Tots to teens: breastfeeding gift boxes created by a mum who's 'been there'
Mama's Boobie Box - the breastfeeding essentials
When we decide the time has come to start a family, it can take a matter of months to get a positive pregnancy test, and nine months later, we’re holding a baby.
But it's not so easy for one in six couples in Ireland. They struggle to conceive or carry a pregnancy to term. This means that if they want to have a family, they have to learn all about fertility and the ways it can be tracked, boosted and enhanced thanks to modern medical treatments.
The Fertility Masterclass, which takes place in Dublin on May 14, is a live event that aims to cover everything these couples need to know.
Fertility specialist Dr Lyunda Shkrobot is one of the main speakers and will show couples how to track their cycles.
She will tell them what they can expect from their first fertility clinic appointment, what tests they will have to undergo and how to interpret the results. She will also explain the difference between IUI, IVF and ICSI.
Other topics will include secondary infertility, sperm and egg donation and more.
- Tickets for the masterclass cost 140 per person and €210 per couple. They are available from www.bowandrattle.com/pages/masterclass.
Calling all bookworms: the annual Towers and Tales Children’s Book Festival is happening in Lismore this Saturday, April 29, and promises a fun-filled day of reading, wonder and curiosity for all the family.
There’s an exciting line-up of ticketed events featuring the British children’s laureate Joseph Coelho as well as Irish authors Paddy Donnelly, Aoife Dooley, Muireann Ní Chíobháin and Kathi Burke.
The free events are just as entertaining. Taking place in Lismore Castle, they include opportunities to doodle glow-in-the-dark ghouls and ghosts on the walls of the dungeons, to knock on the castle door for a story or to get reading prescriptions from the Children’s Books Ireland Book Doctors.
That’s not all. Children will be invited to create collaborative cave drawings, bring their own characters and stories to life, join in musical adventures, and much more.
- Full details can be found at www.towersandtalesfestival.ie.
Ennis-based mum Petrina O’Halloran found breastfeeding her first child challenging. She also found it difficult to source practical products that might make breastfeeding a little easier.
She wanted to help other mothers avoid such problems, which led to her setting up www.mamasboobiebox.com, a gift box service that contains the essentials every new breastfeeding mum needs.
These gift boxes range in price from €55 to €160. They are colourfully packaged and include nursing cushions, breast pumps, washable breast pads, lactation tea, nipple cream, and a breastfeeding cover for mums who like privacy when feeding in public.
The ISPCC has launched three mental health and wellbeing programmes to help address the growing rates of anxiety in children and young people. One is called Space from Anxiety and is aimed at 14 to 18-year-olds experiencing low to moderate anxiety. The other two, Supporting an Anxious Child and Supporting an Anxious Teen, are for parents and carers who want to help children and young people.
These free programmes are delivered online and based on cognitive behaviour therapy. They include interactive tools, activities, mood monitors and journals encouraging users to apply CBT to their lives.
Dee Higgins is an ISPCC volunteer who has found the programmes empowering. “They give young people and their parents a chance to deal with anxiety before it becomes a huge issue,” she says. “They learn skills they can introduce into their day-to-day lives to help themselves, skills they will use for the rest of their lives.”
- Contact 01-522 4300 or spacefromanxiety@ispcc.ie for more details.
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