Constipation throughout the first, second and third trimester of pregnancy is a common complaint from pregnant women. Some women, however, do not know that you do NOT have to suffer through it, and that there are things that can be done to prevent it.

Early in pregnancy, constipation is caused by a change in your hormones which can make your digestive system sluggish and often uncooperative. Later in pregnancy, the constipation can be aided by the increased size of your uterus and the baby pushing down on the intestines and inner organs, not allowing as much room for food to pass.

What You Can Do
There are several things you can do to help ease or prevent the occurrence of constipation.

• Drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated has been proven to help keep your system regulated, both while pregnant and not pregnant. Doctors recommend that both pregnant and unpregnant women drink at least eight glasses of water a day.

   

• Get more fiber. Fiber in your diet will help your bowel movements remain loose and regular. You can get fiber in fruits and vegetables, as well as grains. If you don’t feel like you are getting enough fiber, ask your doctor about taking a fiber supplement.

   

• Watch the calcium. Too much calcium while pregnant can cause your bowels to harden and lead to constipation. Try to avoid eating more than the recommended amount of dairy foods.

   

• Keep active. Exercise can help keep your system regulated. Keep up a walking routine, swim if you can, or lift some light weights if your doctor says it is safe.

If you are trying all this and the constipation still is not letting up, ask your doctor or midwife about the possibility of taking extra supplements or laxatives. There may be additional remedies that your provider can recommend to help bring you relief.

By Dr. Tom Olson

1. They are leaders as well as parents. They don’t rely on the schools, the government, television, the movies or music to teach their children values and the difference between right and wrong. They do it themselves.

2. They have a vision for their family and its future, one that is discussed and shared often. And they support the vision with clearly articulated, clarified and communicated values and beliefs. Every action, behavior, and decision is taken with those values and beliefs firmly in mind. They constantly emphasize the relationship between family successes and acting in accordance with the values and beliefs. They make a clear distinction between right and wrong. Everybody is clear on how things are to be done and why.

3. They are behavioral models for their children. Their behaviors reflect those that they want the kids to emulate. They are honest because they value honesty; open because they value openness; forgiving because they value forgiveness. They make tough decisions when necessary and they take responsibility for the results. They don’t just tell their children what to value and believe; they show them through words and deeds.

4. They enable their children. They communicate high, but achievable behavioral and performance expectations and provide the spiritual, emotional, physical, intellectual and financial resources the children need to successfully achieve them. They know that self-esteem is a function of achievement.

5. They talk with their kids, not at them. They develop feedback loops so the children can come to understand the impact of their behavior on others. They make sure the kids understand the relationship behavior and consequences. And they distinguish between the child and his or her behavior so, when there are problems, they unconditionally love the child while looking for a solution to the problem.

6. They take pains to understand how children develop. As the children are finding their way in the world these parents use a combination of maturity and skill to firmly direct when direction is needed; discuss when the circumstances merit; push the kids away when they are ready to make provisional tries when they are ready to and, finally; they set them free altogether. Through it all, the door is left open for the kids to come back if they needed to.

7. They take an active role in their children’s education, both formal and informal. They are active contributors to both the schools and communities. They enrich the home environment in every way they can. They go to concerts, games, on camping trips and, unfailingly, to the ceremonies that mark the graduations from one stage to the next.

8. Although their children are outstanding in any number of ways, these parents freely admit their kids were anything but perfect. They accept and openly talk about the fact that, while good kids, their children are just as prone as others to the vicissitudes of growing up and, on occasion, their behavior reflects that fact.

9. When the time comes, they discuss the future and provide appropriate advice and guidance regarding career and other life choices that children must eventually make.

10. Through it all they encourage independent, critical thinking so, in the final analysis, each child becomes his or her own person.

© Dr. Tom Olson 2004, all rights reserved Permission to reprint article granted as long as this signature remains intact.

About the Author
Dr. Tom Olson is the author of Don’t Die With Your Helmet On. Visit www.Dontdiewithyourhelmeton.com for more information about Dr. Tom, the book and his work. Contact Dr. Tom at info@dontdiewithyourhelmeton.com.

by Elizabeth Pantley, author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution

The following ideas are of value to almost any sleeper, of any age. These tips can bring improvement not only in your child’s sleep, but also in her daytime mood and last, but not least – improvements in your own sleep and outlook as well.

1. Maintain a consistent bedtime and awaking time.
   Your child’s biological clock has a strong influence on her wakefulness and sleepiness. When you establish a set time for bedtime and wake up time you “set” your child’s clock so that it functions smoothly.Aim for an early bedtime. Young children respond best with a bedtime between 6:30 and 7:30 P.M. Most children will sleep better and longer when they go to bed early.
2. Encourage regular daily naps.
   Daily naps are important. An energetic child can find it difficult to go through the day without a rest break. A nap-less child will often wake up cheerful and become progressively fussier or hyper-alert as the day goes on. Also, the length and quality of naps affects night sleep – good naps equal better night sleep.
3. Set your child’s biological clock.
   Take advantage of your child’s biology so that he’s actually tired when bedtime arrives. Darkness causes an increase in the release of the body’s sleep hormone — the biological “stop” button. You can align your child’s sleepiness with bedtime by dimming the lights during the hour before bedtime.Exposing your child to morning light is pushing the “go” button in her brain — one that says, “Time to wake up and be active.” So keep your mornings bright!
4. Develop a consistent bedtime routine.
   Routines create security. A consistent, peaceful bedtime routine allows your child to transition from the motion of the day to the tranquil state of sleep.

   An organized routine helps you coordinate the specifics: bath, pajamas, tooth-brushing. It helps you to function on auto-pilot at the time when you are most tired and least creative.

5. Create a cozy sleep environment.
   Where your child sleeps can be a key to quality sleep. Make certain the mattress is comfortable, the blankets are warm, the room temperature is right, pajamas are comfy, and the bedroom is welcoming.
6. Provide the right nutrition.
   Foods can affect energy level and sleepiness. Carbohydrates can have a calming effect on the body, while foods high in protein or sugar generate alertness, particularly when eaten alone. A few ideas for pre-bed snacks are: whole wheat toast and cheese, bagel and peanut butter, oatmeal with bananas, or yogurt and low-sugar granola.Vitamin deficiencies due to unhealthy food choices can affect a child’s sleep. Provide your child with a daily assortment of healthy foods.
7. Help your child to be healthy and fit.
   Many children don’t get enough daily physical activity. Too much TV watching and a lack of activity prevents good sleep. Children who get ample daily exercise fall asleep more quickly, sleep better, stay asleep longer, and wake up feeling refreshed.Avoid activity in the hour before bedtime though, since exercise is stimulating – they’ll be jumping on the bed instead of sleeping in it!
8. Teach your child how to relax.
   Many children get in bed but aren’t sure what to do when they get there! It can help to follow a soothing pre-bed routine that creates sleepiness. A good pre-bed ritual is story time. A child who is listening to a parent read a book or tell a tale will tend to lie still and listen. This quiet stillness allows him to become sleepy.

Work with these eight ideas and you’ll see improvements in your child’s sleep, and yours too.

Copyright Elizabeth Pantley. (McGraw-Hill, 2003)

About the author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.

By Heidi Ayarbe

“Sleep like a baby.” The person who thought of this saying obviously never had children!

Babies are active sleepers. Their eyes move; they squint; they moan; they gurgle; they smile; they mumble and grumble. This is normal and expected. You’ll understand why by reading on!

Instead of using non-REM and REM for children, doctors and scientists categorize the two as quiet and active sleep. Scientists believe that active sleep patterns develop in children even before they are born in the 6 th or 7 th month of pregnancy and quiet sleep patterns develop in the 7 th and 8 th months of pregnancy. (This is interesting to note for premature children and their sleep problems). They also note that in the uterus, during an active cycle, babies practice breathing, whereas in quiet sleep, they do not. The older the infant gets the less active sleep she needs. It appears, then, that active sleep is vital, so perhaps that’s why so much importance is placed on active sleep in the uterus and, as you’ll see, the first few months of life.

Infants’ sleep patterns and cycles differ greatly from those of adults. Infants spent about 50% of their time in active sleep while premature infants spend 80% of their time in active sleep (as opposed to 20-25% in adults). The other 50% are spent in quiet sleep, but it’s not as deep as an adult’s. Infants don’t reach stages III and IV of quiet sleep like adults do. Also, when infants are in their quiet sleep, their brain waves aren’t a steady flow of waves but short bursts.

Infants’ sleep cycles usually last 50 minutes (unlike the 90 minutes of an adult). In their first few months of life, infants will often slip directly into active sleep – something that adults never do. Another difference between infants’ sleep patterns and adults is that infants have sleep patterns that last throughout the 24-hour period. These are called polyphasic sleep periods. Can you imagine a functioning adult drifting off to sleep every 50 to 100 minutes? Adults have one sleep period that lasts about 8 hours.

By the time an infant is three months old, she will have developed all four stages of quiet sleep, and by the time she is six months old, she will spend most of her time (70%) in quiet sleep, coming closer to an adult’s bio-rhythms. It won’t be until your child is a toddler, though, that she will almost match an adult’s sleep habits. Interestingly, people of advanced age go back down to three sleeping stages, not experiencing Stage IV or sleep.

Have you noticed that your child, after just an hour of sleep, often stirs and is restless? This is because she has probably just completed one cycle and is coming out of quiet sleep. Adults do it every night. We wake up, pull up the covers, turn around, and adjust the pillow .. whatever. But if somebody came to our side and said, “Hey, do you need something?” we might totally wake up and have trouble getting back to sleep.

Because we’re so in tuned to our children (especially new parents), we sometimes rush to their bed, wondering why they’re waking. Most children will grumble, move around and get back to sleep – if left to return to sleep. At this stage in sleep, sleep terrors and sleep walking may happen as well (covered in Chapters 8 and 9). In that case, your child might need your aid. Again, though, a child arousing after about an hour is natural. By understanding this, you can understand that your child can be left to fall back to sleep. Especially when you know for the first few years of life, this will be happening a lot!

©www.sleepbabysecrets.com

“New Book Reveals Breakthrough Baby Sleep Secrets Frustrated Parents Must Know To Practically Guarantee Your Child Sleeps Peacefully Almost Every Single Night!”

About the Author:
Heidi Ayarbe is the author of the award-winning book “Sweet Dreams”. To check out her website that’s jam packed with baby sleep secrets, visit http://www.sleepbabysecrets.com/baby-sleep.htm