About Early Baby Early Baby is dedicated to my two beautiful children who were both born 8 weeks premature (Reuben in 2003 weighing 3lb 7oz and Freya born in 2005 weighing 3lb 10.5oz).
WHY EARLY BABY?
My original inspiration came after the early arrival of my son in 2003; the website has continued to grow steadily ever since and was influenced by the early arrival of my daughter in 2005.
During both of my pregnancies everything went reasonably well until around 30/31 weeks when I started to develop high blood pressure. The premature arrival of both my children was due to pre-eclampsia & HELLP syndrome and although medication can help, the only cure for these conditions is delivery of the baby. On both occasions I had to have an emergency caesarean but I was fortunate enough to have a fantastic team of people looking after me; my two children were both born healthy and without complications and they have continue to thrive from day one.
PRE-ECLAMPSIA & HELLP SYNDROME
Pre-eclampsia is caused by a defect in the placenta which typically occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The condition is symptom-less in the early stages and signs of pre-eclampsia are usually high blood pressure combined with the presence of protein in the urine. It is potentially life-threatening to both mother and baby if allowed to develop and progress undetected.
HELLP syndrome is the medical term given to one of the most serious complications of pre-eclampsia, in which there is a combined liver and blood clotting disorder. H.EL.LP is as dangerous as eclampsia (convulsions) and probably more common, although it is less easy to detect.
PREMATURE BABY CLOTHING
When my son was born my husband and I found it difficult to find nice outfits for him to wear that fitted him properly - there was a limited choice available and we usually had to make do with larger sizes from high street shops. After a while (and once we had got to grips with parenthood!) we decided to set-up a service that could offer parents (and families) of other premature babies a wide-range of clothing and essential early days accessories specifically designed for special care babies - all in one place!
After we had our daughter we found that there was a wider choice of premature baby clothing available from high street shops but usually from size 5lb upwards; even then some outfits are still quite big and don't fit for a while.
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Early Baby Aims We aim to provide parents and families of premature babies with a wide variety of baby products, including those hard to get items such as incubator vests, sleepsuits and hotcot wear. Our suppliers are all based in the UK and most items are manufactured in Great Britain. We strive to provide a good deal on all the brands that we stock but think that our 'Early Baby Basics' range offers great value for money in particular.
We hope that you find something that you and your little one(s) will like. However, if there is something special that you are looking for (i.e. christening gowns, car seat accessories, etc) or there are any items that you would like that we do not stock, please drop us a line and we will do our best to get it for you.
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HELPFUL TIPS THE FOLLOWING TIPS ARE BASED PURELY ON MY EXPERIENCE OF BEING THE MOTHER OF TWO PREMATURE BABIES AND ARE MERELY SUGGESTIONS.
MY 'BABIES' WILL BE 5 AND 3 THIS YEAR SO IF ANYONE HAS ANY TIPS/INFORMATION THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH OTHER PARENTS/FAMILY MEMBERS THEN PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO julie.ironside@earlybaby.co.uk. |
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BREAST FEEDING Breast feeding is a great way of boosting your baby's ability to fight infection and you may find that it makes you feel closer to your baby. In my case it made me feel that I was contributing in some way towards my baby's development and because he was fed expressed breast milk (via a naso gastric tube) for the first two weeks my husband was able to help with feeds whilst we were in hospital.
If you really want to breast feed your premature baby but find that you are experiencing some difficulty perhaps you could discuss this with your midwife and/or health visitor. I was advised to try using a nipple shield in order to establish feeding and in my experience it was successful and I fed my son until he was 6 months old. There are various ones that you can buy but I found the Avent shield to be the best one.
However, this is only a short-term solution and there can be drawbacks with positioning and milk supply. Once feeding is established it is recommended that the use of the nipple shield be discontinued.
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MASTISIS Breast feeding is not alway plain sailing; I had mastisis twice when I breastfed my son and once after I had my daughter and was expressing and it was really painful.
The first time I was in TCU and at first I thought I had flu - I ached all over, felt hot but had the chills and couldn't stop shaking. I also noticed a bright red patch on my breast that was really, really painful and both breasts felt very tender. Mums with mastitis will sometimes experience these flu-like symptoms, even before they get a fever or notice breast tenderness. Luckily I was treated straight away; I was given antibiotics and felt better after a few days but I had to throw my precious milk away because it had become infected!
IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE MASTITIS YOU SHOULD CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR STRAIGHT AWAY.
One piece of advice that I would recommend to relieve the pain is cabbage leaves popped inside your bra! It sounds crazy but it really works and is very soothing. I tried this after I had my daughter and it really worked - my breasts were so engorged they felt like cannon balls! I was desperate to relieve the pain and tenderness that I was willing to try anything and this really worked. |
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BOTTLE FEEDING Although I am an advocate of breastfeeding (especially for premature babies) I believe that everyone should have a choice in how they feed their baby without feeling guilty or inadequate. After having my daughter I expressed for the first two weeks and intended on breastfeeding her once she came home but unfortunately it didn't work out so she was bottle fed and went onto formula when she was six weeks old.
I found bottle feeding difficult to start with and we had to try different teats until we found one that suited her best. As she grew stronger we found that we still had to try other teats but now that she is older she has settled with the Avent Variflow teat.
If you are going to bottle feed your baby you could try using formula such as SMA Gold or Aptamil formula milk as these are reported to be the closest to breast milk. Once my son was weaned onto formula I chose SMA Gold as this suited him best. I also gave my daughter SMA Gold to begin with (I tried Aptamil but she didn't tolerate it) and then switched to SMA Progress when she was seven months old.
HOWEVER YOU CHOOSE TO FEED YOUR BABY IS UP TO YOU AND YOU MUST BE HAPPY WITH YOUR DECISION. A HAPPY MUMMY LEADS TO A HAPPY BABY. |
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TOP UP BOTTLE Some parents supplement their baby's night time breast feed with a top-up bottle of expressed breast milk or formula (preferably breast milk). This ensures that baby has had enough to drink and will hopefully sleep soundly and longer in between feeds. It also means that dad can help out at night-time!
Although many Midwives do not agree with this I have spoken to lots of parents who have introduced a top-up bottle at night-time and they have found it very helpful. The mother's I have spoken to found that this did not diminish their milk supply either but this is something that needs to be taken into consideration. |
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EXPRESSING If you do choose to breast feed you will need to express your milk as soon as possible and keep it until your baby needs it. Breast milk can be kept in the fridge for 48 hours (but not in the door of the fridge) and frozen for up to 3 months. When the time comes, expressed breast milk can be used to feed your premature baby via a naso gastric tube.
There are many types of breast pump available these days but I preferred to use a hand pump as I found it gentler and easier to use than the electric one I was given in hospital.
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TEATS If you are having problems getting your premature baby to take to a bottle after breast feeding it may be worth trying some of the specialist teats that are available in smaller sizes, such as NUK teats. These are available from selected branches of Boots and Super Drug.
When your baby is older a good teat to use is the Avent variable flow (3 months onwards), which allows you to vary the flow rate to suit your baby's needs during the feed - faster at the beginning and slower towards the end.
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COLIC My son suffered with Colic until he was about four months old. We found that using Infacol drops (available from most supermarkets or Boots) helped to ease the symptoms and he also had a few sessions with a Cranial Osteopath. Cranial osteopathy is a very gentle form of treatment which helps to release compression of the cranial bones, tension in the neural membranes and to re-balance the natural cranial rhythm, which are often affected during birth or as the result of trauma).
My daughter also suffered with colic up until she was five months old but infacol didn't work for her so we used Colief colic drops (available from Tesco and Boots) after a friend recommended them. They are expensive but worth it in my opinion as my baby was more calm and tolerated her feed. |
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NAPPIES It didn't matter which brand of nappy we used for our children - they all seemed too big and the waist band ended up around their little chests! In the end we used Tesco's Ultra Softpremature Newborn nappies (size 0) to begin with. |
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COLDS If your baby has a cold and is finding it difficult to sleep, try raising the head end of the cot or mattress slightly to ease nasal drip.
You could also try Snuffle Babe (available from Boots) vapour rub and/or Olbas Oil for children, which I used when my children were three months onwards. |
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WEANING Weaning is the term given when it's time to introduce first solid foods to a baby, when breast milk or baby formula milk is insufficient on its own to provide the nutrition that they need to develop healthy.
I remember feeling confused at this stage because I didn't want to start weaning my baby too soon but I also didn't want to leave it too late. In the end I was advised to let my baby guide me (i.e. when I thought he was showing signs of being ready) and started to wean him when he was 21 weeks old (from the date he was actually born).
I started off by giving him baby rice (available from Boots and most supermarkets) and once I was happy that he was ok with this I then introduced pureed vegetables and fruit (carrots, sweet potato, apple and pears are good starters).
There are many books available on this subject but your Health Visitor will be able to provide some ueful leaflets too.
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TEMPERATURE Small babies are not very good at controlling their own temperature so it's very important that they do not overheat. I was always worried about my baby being too hot or too cold and never knew if I was getting it right to begin with! The recommended TOTAL tog value for a baby is 10-12. The table below provides tog values to help you out.
BABY CLOTHING & BEDDING TOG VALUE
Vest 0.2
Sleepsuit/Babygrow 1
Jumper 2
Cardigan 2
Trousers 2
Nappy (disposable) 2 (less when wet)
Sheet 0.2
Old blanket (single layer) 1.5
New blanket (single layer) 2
Quilts 9
Hat 2
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DISCLAIMER THESE 'HANDY TO KNOW TIPS' ARE SOME OF THE THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SINCE MY PREMATURE BABY WAS BORN. HOWEVER, THIS INFORMATION SHOULD NOT REPLACE THE ADVICE OF YOUR GP OR OTHER HEALTH PROFESSIONAL. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR HEALTH VISITOR AND/OR DOCTOR AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR BABY IN ANY WAY.
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