The Mama Nurse

Wishing you all a very merry, safe, relaxing Christmas holiday, even if it does look a bit different for us this year. How have you been doing with the recent COVID-19 protocols? I thought that I was being pretty chill with it all, but I seem to have developed an annoying eye twitch that won't go away - most likely related to the schools extending their holiday closure an extra week Let me know how you're doing in the comments below, and what you are enjoying the most this ...Christmas! Much love, Tori

Our kids were very excited to find out that we are expecting our 4th baby this summer! Soon enough, I will be joining you in all those sleepless nights . Of course all of those baby snuggles will make up for it! When did your little ones start sleeping longer stretches?

You are not alone "The pandemic is only making matters worse for new mothers, when it comes to mental health. A 2020 survey conducted between April and May of 520 pregnant women and 380 women who had given birth within the past 12 months, (primarily Canadian), reported a jump of self-reported depression rates from 15 percent to 40.7 percent, prior to and during the pandemic. Anxiety rates also soared in this population, from a pre-pandemic 29 percent to 72 percent. With COVID-19 demanding that people stay home and physically distanced as much as possible, it is particularly important that those women who may be experiencing PPD/PPA seek diagnosis and have treatment options and resources available to them."

As per Health Canada's current recommendations, the Pfizer vaccine should not be administered to: - Individuals with a history of anaphylaxis after previous administration of the vaccine. - Persons with proven immediate or anaphylactic hypersensitivity to any allergic to any of the component of the vaccine or its container, including polyethylene glycol.... - Vaccination should be deferred in symptomatic individuals with confirmed or suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection, or those with symptoms of COVID-19. - Acutely ill individuals. - Women who are or who may become pregnant until further evidence is available. - Breastfeeding women until further evidence is available. - Individuals who are immunosuppressed. - Individuals under the age of 16. So what does that mean? For now, pregnant & lactating women and children under 16 are not advised to get the vaccine. Hopefully new information will come out soon. I'll continue to post anything important that I come across! I know this is a tough decision for families.

The COVID-19 Vaccine & Pregnancy ACOG recently made a recommendation to not exclude pregnant & lactating women from receiving the vaccine. "The Food and Drug Administration is likely soon to authorize distribution of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. But the vaccine trials have so far excluded pregnant people.... Among those first in line to get the vaccine, this is a significant exclusion. Three-quarters of health care workers are women, including more than 85% of nurses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 330,000 health care personnel could be pregnant or recently postpartum at the time of vaccine implementation. Studies have found that pregnant people are at an increased risk of severe COVID-19. As NPR's Richard Harris reported, vaccine researchers don't expect that the shots will put mothers or newborns at risk but unfortunately, pregnancy-specific data do not yet exist. "The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines both rely on brand-new messenger RNA technology but Jamieson doesn't see any scientific cause for concern there. With these vaccines, she says, the mRNA basically goes into the muscle cells, provides information to the cells about how to manufacture the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and then the mRNA is rapidly degraded. "So I can't think of any potential reason or theoretical reason to be concerned about mRNA vaccines in pregnancy, with the one exception of when you give a vaccine and you mount an immune response, you can get a fever. And fever is something that we try and avoid in pregnancy," she says. "So it may be important that if women get a fever, that they treat [it] with acetaminophen, which is what we recommend for fevers in pregnancy." "Knowing what I know about the [mRNA vaccine's] mechanism of action, I would anticipate that this vaccine should be very safe in pregnancy," Jamieson says." https://www.npr.org//pregnant-people-havent-been-part-of-v

Sometimes introducing a bottle makes sense for families. Here's a great way to minimize the risk of bottle flow preference and overfeeding. The Paced Bottle Feeding Technique: 1. Choose a bottle with a narrow base and the slowest flow nipple your baby will tolerate. You will want your baby to be able to get a deep, comfortable latch.... 2. Keep your baby nice and close to you, facing slightly inward so you can look at each other. This is a great time to bond with your baby. 3. Keep your baby in a semi-upright position. This will allow your baby to control the flow of the bottle better and be in control. 4. Gently introduce the bottle, allowing your baby time to open his/her mouth and latch on. You will want to keep the bottle horizontal to your baby, tipped slightly while your baby is drinking. Then, when your baby stops drinking, you can tip the bottle down slightly to give them a break. 5. Continue the feed while following your baby's feeding cues. You can stop partway through to burp. If your baby stops drinking, don't try to finish the bottle. Let them tell you when they are full. Did you use this paced bottle feeding technique with your baby? If you need any help with feeding your baby, don't hesitate to reach out.