December Bump + Beyond news
Tis the season to be jolly!
Finally, we can get into the spirit of Christmas and spend a moment to reflect on some of the lovely stories in the news right now.
This month’s round up includes one family’s delight to spend their first Christmas with their miracle baby, as well as Made in Chelsea stars, Maeva and James, on why they're celebrating the birth of their little one.
We’ll also be looking at how scientists have found a similarity in baby talk used by parents across the globe and why Emily Ratajkowski is breaking gender stereotypes with her one-year-old son.
Premature baby who weighed less than 1kg at birth to celebrate first Christmas at home
Photo by Unsplash
New mum Sophie and partner Lloyd are over the moon to spend their first Christmas as a family with their little girl Marley. That’s because earlier this year, Sophie’s waters broke when she was just 25 weeks into her pregnancy. Sophie ultimately went into labour giving birth to tiny Marley in April 2022, weighing just 750g.
Little Marley was taken to the NICU unit for many health issues, including renal failure and a bleed on the brain with doctors at the Doncaster Hospital warning the couple that because she was so small, she may not make it. However, after 120 days spent in hospital, she has miraculously defied all odds and battled her way back to health. Now 7 months old, Marley weighs a wonderful 9lb 9oz and is coming home for Christmas!
The pair plan on “going all out” this holiday period adding “"We cannot wait to have a first Christmas as a family of three, it's just going to be amazing.”
NBS Loves
It really is a Christmas miracle for Sophie and Lloyd who can now, after months of worry, finally have their little girl home and healthy for the holidays. We love that Christmas is a time for family, and this year, it’ll mean so much more for this couple.
Made In Chelsea's Maeva and James welcome their first child together after a difficult labour
E4’s Made in Chelsea stars Maeva and James have recently welcomed their first child together – a little baby boy - admitting their labour experience was difficult.
The reality stars announced the news via Instagram with 30-year-old Maeva uploading a series of photos of her gorgeous baby boy captioning the post, “Welcoming the last 9 months and 11 days into our lives this morning was everything and more than we could have ever hoped for”.
Maeva also spoke about her lengthy labour, adding "Being induced on Sunday and trying to achieve a vaginal birth from the outset wasn’t meant to be. We both decided... a C section was the safest option to bring our boy to us…On Wednesday morning 30/11/2022 Beau Christian Taylor joined our growing family (9lbs 9oz!)."
James also took to Instagram to let his followers know the wonderful news, writing "I’m pretty proud of this. Very well done for enduring that experience @maevadascanio now we have our little boy and bonne chance to us".
The TV stars received congratulations from lots of celeb friends, such as co-star Emily Blackwell who said "Congratulations @maevadascanio @jamestaylorldn he’s adorable such a lovely name as well xxx".
NBS Loves
Whether you keep up with the reality show or not, it’s always amazing to hear the news that a little one has arrived happy and healthy. We love that Maeva and James have also been open and honest about the difficulties of labour and how sometimes, things don't always go to plan.
Scientists discover parent’s baby talk is the same in 36 different languages
Photo by Unsplash
A study by the University of York and Denmark’s Aarhus University has revealed that baby talk is the same across 36 languages.
‘Baby Talk’ which is the term coined for high pitched, sing-songy voices that often parents will use for the little ones is a global phenomenon that researchers have looked into to see if there’s a developmental reason as to why we do it.
Studies across English and European languages found that infants have a better grasp on language and speech with changes in pitch.
Christopher Cox, who led the study at York and Aarhus University’s Department of Linguistics & Cognitive Science, said: “We use a higher pitch, more melodious phrases, and a slower articulation rate when talking to infants compared to how we talk to adults, and this appears to be the same across most languages.”
Researchers argued that while more work is needed to study non-Western languages, they concluded that baby talk is instinctive and necessary.
NBS Loves
Who doesn’t find themselves doing the baby voice whenever a little bundle of joy is nearby? We love that there’s proof that baby talk is something parents across the world are equally guilty of, which is truly astonishing that our brains are all some how connected!
Emily Ratajkowski buys son a baby doll to avoid gender stereotypes
Image via Instagram
Model and actress Emily Ratajkowski revealed in an episode of her new podcast that she recently bought a baby doll and tea set in a bid to expand her little boy’s interests beyond loving, what is typically, ‘boys toys’.
The mum of one went on to admit that despite her efforts, her son Sylvester is still strongly interested in other toys, particularly his toy truck. She said, “he gets so excited, he loves to play with things with wheels. And I’m like, I’m not kidding, this morning I ordered him a baby doll and a tea set. Cause I’m like, 'we gotta balance this out.' But also, is this just what he likes, naturally?"
Emily questioned whether giving her son toys, which are often made for girls, will lead them to avoiding gender stereotypes when it comes to how a man 'should behave'. Her guest on the podcast Julia Fox, agreed that she equally doesn’t want her child to 'end up like every single guy [she’s] ever met' and that she wants that 'conditioning to stop occurring'.
NBS Loves
We believe that every toy can be perfect for a little one, no matter their gender. Although Emily’s son Sylvester loves his trucks so much, we think it's great that Emily presented the opportunity for him to explore new toys which he might not always be around.
Have your say
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the above so, if there’s a topic of discussion you think we should include in our next monthly Bump + Beyond round up, please get in touch via email to pr@naturalbabyshower.co.uk.
Explore more articles
