Natural Mamas

Pam’s Prize Congratulations Debbie!

Anne — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:44:33 +0000

In January we did a blog post about Pam’s Prize from the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers. And this week we got an email to announce the winner. Imagine our delight at discovering that the winner is none other then our very own Debbie Hampton.

The Association of Breastfeeding Mothers says:

The Association of Breastfeeding Mothers (www.abm.me.uk) is a national charity that has been supporting breastfeeding families since 1979. Our focus is mother-to-mother support. We train breastfeeding counsellors and offer a range of other qualifications. We staff national helplines (the ABM’s own and the National Breastfeeding Helpline), run support groups and offer face-to-face support across the UK. Through our website, publications, training days and conferences, we aim to provide information and support to breastfeeding families and those working with them.

In November 2010, our chair Pam Lacey passed away. Pam had touched the lives of countless families but also encouraged many other women to train and go on to support others with her infectious humour, wisdom and determination.

Pam’s Prize was set up in her memory. It is a way to give recognition to the way breastfeeding volunteers make a difference to so many families in their time of need. We wanted to celebrate those who go the extra mile as Pam did.

The first year’s nominations did not disappoint: women were nominated from all over the UK and from all of the breastfeeding organisations. It was a big challenge choosing the winner as many nominations were extremely heart-felt. As we had suspected, it was undeniable that breastfeeding support volunteers make a huge difference all over the country.

We are proud to announce that our first Pam’s Prize winner is Debbie Hampton from Hampshire. She was nominated several times by different families she had worked with. It was clear that, like Pam, Debbie had a passion for helping new families. The judges were impressed by not only her contribution to the lives of individual women but her infectious enthusiasm in a wider area and the ‘ripple effect’ she had in inspiring others and expanding the support available.

Congratulations to Debbie and to the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers for having her as part of their team.

Bunting for Camp and raising money for someone special

Anne — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:24:51 +0000

Natural Mamas Big Camp is drawing closer! To celebrate Big Camp and make it a true community occasion we are working with one of our members to create a Natural Mamas bunting. Sarah ( Earthbaby) will collect all the bunting flags and put it together so the bunting chain can decorate the Cafe at camp. This means that everyone has a chance to contribute to the camp. In exchange we are asking that everyone who sends a flag also sends a donation to Sarah which will be used to pay for treatment for her daughter Taliah. You can read Sarah and Taliah’s story below:
Taliah is my beautiful, clever, and fun-filled little girl. She loves books, bubbles, pressing buttons and ‘helping’ me any way she can. This June she will turn 3 and that day will mark 3 amazing but tough years since her arrival.

Taliah was born prematurely and spent 27 days in hospital where she needed help with her breathing and spent some time on a ventilator. It was such a relief when she came home but it turned out that the longer journey is the one ahead. Taliah has vision problems, global developmental delays and theres a fair chance she will have a diagnosis of cerebral palsy in the future. She cannot yet sit unaided or crawl despite nearly 2 years of physiotherapy. Then, in January this year, we travelled from our home in South Wales to Kent to stay with family while Taliah attended 3 days of the Anat Baniel Method in London.

The Anat Baniel Method was developed from the Feldenkrais Method. It’s a learning based approach which helps Taliah’s brain to utilise its natural plasticity to form new neural connections. ABM uses gentle movement to provide information to her brain which helps her body to change. The focus is on increasing Taliah’s function and ability and our early intervention will hopefully lead to the fastest and most far-reaching results. Unfortunately it is not funded by the NHS and there are only three ABM practitioners in the UK.

The Anat Baniel Method has done amazing things for Taliah. Friends and family have remarked on how much stronger she appears, how much her head control has improved, she is able to maintain supported sitting position and how her previously tight right arm now stretches and reaches. Her brain is making the right connections to co-ordinate her body to do more. Taliah is even learning to weight bear down through her arms so independent side-sitting is on the horizon! We are also seeing that the in-turns in her eyes are starting to improve (something that the ophthalmologist said would require an operation to ‘fix’) as she begins to look up more and her eyes draw out. Taliah is also much more vocal and suddenly picked up a few words over the space of a weekend. And for some time our physiotherapist was concerned about her hunched posture but this has disappeared. The Anat Banial Method is working wonders for Taliah where before we were seeing minimal progress…..at last we have found something that will help our amazing little girl reach her full potential.

*If you want to contribute to our Natural Mamas Camp Bunting project you can find the details in a PDF file here: CampBunting *The bunting will be given away as a raffle prize during Big Camp. * Any vendors who want to sponsor a flag can contact us about the possibilities*

Natural Mamas Oscha Competition

Anne — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:55:29 +0000

The Natural Mamas Oschas have started arriving and pictures are coming in thick and fast on the forum! To celebrate the release of this stunning wrap we have teamed up with Oscha to bring you a chance to win a size 4 Natural Mamas Oscha with 2 runner up prizes of a Natural Mamas Oscha Scarf.

The beautiful wrap!

To be in with a chance to win this fabulous prize please answer the following question and PM the answer to Natural Mama by the 31st of May.

Zoe says: “At Oscha we base our collections around a theme or story, with the colours and wrap names based on this. What theme would you use for a collection and how would that be reflected in the names and colours?”

Small print:

Only one entry per account, Natural Mamas and Oscha reserve the right to use the ideas expressed in the competition, Entries which are not send in a private message to the Natural Mama account will be deemed void, There is no monetary alternative available to the prize.

Calmer, Easier and Happier Parenting? Yes please!

SairlyD — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:18:04 +0000

Before we had any children, I imagined myself as a calm, fun, loving mother with plenty of patience and a soothing manner. I’d spend hours explaining things and there would be no need for conflict because everyone would be kind and considerate and happy in each other’s company. (I managed people and situations effectively at work where I had to deal with many different people, so surely a couple of little kids of my own would be a breeze after that?) The reality is something quite different – I’m actually a bit of a nag, and I often feel stressed.

I can put forward a pretty good case as to why it’s not actually my fault that I’m a nag – if the kids listened to me the first time I said something, I wouldn’t need to repeat myself until I end up screaming. If my 5 year old would just get dressed/brush his teeth/get in the car the first time he was asked, all our lives would be so much easier and mornings wouldn’t end up a time of conflict. If my 3 year old would just let me iron a single item without at least 10 interruptions or requests, I swear I’d be a more contented person. And can someone tell me why can’t they play for longer than ten minutes without squabbling and screaming for “Muuuuuuuum!!!”? It’s not that our children are badly behaved, they aren’t – they’re just normal busy inquisitive kids who are more interested in doing their own things (playing/exploring/making a mess/being noisy) than listening to anything else they are asked to do – even if they are being asked to look each way before crossing the road. It does actually drive me mad.

Some days the constant repetition (aka nagging) has me feeling so wound up and ineffectual I become ‘Shouty Mum’. And I hate it, I really do. When that happens, it makes me feel sad and bad and grumpy, so when I saw author Noel Janis-Norton being interviewed about a new book called “Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting” a few days ago, I was immediately interested and downloaded it to my Kindle.

Having read the first section I feel there is definitely something in this book for me. For our family. The author talks about influencing children rather than controlling them, and teaches strategies that encourage the habits parents are usually trying to instil (and which are a cause of so much frustration), namely: co-operation, confidence, motivation, self-reliance and consideration.

The programme is split into sections and the reader is advised to practice each step before moving onto the next. Part one is a core strategy called Descriptive Praise which “is about noticing and commenting on exactly what your child has done that is right or just OK, or even what he hasn’t done wrong” in order to encourage the qualities you want to develop instead of focusing on the things they are doing wrong. Key to this is slowing down and paying proper attention then communicating something specific.

I know I am guilty of not always listening to the kids effectively – there are only so many hours of incessant chatter I can take before my brain switches off – and I can see how this is likely to be a part of their ‘not listening’ problem. We all talk a lot, but don’t always communicate well. My husband is not much better. He works long hours, is not here much and when he is he wants a tidy house and would like quiet, “well-behaved” kids. As these ideals are somewhat unrealistic, he has his own frustrations. We are frequently inconsistent with the consequences for different behavior (both good and bad) and this causes strain and discord between us as parents.

So this weekend, I’m planning on sitting down with my husband to write a list of the qualities we’d like to encourage in our children – to ensure we are working as a team on this – and for the next two weeks will be attempting Descriptive Praise before moving on to the other strategies. Wish me luck – I’ll let you know how we get on!

Would you like to write something?

Anne — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:54:52 +0000

Would you like to write something? Something related to Natural Parenting or something that would interest our readers?

Then read on as we are looking for you!

We are looking for guest bloggers and article contributions on a wide range of topics.

Blog posts

* We want to publish things that are of interest to our readers but as we have a wide audience this does not have to be immediately related to natural parenting

* Craft tutes, recipes and book reviews are all welcome.

* If you have a topic you would like to write about but are unsure where to start we can help you bring it together.

* We can include a link to your own site if you want us too!

Articles

* We have two categories Natural Parenting Articles and Babywearing Articles. We are always looking for more contributions to both categories.

* A banner of your choice can be displayed with the article for a year and your name a link can be included.

* We welcome joint contributions if you want to write as a team and can help you find someone to write with if needed.

Any questions or submissions of work please contact us through the contact form .

My favourite babywearing picture – by Ann Grace

SairlyD — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:57:47 +0000

A priceless expression for today’s favourite babywearing picture by Anne Grace

It was a hard call, but I think this is my favourite baby wearing photo. This is my first daughter, Gabriella Pia, and this was her first spontaneous smile at 7 weeks old! I was tying her into the mei tai and looked down to see her grinning her wee head off and quickly grabbed my phone. She’s 22 months old now and if I’m not wearing her 4 month old baby sister she looks down my top, looks worried, and asks, “Giuliana gone?!” lol, hopefully a future baby wearer in the making!

Ann Grace / 555ann555

SlingGuide relaunch – Pictures needed – extra week!!

Anne — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:15:50 +0000

SlingGuide is relaunching on 11th May with a fresh new look!

We want the website to reflect what is available in the UK right now so we invite you to submit a photo to go on the site. The winning photos will be used on the SlingGuide website and submitted into a prize draw.
We are looking for photos for the following:-

1: Group photo with at least 3 people and 2 different kinds of carrier.
2: Close up of a baby in a sling.
3: Well positioned newborn FWCC in a woven wrap or PWCC in a stretchy wrap.
4: Father babywearing.
5: Different types of carriers in use – woven or stretchy wrap, ringsling, pouch, mei tai, ssc.

We are looking for high resolution photos which show well positioned baby wearing very clearly and have a fairly uncluttered background. (Outdoor shots are great for this!) Landscape alignment is easier to work with.

The main colours of the site are turquoise and orange. So if you have a great picture in a matching or contrasting colour that would be great. Think vibrant and fun.

The photos that are selected:

Will be used on the SlingGuide website.
Your name will be included on our contributors page.
You will be entered into a prize draw to win a NM Eye Spy Mirror, an NM canvas shopping bag, and a selection of NM and SlingGuide postcards.

Max 3 photos per person please.

To enter, email your photos to slingguide@indigobird.co.uk
Be sure to include your NM Username and full name in your email.

The closing date for entries is 7th May 2012.

So get raiding those flickr / photobucket accounts – we look forward to hearing from you!

My favourite babywearing picture – by Susana

SairlyD — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:18:36 +0000

Some beautiful blue skies and a fabulous picture from a long standing Natural Mama

My favourite babywearing photo was taken on a windy day in July 2010 in stunning Budleigh Salterton in Devon, the county where my daughter was born.
I remember feeling great to be able to walk on the stony beach wearing her so high up on my back while chatting to her.

Susana /nilosu

Those brave home educators?

Anne — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:59:12 +0000

A comment made in passing stopped me in my tracks this week. Someone asked me where the boys go to school and when I answered that they are home educated I was met with an excited and friendly ‘ Wow! You are brave’ . It stopped me in my tracks as I am pretty sure it is not far off the reaction I gave when I first came across someone who was home educating many years ago.

I do not feel brave nor do I attribute my decision to home educate to my madness – please note I am not denying any madness here after all sanity is overrated …- Deciding to home educate was not an easy decision but this had nothing to do with either being brave or being a coward. As let’s flip it if by home educating I am being brave does that imply that everyone who sends their children to school is a coward? Did I turn into some kind of superheromum on that evening of the 5th of January as I printed the deregistration letter?

Of course if it is brave to do what is right for your children, to think about decisions regarding their education, to want what is best for them right here and right now then yes I am brave but then so are most parents. Parenting does not generally come down to bravery and spending time with your children and either teaching them or facilitating their learning is something virtually all parents do, home educators just do it for an extra 25 odd hours a week.

So to that home educator who I told you were brave: ‘I take it back you are just human and thank you for being nice to me and taking your time to explain what you were doing. It took some time to take hold but it was a seed well planted. ‘

Rainbow rice fun

Anne — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:19:12 +0000

When it is raining and the weather is grey( what drought?!) it can be useful to have some extra indoor activities for your little ones ( and the not so little ones)

A couple of weeks ago we made rainbow rice. So much easier then it sounds you just add a couple of drops of food colouring to dishes of dry uncooked rice and wait for it to absorb ( stir a couple of times to make sure it does not all get stuck in one sticky messy corner)

Then put it on the table and watch them have fun!!

And let’s hope for some more sunshine and blue skies for the weekend