The Natural Parent Issue One by The Natural Parent Magazine

ISSUE 1 Summer 2010/11

New Zealand

Ecstatic Birth Natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hormonal Blueprint for Labour

Strange New Worlds

The Voyage into Fatherhood

Organic Food The Natural Parent Magazine: issue 1 Summer 2010/11

Beetroot - The Garden Heart

All night long

Understanding the World of Infant Sleep

intelligent living | connection parenting | health and wellbeing

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Contents issue 1/ Summer 2010/11

ATTACHMENT PARENTING:

GENTLE DISCIPLINE

Adapted from: Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering

ALL NIGHT LONG:

THE CONSCIOUS PARENT:

STRANGE NEW WORLDS:

BACK TO NATURE OR BACK IN TIME?

HOME BASED CHILDCARE:

ECSTATIC BIRTH:

NATURAL HEALTH:

Q&A WITH DOCTOR KUNJAY PATEL

FREE-RANGE:

ORGANIC GARDENING AND COOKING Beetroot: The garden heart

THE CLOTH NAPPY GUIDE:

SOUTH AMERICA

Con un bebé

LOVE YOUR WORK!

SHOPPING

The pick of the organic crop Gift guide Maternity fashion - summer baby Competitions

THE PHONE BOOK:

Business directory

Sound science or new-age craze?

Understanding the world of infant sleep

Separation anxiety

The voyage into fatherhood

Is the green movement forcing women back into the home?

Why would you choose home based childcare?

Nature’s hormonal blueprint for labour

The skin you’re in

Fresh air, foraging and sunshine

A beginner’s guide to using cloth nappies

Inspiring entrepreneurs

Acknowledgements to regular contributors

Lauren Porter

Robin Grille

Sarah Buckley

Lysa Parker

Lauren Porter is the Co-Director of the Centre for Attachment. She obtained her Masters Degree in Clinical Social Work from New York University, USA in 1995 and has since been dedicated to working with families, children and adolescents in the field of mental health counseling and training. Lauren has worked in Germany and the US, in addition to New Zealand.

Robin Grille is a psychologist in private practice, with extensive experience working with individuals, couples and families, and teaching or facilitating groups. Robin’s ground-breaking books: ‘Parenting for a Peaceful World’ and ‘Heart to Heart Parenting’ show parents, teachers and health professionals what research has taught us about healthy emotional development in early childhood, and how important this is for adult relationships and harmonious societies.

Sarah Buckley is a NZ-trained GP, mother of four homeborn children aged 9 to 19 and currently a fulltime writer on pregnancy, birth and parenting. She is author of the bestselling book Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, with a new edition published in 2009. Sarah’s work critiques current practices in pregnancy, birth and parenting from the widest possible perspectives, including scientific, evolutionary, psychological and personal.

Lysa Parker is the cofounder of Attachment Parenting International (API). She received a Bachelor in Education and a Masters in human development and family studies from the University of Alabama. She is the mother of two grown sons, a stepdaughter and is the grandmother of twin grandsons.

Nicola Galloway

Mary Malyon

Kunjay Patel

Annaliese Jones

Nicola Galloway is a trained chef with a Diploma in Natural Nutrition who is passionate about the benefits of healthy and flavoursome food. Raised by two doctors, her focus on health was never far behind her love for creating good food. Nicola is recently a new Mother with a healthy baby girl born naturally at home.

Mary is a breastfeeding, babywearing, co-sleeping mama to Isobel, her home-born baby girl. Mary aims to tell it like it is and give a voice to the parents across NZ who are breaking the mould and raising their children gently and intuitively.

Dr Kunjay Patel was born and educated in the UK. He graduated from the Royal London and St Bartholomew’s School of Medicine in 2000 and went on to train as a GP. He gained a Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He now lives in Hawkes Bay with his wife and two daughters. He both advocates and practices attachment parenting.

Annaliese Jones specializes in family health. Her passion for nutrition, naturopathy and herbal medicine have led her to work in private practice in Auckland. She has a Bachelor of Health Science and Diplomas in Naturopathy and Herbal medicine.

Terms & conditions: Opinions expressed and statements made in The Natural Parent Magazine are those of the contributors and advertisers and do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher. The Natural Parent Magazine contains general information only and does not purport to be a substitute for health and parenting advice. The Natural Parent Magazine, on behalf of itself and the authors, asserts copyright on all material appearing in The Natural Parent Magazine and none of it shall be reproduced, wholly or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher. The publisher reserves all rights in respect of all material received and accepted for publication. The Natural Parent Magazine reserves the right to edit or abridge all letters or other material (solicited or otherwise) accepted for publication. The Natural Parent Magazine takes no responsibility for any competitions promoted within this publication. All competitions are between the entrant and the business hosting the competition. The Natural Parent Magazine is solely a promotional tool for the competitions advertised and accepts no responsibility for them whatsoever. Other conditions may apply. For all enquiries please contact: editor@thenaturalparent.co.nz

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from the editor Hello, and welcome to The Natural Parent Magazine, a magazine committed to bringing parents up to date information on parenting from the attachment or connection parenting perspective. Optimal nutrition, safe sleeping and baby transport will all be covered in coming issues as well as parenting advice from leaders in their field such as Lauren Porter (Co-Director of the New Zealand Centre for Attachment), Sarah Buckley (NZ trained GP and author of the best selling book Gentle birth, Gentle Mothering) and Robin Grille (psychologist and author of the groundbreaking books ‘Parenting for a peaceful World’ and ‘Heart to Heart Parenting’). Attachment Parenting (AP) is an instinctive and responsive approach to child rearing. There are no hard and fast rules as to who belongs; each family tailors it to their own personalities and situation. It is so instinctive that many families share AP practices before they are even aware it has a name. An AP family aims to promote independence and psychological well being in their children by creating

secure emotional ‘attachments’ to their primary caregivers. These strong roots give children the confidence to explore and experiment in the world around them. A parent’s needs must also be met to allow them to reach out with love, patience and respect. The Natural Parent magazine and online community are also here to offer advice and support to families who are only interested in certain aspects of AP, such as the benefits of breastfeeding or babywearing. AP is inclusive, not exclusive. We will work together over the coming issues to explain and demystify the principles of Attachment Parenting, making them accessible and practical tools for use in daily life. If you have ever ached to pick up a crying baby but were worried about the risks of spoiling and manipulation, then AP is for you. If you want to keep your baby or child close without being over protective, then AP is for you. If you want to feel supported and valued in your decision to breastfeed, sleep close to your baby or babywear then AP is for you. If you want to know more about AP and how it can apply to your daily life, then The Natural Parent Magazine is here for you.

Nadine Rees Gaunt Editor The Natural Parent Magazine

parenting

attachment parenting: by Robin Grille

sound science or new-age craze?

Have you noticed that quite a few mothers and fathers are now ‘wearing’ their babies in a sling? They look quaint, and kind of ‘tribal’, don’t they? You may have felt confronted by the sight of a mother nursing a toddler (isn’t he too old for that?!). You might know a couple who sleep with their baby in bed with them (are they crazy?). They may all be practising attachment parenting - learning to interpret and respond to babies’ specific need-cues, and meeting their emotional needs on their own terms. This kind of parenting stresses the importance of things like gentle birthing methods, breastfeeding babies on demand, child-led weaning, sleeping close to baby, and wearing baby on your body during the day. These measures are designed to foster babies’ healthy emotional development. It is claimed that this will make them more resilient, more autonomous and better able to have good relationships as they grow. Is this a romantic New-Age ideal? Is it based on anything scientific? In fact, attachment parenting is the culmination of the largest body of international research ever compiled on child development and emotional intelligence.

The basic premises are: 1. In order to feel secure, and for healthy emotional development, babies need to feel ‘attached’ to a few, consistent, carers (preferably mum, dad, close kin or friends) that are dependably warm and responsive. 2. Secure attachment depends on how closely parents are able to respond to their babies’ dependency needs. 3. Insecure attachment may have a profound, longterm negative impact on emotional development, personality and human relationships. Over the last couple of decades, hundreds of meticulously constructed studies have been conducted around the world, telling us some crucial things about how children develop emotionally. We have learned that babies are not born predisposed to feeling secure or insecure and that the key to

Much of what may be labeled as a ‘discipline problem’ or a ‘behaviour problem’has its genesis in the attachment stage. secure attachment is the parents’ warmth, and their prompt and consistent efforts to soothe their babies’ distress. We have also learned that we cannot ‘spoil’ our babies by always responding to their needs, and our impatient push to make them more independent inhibits their exploration, and tends to make them more clingy. Overall, attachment research has shown us why we should avoid leaving our babies to cry, or deliberately force them to wait for soothing contact or nourishment. Studies have enabled researchers to determine that early attachment experiences have far-reaching psychological and social repercussions. Insecurely attached babies are more likely to become insecure as children. Emotionally secure babies, on the other hand, enjoy many personal advantages as toddlers - they are likely to become more enthusiastic, persistent and cooperative and they tend to be less oppositional, less angry, less fearful and more joyous. Secure babies grow to be more popular among their peers, more socially competent, and more capable of empathy towards others. The implications are momentous: children’s moral development, as well as their social development, is a function of how sensitively they were treated as babies, how promptly and consistently their needs were attended to. Toddlers who were securely attached as infants are more resilient, and more independent. Because they are more assertive, these children are more difficult to bully, and hence they are less likely to be targeted. Conversely, insecurely attached babies tend to seek attention in oblique or irritating ways and are more likely, as they grow, to be either clingy and hypersensitive, or aggressive and disruptive. Much of what may be labeled as a ‘discipline problem’ or a ‘behaviour problem’ has its genesis in the attachment stage. Children who have spent enough time away from their parents to become insecurely attached tend to be less compliant with

Our children will behave as well as they are treated. In a world in which all children are treated with dignity, respect, understanding, and compassion they can grow into adulthood with a generous capacity for love and trust. their parents. On the other hand, a number of studies show that children who are emotionally secure are more cooperative and develop a stronger conscience. Findings such as these are forcing us to reappraise our views on ‘good behaviour’. They suggest that the most important ‘discipline’ method is to ensure that our babies benefit from secure attachment; if we want ‘good’ children, we first of all must fulfill their dependency needs.

Security of attachment is also relevant to the issue of sibling rivalry. Children who are emotionally secure are more likely to comfort distressed younger siblings, and less likely to get into conflicts with them. This is not surprising, since empathy arises out of emotional security. The effects of early attachment are long-term. Studies show that ten year olds who were treated with acceptance and sensitivity as babies tend to be more self-confident and less hostile. Teenagers with a secure attachment history are better able to handle conflict, are more assertive, less angry and more admired by their peers. There is an increasing sense that many psychopathologies in teenagers - such as depression, or anxiety disorders - may be traceable to their attachment history. Insecure attachment also makes us more vulnerable to stress-related problems as adults. For instance, survivors of trauma who have had a stable attachment history are less likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorders, but if early attachment relationships are seriously disrupted, this can contribute to depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, panic attacks, agoraphobia and even eating disorders. Insecure attachment can also foster a range of anti-social behaviours, contributing to the incidence of violent crime and delinquency.

For human babies, there is evidence that the natural weaning age is probably well over two years, and anywhere up to six or seven years. Certainly we know that breastfeeding affords a vital psychological and immunological sustenance which goes on long after it is nutritionally necessary. We also know that it is one of the main sources of security and emotional wellbeing for babies and toddlers - suckling stimulates the secretion of oxytocin, a hormone associated with peaceful contentment, and this is passed directly to the baby through the mother’s milk. Our early weaning standards certainly warrant revision. The old practice of schedule-feeding babies has been officially rejected in favour of demand-feeding, an important measure for babies’ physical and emotional health. In a 1998 media alert, the American Academy of Pediatrics stated: “…the best feeding schedules for babies are the ones babies design themselves…Scheduled feedings designed by parents may put babies at risk of poor weight gain and dehydration”. Babies signal their hunger to us quite clearly before they begin to cry. They turn their heads toward the breast, they extend their lips, they become agitated, or they begin sucking their hands. These are the kinds of cues that pediatricians now urge mothers to respond to as promptly as possible. A baby’s cry is usually a late indicator of their hunger. And babies hunger for more than milk, they hunger for intimacy; to drink in maternal love. Many paediatricians, psychologists and other child health experts now advocate co-sleeping, a foundation method of attachment parenting. The sleep patterns of infants who sleep apart from their mothers have been observed to be fitful and restless, with frequent awakening. They tend to suck more on their thumbs or inanimate objects, a sign of increased stress. Their core temperature drops, and they suffer an increase in stress hormones. Infants are sensitive to both the sound and the rhythm of their parents’ breathing and they are directly pacified by the sound of their parents’ heartbeats. There is also a growing consensus that co-sleeping, putting the baby to sleep on his or her back, and night-time breastfeeding can reduce the risk of SIDS. (Please note that families with problems such as alcoholism, obesity, drug or tobacco dependency or psychological instability are not advised to sleep with their babies.) Attachment parenting is the antithesis of ‘controlled crying’, which has been a controversial technique used by many parents to train their babies to fall asleep by themselves. The Australian Association for Infant Mental Health (AAIMHI) has issued a position statement regarding this practice, which is unequivocal and unambiguous. Part of this statement says: “AAIMHI is

DIDYMOS concerned that the widely practised technique of ‘controlled crying’ is not consistent with what infants need for their optimal emotional and psychological health, and may have unintended negative consequences.” If at night, babies feel more secure when they can sleep near us, in the daytime they also want regular body contact. Typically, babies who are carried in a sling, or somehow on the body tend to be more placid and content - as long as the parents are relaxed about it.

Although it will take a few more years for ‘attachment parenting’ to become the norm, attachment thinking has become mainstream among academics and health professionals. Far from being a fad, it is standard practice for child psychiatrists and child psychologists who are up-to-date with new developments, and it is central to paediatrics. Nowadays, formal training in any profession related to child development involves learning attachment theory. Practitioners who qualified before this body of knowledge was established are even being re-trained, so that child health services can more uniformly reflect the findings of this new science. NZ fabric NZ made

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parenting

by Dr Sarah J Buckley

What is discipline? The word discipline comes from the Latin disciplina, meaning instruction or teaching. This definition tells us that discipline is much wider than the problems that we might have with certain behaviours, and includes all that we, as parents, are teaching our children.

Gentle

discipline

One way to look at discipline, from this wider perspective, is as the stage setting for family life, in its many facets. Family life can involve exuberant joy; tragedies and tears; crazy humour; and roaring rage – and that’s even before breakfast! But if we have a stable and loving setting, the ups and downs of family life can pass over us more gracefully, and we can weather the unavoidable storms without long-term damage. When we become skilful at handling conflict, we may also find that, after the storm is over, we can actually emerge with more love and more understanding in our relationships, and in our family.

Loving relationships Loving relationships are, for me, the cornerstone of discipline. When we have a loving relationship, both parent and child will want to give their best to each other. A loving relationship also helps to build resilience when tensions arise, because both child and parent will know that, underneath the conflicts, they do love and care about each other, and that they will eventually be reconnected in a loving way again. Our relationships involve all that has happened between us, as well as the feelings and actions that are happening right now. My belief is that our relationships with our children begin at conception, and that we can begin to nurture a loving relationship from this time. Allowing ourselves to be well cared for during pregnancy, and giving our babies the gentlest birth possible, will set us gracefully on the road to parenting, and will also help us to respond from our heart during our children’s early years. We can also build loving relationships with our babies through attachment parenting – carrying our babies, breastfeeding, co-sleeping and other practices that allow for a close attachment between mother and baby – because these are the expectations that our babies have developed through evolution. These behaviours also promote security, trust, and emotional wellbeing for both mother and baby. As William and Martha Sears (who coined the phrase “attachment parenting”) note, “The deeper the parent–child connection, the easier discipline will be.”

Our relationships involve all that has happened between us, as well as the feelings and actions that are happening right now. Loving relationships with our children also require an ongoing commitment. We may say that we love our children, but, being very practical creatures, our children actually need us to show them our love. This may be easy for us, or it may be very challenging, especially when we did not receive demonstrations of love in our own upbringing. With very young children, the most effective way to show love is to be available physically, and to give lots of hugs and holding. Breastfeeding our babies is also important, as it not only demonstrates love, but actually makes love; both mother and baby get a dose of oxytocin, the hormone of love, with each breastfeed.

Setting an (imperfect) example: No matter what we say, or the values we talk about, our children will always be most influenced by what we actually do. To be an effective parent, we really need to walk our talk. This is perhaps the scariest part of being a parent, and we are reminded of this every time we see our worst habits mirrored back to us, sometimes by children who can’t even talk!

Setting an example means being the best that we can be at the time, and using our role as parents to consciously teach our children some of our values. It also means working to become aware of the more negative attitudes that we may demonstrate unconsciously. Again, we can consider ourselves blessed by our observant children, who will usually remind us when our actions and our stated values are inconsistent. If we can be accepting and open to their feedback, we gain the sort of honest and real discipline (teaching) that comes from a spiritual master, which is what I believe our children essentially are for us. Setting an example also means recognising when we make mistakes and admitting it to ourselves and to our children. Admitting our mistakes and apologising are very important because, when we admit that we are not perfect, we give our children permission to be imperfect. We are also teaching our children an important aspect of self-esteem: that we actually don’t have to be perfect to be worthy of love, from others or from ourselves. Finally, when we admit our mistakes, we willingly give away some of our power, and we show that we are human after all. We may lose authority, in the strict sense, but we gain authenticity as well as our children’s love and true respect. It is also very sweet to be forgiven by our children, who are often so much kinder to us than we are to ourselves.

The wisdom of inconsistency: As parents, we are told that it is important to be consistent. For example, if we allow our children to open up all the puzzle boxes and spread them out on the floor one day, we should allow them to do the same thing the next day. However, if we think about it from our own perspective, we have to admit that some days we are more tolerant to disorder and some days we need more tidiness around us. If we allow our children to do things because of our notions of consistency, we could end up feeling resentful or overwhelmed by what we have allowed our children to do, based on these ideas. We might also believe that we need to treat our children consistently – that is, all the same – but again, this can be unhelpful. For example, if my children all asked to take something of mine to school, chances are that I would say “Yes” to those who have looked after things that I have loaned them in the past, and “No” to others, who I know haven’t taken care of my things. If I try to be consistent, and say, “Yes” to everyone, I am risking damage, as well as missing an opportunity to teach my children about responsibility. If I say “No” to everyone, I am also not teaching responsibility, nor allowing the rewards of trustworthiness. Perhaps the most compelling reason to be inconsistent is that we are more real and honest when we are inconsistent. Personally, I have even broken prior arrangements with my children because I value honesty, and because I know that sometimes I need to put my own needs first. (In other words, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t no-one happy”!) When I am inconsistent, or break a prior arrangement, I always explain my situation, and I ask my children to be understanding and forgiving. Sometimes we will be able to negotiate a compromise or other solution, and sometimes there will be disappointment and tears. At other times they will say, “Yes, you are right Mum, it’s not the right thing to do.” In following my own instincts and needs, I am also teaching my children to follow theirs, rather than getting caught up in external situations and demands, and what we think others expect of us (which is often mistaken).

Being a self-centred parent: Being a self-centred parent is not a popular image. Our culture still expects us to be martyrs for the sake of our children, yet this is not healthy for us, nor for our children, who can only learn that it’s OK to get their needs met at the expense of others – an attitude that seems to be growing in our society. Being a self-centred parent teaches my children to be respectful of my needs, and the needs of others, and gives us both good practice with saying “No”. Being self-centred has made me a much stricter mother, in many ways, compared to my early mothering years, but my children are not selfish and spoilt, and are in fact more flexible and accommodating than I could have imagined.

Being a self-centred parent also helps me to keep my boundaries as clear as possible. In the language of Parent Effectiveness Training – one of my favourite parenting resources – it helps me to know when the problem belongs to me (and I need to take action) and when it belongs to my child (who needs to take action, with my support if necessary). For example, if my children leave their rooms untidy, my self-centred response is “How does this affect me?” If it has no real impact, then it is their problem, and they can live with the consequences, if any. If, however, I feel that I don’t want to go in to put their washing away because I might trip over, or because I just don’t like the mess, I could tell them, “I don’t like going into your bedroom, so I am not going to put your washing away. You will have to collect it yourself from the laundry.” In this way, I have owned my part of the problem, and trusted my child with the decisions and actions (or inactions) that affect them. Self-centredness also saves us from the resentment that can come when we over-stretch ourselves in fulfilling our children’s needs. This is not uncommon for attachment parents, especially for those who did not get their needs met as children, and who therefore can overcompensate with their own children. If you have difficulty with saying “No” to your children, as I did, this may be an issue that you need to look at. Sometimes I lose my self-centeredness or I am unsure what is the right decision: do I go out of my way to do what my children want, or do I say “No” and live with their disappointment or anger (which is usually shortlived, in my experience)? At these times, I make my decisions based on how I imagine I will feel afterwards. If I think that, for example, tidying my children’s room, reading yet another book, or breastfeeding my toddler, will leave me feeling tired or resentful, this gives me the extra resolve to say “No”. Feeling resentful and blaming our children for what we have agreed to do for them is not healthy for either of us! I leave some final words on self-centred parenting to Rachana, my wise teacher who has taught me so much about motherhood. As well as introducing me to PET, Rachana gave me a mothering mantra – a phrase that helps me to centre and come back to myself when things are difficult. The mantra is: “Because I love myself…” This mantra reminds me that the core of my mothering is my self, and that the more I love myself, the more I am available to love and care for my children. Because I love myself, I can be loving and truly in love with my children, my family, my friends and the world that we all share.

parenting

All night long:

Understanding the world of infant sleep by Lauren Porter

Sleep is a basic requirement of human existence. Adequate sleep is required for good health and well-being. Yet sleep needs vary from person to person and change with age, stage and development. In infancy, sleep has distinct patterns and features that differ from adult sleep. ‘Sleeping like a baby’ does not mean long stretches of deep, uninterrupted sleep. Rather, it means shorter sleep cycles, significant amount of time in REM sleep, delayed establishment of a circadian rhythm (Anders & Taylor 1994) and a sleep mechanism that isn’t fully formed until approximately between three (Sadeh & Anders 1993) and five years of age (Segawa 2006). This paper presents a review of the literature on infant sleep, attachment and the neurological basis of night-time crying. It aims to provide a holistic and scientific foundation for understanding infant sleep.

Night waking While night waking in infancy can be considered problematic by parents who wish to get more uninterrupted rest, the majority of infants wake multiple times in the first months of life and require parental response (Anders, Halpern & Hua 1992). By eight months of age, somewhere between 60–70% of babies appear to be able to fall back asleep upon waking without parental assistance, and this process is known as ‘self soothing’ (Anders 1994). However, babies who do attain this ability to self soothe are not always able to achieve this at every waking. Conversely, even babies who typically ‘signal’ for a parent during the night are usually able to self soothe upon at least one of their night time wakings (Galyor, Goodlin-Jones & Anders 2001; Keener, Zeanah & Anders 1989). Additionally, night waking often increases at approximately one year of age, even for children previously sleeping for long periods during the night (Richman 1981; Seymour et al 1989; Van Tassel 1985). This behaviour is thought to be due to developmentally appropriate responses to separation that are common to this age group (Anders & Eiben 1997). These observations highlight the indisputable fact that night waking is the norm for babies. Night waking in infancy is not a bad thing since it appears to serve several protective, reparative and attachment functions, particularly from the point of view of survival, optimal development and emotional connection. For example, infants enter REM sleep first, have shorter sleep cycles and spend much greater amounts of time in light/REM sleep, and hence receive greater brain stimulation (Nakao 2006; Roffwarg, Muzio & Dement 1966), more access to breast milk and maternal presence (McKenna et al 1997), and reduce their risk of SIDS by spending less time in deep sleep (Fleming et al 1996). For example, at 3 months of age, the average length of a sleep cycle is 50 minutes, whereas an average adult cycle is roughly 90 minutes (Middlemiss 2004). REM sleep also has important functions for emotional development. During REM sleep, emotional centres of the brain are highly activated, suggesting that REM sleep may be integral to the process of developing psychobiological attachment (McNamara, Dowdall & Auerbach 2002).

Sleep research When evaluating and understanding infant sleep data and patterns, careful consideration must be given to the conditions, assumptions and criteria surrounding the research itself. McKenna (2001) discusses how much of the data in the sleep literature has been based on the paradigm of solitarysleeping, artificially-fed infants. For example, when electrophysiological technology first became widely available to quantify infant sleep, breastfeeding initiation rates in the US were at 9%. Breastfeeding rates have improved since then, and we now know that the majority of babies sleep, at least sometimes, in the presence of a caregiver, yet the paradigm for what is ‘normal’ infant sleep was largely established during that foundational period. As a result, sleep ‘problems’ are often described as any patterns that deviate from this suboptimal standard. Hence, in order to create ‘normal’ and ‘healthy’ babies, as prescribed by a now-outdated standard, modern families are pressured to recreate the conditions prevalent when the research was conducted. Such conditions include feeding babies artificial baby milk, putting babies in isolated sleeping environments and extinguishing night waking.

Attachment As important as restorative, health-promoting sleep is to establishing wellbeing, bonding and attachment issues remain paramount in babies. Without bonding, babies fail to thrive (Fisher et al 1997) or even risk death (Spitz 1946). Attachment is a biological necessity that stems from the reliance of immature infants upon their caregivers for protection, advantage and basic survival (Bowlby 1982). The necessary protection is achieved via attachment relationships and consequently the degree to which we are excellent caregivers governs the degree to which our offspring reach optimal development (Perry 2001). Attachment security in infancy is associated with healthy mutually satisfying relationships, optimal cognitive functioning and emotional and behavioural management later in life (Karen 1994). Secure attachment relationships are marked by a mutual bond in which the mother, or other caregiver, shapes infant development through her interactions and relationship with her child (Bowlby1982). These relationships then allow for

the formation of an ‘internal working model’ that functions as a template by which babies can gauge their own emotions and those of others (Marvin & Britner 1999). The hallmarks of attachment security are availability, responsiveness and sensitivity (Ainsworth 1973).Hence it is not just the presence of the parent, but the quality of the parental response, their emotional availability and their sensitivity to the baby’s communication that form the heart of a child’s security (Kobak 1999). When a baby is cared for in this wholly sensitive way, a secure relationship will likely develop and form a foundation for emotional health that lasts a lifetime. It is critical that infant sleep is approached with sensitivity to attachment needs and afforded high levels of attunement and responsiveness. All aspects of development are influenced by fundamental attachment relationships. For example, the human brain adds 70% of its structure after birth (Schore 2001). Hence our genetic potential is expressed via our experiences (Siegel & Hartzell 2004). Positive, nurturing parental response impacts the brain in two very important ways: it decreases the impact of subsequent stress on the brain (Cozolino 2006) and it enhances brain growth and the development of brain systems that support attachment, emotional regulation and problem solving (Davidson2000). Babies who experience soothing touch, comforting warmth, repeated experiences of calming when distressed, a sustained positive emotional state and homeostatic balance when tired, hungry or over stimulated grow to develop healthy emotional regulation, brain growth and self esteem (Cozolino 2006). On the other hand, babies who experience neglect or abuse during their early life are at risk for mental illness, behavioural disturbances, cognitive impairment, and brain damage (McEwen 2000; Perryet al 1995). Because infancy is dedicated to an explosion in brain growth and neural connectivity, those years are widely considered the most critical period of development (Perry et al 1995). These are also the years that overlap with the most inconsistent sleeping patterns in babies.

Sleep training Consistent with our cultural preferences for independent sleep, it is common for parents and professionals to have concerns about infant sleep patterns along with an accompanying desire to create longer, more stable night time sleep routines. The use of sleep techniques, such as

Babies are not born with an ability to independently regulate their physiological or emotional states but rely, instead, upon a caregiver to do this with and for them (Siegel 2001). controlled crying, is often recommended. These methods employ strategies in which a baby is left to cry for increasingly longer intervals until s/he learns to go to sleep independently. Depending on the authors, this strategy can be employed anywhere from birth through the first year of life (Ferber 1986; Hall 2006; Hogg & Blau 2002). However, sleep training overlooks a baby’s psychological and physiological well being. Rather, it addresses a baby’s behavioural repertoire and utilizes interventions to affect change. When these approaches work – and their success is mixed and often unsustained (Middlemiss 2004) – they do so purely on a behavioural level and often at the expense of optimal emotional well-being (Gethin & Macgregor 2007). Similarly, approaches that emphasize independent, solitary sleep and discourage responsiveness to separation protests contradict our knowledge that mother-infant separation produces severe physiologic responses (Hofer, 2005). Sleep training methods pose serious risks to infants. When babies are in close proximity to their mothers and when their needs are responded to with attuned sensitivity, babies remain regulated (Schore 2001). Babies are not born with an ability to independently regulate their physiological or emotional states but rely, instead, upon a caregiver to do this with and for them (Siegel 2001). We are all familiar with the need to place a newborn on their mother’s chest to assist the baby with maintaining body temperature, due to the newborn’s inability to regulate body temperature without assistance. Other aspects of regulation, such as heart rate, cortisol levels and digestion, are also regulated within the context of this relationship (Hofer 1996). These ‘hidden regulators’ are the physiological mechanisms that keep babies in homeostasis and form the foundation of future regulation (Hofer 1996).

Emotional regulation is the same. Babies need assistance in managing their emotions so they do not become overwhelmed. Whether its fear, sadness, surprise or excitement, babies can quickly succumb to emotional intensity. They are especially vulnerable to fear as they possess vast amounts of neural circuitry to analyse this emotion but few that assist them in feeling good (Cozolino 2006). Thus it is critical that babies be assisted in maintaining emotional balance and helped to return to a regulated state when out of balance. When they are dysregulated, babies are vulnerable to the deleterious effects of stress (Schore 2003).

Stress cycle Stress is the impact that our bodies experience when emotionally or physically challenged. The ability to handle stress is formed via our early experiences (Perry et al 1995). Subjection to repeated, frequent, ongoing or intense stressors leaves a baby prone to not only the negative effects of that experience but to a trajectory of future vulnerability to stressful events. For an infant, crying is typically the only way they have to communicate their stress. With adults, the ‘fight or flight’ response mobilizes our bodies to handle difficult or potentially overwhelming situations; for a baby, fight or flight only works if someone comes to fight for or flee with them (Perry 2001). Hence, leaving them to cry only increases their stress levels, teaches them they cannot rely on their caregivers for assistance, and opens them to the cycle of hyperarousal and dissociation that characterises the stress response.

When babies are in distress, their brains are at the mercy of these circulating chemicals. Hence, all their regulatory resources must be devoted to trying to reorganize and regain equilibrium (Tronick & Weinberg 1997). When babies experience persistent or intense stress, they enter a cycle of hyperarousal and dissociation (Perry et al 1995). The initial stage of the stress cycle is one of hyperarousal, that is, the ‘startle’ reaction to a threat. This reaction engages the sympathetic nervous system, which increases the heart rate, blood pressure and respiration rate. Distress at this stage is usually expressed by crying, which will progress to screaming. The brain attempts to mediate this by increasing the levels of major stress hormones: adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine. Elevated hormone levels trigger a hypermetabolic state in the developing brain (Brown 1982). This state can have negative consequences since the release of stress hormones is only a short term protective mechanism aimed at assisting the body in surviving a dangerous situation. Prolonged periods spent in this state are damaging. Additionally, prolonged exposure to stress induces increased levels of thyroid hormones and vasopressin (Schore 1994). Vasopressin, a hypothalamic neuropeptide, is released in response to

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unsafe or challenging environments (Schore 2002). It is also associated with nausea and vomiting, which may explain why many babies throw up after extended crying (Beebe 2000). The second, later-forming reaction to stress is one of dissociation. At this point, the baby disengages from the external stimuli and retreats to an internal world. This second phase involves numbing, avoidance, compliance and lack of reaction (Schore 2002), and occurs in the face of a stressful situation in which the baby feels both hopeless and helpless (Schore 1994). The infant tries to repair the disequilibrium but cannot so s/he disengages, becomes inhibited, and strives to avoid attention in an effort to become ‘unseen’ (Schore 1994). This metabolic shutting down is a passive state in response to an unbearable situation and is the opposite of hyperarousal. In biological terms, it is the same process that allows us to retreat from overwhelming situations in order to heal wounds and fill depleted resources. However, as a response to caregiver misattunement and non-responsiveness, it is devastating and the effects of even short periods of dissociation can be profound (Tronick & Weinberg 1997). In this state, pain numbing endogenous opiates and behavior-inhibiting stress hormones, such as cortisol, are elevated. Blood pressure

decreases, as does the heart rate, despite still-circulating adrenaline (Schore 2002). This ultimate survival strategy allows the baby to maintain basic homeostasis (Porges 1997). When babies are in distress, their brains are at the mercy of these circulating chemicals. Hence, all their regulatory resources must be devoted to trying to reorganize and regain equilibrium (Tronick & Weinberg 1997). These kinds of biochemical alterations in a rapidly developing brain can have lasting consequences. In the infant, ‘states become traits’ so that the effects of early relational traumas become part of the structure of the forming personality (Perry et al 1995). This distress is all taking place at a time when the brain is at its maximum vulnerability to influences and stimuli. Hence, while this stress reaction is going on, the infant brain must devote all its resources to managing the stress and forfeits potential opportunities for learning at the critical periods of brain development (Schore 2001). Chronic shifts into this cycle of stress can cause brain impairment and damage (McEwen 2000). It is then quite apparent that advising parents to allow their babies to cry and become distressed in an effort to get them to sleep is information which may place babies at risk. Babies are unable to make sense of a parent who is attentive

at certain times of the day but unresponsive at others. Attachment research by Sroufe (1995) has shown that inconsistent or unresponsive care is associated with insecure attachments, suboptimal child development, cognitive and emotional functioning and mental health impairment. Additionally, neurological studies show that the pain of emotional separation registers the same way as physical pain (Panksepp 2003). The pain a baby experiences at being left alone to cry is truly quite intense.

Conclusion If we want to teach our babies to regulate their emotions and behaviours, achieve mental health and gain the skills for happy, mutual relationships, we must do this through sensitive and responsive caregiving. This kind of caregiving in the first years of life becomes a powerful regulator of stress hormones and responses that follows a child throughout life (Gunnar &Cheatham 2003). Additionally, sleep training poses a threat to the attachment relationship by teaching parents to desensitize themselves to their babyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cues, promoting false understandings and lack of connection. When babies express distress but are met with non-responsiveness or rejection, they learn to divert the expression of their basic needs in order to preserve some sort of connection, thus losing authentic communication with their parent (Powell et al 2007). Parenting a child, the context in which it occurs and how well it is done is a human relationship that alters the characters of both partners in the relationship (Karen 1994). Thus, it is not just the baby, but also the entire relationship that is potentially jeopardised by sleep training. It is, therefore, by meeting our babiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs that they learn healthy independence, including sleep independence. Babiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sleep and sleeping arrangements should be approached with the utmost care, without subjecting babies to separations or non-responsiveness that lasts longer than they can manage. Families must choose what is appropriate for their unique circumstances, values and culture. Regardless of choice, however, we now have a substantial body of neurological, psychological and biological research to help frame that choice, allowing us to understand the critical importance of maintaining attuned connection to our babies, regardless of time of day. For a full list of references please refer to www.thenaturalparent.co.nz

Lauren Porter is a clinical social worker, consultant and psychotherapist, as well as Co-Director of the New Zealand based Centre for Attachment. She holds a BA in East Asian Studies and a Masters Degree in Social Work. Since receiving her MSW in 1995 she has been dedicated to working with families, children and adolescents in the field of mental health counseling and training. Lauren has worked in a wide range of settings and communities, including Germany and the US, in addition to New Zealand. Her experience has focused on families struggling with issues pertaining to conflict and trauma, including child sexual abuse. Her current professional focus is the merging of attachment theory with neuroscientific data, with an eye toward the practical applications of everyday life. She is a member of the Attachment Parenting International Research Group, an Executive Committee member of Infant Mental Health Association Aotearoa New Zealand and a consultant for the 2006 and 2007 Nought to Five television series (TVNZ/Homegrown TV New Zealand). She is the mother of two children.

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The Conscious Parent: Separation Anxiety By Lysa Parker, MS, CFLE and Barbara Nicholson, MEd Oh, the anguish of someone you love leaving you behind! Animals feel it, adults feel it, and of course children feel it too. A lot of assumptions have been made about what is called “separation anxiety” but not many people seem to really understand it. It’s a well recognized behavior in dogs (scratching, tearing up the house, whining, depression) yet easily subdued with an antidepressant. But when it comes to human children separation anxiety is looked upon as abnormal behavior, especially if it continues past the ages of one to two years old. The roots of this misunderstanding can be traced to our fierce belief in teaching independence without the knowledge or understanding of the child’s unique temperament or what is developmentally appropriate. In our culture, we tend to raise children with a “one size fits all” philosophy. In order to truly understand separation anxiety we really need to look at the big picture- the whole child within the framework of the parent-child attachment relationship. Until an infant is anywhere between seven to nine months old the child doesn’t seem to have a preference for one person over another but then the baby goes through a developmental leap and suddenly the only person the child wants is mummy (or the primary caregiver.) So much so that to be separated feels akin to torture or a profound loss, so there can be a lot of crying and resistance. Child developmentalists find that when a child’s hardwired need for the presence of the mother (or other) is respected and fulfilled, that in time the child will feel secure enough to separate from one or both parents. When that happens really depends on the child. Some children may take longer – as long as Kindergarten. That is not uncommon nor is it uncommon for a six or seven year old child to resist spending the night at a friend’s house. Children will readily separate when they have the emotional “readiness” to do so. Just like learning to use the potty or tie shoes, once the child is ready he is more than eager to do it himself! There are emotional milestones just as there are cognitive milestones. If there isn’t a compelling reason to force the child to separate then wait a couple of months and try again. A young child’s emotional and brain development changes rapidly and often; along with that so does their readiness and willingness to separate. If children grow up in a large household or with the familiarity of extended family members, it makes it much easier to separate and leave them with someone they know and love. When it comes to a new school environment and you know your child is anxious then there are some things you can do to prepare her for this transition. • Visit the school and classroom beforehand. Literally do the whole tour of the school from meeting the principal, the cafeteria workers, the librarian, explaining each as you go along. • Meet the child’s teacher and give her information about your child’s personality (shy, outgoing, sensitive, active etc.) Some kindergarten teachers make home visits prior to school so the students feel more comfortable when they arrive. • Send your child to school with little reminders of your connection such as sticky love notes in her school or lunch bag. You can give her something personal that helps her feel connected to you like a picture of the two of you together. True separation anxiety is not manipulation on the part of the child but reflects unmet emotional needs or lack of developmental readiness. Rather than ignore, blame, shame, tease or worse, use medications to essentially punish children for their strong emotions about separating let’s acknowledge and respect their feelings and the attachment relationship. In this way parents will be helping their child develop his capacity for empathy toward others, something we could all use more of in this world.

Lysa Parker and Barbara Nicholson are the authors of Attached at the Heart: Eight Proven Parenting Principles for Raising Connected and Compassionate Children and cofounders of Attachment Parenting International (API), a 501 (c ) 3 nonprofit organization that provides evidenced-based parenting information and local support groups. For more information go to www.attachmentparenting.org .

parenting

Strange New Worlds: The Voyage into Fatherhood

by Lauren Porter

Women’s liberation is just a lot of foolishness. It’s the men who are discriminated against. They can’t bear children. And no one’s likely to do anything about that. ~Golda Meir, world leader Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is “soap-on-a-rope.” ~Bill Cosby, actor, comedian

From the moment of that first contraction, the world can appear to forget fathers. Everything suddenly revolves around breasts, bonding and maternal instinct, leaving fathers to wonder where and how they fit in. Yet the process of becoming a father is an equally important birth. As with women, the arrival of a baby gives rise to a new identity for men. Men experience the highs and the lows, the confusion and need for support, and the bold exploration into the final frontier called fatherhood.

Some people say that focusing on mothers is unnecessary, that babies don’t care and caregivers are interchangeable. Unfortunately, this isn’t true. Babies emerge from the womb preferring their mother’s voices, knowing their mother’s scent and wanting their mother’s company. This doesn’t mean that another person can’t do the nurturing and do it well. It just means that physiologically and emotionally, mothers are primed to do this job. However, that’s not the end of the story.

Fathers represent another way of looking at life - the possibility of an alternative dialogue. ~Louise Kaplan, psychiatrist and author

Babies may need their mothers but that’s not the complete picture. Every relationship in a child’s life sculpts the brain architecture and imprints a map for negotiating the world. Just as plants need sunshine along with soil and water, babies need more than just one important person in their lives. Fathers – or significant others of any kind, including grandparents, same sex partners and close friends – bring another way of being and being loved to the lives of their children.

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Fathers offer children a different lens, a unique and alternative way to view the world. Mothers are often the source of comfort and reassurance, the safe haven from life’s trials. While fathers possess immense nurturing abilities, too, they are also often well suited to being the base from which babies explore the world. Because they are often not the all day feeders and all night comforters, they have the energy and excitement to introduce babies to new people, new games and new ideas.

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It is a wise father that knows his own child. ~ William Shakespeare

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Getting to know your baby, discovering who she is, her likes and dislikes, her temperament and style is paramount. Having a baby is like moving to a strange new country. The best thing you can do is buy a good map and learn how to order off a menu. Start small and learn about this new creature. You will soon become fascinated and will likely find that your insights are helpful to your partner as well. Research shows that fathers are typically better able to describe their baby’s behaviours and personalities, likely because their perspective affords them some objectivity.

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The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. ~ David O. McKay, teacher, pastor Sometimes the biggest struggle for dads is in those first few months of life, the time when the only jobs available for them seem to be changing nappies and making tea. It is important to remember that this is a huge time of change for everyone and that often the best way to parent your child is to support her mother. If you have an older child, your role with them can expand and grow as you become their temporary focus. Not only is this sort of practical assistance likely to ease the stress and assist the mother-baby bonding that leads to better bonding with everyone, but it also begins an important lesson for baby: how adults understand love.

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My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, “You’re tearing up the grass.” “We’re not raising grass,” Dad would reply. “We’re raising boys. ~Harmon Killebrew, baseball hall-of-fame star While what we do with our children is obviously critical, it is in the quality and essence of our adult relationships that children learn the most about their future. A child who is nurtured but never sees mum and dad speak and act in a supportive and loving way toward each other misses out on the big picture. If you have a daughter, you are teaching her what to expect of a man; if you have a son, he is learning about manhood itself.

We give our children a great if unseen gift when we wrestle with our own expectations and are able to consciously let go of those that are destructive to their well-being. ~ Jon Kabat Zinn, professor

It’s not always so easy, however. The shift from husband to father, wife to mother, and couple to family can be an intense one, often pitting the baby’s needs against those of the parents. Men can end up feeling confused about the part they play and the feelings they experience. Fathers report that they miss their partner’s time and attention, that her focus is solely on the baby, that they are sleep deprived and cranky, that the baby has changed their life in ways they didn’t predict (and aren’t too happy with). It is critical to realise that these changes are both normal and temporary. A baby has intense needs and meeting these needs may be tiring work, but it is time well spent. You are laying the foundation for a happy, well-adjusted child, not to mention a child who will be easier to parent as they grow. Remain steadfast in the belief in your partnership. Remember that if you feel your union is under stress, it is time to reassess your expectations and priorities, not blame your child. A mother and father whose commitment to and love for each other is strong can endure this short-term adjustment to a new phase of life. Before you realise it, you will regain your ability for free time and private moments and you will arrive there with a sense of pride in your accomplishments as parents, not at the expense of your child’s development.

In the meantime, if you are feeling left out, take heart. You are more important than you think and you can enjoy your influence. Your special way of interacting with and thinking about your child gives them new avenues to develop, new options in life and a belief in themselves as most important. For example, research into breastfeeding shows that one of the strongest predictors of whether a mother will breastfeed or not is the father’s feelings about breastfeeding and his support. Don’t assume that breastfeeding – or any other mother-baby issue – is out of your reach. Fathers have great influence and it is important to your baby that you educate yourself and take a stand. You have a huge impact on your baby’s physical, emotional and psychological health. Research also shows that fathers who share a bed with their baby and partner – called ‘triadic’ cosleeping – report a greater sense of intimacy, involvement and satisfaction with their babies than fathers who sleep separately. The fathers in this study did not intend to sleep with their babies and were surprised at their reactions. Other ideas include baby massage, co-bathing, cuddling and special time. You will find your own unique way to create a special bond with your child; you just have to look.

Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest inheritance. ~ Ruth E. Renkel, author

Finally, it is important to remember that you are in this for the long haul. Just like the farmer who can’t rush the crops, parenting is an enduring process that requires great care and often doesn’t produce a harvest until much later on. You may be surprised at the fruits of your labour. The early years of parenting are the most demanding, but also the most important. Like most things that matter, they require a huge investment of time, energy and feeling. But the transformation defies words. If you can step into this new world and embrace the voyage, you will find it is definitely worth the trip.

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Back to nature or back in time? By Mary Malyon

If like me your head has been buried in a fug of nappies, baby food and breast milk for the last year, you might not have heard about a controversial book released recently which blamed the green movement for romanticizing the ‘back to nature’ ideal and forcing women back into the home. In Le conflit: La femme et la mere, French feminist Elisabeth Badinter blames the “holy reactionary alliance” of green politicians, breastfeeding campaigners and child psychologists for turning women into slaves to ‘green’ practices like reusable nappies, homemade organic food and breastfeeding. Clearly, Badinter is on a completely different page from anyone following a more ‘natural’ parenting path: talking about leaving her baby behind she says, “I never wondered whether it was normal to not feel like spending 24 hours a day with just a small baby.” Yes, that made my toes curl as well! And she boasts that even in seventeenth and eighteenth century France, “women had a life apart from the children.” Have a read of the excellent

Parenting for a Peaceful World if you want to find out more about what was happening to these unfortunate children – packed of to wet nurses for the first two years of their lives, swaddled and hung on a hook until it was their turn to be nursed. But, going beyond her eye-watering disregard for the child’s experience, I think Badinter’s stance does open an important dialogue for ecologically minded parents. I had a chat with fellow mums and many disagreed with Badinter’s portrayal of mother’s as victims unable to make choices for themselves. “Everyone I know who does some or all of those things (cloth diapering, breastfeeding and so on) does it because they WANT to and because they think it’s the best thing for their kids and family. Not because they feel pressured by society,” said one mum. I follow this maxim of choice. I use cloth naps as much as possible, but when I need a break I resort to disposables making use of recently available composting options. The same goes for baby food. If my partner’s working late or I’m just plain exhausted

then a jar of mashed carrot is like manna from heaven, my small one loves it as well – often more than my home cooked creations! I have not always been so Zen about my green parenting practices though. As a new mum of a sleepless baby, I often spent entire nap times hanging out diapers at a hundred miles an hour only for Isobel to wake just as I sat down for a cup of tea. And if it rained, I made those sleepless newborn nights even worse by worrying that my baby would have damp diapers in the morning. Then I brought a packet of disposables for emergencies and my mind was at rest. So what drove my urge to ‘cloth nap or die’? Ethics? Or was something else going? Maybe Badinter does have point. If we are honest with ourselves could it be true that green practices are adding to the insidious burden of one up (wo) man ship that so often creeps into parenting? When you want the very best for your child and you see someone who is doing what you deem to be a ‘better’ or ‘worse’ job it can cause emotional turmoil.

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I had a great conversation with a mum recently about this. She is committed to breast feeding long term, but reflecting on her attitudes to mums who make different choices or who can’t breast feed she questioned: “What must that feel like in this strong minded world that decrees ‘breast is best’? I am guilty of judging other mothers internally for choosing to cut children off from their mother’s milk at a certain age.” “And on the flip side of that,” she continued, “as a mother who has not chosen cloth naps, sometimes I’ve felt selfconscious amongst groups of women changing washable diapers when I am not. Is it possible that within this culture of wanting to be as ethical as possible there is an air of snobbery?”

Personally, I’d shy away from condemning Badinter’s words outright. She is gunning for women, ensuring that we are never again trapped into the identikit role of ‘the fifties housewife’. “I am warning young women about the return of a back-to-nature ideology, of the danger of choosing to become wives tied to the hearth,” she says. Sadly though, I think she’s missed the point. It is not the breastfeeding and homemade baby food that ties a woman to the hearth – it is the lack of support. Going back-to-nature involves going back to community, so a woman isn’t left alone to deal with a screaming baby and a chaotic house. In an ideal world we would all have the support we need to be ethical in every way, meanwhile let’s do the best we can and forgive ourselves and others for not being perfect!

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And then there’s the question of family harmony. If your partner and extended family are completely onboard with your green choices that is fantastic; but if not are the tension and arguments caused by extra work and clashing ideologies worth it? For mums or dads in this situation it is an agonizing call to make.

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To read an interview with Elisabeth Badinter go to: www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,713890-2,00. html. Composting naps: www.envirocomp.co.nz Le conflit: La femme et la mere, Elisabeth Badinter Parenting for a Peaceful World, Robin Grille

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why would you choose

home based childcare? By Carol Stovold

The debate around childcare has been around for decades but what guides our choices? Is it informed decision about what is best for children or is it social constructs and political engineering that determines the care and education we choose for our babies and pre-schoolers?

Social constructs shape the way we perceive ourselves, others around us, attitudes, social behaviours and services and products that we use. For example pink for girls, blue for boys. “When people interact, they act upon this understanding and their common knowledge of reality becomes reinforced. Since this common sense knowledge is negotiated by people, institutions come to be presented as part of an objective reality.” Prior to 1988 the ‘normal‘ primary choices for children’s education and care were Kindergarten, Playcentre and familial care such as with mothers at home or other extended family members. Childcare centres, Kohanga Reo and home-based childcare were also available but not widely used. Funding for these services came from the Ministry of Social Welfare, Department of Education (Kindergarten), and the Ministry of Mãori affairs. In December 1988, David Lange, as Minister of Education, released his early childhood education policy entitled ‘Before Five’ in which he stated: “Research shows that resources put into early childhood care and education have proven results. Not only do they enhance the individual child’s learning, the advantages gained help create success in adult life. Improvements in this sector are an investment in the future.” This policy document paved the way for early childhood to come under a newly formed Ministry of Education. This was the beginning of more formal settings for children and the explosion of public and private investment promoting the grouping of children in buildings with groups of adults through the widespread usage of the term childcare centre (rather than childcare services) in literature, media and written material available to parents. Political drivers of this policy shift were to meet fiscal labour market objectives and women’s rights to return to the workforce. In 2007 the Labour Government had significant investments from the New Zealand Superannuation Fund in an early childhood stock market listed company. And yet across many societies and ethnicities around the world

the predominant or natural pattern of care for babies and young children is with their mothers assisted by other family members in familiar domestic settings. In fact neuroscientific research suggests that stable, loving, nurturing, secure and stimulating relationships with caregivers in the earliest months and years of life are critical for every aspect of a child’s development. The research also suggests that alternative arrangements for childcare other than in small group settings and home environments have risks of exposure too early to infections that bring stresses for babies and disrupted attachment for babies and infants. In two decades New Zealand has moved quickly towards out of home care for children and in fact for under two year olds enrolments have increased by almost 6000 or 23.5 percent over the past four years. Whilst the general benefits of childcare have been well established there is still considerable debate in the child development research literature on the benefits and risks of formal childcare for under two-year-olds. So why did childcare in centres become the norm or ‘social construct’? Is it from a lack of understanding of child development for example an assumption that child care will improve the socialisation of under twos, who have, of course, no concept of others as more than extensions of themselves? Or is it that parents were unaware of other options? Quality Home-based childcare with the highest staff-to childratios and small group sizes allows educators to give individual attention to children and support the nurturance of focused interactions and intentional learning experiences. ‘For positive emotional development during this most sensitive period of brain growth between 0 - 3, it’s absolutely essential that continuity of personalised care-giving is available to babies and toddlers at all times, either from their primary attachment figure or from a trusted secondary attachment figure.’ Parents themselves need to feel comfortable and encouraged to make evidence-based decisions on the quality of the care and education when they choose childcare for their children, by exploring all of the options available including home-based childcare.

Carol Stovold is President of the New Zealand Home-based Early Childhood Education Association.

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Natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hormonal Blueprint for Labor:

Ecstatic Birth By Dr Sarah J Buckley

Giving birth in ecstasy: this is our birthright and our body’s intent. Mother Nature, in her wisdom, prescribes birthing hormones that take us outside (ec) our usual state (stasis), so that we can be transformed on every level as we enter motherhood. This exquisite hormonal orchestration unfolds optimally when birth is undisturbed, enhancing safety for both mother and baby. Science is also increasingly discovering what we realize as mothers: that our way of birth affects us life-long, both mother and baby, and that an ecstatic birth -- a birth that takes us beyond our Self -- is the gift of a life-time. Four of our major hormonal systems are active during labor and birth. These produce, during labor and birth, peak levels of oxytocin, the hormone of love; endorphins, hormones of pleasure and transcendence; epinephrine and norepinephrine, hormones of excitement; and prolactin, hormone of tender mothering. These systems are common to all mammals and originate in our mammalian or middle brain, also known as the limbic system. For birth to proceed optimally, this part of the brain must take precedence over the neocortex, or rational brain. This shift can be helped by an atmosphere of quiet and privacy, with, for example, dim lighting and little conversation, and no expectation of rationality from the laboring woman. Under such conditions a woman will intuitively choose the movements, sounds, breathing, and positions that will birth her baby most easily. This is her genetic and hormonal blueprint. All of these hormonal systems are adversely affected by current birth practices. Hospital environments and routines are not conducive to the shift in consciousness that giving birth naturally requires. A woman’s hormonal physiology is further disturbed by practices such as induction, the use of painkillers and epidurals, caesarean surgery, and separation of mother and baby after birth, as described below.

Hormones in Birth Oxytocin Perhaps the best-known birth hormone is oxytocin, the hormone of love, which is secreted during sexual activity, male and female orgasm, birth, and breastfeeding. Oxytocin engenders feelings of love and altruism; as Michel Odent says, “Whatever the facet of love we consider, oxytocin is involved.”1 Oxytocin is made in the hypothalamus, deep inside the mammalian brain, and stored in the posterior section of the pituitary, the “master gland” of the endocrine (hormonal) system, from where it is released in pulses. It is a crucial hormone in reproduction and mediates what have been called the ejection reflexes: the sperm ejection reflex with male orgasm (and the corresponding sperm introjection reflex with female orgasm); the fetal ejection reflex at birth (a phrase coined by Odent for the powerful contractions at the end of an undisturbed labor, which birth the baby quickly and easily)2; and, postpartum, the placental ejection reflex, and the milk ejection or let-down reflex in breastfeeding. As well as reaching peak levels in each of these situations, oxytocin is secreted in extra amounts in pregnancy, when it acts to enhance nutrient absorption; reduce stress; and conserve energy by making us more sleepy.3 Oxytocin also causes the rhythmic uterine contractions of labor, and levels peak at birth through stimulation of stretch receptors in a woman’s lower

vagina as the baby descends.4 High maternal oxytocin levels during labor and birth also benefit the baby. Research has found that maternal oxytocin crosses the placenta and enters the fetal brain during labor, when it acts to protect brain cells by switching them off, giving low oxygen consumption at a time when fetal oxygen levels may be naturally low.5 High maternal oxytocin levels continue after birth, culminating with the birth of the placenta, 6 and are enhanced by the baby’s pre-breastfeeding and breastfeeding behaviors.7 Elevated maternal levels of oxytocin will protect against postpartum hemorrhage at this crucial time by ensuring efficient uterine contractions.8 The baby also has been producing oxytocin during labor, perhaps even contributing to the processes of labor;9 so, in the minutes after birth, both mother and baby are bathed in an ecstatic cocktail of hormones. At this time, ongoing newborn oxytocin production is enhanced by skin-to-skin and eye-to-eye contact. Newborn levels subside during the first hour after birth, but are elevated above normal for at least 4 days.10 Infant oxytocin levels are also elevated during and following breastfeeding, through activation of the vagal nerve.11 During breastfeeding, oxytocin mediates the let-down reflex and is released in pulses as the baby suckles. During the months and years of lactation, oxytocin continues to act to keep the mother relaxed and well nourished. One researcher calls it “a very efficient anti-stress situation which prevents a lot of disease later on.” In her study, mothers who breastfed for more than seven weeks were calmer, when their babies were six months old, than mothers who did not breastfeed.12 Outside its role in reproduction, oxytocin is secreted in other situations of love and altruism, for example, sharing a meal.11 Researchers have implicated malfunctions of the oxytocin system in conditions such as schizophrenia,13 autism,14, 15 cardiovascular disease11, 16 and drug dependency,17 and have suggested that oxytocin may mediate the antidepressant effect of drugs such as Prozac.18 More recent research has implicated oxytocin in trusting interactions between individuals, 19 which may reflect its role in lowering activity in the amygdala: a brain structure that processes fearful emotions.20 Beta-endorphin As a naturally occurring opiate, beta-endorphin has properties similar to opiate drugs such as pethidine (meperidine, Demerol), morphine, and heroin, and has been shown to work on the same receptors of the brain. Beta-endorphin is also secreted from the pituitary gland, (and other parts of the brain and nervous system) and high levels are present during sex, pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. Beta-endorphin is also a stress hormone, released under conditions of duress and pain, when it acts as an analgesic (pain killer) and, like other stress hormones, suppresses the immune system. This effect may be important in preventing a pregnant mother’s immune system from acting against her baby, whose genetic material is foreign to hers. Like the addictive opiates, beta-endorphin induces feelings of pleasure, euphoria, and dependency or, with a partner, mutual dependency. Beta-endorphin levels are high in pregnancy and

experience the dry mouth and shallow breathing associated with high adrenaline/epinephrine levels, and may also have the urge to grasp something. She may express fear, anger, or excitement, and the CA rush will cause several very strong contractions, birthing her baby quickly and easily. 2

increase throughout labor,21 when levels of beta-endorphin and corticotrophin (another stress hormone) reach those found in male endurance athletes during maximal exercise on a treadmill.22 Such high levels help the laboring woman to transmute pain and enter the altered state of consciousness that characterizes an undisturbed birth. Beta-endorphin has complex and incompletely understood relationships with other hormonal systems.23 In labor, high levels will inhibit oxytocin release. It makes sense that when pain or stress levels are very high, contractions will slow, thus “rationing labor according to both physiological and psychological stress.”24 Beta-endorphin also facilitates the release of prolactin during labor,25 which prepares the mother’s breasts for lactation and also aids in the final stages of lung maturation for the baby.26 Beta-endorphin is also important in breastfeeding. Levels peak in the mother at 20 minutes27 and beta-endorphin is also present in breast milk,28 inducing a pleasurable mutual dependency for both mother and baby in their ongoing relationship.

Fight-or-Flight Hormones The hormones adrenaline and noradrenalin (epinephrine and norepinephrine) are also known as the fight-or-flight hormones, or, collectively, as catecholamines (CAs). They are secreted from the adrenal gland, above the kidney, in response to stresses such as fright, anxiety, hunger or cold, as well as excitement, when they activate the sympathetic nervous system for fight or flight. Noradrenaline is also part of an important brain signalling system that activates (and is activated by) the fight-or-flight response. High maternal CA levels are associated with the inhibition of labor, which may reflect their direct inhibiting effects on uterine muscle29 and possibly a reduction in oxytocin release, as suggested in mice.30 As part of the fight-or-flight response, CAs also act to divert blood to major muscle groups: this leads to reduced blood flow to the uterus and placenta (and therefore also to the baby). This makes sense for mammals birthing in the wild, where the presence of danger would activate this fight or flight response, inhibiting labor and providing the muscular energy to flee to safety. In humans, high levels of CAs have been associated with longer labor and adverse fetal heart rate patterns (an indication of lack of blood and oxygen for the baby in labor).31 After an undisturbed labor, however, when the moment of birth is imminent, these hormones may act in a different way. A sudden increase in CA levels, especially noradrenaline, can activate the ‘fetal ejection reflex’. This gives the mother a sudden rush of energy; she will usually adopt an upright, alert position and may

This physiological model is supported by research showing that low levels of epinephrine inhibit uterine contractility, while very high levels of mixed epinephrine/norepinephrine, as may occur at the end of an undisturbed labor, increase contractility.29 Studies also show a wide range of maternal CA levels at birth, with some women having 5 to 10 times higher levels of epinephrine or norepinephrine than others.31-33 Some birth attendants have made good use of this reflex when a woman is having difficulties in the second stage of labor. For example, one anthropologist working with an indigenous Canadian tribe recorded that when a woman was having difficulty in birth, the young people of the village would gather together to help. They would suddenly and unexpectedly shout out close to her, with the shock triggering her fetal ejection reflex and a quick birth.2 After the birth, the mother’s CA levels drop steeply, and she may feel shaky or cold as a consequence. A warm atmosphere is important, as if the mother is not helped to warm up, the ongoing cold stress will keep her CA levels high, inhibiting her natural oxytocin release and therefore increasing her risk of postpartum hemorrhage.34 Noradrenalin, as part of the ecstatic cocktail, is also implicated in instinctive mothering behavior. Mice bred to be deficient in noradrenaline will not care for their young after birth unless noradrenaline is injected back into their system.35 For the baby also, birth is an exciting and stressful event, reflected in high CA levels.36 In the final stages of labor, the baby experiences a CA surge, which assists during birth by protecting against the effects of hypoxia (lack of oxygen). These hormones also prepare the baby for life outside the womb by enhancing lung function; increasing metabolic fuels; and activating newborn thermogenic (heat producing) systems.37 High CA levels at birth also ensure that the baby is wide-eyed and alert at first contact with the mother.37 The baby’s CA levels also drop rapidly after an undisturbed birth, being soothed by contact with the mother. Prolactin Known as the mothering hormone, prolactin is the major hormone of breast milk synthesis and breastfeeding. Traditionally it has been thought to produce aggressively protective behavior (the “mother tiger” effect) in lactating females, and human studies suggest that prolactin increases vigilance and aggression.38

Levels of prolactin increase in pregnancy, although milk production is inhibited hormonally until the placenta is delivered. Levels in labor initially decrease, and then increase in late labor, peaking at birth.39 Prolactin is also a hormone of submission or surrender -- in primate troops, the dominant male has the lowest prolactin level40 -- and produces some degree of anxiety. In the breastfeeding relationship these effects activate the mother’s vigilance and help her to put her baby’s needs first.38 The baby also produces prolactin in pregnancy, and levels are high following labor,41 where it may enhance newborn adaptation of the respiratory 26 and heat regulating42 systems. Undisturbed Birth Undisturbed birth is exceedingly rare in our culture, even in birth centers and home births. Two factors that disturb birth in all mammals are firstly being in an unfamiliar place and secondly the presence of an observer. Feelings of safety and privacy thus seem to be fundamental. Yet the entire system of Western obstetrics is devoted to observing pregnant and birthing women, by both people and machines, and when birth isn’t going smoothly, carers respond with yet more intense observation. It is indeed amazing that any woman can give birth under such conditions.

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Impact of Drugs and Procedures

Induction and Augmentation In the US, between 21.2%43 and 41% 44 of women have their labor induced, and up to 55% of women have an augmentation 44 --stimulation or speeding up of labor--with synthetic oxytocin (syntocinon, Pitocin).

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Synthetic oxytocin administered in labor does not act like the body’s own oxytocin. First, Pitocin-induced contractions are different from natural contractions, and these differences can cause a reduced blood flow to the baby. For example, Pitocininduced contractions can occur almost on top of each other when too high a dose is given, and it also causes the resting tone of the uterus to increase, 33 which can lead to a precipitate (overly fast) labor.

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Second, oxytocin, synthetic or not, cannot cross from the mother’s bloodstream to her brain through the blood-brain barrier. This means that Pitocin, introduced into the body by injection or drip, does not act as the hormone of love, and may interfere with the labouring woman’s own oxytocin system. Recent research has shown that, following the use of Pitocin, the number of oxytocin receptors in the labouring woman’s uterus is down-regulated (reduced) by the body to prevent over-stimulation.45 This means that a woman who has been administered a Pitocin infusion during labor will be at higher EGG0046

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risk of bleeding after the birth, because her own oxytocin release, critical at this time for contracting her uterus to prevent bleeding, will be ineffective because of low receptor numbers. Further, given our growing understanding of the life-long psychoemotional effects of oxytocin, a major hormone of the ‘emotional brain’ (limbic system), we might also be concerned about the developmental and maternal consequences of interfering with this calming, connection-enhancing system at birth.46 As Michel Odent comments, ”Many experts believe that through participating in this initiation of his own birth, the fetus [unborn baby] may be training himself to secrete his own love hormone.” 47 Odent speaks passionately about our society’s deficits in our capacity to love self and others, and he traces these problems back to the time around birth, particularly to interference with the oxytocin system.1

Opiate Painkillers Opiate drugs are derived from, or chemically related to, substances found in the opium poppy. In the U.S., several opiate drugs have been traditionally used in labor. These include the classical opiates meperidine (Demorolol, pethidine) and morphine, as well as nalbuphine (Nubain), butorphanol (Stadol), alphaprodine (Nisentil), hydromorphone (Dilaudid), and fentanyl citrate (Sublimaze). The use of simple opiates, usually administered via the muscle (IM) or intravenously (IV), in the labor room has declined in recent years, with many women now opting for epidurals, which may also contain these drugs (see below). As with oxytocin, use of opiate drugs will likely reduce a woman’s own BE production in labor,48 as well as producing possible side effects such as nausea, drowsiness, pruritis (itching) and dysphoria.49 Several studies have suggested that the analgesic effect of these drugs is modest, and that the major effect is heavy sedation.50, 51 Note also that, at a brain level, opiates reduce oxytocin release from the pituitary, which is reflected in findings from the small number of studies of the impact of these drugs on labor duration. Thomson and Hiller summarize, ‘There is a strong suggestion in the literature that the use of this drug [pethidine/meperidine] is associated with a lengthening of labor and this association is dose-related. Studies in animals support this view.’52 And again we must ask: What are the psychological effects for mother and baby of laboring and birthing without peak levels of these hormones of pleasure and co-dependency? Betaendorphin powerfully activates the brain reward system, and some researchers believe that endorphins are the mammalian reward for performing crucial reproductive functions such as mating and birthing.53

It is interesting to note that most countries that have adopted Western obstetrics, which prizes drugs and interventions in birth above pleasure and empowerment, have experienced steeply declining birth rates in recent years. As feminist Germaine Greer presciently noted in 1984, “…if we succeed in crushing all pride and dignity out of child bearing, the population explosion will take care of itself.”54 Of perhaps greater social concern is a study that looked at the birth records of 200 opiate addicts born in Stockholm from 1945 to 1966 and compared them with the birth records of their non-addicted siblings. When the mothers had received opiates, barbiturates, and/or nitrous oxide gas during labor, especially in multiple doses, the offspring were more likely to become drug addicted. For example, when a mother received three doses of opiates, her child was 4.7 times more likely to become addicted to opiate drugs in adulthood.55 This study was recently replicated with a U.S. population, with very similar results.56 The authors of the first study suggest an imprinting mechanism, but perhaps it is equally a matter of ecstasy--if we don’t get it at birth, as we expect, we look for it later in life through drugs. Perhaps this also explains the popularity (and the name) of the drug Ecstasy. Animal studies suggest a further possibility. It seems that drugs and other substances administered around the time of birth, even in single doses, can cause effects in the brain structure and chemistry of offspring that may not be obvious until adulthood,56-60 Whether such effects apply to humans is not known; but one researcher warns, “During this prenatal period of neuronal [brain cell] multiplication, migration and interconnection, the brain is most vulnerable to irreversible damage.”59 Epidural Drugs Epidural drugs are administered over several hours via a catheter (tube) into the space around the spinal cord. Such drugs include local anesthetics (all cocaine derivatives, eg. bupivicaine/ Marcaine), more recently combined with low-dose opiates. Spinal pain relief involves a single dose of the same drugs injected through the coverings of the spinal cord, and is usually short acting unless given as a combined spinal-epidural (CSE). Epidural pain relief has major effects on all of the abovementioned hormones of labor. Epidurals inhibit betaendorphin production61, 62 and therefore also inhibit the shift in consciousness that is part of a normal labor. This may be one reason why epidurals are so acceptable in labor and delivery rooms, where carers may have the resources to deal with the irrationality, directness, and physicality of a woman laboring on her own terms.

When an epidural is in place, oxytocin levels decline, and the oxytocin peak that occurs at birth is also inhibited63, possibly because the stretch receptors of a birthing woman’s lower vagina, which trigger this peak, are numbed. This effect likely persists even when the epidural has worn off and sensation has returned, because the nerve fibers involved are smaller than the sensory nerves and therefore more sensitive to drug effects.64 A woman giving birth with an epidural will therefore miss out on the strong final contractions of labor, designed to birth her baby quickly and safely. She must then use her own effort, often against gravity, to compensate. This explains the increased length of the second stage of labor and the extra need for forceps when an epidural is used.65 Use of epidurals also inhibits catecholamine release,66 which may be advantageous in the first stage of labor; close to the time of birth, however, a reduction in CA levels may inhibit the fetal ejection reflex and prolong the second stage.65 Another hormone also appears to be adversely affected by epidurals. Prostaglandin F2 alpha helps to make a laboring woman’s uterus contractible and levels increase when women labor without epidurals. In one study, women with epidurals actually experienced a decrease in PGF2 alpha, and average labor times were increased from 4.7 to 7.8 hours.67 Drugs administered by epidural enter the mother’s bloodstream immediately and go straight to the baby at equal, and sometimes effectively greater, levels.68, 69 Some drugs will be preferentially taken up into the baby’s brain,70 and almost all will take longer to be eliminated from the baby’s immature system after the cord is cut. For example, the ‘half life ‘of bupivacaine- the time it takes to reduce blood level by 50%- is 2.7 hours in the adult, but around 8 hours in a newborn baby.71 Another indication of the effects of epidurals on mother and baby comes from French researchers who gave epidurals to laboring sheep. The ewes failed to display their normal mothering behavior; this effect was especially marked for the ewes in their first lambing that were given epidurals early in labor: seven out of eight of these mothers showed no interest in their offspring for at least 30 minutes.72 These researchers subsequently showed lower brain oxytocin levels amongst epidural sheep and also demonstrated a partial reversal of the effects on maternal behavior when oxytocin was administered into the new mother’s brain.73 Some studies indicate that this disturbance may apply to humans also. Mothers given epidurals in one study spent less time with their babies in hospital, in inverse proportion to the dose of drugs they received and the length of the second stage of labor.74 In another study, mothers who had epidurals described their babies as more difficult to care for one month later.75 Such subtle shifts in relationship and reciprocity may reflect hormonal dysfunctions and/or drug toxicity and/or the less-than-optimal circumstances that often accompany epidural births--long labors, forceps, and cesareans. There have been few high-quality studies of the effects of epidurals on breastfeeding, which is surprising given the widespread use of this intervention. Babies born after epidural may have subtle neurobehavioral deficits, as above, that interfere with breastfeeding.

Epidural studies confirm that babies with higher drug levels have worse neurobehavior scores76 and that babies with worse scores have less breastfeeding abilities,77 including diminished suckling reflexes and capacity78. Two recent studies have particularly implicated epidural opiates in breastfeeding difficulties. Researchers randomized 176 women (who had previously breastfeed and intended to breastfeed again) into nil, low-and high-dose fentanyl epidurals. At six weeks, 19% of women in the high-dose group had ceased breastfeeding, compared to 6% and 2% in the low-dose and nil fentanyl groups respectively. All women with breastfeeding problems attributed them to their infant, not themselves.79

In an observational study, researchers found increasing risk of formula feeding at discharge following: intravenous opiate; epidural with local anesthetic; epidural with morphine: epidural with fentanyl. Consistent with the above study, and with its ease in crossing the blood-brain barrier to cause newborn neurobehavioral effects, these researchers also found increased formula feeding with increasing doses of fentanyl.79, 80 Caesarean Surgery In 2005 30.2% of US women gave birth by caesarean: the largest percentage in US history, and representing over 1.25 million babies born by ‘vaginal bypass’.81 Cesarean section involves major abdominal surgery and increases the risk of maternal death by about four times overall, and around two times for low-risk mothers having elective surgery.82, 83 Recent research also suggests higher infant mortality following caesarean birth,84 which may reflect increased risks of respiratory problems for caesarean newborns.85 As well as these short-term risks, a previous caesarean will increase risks for mother and baby’s health in all subsequent pregnancies. Increased long-term risks include: infertility and ectopic pregnancy;86 unexplained stillbirth;87 placental problems including placental abruption,88 placenta previa, placenta accreta and percreta,89 and emergency postpartum hysterectomy,90 all of which represent life-threatening risks for mother and baby Obviously there is a shorter or absent labor with caesarean birth, and the peaks of oxytocin, endorphins, catecholamines, and prolactin are absent. Furthermore, mothers and babies are usually separated for some hours after birth, so the first breastfeed is usually delayed. Both will also be affected to some extent by the drugs used in the procedure (epidural, spinal, or general anaesthetic) and for post-operative pain relief.

The consequences of such radical departures from our hormonal blueprint are suggested in the work of Australian researchers who interviewed 242 women in late pregnancy and again after birth. The 50% of women who had given spontaneous vaginal birth were the most likely to experience a marked improvement in mood and an elevation of self-esteem after delivery. In comparison, the 17% who had caesarean surgery were more likely to experience a decline in mood and self-esteem. The remaining women had forceps or vacuum assistance, and their mood and self-esteem were, on average, unaltered.91 Another study looked at the breastfeeding hormones prolactin and oxytocin on day two, comparing women who had given birth vaginally with women who had undergone emergency cesarean surgery. In the cesarean group, prolactin levels did not rise as expected with breastfeeding, and the oxytocin pulses were reduced or absent. In this study, first suckling had been at 240 minutes average for cesarean babies, and 75 minutes average for babies vaginally born. Duration of breastfeeding was not significantly different for the mothers. The authors comment, “These data indicate that early breastfeeding and physical closeness may be associated not only with more interaction between mother and child, but also with endocrine [hormonal] changes in the mother.” 92 Other research has shown that early and frequent suckling positively influences milk production and the duration of breastfeeding. 93 These studies not only indicate important links between birth and breastfeeding, but also show how an optimal birth experience can influence the long-term health of mother and baby. For example, successful breastfeeding confers advantages such as reduced risk of breast cancer and osteoporosis for the mother and reduced risk of diabetes and obesity long-term for the child. And enhanced self-esteem and confidence after a natural birth is a solid base from which to begin our mothering. The connections between events at birth and long-term health certainly deserve more study. (See Michel Odent’s Primal Health Database www.birthworks.org/primalhealth for a summary of current research.) But we cannot afford to wait for years for researchers to “prove” the benefits of an undisturbed birth. Perhaps the best we can do is trust our instincts and vote with our birthing bodies, choosing models of care that increase our chances of undisturbed- and ecstatic- birthing.

Early Separation Even in non-interventionist settings, it is uncommon for the baby to remain in the mother’s arms for the first one to two hours. And yet this time is exceptional, from a hormonal perspective, and will never again occur for this mother and baby. Mother Nature’s superb design, as described above, includes peak levels of the hormones of love, pleasure, excitement and tender mothering, which enhance attachment as well as breastfeeding initiation for both partners. Interference with this opportunity, by separation of mother and baby, may have significant implications in the short, medium, and long terms. For both mother and baby, the time immediately after birth is associated with high CA levels which increase alertness and energy and enhance breastfeeding initiation. Peak maternal levels of oxytocin in the first hour enhance maternal responsiveness, both in breast and brain, and activate the “maternal circuit” -- brain areas that mediate instinctive mothering behaviors – in mammalian mothers. High betaendorphin levels at this time ensure pleasure and reward for maternal-infant interactions, and optimal prolactin levels may be important for longer-term breast milk production. All of these hormonal systems are enhanced through skin-toskin contact between mother and baby immediately after birth, which reduces crying and stress, keeps the newborn warm, and enhances physiological adaptation and maturity,94, 95 even up to two days later.96 For the mother, skin to skin contact with early breastfeeding initiation also enhances early breastmilk production,97 and early and frequent breastfeeding is also associated with increased breastfeeding duration.93 Conversely, removal of newborn from mother, even for short periods, disturbs the innate sequence of newborn pre-breastfeeding behaviour, which includes crawling up the mother’s abdomen, locating the breast and spontaneous sucking and rooting behaviour.98 As Bergman comments, ‘The neurobehaviour called “breastfeeding” is a critical survival strategy for the newborn human being, and is a behaviour which depends entirely on a limbic system brain programme, which in turn depends entirely on being in the right habitat: the maternal milieu. Any separation results in an opposing and potentially harmful neurobehavioural programme. Thus, the maternal milieu is specifically needed from the moment of birth, and should be continuous. Without this, the neurobehaviour that results is “protest-despair”, which actively shuts off the “breastfeeding behaviour.’99 Several older studies have shown advantages, up to age three, for mother-child relationship in dyads who experienced extra contact in the hour after birth. These include more positive interactions;100-102 longer duration of breastfeeding 102, 103; and more complex language interactions at age two.104

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Optimizing the Ecstasy The following suggestions will help a woman to use her hormonal blueprint and so optimize the experience and safety for herself and her baby. Remember that birth is “orgasmic in its essence”105 so that conditions for birth are ideally as close as possible to conditions for lovemaking.

• Take responsibility for your health, healing, and wholeness throughout the child-bearing years • Choose a model of care that enhances the chance of a natural and undisturbed birth (eg home birth, birth center, one-on-one midwifery care). • Arrange support according to individual needs; trust, a loving relationship, and continuity of care with support people are important. • Consider having an advocate at a hospital birth - eg private midwife or doula. • Ensure an atmosphere where the laboring woman feels safe, unobserved, and free to follow her own instincts • Reduce neocortical stimulation by- keeping lighting and noises soft and reducing words to a minimum. • Cover the clock and any other technical equipment. • Avoid drugs unless absolutely necessary. • Avoid procedures (including obvious observations) unless absolutely necessary. • Avoid caesarean surgery unless absolutely necessary. • Don’t separate mother and baby for any reason, including resuscitation, which can be done with the cord still attached. • Breastfeed and enjoy it!

Giving birth is an act of love, and each birth is unique to the mother and her baby. Yet we also share the same womanly physiology and the same exquisite orchestration of our birthing hormones. Our capacity for ecstasy in birth is also both unique and universal, a necessary blessing that is hard-wired into our bodies, yet that requires, especially in these times, that we each trust, honor, and protect the act of giving birth according to our own instincts and needs. Dutch professor of obstetrics G. Kloosterman offers a succinct summary, which would be well placed on the door of every birth room: Spontaneous labor in a normal woman is an event marked by a number of processes so complicated and so perfectly attuned to each other that any interference will only detract from the optimal character. The only thing required from the bystanders is that they show respect for this awe-inspiring process by complying with the first rule of medicine-nil nocere [Do no harm].106 For a complete list of references see www.thenaturalparent.co.nz

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health

the skin youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in

By Annaliese Jones ND, BHSc

Our skin is what we show to the world. If it is healthy and glowing we feel the same. If it is red and sore we want to hide it away. Let’s explore what causes sensitive skin and what you can do to help it. The skin is an organ just like the liver or heart. In fact the skin is our body’s largest organ, measuring on average two square metres. It protects us by separating us from the outside world, from dehydration, harmful chemicals and heat. I have heard it compared to a coat, waterproof and breathable. But our ‘living coat’ also comes with a lifetime guarantee, and the amazing ability to heal itself. It does so much more than just keep our insides in. It, along with its derivatives the hair, nails, oil and sweat glands, make up an organ that performs life saving functions such as closely regulating our body temperature, synthesising Vitamin D, and housing millions of nerve endings. When there is something wrong with your skin, you shouldn’t ignore it; your body may be trying to tell you something. Babies’ are considered to possess the epitome of beautiful skin, soft and blemish free. Parents find it quite upsetting when their baby’s skin is not as soft as a baby’s bottom, and will often go to extreme measures to fix a less than perfect complexion. There are a few skin conditions that are quite normal and don’t require any treatment at all such as ‘hormone rash’ or ‘baby acne’. On the other hand, if your child has red, itchy, very dry, infected or weepy skin, it will need some investigation.

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Eczema and dermatitis: These conditions account for a large part of most medical practices. According to Dermnet NZ 15% - 20% of children suffer from eczema and that number is rising all the time. In a nutshell, the term dermatitis means inflammation of the skin and eczema is a type of dermatitis. Over the years I have had many a patient at their wits end over the classification of their skin condition. One specialist diagnoses one thing while the next calls it another. Dermatologists admit that they can only classify two thirds of the cases they see, pointing to how difficult it can be to differentiate between the various types of dermatitis and eczema. All that aside, in reality it doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as you or your baby get some relief! Symptoms of eczema vary in severity from the debilitating to the annoying. Itching is probably the most common and they do say that if it doesn’t itch, it is probably not eczema. Babies and adults alike can scratch till they bleed, often in their sleep. The scratching is bad news, further damaging the skins barrier and provoking the release of pro-inflammatory chemicals that in turn make the itch worse. This sets up a vicious itch-scratch cycle, leaving open vulnerable skin, which can easily become infected.

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There are various causes of eczema but the most common include contact with an irritating chemical or substance, food allergy or intolerance, and a family history of eczema, hay fever or asthma. These causes are not however mutually exclusive, often overlapping, making it hard to figure out the triggers.

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Food and skin conditions: Food allergies and intolerances often cause skin problems. I can vouch for that from personal experience. In fact my experience in this area started when I was all of 8 months old, when suddenly the soles of my feet began severely peeling, cracking and bleeding. This went on, baffling doctors and distressing my parents for 2 years, while the pain meant I had to be carried almost everywhere. Finally, a naturopath

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suggested that because my mother had over eaten marmite during pregnancy I might have developed an allergy to yeast. As is often the case with allergies, the offending food had become my favourite, but after 10 days without it my feet were miraculously better. This was an extreme recovery and it often is when you correctly identify the cause. In this case any yeast spread would have caused the same problem and in fact any source of yeast continues to affect me to this day.

If you suspect you or your child may have a food allergy or intolerance consider seeing a naturopath or your doctor about it. The skin condition may be an outward sign that a certain food doesn’t agree with your child. Be sure to consult a professional before cutting whole food groups out of their diet though. If not, you may end up doing more harm than good.

Chemicals and environmental causes: If you or your child develops itchy, red skin after touching something like nickel in jewellery, soaps or detergents, or any other chemicals, you may have contact dermatitis/eczema. Other culprits can be fabric softeners, chlorine, perfumes, solvents, wool clothing, rubber, dust mites, animal fur, topical antibiotics and anaesthetics, and even some naturally occurring chemicals in plants. Avoiding all of the above is quite a task, but a good start is to use products specifically designed for sensitive skin. Often, there is a threshold up to which point some of these chemicals don’t cause a problem but that lovely new perfume you just bought could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. These days, detergents, laundry powders (also double rinse), moisturisers, soaps and shampoos can all be found quite easily for sensitive skin.

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Naturally, identifying the cause of your skin complaint is the best way to get relief. It is however easier said than done and if you are stuck with symptoms you will certainly want to do all you can to reduce the severity of your skin complaint. Internally most people find that the antiinflammatory oils are helpful, such as fish oil, flaxseed oil or evening primrose oil. The mineral zinc, along with vitamin C can increase the skin’s ability to heal, helping to restore the natural barrier and reducing the chance of an infection taking hold in broken skin. Another natural product showing great benefit is a type of bacteria called Lactobacillus rhamnosus. A urine test can show if your digestive bacteria is out of balance and in need of this bacteria. This is often the case for people with eczema and when they restore that balance, their symptoms improve.

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Another natural ingredient with a long history of use for skin conditions is avocado oil. Despite its own rough outer For on-line orders and stockists visit www.justherbal.co.nz skin, it has naturally high levels of the skin healthy vitamins Phone: 07 308 7279 • E-mail: info@justherbal.co.nz A and E along with many other nutrients that make it a Natural Skin Care perfect topical oil for those with skin complaints. It is rich It’s what your precious skin deserves oil with superior penetrating qualities, making it deeply • Made from natural and organic moisturising and nourishing without clogging pores. ingredients & 100% pure essential oils Made to nourish, heal and rejuvenate Avocado oil can also be used internally by adding it to •salad your skin dressings or using it as dipping oil, and its vibrant green • FREE from harmful chemical ingredients • Not tested on animals colour looks amazing drizzled over any meal. • Made to nourish, heal and rejuvenate your skin • FREE from harmful chemical ingredients • Not tested on animals Made in New Zealand

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By Annaliese Jones Although steroidal creams are often necessary to clear For upon-line orders and stockists visit www.justherbal.co.nz Phone: 07 308 7279 • E-mail:Natural info@justherbal.co.nz nutrition and medicines a very bad skin, it is worth trying some of the less harsh treatments available such as pine tar first. An old-fashioned remedy originating out of Sweden, the tar, made from the carbonisation of pine trees can be found in plenty of products at your pharmacy to this day. Although not entirely natural, some doctors are recommending it as a better option than the liberal use of steroid creams which can damage blood vessels and thin the skin over time.

Skin conditions in children: • Breastfeeding your child is suggested to reduce the risk of dermatitis in later life • Consider delaying solids until 6 months • Keep skin moisturised with a naturally based balm or cream

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health

Quarterly

Q &A with Dr Kunjay Patel

When are antibiotics justified? I don’t want my daughter to have lots of antibiotics as I know that in the long run it will not help her. But which common illnesses or situations really require antibiotics? And if I am trying to avoid them what can I do to make it less likely she will need them? This is a very good question indeed. Doctors and research scientists have invested a lot into researching this very question and even with plenty of information, experience can be key. Generally speaking, different areas of your body have varying degrees of vulnerability to different types of attack. Infections of the upper respiratory tract tend to be viral and so runny noses,

children’s ear aches, sore throats and hoarse voices tend to improve on their own without needing antibiotics. The majority of chesty coughs and most cases of diarrhea will also resolve without antibiotics. However, we need to be aware that there are circumstances were these infections may be deemed to be bacterial by the doctor and need antibiotics. Often more severe symptoms suggest a bacterial infection but issues like a child’s age and other medical conditions come into play. This means there is rarely a cast iron rule to apply to any situation. This is where discussing your worries with a GP is useful especially if you are uncertain about managing your child’s illness. Unfortunately, there are few specific tactics we can employ to avoid illness day to day. Good hygiene, healthy food and exercise all have their part to play. It would be fair to say avoiding people or children who are unwell will help to prevent spread. I would really like some accurate info on fevers/high temperatures in young children - our family has had a nasty old bug lately which resulted in the wee girl feeling a bit hot. My mother said “Give her paracetamol otherwise she’ll get too hot and start convulsing” but I thought a fever was our body’s natural response to fighting bugs; and I also thought that convulsions weren’t that common? The management of temperatures has really seen changes in the last couple of years from the old “see a fever and treat it” path. You are right about temperatures representing a function of the immune system. A temperature is part of a highly evolved, adaptive immune response. Knowing this has lead us to reconsider some of the age old advice we have given. This has also lead to us no longer recommending routine Paracetamol usage pre and post immunizations as it seems to decrease the power of the immune response. We now generally advise to treat the malaise rather than the temperature itself. Malaise is a very broad term and could be described as being clingy, in pain, tired or grouchy whilst unwell. These symptoms of “lack of well being” can be treated with Paracetamol to good effect. The temperature itself doesn’t need treating if the child is otherwise happy in themselves. I try to steer my patients away from concern about what the temperature specifically is, as they may become overly concerned with the level of the temperature and miss the bigger picture. I advise them to look more at the overall condition of the child, “How unwell do they look?”, “How much have they had to eat or drink?”, “How long have they been unwell?”, “Am I comfortable handling this or am I out of my comfort zone?”. Rarely will a doctor make a diagnosis or decide upon a treatment plan based only on a temperature. We understand now that even when Paracetamol or Ibuprofen are used it doesn’t stop fits or convulsions from happening. It is the rate of temperature rise that affects whether a child will fit or not and that can happen at any temperature.

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Lastly, should we damp sponge or strip off a child with a temperature? The resounding answer now is no. Research has shown that a child doesn’t cool any faster with this and in addition it can be unpleasant for a child who is already unwell.

My daughter has has a sore throat for 3 days, we have a new GP and she wouldn’t give her antibiotics because she says it is viral. Our old GP used to give antibiotics when we went about a sore throat so now I’m worried that she needs them and isn’t getting them. You are experiencing an issue that is quite common when changing doctors but I can reassure you that the majority of sore throats are indeed viral conditions. This means they are usually cured by the body’s own immune system without outside help. Often Paracetamol is sufficient to handle the pain of a sore throat whilst the immune system does its work. There are less common causes of sore throats which can be bacterial in nature. These bacterial sore throats are typically more severe with common symptoms such as high temperature, white spots over the tonsils, large glands and often have no accompanying cough. These bacterial sore throats often need an antibiotic to help cure them. Historically doctors gave antibiotics on the supposition that sore throats were bacterial but only in the last 30 years or so have we understood the great majority to be viral. Most GP’s wouldn’t now typically give antibiotics for the less severe sore throats as they appreciate the viral cause although a few will still prescribe them. This may be due to the worry that the patient will leave unsatisfied without an antibiotic or sometimes because a GP will be worried that there is a potential for complications from another condition a child may have. Sometimes with upcoming weekends and holidays, GP’s may give an antibiotic prescription, just in case things might worsen when medical help isn’t readily available. We often call this a stand-by prescription. My son has had a red and sticky eye for 2 days. It doesn’t look too sore but I’m worried it’s going to develop into something serious, what should I do? Your son is likely to be suffering from conjunctivitis, an infection of the transparent membrane covering the eye. The ‘sticky eye’ is one of the most common consultations in general practice and it is uncommon for something more serious to develop. Until 2005 most patients received antibiotic drops as we felt the cause was bacterial but around this time research showed that some were in fact viral. One of the big upshots of the research done in 2005 and 2006 was that even if the conjunctivitis was bacterial, the antibiotics made little difference to the course of the illness. We found out that most cases of conjunctivitis, if left one week, were no better or worse off than those treated with antibiotics. It seemed at best, the antibiotics made a 12-24 hour difference to the resolution of the infection. Coupled with the potential for side effects these studies concluded emphatically there was no role for the routine use of antibiotics in conjunctivitis. An important exception are newborns who have a potential for significant problems from eye infections and almost always, we cover with antibiotics. More often these days, I will advise a watch and wait approach, gently cleaning the eyes with breast milk or a little warm water to clean away the discharge. If the conjunctivitis is clearly not settling after 5-7 days, I suggest reviewing with a view to considering antibiotics then.

Please do not substitute this section for a visit to your GP. If you or your family have any health issues. If you have a question that you would like to ask Dr Patel, please forward your questions to: health@thenaturalparent.co.nz

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intelligent living Free-range farming means more than simply allowing your stock to come and go as they please. Minimal use of chemicals and a concern for animal welfare are important factors as well. Mary Malyon talks to three very different producers to find out what free-range farming means to them.

Free-Range Farming by Mary Malyon

The Small Scale Producer Annie Ennor, Annie’s Eggs

A Canterbury woman born and bred, Annie sells her eggs at farmers markets around Christchurch. Ten years ago she fell ill and gave up fulltime work. “I needed another income and I’d kept chooks on a small-scale in the past so I thought I’d give it a go.” She moved some sheds from her previous place and started small with 300 hens. I ask why she went freerange? “As a child it was my job to feed the chooks,” she says. “I don’t like battery farming. Free-range chickens have plenty of fresh air and space to roam. They’re easier to look after like that,” she adds. As well as physically ranging free, Annie’s chickens are classified free-range because of their gourmet diet. They eat lay pellets rich in wheat, barley, molasses and “all sorts of goodies” once a day as well as pecking away at the soil for worms and grubs. It is this extra protein in their diet, which makes free-range eggs so much richer in Omega 3, vital for children’s brain development. So how else do free-range eggs benefit over their batteryfarmed counterparts? “The taste, the rich yellow colour, plus they keep their form for poaching and they look more appetising for kids. The yolks are bright yellow. Little ones love eggs, when I’m selling at the farmer’s markets kids come up and shout ‘Oh eggs!’ I’ve got lots of photos on the stall so Mum and Dad can say: ‘Yes, and look where the chookies came from.’ It helps them understand that eggs don’t come from cardboard boxes! Little ones are always happy when they buy from me,” Annie smiles. Finally, I have to know how an egg producer cooks her eggs. “I have an omelette very regularly, with heaps of vegetables. It’s quick and it’s easy.”

The Boutique Producer

Anna Moorhead, Cheese Maker, Gruff Junction I find Gruff Junction in the end, but I’m a good hour late. Christchurch’s flat-as-a-pancake rural outskirts are short on navigable landmarks, and the unwitting driver is easily distracted by the majestic Southern Alps rising in the distance. Couple this with a quake-induced detour and I think my tardiness is excusable! On arrival, the scene is suitably bucolic. The older goats kickback in the loafing barn, chewing on meadow hay with the slow deliberation of connoisseurs unruffled by the vagaries of time or, it seems, earthquakes (more on that later). Anna’s Border Collie, Mac, bounds up to me, his owner isn’t far behind. Wrapping up against the cold southerly, we peek

through the cheese factory window: a spotless room where pyramids of white cheese sit maturing on stainless steel machinery. You must eat cheese all the time? I ask, with a hint of envy. “Well we have to quality control,” smiles Anna. “We tried this year’s first batch of Halloumi yesterday.” Later, I try some splendidly salty ‘Halswelloumi’ (Hallswell being a nearby Christchurch suburb) and would recommend it highly! Anna’s road to cheese making wasn’t entirely smooth. She trained to be a teacher, but after working in one of London’s inner-city schools her plans changed. Luckily back home her Dad, Ev, was about to start a goat farm – a dream he has held since he was a boy. Already holding a degree in Microbiology, she decided to learn about cheese making with an eye to joining her Dad. After a stint on a cow cheese factory in Norfolk, the Cantabrian came back to NZ and set up Gruff Junction. I ask Anna what the term ‘free-range’ means to her? “It’s normally used for chickens isn’t it? Not so much for goats,” she says. “But our animals could be described as such. They live in a loafing barn so they’re free to please themselves. Nowadays, a lot of goat farms in Europe and the North Island keep their stock inside 24/7. The goats are fed via a conveyor belt. The method does have its advantages. The food is on a platform so it’s clean. When goats eat outside they can ingest their own poo causing worms,” the cheese maker explains. To avoid this, Ev practises paddock rotation, which allows the sun to shine on the grass killing the worm eggs whilst the goats are feasting elsewhere. He also borrows cattle to clean up after his animals. “Goats are browsers, they’re quite picky about the grass they like, whereas cows eat everything,” Anna adds. Although the cheese maker describes these practises as “what you could call organic” the product itself isn’t certified. “Generally we don’t spray, but from time to time we do use fertiliser. If we don’t the soil balance is such that the grass isn’t lush which would obviously affect the cheese quality. Fertilizer gives nutrients back to the soil, you could see it in the same light as giving an iron supplement to your child.” The goats are also drenched, but only in winter when they are not being milked. “We feel this is important so our stock are resistant to disease,” explains Anna. “If we only had twelve goats we could treat them individually, but with a large herd like ours of around 250 that’s just not feasible – they’d bloody drop dead!” Since arriving I’ve been hearing eerily human baby cries. The source is nearby: a shed full of baby goats. “They’re tiny, like teddy bears,” smiles Anna. The kids are penned according to size: “They get competitive so we have to put the small ones together or the large ones boot them out of the way!” They are taught to drink from a ‘cafeteria,’ a long piece of

The best way to ensure cruelty-free status from a large-scale farmer is to check that it carries the SPCA’s blue tick. metal with teats attached. “Some catch on and some are hopeless,” explains the cheese maker. “It’s sad to see them taken from their mums so young, but there’s a risk they might catch a type of arthritis called CAE (Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis) through their mother’s milk. It’s a potentially fatal disease. In the past we did allow kids to spend longer with their mums. But when they’re not hand reared they turn out wild!” It’s clear though that the animals adore Ev, their adopted ‘Dad.’ “They’re very affectionate. The older goats all want to give him a kiss when they’ve finished milking,” laughs his daughter. “He seems like your typical gruff farmer, but when it comes down to it he’s a big softie with the animals. When the earthquake hit he was out in the dark, checking on his goats by torchlight. They were fine, it was the cattle that jumped the gate!”

So what’s it like working with your Dad? Anna smiles, “we’re careful to know our boundaries. We run two separate businesses. He runs the farm; I buy the milk from him. That way we don’t butt horns.” It looks like business is booming down on Gruff Farm. As well as selling at Farmer’s Markets around Christchurch and Auckland there is talk of the supermarkets coming calling. “We avoided larger retailers in the past because we wanted to be boutique, but it seems silly to ignore them if there’s demand. We’re never going to be a huge mass produced product though, I’ve got no ambition for that.”

The Large Scale Producer

Gregor Fyfe, Co Founder of Freedom Farms Gregor is a man on a mission. Four years ago he set up a pork production company with one goal in mind: to improve animal welfare. “We started Freedom Farms because our family had had enough,” he tells me emphatically. It was his sixteen-year-old daughter who first alerted him to the sad realities of factory farming. “We knew that every time we purchased bacon or ham or pork we were supporting factory farming and farming systems that completely denied piggies the ability to display any of their natural behavior. We knew other people felt like this too so we decided to create a brand that allowed consumers to vote with their wallets.” In 2006, Gregor entered the bacon market, along with his brother and a lifelong friend. They contracted seven

farms and one abattoir to sell free-range bacon (more on the term free-range later). Later they moved onto fresh pork and chicken. With a background in ethical consumerism - they were responsible for launching Eco Store products in supermarkets throughout NZ – the group knew their market. From the start their goal was clear: “We wanted to create a nationwide solution. Something that was big enough to be in every supermarket and really challenge the existing range of pork products. We needed an offering that everyone could buy to send a message to the industry that people want change. We were not interested in a boutique product available in a few stores only because this would not make a meaningful enough difference to the welfare issues we wanted to challenge.” “The supermarkets supported us from the start,” continues Gregor. “But interestingly the buyer responsible for fifty percent of the supermarkets initially told us that there was no market because all of the pork available in NZ was free-range already. I asked him if he had ever driven from Auckland to Wellington? Yes, he had. ‘So how many piggies did you see in the fields?’ I queried. When he realized he hadn’t seen any out of doors I think it dawned on him. Getting people to understand the reality back then was the big challenge.” Everything changed in 2008 when Mike King, promoter of the New Zealand pork industry, exposed conditions on an NZ pig farm in a harrowing documentary shown on the Sunday programme. “All I remember when we walked through the door was the screaming. These pigs were screaming. It is one of those sounds you never forget. It was the same way you hear babies crying in distress,” Mike told lovepigs.org.nz. You can watch the documentary on you tube, see the links box. After that Freedom Farm’s sales nearly doubled and 2009 saw growth of over 200%. But it seems other less scrupulous producers want a piece of these profits. Gregor explains, “we are starting to see a few big players in the market place claiming free- range status (I am not talking about small family free-range farmers). Consumers need to beware.” The best way to ensure cruelty-free status from a largescale farmer is to check that it carries the SPCA’s blue tick. To earn this, farmers need to be audited regularly by the animal protection society. For smaller scale producers who sell at farmer’s markets it is simply a question of talking to them about their farming practices. It is worth doing some research beforehand so you know what they are talking about!

Gregor is an ardent supporter of the blue tick scheme. “You will never see one of our pork products that hasn’t come from an SPCA approved farm. We reckon this is very important to consumers.” “Thank you for giving a damn,” and with that Freedom Farm’s main-man signs off. River Cottage: Omega 3 and chickens If we want our brains to behave normally, and our children’s brains to develop normally we need Omega 3. Since intensive farming began in the UK, levels of Omega 3 in chicken meat have gone down a whopping 85%. To produce Omega 3 chickens need three things: • Green grass, and a diet rich in bugs. • Exercise to develop the dark muscle meat where Omega 3 is found. • To grow slowly and live long enough for chickens to develop this muscle. In other words, they need to be free-range. A British study commissioned by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage fame, found that organic free-range chicken had ten times more Omega 3 than factory farmed birds and 25% less fat. Check out the report in full at you tube/River Cottage: Healthy Chicken?

FREEEE FARMED DOWN BY THE

Grass-fed is best

SOUTHERN ALPS

Mothering Magazine, the American bible of attachment parenting, recently ran an article on why grass fed beef is best. Listen to this: Grass fed meat… • Is four times higher in Vitamin E than factory farmed meat. • Contains very few antibiotics. Giving cows a diet, which their bodies are unable to process, i.e. corn, causes acidosis. There are two ways to prevent this either plug them full of antibiotics, or feed them what nature intended -grass. • Has three to five times more conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fatty acid with anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties. • Is low in E-Coli. According to Michael Pollan, writer of ‘The Omnivores Dilemma’ when corn-fed cattle are reintroduced to a grass-only diet some 90% of the E. Coli in their stomach disappears.

Resources rnzspca.org.nz – For more information on the cruelty-free blue tick plus check out the Open Your Fridge Campaign. rubyslist.co.nz – Source of premium, cruelty-free meat. gruffjunction.co.nz freedomfarms.co.nz you tube/River Cottage: Healthy Chicken? you tube/Sunday TV1 Pig Farming Expose with Mike King lovepigs.org.nz rivercottage.net mothering.com The Omnivores Dilemma, Michael Pollan Food, Inc: Robert Kenner. This doco is very much focused on American factory farming, but it still makes interesting viewing.

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intelligent living

Beetroot

the heart of the garden

Nicola Galloway introduces us to her garden and kitchen this summer featuring how to grow and prepare beetroot.

In the garden

Summer is a time of growth and expansion, the long daylight hours are ideal for growth. Our spring plantings are paying off now with salad greens, beetroot, peas, beans, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and more on the way. The garden is mulched with pea straw to help retain moisture during the drier months of summer. The mulch will also keep the weeds down, as they will compete with the growing plants for nutrients. The important thing with home gardening is to nurture the health of the soil. In our garden we are constantly feeding the soil, as healthy soil equals healthy produce. This includes organic compost, seaweed (left out in the rain to rinse off the salt water), untreated sawdust, worm juice, organic fish fertiliser, comfrey fertiliser, blood and bone, dolomite lime, horse manure, crushed eggshells (for calcium - crush dried shells in a mortar and pestle until fine) and more.

Growing beetroot

A regular item we grow in the garden is beetroot. It is relatively easy to grow and can be grown most of the year around in most locations. Beetroot doesn’t need a lot of space so can be grown in a small garden area and is an ideal food as you can use the whole plant - the root for roasting and grating into salads, and the leaves as you would spinach or silver beet. To grow: Plant beetroot seeds directly into well-composted soil. Sow seeds 10cm apart to a depth of 1½ times the seed size – about

5mm. Cover with extra soil patting down to even the surface and water well. Now leave nature to do what it does best. Fertilise fortnightly with organic fertiliser or worm juice (see box). Harvest beetroot once the roots reach the size of tennis balls. You can check the size by gently feeling around the base of the leaves. Mound up the soil if the roots start to push their way through the soil before they are full sized. Once harvested wash to remove soil and cut off the leaves. Ideally use straight away or store in a plastic bag in the fridge to keep fresh until ready to use. The leaves will last 3-4 days while the root can be stored for several weeks.

In the kitchen...

It is warm and sunny and we are preparing fresh salads and summer fruits from the garden everyday. In our kitchen we prefer to use ingredients not packets. Though, this doesn’t mean we spend hours in the kitchen preparing everything from scratch. We are a busy family so keep food simple and fresh, using quality ingredients. Recipes: This season I am featuring beetroot as it is easy to grow, and also versatile in the kitchen. It can be roasted, grated raw in salads, mashed into baking, and more. The deep red/purple colour of beetroot is an indication of its high nutrient content. It is an excellent source of non-haem (plant-based) iron. Non-haem iron isn’t assimilated as easily as haem iron (from meat). Combined with vitamin C rich foods will assist with the absorption of non-haem iron. All raw fruit and vegetables provide vitamin C in particular tomatoes, capsicums, citrus and kiwifruit.

• about 1000 worms available from a friends worm farm or try a community garden – if you don’t feel like counting them this is about 2/3 an ice cream container.

Make a worm farm

A worm farm is easy to run and provides loads of nutritious garden fertilizer. You can buy worm farms from garden centres or make your own with tyres. You will need: • Four tyres – often free from tyre stores or recycling centres • approx 20cm bricks or blocks to hold the tyres off the ground • 40cm square piece of chicken mesh and cardboard • container to collect the worm juice – a vegetable draw from an old fridge works well – again available from recycling centres • lid to cover and rock to hold in place to keep out wildlife

To assemble: • On even ground in a shady spot arrange the blocks. Place the chicken mesh then cardboard on top hold in place with one tyre. Mix the worms with some organic compost and tip this into the tyre. Add some kitchen waste, cover and leave the worms to feast. Keep adding kitchen waste, over time this will accumulate so add extra tyres until you have a stack of four. NB - worms don’t like onions or citrus so don’t add to the worm farm. • Position the container under the worm farm where it will collect the worm juice. Use this to fertilise the garden by diluting with water 1:20 in a watering can. • Every month roughly shred a newspaper and add to the worm farm to absorb excess moisture. And a handful of dolomite/lime every few months helps with the breakdown process and to keep the acid alkaline balance in check. Every six months or so remove the bottom tyre as the worms will have worked their way up. The resulting ‘worm castings’ are full of nutrients for the garden. Combine with organic compost and add to the garden when planting or preparing a garden bed.

Chocolate Beetroot Brownie

Balance is the key to eating healthy and we enjoy our sweet treats. In recipes I cut back the sugar by halving the quantity and replacing with something moist i.e. yogurt, apple puree, mashed banana or in this case grated beetroot. You can hardly notice the difference, as sugar is an over-powering flavour no matter the amount. Ingredients: 200 g dark fair-trade chocolate 75 g butter 2 free-range eggs 1/3 cup unrefined sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup finely grated raw beetroot 3/4 cup flour (see below for gluten free) 1 tsp baking powder Method: Preheat oven 180C 1. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and place over a pot of gently simmer water. Make sure the water is not touching the bowl. Melt the chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally then remove from the heat and cool slightly. 2. In a mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add the chocolate mixture and beetroot. Add the flour and baking powder and gently fold together. Pour into a greased and lined 25 x 25 cm baking tin. Bake for about 25 minutes until firm. Cool in tin for 10 minutes then remove onto a rack to cool. Cut into squares and serve with natural yogurt.

Roast Beetroot Salad Ingredients: 1kg beetroot, peeled 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil Salt and pepper Handful of rocket leaves 100g feta, crumbled Dressing: 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar 3 Tbsp olive oil 1 tsp whole grain mustard Method: Preheat oven 200째C. 1. Chop the beetroot into wedges. Place in a baking tray and toss with olive oil and season generously. Roast for45 minutes, shaking the tray several times for even cooking. Once tender, remove from the oven and cool until warm. 2. In a large bowl combine the warm beetroot, rocket and feta. Mix together the vinegar, oil and mustard and drizzle over the salad.

OURS®

◆ 55 topics structured by alphabet ◆ Voiceover narration, original backing music ◆ Custom-made menu for easy topic selection for teachers/parents

of Pre and Primary aged children

OURS®

NZ Nature Documentary NZ Nature Documentary DVD Resource DVD Resource for teachers/parents of Pre and Primary aged children

Marinated beets We make this recipe all year round as it is easy to prepare and an excellent addition to sandwiches and salads. By cooking the beets whole in their skins the nutrients found just under the skin are absorbed by the flesh. When raw vegetables are peeled many essential nutrients are thrown in the compost.

Our unique land areas; native creatures; children engaged in environmental care.

◆ 55 topics structured by alphabet ◆ Voiceover narration, original backing music ◆ Custom-made menu for easy topic selection

Ingredients: Approx 4 medium beetroot Approx 1/2 cup balsamic or red wine vinegar Extra-virgin olive oil Salt to season Flavours – peppercorns, garlic cloves, herb sprigs and whole spices. Method: 1. Top and tail the beetroot and scrub to remove dirt. 2. In a saucepan cover the whole beetroot with water, season and boil until tender - about 30-40 minutes. Alternatively use a pressure cooker to cook in 8-10 minutes. 3. Remove from the heat and cool beets in the cooking water. Once cold, easily peel away the skins and discard. 4. Slice into 5mm rounds and pack into a jar. 3/4 fill with reserved cooking water and top up with vinegar and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and add a combination of flavours as desired. Store in the fridge, preferably marinating untouched for several days to intensify the flavours. Consume within 2-3 weeks.

Gluten-free

In our kitchen we mainly cook with gluten-free grains as we can get enough gluten while we are out and about. Gluten grains include, wheat, rye, barley and oats. More and more people are finding they are gluten-intolerant, whether mildly with poor digestion and skin problems, or more the severe celiac disease that can affect a person’s health considerably. Wheat in particular has crept into our diet as one of our main food sources. Due to its overproduction it has lost some of its nutrients and is no longer prepared in the ways of the past with long fermentation i.e. sour dough bread. For this reason many people are finding they feel better when they limit their wheat and gluten intake. In our pantry we keep a range of gluten flours on hand including rice, buckwheat, fine cornmeal and tapioca to be used as follows: Rice - good for replacing wheat in recipes 1:1 with ¼ replaced for tapioca flour as it softens the rice flour. Also used for sweet pastry. Buckwheat – combine half/ half with rice flour for pancakes and crepes. Fine cornmeal – make piecrusts with 2 parts rice flour 1 part cornmeal. Tapioca – used for thickening stews and mixing with rice flour as above to replace wheat in recipes.

where new ideas are born

intelligent living

the cloth nappy

guide: By Rebecca Gunn and Rochelle Napier

A beginner’s guide to using cloth nappies. How many times have others asked you if you’re going to be using cloth nappies and you have winced, thinking of flats, fluffies and pins? Perhaps you have seen the myriad of different types of modern reusable nappies and it has made your head spin?

Throughout this series we are going to be looking at the basics on “cloth nappying” your baby. We will break down and dispel some of the myths that you will have heard about using cloth nappies and go through the most frequently asked questions to help you through the nappy changing and toileting years.In this issue we are going to look at the four main types of nappies available, the cost and the pros and cons of each system. Around 40% of New Zealand families try cloth nappies at some point during their child’s first few years, and at around one dollar per change, for every nappy used – it’s understandable.

Pre fold and covers: Cost for birth to potty: $500 to $800 per pack, consisting of sized covers and cotton absorbency. Pros: • Cheap. • Fast drying. • Minimal folding.

Cons: • Hard to put on wriggly babies and toddlers. • No built in stay dry liner. • Frequent changing (every 1.5-2.5 hours) necessary.

Fitted nappy and cover: Cost for birth to potty $600 to $1500. Consisting of fitted nappies and covers in different sizes. All fitted nappies need a waterproof cover to keep clothing dry. Pros: • Double protection for fecal leaks. • Whole nappy is absorbent.

Cons: • Can be slow drying. • Fiddly on wriggly babies. • Can be bulky.

All in one nappy: Cost for birth to potty $500 to 1400. Consisting of nappies with all you need. Pros: • Easy to change. • Trim. • Fast drying.

Cons: • Need to stuff with the absorbency.

Pocket nappy system: Cost for birth to potty $400 to 1200. Consisting of pocket nappies and absorbency. Pros: • Easy to change. • Trim.

Cons: • Can be very slow drying. • Hard to change the absorbency level.

There are a few things to consider when purchasing a nappy system. One of the biggest trends out there at the moment is one size fits all (OSFA) nappy systems. • An OSFA nappy will be huge on a small baby and may not even fit until toilet training (most children toilet train around 3 years). • 12 nappies washed every second day for three years (547 times approximately) is not going to be usable on future children. • Leaks are very common due to ill fitting nappies. This can discourage parents from continuing to use cloth nappies – regardless of the benefits.

I highly recommend purchasing a trial pack in one of each of the styles stated above. This will give you the best feel for what works for you and your baby. There are also many cloth nappy companies who have hire kits available for a weekly fee so you can trial all the different brands and styles.

Next issue we will be looking into maintaining your beautiful nappies, with time saving tips and tricks to help you make cloth nappies easy!

Sisters Rebecca Gunn and Rochelle Napier are coowners of Ecobubs Nappies. They have been designing and manufacturing nappies in New Zealand for five years and with six children between them ranging from 15 years to six months old, they have a wealth of experience in nappies!

NEW

travel

South America

con un bebé by David King and Bec Johnston

Every new parent will go through that life-changing realization that their travelling days are over – but are they really? David King and Bec Johnston take their 10-month-old baby girl on a six-month tour around South America and discover special joys and challenges along the way. Your average person with a new baby assumes their travelling days will be replaced by endless nappies and disturbed sleep for any foreseeable future. For us it was the perfect opportunity to take our ten month old girl away for six months of backpacking around South America.

hours before we could get her back to sleep, we were feeling a tad less positive. Fortunately the hostel was in a beautiful old stone building with shutters that created a pitch black room, so we all slept in until 9am (which anyone who’s had a ten month old will know is a miracle).

The most common question before we left was definitely “have you completely lost your mind!?” Somewhat unsure of the state of our sanity ourselves, we took the plunge anyway and within our first twenty four hours we had evidence both ways. We had a charmed arrival in Chile, getting whisked into the priority customs queue and being given a larger hostel room in Santiago. After the confusion of jetlag woke Emelia in the middle of the night though, and she screamed for several

Our first stop at Mancora – a small surf town clinging to the side of an enormous dusty brown desert in northern Peru was an introduction to the reactions a fair haired blue eyed baby in South America would get. A typical example was ten giggling teenage girls asking shyly for a group photo. Then more boldly insisting on their own photos, which was fine until about the fifth one when the excited squeals became overwhelming and poor Emelia needed rescuing. Many people

told us they’d never seen a baby with blue eyes, and it truly felt like being celebrity minders sometimes (“photo time is over folks, the baby needs a nap”). She made for a fantastic icebreaker though and we loved having so many people keen to chat to us, despite the language barriers. With rainy season coming we headed south towards Machu Picchu. Having dragged ourselves out of bed at 4.45am, we hoped it would live up to its huge reputation. Because of the sheer scale of the steep surrounding mountains, no photo quite prepares you for the experience of standing there ... the sight and ruins are awe-inspiring. It was even more special practising walking with Emelia in a place like Machu Picchu. Not only that, but we managed to snap a photo for her twenty first birthday - getting a nappy change amongst the ancient ruins of the Incas! From Peru we spent several weeks in Bolivia, with highlights including La Paz – the world’s highest capital, in an enormous bowl ranging from 3100m to over 4000m (requiring plenty of acclimatising beforehand). We then headed back north to Ecuador with an important mission – finding a spot for Emelia’s first birthday. The beautiful valley of Vilcabamba turned out to be perfect. Our main requirements were easily met – a fantastic apple cake became the birthday cake, and we found no shortage of people for a party. With little kids everywhere and general mayhem, it was just like any first birthday (except we hadn’t known any of the guests more than two days, and the grandparents were at home a little miffed, although Skype helped).

your online family travel guide “ Hi there - Boy am I glad I found this informative website. I have been researching suitable family activities for an upcoming trip to New Zealand and have spent many wasted hours ... until I found KIDZ GO. Lucky me! ” N. Ward, Australia :: May 2010 family accommodation child-friendly activities family-friendly dining all your family needs to play & stay in New Zealand.

www.KidzGo.co.nz

w w w . m o t a t . o r g . n z

WHERE NEW ZEALAND’S HISTORY COMES TO LIFE Huge collection of transport & technology artefacts / Tram rides / Challenge Zone / Tactile Dome / Mirror maze / Walk through Victorian Village / Souvenir shops & café / Exhibitions & more!

Having always joked we’d be partying it up at Carnaval in Brazil with a baby, we realised it was completely possible. The small town of Pipa in northern Brazil was an ideal setting. It had the most stunning beaches, with white sand, big red cliffs and lush green tropical rain forest. At low tide we could walk out 150m, with water not much over our ankles – paradise for a one year old. A lot of little waves still went over her head sitting there, but a bit of coughing and spluttering was always replaced quickly by a huge ‘more, more’ grin.

Per venufeefcot coff r groupese!

Although one night of Carnaval in Pipa may be far more restrained than the enormous week long party in Rio, there’s no way you can avoid being swept up in the experience – the little one even fell asleep in her frontpack at bedtime while we joined the drumming and dancing in the streets. The faintest hint of a drumbeat seems to make people dance in Brazil (including Emelia!), and they love to get out and live life. Combined with spectacular scenery, it made Brazil a hard place to leave. KR_Natural Parent Ad_2_Paths.indd 1

By the end of six months there was no way we questioned the sanity of our choice – we had the most amazing travel adventure. It was incredible how many people came to talk to us, and their overwhelming friendliness will be one of our fondest memories. But above all, because we had the time for both of us to share those special moments in Emelia’s life in such an fantastic setting. Things like watching her learn to walk on her own at the beach in Ecuador, or learning to love the water in Brazil made for a wonderful, unique experience we’ll treasure forever.

David King and Bec Johnston have a website of their experience in South America: www.backpackerbaby.com.

14/10/10 9:13:06 PM

Love your work Ever wondered how some of New Zealand’s biggest companies came into being? Many of them had humble beginnings and often began after the birth of a child.

Right now, across New Zealand, there are mothers and fathers planning their launch into the business world. These “mum /dadpreneurs” have often left high-powered jobs, only to discover that as they wash the nappies, feed their baby or push the swing at the park, their creative side begins to flourish, and before they know it, a business is born! In each issue of TNP Magazine we will profile New Zealand business owners and learn about their experiences in the business world.

Nurtured

1: The passion: What inspired you to set up your business? As new Parents, we found it difficult to get the level of advice and support we wanted from the existing large chain nursery stores, and the more boutique stores simply had products which were just out of reach for most parents. After an experience when we went to hire an infant capsule which looked worn, dirty and poorly maintained, we just felt we could provide a better service. 2: The Launch: How did you start out in the beginning? We began in our Garage! with a few rental items (capsules, strollers etc) and people could come and hire them by appointment. 3: The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business? Our biggest breakthrough came at a time when we decided that the ‘little home business’ was just getting too big and crossing over into our personal lives too much – we had customers turning up at 9pm and with a young family, work and personal life was becoming blurred. Having a physical store meant we were able to get better products, a larger range and continue to provide great service. 4: Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family? We have great staff, who are as passionate about providing advice and support as us, and that allows us to have time with our family. It wasn’t always like that – we opened our store a couple of weeks after our 3rd child was born and she had the run of the place for the first two years! After a particularly late night at the store with the kids, we made a conscious choice that our kids won’t miss out on quality time with us because of our choices and that has been our ‘family philosophy’ ever since. 5: The Drive: What challenges have you overcome? Neither of us are from a retail background, so it was all unknown. In some ways not knowing what we didn’t know meant we could just do things and ask lots of ‘dumb’ questions. It also meant we approached things from a different view – as a customer, not a retailer. 6: Hopes and dreams: What next? By the time this prints, we will have opened our second store in Hamilton, and our vision is to help more new parents in NZ make great choices further afield – watch this space!

www.nurture.co.nz

Pureborn Organic

Tweedle

1: The passion: What inspired you to set up your business? We felt that there was a place in the NZ market for a premium quality organic cotton brand at mainstream pricing making our product accessible for all New Zealanderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

1: The passion: What inspired you to set up your business? After my son Dylan was born I was keen to get back into some sort of work, however I also wanted to spend as much time with our children as possible. The thought of running my own business from home sounded extremely appealing.

2: The Launch: How did you start out in the beginning? We sourced the finest quality Certified 100% organic cotton from India and found an ethical factory to manufacture the range for us. Our designs are tried and tested by mums and babies. We have added new sizes and colours every season and now supply 50 shops around NZ.

2: The Launch: How did you start out in the beginning? Tweedle started with the idea of making funky and functional baby bibs as I had been annoyed at the limited styles on the market when shopping for my children. My husband Angus, was able to create my website for me which helped immensely. I began selling my bibs through Trade Me and also my website, this grew into designing and making my own range of modern cloth nappies and accessories.

3: The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business? We started off as an online business and quickly moved into wholesale when we saw how well our products were being received by the public. Within 18 months we had over 30 stockists nationwide and we are now looking at international distribution. 4: Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family? We have a really great support network of people who share our dream for Pureborn. Work and family often blend together. We often take our children when we travel for work and they enjoy being part of Pureborn Organic. It is a juggle but everyone knows that this is what we do and understand why we are doing it. 5: The Drive: What challenges have you overcome? We are constantly overcoming obstacles and challenges, we have communication issues with our factory in india, issues with shipping companies and constant logistical problems. Most things in life that are great come with serious hard work and commitment. 6: Hopes and dreams: What next? We will be expanding our bestselling Kiwiana screen print range and looking at new territories to sell the range to. We have trademarked in Australia and launched an export company in July.

www.purebornorganic.com

3: The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business? Branching out into other products and brands was a huge turning point for Tweedle. We quickly went from a small business selling a couple of products to a large business selling multiple brands/products. 4: Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family? I think it is difficult to always have balance, although I think for the most part I do or at least try to. Our two older children are at school so I work when our youngest is napping. 5: The Drive: What challenges have you overcome? The biggest challenge for me so far was my pregnancy with our youngest daughter Lauren. The business virtually came to a standstill during that time as I had an extremely difficult pregnancy with Hyperemesis Gravidarum (extreme morning sickness and dehydration) with multiple hospital stays. 6: Hopes and dreams: What next? I would love to eventually open a shop; I already have heaps of ideas! This wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen until Lauren starts school or at least morning kindy so that I would have the time to devote to make it a success. In the meantime, I am happy with how the business is growing; we recently expanded the Tweedle name to our newest company Tweedle Cakes. Tweedle will continue to grow and I am excited to see what the future holds for us.

www.tweedle.co.nz

shopping

The pick of the organic crop 2 1

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1. My Natural Baby: www.mynaturebaby.co.nz

Manduca Limited Edition ‘Blue Velvet’ soft-structured baby carrier. RRP $255.00 The ever popular Manduca now brings us this limited edition carrier. All Manduca limited editions have an outer shell of 100% organic cotton and are lined with the same. Suitable for children from 3.5kg – 20kg, the design of the Manduca allows for children to automatically be carried in the orthopaedically correct position with knees slightly higher than the hips. 2. My Baby and Me:

one off Kimono has been hand painted with water-based, non-toxic inks by an artist in Nelson. This print is heat-set to last and last. There are many other styles and prints available and these hand painted designs make a wonderful gift.

5. Pureborn Organic: www.purebornorganic.com

3. Innature: www.innature.co.nz

Natural coco latex cot mattress with an organic cotton/hemp cover. Made in New Zealand. RRP: $355-375. These come in 3 different weights (firm, medium and medium soft), and in variety of sizes.

Pureborn screen Print ribbed vest: RRP $20 These cute custom prints are screen printed in water based inks without the use of heavy metals onto ribbed vests, these have loads of give and wash and wear exceptionally well. Sizes 0-8years 6. TRELISKE Organic:

www.mybabyandme.co.nz

Hand painted Short Sleeve Kimono RRP: $26:00 Hand Painted in NZ on a 100% Organic Cotton Kimono, this beautiful,

Trying to find organic fabric by the metre in New Zealand is like looking for hens teeth! Greenfields have 3 weights available; Handloom, Calico or Denim.

4. Greenfields Trading:

www.treliskeorganic.com

www.greenfieldstrading.co.nz

RRP $159.00 Certified Organic, Reversible Plaid Baby Blanket , perfect for bassinet

Organic Fabric by the metre: RRP: From $14.00p/m

and cot, measures 105 x100. 7. By Nature: www.bynature.co.nz

Organic Natracare tampons RRP $9.20 Natracare products are chemical and additive free, and biodegradable and contain only organic and natural ingredients sourced from sound ecologically managed producers. 8. Natures Sway: www.naturessway.co.nz

The Natures Sway baby sling is so easy to use and fits all sizes. RRP $95.00 Now available in new organic fabric, this comfortable and durable baby carrier helps you include baby safely in everyday activities just like nature intended.

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Smart gifts, from the practical to the whimsical 1. Natures Sway: www.naturessway.co.nz

RRP from $219 Natures Sway baby hammock is a therapeutic baby bed made of natural materials that will magically settle your newborn and sleeps baby for the first 6 months. For a great night sleep, get a Nature’s Sway!

only gives children the confidence to feed themselves, but also makes meal times less messy. Made from high quality silicone, the Baby Sticky Bowl™ can be used with existing bowls or plates and is food and dishwasher safe. 4. Mothers Instinct: www.mothersinstinct.co.nz

2. Bubbalooz: www.bubbalooz.co.nz RRP $15.90 (for 16 colours) Crayon Rocks are all natural, nontoxic crayons made from soy and bees wax – great for little fingers and helps develop tripod muscles to prepare little hands for pen and pencil use. 3. DiverseNZ: www.diversenz.co.nz RRP $16.90 Baby Sticky Bowl. Designed to stick children’s feeding bowls to any surface; the Baby Sticky Bowl™ not

RRP is $519 RadianXTSL is a convertible car seat for rear-facing children 2.3 - 20kg and forward-facing children 9 - 36kg in a 5-point harness. Its steel alloy frame and new SuperLATCH™ system are NCAP crash tested to 36kg, making it the strongest car seat in the world and the easiest to install using vehicle LATCH anchors up to 36kg - no seat belt required. 5. Didymos Slings: www.didymos.co.nz RRP is $ 231.20 NZD

The featured sling is a jacquard weave in lime green waves and comes with tying instructions. 6. Rapunzel: www.rapunzelclothing.co.nz

RRP $33 The Pocket Grow from Keedo baby grows. Made from 100% cotton in South Africa it is available in three colours, baby hippo, pond blue and fresh teal. 7. Seedling: www.seedling.co.nz RRP $49.95 The Junior Artist Paint Kit: Inspire paintings that are a snapshot of a child’s unique exploration and discovery of painting. It’s a window into a child’s way of thinking that you don’t want to miss! This Seedling kit contains NZ made Tempura paints in primary colours, a Seedling painting apron with pockets, 3 Seedling paint

brushes, an A4 paper pad and tips for inspiring young painters. 8. Heart to Heart baby Wrap: www.babywrap.co.nz

RRP $75 The Heart to Heart baby wrap is a natural baby carrier ergonomically designed to carry your baby for any length of time without discomfort. 9. Go Native: www.gonative.co.nz

100g RRP: $20. Go native offers this gorgeous Shea butter. “Wild crafted” from Africa. Use as a balm for your baby’s bottom. 10. Hide n Seek: www.tike.co.nz RRP $229. Tike wooden balance bike by Live Play Create.

Fashion

Summer and pregnancy: These are words that will make any woman break into a sweat. Relax; there are plenty of ways to keep cool, show off some gorgeous summer fashion and turn that sweat into a glow.

er m m Su aby B 4

from Jo Robertson Maternity

from Egg Maternity

1. Summer Maxi Dress $179 00 Jo Robertson Maternity’s Summer Maxi Dress features a flattering under bust tie and shoulder straps, great for all occassions. Made from Silk/Polyester Blend 2. Pleat Cami Dress $13500 Stunning ‘tropical’ dress with pleat detail under the bust and a flattering lined skirt. 3. Wrap Dress $12400 This dress will suit many occasions, casual with jandels or dressed up with heels.

4. Floaty Dress $199 90 For a colorful summer’s look, the Floaty Dress will take you from day to night. 5/6. Milkbar Dress $189 90 This Milkbar Dress makes breastfeeding a breeze while still maintaining that sexy look.

www.jorobertsonmaternity.co.nz

www.eggmaternity.co.nz

co mp

n o s i t

If you love New Zealand brands then you will LOVE TNP magazine competitions! In this issue, we have an amazing selection of baby and children’s products up for grabs and in each edition you will get another chance at winning gorgeous products from some special kiwi companies. Good luck!

1. Lou & Olly are giving away an Eco-Dyed Vintage Merino Blanket, bassinet size 80 x 85cm. RRP $180. Question: What natural fibre is our Lou & Olly blanket made from? Email your answer with TNP Magazine in the subject line to: info@louandolly.com

3. Rata & Ruby are giving away 3 x green tiki hoodies all of which have colours in te reo maori. Simply answer the question: Can you name 3 colours in maori? Email your answer with TNP Magazine in the subject line to: info@rataandruby.co.nz

2. Ours DVD: Ours are giving away 6 copies of OURS DVD! All you have to do is answer this question: In the Ours DVD which NZ penguin is featured at the letter “H”? Email your answer with TNP Magazine in the subject line to: info@oursdvd.co.nz

4. Pureborn Organic is giving away a $150 wardrobe from their beautiful collection of 100% organic baby and children’s clothing. Question: Where does Pureborn Organic manufacture their 100% organic cotton garments? Email your answer with TNP Magazine in the subject line to: info@purebornorganic.com

*All competitions to be drawn on Saturday, 15 January 2011 – winners will be notified by email from each of the specific businesses. One entry per person. See page 6 for full terms and conditions

Directory listing Art, Art Supplies & Décor All Smilez Decorlicious My Art Box StickyTiki Baby & Childrens Clothing Amelias Childrenswear and Toys Best Dressed Kiwi Kids Candy Cane Kids Wear KIDSKIN Pumpkin Patch Rapunzel clothing Sugar Free Baby & Childrens Gifts Babybuds Baby’s To Treasure Kids Love Gifts Seedling New Zealand Ltd Teeny Tiny Castings Baby & Childrens Products Baby Divine Baby First Ltd Bay Bee Cino Newmarket Bubbalooz Cheeky Cherubs Daisy Baby Ltd Deals4kids.co.nz Diverse Limited FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS Lou & Olly Limited Lunchbox Land Newbies Nurtured OptiMUM Products Ltd Surfbaby New Zealand Limited Tres Chic Tweedle Baby Baby Slings Didymos GmbH Heart to Heart Baby Wrap Natures Sway Baby Hammocks & Slings Bedding Brolly Sheets Limited INNATURE Ltd Cleaning Products BISSELL - Experts in Home Cleaning Clean Planet Limited Cloth Nappies GREENIEPANTS LTD Ecobubs Nappies itti bitti NZ Mother’s Instinct Snazzipants Ltd Clothing Doppel Green Fields Trading Company Limited Discount Card Magic Beans Card Entertainment & Education Fairy Britches Kids Republic Adventure Playland & Cafe KindyRock

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MOTAT OURS® DVDs – Red Heke Productions Free Range Products Freedom Farms Furniture & Play Equipment Bedtraders Limited Magic Rainbow My Room PICOPICO Solvej Swings Starex Manufacturing Tesori Childrens furniture The Cot Store Health & Wellbeing Aaah! Tea Douglas Pharmaceuticals Ltd Go with the Moon Cornerstone Building System Home Based Childcare Fairy Godmothers Inc. Kuddles In-Home Childcare and Education PAUA Early Childhood Homebased Care Service PORSE Quality Kidz In Home Care Barnardos New Zealand Pepsicles NZ Ltd Maternity 3 bears Belly Activ Egg Jo Robertson maternity MumCho Ltd Organic & Eco Baby Products Baby Bug Eco Baby Store Eco Distribution Ltd My Natural Baby Ltd Naked Baby Organic & Eco Products By Nature Earth Angel Treliske Organic Wool Ltd Organic Baby & Childrens Clothing Earthlings Organic Baby Clothes My Baby & Me Pureborn Organic Ltd Rata and Ruby Prams & Strollers Chariot Carriers Go Native New Zealand Just Herbal Natural Skin Care Natural Imports Limited Pot of Gold balms Viola Organics Ltd Toys Gallop Hide n Seek Little Kids Co. Ltd Travel & Tourism Kidz Go New Zealand

09 815 5800 03 546 9694 09 366 0448 09 444 1004 09 816 8915 09 488 7044 0800 PICOPICO 0508 794 647 07 575 4247 09 475 9797 0800 770 707 09 377 8962 0800 DOUGLAS 03 545 2936 0800 426 763 09 424 8868 09 625 6621 0800 728 277 0800 023 456 0800 2QKidz 0800 4 BARNARDOS 0508 737 742 09 817 5590 07 377 8953 09-523 0398 07 889 0983 09 360 9747 0800 4BABYBUG 021 902 250 0800 884 653 09 482 1449 03 409 8998 021 152 8287 09 834 0699 03 446 6828 021 101 9799 09 280 4966 0508 PUREBORN 07 825 0482 09 480 4566 09 445 3549 07 308 7279 09 422 2339 021 803 400 09 438 8789 021 248 8876 0508 845 369 09 444 0793 03 328 9393

BISSELL FLUSHES OUT THE LITTLE THINGS VACUUMING LEAVES BEHIND. fiona andersen photography

www.fionaandersenphotography.com

The world’s No.1 home carpet washer. www.bissell.co.nz 0800 BISSELL

www.bissell.co.nz

ISSUE 1 Summer 2010/11

New Zealand

Ecstatic Birth Natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hormonal Blueprint for Labour

Strange New Worlds

The Voyage into Fatherhood

Organic Food The Natural Parent Magazine: issue 1 Summer 2010/11

Beetroot - The Garden Heart

All night long

Understanding the World of Infant Sleep

intelligent living | connection parenting | health and wellbeing