After a c-section, you will be bleeding from the vagina for nearly 2 to 4 weeks. During the initial few days, the bleeding is like heavy periods and it is quite common to pass out small blood clots. However, gradually the bleeding will decrease and will change from dark red to pink to dark brown until it finally clears up to a yellowish discharge. During this time all doctors will advice you not to use tampons as it may cause an infection.

After a c-section, your body starts flushing out lochia which is blood and discarded tissue from the lining of the uterus. This creates an illusion of heavy periods after c-section. During this time you will end up using a large maxi pad to help with the bleeding.

Many women experience heavier bleeding after leaving the hospital. In fact, it is quite a common occurrence and it is indicative of the woman pushing herself too hard. If you too have the same experience, it is time to slow down a bit and get sufficient rest. Immediately you will notice the bleeding easing up. However, if you notice that you are soaking through a large maxi pad in an hour, it is time to immediately call your doctor.

During the heavy periods after c-section, your uterus begins to shrink to its original size and you might end up with the familiar twang of menstrual cramps. Most women are usually on pain medication so they never notice the cramps. However, if you do feel the cramps, you can easily take Ibuprofen or Tylenol to ease the pain.

Source: Dr. Sona

Many new mothers are always worried about how much breast milk should be given to 1 month infant. When you are breast feeding it is best to follow your baby’s cue on the amount you should be feeding him or her. However, to put yourself at ease, you can ask your pediatrician about the estimated 24 hours total intake of breast milk if your baby is being fed expressed and not drinking milk directly from the breast.

However, to calculate the approximate range of the number of ounces of expressed breast milk that a 1 month old baby should be fed at each sitting can be done using the following mathematical formula:

You should take your baby’s weight in pounds and then multiply that by 2.5 or 3. After that take the total you get and divide it by the number of feedings per day to arrive at an approximate amount in ounces for each feeding.

All infants take a variety of amount at each feeding. Sometimes the amount of breast consumed will be more and at times less. You should store your breast milk in small, 1- 2 ounce, increments. This way it will be easy for you to tailor each feeding amount, and the fact that breast milk is stored in small increments, it is easy to thaw and use with very little waste.

However, if you giving your 1 month infant breast milk directly from the breast, nurse the infant for 10 to 20 minutes on each breast. That should suffice for each feeding.

Source: Dr Anu

A new study has found that even into adulthood, problem children continue to give their parents heartache.

“What this study finds is that the children may have their own lives and moved on, but their ups and downs are still deeply affecting their parents,” said psychology professor Raj Anand of Pune University.

For this study, 500 middle-aged parents in the Mumbai area rated each of their grown children”s achievements in relationships, family life, education and career.

They were asked to rate each child”s successes compared to other adults the same age. Most parents had more than one child so there were reports of 1,200 grown children included in the study.

Parents also answered questions about their own psychological well-being, what kind of relationship they had with their children, and whether each of their children had experienced specific physical, emotional, lifestyle and behavioral problems.

Lifestyle and behavioral problems included: trouble with the law, drinking or drug problems, divorce and serious relationships problems. They also considered if each child”s problems were deemed involuntary, such as a health issue, and controlled for them within the study.

The research found 60 percent of parents had at least one grown child suffering at least one problem in the last two years. Close to 40 percent of parents said at least one of their children was highly successful.

The majority of parents, 60 percent, said they had a mix of successful and less successful children, while 17 percent had no children suffering from problems and 15 percent had no children they rated as being above average on life achievements.

The researchers then looked at how children”s successes and failures affected parents” well-being. Parents who had more than one highly successful child reported better well-being.

However, having even one problematic child had a negative impact on their mental health, even if the other children were successful. Simply having at least one successful child was not associated with better well-being. The findings suggest parents react more strongly to their children”s failures than their successes, according to Fingerman

“Having two children suffering problems may be more demanding than having only one child who suffers problems,” she said. “By the same token, having a successful child did not bufferthe effects of problem-ridden children.”

Source: Professor Raj

Playing together helps you and your baby get to know each other. Through playing, you learn to trust and depend on each other, and the bond between you deepens. Research shows that playing together helps your newborn feel loved and secure. Feeling loved and secure helps babies to develop and learn.

Play stimulates new ideas and helps your baby’s brain to develop. Each new experience that your baby is exposed to helps parts of baby’s brain link together, grow and develop. This is one way babies learn more and more about the world around them, and about where they fit into the world.

Playing with your baby will help baby learn to talk and understand words. You might not always have time to stop everything and play. But you can still chat to your newborn about whatever is going on – cooking dinner, shopping, getting the bath ready and just about anything else that you’re doing. Singing to your child has the same benefits.

Play can reveal a lot about your baby’s personality. Rough and silly or quiet and calm, you’ll soon know what style your baby prefers. Follow baby’s cues – if baby seems startled or upset, tone down the game.

Ideas for playing with your baby

• Make faces, smile, laugh, roll your eyes, wave your hands gently. Your newborn is the one person who will be fascinated by everything you do., and will even want to try to be just like you.
• Give baby all kinds of objects to feel. Soft toys or a rattle are great fun, and so are different textures. Your baby learns by touching and feeling things, and this all helps baby to find out more about the world.
• Read soft cloth books to your baby. It’s never to early to start reading to your baby. And the great thing about cloth books is that your baby can touch and taste them too!
• Give baby different things to look at – outside, inside, different people, different rooms. Some tummy time each day lets your baby look at eye-popping new sights like the side of a chair from different perspectives. This also gives babies time to practise holding their heads up each day. It’s not recommended that your baby fall asleep tummy down though. So put baby to bed in a position for safe sleeping when you start to see signs of tiredness.Source: Dr. Anand(pediatrician)

While each child will be more cunning than the last, there are some basic precautions that parents and caregivers can take to ensure at least a fighting chance of containing the monkey-like tots. Here’s what I’ve learned thus far….

Contain the mess early on. You must know that it is not a matter of “if” your child will pull all the drawers from your kitchen cabinets (sending a pound of pecan pieces flying into every nook of your cooking space), but rather “when.” Mess will happen, so limit the amount of space the kid can possibly trash, and remove as many treasured items from the area as possible. They will find something they aren’t supposed to touch, and will try to fit it into the keyhole of your bedroom door or the USB port of your laptop, so keep them away at all costs! Playpens work well for this.

Take away temptation – period. While I do respect those dear friends who still believe that children should and can be trained to respond to a “no” when reaching for those “off-limits” items, I prefer to not take my chances. I have very well-behaved kids, who usually follow my instructions. But one cell phone in the toilet is too many. If you managed to inherit your Great-Great-Grandmother’s favorite jelly jars, don’t be a dope – put them up high and wait until the kids leave home to ever bring them out (and then be on alert for similarly destructive grandchildren.)

Little minds can overcome matter. My son is only 18 months, but possesses abilities I’ve only read about. If bound and determined to reach something, he can schooch his playpen (with the wheels firmly locked by brakes) 10 feet across any floor and tip the whole thing over to bail out to reach the sweet, sweet freedom he’s dreamed of. He can remove his diaper and replace it with a t-shirt. He can stash tiny shampoo bottles in his shorts until he is alone enough to try to drink them. He must be part Gremlin. (And so my opinion that he should never, ever, be left alone even for a minute, and might also be better off not eating after midnight.)

Caging children is largely frowned upon by our society (although at times I have admittedly been tempted to devise a baby-friendly restraint for this very purpose.) And while I can recommend some very nice crib tents and a couple of rather effective baby gates, the fact still remains: My kid is mobile – very, very mobile, and I have a very long road ahead of me.

If you are worried about how to avoid excessive weight during pregnancy, then following some simple suggestions will help you keep off those extra pounds and continue to look just the way you did before getting a baby, always.

Many people associate weight gain with eating, and therefore tend to cut down on food. This could cause a number of health problems, especially if you are pregnant. Avoid the tendency to cut down on food, but rather eat a balanced diet. Ensure, especially that you do not skip breakfast.

Skipping breakfast will impact your unborn child and deprive it of the nutrition that it requires. Apart from that, skipping breakfast will slow down your metabolism and lead to increased weight gain. This is the first step to staying in shape while you are pregnant.

While at home, choose to boil or steam your food as far as possible. Cooked oils and fast foods tend to cause weight gain, and in some people, even add to the build-up of cholesterol in the blood stream.