I'm a full-time mummy

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.

Every time you feed your kids you're teaching them something about what, when, where, why and how much to eat. But are you teaching your kids the lessons you think? If your children don't eat the way you wish they would, then the answer is probably "no."

In many cases, there is a gap between the lessons you think you're teaching and the lesson your kids are actually learning. It’s in this gap that eating problems are nurtured. "Two more bites," the mainstay of many family food interactions, is the perfect example. Parents think making their kids take two more bites of broccoli teaches kids the importance of eating vegetables. But what do children really learn?

- I have to eat veggies even if I don’t want them. This makes me dislike them even more.

- Mommy knows better than I do how much I should eat. I should always look to others for clues about portion size.

- Dessert is usually eaten on a full stomach. Feeling full isn't a sign to stop eating. It's when the good times roll!

- How much I eat is open to negotiation.

Your lessons are probably missing the mark if your kids' eating "issues" don't seem to improve—because when lessons hit home, behaviors change. Parents often complain that their kids don't eat enough at dinner. 

Here are 8 ways you may be unintentionally teaching your kids NOT to eat dinner.  You…

1) Provide cheese and crackers, or hummus and chips just before dinner.

Lesson Learned: Dinner isn't really important. I am supposed to fill up whenever I eat. Snacks are tastier than meals.

2) Let your child drink plenty of milk with dinner, especially when he's thirsty.

Lesson Learned: My parents like it when I drink milk; I can fill up on anything I want.

3) Prepare your child's favorite dinner when she refuses to even taste what you've cooked (or eats so slowly that you want to tear your hair out).

Lesson Learned: When I'm stubborn I get my way. Sometimes it takes a good fight to get the "good" food but it's worth it.

4) Give in to your child’s request for an after-dinner snack (even though last night you swore you would never do that again) because you’re afraid she’ll get hungry sometime during the night.

Lesson Learned: Why eat dinner? There's always something better later. Saying "I'm hungry" is a great procrastination technique. My parents fear my hunger, maybe I should too.

5) Put so much pressure on your child to eat that it’s a point of honor for him to resist. 

Lesson Learned: Eating is a power struggle and I usually win.

6) Negotiate the number of bites your child has to eat. Then spend the rest of the meal continually negotiating down the number of bites. Before long, the number of bites approaches zero. 

Lesson Learned: My parents think they know better than me how much I should eat. My parents don't really mean what they say. If I hold out, I get my way—eventually.

7) Tell your child he should eat something because it’s healthy, because he wants to grow up big and strong, because his big brother eats it.

Lesson Learned: I know I don't want to eat that food. My parents never even said it tastes good. I know only "bad" food tastes good.

8) Insist your child sit at the table when there’s something really, really exciting happening in the next room.

Lesson Learned: The quicker I can convince my parents that I'm not hungry the sooner I can get back to the fun.

Want your kids to start eating dinner? Start to see the world through their eyes. Then adjust the message accordingly. Try:

• Setting up Eating Zones—times when foods is available and times when food is NOT available. 

• Eliminate milk at meals and reduce milk consumption throughout the day. 

• Serve very small portions and encourage your children to let you know if they want more. 

• Neutralize dessert. Everyone gets dessert whenever it's served, regardless of how well they ate. Worried about too much dessert? Don't serve it every night. Make sure portions are small.

• Make sure there is always at least one thing on the table that you can reasonably expect your children to eat.

• Make the before-bed snack routine, not a response to begging. Never serve your child's preferred foods at this time.

• Make meals enjoyable. Stop begging, bartering, cajoling or otherwise convincing your kids to eat.

• If you want your kids to try something new, put your science cap on explore a bite-size sample together.

What do you think?

** Source