Mum Reviews...

Maternity Clothing: The Basics Explained - Guest Post

Having to buy clothes to fit your changing body shape can be extremely costly over a nine-month period.

However, by kitting yourself out with basic maternity clothes, you will not only save yourself money, but will be prepared with the essential clothing to get you through your entire pregnancy.

The basics for your pregnancy

Jeans

Your maternity jeans will more than likely be the hardest working items in your wardrobe and will get you through your whole pregnancy, as you can wear them as casual or dressed up.

There’s a wide range of different styles available for pregnant women, which include the stretchy jegging, bootcut, straight, skinny and boyfriend jean.

You can choose to go for either a microfiber over the bump band that will provide great stretch and comfort, or there’s the jersey panel, which fits under your bump to give you support as you grow over the coming months.

Dresses

Wearing a simple dress is perhaps one of the easiest and most comfortable pieces of clothing for a pregnant woman.

It can be dressed up with jewellery and heels for an evening out or a smart work look, or can be teamed up with jeans and leggings for a more casual outfit.

Vests and tunics

Both of these types of tops are easy to mix and match with other clothes and by layering vests and tunics over leggings or jeans, you’ll create a look that can last throughout your entire pregnancy.

You can also add a cardigan, jumper or hooded top depending on the weather.

Getting Your Mind and Body Back Post Baby - Guest Post

Whether you’ve just had your first or your fifth baby, you want to get your pre-pregnancy body back as quickly as possible. Staying fit is one way you can lose baby fat, increase your energy and boost your mental attitude. Start today by implementing several post-baby workout tips.

Fitness is important

Every mom wants to look good. After nine months of wearing elastic-waist pants and maternity shirts, you’re ready to wear those cute pre-pregnancy clothes again. When you make an effort to stay fit, not only will your regular clothes fit again, but also you’ll feel better. Women who exercise receive a mental boost and gain confidence.

Pregnancy 101: Understanding the Ultrasound

"When is your ultrasound?" This is a question many expectant moms receive when their bellies start to show. Almost like a rite of passage, the ultrasound is almost a given in the modern pregnancy, offering moms-to-be a peek inside the womb and a chance to learn the gender of their growing baby, if they want to know ahead of time. Yet, many moms have no idea how this common test works, or why they should consider having one performed.

How Ultrasounds Work

Ultrasounds send sound waves into the body to gather images of the growing baby. The sound waves bounce off of the baby and back to the transducer, or probe, where they are translated into an image on the computer screen. The technician uses a specially designed keyboard to capture the images on the CPU, and the images display on the computer screen for the technician and the mom to see. A gel between the transducer and the mom's belly helps transmit the sound waves.

What foods have been proven to help you lose weight, even when you’re suffering from PCOS?

Food is like a double edged sword. On one hand, poor food habits can cause or exacerbate your PCOS. On the other hand, correct food choices can heal your body, mind, soul… and your PCOS. Food is absolutely among the best medicine. ………………

Modifying your eating habits helps to empower your thyroid, normalize your gut, detoxify your liver, and balance your mood and energy levels. Each of these is critical for you to lose weight, and keep it off! The right food choices set the foundations for success in optimal health, not just in weight loss.

Strengthening your body is THE best way to help yourself. Far more powerful than the toxic hormonal treatments traditionally given to women with PCOS, which not only treat one symptom and may leave behind a legion of side effects, but also increase insulin resistance and inflammation – the drivers of PCOS. [1,2,3]

The ‘RIGHT’ food for your PCOS-

Low Glycaemic Load (GL)

You need to look to food to overcome the metabolic mess that is PCOS. Diets may make tall claims about their miraculous successes, however, few will optimize your health or fix your PCOS. Do not consider yourself to be on ‘a diet’. All the word diet really means is ‘the usual food and drink a person consumes’. Think of your new food habits as your life giving, optimal, healing, food-plan. [4,5]

What food plan will help you to lose weight?

Look to nature!

Nature provides the right mix of nutrients. It also provides low Glycaemic Load (GL). The food plan proven to deal with PCOS and obesity is the ‘Low Glycaemic Load (Low GL) food plan’.

Starch Intake May Increase the Risk of Breast Cancer (Guest Post)

The results of an intensive seven-year-long research study that involved over 2,600 women—the Women's Healthy Eating and Living (WHEL) Dietary Intervention Trial—were presented at last year's CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium with some surprising findings. The WHEL study participants had all suffered from breast cancer prior to participation and had apparently successfully completed breast cancer treatment. This specific study was designed to assess for any correlations between a healthy lifestyle and a recurrence of breast cancer. Results indicated that a higher consumption of starchy foods such as pasta or potatoes is associated with an increased risk of tumor recurrence. This association was identified specifically for dietary starch intake and not with other carbohydrates.

Positive and Negative Dietary Associations

Breast cancer researchers have long associated certain diets and foods with an increased risk of breast cancer, such as diets high in red meats, refined carbohydrates and alcohol. Conversely, diets high in fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and unrefined foods are generally associated with breast health. As you've probably heard through one media source or another, aim for a naturally colorful diet of blues, reds, dark greens and orange colors. Further, these dietary changes don't necessarily mean that your entire food habits have to change—surprisingly, even a couple of cups of coffee a day can lower your risk of developing the disease.

3 Mistakes Parents Often Make in Their Child’s Early Childhood (Guest Post)

Being a parent is undoubtedly one of the nicest and hardest things. Part of what makes it so difficult is constant worrying whether you’re doing the right thing. My mom told me a funny story about when I was little. There was a period when I absolutely refused to eat and she was having a really hard time figuring out what to do with me.

One day when she was trying to push a spoonful of food into my mouth, and I kept shaking my head wildly, she cried out in desperation: “Ana, you will die if you don’t eat!” In that moment I froze, then started bawling my eyes out. She said she couldn’t calm me for a whole hour, and she started thinking: “What have I done?” She was worried she did some irreparable damage, where I’d start stuffing myself with food in order not to die. Luckily, that didn’t happen, but this just illustrates the dilemmas parents have when upbringing their kids. What can they say, and what shouldn’t they say? How to stop children from misbehaving, how to encourage them to reach their intellectual and artistic potential?

Discover How To Boost Your Fertility, And Increase The Chances Of Safely Carrying Your Baby To Term (Guest Post)

I want to become a mum, but… 

Infertility is perhaps the biggest struggle experienced by women who suffer from PCOS. Ninety to 95% of women who attend infertility clinics because of an ovulation suffer from PCOS¹.The challenges that PCOS causes in a woman’s reproductive life do not end with just infertility. Those women who are fortunate to conceive despite having PCOS face a legion of complications that can jeopardise their own health and the health of their precious baby. Thirty to 50% of women with PCOS suffer miscarriages in the first trimester (first three months) of their pregnancy².They may also have a greater risk for complications such as:

* Pregnancy induced hypertension – i.e. abnormally high blood pressure during pregnancy³

* Gestational Diabetes - i.e. diabetes induced by pregnancy³

* Preterm delivery – i.e. delivery before the completion of 37 weeks of pregnancy³

* Birth of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) babies³

2 important reasons women with PCOS have a higher risk of miscarriage

Hormones to blame

PCOS stems from hormonal imbalances^4,14. It is no different when it comes to pregnancy complications. Insulin resistance, high levels of the hormone LH, excessive testosterone and other hormonal imbalances can cause pregnancy loss and other pregnancy complications of PCOS^5,6.
In fact, abnormal LH levels, and low progesterone levels are two reasons why you have a higher risk of miscarriage.

How you can make simple changes to dramatically increase your chance of giving birth to a happy, bouncing baby.

Healthy Breastfeeding (Guest Post)

Being a new mum is a wonderful time, but it can also be a stressful time. There is so much to remember, and so much health advice to take on board. This is even more so the case if you are a breastfeeding mum, as you of course want to make sure you give your baby the best nutrients and best start in life possible.

If you are breastfeeding then it is important to eat right to ensure your baby gets all the nutrients it needs to grow up into a healthy and happy child and adult. Don’t panic however. As long as you follow the basic rules of a healthy diet, you don’t need to worry.

Although there is lots of conflicting advice out there for breastfeeding mums, most foods are fine in moderation, and general healthy eating advice is worth following. So, make sure you are getting your five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, varied if possible and fresh wherever you can.

Breastfeeding a 4 Year Old (Guest Post)

I have been a nursing mother for 4 and a half years now.  My son is a wonderful chunky outgoing little boy who loves his “boob drink”.  It has been fun asking him what he prefers “daddy or boob drink”?  Of course no matter what I put up against the milky stuff, the milky stuff always triumphs.  He loves it and is definitely telling me that he has no intention of giving it up anytime soon.

My son’s natural weaning process has been quite slow.  When my son was a year or so old, I often read about babies already sleeping through the night/not nursing by the time they were 11/2 – 2.  I was curious as to when I could expect my wriggly little monster to give me a full nights sleep without requesting the “boob drink”.  Of course though, despite reading about others experiences, mine was certainly different and my son didn’t give up the night feeding by the time he was 2.  It took a lot longer.  In fact I think it has only been in the last year (so potentially when he was 31/2) that he no longer feeds during the night.  He still likes to have a morning feed in bed though (we chose to cosleep rather than use a cot bed.

What Should I Eat and Drink While I'm Breastfeeding? (Guest Post)

It's common knowledge that breastfeeding your baby is better for its health, but is there anything you can eat and drink to make your milk even more nutritious? And what about your own health while breastfeeding? Two of the most common complaints amongst breastfeeding women are exhaustion and dehydration, both of which are helped by drinking plenty of water, herbal tea and milk (providing you can eat dairy). Eating a healthy, balanced diet will help to maintain your energy levels, and ensure that your baby is getting all the vitamins and minerals he or she needs from your breast milk. 

What is a healthy diet?

You'll need to be eating a variety of vegetables, and lots of them. If you're not a big fan of veggies, try stir-frying them with some garlic or flavoured oil. Stir-frying is the most delicious way to prepare vegetables, and also the healthiest, after steaming & microwaving, as the quick cooking time means you're not destroying so many of the vitamins. (Vitamins are water-soluble, so boiling veg usually means you're boiling away the vitamins, too.)