Ontario nurses aren't happy about proposed cuts to the Ontario postnatal program, Healthy Babies Healthy Children, and neither should you be.
The program, launched in 1998, offered new moms a phone call and home visit in the week following birth. As of next January, that program will face the axe, leaving many mothers high and dry at a time when they are most vulnerable and in need of support. Many will give up breastfeeding prematurely, while others suffering from postpartum depression will go untreated.
"It is very contradictory that the province states it supports breastfeeding... but the government plans to eliminate the most comprehensive source of support for mothers in those first days who are attempting to breastfeed," said Linda Haslam-Stroud, president of the Ontario Nurses' Association.
Another public health nurse in the GTA claimed mothers normally considered low risk would go on, in the absence of such post-birth screening, to become high risk. Public health nurses provide an invaluable service to new moms, from providing education and referrals to community services to picking up on issues like domestic violence and postpartum depression that would otherwise go undetected.
Was this postnatal service helpful to you? If so, please voice your concerns to Premier Dalton McGuinty. It's the only way to guarantee all new moms get the same level of support.
Image Credit: Healthy Ottawa Public Health
A Texas daycare owner has been charged with drugging children so they would nap.
According to Fox News, Kimberly Lane, who ran the Luv n Learning Child Development Center in Van Alstyne, allegedly put antihistamines into the tots’ milk to make them sleep. Workers at the daycare center reported the owner’s actions to the authorities. When investigators turned up, they could smell the flavoured antihistamines in the children’s milk. The children were aged between 20 months and four years old.
The maximum sentence Lane faces is two years’ jail time, with a fine of $10,000 per 16 counts of endangerment to a child.
Shockingly, this isn’t the first such incident. Another daycare worker was charged in a church daycare in Ohio last year. And it follows on the back of toddlers escaping a Markham daycare.
Parents are anxious enough about leaving their children in someone else’s care. You trust that a person’s credentials are sound. But in the case of the Markham daycare, sometimes credentials are not enough. You never really know what goes on behind closed doors.
A scary thought for this mom whose son has just started daycare! I’ve had nothing but warm vibes from his teachers and the director of the daycare. Still, I plan to drop in unannounced from time to time, and I will certainly pay close attention to my son’s verbal and non-verbal cues.
What steps did you take to select and monitor your childcare provider?
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A young stay-at-home mom from New Brunswick, Cathleen Hachey was 27-weeks pregnant during her last surrogacy when the British couple she'd found through the Surrogate Mothers Online website dropped her after their marriage ended suddenly. They told her by text message.
Despite having no lawyer or fertility doctor to advise her, 20-year-old Hachey was able to find an adoptive home for the twins she was carrying. But the episode highlights the vulnerability of surrogates in Canada.
"Here's a lovely, trusting young woman who should have taken care of herself," said Sherry Levitan, a Toronto-based fertility lawyer. "The law is there for a reason."
Although there was a contract in place -- albeit drawn up by the British couple -- the babies were found to be Hachey's responsibility because her egg had been used in the conception (the British mom suffered from polycystic ovarian syndrome). It's a method of surrogacy experts now frown upon, as it is too fraught with potential complications.
"They were my biological children so they were my biological problem," said Hachey who already had two youngsters of her own. "It was hard. If I was in a better position, I would have kept them."
Under the current legislation, Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC), Hachey was acting illegally. Surrogates must be over 21 years of age and mustn't accept payment for carrying someone else's baby. Since the act was passed in 2004, there have been 20 reported infringements reported.
As for the young mom, one hopes she's learned her lesson. Once bitten, twice shy. Or maybe not.
"[Next time] I'll have my own lawyer. I'll have a lot of stipulations in the contract to protect myself," said Hachey, who plans to start another surrogacy in January. She claims she would choose surrogacy as a "lifelong job" if she could, to help those who are unable to conceive.
Now here's someone who obviously loves being pregnant. Do you think she's crazy or amazingly altruistic?
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