Reading up on Autism

When we're not dealing with it in a very intense one-on-one situation with Emily, Sue and I are reading up on , talking about or watching specials on TV about autism.

It's not taken over our lives, but we're very keenly aware how above and beyond we need to go for Emily.

Having said that, I've been reading with keen interest how they're dealing with Autism in the Halton region of Ontario. This is an area west of Toronto that encompasses Oakville and Burlington. Oakville, being one of the richer cities in all of Canada.

Their local newspaper ran a 4 part special on Autism - touching on various aspects of the disorder - diet,  financial hardships, how much more parents are required to do, etc.

Having read a couple of the articles, I'm exhausted by reading how exhausted the various parents interviewed are. Nothing in the articles paints a very rosy picture of the disorder, apart from that moment when a breakthrough occurs - which is just magical.

It's good to know you're not alone in being the parent of an ASD child, but I would give anything to not be part of the club.

Child Trust Fund axed

As part of the government's plan to claw back some of the nation's deficit, the ill thought out and little used Child Trust Fund was severely cut back today, with an aim to completely axing it by 2011.

The scheme, which we partook in for Emily, gave new born children £250 to be invested in a special account under their name (£500 for poorer families). Ostensibily, this was to help pay for college or other life changing events once they turned 18. However, most critics pointed out that as the scheme was in the child's name, it could equally be used to pay for a massive drunked party as it could be to pay for further education and that parents were better off opening accounts for their children they could monitor.

Under the terms announced today, the £250 is trimmed back to £50 for the next year (£100 for poorer families) and then cut altogether.

To explain the cuts, a government official explained to BBC:

"At present, the child trust fund is based on the claim that young people will build up an asset which they can use later in life.

"But since government payments into the scheme are essentially being funded by public borrowing, the government is also storing up debts which will have to be repaid by the same young people."

We took the £250 and left it at that, so Emily when she turns 18 will get £250 plus 18 years worth of interest. There was to be a top up payment of £250 at age seven, but this has been axed as well.

It'll be interesting to see if any replacement comes about when the good (economic) times kick in.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Child trust funds to be scrapped (guardian.co.uk)
• Child Trust Funds to be scrapped (news.bbc.co.uk)

Baby dehydration

Image via Wikipedia

Just when you think that breast feeding is the defacto best method for feeding your child, a horror story about dehydration, salt build up and gangrene appears in the press.

The BBC (among others) has run with a story today outlining how breast feeding your child CAN lead to - in extreme cases - death. So much for breast is best.

Apparently, in the early stages of life, it's a bit of a crapshoot getting your child to latch on to the nipple correctly. Then you're never sure how much is being taken in. If the child isn't taking in enough, hypernatraemic dehydration can occur. When this happens,"the levels of sodium in [the child's] blood rise dramatically, and if untreated, this can lead to seizures, gangrene, brain damage - and in the worst cases, death. "

When Emily was born we were told that the collostrum that was in Sue breasts (think the crusty topping in a gold top bottle of milk) might not enough to feed the hungry belly of a large baby like Emily, so we supplemented the first few nights with formula until the milk ran free.

Thankfully we never had an issue with Em "clamping on," as it were. There's enough crap out there without having to worry about the "fool proof" method of nourishing your child.

Emily's latest health visit

Sue took Em to the doctor's today for her latest check up. All things are normal.

However, we may not be giving her enough fat or food in her diet as she's not put on any weight as such in the past few weeks. It makes me wonder how much you're supposed to feed a baby.

When Em is breastfeeding she usually falls asleep - that's a good enough sign to me she's had enough. With normal food, if she could talk she could utter "please, can I have some more?" but as it is, she eats what we give her and then goes on to other tasks - playing, pooping, etc.

I've cottoned on, however, that when she cries now it's not neccessarily teething related. She may actually be hungry. A couple of times I automatically reached for the Calpol and teeth powders. In hindsight, I don't think that would have made her very full.

Other news from the doc is that Em is quite tall. 76cm. As 30cm is a foot, she's closer to 3 ft than she is to 2 ft, which is quite good. They say a child at 2 or 3 is half the height they'll be as an adult. Em is clearly on the way to being an amazonian 6 footer.

Other good news is her body seems to be growing into her head, which is now back on the chart (having been off it for a bit). hopefully her head continues to grow at a more chart-worthly proportion or she'll look like one of those odd shrunken heads when she's older.

In other health related news, Sue was told that Em shouldn't go to Aqua Tots tomorrow as her cough is quite bad, and the green groolies won't stop seeping from her nose.

We're still off to the NCT sale and Santa's grotto though!

Towering Emily

With Emily almost as big as toddlers months older than her, we've been routinely told she'll be a tall girl. In fact, our midwife just after Em's delivery, told us she'd be tall and have trouble finding a boyfriend.

Yay!

With that in mind, I took keen interest in an article The Times are running today on the troubles of being a tall woman. Granted these women are gargantuan - over 7ft tall in some cases - but I imagine there MAY be some relevance for my large baby.

Ah the joys of worried parenthood. Of course, on the flipside, she could have been a midget - at least then she could have continued shopping in the children's clothing section.

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