baby

Anti-Abortion Groups – Just Cut It Out

At worst, unsolicited junk mail just annoys me. Three menus for Mick’s Curry Pot coming though my letterbox in one week may be taking just that – the mick – but the owner of this takeaway isn’t actually hurting anyone (unless they risk ordering anything.) But laying on my welcome mat this week was an innocuous enough looking colour printed, folded sheet that made my girlfriend feel physically sick and chilled me to the bone.

Little could be less welcome than the leaflet headed Abortion: What everyone has a right to know, kindly (?) provided for me by the people at SPUC (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.) Although never mentioned in the text, the whole thing stinks of religion, as I can’t credit this comically acronymed organization having taken this crusade upon themselves out of a genuine regard for women’s well-being.

I’m aware, as I write, that in this instance it would be more appropriate if I were a woman. I believe in a woman’s right to choose. As father to any theoretical offspring, my input, although valid, would be overruled by the owner of the body in which it is brewing – the mother. So the final decision on whether or not to abort is a woman’s. Had a woman written this article its points may have been more valid. Just rest assured when it comes to this disgusting pamphlet that I am trying to be of the same mind.

In the guise of being helpful, and very much in the style of the health advice leaflets you can pick up at your GP surgery, the pamphlet features a photograph of a young, anxious looking couple and promises to contain ‘information about abortion’ with the aim of preventing someone ‘making a decision which could end in regret.’ In fact, the whole piece is filled with prophecies of regret and remorse. True, you may end up regretting having an abortion, but you may also regret going through with the pregnancy and end up raising a child you resent. A terminated pregnancy is not necessarily the last chance a woman will have to have children – there’s no medical evidence that having an abortion affects future fertility – a baby is more final.

Within is a time line of significant development dates – the heart starts beating at three weeks, liver forms from six. But at what point does a cluster of cells deserve the label ‘baby?’ I think of it like this: at what point does a bowl full of ingredients become a cake? Not to make light of what is a serious and often traumatic decision, but sometimes ridicule is the best way to combat facile and ill informed arguments.The argument that possession of hair and fingernails makes a tiny, partially formed homunculus into a person, and its termination into murder, for example.

Nowhere does this set list mention the development of the nervous system, which I would use in the argument of equating suffering. Surely, a foetus without a nervous system, that therefore cannot feel pain, suffers considerably less (if at all) than a mother who is forced to go through with the pregnancy. All sorts of what if scenarios can be thrown into the mix here; what if the woman was raped? What if she or the father has a disease or debilitating condition that will be passed onto the child? What if she or they are simply not able to raise the child? The mother, father and child could spend years or their whole lives suffering from the consequences of the decision not to have an abortion. Anyone able to take a balanced look at both sides of the suffering argument would see the burden of suffering is against the minuscule organism that cannot feel anyway.

The analogy of the cake was for comic effect, as I stated. The moment of birth is not the first point at which a developing offspring can be considered a baby. Appropriately, a deadline for termination is set well before this. In the UK this is 24 weeks, although 90% of abortions occur before the 12th week and usually are given after that only for strong medical reasons.

‘Women deserve better,’ we are told by these SPUCers. ‘Evidence points to increased risk in some women of mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress and eating disorders.’ Nowhere is this evidence made explicitly clear. These predictions are such that they almost seem like a threat. You will go mental if you have an abortion, they seem to say. Women certainly deserve better than information like this. It’s an insult to their intelligence and a perversion of the facts.

On the rear, some further facts and figures are given. I’ll not question the numbers, as they’re pretty irrelevant in regards to the conclusion they are used to support. There is apparently one abortion in Britain every three minutes, 570 a day (mathematics is clearly not their strong point either, as 24 hours divided by 3 minutes equals 480) and 4,000 every week (again, a distortion of their own figures.) The denouement to this little tally is that ‘if current trends continue, 9 million children will have been killed under the Abortion Act by April 2018 – the 50^th anniversary of the law coming into force.’ It is here I have the biggest issue, and it is with their choice of language. Certainly the killing of millions of children would be a tragic and appalling practice. But it is not killing, and they are not children. They are children in potentia. The accompanying illustration of an embryo, with the label ‘unborn baby at 8 weeks’ says it all. Even though the illustration is half the size of a mug coaster, it is still stated that the picture is enlarged. If these people knew the first thing about embryology, they’d know that in no sense can this tiny, barely noticeable life form be described as a baby.

The whole leaflet is a piece of distorted scaremongering. If it’s facts and figures you want, here are some scary ones this misleading organization omit: worldwide, 70,000 women a year die from illegal, back street abortions, mostly in countries where they are not legally available; around a quarter of all pregnancies end in abortion – as the world is over-populated as it is, with resources stretched, can you imagine what would happen if you added 25% to it? Think of the starvation, the disease, the pollution that would ensue. I’m not prophesying doom, but I’m not sure, were these children to be born, they would thank you for bringing them into that kind of world.

The overriding raison d’etre of these kinds of organization is to protect the foetus until the moment of birth, but after that it’s the parent’s responsibility. They care not a jot that the child may be raised in poverty, in an environment of abuse or neglect, subject to disease or disability, hunger and pain. As the pamphlet is keen to point out, ‘every life is worth living.’

Abortion is neither the beginning or the end of the world’s problems. Certainly, I would rather the traumatic and painful decision to have an abortion did not have to be taken by any woman. If SPUC have funding available for such a campaign, it would surely be better spent at the other end of the process – in preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place. Contraception, freely available to those that cannot afford it, is your friend there. But education about its availability and uses is often blocked and the subject of other negative and misleading campaigns, often by religious bodies, such as the Catholic church, and unfortunately very often from the same groups who are against abortion.

What it boils down to is this: These groups hate the idea of a woman’s sexual freedom. Sex is for making babies, not for fun. If you get pregnant, it’s your own fault, and if you have an abortion you’re a murderer. What I think is this: enjoy your sex life, as long as you in doing so hurt no one else; take precautions and take care of your body; know your own body and know when something is wrong; accidents do happen, and if they do there are options available. Abortion isn’t an ideal solution, but we live in a far from ideal world.

Once this piece is published, I’m going to take great pleasure in ripping this leaflet up, and burning the shreds. Unless an actual dead baby had been shoved through my letterbox, I don’t think I could have been more revolted at an unwanted delivery.

(Source of some information: http://www.abortionrights.org.uk/ )

Of Boobs and Bottles – Is Breast Always Best?

As a new mother I have been bombarded by others’ opinions on how I should raise my child, but never so much as when the subject of feeding rears its peach-fuzzed little head.

Like all mums-to-be in the UK I had been inundated with the ‘breast is best’ propaganda issued by the NHS, but a search for for a balanced discussion on the pros and cons of each method drew a frustratingly blank, blank.

I was coming to this debate with no particular leaning, but trying to find unbiased advice out there is really hard. Other than the occasional breakfast news story I had never really been aware of the depth of the breast v bottle debate, but the parenting forums and baby blogs were full of dictatorial ranting, polarised opinions and outright declarations of war.

If I were to believe the pro-breastfeeding extremists all bottle feeders are bad mothers; selfish, uncaring harridans who just weren’t willing to try.  However, when I spoke to many bottling feeding mothers they told of the heartbreak over their decision, of the guilt, of the pressure placed on them to breastfeed whilst in hospital and the feeling of failure and inadequacy that accompanied the choice to switch to bottle when they left.

One mother even commented that a mutual friend was “very brave” for saying that she never wanted to breastfeed and sticking to her decision despite the pressure she felt from others.This seemed like a ridiculous thing to say but the further along in my pregnancy I got, the more I understood what she meant. The NHS in particular piled on the pressure to breastfeed, sending me through enough pro-breast leaflets to paper a palace, but not once did they discuss the pros and cons of bottle feeding.

So what did the other side have to offer to the debate? Well according to the bottle feeding advocates all breastfeeding mothers are middle class hippies who are pampered and have nothing else to do but see to their babies. Indeed, even the National Childbirth Trust has been in the news recently for abandoning it’s evangelical breastfeeding stance as part of their push to become more inclusive and attractive to the working classes.   (I would argue they’d be better dropping their prices to be honest, but that’s a rant for another day).

There are clearly some out there who feel that breastfeeding is a middle class endeavour and certainly I can see why – the cost of electric pumps, breast milk storage bags and pots, slings, concealed feeding tops and the time taken to feed or express for your child makes it seem that a great investment may be needed.

Reading all this had made me more and more confused. I didn’t really want to be seen as uncaring or as a tree hugger. I’m not middle class and I certainly don’t have the luxury of a lot of time to sit around doing nothing but feed, but by the same token I don’t really fancy a great pile of bottle-fed guilt. Even the statistics didn’t help me; although most women breastfeed immediately after birth, by 6 weeks 53% are bottle feeding. So, still baffled by all the conflicting advice, I did what I do with any decision I’m struggling with, I scribbled away at a pros and cons list. And here it is:

Breastfeeding Pros

• Health benefits for baby – a breastfed baby is less likely to have stomach upsets, ear infections, eczema and can protect against infections and diseases.
• Health benefits for mum – speeds up weight loss (huzzah!), lowers risk of female cancers, reduces feelings of stress by releasing oxytocin.
• Bonding – all that extra skin to skin time enhances the bonding experience, especially useful if you have been separated for some time
• No equipment needed – seriously ignore that shelf in Mothercare, you really don’t need all that stuff, ask your Granny.
• No preparation required – no mixing formula, measuring water, or washing and sterilising bottles
• Convenient and transportable – where don’t you take your boobs?!!
• Free – free food for baby can never be a bad thing.
• Poop – Nappies smell better (allegedly, I’ve found no scientific evidence for this one)
• Wind – breastfed babies suffer less trapped wind which means you save time in winding them.

Breastfeeding Cons

• New Skills – like all new skills it will take time to learn. You may never have even seen mothers feeding and certainly wont have been able to take a good look at their nipple position during latching.
• Mums health & medication – there are only a few conditions which would completely prevent breastfeeding but many medications cannot be taken if feeding this way as they can find their way into the milk. It also limits the non-prescription medications you can take for minor ailments.
• Anxiety about feeding – many women feel nervous about public feeding despite new legislation which protects your right to do so. Ultimately this means some mums begin to feel very isolated as they hide themselves away to feed.
• Milk supply – although almost all women will produce milk, getting a milk supply established takes work, especially if you are separated from your baby for any reason.
• Physically hard going – breastfeeding can be physically exhausting, especially in the first few days while supply and technique get established.
• Risk of mastitis – all new mothers have a risk of getting the infected milk ducts that cause mastitis but it is more prevalent in breastfeeding mothers purely because the milk is being produced for longer.
• Total responsibility – you have to do all feeds, or at least express for those feeds you wish others to handle.
• Personal guilt– when it’s great, it’s great but many women report it feeling very personal if baby refuses to feed or isn’t feeding as well as one would like.
• Risk of leaky nipples – again all new mums are at risk of leakage but this is obviously increases the longer you feed for.

Bottle feeding pros

• Easier – you have probably either done this before or seen it done. It’s not really a skill you have to learn.
• Anyone can do it – all the family can get involved and this can be a good way to encourage sibling bonding with older children.
• Measurable – it is very easy to tell what nutrition baby is getting and how much baby is taking.
• Public feeding – this is very easy and many cafes and restaurants provide bottle warming facilities

Bottle feeding cons

• Cost – This is a major con. For a newborn you will be spending around £7 per week on formula, plus the cost of bottles, steriliser, replacement teats, bottle brushes, storage, milk/powder storage/bottle warmers etc add in the occasional emergency pre-mixed feed when you are out and the cost rockets. When I ran the figures it came in at just under £700 for the first year.
• Space – all those bottles and accessories take up a lot of cupboard space.
• cleaning – again cleaning and sterilising that kit will take you up to an hour each day.
• preparation – all your feeds have to be prepared in advance. If you are on-demand feeding that means listening to the screaming that little bit longer. While those who are feeding every two, three or four hours will be able to prepare on time, your baby may not stick to their schedule and that still means having up to 12 bottles washed, sterilised and filled with pre-boiled and then cooled water.
• NHS sanctioned guilt – while friends and family are seen as more supportive of the bottle feeding mother, many mothers report disapproval from medical professionals and parenting support groups when they choose to bottle feed.

So what did I do? Well I spoke to my Granny, as the only person I knew who’d fed both ways more than once and she gave me the best advice of all – do what is right for you and baby. As it was my daughter was in neonatal care for the first 15 days of her life and was severely underweight, so what was best for her was breast milk. But as I wasn’t in hospital with her, she had as much breast milk as I could manage and formula when there wasn’t quite enough to fill her up. Having tried both methods, I found I actually enjoy breastfeeding (despite a few problems we encountered) and I hate all the faffing with bottles and sterilisers and powder that formula feeding brings. So although my little girl will still take either method happily, I’m trying to get her off the bottles for the most part.

I think Granny had it right. It doesn’t matter so much what you feed, what matters is that whichever method you choose, it meets the needs of both of you. If you don’t want to breastfeed or you try and don’t like it or struggle and run out of steam, you shouldn’t be made to feel guilty for that. As for my little one, she’s lying in my lap feeding as I type, and looking at her chubby chomping cheeks I can’t help but think it is the fact that I am happy with what I chose to do that makes her so happy and healthy today.

good places for support/further reading.

http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/breastfeeding/Pages/why-breastfeed.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/birthtofive/Pages/bottle-feeding.aspx

http://www.mythnomore.blogspot.com/

http://www.mumsnet.com/

http://theleakyboob.com/blog/

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/formula/basics/

Crafty Gifts for the Yummy Mummy – Baby Sock Bouquet

With just days to go until the birth of our first baby and several friends with new babies already born or expected, my brain is firmly on baby related craft at the moment. It can be really difficult thinking of gifts for a new mum or mum to be, especially if the baby’s sex is still unknown, or is a second or third child for parents who already have most of the necessary kit.

I always like to find something that is both a treat for mum and a practical gift for baby, and this year I think I have finally cracked it with my handmade baby sock bouquet.

MATERIALS

Baby socks (each individual sock makes a single rose bud, colours entirely your choice)

Florist/thick jewellery wire (1 length per sock I normally use 10” lengths)

Florist tape (any coloured tape will work; just pick one that fits with your theme. For realistic roses you can usually get green florist tape at craft shops and garden centres year round and a lot of pound shops through spring and summer)

Optional: vase, florist foam, flowers (real or fake), tissue or cellophane to wrap

GET STARTED:

1. Take one sock and unfold completely including cuff if that is folded.
2. Roll tightly from toe towards cuff, pinching at one end to form a cone shape. Stop at 2 fingers depth from the open edge of the cuff. You now have the basis of your rosebud.
3. Fold the cuff over the bud to hold the roll in place and form the outer petal
4. Pinch the base of the bud and pierce (carefully so as not to cause damage to sock) with the florist wire. Twist wire together tightly to secure.
5. Pinch bud at base and wrap in florist tape. Continue winding the tape down the wire as far as is likely to show. It can be a bit tricky to start with if you aren’t used to the tacky nature of the tape, but persevere and once you get the knack it is quick and easy.

And that’s it: your first baby sock rosebud. Simply repeat with the remaining socks and arrange to your own taste. These are so simple (and cost effective too) but stunning and adaptable too. You can see here I’ve done them in a vase with fresh flowers but they are equally as nice with wooden, dried or fabric flowers or just as a large bunch of sock roses wrapped in cellophane like a fancy bouquet.  The friend I made this bouquet for didn’t know if she was expecting a boy or girl so the white socks and yellow fresh flowers fitted her perfectly, but I love mixing up different colours and tailoring them to the mum & baby in question.

Let me know how you get on!