Sustainable babies

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There are times in our lives when everyone wants to give a present to celebrate a special event. Times such as birthday's, Christmas, engagement, wedding and a baby's birth. We search around for an appropriate something to send to the important person. How many of these gifts then end up gathering dust in cupboards, advertised on "Trade Me" or "E-bay" or dumped in the rubbish? How many of these gifts are useful or good for any purpose?

I want to talk a little about gifts which are given for babies, but first I would like to share an old tradition that used to occur in Scotland when I was growing up in the 1950s.


I grew up in Scotland and life was full of superstitions and old traditions, for example when a bride left for the church she threw pennies out of the window of her vehicle for the local children. Everyone gathered around in anticipation and scurried to get their share. I think this was something to do with guaranteeing fertility in the marriage.

On first seeing a newborn baby it was necessary to cross the baby's palm with silver. When a new mother took her baby out in the pram for the first time people would come up and greet her and slip a coin or two into the pram. Those old Silver Cross Prams had a deep well which soon started to rattle with the money gathering in the bottom of the pram. This was often use to start a savings account for the new baby. When a new baby was expected family and friends started knitting or sewing however these arts are less common now.

Nowadays people often buy new babies a basket of goodies, full of lotions and powders and creams and shampoos. The manufacturers of these products outline how they benefit the babies skin and produce research to support their claims. We need to remember that they are trying to sell their product and the research has been conducted with this goal in mind. New born babies do not get dirty. They do not need all these lotions and potions. In my experience babies need, and love, to have a bath. All they need is warm water. After the bath a gentle massage with some pure almond oil, without any additives is relaxing and calming for the baby and is a nice way to care for the babies skin. Other oils such as olive oil can also be used but almond oil is less greasy. It is best to avoid using peanut oil because of the potential for allergy to this product.

Nappy wipes are a relatively recent addition to list of must haves for a new baby. Originally introduced as a handy way to clean the babies skin when out and about they now seem to be used universally at every nappy change. This is neither good nor necessary. A damp cloth with plain water will clean the babies nappy area just as effectively, reduces the babies exposure to chemicals and reduces waste in the environment. Women used to cut up old soft nappies or use muslin squares for this purpose.

The debate about cloth versus disposable nappies still seems to rage on. I think this is something that future generations will find very hard to understand. How could we possibly think it is OK to create this mountain of garbage so unnecessarily. What do you think about this? Why do so many parents feel that they have to use disposable nappies? Why not give a gift of cloth nappies, or maybe give a gift of an offer of help with washing these? If you are thinking about cloth nappies this is a lovely very simple little pattern for woolen overnaps. They need to be made out of pure wool but can be machine washed. The more felted the wool becomes the more waterproof the overnap is so old woolen overnaps are really desirable. Using these allows the babies skin to breath while still providing some protection from dampness. Babies nappies should be changed regularly as contact with ammonia from stale urine and bacteria from babies stools is a cause of nappy rash.

Baby Pilchers knitting pattern

Size 10 or 12 needles depending on your knitting
One ball double knitting wool does one pair, (large ball does two pairs)
Hank of natural does 3 pairs
Cast on 80 stitches
10 rows ribbing (holes half way)
(for larger size cast on 85-90 stitches).
Continue in plain knitting.
Knit two together on each plain row until one remains
Fold over band at top leaving space for cord
Sew up point in the middle leaving space for baby’s legs depending on the size of baby.

And then there is the gift of babies bottles, and sterilizers and formula. For a very few parents these might well be necessary. For most, help and support and positive encouragement to breast feed are better and healthier for the baby, and definitely better for the environment. Providing a meal or two for the new family, offers of help with shopping or housework might be much more useful gifts.

Where to birth and how long to wait before going home.

Where to birth? At home, in a primary birthing unit or in a hospital this is a question that many women have to consider during pregnancy. If choosing to birth in a facility, primary birthing unit or hospital, how long can they or should they stay before going home?

Photo from Sadalit's photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/sadalit/123737076/


Research does little to help women decide when it is best to go home from a facility after birth. There has been quite a bit of research into early discharge, but the problem is that definition for early discharge varies so much. For some it means 2-3 hours after the birth of the baby and for others it means 1 or 2 days after birth of the baby. A Cochrane review of this topic found that the evidence was inconclusive but found that there was no evidence of adverse outcomes for the mother or baby with early discharge from a facility (Brown, Small, Faber, Krastev & Davis, 2002). If considering a home birth again the Cochrane review of this topic was inconclusive although they could find no evidence to state whether home or hospital was better for low risk women (Olsen & Jewell, 2007). A large American study found that there was less intervention when women planned to birth at home without any increased risks to the mother or her baby (Johnson & Daviss, 2005).

So what does this mean for women? If they have no health issues during pregnancy then women are less likely to have interference in the birth process if they plan to birth at home. Women have expressed increased satisfaction with birth when there is no intervention so it would tend to follow that satisfaction would also be greater with homebirth. The same is true if they birth in a unit which deals only with low risk births, (a primary birthing unit0. Of course if any problems arose then the woman would need to go to the hospital. Discharging from the hospital within hours of the birth also does not increase problems for women or their babies who are otherwise well.

There are two main issues here. One is being prepared for being at home, either early discharge or homebirth and the other is having the necessary support to be able to achieve this. One of the advantages of planning to birth at home is getting the support you will need prepared beforehand for this event. This might mean preparing meals before the baby is born so that there is no need to cook after or it might mean that a relative moves in with the new family. The woman will have prepared herself for early baby care, her midwife will cover the knowledge the woman and her partner need for those early days well before the baby is born. The home is ready for the new baby.

With hospital birth women often plan to stay in hospital for two or three days to learn how to care for baby and then go home. Many women seem to think that they will then pick up life as it was before, but this is not the case. They still need support as they learn how to become mothers and care for the new baby. It is not an instant process. We need to think of the first month after the baby is born as a continuation of the pregnancy-labour-birth process. It is a time when the woman's body is making enormous changes as well as the psychological adaption to new motherhood. The baby too is adapting to life outside the uterus and needs loving attention during this time. For the mother to be able to provide this to her baby she needs to be cared for and supported herself. Enormous changes and adaption occurs in the first month but there are those who would say that this continues, to a lesser degree, for at least first three months of the babies life. As a society we need to embrace the concept of mothering the new mother as she takes on her new role. It is an enormous life changing event and women need to be supported and nurtured as they adapt to this new identity.


Brown S, Small R, Faber B, Krastev A, Davis P. Early postnatal discharge from hospital for healthy mothers and term infants. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2002, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD002958. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD002958

Johnson KC. Daviss B. Outcomes of planned home births with certified professional midwives: large prospective study in North America. BMJ. 2005 Jun 18; 330(7505): 1416-9.

Olsen O. Jewell MD. Home versus hospital birth. [Journal Article, Research, Systematic Review] Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2007;(4): (CD000352)