Your newborn baby in the first month – baby development guide
Congratulations! After nine months of waiting you’ve finally met the new little person in your life. You and your newborn are probably still recovering from what’s been an exhilarating, yet exhausting, time—your body is tired but your brain is working overtime. You’ve got a million questions and unfortunately babies don’t come with a how-to guide. […]
What is a midwife?
A midwife is a health professional who provides care, education and support to women and families during pregnancy, birth, postnatal and the early parenting period. The midwife may practise in any setting, including the home, the community, hospitals, or in any other maternity service. In all settings, the midwife remains responsible and accountable for the […]
Understanding NICU and SCN terminology
If you’ve given birth to a premature baby, you’ve probably heard of some of these terms. Maybe you have a friend who had a premmie, and noticed some of these terms, but don’t want to ask them exactly what everything means. Understanding Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Special Care Nursery (SCN) terminology can help […]
Tummy time—how to make it fun for your baby
We are often told how beneficial it is for our babies to have some ‘tummy time’, but why is tummy time so important and what do you do when all your attempts are met with protests? An important thing is to remember is that tummy time doesn’t just mean placing baby on their belly on […]
Tips for lessening the stress around sleep
It’s a common understanding that sleep is essential for better health. As adults, we’re often advised to keep to a reasonably regular schedule and to get a nourishing eight hours a night in order to feel refreshed and energised. But for the majority of new parents, this ideal is impossible. Long stretches of uninterrupted sleep […]
10 tips for surviving with a newborn and a toddler
The first few weeks with newborn are challenging. The sleepless nights, exhaustion, abdominal pain, engorged breasts, vaginal bleeding, sore nipples, emotional upheaval, the list goes on … Throw into the mix an energetic, possibly needy and confused toddler (or two!) and you are on your way to what I like to call “extreme parenting”. Whatever […]
5 ways to stay sane while sleep-deprived
It’s 3am… and there it is again. I’ve been here many times before – the middle of the night wake-up cry… the sixth since I crawled into bed tonight. I knew when I was pregnant that this was going to happen, but I had somehow successfully wiped any memory of this exhausted feeling from my […]
Short fiction: Becoming a mother – my love’s journey
They say you become a mother at birth. But that’s not what I saw. My sweetheart wept over a small, plastic test as I held her tightly in my arms. I kissed her strawberry-scented auburn hair and told her it would all be OK. She’d wanted this for as long as I could remember. We […]
New baby nursery checklist – a guide to newborn essentials
Preparing for a new baby can be overwhelming—especially when it is your first. But when it comes to buying baby gear and setting up a nursery you really don’t have to stress! You might be happy to hear that there are really only a few ‘essential’ items you’ll need to have ready before your baby […]
News: Taronga zoo welcomes newborn chimpanzee
How adorable are these pictures of Taronga Zoo’s latest newborn? The zoo’s chimpanzee family welcomed a new baby on the weekend – and mum Shiba is keeping the baby’s gender a closely-guarded secret. Primate supervisor Lou Grossfeldt says the new baby was spotted in the chimpanzee’s night dens by keepers on Saturday morning, cradled in […]