Baby Information Index

Baby's first bath

Brooke Wells It can be difficult to know to bathe your baby properly because there are so many safety factors to consider.

Brooke Wells The most important thing to consider when choosing a baby bath is what best suits your needs in terms of the space in your home and the baby bath’s safety features that will make bathing your baby as secure and stress-free as possible.

Baby Bath Activities

Brooke Wells Bath time doesn’t have to be structured play – as long as it’s safe, you should encourage any bath activities that make bath time a fun experience for your child. Just be prepared to get splashed!

Baby bath toys

Brooke Wells Bath toys make bath time fun for babies by providing an opportunity for kids to play and learn at the same time, and distracting them from the cleaning process during which they can squirm, especially when washing hair.

Crying

A cry can mean many things and learning to understand what each one indicates can help you understand your baby's needs.

Newborn babies and sleep

Elizabeth Pantley Babies younger than four months old have very different sleep needs than older babies.

Co-sleeping - making it work

Elizabeth Pantley Sharing sleep is very popular with parents of young babies who wake throughout the night, since it allows parents to avoid getting up out of bed and travelling up and down a dark hallway.

Sleep through the night

Elizabeth Pantley If your little one is waking you up every hour or two, you don't have to think long on the question, 'is this disruptive to me'?

Naps improve night sleep

Elizabeth Pantley According to sleep research, and motherly experience, the length and the quality of naps affect night time sleep.

Early bedtime means better sleep

Elizabeth Pantley Most babies are primed to go to sleep for the night as early as 6:30 or 7:00pm.

Wonderful sounds for sleep

Elizabeth Pantley Research indicates that "white noise" sounds or soft bedtime music helps many babies to relax and fall asleep more easily.

Sleep solutions for parents

Jodie Benveniste How many parents out there long for a decent night’s sleep? Plenty! So why are there only sleep solution books aimed at kids? Parents need one too!

Twins: Sleeping

Vicki Morris Newborn babies, regardless of whether they are singletons, twins, triplets, quads… or sextuplets (those Mums are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G) sleep, on average, about 16-18 hours per day, broken by feeds. The main difficulty, and joy, with twins is that there are two babies.

Breastfeeding

Essential Baby recommends that all new mothers aim to breastfeed their babies.

Ten breastfeeding tips

Meagan Shaw Here are ten breastfeeding tips to help you with your new role as a food source for your bub!

Fact sheets

Australian Breastfeeding Association

Just as women enrol in antenatal classes during pregnancy to learn about childbirth, mothers-to-be find subscribing to the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) before their baby is born, or attending a breastfeeding education class, a great way to learn about breastfeeding and parenting.

Breastfeeding helpline launched

ABA 1800 mum 2 mum utilises the real-life experience of over 200 trained volunteer counsellors each week who help other mums with issues including expressing and storing milk, weaning, supply and what to do when baby simply says no.

Twins: Feeding

Vicki Morris Along with sleeping, the act of feeding is what will take up the vast majority of your newborn babies’ lives for the first 3 months or so…and yours for that matter. There are two options you have in terms of feeding your babies: breastfeeding or formula feeding.

Breastfeeding "slogans"

Essential Baby members We all know of the copious benefits that breastfeeding has for your baby, but what about the benefits to Mum?

Donating breast milk

Mothers Milk Bank Women who have decided to breastfeed will know breastmilk is the ideal food for babies. It is especially important for babies who are sick or premature, and can make all the difference to their health.

Seven secrets to surviving your baby's first year

Jodie Benveniste Jodie Benveniste, director of Parent Wellbeing, shares seven ways to cope with the highs and lows of raising a baby.

First 6 Months

Baby First Aid

Little Aid Congratulations on your new little bundle! No doubt you’ve had the roller-coaster of euphoria, fear, joy, fear, contentment, fear, happiness and... “Jeez this is just too much!”

Perinatal anxiety and depression

Gloria Barton & Catherine Knox Around 20 percent of women suffer from perinatal anxiety and depression, which equates to 50,000 women each year. The illness does not discriminate, and if left untreated can have far reaching effects on a woman's health, wellbeing and her family.

Parenting support: where to get help

A helpful guide to contact information if you are looking for help, support or assistance.

Advice for new premmie parents

Having a premature baby can be a very lonely and frightening experience. In our communities there may be very few people who understand the specific problems facing parents of very early babies. Sometimes our babies are transferred to hospitals far from home and this can make us feel even more alienated and lost.

Premmie book list

Having a premmie baby is the beginning of a difficult journey for baby and family. Rest assured there is plenty of support available. Here is a book list covering a range of issues you may be facing.

Vaccines and your child

Researching vaccinations often unturns a wealth of conflicting information. Here are the answers to common questions regarding vaccinations and your baby or child.

Australian vaccination schedule

When you have a newborn to look after there will be plenty of doctor's visits, health and development checks and of course vaccinations. Below is the most recent schedule for the Australian National Immunisation Program (NIP).

Immunisation Register

If your child is under seven and lives in Australia, the Australia Childhood Immunisation Register (ACIR) will automatically record details of their vaccinations.

The wonderful world of newborn twins

Vicki Morris Congratulations! I’m going to assume that as you are reading this you have either found out that you are going to have twins, or perhaps you have twins that you've prepared earlier.

Twins: Establishing a routine

Vicki Morris The two most important pieces of advice I was given after the birth of my twins were:

Twins: Sleeping

Vicki Morris Newborn babies, regardless of whether they are singletons, twins, triplets, quads… or sextuplets (those Mums are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G) sleep, on average, about 16-18 hours per day, broken by feeds. The main difficulty, and joy, with twins is that there are two babies.

Twins: Feeding

Vicki Morris Along with sleeping, the act of feeding is what will take up the vast majority of your newborn babies’ lives for the first 3 months or so…and yours for that matter. There are two options you have in terms of feeding your babies: breastfeeding or formula feeding.

Twins: Nappies, bottoms & bathing

Vicki Morris Same as a singleton baby, your twins will do number ones and number twos… frequently. So, same as a singleton Mum, you need to make the choice between disposable or cloth nappies. The difficulty with twins is knowing how many nappies to have. The simple answer is… a lot!

Raising triplets

Anni Taylor That first pregnancy ultrasound is usually filled with nervous anticipation and excitement for new parents. But imagine the shock for parents in finding there are three little beings occupying the ultrasound screen!