rhythm more easily, will breathe more regularly and easily, and will be able to maintain a warm body temperature more easily when held skin to skin. These three things are the important measurements of your newborn’s stability and vitality. Scientists first made these observations about the power of skin-to-skin contact in the early 1980s when the practice of Kangaroo Care (mothers holding their premature babies skin to skin) in Bogotá, Colombia more than doubled the survival rate for these pre-term babies. We now know skin-to-skin holding is beneficial for all newborn babies.
Skin to skin contact also encourages successful breastfeeding, but especially during this first hour after birth. Your body chemistry during this Golden Hour promotes more successful letdown and latching, allowing breastfeeding to occur more easily. The same hormones that help you push your baby out also help to release the flow of milk for your baby (letdown). The readily available milk makes feeding more interesting for your newborn. The smell of the milk, the instant gratification, and the calm-alert state work together to help your newborn “figure out” a proper latch for sustained and successful feeding. And for your benefit mom, the combination of skin contact and breastfeeding releases hormones which cause the uterus to contract and to stop bleeding, both of which are desirable outcomes after delivery.
Overall
The Golden Hour with your newborn held skin to skin offers many wonderful benefits. My hope for you is that you both get to have the intimate and amazing experience of sharing this first hour of life together.
For you and yours,
D. Fravert, RN
The Golden Hour
The Golden Hour and Your Newborn
Dad Helped Too
