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Babycare webchat with Dr Miriam Stoppard: Tues May 5th

Join one of the country's top childcare experts Dr Miriam Stoppard for a LIVE babycare webchat here 12-1pm on Tuesday May 5th.

[Modified by: webeditor on 29 April 2009 11:47:17 ]
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  • This webchat is now open for questions - Dr Miriam will be joining us from noon to start answering them.
  • My little girl is nearly 6 months now. When girls are born their hormones make their nipples a bit raised and more pronounced, this went down when she was a few weeks old. About a month ago I noticed that one of her nipples feels like it has a grisly lump under it while the other one feels normal and flat. I mentioned it to my hv who had a look and said to keep an eye on it. It still hasn't gone down and I can feel it through her clothing.

    Is it just hormones or should I be more worried and make an appointment with my GP?
  • Hi,
    LOvely to have you here to pick your brains.

    Mine is a minor worry, i think. I am 18 weeks and have start feeling the flutters of movement increasingly in the last week. Along side this though i keep getting the sudden and brief shooting pains, Like baby is standing on a nerve ending and bouncing is the best way i can describe it. As soon as the pain is there it is gone and is more discomfort than pain. It increases during the evenings. Last night was the most frequent - this coincided with the fluttering and movements being really frquent also. Think that was because i was lying on my tum, back arched so was pushing baby to front and could feel it more.

    Are the shooting pains anything to be concerned about? - i have no other issues walking is fine no spotting or abnormal discharge. bit of back ache but nothing else. Am reasonably fit and am trying to continue with a reduced gym routine through pregnancy.

    Thanks for your help
  • HI Dr Miriam Stoppard..

    My daughter Amelia is 14 months old. During my pregnancy I had placenta previa and due to this she was in all sorts of difficult postions (breech, oblique, transverse etc..) she came at 35 weeks and was fine after a shaky start. She had clicky hip at 6 weeks and beyond. Was told it had cleared up by the time she was about 6 months. However, now she is walking I notice one foot (the right) is turned out and she has a slight limp. Should I be worried even though my doctor says all is OK?? Sometimes I hear a clunk when I pick her up too!!
    She is my 5th child (and last) so I am not been over fussy..just worried!!!

    Thanks for reading

    denise storey
  • Hi lovely to be talking to you today. I hope I can give you some reassuring answers to your questions.

    Miriam
  • Hi,

    I currently have a 16 month old litle boy and am expecting baby number two in around 6 weeks. Is there anything I can do to make sure my little boy doesn't feel pushed to one side/ jealous when the new baby arrives?

    Thank you!
  • Dear Donk I don't think this little lump is anything to worry aout, but I definitely think you should give your GP the chance to look at it and reassure you. Make an appointment to see him or her.
  • Hi Babycrazy Can you please tell me where you feel the pain and if it radiates to another area? Also whether it is constant or comes and goes.

    Thanks
  • max is 7 months old and weighs 23lb he is on the 99.6th centile in his book. he is unable to sit alone or crawl yet do you think this could do something with his weight! thanks sara
  • I am pregnant with my first baby, due in August, and plan on breastfeeding. However, we have heard that you shouldn't use a dummy whilst breastfeeding but that latest research says a dummy can help prevent cotdeath. What do we do?

    Any comments and help much appreciated.

    Thanks

    Claire
  • Hi Dr Miriam,

    My daughter (16 months) will not fall asleep without a bottle of milk, and demands it during the night too. She was the perfect baby until we went on holiday and she would fall asleep in her buggy with her milk.

    I've been trying to get her off the bottle completely, but really struggling now. I've tried leaving her to cry. She cried for over an hour the last time and made herself sick.

    Please help!!
    Emma x
  • Hi Dee Dee even if your daughter hadn't had any problems with her hip, I think it's always wise to check out anything irregular with the way a baby walks. Just to reassure you, a lot of babies place their feet in strange positions when they begin to walk but correct this as they gain balance and become more confident. In fact a baby has a self-correcting mechanism to make walking as efficient as possible because of wieght bearing. I am sure it's nothing to worry about, but it is best to check it out with your family doctor or Health visitor
  • thanks for your reply. I think I will book with a consultant ( we live abroad so no nice NHS to visit)... nice to know that it is ok to be walking like a duck...

    denise
  • Pain is low and predominantly on the left handside It does radiate outwards and up slightly b ut doesnt swap sides.

    Thanks
  • Dear Liz B

    There's all sorts of things you can do. I hope by now your little boy has been feeling the baby kick and has been helping you with the preparations for the new baby - getting the cot ready, changing table, baby clothes etc so that he's well-prepared for the new arrival.

    It's very important that when the new baby comes home you're NOT carrying it. Get your partner or Mum to do that so that your arms are free to lift up your little boy and hug him and then he'll know he still has a place in your heart. Don't show him the new baby til he asks to see it but do give him a little present from the new baby and say that the new baby loves him. He'll miss the focuused attention he's been used to getting from you so put aside a whole hour when you can concentrate on him alone and where you refuse to be distracted. This will go a long way to reassure him.

    If he regresses ie goes back to baby behaviour, this means that he isn't getting as much attention as he needs - though you may be giving him a lot.

    Make him feel useful, stress that you need his help, get him to help you with the new baby and point out that he's much cleverer than the new baby and can do all kinds of things the new baby can't.
  • Hi Dr. Miriam,

    My little boy is 27 weeks and doing well with weaning. I am feeding 3 meals per day with 2 snacks morning and afternoon and would now like to introduce more formal naps (he is starting nursing in a couple of months and I would like him to sleep in his cot by then - he currently sleeps in his bouncy chair). Would you advice putting him down after his morning snack (10.30 ish) or at lunchtime?

    I have a lovely cot just waiting for him upstairs!

    Many thanks,

    Julie x
  • Sorry forgot to add, it does come and go - seems happen more in evening time though when baby is moving more.
  • Sorry - should read ... he is starting Nursery in a couple of months. Apologies.
  • Hi Sara 1984

    First of all, I think I must say that 23lbs is heavy for a 7 month old baby and the old fashioned idea of a 'bonny bouncing baby' is an unhealthy one. The truth is that we are feeding our babies too much and not always the right kind of foods. We also know that forumla fed babies are bigger and heavier than breast fed babies, so much so that we are going to revise our baby weight charts which are based on formula fed babies to the healthier WHO charts based on breast fed babies. This means that some babies like Max which fall just inside our current weight charts would exceed them. Meaning that they are unhealthily heavy.

    The reason I say all this is that an overweight baby often goes on to become a fat toddler, an obese adult with health problems such as heart disease and diabetes.

    Having said that, some babies of 7 months still aren't sitting up unsupported and don't get around to crawling until the end of the first year - if at all - some babies miss out crawling all together and go from sitting to walking.

    However, Max has to move and control a lot of weight and that can only slow him down. Perhaps you could be careful with the kind of weaning foods you are giving him, read all the labels and make sure you only buy him products that have no salt, no sugar, no trans fats and low saturated fat. Watch out particularly for baby snacks some of which, just this morning, have been shown to have more fat than the equivilant burger!



  • Hi Claire

    Yes I know that you'll be told that dummies can interfere with the establishment of breastfeeding but personally, I don't subscribe to that view. Particularly when breastfeeding is started properly in the baby's fist 3 days of life by allowing it to suckle ad lib.- even in their sleep if the are lying on the Mum's tummy.

    The only way a young baby has of comforting itself is to suck and if there isn't a breast there to suck, some babies are greatly soothed by sucking a dummy and I see nothing wrong with that up to the age of about 4 months when a baby becomes aware of its hands and starts to put its fingers into its mouth. At this point you can encourage your baby to let go of the dummy and suck a finger instead.

    And your absolutely right about dummies preventing cot death. The research which shows this is robust so if you are criticised for letting your baby have a dummy, there's your answer!

    On balance therefore, I'd be on the side of any parent who wanted their baby to have a dummy and frankly if I could get myself off to sleep by sucking a dummy, I'd do it!!
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