Life Healing Life - Pregnancy & Parenting Page

12/09/2022

A lovely past patient shared this study with me. Check it out -- and YAY for better late than never on studies like this!! TMom's emotional health for the win!

BUMPP: A Research Study to Better Understand Mood During the Perinatal Period

*Now recruiting women who are 35 weeks pregnant or less!*

We are a team of researchers at the University of Minnesota. The goal of the BUMPP research study is to improve our understanding of moods, feelings, and thoughts that women can experience during pregnancy and soon after the baby is born. We are interested in how these moods, feelings, and thoughts are related to changes in hormones and immune health that women experience during and after pregnancy, and to mother-baby relationships and baby’s development in the early postpartum months.

For this research study, we are looking for women who:

Are currently less than 35 weeks pregnant with one baby
Will be giving birth for the first time
Speak/read/write in English
Are generally physically healthy
Have not frequently used alcohol or drugs during their pregnancy

Participation involves 3 remote sessions completed by you in your home (at 34-35 weeks of pregnancy, 1-2 weeks after birth, and 1 month after birth) and 1 in-person session where you and your baby would come see us at the University (at 2 months after you give birth). This study adheres to university/state guidelines regarding COVID safety protocols for in-person activities. Activities include completing short interviews, answering online questionnaires, providing a few drops of blood from a finger prick to measure immune health, providing some strands of hair to measure the hormone cortisol, and participating in mother-infant activities. Participants receive compensation for their time and effort through a pre-paid debit card (up to $205 total), and a “Junior Scientist” T-shirt for their little one!

If you would like more information about this research study, please feel free to contact us at (612) 688-7222 or at bumpp@umn.edu.

University of Minnesota BUMPP Study
bumpp@umn.edu
(612) 688-7222

06/13/2022

I talk about this a lot in my practice. Sometimes SUBTRACTING and PRUNING will give you way more benefit than adding another thing. Here's an article that shows some science and explores it when it comes to parenting!

Research shows that people tend to solve problems through addition rather than subtraction. You can fight that tendency by reminding yourself that subtraction is an option.

05/15/2022

Ugh. I'm sorry if you are a caregiver dealing with the formula shortage.

Find resources to assist families during the infant formula shortage in the wake of Abbott Nutrition’s voluntary recall of certain powdered infant formulas.

02/09/2022

Parenting is intense. Especially nighttime!
Here's a sweet little video to validate and hopefully give a touching little reframe. After all the days (and nights) are long, but the years are short. https://vimeo.com/495639713?fbclid=IwAR12HOn853QEWMaS1r9B-5XAUigFzZjxst7qyPUu9QMbFizzwiVVJ961KAs

This is "Sleepytime" by Rowan Baxa on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

01/06/2022

Early & Often!

https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2022-01-03/how-parents-should-talk-about-s*x-with-their-kids-hint-honestly-8-to-3?fbclid=IwAR1ynlmoUxKvBtt53V1XG8Aype25M0geEE8Y_w6r68QHT_j4PbpMHXbtQr8

Resources are available to caregivers who want their children to grow up knowing that s*xuality is a natural, healthy part of the human experience.

12/13/2021

Dads definitely deserve mind-body attention too!

When new dads don’t recognize their own distress, the consequences can be dire.

11/08/2021

This is a fabulous page for information about vaccines for infants and children. From additional ingredient concerns to

Learn how vaccines work, risks and side effects, the ingredients and safety.

07/26/2021

Great example and reminder to talk early and talk often!

Simone Biles came on the TV screen.

My husband commented to our girls - “She’s the world’s greatest gymnast”.

I added, “and she’s really brave”.

My 5yo looked at me and asked, “why?”

So I told her.

“Because the American gymnasts used to have a team doctor, who turned out to be a tricky person. He was touching the girls’ private parts. For the girls it was so scary to tell anyone. They didn’t know if anyone would believe them and they were scared they’d lose their spot on the team.

But Simone Biles was one of the girls who spoke up and said what had been happening, and now that tricky doctor is in jail”.

I could see she was still listening, so I added,
“And now, she’s got her own Gymnastics centre, where they make sure the kids are all safe, where their parents can easily watch over them, and they are spoken to kindly instead of being yelled at, which is what lots of coaches do, but it’s not ok”.

My daughter didn’t respond.

She got out of her chair, and watched every moment of Simone Biles’ routine.

⬆️ Teachable moments about body safety and children’s rights are everywhere.

Take them.

(Photo from the Team USA Instagram page, Getty Images).

** Editing to add: please know that this post was never intended as a history lesson. I’ve written word for word what I said to my 5yo - I did my best to simplify the story for her, and I represented that here.

Simone Biles was not the first athlete to speak out, she spoke out later - I don’t think this makes her less brave. People go through their own journeys and speak up in their own time. She has kept showing up. She has pressed for change. All of this is brave beyond measure.

If you haven’t heard the story, or want more information, please watch the documentary Athlete A. Or just Google it. You can find all the details just about everywhere.

The response to this post has been overwhelming.

I hope the key point was clear: Seize the moments to talk to your kids. Be open. There are age-appropriate ways to talk about everything. They are ready for more than you think.

05/24/2021

A pediatrician and friend of a friend shared this on a FB thread today. I appreciated the way she summed up what she's thinking these days!

Here's what she posted:
Covid can infect all kids, from fetus on up. The hospitalization rate is 24.8 up to 33.7 per 100,000 population in kids under age 2 in a recent review. Kids under age 5 are MORE likely than older kids to need to be hospitalized.
(May Journal of American Med Assoc).

They may have mild infection, but we do not know the long-term consequences of being infected and having the virus perhaps linger in the body to be reactivated later. In addition, 3000 kids in the US this year have developed MIS-C (Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children), which develops several weeks after a mild or asymptomatic infection in kids with no underlying conditions. It is a VERY serious condition. It requires admission to the ICU, and giving a special blood product made from the pooled blood of 10,000 people. (IVIG) It affects heart, kidney, lungs with severe outcomes or death if not treated.
Stats above are from this reputable review from a pediatric medical journal:

https://www.uptodate.com/contents/covid-19-clinical-manifestations-and-diagnosis-in-children?fbclid=IwAR30JCepPJrC_gZjnwjNtpf20GUxci4GH2hTWh7nWQROE0Fs2gGIfnZQjwM

Coronaviruses are important human and animal pathogens. At the end of 2019, a novel coronavirus was identified as the cause of a cluster of pneumonia cases in W

05/03/2021

Really fabulous evidence-based overview of COVID vaccines and pregnancy.

Thank you Dr. Sonia Hernandez-Diaz, MD, DrPH for joining us from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to chat COVID, pregnancy, and vaccinations!Cor...

04/14/2021

https://childrenstheatre.org/home/something-happened-in-our-town/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MKT21SHCommunityUpdate&utm_content=version_A&promo=22643

Something Happened in Our Town follows two families — one White, one Black — as they discuss a police shooting of a Black man in their community. The story aims to help address children’s questions about such traumatic events, and to help children identify and counter racial injustice in their...