I'm a full-time mummy

I was just reading an article recently stating that many parents can't remember if their children were tested for hearing loss at birth. In fact, for our case, only our 3rd child had gone through the hearing test.

I can confirmed our older 2 kiddos did not require any hearing tests at the time of their birth. Maybe the policies changed since then but before 2013, our kiddos did not go through any hearing screenings. Also, I can remember this happening to our 3rd child as she had to go through the tests twice as the first one done a day after her birth produced weak results (suspected weak results due to amniotic fluid in one of her ears) and we were given a later date (I think when she was 1 or 2 months old) to come to the hospital for subsequent test just to make sure everything was fine.

I remembered our baby lying down on the bed with a headphone and the nurse looking at the computer and I could see some graph lines shooting up and down as she pressed some buttons at interval times. Thank God she passed the test at the second round!

Diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss at birth is critical to lowering the risk of impaired speech, language and literacy later in life, write the researchers in JAMA Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery. "When babies are born, parents are accustomed to counting fingers and toes and asking about vaccinations, but they also need to be educated to ask if their baby passed the hearing test," said Dr. Melissa Pynnonen, the study's lead author from the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor.

Hearing loss is the most common health condition at birth in the U.S. Each year about three of every 1,000 children are born with moderate to profound hearing loss, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

The most intense period of speech and language development occurs during the first three years of life, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Also, the brain builds the needed pathways to understand sound during that time. 

Among parents with children at high risk for hearing loss due to jaundice, being premature, using antibiotics for infection or being admitted to the intensive care unit, only about 69 percent remembered hearing screenings. Parents should know that most babies who fail their hearing screenings will go on to have normal hearing. "So don’t panic just yet if you get an abnormal result, but make sure you follow up," she said.
 

What about your child? Do they have any hearing screenings after birth?

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I was just reading an article recently stating that the average British mums got pushed out of hospitals too early right after their delivery. On average, British mums spend only a day and a half on maternity units after giving birth. According to a study, this is the briefest stay for any developed country – and the eighth shortest in 71 nations studied by researchers in London.

I remember with my 3 deliveries, I was also out of the hospital in about 2 days. But that was because I had natural births and there were no serious complications with our babies. With my 1st, he was out at 4.30am and I was out of hospital by 2nd day as he had a bit of a low glucose issues and had to be kept until his glucose level stabilised. With my 2nd, she was out at 12.30pm and I was out of the hospital the following day after breakfast and with my 3rd, she was out at almost 6pm and I was out the following day after lunch. So for all three births, I was in the hospital for 2 days.

Experts claim mothers and babies are being sent home early because of a shortage of resources. They warn that short stays could mean potentially fatal illnesses are missed. New mothers may also lose out on the support they need to stave off post-natal depression or to ensure they start breastfeeding.

The data also shows that 30 per cent of new mothers in Britain are discharged after less than a day, breaching World Health Organisation advice that women should be kept in for at least 24 hours. The new research did not break down length of stays into hours. But while a new mother in the 1970s might have spent a week convalescing in hospital, many today are sent home just six hours after giving birth.

A spokesman for the researchers said: 'Short stays can mean there is insufficient time to conduct checks and detect, diagnose or treat problems in mothers or newborns, which can increase the risk of death or illness. 'It can also mean there is not enough time to educate and support new mothers, which can lead to problems such as difficulties with breastfeeding and lack of maternal confidence.'.

The decision about when a woman goes home after birth is one that should be made through discussion with the woman, midwives and medical staff. The length of time and the care of the woman should be based on her needs, not on resources or availability of beds.

Personally I think 2 days is sufficient for mothers with natural birth and no complications found on both mother and newborn child. But for mothers with C-section, I would think a hospital stay as long as they are allowed to would be good for recovery phase. Of course, I don't have any experience in C-section hence my opinion here might not hold any weigh. That said, I do know some of my blog followers sharing their experiences previously where they also left the hospitals less than 2 days after C-sections! There are so many factors here: hospital environment, resources available, mothers' recovery stamina, help available at home for mother and newborn etc.

What about you? Natural or C-sect? How long is your hospital stay? And why?

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Chinese New Year ended a while back but we only got around to opening up the red packets (we called them angpows) recently.

And since I like to turn every opportunity we have into a teaching and learning moment, I decided to let our kiddos do the following as we opened up the angpows.

For our 7 year old boy, I let him open up the angpows by himself. And then I got him to sort the cash according to the colors and finally let him total up the amount himself.

For our 4 year old girl, I opened up the angpows for her, but I told her to sort the cash according to the colors.

For our 2 year old girl, I opened up the angpows for her and let her hold the cash and stack up the notes in her hand (motor skills)

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.