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The Breastfeeding Debate
by scooch12
I am a woman who holds her hands up and says that I proudly bottle fed (and still do bottle feed) my baby. I do not feel in any way guilty about the decision that I made, nor do I think it was a selfish decision to make. I made that choice from the start, even before I found out I was pregnant and it never changed throughout my pregnancy ... even though countless people kept telling me that I'd change my mind. I feel that it's entirely a woman's decision and it should be entirely their choice, not pressurised by the NHS, friends, family or the media. I felt that it was all too easy for other people to tell me that breastfeeding was the way I should go - indeed it may have worked wonders for them personally, but at the end of the day it wasn't them that had to do it day in, day out for my baby, that was all me. My decision was because I felt that I would have enough to deal with being a first time mum having a new little life to support and provide for and that breastfeeding would add another worry and strain. I am a born worrier, it runs in the genes! I wanted to be able to enjoy time with my baby without fretting whether or not she was getting enough food. I know that is can be taken as a selfish viewpoint or even a lazy one, but I felt it was the best choice to make. People might not agree with those reasons, but those were my reasons for my choice and even now with a baby of 10 months I have absolutely no regrets and am glad that I stuck to it.
I know that the whole breastfeeding debate is a touchy subject. I really don't want to cause any commotions by my review, I just wanted to share my experience over the last few months. I do get a little tired of TV programmes and the media stating that it essentially means that I 'haven't bonded with my baby as much as those who do choose to breastfeed' which I personally think (to be blunt) is garbage. I feel I have a very strong connection with my baby and I don't think it's down to anyone else to tell me otherwise, especially those that have never met us or even know of our existence! My baby and I are both extremely happy and enjoy plenty of quality time together. I personally don't see why using milk producing by me would make that bond completely different. Do they say the same to people who choose to go back to work after maternity leave? That's something else I'll be doing soon, but that's a whole new topic that I'll approach another time.
It worries me (said I was a worrier!) that comments also may be said along these lines to women who can't breastfeed for other medical reasons - that could be very upsetting for them at a time when hormones are all over the place anyway, especially if it was their original intention to do so. Coming back to bonding, my mum couldn't breastfeed (although it was her intention) yet my Mum and I are incredibly close and always have been, more so than most other Mother and daughter relationships I know.
I think it's disgusting that the NHS will not give any advice to new mums, particularly first time mums, in terms of bottle feeding. I was told by my midwife when I was pregnant and had queries about the best forms of formula milk that she wasn't allowed to talk to me about it as she was only directed to promote breastfeeding to new mums. I have paid my taxes into the NHS system as much as the next woman - surely if I ask them about how to bottle feed my newborn when I'm in hospital after the birth, I should be allowed to receive some impartial advice, rather than a flat 'no, not unless you breastfeed' attitude?! I feel that the government are trying to make the decision for women themselves and that in my view is unacceptable.
Having said my point of view, I also wholeheartedly support those women who do choose to breastfeed, they have my complete admiration and I think shops, restaurants and the like should do a lot more to accommodate women who want to breastfeed their babies with a bit of privacy. Only the other day I visited Ikea and saw a wonderful booth in their café especially for breastfeeding mums and I commented on what a great thing it was. I know that our local John Lewis also offers similar facilities and more places should do the same. I understand that there are many benefits to breastfeeding rather than bottle feeding too but I didn't think these outweighed the negatives for our circumstances. I also wish I had breastfeeding mums bank balances sometimes, obviously breastfeeding is completely free whereas I got to the stage at one point where the majority of child benefit for my daughter (£80 per month!) was purely used on her milk and therefore not available for clothing and nappies. It is an expensive business.
I really hope I haven't offended anybody with my review, that hasn't been my intention. I just feel that I need to fight the corner of us bottle feeders as I think sometimes we are given a bit of unfair coverage, especially by the media who hype the whole debate up. I just think it's each to their own choice and no woman should be made to feel bad about their decision, they should be fully supported with it whichever path they take.
Right, I'm off my soapbox now everyone! Teehee. I've rated 5 dooyoo stars to represent my view that both can be great choices depending on circumstances.
Thanks for reading :o)
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Tesco Pregnancy Test
by Holland1
I'll set the scene: it's around 7am on a Saturday morning, and you are rudely awoken by your wife bursting into the room waving a stick in your face, declaring "There's a line. There's a line. It's only faint, but there's definitely a line". Thankfully my lovely husband was as excited as me, otherwise he might not have ... appreciated the dramatic awakening! So, I've kind of done this review back to front by announcing that I'm pregnant before going through the details of the test, but what the hell....I'm excited!
I've used a lot of pregnancy tests over the several months we were trying to conceive, and these Tesco ones are my preferred choice. They are cheap and easy to use, and when you're as impatient as me and end up doing more tests than necessary, the price is very appealing. Most branded pregnancy tests cost in the region of £10 each, and although I did go out and buy one of these to confirm the pregnancy, in the meantime these have been suiting my needs perfectly, currently costing £3.50 for a pack of two.
The tests come individually wrapped, and thankfully the wrappers are easy to open because when your hands are shaking with nerves you can sometimes find this task much more difficult than it would usually be. The box has a quick at-a-glance pregnant/not pregnant guide on the front, but the instructions inside are much more detailed, telling you when you should test, how to test, and how to interpret the results. This is important, because although it's unusual to get a false positive, a negative pregnancy test does not necessarily mean you're not pregnant. In some cases, it can just indicate that it's too early to test. The instructions are so detailed, in fact, that there's a very bizarre diagram of someone peeing on a stick....just in case you're unsure!
So, to take the test itself it's the usual case of peeing on a stick. The stick is fairly thin and lightweight, with an absorbent tip for the urine, and a cap which covers this once used to keep it hygienic. This makes you feel less bad about waking your husband up by waving it in his face. There are two windows on the stick, one is the control window, and the other is the test window. You should always get a line in the control window, as this shows the test has worked correctly. If the test is positive, there will be a line in the test window, although this can sometimes be very faint and subject to interpretation. I had to read the instructions very carefully after seeing the line, to make sure I was correct in thinking that it doesn't matter how faint the line is, if it's there you're pregnant. This is because prior to this I had been doing ovulation tests, which work on the basis that a positive result is when the test line is darker than the control line.
With it being quite early in the morning when I took this test, I was a little bleary eyed, and at first when nothing appeared in the test window I just thought "Here we go again, another opportunity missed". It was only when I turned round after flushing the toilet that I noticed the line had appeared, it just took a few minutes. Although it does say in the instructions that it takes a few minutes, I had for some reason assumed it would be immediate, I think this is because that's how it was with the ovulation tests I was doing. It was a lovely surprise when I saw the second line, and I had to wake hubby up to confirm that my eyes weren't deceiving me.
These tests are very basic, although that's all you expect given the price. They are most accurate if taken first thing in the morning, as that's when the pregnancy hormone they're testing for is at its most concentrated. They can give a result from the first day of your missed period, and although it's tempting to go out and buy the ones that can give you early results, I've wasted money on these in the past only to be disappointed, so I was happy to wait until D-Day to keep hold of the possibility I might be pregnant a little longer. I would definitely recommend these tests as a first option when testing for pregnancy. I did follow up with a branded test afterwards, but this was probably overkill due to first-time nerves/paranoia. The only reason I'm giving these four stars instead of five, is the fact you have to interpret the results yourself, so if the line was very faint it might not necessarily give a clear result. For me, however, it gave the best possible result I could have asked for.
(Review also appears on Ciao under the username Gingerkitty)
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Cotton Wool
by miwa
Despite widespread misinformation circulated via the Internet, cotton wool is NOT made of fibrous bolls, but are actually small clouds that have drifted to earth due to their love of humanity and wish to serve them. When a mummy cloud and a daddy cloud love each other very much...
Of course, I am just jesting with you. Cotton ... wool is serious business. 25 million tonnes of cotton is produced annually, with China being the biggest producer of cotton in the world. Commercial cotton is used in clothes, textiles, fishnets, coffee filters, tents and in book binding, but it is our cotton wool that is most similar to natural forms of cotton. Made of pure cellulose, in the wild it helps disperse seeds of the cottonseed plant. When grown, these hefts of cotton are called bolls, and when picked, it is known as ginning. Cotton is cultivated all around the world, from India to the Eastern European block. The word 'cotton' comes from the Arabic word 'Qutn', which means fancy.
Despite an ancient history, it has several functions in our daily lives today. There are two types of cotton wool manufactured for today's market - the raw form, processed minimally, and a refined kind treated to be hyper-absorbent. The rawest form is often pressed thinly into pads used to remove make-up, while more refined cotton is bleached, sterilised and shaped often for use in medicine, such as in bandages and swabs. Cotton wool can also be used to remove nail polish, absorb fluids, and when soaked in milk, reduce swelling when applied to the eyes. Some people also use them in arts and crafts projects, for example, to paint with, to add texture to a
collage, or used to represent snow in a winter scene. Industrially, they are used to stuff car seats. Cotton wool is very useful in anyone's medical box or for any parent, as it is hypoallergenic, absorbent, and mostly sterile.
Ever wondered why it's called cotton wool? When untreated at the beginning stages of processing, the hefts of cotton resemble sheared wool. Now you know.
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