Yucky Medicine

Posted on August 28, 2012 by James

Yucky medicineWhat a drama we have had in trying to get out toddler to take a pretty awful smelling remedy for a fungal infection given to us by the local Naturopath.

I know that one of my earliest posts bragged about how much of a genius I was in devising a method for getting a baby to take medicine without physically forcing them. That was before.

Now she couldn’t give a hoot if she misses her favourite TV show as long as she doesn’t have to drink that foul crap.

It is amazing to see both how stubborn she can be (I wonder where that comes from?) and how quickly things can escalate when you know you can’t give in. At this age we definitely cannot afford to give her any victory in this matter or we will never be able to administer the medicine.

The first couple of times is always the worst. I think she says ‘no’ just to see what will happen. Our usual routine is two episodes of Peppa Pig and then a bath before bed. We told her that she had to drink it before we could watch Peppa Pig.

“No” she says.
“OK then, no Peppa Pig.”
“OK. Bath time!” Cheeky little turd. What were we going to do now?

Well we tried everything but she just would not take it and in the end we told her that if she didn’t take her medicine then we would have to go to the hospital and the doctors would make her take it.

A little bit dramatic I know but we really were at the end of our rope and things had escalated to the point of ridiculousness.

Still her lips remained tightly closed. Shit. This was starting to get really difficult. We looked at each other and silently decided that we would have to go through with the threat or we really would loose all credibility (like we had any in the first place) and have no chance of giving her the medicine in the future.

So we gathered our things and just as I put my hand on the front door knob to head out to the hospital she realised that we were serious and relented and swallowed the medicine without any further fuss. Phew!

After she had been put to bed we discussed the disastrous event in detail. I don’t really know what we were thinking. As if any hospital in their right mind would help us administer a medicine that a) They did not prescribe and b) We couldn’t even tell them what was in it!

Good work parents.

Rather than helping us give our child an un-prescribed, unlabelled concoction from a Naturopath they probably would have called the police instead and mum and dad would have spent the night in a jail cell and had a visit from DOCS the next day.

All I can say is that we are lucky she decided to take the medicine. We will be much more careful with our bargaining chips in the future…

Posted in Health, Parenting | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Is Tanning Really Skin Cells In Trauma?

Posted on August 21, 2012 by James

Is tanning really skin cells in trauma?Australia is the melanoma capital of the world and the enormous amount of scare campaign advertising regarding tanning has done it’s job so well that our kids are now showing signs of Vitamin D deficiencies due to lack of sun exposure.

It seems that we have gone way too far the other way. I believe that in most cases a little sensible sun exposure for our kids can actually help them build a natural resistance (tan) to the sun’s harmful effects as well as absorbing all the health benefits sunlight has to offer.

The leading theory regarding tanning is that skin colour adapts to intense sunlight irradiation to provide partial protection to the skin cells. So is tanning skin cells in trauma or the bodies way to naturally protect itself from harmful UV radiation?

Before I say anything I will once again lather myself with a sunscreen of disclaimers about all kids being different and in particular everyone having a different skin type and that you should never, ever let yourself or anyone else get sun burnt.

In addition, as the Australian sun is particularly harsh I would make a blanket recommendation for EVERYONE to slip, slop, slap and try to stay out of the sun between 11am and 3pm during summer unless you really do want to become another skin cancer statistic.

The best form of protection we found for our bub for was shade, shade, shade. Keeping an infant out of the sun at all times is essential and this can be achieved fairly easily when they are confined to a pram or bassinet with the use of the pram covers and some kind of shade cloth.

I did find (annoyingly) that most pram covers do not provide adequate shade particularly in the early morning or late afternoon when the sun is at an angle.

When kiddies are older and on the move in becomes a little more difficult. We didn’t really like the idea of smothering her with sunscreen all the time but being outdoor people we didn’t really have a choice.

The best that we could do was cover her in the most natural SPF 30 sunscreen that we could find that didn’t contain things like mineral oils and parabens as we feel that some of these nasties will always be absorbed through the skin .

We also found hats with elastic straps (she would not keep her hat on voluntarily) that we could tie on and another cap made from Lycra with a flap at the back that she could wear in the water.

In addition whenever we went swimming she wore a short arm short leg rash vest that has an SPF of about 50. You can find these in most department or sports stores or even the Cancer Council shop.

This year we are trying to use the same approach we do for ourselves of a little bit of sun every day in the early morning or late afternoon (before 11am and after 3pm).

Like us, our toddler has olive skin and we would ideally like to slowly build a natural protection (tan) with a limited amount of daily exposure avoiding the hottest times of the day. If it’s a bright spring day at nine in the morning then why not get a bit of sun on your head? Vitamin D is good for you

This is best done before summer really hits as once it gets too hot your toddlers’ unaccustomed skin will fry like an egg in any exposure to the summer sun. Not good. Not good at all.

We will start around September and hopefully by the time we are regularly going to the beach or pool (around December) she will have built up enough natural protection (tan) to give her some extra protection from the sun.

We will still continue to use hats, shirts and sunscreens but the addition of some of the skins’ natural protection makes us feel a little safer.

Sun and Vitamin D are essential in the healthy development of bones as well as providing a natural feeling of well being. As we are outdoor lovers it stands to reason that our bub will get a fair amount of sun exposure as well.

The important thing here is not to let your childs’ skin (or your own) burn at all as that is when serious, long term damage is caused so don’t ever leave your baby unprotected in the sun.

REPEAT: NEVER, EVER LEAVE YOUR BABY IN THE SUN !

Personally, I think a little bit of sun exposure is a good thing so long as it is in moderation and done sensibly. We do not ever want our little one to burn but equally we do not want her to fear the sun and avoid all of it’s life giving qualities.

We would like her to enjoy the great climate, beaches and outdoors that make Australia such a great place to grow up.

Tan is OK. Burn is bad….

Posted in Health | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Stay At Home Dad Is More Honest

Posted on August 16, 2012 by James

A stay at home dad is not expected to knowNow that I have finally been able to talk to a few stay at home dads, I have found an interesting phenomenon that is bound to get all the ladies riled up once again.

A stay at home dad is much more honest when it comes to talking about child rearing.

Yep that’s right – We don’t sugar coat the trials of parenting like the majority of women do. We know that it sometimes sucks big time and we also know that we don’t know what we are doing.

A lot of you ladies out there would never say that out loud. Is that because society makes us believe that a woman must adore every minute of parenting and furthermore that a woman should naturally know all there is to know about child rearing?

If you admit that you don’t know does that make you any less of a mother? I certainly don’t think so but it doesn’t matter what I think.

Just because a woman can physically bear a child does not automatically mean that they know how to raise one. You only have to look at the statistics on child neglect to prove that hypothesis.

Anyone can learn how to look after a child and men can quite often be more open and objective to these lessons without any guilt (there’s that word again) purely because we know that we are not expected to know.

In addition us men are not afraid to say things like, “This parenting gig really sucks” or “my kid is a pain in the arse” or even “how the hell are you supposed to do that?” The majority of women I have encountered will never admit to these kinds of thoughts.

For the amount of defensive comments regarding child rearing I have come across I would have to say that deep down inside most women think that they are supposed to know what to do and feel guilty when they don’t.

This is magnified by the blanket parental disclaimer of “every child is individual so you must do what is best for you and your child”.

Frankly I find that kind of advice defensive and unhelpful. Why not just say what you think might work? If someone gives you advice on child rearing are they telling you that you are a bad parent or are they just trying to help you?

I know that babies do not come with a instruction manual but surely if you talk to enough parents who already have a few well adjusted kids then you can get a pretty good idea of the techniques that work and the ones that don’t.

I’ve had quite a few derogatory comments about my ideas on breastfeeding like “If you really want to know about breastfeeding then why don’t you ask a woman?”

Umm – Newsflash – I don’t know any woman who hasn’t been taught to breastfeed either by nurses in the hospital or by an experienced relative.

As far as I am aware it doesn’t happen naturally like some animal in the jungle that just manages to find its mothers’ breast and starts feeding perfectly first go. It usually takes heaps of time and effort and pain to learn how to do this and it is a freakin’ miracle that it happens at all if you ask me.

From an outsiders (man’s) point of view it seems that breastfeeding has become a highly competitive sport where endurance, the ignoration* of pain and personal sacrifice for the good of the child are all greatly sought after qualities.

For the mothers who do manage quite easily there is always a little smile of pride on their faces as they receive community applause and confirmation as to their status as natural mothers.

The poor mothers who can’t breastfeed are forced to creep silently to the shops in hats and sunglasses and buy formula in plain brown paper bags and hope to God they don’t see anyone that they know.

In actual fact there is more confusion and guilt around this topic than almost anything else. Some can, some can’t, some won’t and all the others won’t admit there are problems even when their nipples are bleeding and their engorged breasts are stretched to the limit and look like they have been a few rounds with Muhammad Ali.

Let’s face it – none of us first timers (mums and dads) really know what we are doing. Why do we pretend that we do? If we could all be a little more co-operative and a little less competitive then maybe all of our kids would benefit from the knowledge of the village.

So, if you really want to know the brutal truth about the full time raising of kids then I suggest you talk to a Stay at home dad. He doesn’t have to prove himself  by pretending that everything is under control.

He knows that he has no idea…

*This really should be a word.

This article has been published on the Mamamia parenting website. Some of the comments make for some interesting and informative reading. If you would like to view them then please click here.

Posted in Stay at home dad | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments