Stages and Preparation
Motherly Advice
What they don't tell you about babies and motherhood!
GILL SOUTH Many parents go around in the first few weeks after the arrival of their baby, spluttering: “But nobody told us it would be like this!” This article is for those who really want to know what it's like.
Building a maternity wardrobe
Create yourself a simple stylish and flattering maternity (and post baby) wardrobe with these easy style tips from stylist Kendall Serich.
Fact sheets
Buying for baby
You don’t need to spend a fortune on buying for your baby – you can save by borrowing, hiring and buying second-hand. Following is a list of some of the main items you will need.
Fact sheets
Prams and strollers
For some parents buying a stroller is a decision given equal importance to buying a car! You only need to head to the EB forums to discover stroller aficionados who have multiple strollers and have tried and tested a dizzying array of brands and models. But don't fear, we'll help you decide.
Tips for choosing a family-friendly car
You've agonised over the stroller, now it's time to figure out which car is going to fit you, your new baby, other children and stroller with ease, style and safety.
A no-stress guide to baby names
MCT There's no way around it - every baby needs a name. It isn't always an easy decision, but with these tips it can be a fun one.
Fact sheets
Baby name checklist
RICHIE YOUNG Whilst your child can change their name by deed poll in the future it probably isn't what you want to envision during the baby naming process. Here are six points to consider when you put pen to paper and narrow it down to a shortlist.
Fact sheets
Choosing a traditional or unique baby name
RICHIE YOUNG With gossip magazines and celebrity obsession at an all-time high, are traditional names a thing of the past? With Jamie Oliver, the Jolie-Pitts, Sir Bob Geldof, TomKat and Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow as inspiration, young parents are certainly more daring when naming their babies than their own parents were.
Fact sheet
Tools for finding a baby name
RICHIE YOUNG We’ve all browsed though baby name books, searching every one of those pages for one of those baby names to jump out at us. But since the internet has become dominant, the information superhighway has become clogged with baby-name suggesting websites that it’s almost impossible to decipher which ones are any good, and which ones aren’t.
Features archive
Baby naming ceremonies
WENDY HAYNES Naming and welcoming ceremonies have been part of family and community life for centuries. Almost every culture has a ceremony or a ritual designed to celebrate or mark the occasion of birth.
Fact sheets
Baby showers
ANNI TAYLOR The baby shower – it’s an event that can strike fear into the heart of the calmest of women. What are the best baby shower games? How exactly does one make a nappy cake? And where on this side of the universe do I get those tiny plastic babies?
Fact sheets
Baby shower games
For new ideas on baby shower games, try adapting the games that you and your family and friends love. And if you have elderly family relatives attending, including some familiar family games might make the event more enjoyable all around.
Fact sheets
Baby shower High Tea
ANNI TAYLOR Tea parties are back in style, even for that bastion of giggly girly games – the baby shower. The impending births of the babies of celebrities Naomi Watts and Jessica Alba were celebrated with afternoon teas (often termed ‘High Tea.)
Health
Your pregnancy
ESSENTIAL BABY The following guide offers helpful advice and suggestions about what you need to do next.
Hazards and precautions
Once you find out you are pregnant, there are some basic precautions that you should take to ensure both you and your baby's health.
Your diet during pregnancy
During your pregnancy, you need to ensure that everything you eat is good for the health and well-being of both you and your baby.
Fact sheets
Tips for a healthy pelvic floor
Five tips to help you improve and maintain bladder control.
Complications in pregnancy
While most pregnancies will progress safely and without any major problems, for some there may be complications.
Fact sheets
Ectopic pregnancy
Ectopic pregnancy is a complication of pregnancy where the fertilised ovum is implanted in tissue other than the uterine wall, such as the cervix, fallopian tubes or ovaries.
Features archive
High risk pregnancy: informing family and friends
STEPHANIE AZRI The problem with diagnosis of long-term or life-threatening disease in unborn children is that the mother may be pregnant enough for others to see it, and questions that would not be asked in the early stages of pregnancy will now arise from all sides.
Miscarriage
Miscarriage is the natural or spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the prenate is incapable of surviving, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation. Miscarriage is the most common complication of early pregnancy.
Features archive
Women's experience of miscarriage
MELISSA MAIMANN The experience of miscarriage is often misunderstood by women's friends, families and the medical community, causing feelings of isolation, frustration and fear.
Features archive
Advice on coping with a miscarriage
MELISSA MAIMANN Essential Baby member and midwife Melissa talks to EB members about how they coped with their miscarriage and what advice they can share with others.
Helping a friend who has suffered a loss
ESSENTIAL BABY MEMBERS Losing a baby is an experience no parent wants to go through, yet many have to face. A neonatal loss, miscarriage or stillbirth often leaves friends and family not knowing what to say or how to react, and this can make such a grief-filled time even harder.
Your birth
Your birth choices
The following information is designed to assist you with making choices about the type of care you would like throughout your pregnancy, and how you would like to give birth to your baby.
Your birth plan
These days you and your partner can play a far more active role in your pregnancy, labour and birth.
Features archive
Birth Trauma
MELISSA MAIMANN Birth trauma can affect any woman who has given birth. Although it is experienced by many women, most women do not talk about it and many may not even know they have it. This silence does nothing to help women move past their trauma; it is my hope that this article will help you along the path to recovery.
Preparing for labour
You are approaching the end of your pregnancy and it is time to get ready for that important moment when labour begins.
Features archive
Tips for a VBAC
MELISSA MAIMANN Are you planning or considering a vaginal birth after a caesarean (VBAC)? With the Australian caesar rate up to 31% more and more women are reconsidering a subsequent caesar. Read Essential Baby’s tips to help you put your plan into action.
Choosing a hospital
When it comes to your pregnancy, choosing where you will give birth is one of the biggest decisions you will make.
Fact sheets
Packing your hospital bag
ESSENTIAL BABY MEMBERS The days of grabbing your keys, mobile and wallet and heading out the door are soon to be over, and it all starts with the birth! Here is a comprehensive checklist devised by Essential Baby members to help you with your first step on the journey of parenthood!
Public hospital care
Public care offers several options, each of which are free of charge if you are a Medicare cardholder.
Private hospital care
Choosing where you will give birth is a big decision. One of the attractions of private hospital care is the high standard of comfort and quality of food.
Independent midwives and homebirth
A homebirth is an option for low risk pregnancies, but it will still depend on how your pregnancy progresses, and any other medical and safety considerations.
Planning for the first six weeks of a baby's life
The first six weeks of a baby's life are a hugely unsettling time, so a little planning will go a long way towards keeping the rest of the household running.
Work
Pregnancy and work
While it is more common for women to take maternity leave, increasingly men are taking paternity leave allowing their wives to return to the workforce.
How to have a baby on a budget
JODIE MCEWEN We didn’t set out on this parenthood journey looking to become financially rich, and yes, it takes money to raise a family. But how much does it really cost?
Eight month financial plan for baby
WILSON AND ANALAURA LUNA Combining their own experience of raising a family with their financial knowledge, husband and wife financial planning team, Wilson and Analaura Luna, have written an eight month baby financial plan.
The office plan for pregnancy
COLLEEN SIMPSON A drawer crammed with snacks; herbal tea; or scaling back duties. There are ways to cope at work with looming motherhood, says Colleen Simpson.
Fact sheet
Practical tips for working Mums
ESSENTIAL BABY MEMBERS Essential Baby members and full-time working mothers share their tips on how they juggle work, children, and getting everyone up and out the door every morning. On time!
Sex
Sex during pregnancy
While pregnancy is the beginning of many physical and emotional changes, you will be pleased to know that, unless you have been advised otherwise for medical reasons, it is safe to have sex while pregnant. In fact, you may find sex is better than ever!
Resuming sex
While your sex life during pregnancy may continue normally, sex after the birth is probably going to be the last thing on your mind.
Features archive
Sex after baby
MELISSA MAIMANN Welcome to parenthood! New babies are amazing, wondrous beings, aren't they? But, for someone so small, they can bring with them endless tasks. Is there any time or desire for sex?
Features archive
Tips for sex after baby
MELISSA MAIMANN Pregnancy, birth and newborn babies bring on a flurry of questions and inevitably you will come to ask the question about resuming sex post birth. Here are our tips for getting in the mood!
Dads-to-be
Labour and birth, a man's role
Chances are, you are going to be the birth partner when your partner gives birth. Although you don't have to go through the physical strain of having the baby, your support role is just as important.
Features archive
Qualities of a great Dad
PETER DENMAN Being a Dad is a tough job but it can be one of the most rewarding a man will have. Father's can be one of the greatest positive influences in a child's life, here are just some of the ways:
Feature member
Fatherhood
ANNI TAYLOR "From the moment of conception, men go from ‘best actor’ to ‘best actor in a supporting role’.” New dad Paul shares an honest, must-read tale of modern fatherhood.
Part 1: Self-esteem
JOHN BASTICK John Bastick tackles the issue of father-time and raising sons with self-esteem, whilst musing that a recent outing to McDonalds with his 18-month year old son probably wasn't such a good idea.
Part 2: Emotional courage
JOHN BASTICK Ask pretty much any Aussie dad what they’d like their sons to grow up to be and there’ll be a fair-to-middling chance the answer will be “sports man”. However there’s mounting evidence to suggest that fostering only the physical in our boys is not only limiting but it’s also dangerous.
Part 3: Dads as role models
JOHN BASTICK It's those little things - teaching your son to ride his first bike, hammer a nail, tie some rope - things we consider inconsequential at the time that are showing to have real value in a child's development.
What they don't tell guys about parenthood
RICHIE YOUNG Every reasonable new dad (if in his right mind) will concede that life’s harder for new mums. But if we’re coming across a dazed and confused, please forgive us. We’re shell-shocked too.
What they don't tell Dads about breastfeeding
RICHIE YOUNG If The Nightly Adventures of Poo, Wee and Tears hasn’t already tipped us over the edge into the realisation that life as we knew it has disappeared forever, the breastfeeding most surely will.
