Consequences of stress on children's development...

I worked with as family last year who had trouble financially. Mom had lost her job, and dad spent majority of the income from his wages on rent and utilities. Each day the mother and family would come into the classroom and sit with their son at the table. Their son would offer them components form his meal and they would accept. Mid-year, the child's mother spoke with me in the hallway and explained to me that she was having difficulty feeding her family. 
After speaking with my co-teacher we got together to compile a list of resources and services that would be very beneficial in helping this family provide hot and healthy meals for their children.

While reading an article entitled; " A Cry for Help", it stated that their are about 18 million individuals within the West African Region that suffer from hunger and drought. Because of the drought live-stock and crops are suffering unable to produce and nourish the country.
There are organizations such as; UNICEF, Save the Children, Oxfam, and World Food Programme that help ensure that starving countries have clean water supply, adequate food supply, medical help, and shelter. 

 Reference:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/cry-hunger-drought-crisis-west-africa/story?id=16449341

Child Development and public health...

Sudden Infant death is particularly important to me because it is not only devastating to the families but as unclear as to the cause.

SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is defined as an unexplained sudden death of an infant 1month to 1 year.  SIDS has claimed the life of over 2,500 infants a year within the United States http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/sids.html.

In countries such as Africa and Asia, it is a custom for most infants to sleep close to their mothers, as oppose to the education society receives on the risk of suffocation and over heating the infant. In a precious article that talked about Asian customs, it discussed how SIDS is quite lower in Asian countries because parents learn their child’s body movements, sleep patterns, respiratory sounds, as well as monitor body temperatures http://www.health24.com/Medical/Diseases/Sudden-Infant-Death-Syndrome-SIDS-20120721.

This subject is important to me because a year ago I taught a little girl who lost her infant to SIDS at the age of 3 months. The mother was young and addicted to street drugs, while returning home from a night out, she decided to take her child out of her crib to hold her, and fell asleep with the child on the couch beside her. Not gathering the full details, the report came back as SIDS, however a part of me thinks that with proper education before exiting the hospital after giving birth can help families prevent these tragedy from happening, I say, prevent because I am not aware of every child’s death do to SIDS, but I have worked with a few young parents that have lost their child to SIDS.

The Purple Crying video is a great way to help families learn more about SIDS, Postpartum, and how to really take care of your infant as well as your self after bringing your infant home.

 The Period of Purple Crying video below:

 http://youtu.be/ksVx6LfvFjs

Childbirth in Your Life and Around the World- EDUC- 6160-8

5 years ago I gave birth to two baby girls, one that weighed 1Lb 6oz, and the 1Lb 9oz. What I remember most about this experience is that I knew in my heart giving birth at 25 weeks was way too early! I had no signs or symptoms that would have led me to believe that I would be bringing my girls into this world almost 4 1/2 months before they were ready.
I remember going to my 3rd doctors appointment and being told I was going to be admitted into the hospital after my ultra sound was complete. I was in shock, and demanded answers, but my doctor could not give me much, but to tell me my cervix had shrank since my last appointment two weeks ago.
After coming to the realization that I would soon be delivering my twin girls any day, I contacted my husband, and he met me at the hospital. I was set up on a floor that was for at risk pregnant women, all I can remember were the awful pale walls, and a room that was the size of a restroom stall. I was monitored often by the doctors and nurses for the first two days, by the third day I asked my nurse to check me because I was feeling pressure. My nurse hooked up the very unnecessary monitors to track the babies heart beats and movements, I think say that because I was so early the belts rolled completely off of me and the poor little Twinkies were not found.
After convincing the nurse that I was feeling pressure she agreed to send in the doctors, by that night, I was in labor about to give birth to my micro-twins.
When I look back at the experience, I cry, but I cry tears of joy knowing that my sweet baby girls survived after one twin having 3 brain surgeries and heart surgery and the other twin having heart surgery. Having a premature birth is definitely not expected and as a parent who has never experienced this process it can be extremely scary and confusing.
As with any extreme birth emergency, it was explained to my husband and I the risk of children born premature:

• Learning delays.
• Physical delays
• Speech delays
• possible ADHD

Makenzie the smaller of the two went through speech therapy at the age of 3 that lasted about 6 months, Destinee had 6 months of physical development to loosen her gait in her legs at the age of 1. My girls are now 5 years old and have beat the odds of many children born extreme premature.

I decided to look into child development in West Africa. I found that 130 million children are at risk due to malnutrition, AIDS, and lack of medical resources. Although the mortality rate is decreasing, children are dying before the age of 1 from failure to thrive,Socioeconomic status, poverty, over crowding, in adequate food supply, and disease play a huge part. 
web.worldbank.org 

I am not sure if I can really relate my experience to the severity in Africa, however I do know that children that are born healthy have a right to medical, food,  safe environments, and healthy living conditions, as a healthy mother carrying twins I could not choose when my children would be born, nor could I predict their outcome.

Destinee.....