I went to a Chele Marmet slide presentation several years back.  She showed
a slide of a baby whose hair was sticking straight up.  (around here people
call that chicken hair, I have no idea why!)  SHe made the statement that
she had found babies like this were more prone to allergies.  I was very
interested, because my second child had hair like that, and by the time she
was a few weeks old, she was very fussy and cried constantly.  When I took
all dairy out of my diet, she became a very content and happy child.  She
was not able to tolerate milk until she was over 2, and now doesn't like it
(she's 19). She is also the only child I have who is developing allergies
since she became 17, and now reacts to cats and dust, and also can't eat
fish. Since then I have been very aware of what Chele said, and I have
found it to be true in many cases.  One of our physicians children all had
hair like that and all were very allergic.  One of our midwives last babies
has chicken hair and has been very intolerant of any solids yet, at about a
year of age.  One of the moms in my support group said she had it as a baby
and has lots of allergies, and her child has it, and is constantly getting
rashes from almost anything she eats (baby is a year old).  So I don't know
if it is just coincidence, but it sure has been true for us.

Most hospitals are lacking in pillows.  I use folded up bedspreads,which
our hospital seems to have a surplus of, packed into a pillowcase to keep
them together, and they work just fine for new moms.

When discussing sleeping through the night with my support group moms, I
always ask them how many of them always slept through before children.
Most of them got up at night, for a drink of water, for the bathroom,
because they heard a noise, because they were too  hot or too cold and
needed to adjust the covers.  Then I ask them how they expect their baby to
sleep if they are thirsty, cold, hot, hungry or scared, any better than an
adult who can figure these things out can.  This line of thinking gives
them food for thought and they seem to gather a little better understanding
of babies as people.  It seems like society expects a lot of our little
ones.

Ann Calandro,RNC, IBCLC
Piedmont Medical Center
Rock Hill,SC