BornFree gets a mention in Prima Baby!

We’re very pleased to see that one of our favourite celebs has a new column in Prima Baby and Pregnancy Magazine. Denise Van Outen, now in her third trimester, is writing a fabulous Pregnancy Diary and we are so excited about getting a mention in the section called In my hospital bag you’ll find…

 

Notes from Motherhood:Births rarely go to plan!

You may have seen my recent post My Water Birth Story which I submitted to the Birth Story Carnival now live on the and1moremakes4 blog. If you love a good birth story then grab a box of tissues, hop on over there and take a look:

http://and1moremeansfour.blogspot.com/2010/04/birth-story-carnival_11.html

When I conceived my first baby I was blissfully unware of how unpredictable pregnancy and birth, and, let’s face it, babies, can be. It wasn’t until I’d done some research that I began to get a handle on how little ‘control’ you have over any of it and as a result I decided not to make a Birth Plan and just go with the flow. 

That said, reading some of the Birth Stories in the Blog Carnival has still proved to be an eye opener for me. I am amazed at the plethora of stories that have been included in the post, and I am still working my way through them! Home births, emergency sections, hypnobirthing, surprisingly quick labours, and painfully long labours are all there for us to share.

Today’s Daily Mail features an article TV stylist Nicky shunned the NHS for a private home birth – then things went terribly wrong..which illustrates just how unpredictable birth can be. You may remember I recently wrote a post Celebrities Love BornFree about Nicky Hambleton-Jones and I mentioned that she had endured a rumoured 5 day labour.

Well you can now read the full story of how her planned home birth turned into a five day labour followed by an emergency c-section under general anaesthetic. Nicky talks about how her traumatic experience effected her ability to breastfeed and how exhaustion delayed her bonding with her baby.

So many mothers go through a traumatic birth of one kind or another for so many different reasons and it takes a huge amount of love and support to get through those first days, weeks and more. For many of us, sharing our birth story is a not just a way of  remembering the precious arrival of our children but can offer a very therapeutic way of accepting the unexpected and calming troubled waters.

So next time a mother you know starts to bore you with her birth story again, just grin and bear it; after all that’s what she had to do!

No More BPA: a call to action!

Back in December you may remember that Breast Cancer UK launched their No More BPA Campaign  to raise awareness about the dangers of BPA. As part of this campaign, Breast Cancer UK has prepared the No More BPA report, for the use of Government, the media and the public. You can download the report from here These are the recommendations which end the report:

The UK Government should end the use of BPA in baby bottles as a matter of priority by introducing regulations, similar to those already introduced in Canada and expected to be brought about in the US, in order to decrease the exposure to BPA of newborns and very young babies.

There is also a compelling argument for adequate labelling of all food contact items, including those aimed at adults. Scientific studies, particularly those that have demonstrated that BPA exposure to pregnant women can impact on health outcomes in children, warrant serious attention.

The UK Government should introduce measures to ensure that clear labelling is used on all food contact products that contain BPA to allow consumers to make informed choices about their own level of exposure to BPA, and provide advice, in particular to pregnant women and breast cancer patients, on how to reduce their BPA intake levels.

So, what can we as individuals and parents do?

Most importantly we can choose BPA-Free products for our children whenever possible.

Next we can spread awareness by informing and making recommendations to our family and friends, try using this website as a resource http://www.bisphenolafree.org/  

Finally, we can put pressure on our government to sit up and take notice. Breast Cancer UK has made this easy for us to do by including a Take Action page on their No More BPA website. If you fill in the form with your details it will automatically generate a letter to your local MP, asking them to sign the EDM 293 against the use of BPA in Baby Bottles. Simple as that!

So, come on parents! Let’s take action and make sure our government bans the use of BPA in our babies’ products!