My sister took her 4 week old baby to the pool to let him explore. He wore sun block and she kept her back to the sun. While swimming she noticed the center of her baby’s head had sunk in. She panicked called the pediatrician, who was busy, and tried Googling what was going on with her baby.

This can be quite alarming to see happen and if not handled properly can lead to greater medical conditions. The soft spot sinks in when a baby is dehydrated. This can be seen when a baby has been in hot weather, not getting another liquids, or going through the flu. It is important that if you are breastfeeding to continue to and even increase the fluid intake. Formula fed babies should also continue the formula intake to ensure good hydration.  

“Children’s skin can be quite sensitive to heat. Nursing moms often discover this, especially in the summertime, when their baby’s face turns red where it is against the mother’s skin. This redness comes from blood vessels in the area dilating to cool the skin down. Cooling the skin usually makes the rash disappear within hours, or even sooner. Prickly heat (miliaria rubra) is a type of heat rash that lasts.

Heat cramps are common with physical exertion. They usually affect the calf or hamstring muscles.

Heat syncope is fainting due to heat/dehydration.

Heat edema is swelling of the hands or feet from heat. People sometimes get this condition when initially exposed to hot weather.

Heat tetany is tingling, especially of the wrists. Hyperventilation in hot weather can cause heat tetany.

Heat exhaustion usually entails a body temperature of 101 to 104, headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and fainting.

It is important to recognize and treat heat exhaustion immediately. 

Heat stroke is very serious. A person’s temperature rises over 104 degrees and he or she has an altered mental status. 50 percent of those with heat stroke die from it. There are two types of heat stroke: exertional, with profuse sweating; and classic, in which the skin is hot and dry. Classic heat stroke builds up over days and is most common in infants and in the elderly. It is a true emergency.

The smaller the child, the less likely he is to be able to tolerate heat, especially if he is already a bit dehydrated or has a fever, and if there is poor air circulation.

Heat injuries can occur at any age. Sports and physical activity are generally beneficial and healthy for adolescents; nevertheless, heat injuries are among the leading causes of sports deaths.”(1)

*If you are concerned seek medical advice and attention. This blog is just to help inform what may be going on with your infant and is not to substitute that of the medical profession.

1. Gavigan C. Healthy Begins Here. June 30, 2010. http://blogs.webmd.com/health-ehome/2010/06/heat-stroke-is-no-joke-keep-hydrated-this-summer.html.

 

 
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Picture
How do you fit a square peg into a round hole? It’s called molding. Not like the mold on bread or the infamous stuff health agencies are warning about growing in your home. 

The baby’s head is not particularly square, but it is divided into 4 sections or plates. (Don’t try serving meals on your baby’s head. It will not be received well by guests) Each plate is called anterior and posterior fontanelles. The lack of a plate in the middle is what creates the soft spot.

As the baby fits out of the pelvis the skull is pushed together overlapping one another to fit through the pelvis, birth canal, and perineum. Babies will experience heavy molding as they are being pushed out of a smaller pelvis. It is rare that baby’s truly cannot fit. This is called Cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD). Often this diagnosis is given when the baby has not had enough time to mold. Once diagnosed with CPD doesn’t mean you are going have it with subsequent births. Every birth, baby size, and the amount of relaxin your body produces to open the pelvis and relax ligaments, for the birthing process, is different. If you are diagnosed with CPD you will have a c-section. Research through www.google.com and www.ican.com; for further information on CPD and VBAC, vaginal birth after cesarean. Being born short or petite doesn’t mean you weren’t born to birth your baby.

Will my baby’s cone-head get stuck that way? Nope. Now some people’s head’s are a bit misshapen, but usually not grotesquely as the molding of some births. That is usually from being placed large amounts of time on their backs as infants, the way they sleep, genetics (bone growth), and that’s just the way God molded them.

Two of my favorite moldings are the cleft of the chin and the dimple below the nose. Those are where God placed His thumb on the chin, grasping the underside with the index exclaiming, “You little cutie!” The other was created when He placed his index on your lip saying, “Shhhh.” 

Next time Cone Heads is on TV just remember they had to go through lots and lots of molding to be born.


http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002270.htm
http://www.breastfeeding.com/helpme/baby_fit.html
http://www.consultantlive.com/pediatrics/content/article/10162/10976
http://fammed.washington.edu/network/sfm/newborncaremodule.htm
(picture was taken from here. I couldn’t find a copy right)
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IBirth 07/14/2010
 
My 13 year old daughter has been begging for a cell phone since she was 11 years old. We being good parents, torturous to some, have resisted the teenage forces of begging, pleading, and the “but all my friends have one’s”. She used her birthday gift cards, money, and allowance that she does chores to earn, to buy an Itouch Ipod. Her dad, her, and I sat and played with it and were amazed how fast the internet speed on it is.

So how is my daughter’s Ipod pregnancy related? While playing on it I found a FREE Labor and Contraction Counter. I liked the one by Michael Kale. The other ones were $.99 and seemed more in depth, but got mixed reviews. There are also nursing counters, diaper changing apps, there is also pregnancy trackers, baby sign language, diaper bag checklists, Free name finder, there is even an eye color predictor. I am just amazed at this whole app world. I may be behind in this, but it’s worth sharing.
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It's a Ride 07/14/2010
 
Hang on tight this coaster is soaring up to new heights!

I remember the first time I was pregnant and thinking birth reminded me so much of a roller coaster ride. Coarse I didn’t pay $54.95 for the admission and there would be no cotton candy, funnel cake, or long lines to wait in.

What made me think of roller coasters is that it felt like a long, LONG ride to the top and then the unknown. I had taken The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth, an intensive 12 week study course, but I had never been through labor or birth before. I didn’t know if it was going to be those types of coasters that brings you to the top and kind of circles around like a cork screw, or the type that brings you to the top and then shoots you back straight down, or worse the ones that hangs you from the top, where you see what’s up ahead, then drops you down only to put you into a g-force spin. (I envision the Griffin at Busch Gardens with that one)

The feeling after is just like it too. The baby is out, you’re getting cleaned up and you realize YOU DID IT! The same self confidence of conquering the coaster overwhelmed me. That rush of endorphins and what an incredible consolation prize you get to take home. Most time you have to pay $20 for the T-shirt.

Each birth has sort of felt like this, just not as intense. Each labor and birth story is different, just as there are no two identical coasters.
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Vaseline® 07/09/2010
 
You may have received this at your baby shower as a gift, which it truly is. I had no idea why I was given this sticky, gloppy, even messy product. I have asked the givers why I had received such a product and what the uses were. The replies were, “It’s what was given to me.” “It was in the baby isle.” No one had and ideas what or why I should have it. I now have about 6 jars of this yellow product in various bathrooms under the sink, since I have seen it along with toiletry items at our local stores.

I have since discovered Vaseline® has so many great uses. Vaseline® is actually a household name like Band-Aid® is an adhesive bandage. Vaseline® is a brand of petroleum jelly. Some of its wonderful uses are a lubricant, plastic preserver, make-up remover, moisturizer; the list is almost endless. It has a shelf life of 8-10 years, which is good for my 6 tubs. It is said to have been discovered in raw form in 1859, but 1872 was when it was patented

The most related use to birth I have heard, and this is very recently, is during post partum. After the baby is born, just before diapering, put a thin layer of Vaseline® (petroleum jelly) on the baby’s rump. This will help keep the meconium from sticking, for easier clean-up. What an amazing idea! You’ll want to apply it to about the first 4 diaper changes of meconium. What an amazing idea!

These two sites also offer some great, practical uses for this little pot of gold.

http://gomestic.com/homemaking/22-wonderful-uses-for-petroleum-jelly/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_jelly
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