Infant sleep & the role it plays in mothers

By Michelle Anekeya

It is a scientifically proven fact that human beings cannot survive without sleep, and more so the development of infants lies in ensuring they get a restful night. However, what happens when both mother and baby are deprived of sleep?          

 The National sleep research project of 2000 in Australia found that the arrival of a new born baby will result in a total of 400- 750 hours of lost sleep for parents within the first year of the child’s birth. With sleep hours drastically reduced due to the various responsibilities the mother is tasked with in ensuring the baby’s proper development, mothers become increasingly susceptible to both emotional and mental health complications.

 The complications resulting in mother’s inability to sleep further affect the manner in which she interacts with her child.  Engaging the child in play and displaying affection to the child increasingly become a challenge for the mother as her mood and behavior hinders her from becoming astute to the needs of her child.

Notably, children mirror the behavior of their parents and those around them, a grumpy, irate mother will see the same behavior displayed by her child. This behavior is heightened further by keeping baby in an uncomfortable, wet diaper. 

The novelty of the modern day diaper is one that has come to be appreciated in society by both mother and baby. Half a century ago the cloth nappy was in use all around the world, with it came great challenges most especially in ensuring baby’s skin remained healthy and without infection. The nappies due to their poor absorbency rate, kept the baby damp and wet in turn increasing the number of times the baby had to wake in the middle of the night to be changed. 

 However, with the innovation of the diaper, the objective was to achieve a drastic reduction in the number of times a child had to wake in the night, thus reducing the number of disruption the child endured. 

In order to provide mother and baby with a good night’s rest it is therefore imperative to give baby the ultimate comfort at night so as to reduce the number of times the baby’s sleep is disrupted. By understanding the correlation between infant sleep patterns and mother-infant interactions, Procter & Gamble through the pampers brand, have gone ahead and developed a diaper that is highly absorbent and ensures that the baby remains dry throughout the night.

The use of the diaper therefore over cloth nappies saw that children who used the diapers awoke happier and more active. The children were also much calmer in their demeanor and interacted with their mother’s in a more jovial and positive manner. The combination of a happy baby and a mother who has had a full nights rest, then results in fulfilling and thriving relationship between mother and child.  

“The emotional connection between mother and child is key to ensuring your child grows happy, healthy and strong. By ensuring both mother and baby get uninterrupted sleep we guarantee that not only the child’s health is catered to but that of the mother.  A distressed, exhausted mother will only frustrate her child further due to her unstable emotional state. It is therefore imperative that both mother and baby sleep and sleep well.” Inem Nsimah.

Britam records 32 per cent growth in profit before tax to Kshs. 3bn

British American Investments Company (Kenya) Limited, Britam has  reported a Kshs. 3 billion pre-tax profit for the half year period ending 30^th June 2014, representing a 32 per cent growth against Kshs. 2.3 billion reported during the same period in 2013. 

The Group also recorded a 29 per cent growth in gross revenues at Kshs.6 billion compared to Ksh.4.7 billion reported in 2013. This is attributed to the positive performance of all group business units and subsidiaries, and the implementation of its growth and diversification strategy of increased local and regional presence, continuous generation of innovative products, and IT enabled business transformation.

Britam Group Managing Director, Dr. Benson Wareigi while releasing the Group's financial results at a Nairobi hotel.

While releasing the results, the Group Managing Director Dr. Benson Wairegi said, “We continue to see exponential growth of all our business units. The growth has been delivered by our deliberate move to diversify our investment portfolio, while expanding regionally. We are pleased with the results delivered by our subsidiaries of Uganda and South Sudan and we are optimistic that the second half of this year will equally deliver great results.”

Wairegi added that the Kenyan business was the biggest contributor to the revenues, delivering Kshs. 5.3 billion, which represents a 96 per cent growth of total revenue. 

The regional subsidiaries continue to record high growth rate. Regional offices contribution grew to 54.9 per cent to Kshs.  262.9 million, up from Kshs 117.9 million last year. South Sudan recorded a 183 per cent growth in the first half of 2014 at Kshs. 116 million compared to Kshs. 41 million in 2013, while Uganda delivered Kshs. 25 million, up from Kshs. 77 million. 

Asset management revenues grew to Kshs. 413.8 million up from Kshs. 267.2 million in 2013, a growth trajectory of 54.4 per cent while asset base grew by 28.3 per cent to Kshs. 55.2 billion up from Kshs. 43 billion last year. Assets Under Management (AUM) also had a growth of 26.9 per cent to Kshs. 41.5 billion up from Kshs. 32.7 billion.

The insurance business remains the most profitable, recording revenue of Kshs. 5.3 billion against Kshs. 4.3 billion recorded during the same period in 2013, representing 23.2 per cent growth. 

Total revenues grew by 28 per cent to Kshs. 10.2 billion up from Kshs. 8 billion, driven heavily by returns from stable equity market and fixed income investments.  Investment in listed equities grew by 35 per cent of total investment portfolio followed by fixed income at 28 per cent, unit trusts at 13 per cent and property at 9 per cent while investment in associated companies remained at 4%.  

Net claims were up 44% to Kshs. 3.6 billion, up from Kshs. 2.5 billion. 

The Group successfully raised Kshs. 6 billion last month through a bond issue, and also launched a county strategy that will see 5 new branches launched in Kenya by end of the year.

Airtel and VeriFone mobile money announce master agreement for the roll out of merchant enablement across Africa

Bharti Airtel and VeriFone Mobile Money, announced that they had reached an agreement to offer VeriFone Mobile Money’s merchant enablement applications for mobile Tap n Pay across Airtel’s 17 operating countries in Africa.

VeriFone Mobile Money’s Tap n Pay applications are a smart, secure and fast way for customers to pay, buy, bank, bill and remit money with their mobile phone at the point of sale.

Chidi Okpala, Director & Head of Airtel Money - Africa stated, “Airtel is excited to offer VeriFone Mobile Money’s applications to our teeming Airtel Mobile Money customers across Africa. Using their Airtel Money Wallet with VeriFone’s contactless / NFC point of sale terminals our customers will have a more convenient, fast and secure way to make multiple payment transactions utilizing Tap n Pay.”

“With this solution, we will be at the forefront of efforts to transform payments systems within the public mass transit and retail sectors in Africa”.

“Africa has one of the most evolved mobile money systems in the world,” said Chris Jones, VeriFone Mobile Money’s CEO. “Over 42 million people across Africa according to the GSMA are actively using mobile money services and there are more than 520,000 registered mobile money agents across the continent. With only 22% of Africans holding a bank account or credit facility, we fully expect the number of people to quadruple as mobile financial services offer the ‘unbanked’ a way to transact, pay bills and build assets.”

“We are excited to partner closely with Airtel Africa Group to design a unique offering to drive Africa’s mobile money evolution,” stated Mr Jones. “The partnership will enable our teams to work together with banks, insurance and transport companies to expand access to mobile financial tools and services for Airtel Money customers.”

VeriFone Mobile Money has signed a group master agreement for the delivery of its merchant enablement solutions to Airtel Africa. VeriFone Mobile Money will implement a full suite of Retail Enablement applications integrated to VeriFone’s range of payment devices across the group, enabling the deployment of Mobile POS (mPOS), POS and Biometrics for International Remittance to Airtel Money customers, the solution will enable fast and secure transaction processing at the agents point of sale.