Little Miracles Baby Planning

Product Review: Green Your Air plants for nursery

2011-12-12T16:55:00.001-08:00

We often worry about the smog outside, but did you know that research shows the enclosed space indoors (in our own homes) can be as much as ten times more polluted than outdoors? And considering we spend about 90% of our day inside, that’s a big ol’ reason to keep the air in your home as healthy and clean as possible.

The mission behind the company Green Your Air is to help you do just that.

How can my own home be so polluted? Chemicals are emitted from every day items in our homes, such as formaldehydes and alcohols from carpets, ceiling tiles, grocery bags, cleaning supplies, and even cosmetics. Plants help clean the air in indoor environments by ridding it of pollutants and toxins, counteracting outgassing and contributing to balanced internal humidity.

Green Your Air chooses fresh plants from a locally owned nursery that you can purchase for your home. They use non-toxic, biodegradable pots made of bamboo fiber, rice husks, wheat straw, and corn stalks. I was drawn to their website because they have a specific plant just for baby’s nursery!

The Mini Fortis is the perfect little size for any nursery and has the super power to filter formaldehyde from the air. New nurseries can be packed with chemicals like formaldehyde from new paint, upholstery, carpeting and furniture (the particle board, adhesives and glues holding the furniture pieces together). This cute little plant comes in a cute little blue or pink pot just right for decorating your baby’s space! (you can also add decorative stones for an extra $3.50)

Best of all? They ship anywhere in the US! Mine arrived perfectly packaged and ready to use. Even better yet, this plant requires no light and very little watering – so you can give all your attention to baby instead.

I ordered the Mini Fortis with the pink vase for my new baby girl’s room, and I absolutely love it. I have pretty much the opposite of a green thumb, and I previously sadly did not have a single plant in my home! I have had the Mini Fortis for about three weeks now and it still looks as perfect as the day it arrived. I specifically wanted a plant for my baby’s nursery and Green Your Air was the perfect solution. I think this would make such an awesome gift for a baby shower!

Check out Green Your Air and help green your baby’s nursery!

Testing Reveals Secret Toxic Chemicals in Brand-name Household Cleaners

2011-11-18T12:49:00.001-08:00

from The Soft Landing

Guest Post by Cassidy Randall, Women’s Voices for the Earth

Have you ever wondered why, when you look at the back of your favorite laundry detergent or all-purpose cleaner, you only find a few ingredients on the label? That’s because cleaning product companies are legally allowed to keep chemicals a secret from you, even the toxic ones—and they do.

At Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE), we believe you have a right to know what chemicals you’re being exposed to when you clean your home, which is why we tested 20 top brand-name cleaners for undercover ingredients. Guess what? We found secret toxic chemicals in every product we tested.
Here’s the dirt:

Tide Free & Gentle® and Bounce Free & Sensitive® contained 1,4-dioxane, a known cancer-causing chemical. These products are marketed to moms for their infants’ laundry!
Simple Green Naturals® also contained 1,4-dioxane as well as phthalates, linked to reproductive harm. Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner® contained toluene, linked to pregnancy complications. Simple Green advertises their products as “non-toxic,” by the way.
Glade Tough Odor Solutions® contained phthalates, even though the company said they removed them a couple years ago, and galaxolide, linked to hormone disruption.
Clorox Clean-Up® contained chloroform and carbon tetrachloride, both linked to cancer. Clorox advertises that you should use this cleaner on multiple surfaces throughout the day – so you can get an even bigger dose of these chemicals!
High levels of allergens appeared in fragranced air fresheners, but there were no warning labels. Allergens were also found in products marketed as “fragrance-free.”
None of these chemicals are listed on the product’s label, so you have no way of knowing they’re in there, let alone avoiding them.

You’ll be shocked at what else we found. Read the report Dirty Secrets to find out.

Here’s the good news. The Cleaning Product Right to Know Act has been introduced in Congress and will require companies to list all ingredients on the product label – right where they should be, so that you can make your own decisions about which chemicals you want to avoid. Ask your Representative to support this bill so that companies can’t keep toxic chemicals a secret from you!

So, you’re asking, what am I supposed to use to clean my home? Until you know what’s in products you buy off the shelf, you can mix your own cleaners with safe ingredients like vinegar and baking soda. This is a non-toxic, economical (and fun!) way to make sure you’re not exposing yourself to harmful chemicals hiding out in cleaners.

But the bottom line is that companies should be telling you what’s in their products, and cleaning products shouldn’t contain toxic chemicals linked to cancer and reproductive harm. Join me in demanding no more dirty secrets from cleaning product companies.

WVE seeks to reduce and ultimately eliminate environmental pollutants that cause health problems for women, their families and communities. To this end, WVE creates opportunities for women to influence environmental decision-making.

Johnson and Johnson to Finally Clean Up Their Shampoo

2011-11-08T14:19:00.001-08:00

The whole reason I got into this business (baby planning) was when I learned about the cancer causing carcinogens in J&J baby shampoo and products. I wanted everyone to learn that there are better options for your baby’s skincare and safer products for our children. How can this company, that has been around forever, use these harmful chemicals on BABIES?? Finally, FINALLY, they are changing their products, and it’s all over the news:

From Fit Pregnancy:

Safety of Baby Shampoo Questioned

11.03.11 Environmental groups blast signature brand for use of chemicals in popular product.
Johnson's Baby Shampoo, one of the world's most widely used baby care products, is being targeted by environmental health groups, The Associated Press reports.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics says that the signature baby shampoo still contains known carcinogens, even though the company has removed the chemicals in question in other countries. The group is calling on Johnson & Johnson to remove the chemicals from all products worldwide, the AP reports.

The two chemicals—formaldehyde-releasing quaternium-15 and 1,4-dioxane—are known carcinogens. Johnson & Johnson said it is "reducing or gradually phasing out the chemicals," according to the AP article, but that the "preservatives are safe and approved by U.S. regulators." The company does list a Johnson's Natural Baby Shampoo on its website, which says its ingredients are 98 percent naturally derived.

The group is also urging consumers to boycott these baby products until the company responds. The campaign has reached out to Johnson & Johnson, insisting that the manufacturer publicly commit by Nov. 15 to the removal of these chemicals, the AP reports.

As a consumer, one of the most important things to do is read product labels. It can be difficult to make informed choices if you don't know what's in the stuff that you're using on yourself and your baby.

Remember, it's never too late or too early to create a healthy environment for you and your growing family. Check out our Going Green page for a one-stop resource for making your pregnancy greener and more eco-conscious. Plus, browse our Toxic 10 to Avoid page for a list of ingredients to try to avoid in your everyday products.

From BUSINESS WEEK:

Groups push J&J on baby shampoo chemicals

By LINDA A. JOHNSON
Two chemicals considered harmful to babies remain in Johnson & Johnson's baby shampoo sold in the U.S., even though the company already makes versions without them, according to a coalition of health and environmental groups.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has unsuccessfully been urging the world's largest health care company for 2 1/2 years to remove the trace amounts of potentially cancer-causing chemicals -- dioxane and a substance called quaternium-15 that releases formaldehyde -- from Johnson's Baby Shampoo, one of its signature products.

Johnson & Johnson said it is reducing or gradually phasing out the chemicals, but did not respond directly to the campaign's demands.

Now the group is ratcheting up the pressure and urging consumers to boycott Johnson & Johnson baby products until the company agrees to remove the chemicals from its baby products sold around the world.
"Johnson & Johnson clearly can make safer baby shampoo in all the markets around the world, but it's not doing it," said Lisa Archer, director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. "It's clearly a double standard, something they can easily fix."

The campaign's new report, "Baby's Tub is Still Toxic," is set to be released Tuesday, when the group was launching the boycott via its Web site, http://www.safecosmetics.org.

Archer said her group has met with Johnson & Johnson representatives three times since spring 2009, and is disappointed the company is not making safer baby shampoo and other products in the U.S. when it does elsewhere.

On Monday, the campaign sent Johnson & Johnson a letter, signed by about 25 environmental, medical and other groups representing about 3.5 million people in the U.S. and other countries. It urges the company to publicly commit by Nov. 15 to removing the chemicals from all personal care products worldwide.
In response, Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that formaldehyde-releasing preservatives are safe and approved by regulators in the U.S. and other countries, but that it is gradually phasing them out of its baby products. It said it is also reformulating baby products to reduce the level of dioxane below detectable levels. But it did not say whether it would respond to or meet the campaign's full demands.
The letter, addressed to CEO William Weldon, was signed by groups including the Breast Cancer Fund, Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, American Nurses Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Green America.

"Even though the chemicals may be low-level, why risk it?" said Tracey J. Woodruff, an associate professor and director of the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at University of California-San Francisco.

Woodruff, who is not involved in the campaign, noted that the chemical levels in the baby products add to other chemicals infants are exposed to every day.

According to the report, obtained by The Associated Press, one of the suspect chemicals, quaternium-15, is a preservative that kills bacteria by releasing formaldehyde. Formaldehyde, used as a disinfectant and embalming fluid, was declared a known human carcinogen this past June by the U.S. National Toxicology Program. Formaldehyde also is a skin, eye and respiratory irritant.

Quaternium-15 is still an ingredient on Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo sold in the U.S., Canada, China, Indonesia and Australia, but the campaign's research this summer found it's not in the same product sold in at least eight other countries, from the U.K. and Denmark to Japan and South Africa.

The second chemical, 1,4-dioxane, is considered a likely carcinogen. It's a byproduct of a process for making chemicals more soluble and gentler on the skin.

The campaign's May 2009 report, called "No More Toxic Tub," stated that studies by an independent laboratory it hired, Analytical Sciences LLC of Petaluma, Calif., found that 1,4-dioxane was contained in Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo, Oatmeal Baby Wash, Moisture Care Baby Wash and Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Creamy Wash.

According to the report, the company has since launched a baby shampoo called Johnson's Naturals, sold in the U.S., that does not include 1,4-dioxane. But original Johnson's baby shampoo, which costs about half as much, has not been reformulated for the U.S. market, according to the campaign.

Analytical Sciences tested multiple J&J baby product samples from the U.S. for the first report, finding low levels of the chemicals. After that, according to Archer, consumer groups in South Africa, Sweden and Japan contacted her group to note that quaternium-15 was not being used in products in their countries. The updated report was based on an examination of label ingredients for Johnson & Johnson baby products in 13 countries.

Archer noted that some of the countries where the products did not contain the harsh chemicals had bans on them in personal care products, but others didn't.

Woodruff, who researches health effects of chemicals, said there is evidence that formaldehyde is associated with nose, lung and blood cancers such as leukemia. She said an infant's scalp is more permeable than and adult's, so exposure to the chemicals could cause more harm for babies than adults.

"You're exposing a child during a very vulnerable period of development, when the effect may be worse," Woodruff said.

Belly Bucks at Belly Elan Maternity Boutique!

2011-10-13T14:52:00.001-07:00

We don't want you to miss this event!

BELLY BUCKS ARE BACK!!

Chilly temperatures and falling leaves means Autumn is here in full force! Time for weekends filled with apple picking, hay rides, and pumpkin patches!

To celebrate our favorite season of the year, our popular Belly Bucks are BACK!

That’s right, snag $50 worth of Belly Bucks for only $25 from today, October 13th - Monday, October 17th, 2011! {Limit two per person}

Start using your Belly Bucks immediately {in store only} on regular priced maternity clothes, diaper bags, and certain gift items. See store for exclusions and restrictions. Not valid on special request items including monogramming. Not valid with any other discounts, promotions or offers. Not valid on previous purchases.

Purchase your exclusive Belly Bucks {remember, it's 50% off...$50 worth of Belly Bucks for only $25} in store, on our Facebook page "SHOP TAB", or online. When purchasing online, please purchase a $25 gift certificate and you'll receive $50. If purchasing on our Shop Now tab on Facebook, just purchase as is! It's already listed for you!

belly elan maternity

Local: 704.544.3226
Email: customerservice@bellyelan.com
Website: http://www.bellyelan.com

Chicago First City to Ban Crib Bumper Pads

2011-09-08T13:06:00.001-07:00

From Chicago Tribune

By Ellen Gabler and Hal DardickTribune reporter
2:38 p.m. CDT, September 8, 2011

Chicago today became the first city in the country to ban the sale of crib bumper pads because the popular products pose a suffocation risk to babies.

The City Council approved the ordinance without debate. It was introduced in response to Tribune investigations that found federal regulators for years have received reports of babies suffocating in cases that involved crib bumpers, yet have failed to warn parents or investigate all deaths.

Bumper pads, which wrap around the inside of a crib and tie to crib slats, are frequently displayed in stores as staples in a baby’s nursery. But babies can lack the motor skills and strength to turn their heads if they roll against something that blocks their breathing.

The state of Maryland is considering a similar proposal to ban the sale of bumper pads, and the federal agency responsible for regulating consumer products — the Consumer Product Safety Commission — has said since December that it is investigating the issue.

The trade group that represents the makers and sellers of bumper pads says the products are safe and insists there is no evidence of a causal connection between crib bumpers and suffocation.

Rick Locker, general counsel for that group, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, has said banning bumpers could bring about unintended consequences, such as parents putting pillows and adult blankets in babies’ cribs if bumper pads aren’t available.

On Wednesday, the ordinance passed a joint health and consumer protection committee meeting despite opposition from industry representatives.

"This is our attempt to sound the alarm that something has to be done," said Cardenas, chairman of the Committee on Health and Environmental Protection.

Cardenas and other aldermen acknowledged that the task of overseeing product safety should fall to federal regulators but said nothing has been done.

"If they don't get their act together, municipalities like Chicago will have to do it on their own," Cardenas said.

In December the Tribune reported that federal regulators have failed to warn parents that bumpers pose a suffocation risk even though they know about the potential hazard.

It's unclear exactly how many babies have died from suffocating against the products, but the Tribune found that the federally funded National Center for Child Death Review has since 2008 received 14 reports of infant suffocation in which a bumper was relevant in the death.

Babies often lack the motor skills and strength to turn their heads if they roll against something that blocks their breathing.

Federal regulators have said they are trying to determine if there is a scientific link between bumper pads and suffocations, or if factors such as blankets, pillows or medical issues played the primary role in the deaths. However, the Tribune found that regulators did not investigate at least 17 reports of children's deaths even though the agency had reports on file suggesting bumper pads played roles in the fatalities.

Britax Car Seat Fitting Friday 7/15

2011-07-14T12:02:00.001-07:00

Free! Click HERE for more details.

Britax North American headquarters, 13501 South Ridge Drive
July 15, 8:00am-noon

A car seat checking station is where certified child passenger safety technicians assist you with car seat installation. There they will teach you the correct way to install your child seat, provide safety recommendations, and answer any questions that you may have. For best results, please bring: your child, your vehicle and vehicle owner’s manual, your child safety seat and all parts, accessories, and instructions, a second adult to assist with watching your child while you learn how to install your car seat . No appointment is needed, and seats from all manufacturers are welcome. Instruction lasts approximately 30 minutes per car seat. Cost is free.

Proper Car Seat Safety Often Overlooked

2011-07-13T09:46:00.001-07:00

from A Milky Way

We are very fortunate to have Erika Gebhardt, a local Child Passenger Safety Tech, as a guest blogger. Below is her tips for car seat safety.

An alarming percentage of small infants we see come in the store are not properly strapped into their car seats. The straps are often way too loose and the chest clip is often all the way down. Some parents think that their babies might be uncomfortable if they are strapped in tight, but that is a myth. Babies spend nine months swaddled tightly in the womb, and they must be securely buckled into their car seat. In the event of a collision, a loosely buckled child could be seriously injured or even ejected from his seat. Here are some tips for child passenger safety from Erika Gebhardt, a local Child Passenger Safety Technician.

RULE OF THUMB #1: Keep your baby rear-facing as long as possible. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children stay rear-facing until they are two years old. Rear-facing reduces traumatic injury to the head and neck in the event of a crash, because the back of the car seat absorbs most of the impact. When your baby outgrows an infant seat, choose a convertible car seat with a high weight-limit for rear-facing, like 40lbs or 45lbs.

RULE OF THUMB #2: Use the “pinch test” for strap tightness. Tighten the straps, and then put your thumb and finger on the shoulder strap. Try to pinch the fabric – if your fingers slide off, it’s tight enough. If you can pinch fabric, tighten until you cannot pinch.

RULE OF THUMB #3: A car seat is for cars. Please do not use your seat as a carrier or a crib. Although many “travel systems” make it easy to move a baby while she remains safely bucked into her infant seat, try to avoid too much car seat time. Try a baby carrier such as a wrap or a sling or a pouch if you are going grocery shopping or going to be out of your car for longer than 15 minutes.

RULE OF THUMB #4: There is no “best” car seat. The best seat is the one that fits your child and your car, and that you can install properly each time you use it. A car seat need not be expensive with fancy bells and whistles in order to keep your child safe.

RULE OF THUMB #5: Use LATCH or seatbelts to install car seats. Do not use both. LATCH is no safer than seatbelts – the safest installation is a tight installation, and some car and seat combinations work better with seatbelts than with LATCH.
Get your car seat installation checked by a Child Passenger Safety Technician. If you are near Matthews, the police department there checks seats twice a month; Britax checks seats (not just Britax seats) one Friday a month.

Check the local Char-Meck Safe Kids calendar.

For more information about child passenger safety, check out the Car Seat Basics information.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
Erika Gebhardt, Child Passenger Safety Tech (T675815)

Pure Play for Kids

2011-07-11T13:56:00.001-07:00

I’m not at all a big fan of toys with batteries, for many reasons, so when I found a great site called Pure Play Kids that sells the largest selections of battery-free, TV-free, creative playthings in the USA, I was really excited!

They have a sharp focus on creativity, safety and natural materials. So whether you seek wooden toys, cloth dolls, natural teethers, Waldorf toys or the perfect baby gift, Pure Play Kids has you covered. Additionally, Made in America toys are the bulk of their offering, and the remainder are fine European toys.

It’s definitely worth checking out the next time you’re in the market for new toys!

What’s Your Air Quality Index?

2011-07-08T13:40:00.001-07:00

From A List Mom

The toys in your baby’s playroom? All natural wood.
The clothes in their closets? 100% organic.
The furniture in their nurseries? Um…can you say “formaldehyde?”
Before you take out a second mortgage to buy all new, eco-friendly furniture, why not feed two birds with one crumb by letting Green Your Air house plants purify the air in your baby’s nursery while improving its overall aesthetic?
Green Your Air chooses their plants expressly for their air-cleaning powers. Take, for instance, the amazing formaldehyde-filtering Fortis and Luminosis plants. Sure, they look great, but Green Your Air isn’t about looks—it’s about healthy homes and even healthier babies.

Available at greenyourair.com.

Biddy Belly for Tummy Time!

2011-07-05T12:38:00.001-07:00

The Biddy Belly is a fabulous new invention by Robin Tacchetti, a Physical Therapist and mother of three, who observed all three of her children struggle with tummy time. She knew how important tummy time was for muscle development, yes she was unable to keep her babies from getting frustrated and crying in the prone position. She put her ideas into play and the “Biddy Belly” was born!

Some of the benefits include:
* Increases strength in shoulders, arms, back and head
* Decreases risk of gross motor delays such as rolling, sitting and crawling
* Decreases risk of “flat spots” on the back of the head
* Decreases risk of neck muscles tightening on one side of the neck
* Promotes cognitive development (thinking and reasoning skills)

Biddy Belly’s unique shape and gradual incline help promote correct muscle development.

Robin sent me one of her great inventions and I have been able to test the Biddy Belly with some little ones. My testers, ages three weeks and three months, both did great on the Biddy Belly. The three week old obviously had less strength and ability to hold her head up, but both babies seemed content on the Biddy Belly to look at the giraffe’s face and the cute distractions on the Biddy Belly, like the the attached toys on either side of the giraffe’s head (which, by the way, are removable so you can add your own instead – big plus). One other thing I really liked about the Biddy Belly is the removable side bars between the giraffe’s paws. When your baby starts to get bigger and use his legs when on his belly, it’s nice you can remove the bars for more leg room. It’s also imperative to have a washable cover with spitting up babies, which the Biddy Belly has! Overall, I think this is a great little product for your little ones to assist them in valuable tummy time.

To find out more or to order your Biddy Belly visit www.biddybelly.com!

Go au Naturel with Hevea Baby Products Pacifiers, Teethers, and Bath Toys

2011-06-30T11:04:00.001-07:00

from Daily Candy

You considered not having an epidural — for about twenty seconds. There was nothing sustainable about that pain.

However, when it comes to caring for your little bundle, going au naturel is the only option. Hevea, a new-to-the-U.S. Danish import, makes it easy with pacifiers, teethers, and bath toys made from natural rubber.

Combining Scandinavian design with responsible manufacturing practices, the company easily passes the mommy test. But the real scrutiny begins when the goods land in the hands (and mouths) of babes.

Our pint-size tester took to the ergonomically designed paci right away (it dips down for little noses), the teether provided just the right amount of bite for her nagging gums, and the bath toys sailed through the tub without a hitch. Bath time bonus: The duck, fish, and frog don’t have holes, so water and muck can’t get stuck.

In other words, they’re painless.

Available online at heveababyusa.com, $9-$40.

5 High Impact Ways to Create a Healthy Home Environment for Kids

2011-06-21T14:24:00.001-07:00

from The Soft Landing

The Canadian Partnership for Children’s Health and Environment released some amazingly helpful tips for parents who want to decrease toxic chemical exposure but aren’t quite sure where to start.

1. Bust That Dust
House dust is one of the main sources of children’s exposure to toxic substances, most of which come from normal wear-and-tear on consumer products.

Clean with a good quality vacuum, or simply a damp cloth or wet mop. (Dry dusting just circulates the dust back into the air.) Vacuum or wet-mop once a week; twice a week if you have a crawling child.
Take your shoes off at the door to minimize the amount of dirt brought inside. Use washable entrance mats, and launder them separately from clothing.
Reduce the amount of dust in the home by minimizing clutter and by storing toys in closed containers.
Helpful resources:
- What’s on the Menu Today? CPCHE flyer on toxic chemicals in dust
- Child Health and the Environment – A Primer (see section on Indoor Air and Dust, page 65, and more dustbusting tips on page 101)
- Safe Renovations: Introduction – part of the CPCHE safe renovations fact sheet series
- Playing it Safe: Carpets

2. Go Green When You Clean

Wash your hands often, using regular soap and warm water: doctors recommend against using antibacterial soaps.
Use non-toxic cleaning products. Baking soda is a good scouring powder for sinks and tubs, and vinegar mixed with water works well for windows, surfaces and floors.You don’t need to use bleach for most cleaning tasks.
Don’t use air “fresheners.” Also, choose fragrance-free laundry detergents, and avoid using dryer sheets. The fragrances (or “parfum”) in these products can contain potentially harmful chemicals.
Avoid dry cleaning, or find a cleaner that uses non-toxic methods. closed containers.
And, of course, keep all cleaners and other household chemicals out of the reach of children.
Helpful resources:
- Child Health and the Environment – A Primer (see p. 105 for toxic reduction tips related to cleaning and personal care products)
- Buying Products for the Child Care Centre fact sheet (includes advice on cleaning products)
- Your Child’s Skin May Act More Like a Sponge Than a Shield flyer addressing fragrance and other potentially harmful substances in personal care products
- Playing it Safe: Carpets

3. Get Drastic with Plastic

Don’t use plastic containers or plastic wrap in the microwave, even if the packaging says “microwave-safe.” Harmful chemicals can move from the plastic into food and drinks.
Store food in glass or ceramic containers, rather than plastic.
When heating milk, use a non-plastic container. When the liquid has cooled to lukewarm, transfer it to bottles.
Eat fresh or frozen foods whenever possible to reduce exposure to BPA, a chemical used in the lining of most food and drink cans.
Avoid teething toys, bibs, bath toys, shower curtains and other items that contain PVC or vinyl (a type of soft plastic). These items can contain harmful chemicals called phthalates, which were banned in children’s toys in June 2011.
Helpful resources:
- Playing it Safe: Plastics
- Avoid Toxic Plastics Using Recycling Codes as a General Guide

4. Renovate Right

Children and pregnant women should stay away from areas being renovated, to avoid being exposed to potentially harmful substances.
Control and contain all dust. Seal off the rest of the house from the renovation site with plastic sheeting and duct tape and close heating and cooling vents. particularly in older homes (built before 1978), renovation dust can contain high levels of lead, which is toxic to the developing brain.
Choose less toxic paints, finishes and glues. Look for products labeled “VOC-free,” “zero-VOC” or “low-VoC.” open the windows and use fans to bring in fresh air during and after use of these products.
Keep your work clothes and shoes in a separate hamper, or in a shed or garage. wash them separately from other laundry.
Helpful resources:

5. Dish Safer Fish

Choose varieties of fish that are low in mercury, a chemical that is harmful to the brain. Healthier choices include atlantic mackerel, herring, rainbow trout, wild or canned salmon, and tilapia.
If you eat canned tuna, look for “light” varieties, as these are lower in mercury than albacore or “white” tuna.
If you catch sport fish in local waters, check your province’s or territory’s advisories to see whether it is safe to eat.
Helpful resources:
- Child Health and the Environment – A Primer (see sidebar “Fish Advisories: Limiting Methylmercury Exposure” on pages 60-61)

See? You can do it! CPCHE’s tips align perfectly with our mission of helping you navigate the overwhelming world of the most worrisome toxic chemicals one simple step at a time. Small changes make for big results in this world of little exposures that pile up to affect your body burden.
>> Download the full brochure “Creating Healthy Environments for Kids” for more great info.

The new "dirty dozen" list of produce

2011-06-14T11:29:00.001-07:00

from Yahoo Green

A new report published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) might make you re-think that "apple a day" -- if it's conventionally grown using pesticides.

According to the group's annual"dirty dozen" list of fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues, apples ranked number one as the most-contaminated item, up from number four last year.

Other changes from the 2010 findings: this year, cherries dropped off the list, and lettuce, previously absent, now appears at number 11. The EWG uses data compiled by the USDA to produce these findings.
Dirty Dozen 2011

Apples
Celery
Strawberries
Peaches
Spinach
Nectarines (imported)
Grapes (imported)
Sweet bell peppers
Potatoes
Blueberries (domestic)
Lettuce
Kale/collard greens

The "clean fifteen" are also included in the report - these are fruits and veggies with the lowest levels of pesticides so there's no need to waste your money on organic versions. Some popular items include watermelon and avocado.

The EWG points out that if consumers simply chose their daily recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables from the least contaminated list over five from the dirty dozen, they would reduce the amount of pesticides ingested by 92% - without having to shell out extra money for organics.

Clean Fifteen 2011

Onions
Sweet corn
Pineapples
Avocado
Asparagus
Sweet peas
Mangoes
Eggplants
Cantaloupe (domestic)
Kiwi
Cabbage
Watermelon
Sweet potatoes
Grapefruit
Mushrooms

Pesticides on produce

Conventional farmers use an arsenal of pesticides to protect their crops from insects, bacteria, rodents, molds, and fungi. These substances can end up in the food supply. Washing and peeling fruit and vegetables can lower pesticide residues, but not necessarily. When the USDA tests for pesticides, they wash and peel fruit the same way a typical consumer would.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Services acknowledges that scientists do not have a full understanding of the health risks associated with exposure to agricultural pesticide residues through food, soil, water, or air. They also report that farmers who use pesticides experience an increase in neurological symptoms and that the harmful effects on children are greater than on adults.

Recent studies indicate that pregnant women should also be careful of their exposure to pesticides. Three studies published in 2011 in the Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives suggest pesticide exposure can harm the developing fetal brain.

Organic vs. conventional produce

Organic produce is grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. However, organics can be harder to find and prohibitively expensive. If you are concerned about consuming pesticides, the EWG's dirty dozen and clean fifteen lists can help you make the safest and most affordable choices.

Finding Time to Exercise When You Have Kids

2011-06-13T13:54:00.001-07:00

from Hip Moms Go Green

Being married to a former professional athlete and being a former personal trainer, swim instructor, and dancer myself, I used to workout. A lot. After college, my weekdays consisted of 4 to 5 days of a solid running program, while my Saturdays were filled with about 4-5 hours of trails running, a spinning class, an aerobics class and lifting weights. A little bit excessive, but it brought me joy. Oh, the bliss of running with only the sound my footsteps against the dirt trail, my breath, my thoughts, and the panting of my running partner (my dog).

When I had my first child, those days came to a screeching halt. Exercising had to be taken down to an hour at the most and about 3-4 times per week. At the time, my husband was still an athlete, so we had plenty of opportunities to alternate workout routines. He would swim and lift weights while I watched the baby or went for a walk with him, and then he would babysit while I took a spinning class and lifted weights. I would even incorporate exercise as I put him to sleep. Instead of rocking him to sleep, I would do deep knee bends to calm my fussy boy. Usually, I got to 350 before he fell asleep.

The entire "running" crew before baby #2 came into the picture. Notice the lazy puppy under the stroller.
Once my son was a bit older, I maximized my workout time by running on our treadmill at home and doing circuit training with a friend as my son napped. While pregnant with #2, my son started liking the baby jogger. But when the weather got colder, I resorted to workout videos. Though I highly enjoyed it, it inevitably took me 15 minutes longer to complete any workout because he always wanted to join in. I even got him his own set of 1 and 2 pound dumbbells.

With kid #2 in tow, it made things rather challenging. Okay really difficult. I had to come up with more creative ways to be even remotely active, since it was super cold for months after her birth. And once the weather did finally warm up, she despised being in her stroller. She’s 15 months now and I can run for precisely 15 minutes before her patience runs out and an all-out screamfest ensues. Sigh.

Exercise is usually the last thing you want to do or have time for when you have children, but it should be an integral part of your life. And not only for health reasons. I especially think it’s important to be a good role model for your children. If you build those foundations early, there is a better chance that your kids will continue those lifelong fitness habits without giving it much thought or effort. If nothing else, exercising helps you keep up with your kids by building stamina. I know it sounds counterproductive, but exercise seriously makes you feel energized even when you’re feeling fatigued. So how can you exercise when you become a parent? I’ll be the first to admit that i have dropped the ball on several occasions, but here are a few tips that have helped me:

The first thing you must do is to make fitness a part of your life. Schedule it, commit to it and don’t complain about it. By making it a part of your daily life, you are teaching your children how imperative and natural exercise should be. If you have to, enlist a friend to do it with you so that you hold each other accountable.
Then include your kids.
Make it fun for them and seem effortless to include exercise as part of your daily routine. It’s much easier if you establish and keep a set time (for instance, every morning after breakfast).
Remember that kids tire and get bored easily. And they get hungry as soon as you step out the door. Plan ahead – bring toys, blankets, diapers, wipes, snacks, and water (they dehydrate faster than adults). I usually can buy myself more time if I pull out a new toy or snack every few minutes when my child is in the stroller.
Try not to push the kids’ limits or that will defeat the purpose of having them view this time as a fun time.
If you prefer not to include the kids and enjoy working out alone, that’s certainly okay. Do an exercise video or use an at-home treadmill during nap time, before they arise in the morning, or after they drift off to sleep at night. But I am still a big believer in making sure your kids see you workout at least a couple of times per week.

Now that we have that down, you must throw out all preconceived notions of what exercise should look like. Exercise can come in various forms. Whatever your neighbor is doing or what you used to do may not be what you will be able to do now (for most of us anyway). Be okay with that. It’s a different season in your life.

You’ll probably need to adjust your plans daily and even be spontaneous at times. Some days you may be able to run 30 minutes without stopping, other days you may squeeze in 10 minutes total or have to stop every 2 minutes to pick up a toy or calm a fussy toddler. Go with it and try not to get frustrated. At least you got something in.

You’ll need to get in touch with your creative side – the possibilities are really endless when you start to brainstorm a bit. Here are just a few things you can do with (or without) the kids in tow:

Exercise DVDs with the kids. There are several I have seen online or even at the library that includechildren, but I find that my son likes the adults ones just as much. He’s super cute and uncoordinated while trying the exercises, but gets such a sense of accomplishment when he does.
Put on some music and dance, jump rope (even if you have no rope), do jumping jacks, jump on a trampoline or a combination of all four.
Use your tiniest tots as weights for exercises like squats and lunges. Strap one in a carrier or just hold a (squiggly) baby. I even use my 24-pound daughter as a weighted med ball for crunches. Boy, does it tire me out faster!
Perhaps the most traditional way of working out with kids… get out the jogging stroller collecting dust in the garage. You know, the one (that you vowed to use after the baby was born. Use it for its intended use – to walk or jog! (I find that my kids ike it better when I go faster.) Make it a better time for the kids by strategically stopping at a playground halfway. Let them play and stretch out their legs for a while, then walk or jog back home. When I ran with my son, we would stop at the train tracks (his favorite place). While waiting for a train, he would get out of his stroller and we would do lunges together until a train passed by. On days he didn’t feel like joining in, he would “help” me count my lunges.
While you are at the playground, run the perimeter as you watch your kids. If they are on the younger side, make sure you check-in often, as little ones need that face-to-face reassurance. Many parks have pull-up bars you can use, but if not, use a makeshift one (monkey bars). While you play with them, incorporate dips, push-ups, lunges, squats, step-ups, intervals – you name it. You might get a few stares from other moms, but who cares?
Go for a walk or hike with a tot strapped to your back for extra added weight (and extra calories burned). Older children can hike or ride a bike beside you.
Like to cycle? Buy a bike trailer and let the kids enjoy the ride as you pedal through the streets or trails.
If your kids like to go to the pool, run or walk in the shallow end while they play. If your child is not old enough to play alone, carry your child playfully as you walk briskly in the water.
Do yard work together – mowing, raking, digging, planting, etc.
Make household chores fun by turning on the music and dancing while cleaning. Or make it a race.
If you have stairs in your home, put them to use. Run up and down them several times or jump. I have even been known to do a modified step aerobics session using my stairs on a few occasions.
Make it a goal to “train” for a specific race. If your child is still on the young side, have them in a stroller as you walk or run the race. With older kids, have them run with you or sign-up for the kids race.
Not motivated enough to workout alone? Join a class. Check the web or call local gyms to see what is available in your area, but usually there are a few “Mommy and Me” options and groups – baby boot camp, dance classes and so forth.
Make it a family affair. Walk, bike, go on a nature hike, play basketball, play soccer, play tag, play catch, race each other, go bowling, go roller skating or ice skating.

If you still find it hard to fit in a block of exercise, exercise in parts throughout the day. Do 1 minute of lunges while brushing your teeth or showering. Do a minute of push-ups (dips, squats, crunches, fill-in-the-blank) after accomplishing a task like picking up the toys, washing dishes, writing an email and so forth.
Just keep it light and fun for everyone’s sake, and soon it will be easy to establish it as a habit.

Avoid Toxic Plastics Using Recycling Codes as a General Guide

2011-06-07T13:46:00.001-07:00

from The Soft Landing

What exactly are we trying to avoid in some plastics anyway? The biggest problem is a set of harmful chemicals called endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC). EDC’s are synthetic chemicals that mimic or block hormones and disrupt the body’s normal functions. This disruption can happen through altering normal hormone levels, stopping or stimulating the production of hormones, or changing the way hormones travel through the body, thus affecting the functions that these hormones control.

EDC’s are found in ingredients used in everyday plastics, personal care products, flame retardants, insecticides and more. In recent studies, health effects linked to low-dose exposure to EDC’s included reduced fertility, male and female reproductive tract abnormalities, miscarriages, menstrual problems, early puberty, brain and behavior problems, impaired immune function, obesity, diabetes and cancer.
Children are at higher risk because these chemicals can effectively interrupt various stages of development. Children also eat, breath and metabolize more than adults due to their rapid rate of growth, causing them to be even more susceptible.

Current regulation does not require that manufacturers label their products with materials used or recycling codes. If you do find recycling code labels they can be used to help as a general guide, but keep in mind that they are not definitive.

What About That Study Showing That Even BPA-free Plastics are Bad?
As we teach folks about the pervasive nature of toxic plastic, we often see a look of helplessness settle over their faces. It all seems so overwhelming, and many people respond with hopelessness, “If it’s all around us, then there really isn’t anything I can do anyway.”

And if you read that recent study and went straight into panic mode, it’s time to step back and look at the bigger picture. The battle has NOT been lost – we’re just getting started! The key is knowing how to choose your priorities and begin making changes there. Starting with the easiest and most obvious offenders to quickly decrease your family’s exposure to unnecessary chemicals.

We make it a practice of working to eliminate plastics that have already been proven troublesome like BPA, which has been linked to endocrine disruption in over 200 studies.

Just think – if you simply replaced most of your disposable plastic products and started eating naked, you’d be eliminating a huge source of chemical exposure in your everyday life!

Deciphering Product Labels and Recycling Codes
Categories to avoid:

PETE or PET (#1): Polyethylene Terephthalate is fine for single use, but begins to break down when exposed to heat and harsh detergents. Commonly found in bottled water, soda bottles, cooking oil bottles and peanut butter jars.

PVC or Vinyl (#3 or “V”): We are literally surrounded by Polyvinyl Chloride, making it difficult to avoid. We’ll discuss its common uses, what makes it toxic and how best to avoid in upcoming steps.

PS (#6): Polystyrene is commonly found in packaging pellets or “Styrofoam peanuts,” cups, plastic tableware, meat trays, to-go “clam shell” containers. Styrofoam cups, meat trays, and containers break down easily when coming in contact with hot, fatty foods.

Other (#7): This plastic category serves as a catchall for any plastic other than the named #1- #6 plastic types. These miscellaneous plastic containers can be a combination of several plastic polymers and are often layered with 2 or more of the #1- #6 plastic types. It’s important to note that not all #7′s are toxic, so specifically look for #7 (PC or polycarbonate) and avoid it. We’ll discuss its common uses, what makes it toxic and how best to avoid it in upcoming steps.

*NOTE: We also recommend avoiding newer plastics until thorough testing has been done to verify their safety. This is why we don’t recommend jumping over to Tritan copolyester quite yet.

Categories generally considered safer:

HDPE (#2): High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is commonly used in detergent bottles and milk jugs.

LDPE (#4): Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) can be found in dry cleaning bags, produce bags, trash can liners and some food storage containers.

PP (#5): Polypropylene (PP) is the most common plastic used for sippy cups, reusable dishes and utensils. It can also be found in baby teethers and toys, large outdoor playhouses, kids riding toys, bottle caps, reusable water bottle lids and drinking straws.

Additionally, silicone, glass and wood are safer alternative choices and are not included in recycling categories.

Insist on Transparency from the Manufacturers of Your Favorite Products
Keep in mind that you are voting with every dollar you spend. You’re telling the manufacturers of plastic products and the chemical industry what you will accept and what you won’t. The more you support the companies who have gone the extra mile to remove toxic chemicals from their products (and even label them in every once in a while – have mercy on us all!), the more they’ll continue doing so.

And don’t forget, you can find an amazing grouping of safer products made by trustworthy manufacturers at The Soft Landing!

P.S. This little bit was taken from our Free Mini Course on Learning to Do Your Own Research, so be sure to sign up for the rest of the goodies!

2011 Sunscreen Cheat Sheet is Here!

2011-06-02T11:45:00.001-07:00

from Safemama

It’s here, the 2011 Sunscreen Cheat Sheet! Each year this task gets tougher for many reasons. One is the development of new ingredients and formulations. Another is that there are now many natural sunscreens on the market from big and small companies that fit the bill. I don’t have EVERY natural sunscreen out there in my list but I try to provide a wide variety of products at varying price points. The biggest problem for some is the lack of availability in stores. Sunscreen’s are not cheap and paying shipping on top of a big price tag can set you back a handful. But the sunscreen’s I find to be the best performing are usually worth the few extra bucks.

Award Ceremony

Best Overall Sunscreen goes to Purple Prairie this year for their SPF 30 Sun Stuff. They just reformulated their SPF 30 lotion and after trying it out I think this one is the best bang for your buck. It works in every sunny situation, doesn’t leave you looking ghostly and has a great ingredients list. Plus, your purchase supports small businesses. A little goes a long way and after testing it out in sun, surf and swimming pools I think it protects great minus the greasy. Double thumbs up.

Best Ingredients goes to Badger for all their sunscreens. Every year Badger sets the bar for safe ingredients and this year is no exception. It’s truly all natural and organic. They have also gone a step further to up the ante on their sunscreen ingredient and are now using non-nano uncoated Zinc Oxide. Badger’s sunscreen is a top performer in protection especially with rough or lengthy swimming. It’s the most water resistant sunscreen I’ve used and protects even after hearty swimming. Badger is always a safe bet. Totally worth the money, especially if you have swimmers.

Best Solid/Stick Sunscreen goes to Babo Botanicals for the Clear Zinc Sports Stick! This is a new product for the company and it doesn’t disappoint. It smells like apples and goes on CLEAR. I can’t stress enough how fabulous that is. It protects, it stays on, it smells good and you don’t look like a channel swimmer gearing up for IronMan. I don’t leave home without it.

Go ahead and check out this years sunscreen contenders.

The dangers of triclosan and how to avoid it

2011-06-01T05:32:00.001-07:00

from Care 2 Green Living Blog

Triclosan, the controversial disinfectant that many associate with hand sanitizers, is actually in all manner of cosmetics and personal care products.

The Trouble With Triclosan

Triclosan is an antimicrobial, meaning that it kills harmful microorganisms. This can definitely be a good thing. If you’re in the hospital, for example, you want to know that everything from the nurses’ and doctors’ hands to their instruments are completely sterile. In a case like this, I think that you could make a pretty strong argument for using antimicrobials like triclosan.

The big problem with triclosan is that it’s become ubiquitous. It’s in a host of over the counter personal care products, and that means that it’s also in our bodies and washing down our drains.

There are quite a few health concerns associated with triclosan. It’s a suspected endocrine disruptor and carcinogen that accumulates in the body over time. Since it’s in so many products, many of us are exposed to triclosan on a daily basis through multiple products in our daily routine.

When triclosan makes its way into waterways, it breaks down into harmful dioxins, polluting waterways. When triclosan goes down the drain, it also gets mixed up with sewage sludge, and from there makes its way into our food supply. How does that happen? It turns out that EPA allows sewage sludge to be used as a fertilizer on food crops.

Over time, organisms that triclosan targets also start becoming resistant to the chemical. That’s bad news if you’re counting on the stuff to sterilize an operating room, for example. When we over-use these harsh chemicals, we make them less effective for situations where they could have been beneficial.
Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget

Common Products That Contain Triclosan

The other day, while brushing my teeth, I was idly reading the ingredients on my toothpaste tube, and what should I see? The second active ingredient, after fluoride, was triclosan! Of course, that got me curious about what else in my medicine cabinet contains triclosan, and a little bit of research was incredibly eye-opening. Here are some common personal care products that contain triclosan:

Toothpaste
Deodorant
Pet shampoo
Makeup
Skin cleansers
Dry shampoo
Foot sprays and creams
Bath soaks
Mouthwash
Hand sanitizers and soaps
Shaving cream and shaving gel

Basically, this stuff is in everything. It’s often added to lengthen the products’ shelf life, so it could be in a product but not listed as an active ingredient.

Of course, not every brand of all of these products contains triclosan, and the best way to make sure you’re not putting this antimicrobial into your shopping basket and onto your body is to do some careful label-reading. Even products labeled as “natural” sometimes contain triclosan.

While keeping such a common ingredient out of the medicine cabinet might seem overwhelming, once you get into the habit of label-reading, it will start to become second nature. Who knew that activism could be as simple as reading through an ingredients list?

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by bsing

Do All EVA Foam Products Contain Toxic Formamide?

2011-05-26T12:54:00.001-07:00

From The Soft Landing

I’m sure you’ve heard about the EU’s recent ban of EVA foam playmats related to the presence of formamide, a known carcinogenic chemical. From what we can tell, EVA foam – not standard EVA sheet material – is the source of concern because formamide is sometimes used to make the foam more pliable.
Please note that I said sometimes. It’s possible to locate formamide-free EVA foam, although many manufacturers don’t routinely check (or test) for it yet. We recently investigated a new product to stock in our store and the manufacturer was able to confirm with their factory that a small amount of formamide was present in their products. We were impressed with their decision to locate a new EVA foam source to ensure the safest product possible.

There is still some grey area surrounding this issue, because the EU hasn’t determined exactly what levels are considered safe in children’s products. It was noted though, that new mats have the highest risk and formamide residue decreases over time, so older products may contain little or no formamide.

EVA is recommended by CHEJ as a PVC-free substitute, as well as by Healthcare without Harm for use in neonatal intensive care units in drug delivery devices. The great thing about EVA is that it doesn’t require the addition of plasticizers/softeners (like phthalates), stabilizers (like lead), or chlorine (which leads to the generation of dioxin, a highly persistent carcinogen).

Just be careful to research EVA foam products before buying, contacting manufacturers to confirm that their products are formamide-free.

Catamount Glass Popcorn Popper

2011-05-24T09:26:00.001-07:00

from Safe Mama

We wrote here before about microwave popcorn. I know, I know… always the bearer of bad news. I’m settled in my role of letting you know things that cause you cancer. I’ll gladly be the messenger that everyone wants to shoot. Anyway, as we wrote back in 2008 (wow time flies), microwave popcorn is many things besides delicious. The liner of microwave popcorn bags are lined with a coating that is known to break down into a substance known as PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic. (Say it with me… greeeeeat.) This was a blow for me. I love my nightly popcorn ritual.

My friends at MightyNest have just announced their brand spanking new Kitchen Essentials section which provides the safest options for cooking and serving. From aluminum free muffin pans to silicone spatulas, they have you covered. Luck would have it that they now carrying a glass popcorn popper by Catamount. It sounds pretty genius and no pesky carcinogenic chemicals screwing up your popcorn. To use it you simply pour your kernels into the container, place your butter (if you like) in the silicone melting lid, and microwave for 2 minutes and 45 seconds. That’s it. Easy peasy. What’s even cooler is that as the butter melts, it drips down through the lid and coats your popcorn for you, while its popping. I totally need this thing. It’s made of borosilicate (laboratory glass) and is dishwasher safe. How cool. And guess what? I’m giving one away to one lucky reader. (You are lucky… even I don’t have one of these yet. )

The Potency of Potassium: Why Your Kids Need it and Where to Find it

2011-05-23T11:58:00.001-07:00

from Super Healthy Kids

While many different food products and parenting magazines will stress the importance of well-balanced meals for your kids that include vitamins X, Y, and Z, one nutrient that often gets left out of the mix is potassium. While most healthy individuals have sufficient levels of potassium in their bodies, this can only occurs if an individual is regularly eating healthy foods. Potassium deficiency in children can lead to many diseases and conditions that are common to adults, like hypertension, heart disease, weight gain, and depression. A common symptom of potassium deficiency is fatigue. To keep potassium at the recommended levels here are a few foods that are delicious and kid friendly.

1. Bananas

Bananas are one of the best and most well-known sources of potassium, and kids can’t seem to get enough of them! A great combination that children find particularly delightful is peanut butter and banana, but you can also slice it up and throw it in virtually anything—from cereal to smoothies, to even the occasional ice cream, turning a treat into something somewhat healthy.

2. Baked and Sweet Potatoes

Both baked potatoes and sweet potatoesare vegetables that kids in particular enjoy, and they are both loaded with potassium. Instead of feeding your children grease-laden French fries, try slicing both baked sweet and regular potatoes, salting them lightly, and serving with a healthy fresh salsa instead of ketchup.

3. Carrots

Although carrots were never my personal favorite when I was growing up, I did find them palatable when combined with a dipping sauce. While ranch dressing isn’t the healthiest thing, kids can’t stop with this one dressing, so think of ways to make it healthier. Some grocery stores stock a yogurt-based ranch dressing, with a fourth of the fat and calories. What’s more, yogurt happens to be a great source of potassium, too!

4. Vitamin supplements

Many doctors stress the fact that potassium levels should be adequate with a healthy diet, and a vitamin supplement should only be used to, well, supplement, real food. Some children, however, may have a specific deficiency in potassium for some reason or another, which may require additional supplements. The only way you can actually find out about this deficiency is to talk to your pediatrician, who can recommend certain blood tests to discovery any inadequacies in diet.
While the foods listed above are some popular sources of potassium, pretty much every healthy food item will have a certain amount. Again, the most important thing to keep potassium levels adequate is to make sure you vary your child’s balanced diet as much as possible, to keep eating fun and healthy! For more information about potassium rich foods, check out this resource.

Author Bio:
This guest post is contributed by Leslie Johnson, who writes about health, green living, parenting related articles at masters in health administration

Substitute Dessert with Sweet Oaty Bites

2011-05-13T11:57:00.001-07:00

from Super Healthy Kids

If anyone can have a freak accident, it’s Erica. She’s like a magnet for strange injury. Yesterday, minding her own business, she was standing at a fence watching Nate’s baseball game. Suddenly she turned, and her face hit a garbage can so hard she completely split her lip open. There was blood everywhere! Soaked through her sleeve as she tried to hold it together. I couldn’t help but wonder how she didn’t realize the garbage can was there? Anyway, she’s going to have a fat lip this morning! I guess everyone has to have that kid that could run into a telephone pole on a wide open street. She’s that kid in our family.

On to our letter-O experiments! Delightfully easy, gluten free, non-fat, and super good; your kids will love these little oatmeal cookies. If your kids like granola bars, they’ll certainly enjoy this treat.

Sweet Oatie Recipe

2 cups oats (any variety)
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/3 cup chopped or diced almonds
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in large bowl. In small bowl combine egg whites and vanilla. Whip with a fork for about 10 seconds. Add the egg whites to the dry ingredients. Form balls with dough and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes, or until bottoms begin to turn brown.

SmartMom Teething Bling

2011-05-10T10:35:00.001-07:00

I swear moms are the most ingenious people out there! Yet another fabulous product created by moms Kendra and Amy in 2002…the SmartMom Teething Bling. If you haven’t seen moms around town or celebrity moms wearing these, you probably don’t need to look very hard. They are super popular!

This adorable pendant is not only fashionable but it’s also a teething toy for your little one! How many times have you been standing in line, sitting on an airplane, sitting in church, or any place else with your baby when she wanted something to chew on? Instead of your hair, your keys, your cell phone, or their hands (which have been who knows where), you can just let them chew away on your necklace! How convenient is that?!?

SmartMom uses only the highest-quality, phthalate-free, federally approved silicone in our Teething Bling® line. The material is non-toxic, latex-free, food–safe, even dishwasher-friendly! It is the same silicone used in many other popular teething products and SGS test reports are available upon request. Although they stress that this is adult jewelry not intended for children to wear, all of their pendants come with a breakaway clasp as an added safety feature.

I have to confess. SmartMom was so sweet to send me a Teething Bling to try out and even though my son is well past the teething stage I’ve been wearing my Bling all the time! It seems to be the perfect accessory for my summer dresses. :) I love it!
And as if cute, stylish, and convenient aren’t enough, in honor of the many mothers and children who inspire daily, SmartMom donates from their profits to these worthy organizations:
http://www.curesearch.org
http://www.dressforsuccess.org
(in special memory of Maria Jankowski Maurer)

SmartMom has expanded their product line to include coordinating bangle bracelets and other fun items like Shakespeare quoted onesies and tween bling for older kids. Check it all out at www.smartmomjewelry.com!

All About Baby Event in Charlotte!

2011-05-09T14:39:00.001-07:00

Prenatal or postnatal in Charlotte? Come one, come all to an incredible baby event that is ALL ABOUT BABY!

The first 50 moms to register get an incredible BABY BOOT BAG filled with goodies from all our sponsors, so sign up today!

Foods Can Actually Help Fight Sun Damage

2011-05-05T08:47:00.001-07:00

from A Milky Way blog

We all have heard the phrase, beauty begins on the inside. But did you know you can actually decrease the risk of sunburn by loading up on fruits and veggies and other nutrient rich foods? It’s true!

The foods you choose to eat can significantly enhance your skin’s ability to protect itself from environmental damage, including sunburn. An organic, antioxidant rich diet that is filled with brightly colored, nutrient rich foods gives the skin cells an added measure of protection against free radicals.

What are free radicals? Simply put, it is a molecule that “steals” an electron from an oxygen molecule, destabilizing that molecule – which then seeks out an electron from a neighboring stable molecule causing a chain reaction called “oxidizing.” You’ve probably seen evidence of oxidization; its called rust when you see it on metal surfaces and it certainly isn’t something you want to encourage happening in your body. Science has linked free radical damage to DNA destruction and mutation, the aging process and a host of chronic health conditions. Antioxidants are valuable nutrients that neutralize this process…stop it in its tracks on a molecular and cellular level. You probably recognize most of them:

Vitamins A including beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein
Vitamins C and E
Minerals Zinc and Selenium
EFAs a.k.a. Essential Fatty Acids or Omega 3s
Flavanoids such as pycnogenol, grape seed extract
Polyphenols from aromatic spices such as curcumin (found in curry)

Antioxidants are abundantly available in fresh fruits and vegetables and they work wonders to protect the health of skin and can help it heal more quickly. Organic fruits and veggies have an estimated 30% more antioxidant power and nutritional value than conventionally grown counterparts. Keeping your diet loaded with antioxidant-rich foods – primarily from raw fruits and vegetables – can boost the skin’s resistance to sunburn by up to 30-40 percent in some cases.

This doesn’t mean you should go without sunscreen. But in the ongoing effort to achieve balance between free radical damage and important Vitamin D production (both require exposure to UV rays), it is good to know you have other options. While UV exposure is the most efficient way for the body to get the Vitamin D it needs, there are dietary sources including fortified milk and butter, oils, wild tuna/salmon, and sprouted seeds.
But, let’s say you blow it and you and the kids get sunburned. That same antioxidant-rich diet – with a few additions – can help speed healing. A few things to look out for:

The phytochemicals from brightly colored fruits and vegetables (think blueberries and bell peppers – yum!) help prevent infection and boost healing, providing protection from burns. I know when I’m hot – cool, crunchy and sweet really feel and taste great.
L-Cysteine is an amino acid found in high protein foods and garlic, broccoli and wheat germ promotes healing of burns.
Of course, hydration is key. And with a particularly bad burn you will want to look for those with some sodium and potassium and both are lost with your body’s effort to cool itself on overdrive.
Don’t go crazy, but add a few extra calories to your diet; your body needs the extra energy while it heals itself.

Something else to be aware of in preventing sunburn: Some prescription drugs can make the skin more susceptible to sunburn including: antibiotics, antidepressants, diuretics, antihistamines, sedatives, estrogen and acne medications (e.g., retinoic acid). If you are planning a sun-filled vacation, it is important to ask your pharmacist if any of your family’s medications have photosensitivity as a side effect.

Reprinted from Episencial.com, a leader in healthy and eco-friendly baby skin care products. Episencial features art by Eric Carle, not only a great artist and kid's book author but a great philanthropist for children's causes. Their products are organic, manufactured using solar energy and contain none of those bad things for the skin or the environment like additives, parabens or petroleum. Made in the USA of recycled bottle material.

Their skincare line which was developed for infants and children but which is good for everyone from 0 to 150 years old includes:

*Sunny Sunscreen SPF35 - water-resistant protection for face and body
*Protective Face Balm - all-over relief for chapped skin & lips (SPF6)
*Sweet Dream Bubble Bath - long lasting gel concentrate
*Soothing Cream - for eczema, itch relief and bothered skin
*Playful Foaming Wash - hydrating hair and body cleanser
*Better Body Butter - silky soft hydrating lotion

“Delayed” Cord Clamping and Stem Cells – When to Cut the Cord?

2011-05-04T11:36:00.001-07:00

from Dr. Greene

What if there were a simple, free, natural way to give your baby a bit better start on the first day of life:

Improving blood counts now
Reducing the chance of iron deficiency later
Improving oxygen levels in the brain
Reducing serious bacterial infections
Stabilizing blood sugar levels
Improving organ growth

A growing number of studies suggest that what we call “delayed” cord clamping might do all of the above, and more. Throughout almost all of human history, in all parts of the world, and throughout the world of mammals, the umbilical cord remains connected both to the baby and the placenta at least until the cord stops pulsing (sometimes longer). Usually this is 90 seconds to 3 minutes or so.

The idea of rushing to clamp and cut the cord within 20 seconds is a recent idea, so that professionals can take charge of and examine the baby right away. It’s not clear this practice is beneficial for healthy, stable babies.

At the moment of birth, perhaps 2/3 of a term baby’s blood is in the baby; 1/3 remains in the cord and placenta. For premature babies, it might be only half.

Waiting the extra seconds for what I prefer to call “normal” cord clamping rather than “rushed” cord clamping, gives the baby an extra supply of iron – a supply that can last for 6 full months – perhaps enough to prevent iron deficiency throughout the entire first year. I believe babies were originally designed to get iron from their mothers, not from fortified processed foods like white rice cereal.

A Natural Stem Cell Transplant
The extra blood the baby gets by what I call “normal” clamping isn’t just any blood – it’s once-in-a-lifetime, rich, umbilical cord blood, which is packed with an assortment of powerful stem cells. These stem cells are still migrating from the placenta into the baby at the birth moment.

Those who favor cord blood banking rush to clamp and cut the cord earlier, to prevent the valuable stem cells from going into the baby, so that instead they can whisk these stem cells away to be preserved in cold storage. This is better than just throwing the stem cells away.

I prefer going with the age-old natural process of letting these potent stem cells plant themselves in the baby as a last gift at birth, to grow within and carry out the purposes for which they were designed. Cutting edge science is just beginning to appreciate and understand the true value of this gift.

Alan Greene, MD, FAAP

Free dance classes and more this week!

2011-05-02T11:54:00.001-07:00

A new dance studio has opened up in Plaza Midwood in Charlotte and they are offering FREE classes all this week! Move Studio Charlotte caters to moms, expectant moms, and children! It offers a FABULOUS Mommalates class (prenatal pilates) for new and soon-to-be mommas! I have taken this mat class before from April (the owner) and it is wonderful. It allowed me to stretch and move my big ol’ belly and body! Without breaking a sweat you work every muscle to the point you just feel that nice soreness, not overworked and sore. There is a lot of targeting of legs, hips, butt and things too which is just what I need right now!

Mommalates is offered this Wednesday at 6:30pm for FREE at Move Studio Charlotte (1111 Hawthorne Lane Suite 101,Charlotte, NC 28205). Other free classes this week include Pilates mat classes, yoga, swing dance, children’s movement, and adult contemporary jazz. Be sure to check it out!

Going Green and Keeping Them Clean – Cloth Diapers

2011-04-26T11:36:00.001-07:00

from livegreenmom.com

When I became a mom in 2001 I didn’t even think twice, it was disposable diapers all the way. I was tired and overwhelmed like any new mom and wouldn’t even consider anything that didn’t make life easier in some way. I wish I had seen past all that and looked at the bigger picture. Disposable diapers are going to be sitting in our landfills longer than than you and I will walk the earth. Check out these diaper facts for the real lowdown on why cloth diapers should be explored for your baby’s bum.

Today we have a guest post from Amara Sparacino with some tips on cleaning your cloth diapers effectively. Thanks Amara!
—————————————-
Going Green and Staying Clean with Cloth Diapers
Diapers are not something to be tossed around lightly. The average little one, in its first year of life goes through more than 2,500 diapers. Wow.

So, you’ve decided to help your baby and the environment by using cloth diapers. Maybe you want to avoid using the chemicals usually associated with disposables. There are lots of good reasons to go with cloth, your baby’s bottom will likely appreciate it, and you won’t suffer from images of landfills and diaper mountains dancing in your head.

It’s a big job. But wait – how do you actually clean cloth diapers correctly?

As you know, it means more responsibility. Untreated cloth diapers need to be changed more frequently than disposables. And it is that issue alone that probably explains why some people stay with disposable diapers for convenience. But washing cloth is not rocket science. And let’s face it, it’s been practiced for just about forever.

Start With the Basics
There are two basic and popular storing methods for cloth diapers: wet pail and dry pail. Let’s talk about the advantages and disadvantages of both.

With a wet pail, diapers are stored in water (and normally baking soda) before washing. Many people prefer the dry pail method however because of the odor from stagnate water and the process of emptying it. Pails can be uncovered or covered and odors are controlled through a sprinkle of baking soda.

Another good idea: place a deodorant disc at the bottom of your pail. And for dirty diaper bags that feature a small piece of fabric sewn into the inside seam, you can use a few drops of an essential oil. Consider Tee Tree and/or Lavender oils to help disguise those pungent odors that may be tougher to deal with.

Washing and Drying
One of the most recognized of the green detergents available is Mountain Green. It contains no enzymes, softeners, dyes, brighteners, or fragrances (in the Free and Clear version). Numerous other detergents are also known for their “greenness”, and they include: Allens Naturally, Arm & Hammer Essentials Free; Bio-Kleen; Maggie’s Soap Nuts; as well as Sun and Earth. Some moms swear by the Smart Klean Laundry Ball because it’s chemical free, non-toxic hypoallergenic and soap less, and effectively sanitizes. It works best with smaller loads and utilizes natural ceramics to clean fabrics. There are knock offs of the SmartKlean Ball that are less effective, so keep your eyes out. (Extra tip: add fine sea salt and vinegar for a boost in cleaning power).

In general, diapers should be washed through two cycles: 1) COLD/COLD or a COLD rinse or soak, and 2) HOT/COLD wash. Skipping the first COLD/COLD cycle will likely result in more stains, which is why it is necessary to prepare the diapers for the HOT water cleaning. Many odor problems are resolved with no more than 2 to 3 drops of Tea Tree or Lavender essential oils.

Avoid washing no more than two-dozen diapers at one time. This will prevent piling from friction in your machine.

Make sure your rinse water is free of bubbles, and keep in mind that cycles can be repeated to deal with persistent odors and/or stains. Just put the freshly washed diapers either in the dryer (on HOT for an hour to 90 minutes) or in the sun to finish. Heat from the dryer or sun will effectively sanitize the diapers so they will be up to snuff for your baby’s darling derriere. And while your wee one may not thank you for the effort, the peace of mind that comes from taking such care is priceless.

Amara Sparacino is a mom of an 11 month old baby girl (who goes through way more diapers than she ever imagined possible!) She works with her brother on WashingMachines.net a website that helps people who are searching for a washing machine find information about every machine available – allowing them to compare costs, efficiency ratings and check out reviews so they can find the best washing machine for their home.

Top 5 Green Cleaning Supplies

2011-04-21T10:59:00.001-07:00

from Green Baby Guide

Below is a list of great green cleaning supplies from Green Baby Guide. I have to add my new favorite green cleaning tool to the list though…THE BONA!

I do love my steam mop for cleaning all floor surfaces (tile, hardwood, etc.), of course because it is completely chemical free, but there are times when I just need a quick mop up and I don’t have the time to fill up the steam mop and then let it heat up. The Bona is the perfect solution, and more! It’s similar to a Swiffer in that you can use it for both dusting and mopping, however, the Bona is not only easier to use, it uses a NON-TOXIC and environmentally friendly cleaning spray designed specifically for your floor type.

The cleaner for the Bona is attached to the mop, so all you do is squeeze the handle and the spray comes out for super easy and super fast mopping! (see photo above). The microfiber cleaning pad comes off and on with the greatest of ease – just velcro! I can literally change my pads with one foot. You can also get other types of pads, such as a dusting pad for dusting your hardwood floors, and they are all machine washable! Nothing to throw away or waste, just clean floors.

You can get the Bone online at their website or at Home Depot. I can’t say enough about the Bona, I use it for quick and easy floor cleanups all day long. I feel like I’ve been searching forever for a green, non-toxic way to clean my floors and I finally found it!

Here’s the list from Green Baby Guide:

In no particular order, here are my top five—and actually only five green cleaning must-haves (excepting laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, and dishwasher detergent, of course. Oh, and a broom and vacuum cleaner).

Steam cleaner—clean floors, grout, even windows without chemicals.

The Wagner power steam cleaner

Borax: An eco-friendly, budget-friendly wonder product—Joy turned me onto Borax, which I use to scour the bathtub and clean the toilet.

Baking soda and vinegar—read Joy’s “Thrifty solutions for greener cleaning” for details—I don’t know what I’d do without this cleaning combo. I clean mirrors and windows with vinegar and newspaper and use baking soda and vinegar to clean the kitchen sink.

Rags—Any green housekeeper worth her salt uses good old rags instead of paper towels! (Note: worn-out prefold diapers make the very best rags!)

Bon Ami—Bon Ami is natural and non-toxic, made from sodium carbonate, calcium carbonate and feldspar. It’s super cheap, and a great alternative to Ajax or Comet, which contain chlorine and other chemicals. I may even prefer it to Borax for scouring the tub.

Cheat Sheet: Less Plastic Sippy Cups, Bottles, and Water Bottles

2011-04-18T11:49:00.001-07:00

from Safe Mama

It’s the next generation of cheat sheets! The BPA Free Sippy Cup cheat sheet was one of my very first cheat sheets. As we’ve all grown and learned more, the more I think it’s important to try and avoid plastic all together when we can. Sure, there is BPA free plastic, and that’s better. But plastic can still leach chemicals into fluids and foods and its better to use materials that are non-leaching, such as stainless steel, glass, ceramic, and bamboo. I decided it was time to move past plastic on SafeMama.com and show you there are a ton of great plastic-less options. Not everything on this list is completely plastic free, but the portion that comes in contact with your fluids is. As usual not a comprehensive list so please email me suggestions for inclusion. (Last updated April 16, 2011)

Glass & Stainless Sippy Cups

I’ve used several of these brands and with sippy cups, it really comes down to personal preference. For us, we primarily use 12oz Klean Kanteens (one with a sport cap and one with a sippy adapter). They seem to be the best for us. But I also love the Thermos Foogo Straw Bottles too and use one in my son’s lunchbox. Insulated vs non-insulated is something you have to think about. Klean Kanteens are not (aside from their new insulated ones). I use these adorable Cocoozy’s for out and about, and they fit perfect. There are also many neoprene sleeves and other jackets that fit both bottles and sippy’s.

Foogo Leak-Proof Straw Bottle (stainless)
Safe Sippy 2 (stainless)
Fuel Stainless Steel Sports Bottle
Foogo Leak-Proof Sippy Cup (stainless)
Crocodile Creek Stainless Drinking Bottles
Thermos FUNtainers (stainless)
ThinkSport 12oz Stainless Water Bottle
Klean Kanteen 12 oz Sippy (comes with a sippy adapter or a sports cap) (stainless)
Earthlust Insulated Baby Bottle & Sippy Cup (stainless)
EIO Kids Cup (glass)
Pura Sippy Cups (stainless)
Life Factory Bottles w/ sippy adaptor (glass)
Safe Sporter Stainless Steel Bottle
Sigg Kids Bottles (coated aluminum*)

Glass & Stainless Baby Bottle Brands

Of course there are plastic bottle options available on the market and many of them are created with BPA free plastic. Some companies I trust more than others like ThinkBaby and BornFree because they have been BPA free intentionally from the get-go. These are great safer options too. My objective here is to highlight some alternatives to plastic for bottle feeding. Before anyone gets in a twist, I am a supporter of breastfeeding and think it’s an important choice. I am also however, a supporter in allowing mothers to make the choices that are right for them, regardless of what I would do. Everyone has their own right to mother their children the way they see fit. I refuse to judge on this issue. So without further adieu…

OrganicKidz Stainless Baby Bottles (stainless)
Pura Stainless Steel Baby Bottle (stainless)
BornFree Glass Baby Bottles
Dr. Browns Glass Baby Bottles
Evenflo Glass Baby Bottles
Green to Grow Glass Baby Bottles
Silikids Glass Baby Bottles
Life Factory Glass Baby Bottles
Kidbasix Stainless Baby Bottles (stainless)
Momo Glass Baby Bottles
Nurture Pure Glass Baby Bottles
Sweet Pea Glass Baby Bottles

Adult Water Bottles and Drink Containers (ditch the plastic!!!)

Obviously there are hundreds of stainless water bottles on the market and most are fine… you can’t go wrong with stainless steel. This is a sampling of them and a few glass options.

Klean Kanteen (regular and insulated)
Thermos Stainless Steel Hydration Bottles
ThinkSport Stainless Steel Bottles
Life Factory Glass Bottles
Faucet Face Glass Bottles
Bamboo Bottle (glass and bamb00)
Takeya Glass Water Bottles
Tazzini Reusable Water Bottle
EcoUsable Stainless Bottles
Sigg Bottles (coated aluminum*)

*Sigg was under scrutiny for using a coating on the interior of their bottles that contained BPA. They have since corrected that and now line them with SIGG EcoCare® Liner which is a baked on coating. They claim it is chemically inert and does not absorb, leach or transfer odors or flavors, no matter what beverage is inside. You can make a judgment call on this one.

Bought Britax, Maclaren, or other baby gear from Toys/Babies R Us in the last decade? Read this.

2011-04-14T09:16:00.001-07:00

from ZRecommends

Photo by Andy Pixel

Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us have settled a class action lawsuit for alleged price-fixing by agreeing to reimburse consumers for a portion of their purchases on certain baby gear. Here's a list of what you might have bought at an allegedly illegally marked-up price, what purchase dates are eligible for a partial refund, what percentage of the purchase price is being offered as reimbursement, and how much that might be (based on today's retail prices):

The total settlement purse is over $35 million. You have until August 1, 2011 to file a claim.

To file a claim, dig up whatever paperwork you have to support the purchase -- credit card statements, receipts if you have them, cancelled checks, or whatever else can demonstrate that you made the purchase and, if possible, how much you actually paid. Our philosophy on these situations is that even if you aren't sure if your paperwork is enough, make a copy of it, fill out the form, and send it in. Head to the settlement notice to find out how.

Your Diet During Breastfeeding

2011-04-12T14:35:00.001-07:00

from A Milky Way

Watch your diet. It must be well balanced and provide a sufficient intake of protein (10 to 15% of the total food intake). Some examples of foods rich in proteins include lentils, peas, cheese, fish, turkey, beef, eggs, etc. Animal proteins (meat, poultry or fish) should represent 50% of total proteins. Dietary supplements are no substitute for a balanced diet. Do not take dietary supplements together without consulting your doctor or pharmacist first to avoid possible side effects.

HERE'S WHAT WEB Md SAYS ABOUT YOUR BREASTFEEDING DIET:

During pregnancy, your appetite can soar. Your growing baby is drawing from your nutritional stores. But you're also hungry because your body is hard at work helping to prepare your milk supply.

After you give birth, good nutrition is even more important than during your pregnancy. It can make a difference in the quality of your breast milk and affect how quickly your body rebounds from childbirth.

Though doctors once routinely recommended an additional 500 calories a day for breastfeeding moms, today, experts say what you eat matters far more than your caloric intake.

"Beyond a doubt, the nutritious quality of the foods you eat is of major importance during breastfeeding. Simply adding empty calories, like those found in sugary snacks or junk food, is not going to help you or your baby," says Linda M. Hanna, IBCLC, program coordinator for Lactation and Prenatal Education Services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
In fact, she says, if a mother isn't feeding herself with enough nutritious foods, the number of "dirty diapers" goes down, a sign that your baby may not be getting enough to eat.

Complex carbohydrates are among the best foods you can eat while breastfeeding, says Hanna. Build these into your daily diet:
Vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, squash, and beans

Fruits such as apples, berries, plums, oranges, peaches, and melons, whole grains such as whole-wheat bread, rye bread, and brown rice. Not coincidentally, these are the same foods recommended for nursing mothers by the American Academy of Pediatrics. One extra benefit: this type of diet can also help you shed those post-pregnancy pounds.

"If you look at the Weight Watcher's diet for lactation, it's all about complex carb loading. It's one of the most successful long-term lactation weight loss programs for women. It helps them lose weight without sacrificing milk production," says Hanna.

In addition, Hanna says it's also important to get enough protein and fat in your diet. Aim for at least three to five servings (1 ounce each) of fat a day. These could be vegetable oils, butter, or even mayonnaise.

This, she says, will help your body to make a good supply of the super-fatty and satisfying "hind" milk that is expressed during the later half of each feeding, Hanna says.

"In the end we are talking about eating a balanced diet, with complex carbohydrates, protein, and fats, and with as little sugar and sugary snacks as possible," says Hanna.

Among the most important nutrients you need while breastfeeding is calcium -- a minimum of 1,000 mg daily is a must. While dairy foods are a great source, you don't have to drink milk to make milk. To meet your calcium needs, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests five daily servings of any calcium-rich food, including low-fat yogurt and cheese, as well as nondairy foods such as salmon, broccoli, sesame seeds, tofu, and kale.

Do You Need Nutritional Supplements While Breastfeeding?
As long as you are eating a healthy, nutritious diet, neither you nor your baby are likely to fall short of any vitamins or minerals. If you also continue to take your prenatal vitamins after birth -- which many obstetricians now recommend -- then you and your baby are in even better shape.

The one supplement your baby mightneed is vitamin D, necessary to absorb calcium into the bones, says Carol Huotari, IBCLC, manager for the Center for Breastfeeding information at La Leche League International in Schaumburg, Ill. Vitamin D is in breast milk, but in low amounts.

What can you do? The sun naturally converts certain body chemicals tovitamin D, so Huotari suggests taking baby outside for about a half hour each day. "If your baby gets about 20 minutes of sun exposure on their cheeks once a day, then they are probably getting enough vitamin D," she says.

But be careful about exposing your baby to too much sun, which can cause sunburn and raise baby's risk of skin cancer in later life. If you're uncertain about what to do, talk to your pediatrician about this issue, and ask about the proper dose and type of vitamin D supplements for your baby. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises daily drops of vitamin D for all breastfed babies.
In addition, if you are a strict vegetarian, your breast milk might be missing adequate stores of vitamin B-12. Ask your pediatrician if your baby needs supplements of this nutrient as well.

Finally, while the water supply in most U.S. cities and towns is boosted with fluoride -- a chemical that can help teeth and nails grow strong -- the levels can be low in certain rural areas. As your local water company how many parts per million of fluoride is in your drinking water. If the level is below 3 ppm, ask your pediatrician if your baby should take fluoride supplements after 6 months of age. Under 6 months old, your baby should not take fluoride supplements, even if levels are low in your water supply.

As you probably already know, alcohol and pregnancy are a dangerous mix. Surprisingly, however, the evidence is far less clear when it comes to alcohol's effects during breastfeeding.
With studies on both sides of the fence -- some showing it may increase the risk of problems, others failing to prove it -- it's not surprising that experts are divided on the subject.

As a result, breastfeeding moms should err on the side of caution. Limit alcohol to one or two drinks occasionally, says Huotari. "Until we know more, it's better to drink less," she says. Her advice is also endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Here's a link to this article at Web Md.

Recall Alert: Arm's Reach Concepts Recalls Infant Bed-Side Sleepers Due to Entrapment, Suffocation and Fall Hazards

2011-04-08T10:18:00.001-07:00

Originals
-
8108, 8133, 8111, 8112 & 8199
Universal
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8311

Sold at: Burlington Coat Factory, Babies R Us and other retail stores nationwide from September 1997 through December 2001 for about $160.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled bed-side sleepers and visit www.armsreach.com/instructions to view and download assembly instructions and to make sure that the product is properly configured. Consumers should also contact the company by phone or via the company website to receive hard-copy instructions by mail and an assembly/warning label. Consumers who are missing the fabric liner or other components should immediately contact Arm's Reach for an alternative remedy.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Arm's Reach at (800) 954-9353 between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's website at www.armsreach.com

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CPSC is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about it by visiting www.saferproducts.gov

How to soothe baby's colic? Pour a cup of tea

2011-04-07T09:21:00.001-07:00

from the Today Show

By Kavita Varma-White

Next time your fussy, colicky baby has you teetering on the brink of sleep-deprived lunacy, consider a cup of herbal tea.

And that's for the baby, not for you.

Tea --made with chamomile, licorice, fennel and balm mint-- was one of the most effective treatments for relieving symptoms of colic, according to a new Pediatrics study, which reviewed 15 randomized clinical trials of alternative treatments for infantile colic.

The study analyzed trials that included various types of treatment and found the most encouraging results came from treatments using herbal remedies and sugar solutions, while the least effective results came from treatments involving manipulation and probiotic supplements.

Of the three herbal studies, one with the most significant results was when babies were given fennel extract. (No surprise since fennel seeds are known to be a natural digestive aid because they relax the smooth muscle lining of the digestive tract and also help to expel gas.) Another study looked at Colimil, an herbal formula containing fennel, lemon balm, and German chamomile, which after use showed a significant difference in crying times per day.

Five studies that looked at glucose and sucrose supplements found significant easing effects on colic symptoms, too.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the study is how the authors explain what many a frazzled parent already knows – that it's hard to know how to treat colic because colic itself is such a wily beast.

The difficulty in finding an effective treatment is related to our lack of understand of IC (infantile colic). Its pathophysiology is unclear; food allergies, formula intolerance, immaturity of gastrointestinal tract, excessive gas formation or intestinal cramping have all been suggested as possible etiologies. Arguably, any rational treatment should be directed at the mechanisms of the disease itself.

The study didn't include specific instructions on dosage, so check with your pediatrician before trying any herbal remedy. And, even then, don't give your baby hot tea!

Press Release: The International Baby Planner Association Celebrates Another Successful Year in Establishing Baby Planning & Maternity Concierge Services as a New Industry

2011-04-06T11:57:00.001-07:00

International Baby Planner Association, the Premier Organization for Professional Baby Planners Successfully Establishes a New Industry to Help Empower New and Expectant Parents

The International Baby Planner Association™, the world’s first and only trade association dedicated to the baby planning and maternity concierge industry celebrates another year. Founded in 2007 as a trustworthy resource and support platform for the world’s first baby planners; the International Baby Planner Association (IBPA) has grown by leaps and bounds, while making constant strides to establish a reputable and respected industry.

The baby planning and maternity concierge industry was founded out of a need for parent empowerment and support. As the influx of products, safety concerns and parenting philosophies began to inundate expecting families in the early 2000’s, experienced professional women and mothers began to create baby consulting services. The IBPA has supported these first parent coaching businesses and will continue to set standards, define the scope of practice and assist to develop a reputable baby planning industry for years to come.

"I'm proud to note that IBPA was the very first organization to break ground and set standards for the baby planning industry. Since 2007 we have worked tirelessly to pave the way for a brand new industry to come into existence ” stated Melissa Moog founder and president.

The IBPA has joined forces with some of the best known experts and professionals in the country. Our prominent Trusted Advisory board members are nationally known for their industry knowledge and include Kara Forney founder of The Bump®, nationally recognized Pediatrician/Author Dr. Alan Greene, and organizations such as Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), Environmental Working Group (EWG), International Association for Child Safety (IAFCS) and Stroller Strides. (View full advisory board).

"No one had heard of baby planning or maternity concierge services when we established our private businesses and IBPA, so in 2007 our initial objective was to bring awareness to the industry” said co-founder and vice president of marketing April Beach. “As we move beyond 2011, IBPA will continue to serve and support baby planning and parent coaching businesses globally; all while staying ahead of this ever evolving industry.”

IBPA has worked to establish the baby planning industry and has achieved success on many fronts including the creation of a “baby planner” category for the All Baby and Kids Expo, The Bump pregnancy guide, Expectant Mothers guide and numerous others. “Our founding members have been dedicated to building strong credibility and increasing prominent TV, print and on-line media exposure through news outlets such as ABC, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, Associated Press, Washington Post, American Express Open Forum, Pregnancy Magazine, Kiwi Magazine and more, for baby planners globally” states Moog.

Shannon Choe, IBPA vice president and new member director stated that, “As the baby planning industry has gained momentum and recognition over the years, the International Baby Planner Association has seen a steady stream of membership inquiries. Starting with only seven founding business members, the IBPA has served over 100 baby planning and maternity concierge businesses since its inception. ”

A baby planner will provide an expectant or new parent the best guidance possible tailored to their personal needs, lifestyle and budget. A baby planner will also provide the most current information and resources available, which can include but are not limited to: baby gear, furniture, and product consultation, sourcing and qualifying the best pre- and post-natal care, birth planning, nursery design, non-toxic/green baby care, childproofing and parent coaching. As the baby planning industry continues to grow, so will the services baby planners offer.

For a list of our Premier Baby Planner directory featuring businesses in the USA and abroad view it here: Premier Baby Planning Members.

As with all new industries, this growing awareness to maternity concierge services has led to an influx of new baby planning businesses. As an association, the IBPA does not directly train baby planners however; strategic partnerships have been established with reputable business for aspiring baby planner training and business consulting. New baby planning professionals can establish premier businesses and become IBPA members with the help of IBPA’s trusted baby planner resources. For more information, please visit http://www.internationalbabyplanners.com or contact April Beach (303) 522-4334

For baby planner industry buzz follow IBPA on Twitter and Facebook here: @IBPABabyPlanner and Facebook

Cake Wrecks – Baby Shower Edition

2011-04-04T16:48:00.001-07:00

from Pregnant Chicken

HILARIOUS!!! Just had to post because these made me laugh.

I love Cake Wrecks and if you haven't checked out the site, then get over there because it's like lucite stripper shoes – sometimes tacky, sometimes scary and always awesome.

I asked Jen if I could pull a couple of the shower cakes for a post, you can imagine how thrilled I was when she said "go for it".

Let me tell ya, I was not disappointed in the plethora of batshit cakes that people serve up at baby showers.
Here are just a few that are as tasty as electric-blue, store bought frosting:

"What? I thought it was spelled "Tschower".

I love Babbies. The more 'b's the better. (Unless it's actually 'Baffies'. Now that would be stupid.)

"Just a sliver of giant tit for me, please. I'm trying to watch my weight."

Nothing says "edible" quite like an abdomen gash with a hand sticking out.

This is actually a really beautiful cake until you realize you have to cut into a sleeping infant. No, that's not disturbing or anything.

Again, we have to cut this cake, people. I don't want to eat half of a baby's face (judging from the photo, I'd eat the whole head but I wouldn't be happy about it.)

Why do I feel like it was the 18-year-old brother's job to get the cake?

It is important that we all know why we are gathered here today. Stick lady + cup of sperm = heart, baby, heart. All together now...

I'm really hoping this isn't what Tristan looked like. If it was, then my bad and I tip my hat to your charming cake.

WTF is happening here? Why is a burnt ET sitting on top of a t.v.? Welcome to the world, Ethan. You're surrounded by nuts.

Maybe the parents decided to name this child "Finally" regardless of gender because I can't even figure out what they were going for here.

Oh, it's a baby BABY shower. Crap, I need to get another card.

I have no idea what they find weird about this cake?! Maybe the woman they were having the shower for wasn't named Olivia. Now *that* would be awkward.

Actually, this is exactly how Connie gave birth – surrounded by rosettes while her giant boob-balls rolled into her mouth.

Yes, congratulations on your headless baby, now let's eat its feet.

Mmmmm, uterus.

What you can't see is Uncle Bob's interpretive dance that goes along with this cake. It's all about learning through poetry and movement.

Is it worse to eat a beautiful baby cake or a creepy one? Creepy cake babies have rights too, you know.

This is possibly the best cake I have ever seen. If I had witness this cake in 1977, my head would have exploded or I would have done something like this. With the protection of Darth Vader in an acid tripping, air-brushed universe, that lucky little baby can't lose. She just can't lose.

This isn't even a cake but I am horrified that someone has taken the two things I love most – meatloaf and bacon – and molded it into the most disturbing thing I have ever seen. Excuse me while I go bleach my eyes.

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So there you have it. Now get out there and get your creepy "babby" cake holding a cup of sperm and some bacon. Happy showers, Peeps!

FDA advisers want more study of food dye-ADHD link

2011-04-01T12:26:00.001-07:00

from CNN

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee decided Thursday there is insufficient evidence to support a link between artificial dyes in foods and children with ADHD. The committee will make no recommendation to ban or regulate dye additives found in food products. But the committee did stress that there seems to be a trend with artificial dyes and side effects in children and that more research is needed.

Over the past two days the committee has heard testimony on dyes and how they cause some children to show signs of hyperactivity. The question before the committee: Is there enough evidence to connect artificial dyes and hyperactivity and, if so, should it recommend that the FDA strengthen its regulations on these ingredients? The committee's response seems to be "Not now."

According to the experts who testified, European companies already are dropping dyes including Blue #1, Yellow #5 and #6 and others and substituting natural colorings for them. But the United States still allows artificial dyes, mostly for aesthetic reasons, not for taste, the experts say.

There are eight dyes now being used in the United States; Citrus Red 2, Red 3, Red 40, Blue 1 & 2, Green 3 and Yellow 5 & 6. They can be found in numerous food products from packaged macaroni and cheese to Easter candy.

Critics had called for either a ban or more explicit labeling. “Why are these dyes in these foods anyway?” asked Michael Jacobsen, executive director of the Center for Science and the Public Interest, a watchdog group on nutrition and food safety. “I would push for having them taken out completely. But if that can’t be done, why not warn the public and parents that these dyes could have some effects?”

The idea that dyes in food causes ADHD was first noted in "Why Your Child is Hyperactive," a book written by Dr. Benjamin Feingold in 1975. The eating style described in the book became known as the Feingold Diet. He found if you eliminated artificial food dyes and additives in American diets, cases of hyperactivity in children, later defined as ADHD, would decline. But reviews of the data found that the correlation between dyes and hyperactivity were inconsistent.

Although numerous data have been collected on food dyes and hyperactivity in kids during the past decade, critics say the design of the studies has been weak. They note many of the studies were performed on small groups– many involved no more than 25 children. They also noted that much of the observation data (how the child acted) was reported by parents and not by clinicians. And they pointed out that most of the dyes tested were combined into a dye mixture and not tested individually.

The most recent studies to bring food dyes and ADHD back to the public eye was a 2007 project conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. It showed that artificial food dyes along with sodium benzoate (a white crystalline salt used as a food preservative) increased ADHD symptoms in both hyperactive and non-hyperactive children. That study was followed up by another paper in 2010 by the same researchers who looked at the connection between food dyes, ADHD and histamine, a chemical that’s produced in the brain when the body is having an allergic reaction.

“We found mixtures of certain artificial colors together with sodium benzoate preservative in the diet increased the average level of hyperactivity in 3 and 8/9 year old children in the general population,” Dr. Jim Stevenson, a professor at the School of Psychology at the University of Southampton, and lead author of the study, testified Wednesday.

During the hearing, parents from all over the United States shared stories about their children with the committee. Renee Shutters, from Jamestown, New York, said her 5-year-old ,Trenton, who at the time was in preschool, was an unhappy child. “He just wasn’t comfortable with himself,” said Shutters. But after talking to another parent who said her child was having behavioral issues because he was allergic to a food dye, Shutters took action. “I went through my pantry and removed everything with dyes," declared Shutters.
“Now,” Shutters says, “Trenton is fine. After two days there was a huge change. Two weeks later he felt different, much happier and six weeks later, he was a new child.”

“To give my child an artificial dye would be child abuse!” exclaimed Maureen Lamm, a doctor and mother of three from Kennesaw, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. “He suffers that much when he eats foods with certain dyes.” Lamm has become so involved she offers a website, www.momsabcs.com, to parents to warn them about dye allergies.

But the FDA’s evaluation of studies on color additives and ADHD found there was very little strong evidence in any of these studies that showed dyes were the primary reason for a child’s hyperactivity.

“There were other factors in most of these studies that could have been the reason or could have gone hand in hand with the dyes to create these problems in these particular children, including preservatives,”said Jason August with the FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety.

And the International Food Information Council, which is supported primarily by broad-based food, beverage and agricultural industries, says the science isn’t there.

“Without sufficient scientific evidence that a causal link truly exists between food colors and hyperactivity in children, communications that suggest a link could have unintended consequences, including unnecessarily frightening consumers about safe ingredients that are consumed every day,” said David Schmidt, president and CEO of IFIC.

After lengthy discussion the committee made its decision based on the FDA’s evaluation of study data, as well as testimony from researchers. It was the weakness of the studies, and the lack of data, that caused the committee to ask for more research and delay action on artificial dyes.

Although the committee only makes recommendations to the FDA, the agency usually follows those recommendations.

Maternal Health Care in America

2011-03-29T12:53:00.001-07:00

Ina May Gaskin’s vision for the future

by Ina May Gaskin | March 25, 2011

from Babble.com

Every country I have visited (except Brazil) has a reverse ratio of midwives to physicians compared to what we have here, meaning that their midwives far outnumber physicians involved in maternity care. People who live in countries where there has always been a midwifery profession consider it a rational health care policy for midwives to be the providers of maternity care for approximately 70 percent of pregnant women. By contrast, people in the U.S. tend to think that every pregnancy requires an obstetrician and that midwives are some kind of more recent fad.

Ina May Gaskin shares 8 ways in which she believes maternal healthcare in America needs to change:

1. Revise medical education
The best obstetricians are those who had midwives as teachers of normal birth, who gave them a good grounding in the normal process of labor and birth before they entered the part of their training pertaining to obstetrical pathology. With midwives as teachers, doctors in training would be able to learn some of the ancient midwifery techniques that would help to lower C-section rates if they were applied across the country. These ingenious techniques include the all-fours (or Gaskin) maneuver to solve the complication of shoulder dystocia (stuck shoulders), which I learned from indigenous Guatemalan midwives who told me they had learned it from God; the use of a long shawl called a rebozo to change a baby’s position; massage techniques; and the use of upright postures and movement during labor. Techniques of manual assessment of pelvic dimensions, fetal size, and breech delivery need to be revived and taught.

2. Establish maternity care standards
We need medical practice standards at both the federal and the state level that would address C-sections performed without medical justification and assure more mother-friendly births and fewer medical interventions during labor. Brazil has already begun to establish such measures, such that hospitals receive less payment from government insurance if their C-section rates exceed the standards.

3. Physicians should be salaried and not paid by the number of births they take on
The rationale for this recommendation is that it would prevent obstetricians from taking on more births than they should, along with the gynecological surgeries they are additionally responsible for. The nearly unchecked freedom many now enjoy means that many women’s labors are accelerated, or they are pressured to consent to a C-section that is really unnecessary, so the physician can go home for family time or a good night’s sleep. It’s a national disgrace that the CDC’s statistics now show that more C-sections are performed between 5:00 and 6:00 pm than at any other time of day.

4. Birth centers are needed in all parts of the U.S.
Women giving birth in a birth center can expect their midwives to stay with them throughout the course of labor, whereas in a hospital they can be on the point of giving birth when they have to say good-bye to the midwife who had been with them for hours because of a shift change. Women using birth centers have far fewer induced births (since midwives are less likely to push for induction) and fewer C-sections. Their babies are less likely to be taken away from them just following birth, because habitual hospital routines such as unnecessary separation of mother and baby have not been instituted at birth centers. Despite the good results of birth centers and their popularity with women, extremely high malpractice insurance rates and physician opposition have forced many independent birth centers to close their doors. Birth centers need protection from the economic and legislative advantages currently enjoyed by hospital corporations. In the early eighties, there were 400 freestanding birth centers. In 2005, there were only 160.

5. Every maternal death must be counted and reviewed
Read why Ina believes “birth culture is so weird” in the U.S. in our exclusive interview.It is simply unacceptable that a U.S. woman giving birth today has a greater chance of dying than her mother did. We have to set up — for the first time — a national system that makes it possible to identify and count every maternal death. Unless every death is identified and reviewed, it is not possible to know the causes of all deaths or their actual frequency, and then to work to prevent them. At present, we have nothing more than an honor system of maternal death reporting, which produces such inaccurate numbers that the CDC reported in 1998 that the actual number could be three times greater than the number officially reported each year. Other countries, with less wealth than ours, have created systems that achieve accurate counts of maternal deaths, so no one can argue that this task is impossible.

6. Reduce the U.S. maternal death rate
A “To Do” list for the revolutionary change required to gather accurate maternal death information and then to use it to prevent those deaths, where possible:

Make every one of the fifty states use the U.S. Standard Death Certificate, so that for the first time in our history, we would have consistency in how data on maternal death is gathered.
Create effective penalties for misreporting, misclassifying, or falsifying information on death certificates.
Create and require training programs for doctors and anyone else authorized to fill in a death certificate in maternity hospitals. Special training is necessary for filling out death certificates, according to the CDC. In its recent publication, Strategies to Reduce Pregnancy-Related Deaths, the CDC reports that “[p]hysicians receive minimal training in how to correctly complete death certificates. The cause of death on many certificates does not adequately reflect the events leading to the death, as evidenced by the under-assessment of pregnancy-related deaths when case identification is based solely on death certificate data.”
Pass legislation at the national level to provide confidentiality to state maternal mortality review committees.
Require that insurance companies pay for an autopsy following the death of a woman of childbearing age in every case where the family agrees to the autopsy, to help contribute to research that will prevent deaths in the future. Countries with national health care systems do this as a matter of course, since it contributes to preventing more deaths (their main priority).
Encourage the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to emulate the example of its UK counterpart, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, by periodically publishing a detailed and informative book as part of its effort to identify, review, study, and learn from maternal deaths in the U.S.

7. Postpartum home visits must be recognized as a necessity
Postpartum home visits are important for many reasons: to detect early signs of postpartum depression, which sometimes escalates to postpartum psychosis; to help with breast-feeding problems; to answer questions the new parents might have about early infant care; to check for an infection that might not have been apparent on discharge; and to make sure that mothers, especially those who have had C-sections, are not showing signs of deep vein thrombosis. We cannot expect new mothers or family members to diagnose their own postpartum complications. Home birth midwives provide postpartum visits during the days following birth as part of their routine services. However, it is relatively unusual for U.S. hospital maternity services to include even one postpartum home visit. Instead, most services provide only for a six-week checkup at the doctor’s office.

8. We must give more consideration to a category of mothers who need it
In 2010, a new television series was launched in the U.S. entitled I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant. The series is teaching people that intelligent women can be pregnant and go into labor without realizing that they have a baby coming. However, when that same phenomenon happens in the case of a teenager and complications arise (for example, her baby doesn’t spontaneously breathe at birth), the young woman is judged according to a standard that no one would ever ask of someone giving birth in a hospital to an expected baby. Whereas giving birth is ordinarily considered to be so painful that our culture doesn’t think that women are in their right mind if they give birth without pain medication, these young women are expected to be skilled at newborn resuscitation and other obstetrical and midwifery skills immediately after giving birth unaided. We literally have no idea how many young women are serving long prison sentences in the U.S. because they failed to resuscitate their babies and were charged with manslaughter or even murder. Trying to deal with this problem using the harsh punishments given these women does not serve as a deterrent. It only illustrates how much work we have to do to make it clear that women becoming mothers must have full human rights.

I am convinced that it will be possible for women to agree on at least some of the changes that I have outlined in my book. It doesn’t have to take forever to get maternal deaths counted right, the postpartum needs of mothers recognized, the punishment regime modified to fit realities, and the positive role that midwives could play in birth fully utilized in the U.S. Let’s make all these changes happen.

This excerpt from Birth Matters: A Midwife’s Manifesta is reprinted and condensed here by the kind permission of Seven Stories Press.

Baby Dream Gear class THIS WEEKEND in CHARLOTTE!

2011-03-22T08:17:00.001-07:00

If you’re expecting in Charlotte attending the Baby Dream Gear class this weekend is an essential!

Taught exclusively by Little Miracles Baby Planning, this nationwide class is now being taught in Charlotte and will teach you EVERYTHING you need to know about baby gear and give you the only chance for hands on interaction with the best baby gear available!

You will be pampered during the two-day event with delicious treats and snacks plus every expecting mother will receive an amazing SWAG BAG filled with baby essentials! There will also be great prizes given away such as a Britax car seat, Episcencial bath and body products, and more! Meet other expecting couples in a comfortable environment and get all your questions answered about what baby gear is best for your family.
Questions about the toxins in mattresses and what should you buy? Questions about what stroller to get and how to install your car seats? Questions about nursing or bottle feeding? We will answer all of these and so much more!

WHEN: Saturday, March 26th 7-9pm and Sunday, March 27th, 2-5pm

WHERE: Belly Elan maternity boutique: 9816-D Rea Road

COST: $50 per person or $75 per couple

Click HERE and HERE for more info, or

REGISTER HERE ONLINE!

**Space is limited so register today and don’t miss out! This class is being sponsored by thebump.com nationwide.

IMPORTANT: American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends children stay in rear-facing car seats until TWO YEARS OF AGE

2011-03-21T11:46:00.001-07:00

from USA Today

By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

Updated 6h 38m ago

New advice from the nation's pediatricians doubles the recommended time that babies and toddlers should ride in rear-facing car seats.

Convertible car seats can be used both forward- and rear-facing.

Previous recommendations said parents could switch babies to forward-facing seats at 12 months old or 20 pounds. Switching to a forward-facing seat on a child's first birthday was a common rite of passage.

But new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics say babies and toddlers should ride in rear-facing car seats until at least age 2 — even longer if the child is small enough.

The pediatrics group is changing its recommendation because research shows children under 2 are 75% less likely to die or be severely injured in a crash if they're in rear-facing car seats, according to the policy statement, published today in the journal Pediatrics.

Car accidents are the leading cause of death in children over age 4; about 1,500 kids under 16 die in car crashes each year, the statement says. In Sweden, many children ride in rear-facing car seats until age 4.
Rear-facing seats do a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine in an accident, because they distribute the force of the collision over the entire body, says study author Dennis Durbin, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Center for Injury Research and Prevention.

That's especially true in frontal crashes, which make up the bulk of car accidents, says pediatrician Gary Smith of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Cincinnati, who wasn't involved in developing the new policy.
The new guidelines are "a fantastic step," says Jennifer Hoekstra, who coordinates a child safety program at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Hoekstra says parents of toddlers under age 2 who already are using forward-facing seats shouldn't panic, because forward-facing seats still provide good protection.

"If you are using your forward-facing car seat correctly, your child is safe," Hoekstra says. But 73% of car seats are installed incorrectly, according to a 2005 study in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.
Parents won't necessarily have to buy new car seats, which range in price from about $40 to more than $300, says Alan Fields, co-author of Baby Bargains, which rates baby products.

Thirty of the 35 convertible car seats now on the market can accommodate a 2-year-old, even up to 35 pounds, which is at the top of the weight range for that age, the study says.

Owners of convertible car seats may be able to follow the new advice simply by turning the seats around, so that kids face the back, Fields says.

Yet some of the greatest objections may come from toddlers themselves, Fields says.
An 18-month-old, newly allowed to face front, may not agree to turn back around — at least without a lot of crying — especially if the child has an older sibling who is allowed to face front, Fields says.
"If you've already turned them around, and now you try to turn them back, that's not going to be pretty."

Guidelines for older kids

The American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendations also clarify car-seat guidelines for older children:
• Kids who are too big for rear-facing seats still need to use forward-facing car seats until age 4.
• Kids up to age 8 need booster seats, which make sure that seat belts, typically designed for adults, fit properly on kids' smaller bodies.
• Children who outgrow booster seats should use lap-and-shoulder seat belts.
• All children under age 13 should ride in the back seat.

Natural Baby Wipes

2011-03-18T07:21:00.001-07:00

The options for natural and organic baby wipes is beginning to expand, which is fabulous. I’ve noticed a huge difference when I used traditional wipes on my son’s bottom with the rashes he would get. Here are two great new natural alternatives:

ELEMENTS NATURALS 100% NATURAL & COMPOSTABLE BABY WIPES

These wipes are thick and soft and made from 100% plant derived ingredients. Available on Amazon.
BABYGANICS THICK N’ KLEEN WIPES

If you haven’t checked out BabyGanics yet you should! Not only do they make a fabulous line of cleaning products that are safe for baby and clean your home wonderfully, they also make these amazing natural wipes in Ultra Sensitive and Cream Infused varieties. And on Amazon you get such a deal (as low as $13.29 for 400 wipes with their subscribe and save program)!

Available on Amazon and at Buy Buy Baby.

Color Me Safely: Hair Dyes In Pregnancy

2011-03-16T11:47:00.001-07:00

by Michele Brown OB/GYN of Beaute de Maman

When it comes to your own personal grooming, is there anything more satisfying than being crowned with a head of thick, shining hair? Do you divide your life into good hair days and bad ones? Does a bad hair day leave you depressed and lethargic while a good one propels you through glass ceilings. Guess what? You are not alone!

According to Hoovers^® there are about 65,000 hair care salons in the United States with combined annual sales of about $19 billion! A small portion of these sales are for hair cuts, but most of this money is spent on… hair color.

If you are pregnant, planning to get pregnant or if you have a job in one of these salons, please read the following carefully. Over 20 million Americans, mostly women, are exposed to hair dyes each year...

The answers to these questions are very important to all pregnant women:

Do different types of hair dyes present different levels of risk?
Which hair dye chemicals raise concerns in pregnancy?
How does exposure to the fetus occur when a pregnant woman uses hair dyes?
What type of toxicities have been described in pregnancy?

Get the facts about the risks of hair dyes and how to minimize them...

Be sure to try our Beauté de Maman Clear Skin Combo for Pregnancy. Our soothing blend of ingredients are safe and effective for pregnancy related skin issues. Try it now

Beauté de Maman is now being sold at drugstore.com as well as many other fine retailers around the globe.

Kraft Confesses: “We Use Genetically Engineered Bovine Growth Hormone”

2011-03-10T11:13:00.001-08:00

from Friends Eat

According to the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a non-profit grassroots organization campaigning for health, and the exploration of crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, and genetic engineering, Kraft has admitted to using milk from rBST and rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormones) supplemented cow herds. Another food manufacturer that admits using GMOs is Kellogg’s.

These genetically modified bovine growth hormones were developed by Monsanto and are now marketed by Eli Lilly. Recombinant bovine growth hormone has been a staple in the dairy products consumed by Americans for over a decade. But since these products are not labeled, consumers have no knowledge that the growth hormone is included and unidentified in milk, cheese, and yogurt.

What is Artificial Growth Hormone
Bovine somatotropin or BST, and bovine growth hormone, or BGH, are hormones that naturally occur in cattle. Using recombinant (a cell or organism in which genetic recombination has occurred) DNA technology, the hormones have been synthesized to create artificial growth hormones rBST and rBGH. Both are a genetically engineered variations on the naturally occurring hormones in cattle.
The artificial growth hormones are then injected into cows to increase milk production. Monsanto first developed the technology and marketed it as “Posilac”, which is now owned by Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly.

All 27 countries of the European Union, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia have banned artificial growth hormone’s use in milk for human consumption. The U.S. and Brazil are the only two countries that allow its use.

In 1993, when the FDA wrote the labeling guidelines for rBGH/rBST, our Food Safety Czar Michael Taylor — former Monsanto Vice President for Public Policy — was in charge as Deputy Commissioner for Policy with the FDA.

Taylor crafted the FDA’s GMO friendly policy while serving as the FDA’s Deputy commissioner. It was Taylor who wrote the FDA’s guidelines on recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), banning dairies from labeling their milk “rBGH Free“, despite opposition from scientists, farmers and consumers.
Monsanto initiated propaganda campaigns in 14 states to restrict dairies from labeling their products rBGH-free.

Health Hazards
The FDA’s claim that there is no compositional difference between milk from rbGH-treated and untreated cows was challenged by the Court of Appeals who said there is a“compositional difference” between milk from cows given growth hormones and those without, and cited three reasons why the milk differs:
1. Increased levels of the hormone IGF-1,
2. A period of milk with lower nutritional quality during each lactation, and
3. Increased somatic cell counts (i.e. more pus in the milk).

As far back as 1996, the Cancer Prevention Coalition released a study that concluded milk from cows injected with recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) increases risks of breast and colon cancers in humans. This study was published in the International Journal of Health Services, a peer-reviewed, leading international public health journal.

“The study summarizes evidence that rBGH increases levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in milk. IGF-1 is a powerful stimulator and regulator of cell-growth and division in humans and cows. The study concluded that increased IGF-1 levels are risk factors for breast and colon cancer.”

The author of the report, Samuel Epstein M.D., Professor of Environmental Medicine at the University of Illinois School of Public Health and then Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, said “The FDA and Monsanto have a lot to answer for. Given the cancer risks, and other health concerns, why is rBGH milk still on the market?”

The Cancer Prevention Coalition, a nationwide coalition of leading independent experts in cancer prevention and public health, also claims that IGF-1 is likely to increase the risk of specific kinds of cancer:

“It is highly likely that IGF-1 promotes transformation of normal breast cells to breast cancers. In addition, IGF-1 maintains the malignancy of human breast cancer cells, including their invasiveness and ability to spread to distant organs. (Increased levels of IGF-1 have similarly been associated with colon and prostate cancers.) The prenatal and infant breast is particularly susceptible to hormonal influences. Such imprinting by IGF-1 may increase future breast cancer risks, and may also increase the sensitivity of the breast to subsequent unrelated risks such as mammography and the carcinogenic and estrogen-like effects of pesticide residues in food, particularly in pre-menopausal women.”

According to Sustainable Table, a nonprofit organization designed to help consumers understand the problems with our food supply, before Monsanto’s artificial growth hormone was released, the FDA relied solely on a study done by Monsanto in which rBGH was tested for 90 days on 30 rats. The study was never published, and the FDA claimed the results showed no significant problems.

But a “review by the Canadian health agency on rBGH found the 90 day study showed a significant number of issues which should have triggered a full review by the FDA.”

Fitness Apparel for Your Belly

2011-03-09T11:15:00.001-08:00

Check out this cute site I found, www.fortwofitness.com, that makes these sassy workout tanks ($40). They are made from a soft, moisture-wicking fabric and the ruched racerbacks feature elastic sides that will accommodate a growing belly and flatter your figure. Super cute! I think my favorite is the one that says “I Need a Nap”…because I really do!

Hurray it’s a giveaway! Pirose Fashion Scarves and Nursing Covers

2011-03-03T11:12:00.001-08:00

A stylish and innovative nursing scarf with endless fashion potential!

Pirose, by Reno Rose, is a mom created and invented absolutely gorgeous lightweight nursing cover that you would never know is a nursing cover (they are far too pretty), AND they are much more than just a nursing cover. The Pirose also can be used as a scarf, shawl, head band and stroller or purse accessory. Talk about multi-tasking! We love this!

I met the creators of this product (an adorable couple) at the ABC Kids Expo in Vegas and they were kind enough to ship me a couple of their Pirose covers to try. The shawls are even more beautiful in person when I put them on! Something else I was really excited about when I opened the box was that I discovered each shawl comes with it’s own matching fabric carrying bag. The bag is just about the size of a 4x6 photo and the whole lightweight shawl fits inside perfectly! What a fabulous way to carry around your nursing cover that often gets crumpled and lost in the bottom of a diaper bag.

Another thing that amazed me about these shawls was the many ways you can wear them. They are cut with a bias cut that allows for many fashionable ways to wear them.

These fabulous scarves/shawls/nursing covers can be found in a few select stores, but sadly none in Charlotte. You can view and order their entire collection online at renorose.com

The Pirose comes in two styles – the nursing styles have a heavier pattern and are less see-through, while the fashion styles have some lighter patterns and are perfect for dressing up any outfit. You can truly buy any of the shawls for nursing or fashion however. The company does suggest that you buy a medium or large size for nursing (for more coverage).

Enter to Win!
For your chance to win a Pirose shawl/nursing cover in the style and color of your choice, simply send an email to abby@littlemiraclesbabyplanning.com with your name, style and size preference. Make sure you check out their website at www.renorose.com to check out their whole collection! If you become a friend or follow Reno Rose on Facebook or Twitter you will get up to two extra entries! Just let me know in your email. Contest ends Friday, March 11th.

What’s That Smell? Toxic Toys R Us

2011-03-02T12:58:00.001-08:00

from Safe Mama

Toxic Toys R Us is a project developed by a collection of environmental justice organizations, consumer advocates, public health professionals, parents, children’s health activists, and workers. They are trying to raise awareness regarding toys sold at Toys R Us that still contain toxic PVC. They use the term “contamination” to describe it and I think it’s the best way to say it. Contamination.

Even though Toys R Us and other large chains have made promises to the public in the past to reduce the toxic chemicals in today’s toys, new tests are showing that many toys sold at Toys R Us, including newly released toys prime for the holiday shopping frenzy contain PVC. The toxins off gassed from PVC during it’s lifetime are linked to a bevy of aliments and diseases like childrens asthma, learning disabilities, obesity and even cancer. Come on Toys R Us…

Toxic Toys R Us is going to highlight a Toxic Toy of the Week to demonstrate that the toys that might show up under your tree this year could contain PVC. Toy Story Barbie is the toy of this week and she tested positive for PVC in her hair. Sheesh. This is a great organization to watch and support. Visit ToxicToysRus.com to learn more about what they’re doing to protect our children from PVC in toys.

Take Action: Even better join the campaign and write to your elected officials. Voices in numbers can make a difference.

Proposed school-lunch rules trade fries for veggies

2011-03-02T12:55:00.001-08:00

Standards would be the first major nutritional overhaul of school meals in 15 years

from msnbc.com

WASHINGTON — School cafeterias would have to hold the fries — and serve kids more whole grains, fruits and vegetables — under the government's plans for the first major nutritional overhaul of students' meals in 15 years.

The Agriculture Department proposal announced Thursday applies to lunches subsidized by the federal government. The guidelines would require schools to cut sodium in those meals by more than half, use more whole grains and serve low-fat milk. They also would limit kids to only one cup of starchy vegetables a week, so schools couldn't offer french fries every day.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the new standards could affect more than 32 million children and are crucial because kids can consume as much as half of their daily calories in school.

"The United States is facing an obesity epidemic and the crisis of poor diets threatens the future of our children and our nation," Vilsack said Thursday.

While many schools are improving meals already, others are still serving children meals high in fat, salt and calories. The new guidelines are based on 2009 recommendations by the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

The announcement comes just a few weeks after President Barack Obama signed into law a child nutrition bill that will help schools pay for the healthier foods, which often are more expensive.

The subsidized meals that would fall under the guidelines proposed this week are served as free and low-cost meals to low-income children and long have been subject to government nutrition standards. The new law for the first time will extend nutrition standards to other foods sold in schools that aren't subsidized by the federal government, including "a la carte" foods on the lunch line and snacks in vending machines. Those standards, while expected to be similar, will be written separately.

The announcement is a proposal, and it could be several years before the rules require schools to make changes.

The new USDA guidelines would:
     — Establish the first calorie limits for school meals.
     — Gradually reduce the amount of sodium in the meals over 10 years, with the eventual goal of reducing sodium by more than half.
     — Ban most trans fats.
     — Require more servings of fruits and vegetables.
     — Require all milk served to be low fat or nonfat, and require all flavored milks to be nonfat.
     — Incrementally increase the amount of whole grains required, eventually requiring most grains to be whole grains.
     — Improve school breakfasts by requiring schools to serve a grain and a protein, instead of one or the other.

Vilsack said the reduction in sodium will be gradual so school children can get used to less salty foods. He said the government wants the meals to be appealing so children will eat them.

"We are looking at ways these meals can be attractive and also be tasty," he said.

Some school groups have criticized efforts to make meals healthier, saying it will be hard for already-stretched schools to pay for the new requirements. Some conservatives, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have said that telling children what to eat is a case of government overreach.

Vilsack says he understands the new standards may pose some challenges for school districts, but he believes they are necessary. He compares obesity and related diseases like diabetes to a truck barreling toward a child, and the new guidelines to a parent teaching that child to look both ways before crossing the street.

"You want your kid to be able to walk across the street without getting hit," he says.

According to the USDA, about a third of children 6 to 19 years old are overweight or obese, and the number of obese children has tripled in the past few decades.

The Agriculture Department also is planning to release new dietary guidelines for the general public, possibly as soon as this month. Those guidelines, revised every five years, are similarly expected to encourage less sodium consumption and more grains, fruits and vegetables.

By Mary Clare Jalonick

updated 1/13/2011 1:50:30 PM ET

BPA levels highest in the U.S., study finds

2011-02-25T12:13:00.001-08:00

from Consumer Reports

People in the U.S. have more exposure to bisphenol A (BPA)—a chemical linked to reproductive abnormalities, certain cancers, diabetes, and heart disease—than other studied populations, according to a new report from the Canadian Medical Association.

The analysis included prior studies that had measured exposure to the chemical, which is found in clear plastic bottles and the linings of beverage and food cans, based on urine tests conducted in Canada, China, Germany, and the U.S. The levels of BPA in people in the U.S. were higher than any of those countries, and about double those found in Canada. Consumer Reports’ December 2009 tests of 19 name-brand canned foods, including soup, juice, tuna, and green beans, found that almost all contained some BPA.

"I personally am flabbergasted to see that BPA levels in the urine of Americans are twice as high as levels found in Canadians,” said study author Laura Vandenberg, Ph.D., of the Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology at Tufts University, in an interview with Consumer Reports. Since there are no known differences in the rates of canned-food consumption between Americans and Canadians, Vandenberg said "it will be important to examine all sources of environmental exposure to find a reasonable explanation for this significant difference between two populations that are otherwise quite similar."

The study notes, for example, that BPA has been detected in samples of air, dust, sewage, and water, and that "several studies point to possible exposure from contact through the skin or mouth with the thermal papers used to make a variety of products such as cash register receipts."

The study says that exposure to BPA in the U.S. has risen over the last two decades. Urine levels found in samples collected in the U.S. between 1988 and 1994 were similar to those reported recently in Canada, so additional research is needed to determine whether sources of BPA exposure in this country changed during that time but did not change in Canada.

Children and adolescents tend to have the highest concentrations of BPA. That might be because they process the chemical differently, or because they're exposed to more BPA-containing products, such as toys and baby bottles. They also typically eat more than adults relative to their body masses and therefore may have greater exposure through canned food.

Canada classified BPA as a toxic substance and banned BPA in baby bottles in October 2010. The European Union banned it for that purpose effective March 1. Some states in the U.S. have also banned it in baby bottles, as well as in certain children’s products. U.S. regulators are studying BPA’s health effects, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it supports efforts to produce baby bottles and can linings made without BPA, but it has not banned its use in those or other food-contact products.

—Andrea Rock, senior editor

Jogging Strollers Recalled by B.O.B. Trailers Due to Strangulation Hazard

2011-02-24T06:49:00.001-08:00

from CPSC

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: B.O.B.® single and double strollers

Units: About 337,000 in the United States and 20,000 in Canada

Importer: B.O.B. Trailers Inc., of Boise, Idaho

Hazard: A drawstring on the stroller can get wrapped around a child’s neck, posing a strangulation hazard.

Injuries/Incidents: The firm has received one report of an 11-month-old girl who got entangled at the neck by the stroller’s drawstring. The child was freed by her mother.

Description: This recall involves the following 11 models of B.O.B.® single and double strollers. The name “B.O.B” appears on the cargo basket under the stroller and on the front of the stroller. All of the recalled strollers have a yellow/orange drawstring at the rear of the canopy which is used to gather loose fabric when the canopy is pulled back. Strollers have the serial number either stamped in the frame or on a white label located on the stroller’s rear right leg.

Model
Serial # ranges
Sport Utility Stroller
12362 - 35107
AA00001 – AA025490
Sport Utility Stroller D’Lux
12362 – 35107
AB000001 – AB007940
Ironman®
800000 – 803700
AC000001- AC027923
Sport Utility Duallie
002001 - 008068
AD000001 – AD011252
Ironman® Duallie
AE000001 – AE008909
Revolution
AF000001 – AF189112
Revolution 12”
AK000001 – AK024149
Stroller Strides®
AG000001 – AG011163
Revolution Duallie
AH000001 – AH072921
Revolution Duallie 12”
AL000001 – AL012657
Stroller Strides® Duallie
AM000001 – AM003229

Sold at: REI, buy buy Baby and other stores nationwide and on the Web at Babiesrus.com, Target.com and Amazon.com between April 2002 and February 2011 for between $300 and $600.

Manufactured in: Taiwan and China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled strollers and remove the drawstring. If using a separately purchased Weather Shield or Sun Shield accessory with the recalled stroller, contact B.O.B. Trailers for a free canopy retrofit kit.
Configuration
Use Stroller Only
Use Stroller With Optional
Weather Shield Accessory
Use Stroller With Optional
Sun Shield Accessory

Remedy
Remove Drawstring
Instructions on removing drawstrings at:
www.bobcanopy.com
Remove Drawstring, Install Canopy retrofit Kit
Order retrofit kits at www.bobcanopy.com
Remove Drawstring, Install Canopy retrofit Kit
Order retrofit kits at www.bobcanopy.com

Consumer Contact: For additional information, or to order a canopy retrofit kit, contact B.O.B. Trailers at (855) 242-2245 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. MT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s website at www.bobcanopy.com

Note: Health Canada's press release is available at http://cpsr-rspc.hc-sc.gc.ca/PR-RP/recall-retrait-eng.jsp?re_id=1279

Newly Identified Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Leach into Food Packaging

2011-02-17T05:11:00.001-08:00

from The Soft Landing

Emily Barrett of Environmental Health Perspectives recently provided a great synopsis of an updated review of food contact materials and their potential to leach endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC’s) into our food.
Author of the review, Jane Muncke, didn’t mince words when issuing her findings, calling into question the current means of estimating the true level of exposure to EDC’s through food contact materials. Her conclusions included the following major points:

Food packaging is an underestimated source of chemical food contamination
Migration into dry foods can be considerable
Substances of concern, like endocrine disrupting chemicals, are widely used in food contact materials
Risk assessment of endocrine disrupting chemical food contamination is challenging because exposure and effect assessment are not always straight forward

Muncke’s insights have caused me to carefully reconsider which food packaging I choose for my own growing children. Based on her article, I’ll be investigating benzophenones (a known carcinogen) and organotins, two groups of suspected EDC’s, which are legally used in the US and EU.
And as Barrett pointed out, we now have even more motivation to choose fresh foods over processed ones.

The guidelines do not consider the collective numbers and toxicity – alone or in combination – of all of the chemicals that can leach from the packaging, the author points out.* In a chemical mix, individual health effects may be magnified. Printing, ink, adhesives, recycled cardboard and the plastic containers can all introduce unwanted chemicals into a single food product, creating a mix with additive or synergystic effects. What’s more, the chemicals may degrade over time or form new compounds that migrate into food. These can go entirely unmeasured since it is nearly impossible to identify and test for them all, suggests .
Kids may be at particular risk. Not only are their bodies still developing and hence susceptible to environmental insults, but they tend to eat more packaged foods, a more limited diet and more food for their body weight than adults do. There are similar concerns for pregnant women and their fetuses, as well as obese adults, whose bodies may process these chemicals differently from their trimmer counterparts.

Tips for Reducing Your Exposure to EDC’s in Food Packaging

Avoid PVC in plastic food wrap: ask your butcher to prepare the cuts of meat you want and wrap it in paper. Most butcher or freezer paper is coated with wax or polyethylene which are better alternatives. As for blocks of cheese, look for packages with Ziplok style closures, and plastic packages that have been heat-sealed, because most of these bags are made from polyethylene.
Buy fresh or frozen produce packaged in polyethylene bags: BPA is found in most epoxy linings of aluminum cans, glass jar lids and the bottom of some frozen cardboard boxes – although there a few BPA-free options available
Choose jarred foods when possible – especially those with space between the lid and the food
If you do choose to purchase foods packaged in plastic, do not reuse, cook or heat food in them – even if recommended by the manufacturer; this may include some microwavable meals, so just remove them from the plastic container and heat in glass
Look for non-recycled cardboard boxes when ordering takeout meals like pizza, as they are less likely to contain BPA.
Bring your own reusable coffee cups and to-go containers for leftovers and skip Styrofoam altogether

Read the complete research study: Endocrine disrupting chemicals and other substances of concern in food contact materials: An updated review of exposure, effect and risk assessment in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Britax Free Ride Event and Car Seat Inspection

2011-02-15T19:17:00.001-08:00

Britax has a FABULOUS promotion going on now for their B-Ready stroller. I have this stroller and it is a dream! It is especially fabulous if you have a baby and toddler as it has a removable second seat. You can use this stroller as a single or a double! The top seat is reversible, you can also take out the seats and attach car seats or a bassinet, the possibilities are endless.

A few other key advantages of the B-Ready include:

Smaller, more maneuverable frame than a true tandem or even the City Select
Very large basket with easy access from all four sides of the stroller
Second seat that reclines flat and offers sun protection, appropriate for newborn to 35 pounds
Versatile configurations include two car seats, a car seat and a second seat, a bassinet, and options to face the parent or the world
Easy to fold and folds with the second seat attached
Comes with cup holder, rain cover and Chaperone car seat adapter
Nice suspension system in both the main seat and the second seat

Check out this deal!

Britax’s “Free Ride” Event: From March 1 – June 30, 2011 (while supplies last), parents will have their choice of one free BRITAX Chaperone Infant Car Seat ($229.99), Bassinet ($149.99) or Second Child Seat ($149.99) with a purchase of the B-READY stroller.

Check out THIS LINK for more info on this promotion from Britax!

Britax is also offering FREE CAR SEAT INSPECTIONS here in Charlotte this Friday! If you have a new car seat or have never had your car seat installed professionally you really should stop by and have the folks at Britax check your seats. Over 80% of car seats are installed incorrectly and you might be surprised at what you can learn! Besides…it’s free! Their technicians are trained to inspect and install any brand of car seat.

What: FREE Car Seat Installation Check in Charlotte (http://www.britaxusa.com/learning-center/britax-checking-station)

Message: If you live in or around the greater Charlotte, NC area and would like to have your car seat installation inspected by a certified child passenger safety technician, you may attend one of our FREE seat check events.

When: The next check event is this Friday, February 18^th from 8 am – 12 pm. (no appointment necessary)
Where: Britax Child Safety, Inc (13501 South Ridge Drive, Charlotte, NC); Business Park close to the corner of Carowinds Blvd and South Tryon St. (look for signs)

Statistic:
Improper car seat installation — and lack of a car seat altogether — is responsible for the death and injury of thousands of children each year. Approximately 96 percent of parents believe their child seats are installed correctly. However, research shows that seven out of 10 children are either not securely fastened in their car seat or are in a car seat that is not properly secured to the vehicle, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Click the link below for more information, including what you can do to prepare.

Chlorine Bleach: Magic or Evil

2011-02-15T11:26:00.001-08:00

from Green & Clean Mom

Forever ago I wrote about bleach and eczema and to this very day it is one of my top read posts with a high number of comments. Anytime I seem to talk about chlorine bleach there is uproar on both sides of the fence. Those that inhale the strong scent and like its disinfecting whiting super powers and those that pretty much think the stuff is evil. I haven’t really found a middle of the road with it comes to chlorine bleach – you either use it or you don’t.

When I talked about carrots and chlorine bleach I was called names and basically told I was stupid (insert heavy sigh and eye roll). To be honest, I haven’t used chlorine bleach in my home for 4 years and I haven’t missed the stuff so I’m not sure why people swear by it but some do. I have to agree with Eco Child’s Play, I don’t believe chlorine bleach belongs in our homes or where children play, it just isn’t necessary in my opinion. Soaking my kids bottles, toys and pacifiers in the stuff, diluted or not is just silly – we can clean and disinfect without the harsh toxic and corrosive cleaner. As a past preschool teacher and child care worker, I know it used often for cleaning an disinfecting and I’m guilty for soaking toys, spraying tables and most likely not diluting properly – which is exactly what I suspect many teachers are guilty of but you only know what you know and do what you are told.

Chlorine bleach is highly caustic, meaning it can burn skin and eyes. It can be fatal if swallowed and it can easily aggravate asthma symptoms. With the ultra-concentrated chlorine bleaches sold on the market is easy over use or not dilute appropriately. If you have bleach in your home just look at the warning label. When it comes to the dangers of chlorine bleach and the link to childhood asthma and poising I spell it out here but what I want to now know is what you think.

WOW

2011-02-09T13:08:00.001-08:00

I really have no other words to describe this recent blog post I read from Mayim Bialik, aka “Blossom” from the 80’s sitcom. My “wow” stems partly from disbelief, partly from appreciation, and partly from concern. The gist of it all is that Mayim is still breastfeeding her almost 2.5 yr old, to which I say that’s not that out of the ordinary, but then I read that she nurses him every 3-5 hrs during the day and 4-7 times at night!! That’s where my jaw hit the floor.

I do understand her theory with nursing her kids as long as possible, and I also believe that nursing a toddler can be a good thing. I nursed my son until he was 20 months old. But the last several months it was only at night before bed, and it was NEVER during the night after about he was about nine months old.

The comments after this blog are also quite amusing (click on the link above to see the blog and comments). One lady reports she nursed all three of her kids until they were FIVE years old?!? I guess the part of me that truly believes that breast milk is the perfect food also believes that children need to eventually (as in WAY before age five) get their nutrients from REAL food. Aren’t fresh fruits and vegetables really what nature has provided for us? I’m sure even cave women gave their children nuts and berries before age two!

So I’m curious as to everyone’s thoughts on this. I give kudos to Mayim for being so outright about her breastfeeding and wanting to help other women feel comfortable with it. I think I would be perfectly fine hearing that women are nursing their children well into toddlerhood as long as they were also giving them as much REAL food as normal children, and also that these children were SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT. The fact that her son wakes to eat 4-7 times a night is not just bad for her, but it’s worse for her poor son! A baby’s developing brain needs sleep as much as it needs food, and studies clearly show that interrupted sleep is not the same as continuous sleep. Let your child sleep through the night please!

Here’s the blog:

I Breastfeed My Toddler, Got A Problem With It?

from kveller.com

My son is almost 2 1/2 years old and he nurses every 3-5 hours during the day and 4-7 times a night.
I have not slept more than 4 hours in almost 6 years. My son, however, is healthy, happy, and independent, and I see no reason to wean him.

I believe that children outgrow the need to nurse just as they outgrow the need to crawl, poop in a diaper, or the need for holding and cuddling when they are scared or lonely.

Breastfeeding is normal, healthy, nutritionally, immunologically, and psychologically beneficial, and in all primates, nursing continues well into “toddlerhood.”

Not convinced yet? Take a look at my answers to the many funny, embarrassing, and interesting questions I often get about nursing a toddler.

Do you even have any milk anymore?
This may not be true for all moms who nurse a 27 month old, but I have enough milk that I still leak and spray at every nursing session, I still have an active (and forceful!) let-down, and like a new mom, I will get engorged if I do not pump, which for me, can lead to plugged ducts and mastitis. I worked very hard to build up and maintain my milk supply, and I still am diligent about pumping every 2-3 hours when I’m away from my son.

Does he need breastmilk for nutrition?
My son didn’t eat solid foods until he was 15 months and he doesn’t yet consume the amount of food that “most” 27 months olds consume. I am grateful that I can nourish him with nature’s perfect food, which is unable to be replicated by any artificial milk or animal milk. Breastmilk is designed for my child’s needs from birth until he weans; it is full of protein, healthy fat, brain-building substances, and vitamins, not to mention immune and antibiotic properties. It is always the right temperature and it is always on hand. I do not believe in giving my son milk from another animal, and humans are the only animals who seem to think that this is a good idea! The only other thing my son drinks is water, and a little sip of grape juice on Shabbat.

If he’s old enough to ask for it, isn’t he too old to have it?
Well, my son is not verbal yet, and although he has been signing for milk since he was 11 months old, he still needs to nurse. Whoever decided that “when they can ask for it, they should wean” must not have wanted to keep nursing, and that’s fine for them, but it is working for us, verbalized or signed!

Isn’t it weird having a walking talking thinking LARGE child nursing?
I will admit that nursing a newborn or even a 1 year old is very different from nursing a child in boots and a raincoat. But I struggle to understand why it’s not accepted. Besides the fact that it’s not “typical,” I don’t see that there is anything inherently wrong with it, other than people thinking it’s wrong.

Do you place any limits on this?
When a newborn needs to nurse in line at the supermarket, you don’t hesitate. With an older child, needs can be openly discussed and generally worked around. It is important to me that my son learn that we now nurse in some places but not others.

If my son wants to nurse because he is hungry, I offer him a snack first if nursing is hard to manage at that moment. A month ago, I nursed my little man on the floor of the lingerie section of a department store. His need was great, and he could not wait, so I decided to meet his need right there and then.

I don’t nurse in bathrooms, (I don’t eat in bathrooms, so why should my son?), and I try to remember a blanket when we’re out, but I often forget. I have cultivated a pleasant and confident smile to flash while nursing, and while sometimes it is met with icy stares and embarrassed glances, sometimes I get a thumbs-up and that really makes my day.

But you don’t nurse him at night, do you???
In our family, we let our children nurse until they’re done, and the earth’s position relative to the sun does not change our philosophy. Children need us at night as well as in the day. My son nurses 4-7 times a night. Am I tired? Yes! Did my body get used to it once my mind could chill out about it? You betcha! How did I do this? I found the support of like-minded moms who made me feel I wasn’t alone and that I wasn’t weird. And almost overnight, I stopped feeling tired. Once my self-pity lifted, plain old manageable exhaustion set in. I can manage it, and we are fine. And this exhausted Mama is the one who gets up at 4, 5, or 6 am with the kids, so don’t imagine I am sleeping it off while the nanny lets me rest; there is no such nanny!

Won’t this make him spoiled?
There is no respected scientific statistical evidence that children who self-wean are brattier, more spoiled, less independent, less socialized, or less productive in society. To the contrary, studies show that children who self-wean have learned that their needs are important, their development does not proceed according to anyone else’s timetable, and they are confident that love is abundant. These children typically show early healthy dependence that flourishes into healthyindependence when the time is right.

What does your husband think?
My beloved, patient, open-minded husband is very supportive of me nursing our boys until they are done, and it took a lot of discussion and research for us to come to this decision. I do not take his support for granted for one minute. Once we hit the 2 year mark with both of our sons, I will admit that my husband thought we could encourage more eating of solids to see if the need to nurse would diminish. If our son weans, though, my husband’s workload will significantly increase, as the preferred method of getting said child to nap is with breastmilk, and the way to soothe him to sleep at night, and to soothe him throughout the night is with breastmilk. Once milky is gone, we have to get creative; and that creativity will be both of our jobs- and that ultimately means less sleep for Dada!

When will you stop?
I don’t know. Hopefully by the time he’s 3. I can’t imagine myself nursing a 3 year old, and I myself see 4 and 5 year olds nursing and I cannot imagine it for me. My first son weaned at 26 months, so I have never nursed a child this old before. I am learning, too, but I am open to really being in touch with my child’s needs and acting for both of our benefits in a compassionate and loving way to the best of my ability.

Is he nursing for comfort?
Sometimes. Mostly, he nurses for a lot of milk, but big boo-boos get the offer of milky, and it is sometimes the only thing that will do. At night, I suppose it’s ‘habit,’ but that’s really just a biased way of describing the easiest and smoothest was to fall back asleep for a small person who has not yet mastered the skills he needs to do it himself. For the record, my older son did not stop waking at night to go potty until he stopped nursing at 26 months. I comforted him by rocking him 4-7 times a night in the early months after he weaned, but very quickly he developed the skills to soothe himself at night and not need to go potty every 2 hours. He now sleeps 10-12 hours a night with rarely a peep.

What do your family/friends/the public at large think?
Most everyone in my family thinks this party should have been shut down yesterday. My Ph.D. in Neuroscience as well as my recent certification as a Lactation Educator/Counselor has quieted many of their attempts to reason with me, since I have a lot of research, support, and education on my side, and most of what they have – with all due respect- is uninformed hunches, personal uncomfortableness with nursing, and just plan old “I didn’t do that, so why are you?” reasoning. Most of my close friends in our community nursed their kids into the toddler years
*

Am I a push-over? A weak mom who needs her son more than he needs her? Not at all. Am I letting my toddler run my life? No way. Am I spoiling him? There’s no evidence of that! Do I enjoy knowing that mothers who nurse longer have lower rates of breast, uterine, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis? Sure. Do I enjoy knowing that breastmilk contains antibiotic, anti-allergy, and anti-obesity properties? Yes. Is this why I do it? No. Those are neat facts, but the real reason we nurse this way, now, all night, all day, anywhere and anyhow, is because it’s not broken, so there is nothing to fix.

Ultimately, I get to parent the way I want to, and you get to parent the way you want to. I may not have convinced you that extended nursing is as wonderful as I think is, but that’s okay. When I see my precious son gaze into my eyes and grin that milky grin – the same eyes that looked into mine minutes after he careened out of my body; the eyes that convinced me that my only job was to keep this child thriving with the miraculous resources given to me through my body- not much else matters.

Exposure to pesticides in womb linked to learning disabilities

2011-02-07T12:24:00.001-08:00

from USA Today

Babies exposed to high levels of pesticides while in the womb may suffer from learning problems, a new study suggests.

By PhotoDisc

Children exposed to the highest pesticide levels in utero were three times as likely to have a mental delay compared to children with lower levels.

The study focused on a chemical called permethrin, one of the pyrethroid pesticides, commonly used in agriculture and to kill termites, fleas and household bugs, says lead author Megan Horton of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health. Most of the pregnant women in this New York-based study were exposed by spraying for cockroaches.

Permethrin — among the most commonly detected pesticides in homes — is being used more often today as older organophosphorous pesticides are phased out because of concerns that they harm brain development, says Horton, whose study is being published today inPediatrics.

Researchers measured 348 pregnant women's exposures by asking them to wear backpack air monitors, Horton says. Researchers followed the women and their children for three years.

Children exposed to the highest pesticide levels before birth were three times as likely to have a mental delay compared to children with lower levels, the study says. Children with the highest prenatal exposures also scored about 4 points lower on an intelligence test, the Bayley Mental Developmental Index. That test has a mean score of 100, with most people's scores falling within 15 points of that range.

That's about the same intelligence loss caused by lead, says Philip Landrigan, a pediatrics professor and environmental health expert at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

Pyrethroid pesticides kill bugs by "being toxic to the developing brain," Landrigan says. The results are "very believable and should be taken seriously," Landrigan says.

Because the study is the first to link permethrin with brain damage, researchers need to conduct additional studies before concluding that the pesticide really harms the brain, says Mary Fox, an assistant professor at John Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Even without definitive data, however, Fox says it makes sense for pregnant women to reduce their exposure to bug sprays and other pesticides.

To control bugs, for example, she suggests fixing water leaks, keeping food tightly covered and, if necessary, spraying outside instead of inside the home.

Toxic Baby Products?

2011-02-02T12:13:00.001-08:00

from Babies 411

“Toxic baby products?” “How’s that possible?” “I’ve been using what on babies?”

This was my reaction when I was researching baby products (during the development phase of Babies 411) and found out the news that most of the baby products that we know, love, and have used for years contain cancer-causing (carcinogenic) chemicals. What an eye opener.

As a NICU nurse, I care for babies that are compromised and are in their most vulnerable state. Now I find out that I have been unknowingly using and recommending unsafe products. Well, no more. I have taken a stand and made it a mission to educate mothers, caregivers and most of all healthcare professionals on the dangers lurking within our trusted baby shampoos, washes, lotions, wipes and more.

As a healthcare professional, I know that parents are looking to us for the answers. And because of this, parents choose and purchase products that we use in the hospitals believing that this is the safest options. Why wouldn’t it be if we use them in the hospitals? Unfortunately, we are unknowingly and unintentionally promoting bad products.

Want to know how to protect your baby from these toxic products? Here are a few recommendations:

1. Knowledge is power so do your research! Read labels and avoid those products that contain harmful ingredients. Learn more by reading our article “Protecting our Babies from Toxic Chemicals”.
2. Less is more. Be sparing on products that you use on your baby.
3. How safe is your baby products? Check out Skin Deep to learn more about the products you are putting on your baby.
4. Keep up-to-date on news surrounding chemicals in baby products (not just skin care products, but also chemicals found in toys, clothing, food, plastics and other baby products).
5. Love disposable baby wipes but want to avoid the chemicals? Make your own wipes. Want to learn how? Read our article Making Homemade Baby Wipes for the easy, breezy recipe.
6. Are you expecting a baby? Ask your hospital or childbirth facility what baby products they use on babies. If it’s not a safe choice, bring your own and make your baby’s first bath a healthy, toxin-free bath.
7. Help us spread the word. We are working hard with our favorite company, Earth Mama Angel Baby, trying to educate healthcare facilities on the dangers of toxic baby products and looking to phase these products out of our hospital systems. With your help, we could move mountains! Contact your maternity unit and express your concerns.

There’s a GOOD side to throwing up every day??

2011-01-31T11:42:00.001-08:00

I’m currently 15 weeks pregnant with my second child and the nausea with this pregnancy has been downright horrible. I’ve been in and out of the hospital for dehydration and was finally given a Zofran pump that administers the drug directly into my body. The pump has saved my life (and stopped the all day vomiting), which I am thankful for, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wondered “why would my baby do this to my body??” It seems so unnatural that a pregnancy would make the mother so extremely sick as to require hospitalization and so much medication. Well, then I opened up a fabulous new book last night called Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five and began reading. It’s written by Dr. John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist, who shares what the latest science says about how to raise smart and happy children ages 0-5. It bridges the gap between what scientists know and what parents practice. So far I’m only two chapters in, but the read is FABULOUS!!

Here’s what excited me so much about my nausea! (pg 23):

One study, yet to be replicated, looked at children whose mothers suffered from major nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. When the children reached school age, 21 percent scored 130 points or more on a standard IQ test (130 is considered gifted). If their mothers had no morning sickness, only 7 percent of kids did that well. The researchers have a theory – still to be proven – about why. Two hormones that stimulate a woman to vomit may also act like neural fertilizer for the developing brain. The more vomiting, the more fertilizer; hence, the greater effect on IQ. Whatever the reasons, the baby seems to be going to great lengths to get you to leave it alone.

How good are we at leaving baby alone – at this stage or any other in the womb? Not very. Most parents have a gnawing desire to do something to help baby, especially when it comes to baby’s brain. Fueling that drive is an enormous sector of the toy economy show sole strategy is, I am convinced, to play off the fears of well-meaning parents.

John Medina really does a fabulous job in this book of bridging parents burning questions about children’s development and learning with scientific evidence. The five questions (actually from parents) he aims to answer are “What can my baby learn while she is still in the womb?”, “What’s going to happen to my marriage after we bring our baby home?”, “How do I get my kid into Harvard?”, “How can I make sure my little girl is happy?”, and “How do I make my child GOOD?” If you’re looking for a great book on baby and child development definitely check out Brain Rules for Baby!

Whole Wheat Yeast Breads – Why Me and Why You

2011-01-24T07:31:00.001-08:00

from Adventures in Beanland

Part I – Why Me and Why You

Part II – Ingredients
Part III – Technique
Part IV – Recipes

Recently, I hosted four nights of “how-to” for whole wheat yeast bread baking for the women’s group of my church. It was a bit chaotic with so many women in my smallish kitchen, and I was incredibly intimidated to be in the spotlight as I explained each step and ingredient along the way. Together, these women and I tore up my kitchen, cranked out a dozen loaves of whole wheat bread, many batches of whole wheat rolls, hamburger buns, pita bread, and 4 homemade pizzas. Insanely fun.

I got myself into this because my Whole Wheat Bread in a Bread Machine is lovely. I won’t lie. It’s truly delightful. And, because I live a hermit’s life right now (working full-time from home and taking care of my girl and a med student husband)… I show love in one of the few ways I can: by giving away loaves of homemade bread.

Naturally, people who enjoyed the bread started asking for the recipe and tips on how to adapt it for their own bread machine. Well, soon friends who didn’t have bread machine wanted to know how to make it by hand or in a stand mixer, and they wanted to know where I buy my ingredients and if I made other things besides bread… etc.

I decided to make one of my monthly Healthy Minds and Bodies group meetings into a bread night. One night turned into four on the schedule and I started to panic. Because I had really only perfected the bread machine recipe, in preparation for these nights I dove into more hands-on bread baking. I love using the stand mixer, actually, but it’s hands-on in the sense that I’m constantly feeling the dough and making decisions as I go. I adapted the recipe and fine-tuned several others so I could share with confidence.

In the process, I discovered I truly do have a talent for this. My passion for healthy, do-it-yourself cooking drove me to lots of research, experimentation, and innovation. I’d like to share what I’ve learned so far with the ~~6 people who read my blog~~ world.

Why Whole Wheat?

Whole wheat flour is a real food and nutritious. White flour? Not so much.
I buy wheat at a great price and it stores well. I grind it myself and get a lot of satisfaction from having food laid up in store in case of emergency (or rough economic times), and from creating something delicious truly from scratch.
I don’t have much experience with yeast baking with other grains. I hope to branch out, but I haven’t yet gone beyond a simple variation of my regular recipe with the substitution of rolled oats for some of the whole wheat flour.

Why Do I Make My Own Bread?

Because I can.
Because, in the long run, it costs less.
Because it tastes better and the smell makes me swoon. I grew up helping my mom make bread and it’s cathartic for me to work with dough and smell the yeasty goodness of the process. I want to pass on to my children the skills of self-reliance and the concept of being more in touch with food. They won’t need to go get plastic-wrapped bread that’s been trucked across the country. Yay!
The ingredients in store-bought bread are incomprehensible, like Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate . I don’t need that.

Intimidated yet?

Keep reading and you might be. I grind my own wheat. I make my own dough conditioner. I buy #10 cans of vital wheat gluten for a taller rise. We hardly ever buy bread from the store anymore, and I make nearly all of our pita bread, beanburger buns (because let’s be honest, there’s no meat in our house), rolls, and pizza crust. I’m very analytical and am constantly tweaking technique and proportions to achieve a better result (can you tell I wanted to be an organic chemist?)
However, I have some encouraging words for you:

You CAN do it. I didn’t make any homemade bread at all 3 years ago. And I don’t have oodles of time to sit around and make messes in the kitchen. I just kept trying and learning as I went. I made about a loaf a week for our family and it always came out (with two exceptions) edible, smelling great, and tasting good. A few times we ate it as toast. One time or two it went straight into breadcrumbs. But usually it made a good loaf of bread that continued to get better as I had more experience under my belt.
Don’t try and you’ll still be eating store-bought bread 5 years from now. Try and who knows? You might find yourself enjoying making something healthy, cheap, and absolutely fantastically delicious for your family. And you can teach your children and your friends. Or just spoil your friends with homemade bread. They’ll thank you.
It gets easier. And faster. And less messy. And cheaper. The more you do it, the more you can adjust things to fit your style. Prefer to do a loaf in the bread machine and skip the mess and time investment? Do it. Rather get your hands dirty but make 4 loaves at once to freeze and give away? Rock on.
There will be a whole lot of info in subsequent posts. This isn’t required knowledge and you don’t have to be a bread expert to make a delicious loaf of bread. (This is a good thing because I definitely don’t consider myself an expert!* ) Instead, consider that the information you gather here and in other places constitutes tools in your toolbox. You can whip the info out if something goes awry or if you need to tinker, but you can certainly ignore my advice and still make excellent bread.
You do NOT have to do it the way I do it. Don’t run out and buy all the extra ingredients, a wheat mill, etc. Just start with a bag of whole wheat flour from the store and $5 loaf pan. Skip the dough conditioner and gluten. See if you actually LIKE whole wheat bread. (If you don’t, you should really learn to like it because it’s miles better for you. Ahem.) Get some successes under your belt and if you do decide to make this a habit, then invest in the nice-to-haves.
Everyone has a different idea of perfection. My husband likes a light, soft, sandwichy loaf so that’s what this info is geared towards. That being said, the info should equip you to tweak as needed to achieve the result you want.
You might decide you don’t want to make homemade bread all the time for your family. But, if you take the time to learn how, you’ll be able to use that skill when needed and you’ll be glad you have it.

Are you ready?
*Full disclosure: I have lots more to learn so it’s a good thing I’m only 25 years old. I haven’t yet tried: Freezing dough. Whole Wheat Sourdough. Other grains in my bread. Whole wheat tortillas (ok I tried ‘em and I failed). Homemade hummus to go with my pita (I know, I know). Whole grain artisan breads. The list is long, but as I tackle it, I will blog about it.
**My sources of knowledge: A mom and three sisters-in-law who bake homemade whole wheat bread. I shamelessly stole and modified recipes (including my dough conditioner recipe) from them and picked their brains for help as I stumbled my way along. I read lots online and in several cookbooks, notably The Bread Bible. In every case, though, I adapted recipes to fit our tastes, particularly those from the Bread Bible because they weren’t whole grain at all.

Next up: Part II – Ingredients

This cute little bucket is one reason I make homemade bread:

To continue reading parts II, III, and IV, please click on the links at the the top!

Yookidoo Stack 'N' Stream Tub Fountain

2011-01-21T13:42:00.001-08:00

I’ve been in search of a new, non-toxic bath toy for my two year old son who is starting to shy away from bath time. It’s definitely hard to find a fun toy that is also BPA, PVC, and Phthalate free, but this one fits the bill!

The Yookidoo Stack 'N' Stream Tub Fountain is a winner in my book. It is battery operated and I usually shy away from toys with batteries, but I still love this toy. The battery power pushes the water up through the toy like a fountain, and as you stack and unstack the different boats and characters with the toy, you get different effects with the water (sprinkler effect, spray effect, spout effect, etc). There are so many ways to use this toy that it will definitely keep your little one entertained. My son enjoys playing with all the little people and boats separately as well!

This toy is fascinating for both babies and toddlers, and I think it will last a long time in our house. Just one word of caution…be prepared to get wet…both you and your child!

P.S. The cheapest place I found this toy (by far) was on Amazon. (There’s a video of the toy in use on Amazon as well)

Baby Dream Gear Classes in Charlotte!

2011-01-19T13:27:00.001-08:00

I am very excited to announce that Little Miracles Baby Planning is the exclusive provider of these amazing classes in 2011 in Charlotte, NC!

Whether you’re expecting your first or fifth baby, Baby Dream Gear is the class for you. The baby market is ever-changing and full of fun and exciting new items, but it can also be extremely overwhelming to find the right products for your family. Baby Dream Gear believes that families should be empowered when selecting products, in an elegant and relaxing atmosphere. Little Miracles Baby Planning is pleased to bring you excellent gear, essential considerations when selecting products, as well as pampering and relaxation for well deserving parents during this class!

You will be pampered with food and drinks during each class, and as if all that wasn’t enough, each family will receive one FABULOUS SWAG BAG full of incredible stuff for baby! You’ll get your very own Blue Avocado reusable shopping bag filled with amazing gifts from our partners, including Thinkbaby, Dr. Browns, Plum Organics, Playtex, Episcencial, Baby Banz, and much more!

Baby Dream Gear is offered in select cities around the country, and Charlotte will be having it’s very first class March 26th &27th at Belly Elan maternity boutique. Click HERE for all the registration information.

We hope to see you there!!

Kidco Go Pod: Great Activity Seat for On the Go

2011-01-18T13:07:00.001-08:00

from Rated By Mom

We saw a great baby product that is fabulous for camping, sporting events, trips to the park, grandma’s house or even your own backyard. The Kidco Go Pod is a compact, lightweight activity seat that is super portable and a great alternative to those bulky, non-traveling activity centers.

At first glance, it looks like a camping chair all folded up in its bag. But unfold it (in like 5 seconds flat!) and you have yourself an activity seat for your baby that resembles a camping chair. Same fabric. Same fold. Same frame. But this seat is for your baby!

The Go Pod is great for indoor or outdoor use. Plus, simply fold and store when not in use. Great for small spaces!

Features of the Kidco Go Pod:

Locking Button – Ensures Go·Pod is locked in place; safe for baby

Floor Pad – Keeps baby’s feet from touching undesirable surfaces
Four Seat Height Positions – Grows with baby for appropriate leg/feet positioning
Drink and Snack Holders
Five Nylon Toy Loops – Holds baby’s favorite toy
Storage Bag – Includes pocket for wallet, keys, ipod, etc.Age range: approximately 4 months (or when your baby can hold it’s head up unassisted) to walking
Product Weight: an amazing 7 lbs!!!Folded Dimensions: 6.5”W x 6.5”L x 29.5”H
Open Dimensions: 24”W x 24”L x 19.5”H (at its lowest seat level)Three models available: P7000-QuickSilver, P7001-Sorbet, P7002-Pistachio
Retail approximately $49.99 at Buy Buy Baby and other retailers

The Benefits of a Babymoon

2011-01-12T08:51:00.001-08:00

from Nature Moms

You will have heard of a honeymoon, but what about a babymoon? A honeymoon is understood to be a time of intimacy and closeness between a bride and groom, and a babymoon is also a time of intimacy and closeness. It’s a time for a mother and baby to get to know each other. Breastfeeding, attachment, and many necessary things occur when a mother takes time out for a babymoon.

The concept of a babymoon is not new, even if the term is. The term “babymoon” has been used to refer to close time between couples before the birth of their child, but generally speaking the term is reserved for those few weeks after birth.

All over the world, various cultures recognize the weeks immediately following birth to be an almost sacred time of rest and solitude for mother and baby. In some parts of the world, new mothers are pampered – fed special foods, given massages, and otherwise treated with care during the postpartum period. There is a reason why this global tradition is being upheld – there are many benefits. Here are some.

Healing
Your body has undergone a tremendous series of events. Pregnancy and childbirth, depending on the circumstances and health of the mother, can be draining at best and traumatic at worst. Your body needs time to heal physically, especially in the case of perineal tearing or a C-section. It also needs time to heal emotionally, as your body undergoes enormous hormonal shifts after birth and you adjust to the new routine of baby care.

Bonding
Western cultures tend to discourage mother-infant bonding. Mothers talk about how little their child needs them and how well he or she goes with a caregiver. But the importance of close bonding should not be diminished. During the babymoon, mother and baby should have lots of skin-to-skin contact and interaction. The close bond that is formed will build a foundation of security that will last for the rest of the baby’s life.

Health
An old midwife recommendation was for a new mother not to leave the house for six weeks. More and more we are discovering the wisdom of that caution. During the first six weeks of life, a baby’s immune system is still developing. It’s a germy world out there, and while exposure does help build immunity, the immune system must be ready before exposure can have any beneficial effect.

Breastfeeding
The health benefits of breastfeeding are too numerous to list here, but suffice to say that a babymoon encourages the breastfeeding relationship. Mother and baby have time to bond and learn the sometimes challenging art of breastfeeding without the rush of trying to get back to the old routine right away.

BABY WEARING IS MORE THAN BABY CARRYING

2011-01-10T07:24:00.001-08:00

From A Milky Way

When we had Zeke more than eight years ago, I looked at that Baby Bjorn as a means of transportation. Lighter than a car seat. Hands-free. Get from Point A to Point B. It was all about me. But boy was that thing uncomfortable.

But thanks to Wooten and 7+ year experience owning and operating The Milky Way, I learned that a carrier is a lot more than a side car to my speedster. It's as much, if not more, about your baby and his/her well-being. Babies are literally a part of the mother inside the womb. They are being held and carried inside their mother's body. When mommy moves, or walks or runs, baby lightly bounces along, perfectly positioned and perfectly comfortable.

So when they come out of the womb they want you to help them transition from perfect attachment to complete independence...one baby step at a time. They want to be held. You want to boogie. The best way to do accomplish both is to carry your baby close to you. And to let them jiggle and bounce lightly along as you go. It's an ideal way to put them as close to being back in the womb as you can get. Babies thrive through touch.

According Babywearing International, a non-profit organization than promotes and instructs on babywearing, these are the advantages of attachment parenting:

• Happy Babies. It’s true … carried babies cry less! In a study published in the journal Pediatrics, researchers found that baby wearing for three hours a day reduced infant crying by 43 percent overall and 54 percent during evening hours.

• Healthy Babies. Premature babies and babies with special needs often enter the world with fragile nervous systems. When a baby rides in a sling attached to his mother, he is in tune with the rhythm of her breathing, the sound of her heartbeat, and the movements his mother makes—walking, bending, and reaching. This stimulation helps him to regulate his own physical responses. Research has even shown that premature babies who are touched and held gain weight faster and are healthier than babies who are not.

• Confident Parents. A large part of feeling confident as a parent is the ability to read our babies’ cues successfully. Holding our babies close in a sling allows us to become finely attuned to their movements, gestures, and facial expressions. Every time a baby is able to let us know that she is hungry, bored, or wet without having to cry, her trust in us is increased, her learning is enhanced, and our own confidence is reinforced. This cycle of positive interaction deepens the mutual attachment between parent and child, and is especially beneficial for mothers who are at risk for or suffering from postpartum depression.

• Loving Caregivers. Baby carriers are a great bonding tool for fathers, grandparents, adoptive parents, babysitters, and other caregivers. Imagine a new father going for a walk with his baby in a sling. The baby is becoming used to his voice, heartbeat, movements, and facial expressions, and the two are forging a strong attachment of their own. Baby carriers are beneficial for every adult in a baby’s life. Cuddling up close in the sling is a wonderful way to get to know the baby in your life, and for the baby to get to know you!

•Comfort and Convenience. With the help of a good carrier, you can take care of older children or do chores without frequent interruptions from an anxious or distressed infant—which helps to reduce sibling rivalry. Baby carriers are also wonderful to use with older babies and toddlers; you can save those arms and go where strollers can’t. Climbing stairs, hiking, and navigating crowded airports all can be done with ease when you use a well-designed baby carrier!

We have a carefully selected and comprehensive lineup of carriers, slings and wraps at The Milky Way to fit each parent's needs preference. Those include:

MOBY WRAP - A single piece of fabric that you wrap around your upper body with baby pressed snuggly-buggly against your chest, side or back. Offers many different holds and is very comfortable for parents as the wrap absorbs the baby's weight and distributes it throughout the upper body and not just at the shoulders. Very comforting to baby. Takes a little trial and error but we are happy to help you with that and once you get it it's a snap.
ERGO BABY CARRIER - A Baby-Bjorn-like carrier that is much more comfortable for baby and parent. Baby sits rather than dangles which makes it more comfortable and is better for the baby's spinal growth. A favorite of hikers so that should give you some indication of its long-ride comfort quotient. Two knocks on the Ergo is that, although you get front, side and back positions, baby always has to face you and you need an infant insert before your baby reaches a few months old. Scores high marks with dads.
FREEHAND CARRIER by TogetherBe - A Baby Bjorn-like carrier that is much more comfortable for baby and parent. Has every advantage of the Ergo but without the two knocks. Baby can face in or out and, having more adjustability, there is no need for an infant insert. A big advantage is that it goes from newborn to large toddler (up to 40 lbs.!). A good choice when you want dad to get into the game as well.
RING SLING - Like the traditional slings that have been around since the dawn of time but with a ring for easy adjusting. High snuggle quotient. Offers the most hold positions. It's limitation is that since it wraps around one shoulder, it is not as comfortable as the others. That said, it is ideal for small infants and for those who want a carrier that is a bit more user-friendly than the Moby Wrap.
MEI TAI CARRIER - Combo wrap and carrier. It's like a Moby Wrap but without all the wrapping so it's more user-friendly. Designed like a traditional carrier such as the Ergo or Freehand but with softer, prettier fabric. Not quite as comfortable for older children but an easy and cute way to roll for infants under a year. The most stylish way to go while combining the best of all of the carrier options above...except the amazing comfort factor you'll get from the more practical-looking Ergo and Freehand. And most dads could pass on the cute embroidery.

Eye-Opening Books on Motherhood

2010-12-14T13:27:00.001-08:00

From The Stir

Now that you've read all the pregnancy, baby care, and breastfeeding books out there, your thoughts might just be turning to what exactly is going to happen to you once your baby is here. How exactly is this going to change your life? How will your emotional makeup be different once you have this little person around?

The fact is, you can't know until your baby gets here ... your transformation into a mama will be unique to you and your baby. But luckily, there are a lot of fabulous women writers who have left a trail of breadcrumbs to follow as you find your own path. And there are some books really worth reading. Stock up on these books for some cozy, and illuminating, winter reading for the mom-to-be.

For just about any mom-to-be: Operating Instructions, Anne Lamott. It's a classic for a reason. Lamott retells the story of her first year of raising her son Sam in funny, sad, heartbreaking, and hopeful detail.

For the political mom-to be: The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined All Women, Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels. This book outlines how we're all being sold a bill of goods by the media in terms of what mothers are supposed to be and do. The only drawback: The writers frequently come across as if they don't like children or motherhood at all, but that doesn't dull the importance of their message.

For the mom who loved Food, Inc.: The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver. Kingsolver became beloved by sustainable food advocates when she wrote Animal, Vegetable Miracle with her family in 2007. It chronicles their adventures feeding themselves from their farm and neighboring ones; this, though, is her first novel and and her lovely, lyrical writing shines through as it has in every one since. Heroine Taylor Greer finds herself unexpectedly becoming a mother when a total stranger places a baby in her car and pleads with her to take the little girl. She does, and opens herself up in the process.

For the mom-to-be who bonds with her yoga class: Little Earthquakes, Jennifer Weiner. Three moms meet in a prenatal yoga class and become fast, if unlikely, friends when one of them goes into labor when her NBA-star husband is out of town. The story follows them through their first year of motherhood, along with all the relationship upheaval and life adjustment that goes with it.

For the mom who marches to her own drummer: A Big Storm Knocked It Over, Laurie Colwin. Colwin writes with amazing clarity and a gentle humor ... you'll feel like her characters are right in the room with you, and you'll find yourself liking even the ones who drive you nuts. Like many of Colwin's books, there's not a lot of plot; it follows Jane Louise Parker through early marriage and motherhood and the family they construct from friends.

What's your favorite book about motherhood?

New Report Surfaces: BPA on Money

2010-12-09T09:26:00.001-08:00

from Safe mama

A while back we all found out just how much BPA is present in a simple store receipt and several people blogged about it, bringing it to the forefront. It’s become more apparent that BPA lurks in places we don’t realize. So is the case with paper money too. My friends at SaferChemicals.org published an article today about a new report that illustrates how much BPA is in paper money.

The Washington Toxics Coalition along with Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, who authored the report, said that 95% of bills tested came up positive for amounts of BPA. It’s more disheartening evidence that avoiding BPA is virtually impossible… no matter how hard we try.

Researchers found that half of the thermal paper receipts tested had large quantities of unbound BPA; 95% of the dollar bills tested positive for lower amounts. Unlike BPA in baby bottles and other products, BPA on thermal paper isn’t chemically bound in any way: it’s a powdery film on the surface of receipts. Data from this report indicate that this highly toxic chemical does rather easily transfer to our skin and likely to other items that it rubs against. In tests mimicking typical handling of receipts, BPA transferred from receipts to fingers. Just ten seconds of holding a receipt transferred up to 2.5 micrograms. Researchers transferred much higher amounts, about 15 times as much, by rubbing receipts.

You can read/download the full report on the Washington Toxics Coalitions website. (PDF)
WA Toxics has great tips for avoiding BPA but in a nutshell regarding paper money and recipts:

Keep receipts/bills seperate in your purse or wallet. Its been shown that the BPA on receipts is not embedded into the materials like in plastic so, it’s in a powdery film form that can get onto hands and into mouths easier.
WASH YOUR HANDS after handling money or receipts.
Don’t allow children to handle money or hold receipts, or at the very least wash their hands afterwards.
WA Toxics suggests refusing a receipt when you can. BPA Free receipts are starting to pop up but it’s not all that common yet.

Now my question is, what about paper checks? Mail? Magazines? Where else can it be lurking?

Moms, Don't Forget Tummy Time

2010-12-07T13:57:00.001-08:00

from Fit Pregnancy

12.07.10 Experts say extended periods on their stomachs in infancy linked to babies' long-term health, development.

The success of the 1992 Back to Sleep campaign from the American Academy of Pediatrics has had unexpected consequences on infants, Slate online magazine reports.

While it's helped curb sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases, the sleep-on-their-backs emphasis has scared parents away from tummy time at all, which is essential for infants to develop neck and back muscle strength, among other benefits.

According to the Slate article, "the less time infants spend on their stomachs, the slower they generally are to acquire motor skills during their first year, which means the potential delay of simple feats like lifting their heads as well as more complicated movements like rolling over, crawling and pulling to stand."

However, when a baby reaches these motor-skills milestones before he or she walks is proving crucial and can factor into long-term health and cognitive ability (delayed motor skills, lower IQs, even school-related problems), according to a growing number of studies cited by Slate.

The Slate writer goes on to note that doctors are not sounding any alarms on this trend because "children usually walk shortly after their first birthday regardless of how much tummy time they've had."

Not only is tummy time helpful in muscle development, it helps prevent flat head in babies. Babies usually begin to lift their heads when they're on their bellies at about 2 to 3 months old, making their way up to "baby push-ups" at about 4 to 6 months old. To help your baby get to these milestones, give him or her plenty of stretches of tummy time.

And remember, every baby reaches milestones at his or her own rate—there's no one-size-fits-all "normal" milestone chart.

Maria Vega is Fit Pregnancy magazine's copy editor.

Get the white out of baby's first foods, pediatrician says

2010-12-01T12:07:00.001-08:00

from By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY

Almost every child care book offers the same advice about a baby's first meal.

When infants are ready for solid food, experts say, start them first on rice cereal, available in a box, mixed with breast milk or formula. Babies have launched their eating careers this way for 60 years, says Alan Greene, a pediatrician at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children Hospital.

In the 1950s, Greene says, baby food companies trumpeted the benefits of white rice cereal, telling mothers that it was easier for babies to digest than anything they could make at home. "The ads said, 'You can't feed children as well as we can,' " says Greene, author of Feeding Baby Green.

But David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children's Hospital Boston, says "there's no scientific basis for this recommendation. That's a myth."

Concerned about increasing childhood obesity and growing rates of diabetes, some pediatricians want to change how babies eat.

Greene is encouraging parents to abandon white rice cereal in favor of more nutritious brown rice cereals or even a homemade brown rice mash or vegetable purée. "They won't mind," says Greene, who launched a "WhiteOut" campaign last week. "They'll thank you for it."

He is concerned that babies are getting hooked on the taste of highly processed white rice and flour, which could set them up for a lifetime of bad habits, such as a weakness for cakes and cookies.

White rice — after processing strips away fiber, vitamins and other nutrients — is a "nutritional disaster," Ludwig says. It's "as processed as anything in the food supply" and "the nutritional equivalent of table sugar."
White rice and flour turn to sugar in the body "almost instantly," Ludwig says, raising blood sugar and insulin levels "while providing virtually no other nutrients."

The USA Rice Federation, which represents the rice industry, counters that white rice has no fat, cholesterol, sodium or gluten, a protein in wheat to which some people are allergic, says spokeswoman Stacy Fitzgerald-Redd. Even fussy babies can tolerate white rice without an upset stomach.

It's "as nutritionally sound as any other carbohydrate," she says.

Babies certainly eat a lot of it.

It's "the No. 1 source of calories for kids in the first year of life, other than breast milk or formula," says Greene, noting that, "by 18 months, most children get no whole grains each day."

Greene says parents don't have to abandon instant rice cereal, which offers the advantage of added iron, an important nutrient for babies, especially those who are breast-fed. Most cereal manufacturers already offer a brown rice alternative.

Though offering whole grains seems like a smart idea, nutrition expert Walter Willett says white rice is far from the only culprit in childhood obesity. Most kids also drink too many sugary beverages, such as fruit juice, punch and soda, says Willett, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and co-author of the June diabetes study.

"I don't want people to feel guilty," Greene says. "I have four kids and I figured this out just recently. But it's time to change."

Radiation Worries for Children in Dentists’ Chairs

2010-11-24T11:35:00.001-08:00

from NY Times

Because children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable to radiation, doctors three years ago mounted a national campaign to protect them by reducing diagnostic radiation to only those levels seen as absolutely necessary.

It is a message that has resonated in many clinics and hospitals. Yet there is one busy place where it has not: the dental office.

Not only do most dentists continue to use outmoded X-ray film requiring higher amounts of radiation, but orthodontists and other specialists are embracing a new scanning device that emits significantly more radiation than conventional methods, an examination by The New York Times has found.

Designed for dental offices, the device, called a cone-beam CT scanner, provides brilliant 3-D images of teeth, roots, jaw and even skull. This technology, its promoters say, is a safe way for orthodontists and oral surgeons to work with more precision and to identify problems that otherwise might go unnoticed.

But there is little independent research to validate these claims. Instead, the cone beam’s popularity has been fueled in part by misinformation about its safety and efficacy, some of it coming from dentists paid or sponsored by manufacturers to give speeches, seminars and continuing education classes, as well as by industry-sponsored magazines and conferences, according to records and dozens of interviews with dentists and researchers.

Last month, The Journal of the American Dental Association allowed one of the leading cone-beam manufacturers, Imaging Sciences International, to underwrite an issue devoted entirely to cone-beam technology. That magazine, which the association sent to 150,000 dentists, included a favorable article by an author who has equated a cone-beam CT with an airport scan. In fact, a cone beam can produce hundreds of times more radiation, experts say.

Cone-beam CT scans can help dentists deal with complex cases involving implants, impacted teeth and other serious problems. But many experts in dental radiation have raised alarms about what they see as their indiscriminate use. They worry that with few guidelines or regulations, well-meaning orthodontists and other specialists are turning to a new technology they do not fully understand, putting patients at risk, particularly younger ones.

Some orthodontists now use cone-beam CT scans to screen all patients, even though a number of dental groups in this country and in Europe have questioned whether the benefit of routine use justifies the added risk.

“All these different cone-beam CT scanners came out to a world that was unprepared,” said Keith Horner, a professor of oral radiology at the University of Manchester in Britain, who is coordinating a study of cone-beam scanners for the European Commission. “They are just pushed out there by manufacturers with the message that a 3-D image is always going to be better than a 2-D image, and that isn’t the case.”

One popular new brand of braces has helped cone-beam sales because it requires 3-D images, which doctors can obtain using either a cone-beam scanner with radiation, or a digital camera without it. Many orthodontists opt for radiation, because it is quicker.

Even those troubled by the widening use of cone-beam technology acknowledge that by itself, the risk from a single scan is relatively small. But patients often get more than one scan, and the lifetime risk increases with each exposure. Without a clear benefit, they say, there is only risk.

“So let me ask a question to the mother of a prospective orthodontic patient,” said Dr. Stuart C. White, former chairman of oral radiology at the UCLA School of Dentistry. “Would you like me to use a tool that is entirely safe — a camera — to record the position of your child’s teeth, or another method that may rarely cause cancer so that we can save time?”

The cone-beam business is lucrative for manufacturers and dentists. According to one industry estimate, more than 3,000 scanners and about 30 different models have been sold, at prices up to $250,000.

Dentists, some of whom charge several hundred dollars per scan, can profit by owning their own machines. “More profit per unit chair time,” promises Imaging Sciences, the cone-beam manufacturer.

Marketers increase interest in the technology by holding drawings for free cone-beam CT scanners and other gifts. A Washington State orthodontist, who gave an online lecture sponsored by Imaging Sciences, offers dentists coupons for free scans for their patients as a way to build referrals.

And then there is the “wow” factor, said Dr. Terry Sellke, an orthodontist in Illinois.

“Kids love to see that 3-D image,” Dr. Sellke said in a Webcast sponsored by Imaging Sciences. “They can go into our computer and look at their skull.” Another orthodontist talked about coloring 3-D skulls in green and purple. “Fun for the kids,” he said.

Dr. Allan G. Farman, president of the American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, cautions doctors not to become overly enamored of the new technology, citing the example of how shoe stores once took X-rays of customers’ feet to see if shoes fit.

Click HERE to read the rest of the article.

CPSC Educates New Parents on Safe Babywearing

2010-11-22T11:18:00.001-08:00

from CPSC.gov

Infant suffocation deaths in slings prompt renewed effort to warn moms and dads

WASHINGTON, D. C. - Infant slings and wraps have been used for thousands of years in many different cultures. For many parents across the United States, “babywearing” promotes a positive bond between child and parent. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wants to make sure that parents and caregivers are aware of important safety information related to the proper use of slings.

CPSC is taking this opportunity to urge everyone to use slings and wraps safely, as CPSC has identified 14 infant suffocation deaths with sling-style carriers over the past 20 years. After reviewing numerous cases, child safety experts at CPSC have determined that parents with infants younger than four months of age, premature, low-birthweight babies, and babies with colds and respiratory problems should take extra care in using a sling, including consulting their pediatrician.

Suffocation/asphyxiation can occur when babies are contained entirely within the pouch of a sling with their face, including nose and mouth, pressed against the adult’s body, blocking their breathing. Suffocation can occur within minutes.

Because of the nature of the product and its use, some slings tend to keep an infant in a curled, chin-to-chest position, which can interfere with breathing. When an infant is in the chin-to-chest position, suffocation can occur. Both scenarios are serious concerns to CPSC. Many of the babies who died in slings were twins in separate slings and infants with breathing issues.
CPSC recommends that parents and caregivers:

Make sure you can see your baby’s face or eyes in the sling and that your baby can see you. Also, you should place the baby’s face at or above the rim of a sling or wrap so that their face is visible.
After nursing your baby, change the baby’s position in the sling, so that the baby’s face is at or above the rim of a sling or wrap and that their face is visible and clear of fabric and the mother’s body. You should be vigilant about frequently checking the baby in a sling.

A new voluntary consensus standard for slings is being worked on by ASTM International. This is a positive step toward providing manufacturers with an effective safety standard.

This warning is not intended to characterize all slings as being dangerous to babies. CPSC has identified (1) specific situations that can pose a risk of serious harm to babies, and (2) simple safety tips that we hope the babywearing community can share with new parents.

Proper use of a sling. Baby’s face is at or above the rim of a sling or wrap and is clear of the fabric and obstructions.

Improper use of sling. Instead, keep the infant’s head above all fabric and away
from the mother’s body. Make sure the infant’s face is not covered by the sling.

Above and below: Improper use of a sling. Infant is in a curled position with chin touching chest. Suffocation can occur in this position.

No Benefit to Delaying Vaccines

2010-11-19T12:01:00.001-08:00

from Pediatrics in Fit Pregnancy

Parents who mistakenly believe multiple vaccinations raise the risk for autism and are thus tempted to delay some of their infant’s shots should be reassured by a study of more than 1,000 children. It found that babies who received all the recommended immunizations on time during their first year of life did as well, if not better, on cognitive tests at ages 7 to 10 compared with children who got their vaccines late or not at all.

Delaying or spacing out immunizations only prolongs a baby’s susceptibility to such potentially fatal diseases as measles and whooping cough.

Pictures with Santa!

2010-11-19T11:59:00.001-08:00

If you’re local in Charlotte, Reflections by Rhiannon offers FABULOUS photos for maternity and baby (her studio is located in Dilworth). Her studio is doing portraits with Santa on Saturday, December 11th, so if you’re looking for some keepsake photos with Santa be sure to check out this studio!

Portraits with Santa

Saturday, December 11th only! 15 minute visit and portait session with Santa for $15. Appointments are available for children and pets. Have your $15 session fee waived with the donation of a new, unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots. Reserve your appointment today!

Chocolaty Pumpkin Bars

2010-11-18T11:57:00.001-08:00

from Kids Eat Right

I’m a HUGE fan of all things pumpkin and it’s such a great source of vitamins A & C. It is also high in potassium, manganese, copper and one of the B vitamins, riboflavin. So I was really excited to find a healthy recipe that involved pumpkin and chocolate.

by Janice Bissex, MS RD and Elizabeth Weiss, MS RD
If you're looking for a nutritious, kid-pleasing snack for after school or the lunch box, this is the recipe for you. Thanks to the pumpkin (which, by the way, blends right in), each serving has almost half a day's worth of immune-boosting vitamin A. As for the nuts, they add heart-healthy fat and protein to each delicious bite.

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup pecans, very finely chopped
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, beaten
One 15-ounce can 100% pure pumpkin
½ cup canola oil
¼ cup 1% low-fat milk
½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil or coat a 15 x 10 x 1-inch rimmed baking or jelly roll pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
Whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, pecans, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin, oil, and milk until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before slicing into thirty, 2 x 2½-inch bars.

CookingTip

For maximum freshness, store leftovers in a plastic container or zip-top bag in the refrigerator.

Servings: 30 (1 Bar Per Serving)
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 Bar
Amount per serving
Calories 140
Calories from Fat 70
Total Fat 8g
Saturated Fat 1g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 25mg
Sodium 95mg
Total Carbohydrate 16g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Sugars 0g
Protein 2g
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Calcium
Iron

Even Reusable Bags Carry Environmental Risk

2010-11-16T11:25:00.001-08:00

from NY Times

(This is not specifically baby related but I found the article extremely interesting and information we should all know about. Plus, we buy food for our families with these bags!)

Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

Shelley Kempner of Queens, who was shopping at Fairway on the Upper West Side on Sunday, said she liked “the idea of not putting more plastic into the environment.”

They dangle from the arms of many NewYorkers, a nearly ubiquitous emblem of empathy with the environment: synthetic, reusable grocery bags, another must-have accessory for the socially conscious.

But the bags, hot items at upscale markets, may be on the verge of a glacier-size public relations problem: similar bags outside the city have been found to contain lead.

“They say plastic bags are bad; now they say these are bad. What’s worse?” asked Jen Bluestein, who was walking out of Trader Joe’s on the Upper West Side with a reusable bag under her arm on Sunday.

“Green is a trend and people go with trends,” Ms. Bluestein said. “People get them as fashion statements and they have, like, 50 of them. I don’t think people know the real facts.”

There is no evidence that these bags pose an immediate threat to the public, and none of the bags sold by New York City’s best-known grocery stores have been implicated. But reports from around the country have trickled in recently about reusable bags, mostly made in China, that contained potentially unsafe levels of lead. The offending bags were identified at several stores, including some CVS pharmacies; the Rochester-based Wegman’s grocery chain recalled thousands of its bags, made of recycled plastic, in September.

Concerns have proliferated so much that Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, sent a letter on Sunday to the Food and Drug Administration, urging the agency to investigate the issue.

Reusable bags have maintained their popularity even amid charges that they become hothouses for bacteria. The recent studies, none of which were conducted by the government, found that the lead in some bags would pose a long-term risk of seeping into groundwater after disposal; over time, however, paint from the bag could flake off and come into contact with food.

Climate-change-conscious shoppers at one of Manhattan’s culinary meccas on Sunday said they were chagrined that yet another good intention had gone awry.

“Bummer! We’re still not doing the right thing,” said Shelley Kempner of Queens, who was looking over the produce at Fairway on Broadway at West 74th Street. She prefers a reusable bag, she said, because she “likes the idea of not putting more plastic into the environment.”

Told of the recent lead findings, Ms. Kempner sighed — “It’s still not good enough” — and wondered if she would have to switch to something else. “Are we going to have to start using string?” she asked.
“There’s always something wrong with everything,” said Barry Lebost, standing outside the Trader Joe’s on West 72nd Street with four reusable bags filled with groceries.

But Mr. Lebost, an alternative energy consultant, did not appear fazed by the revelations of lead. He said his home, in Gardiner, N.Y., had been outfitted with a hydroelectric plant that saved the energy equivalent of 200 plastic bags a day. “It may not be a total solution, but this is a step in the right direction,” he said of the suddenly suspect bags at his feet. “The fluorescent bulbs we have now, they’re no good because they have mercury in them. You look at it as a transition.”

But many shoppers said they would continue relying on the bags until more information came out. The bags are usable for years, they said, and any long-term effects of lead may be offset by the environmental benefits gained by not using regular plastic bags.

“I wasn’t planning on throwing it out, so that’s a positive thing,” said Catherine Paykin, standing by the meat counter at Fairway. “As long as I use it and don’t throw it away, that will be my plan.”

Mr. Schumer’s family also shops at Fairway. A spokesman for the senator said the family planned to bring the issue to the attention of the store to see if the bags there were affected.

Little Miracles Featured in Charlotte Magazine!

2010-11-14T14:33:00.001-08:00

We are happy to announce that we were featured in the “Countdown to Baby” guide in Charlotte Magazine this month. It’s a great feature on all the best for baby in Charlotte. Little Miracles Baby Planning is honored to have been chosen!

Check in out online HERE.

Eating For Two Is A Myth

2010-11-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

from Growing Your Baby

Britain’s Health Services has sobering news for expectant mothers. The belief that pregnant women are eating for two, is a myth.

According to the latest draft of Health Services guidelines, women can maintain their usual diets all the way through the first six months of pregnancy. Through the final three months they only need to increase their consumption by 200 calories. Health Services also highlighted that there is no need for women to switch to full fat milk while expecting.

According to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, a woman should gain no more than 10-12 kg during pregnancy.

These advisements have come in response to the growing number of overweight and obese mothers. Obese women now make up 25% of the female British population and another 33% are overweight.

These extra pounds can put an unborn baby at risk, but women are not advised to lose weight during pregnancy. Instead, it is recommended that they seek help to lose weight before conceiving.

“Many overweight women have healthy babies, but the evidence suggests that there are more risks associated with pregnancies in women who have a BMI of over 30,” said Mike Kelly, Director of the Centre for Public Health Excellence at NICE.

Kelly says the new guidelines are meant, “to dispel any myths about what and how much to eat during pregnancy – there is no need to ‘eat for two’ or to drink full-fat milk”

According to Rosie Dodds of the National Childbirth Trust, this new advice provides an opportunity to reverse the trend, “Women are more likely to make changes to their diet when they are pregnant and this opportunity can improve the family eating pattern for the future.” – Jen R, Staff Writer

5 Eco-Friendly Nursery Tips

2010-11-08T13:44:00.000-08:00

from The Stir

My son Rowan's nursery is my favorite room in the house. It's bright and sunny, it's colorful, and it makes me happy just to be in there.

We live in an old house so we are very conscious of things like the lead paint that must be lurking under the horrible 1960s bathroom wallpaper. That's why when we created the nursery, we did everything we could to seek out eco-friendly options.

I thought that going green might be challenging, but it was much easier than I thought. Even if you didn't start out that way, you'll find it's not hard or expensive to make small changes to your nursery one step at a time. Here are 5 simple ways to make your baby's nursery green:

1. Paint: Eco-friendly paints come in many different varieties these days. What you want to look for are Zero VOC Paints or Low-VOC Paints, which contain very low levels of heavy metals and formaldehyde, or none at all. Even mainstream paint stores are catching on and making non toxic paints easier to find.

2. The Crib: A baby crib is a major purchase. If you find one second hand, be sure it doesn't have lead-based paint (and that it meets current safety requirements). If you buy new, look for hard wood furniture that is heirloom quality. Maybe your grandchildren can sleep in it one day!

3. Bedding: Think about how much time your baby spends in the crib. It only makes sense to choose organic cotton bedding. Apart from being the most comfortable bedding ever, organic cotton is free of chemicals, bleaches, and dyes.

4. Detergents: Baby bedding needs lots of laundering. I find that green laundry detergents just keep getting better and more affordable. You'll find that baby-friendly soap products are widely available, even in local grocery stores.

5. Toys: Your baby will encounter enough plastic toys out in the world. At home, keep solid wood toys finished with a natural finish oil or cloth stuffed animals, rattles, and dolls made of organic cotton or wool.

Have you taken steps to make your nursery more eco-friendly? What's your favorite green baby product?

Boon Feeding Products

2010-11-04T11:26:00.001-07:00

In my opinion Boon makes THE best feeding products for babies and children. Their line is completely eco-friendly and non-toxic (BPA, Phthalate and PVC free), and super cute too! Besides the fun bright colors, their plates and bowls all have useful non-slip rubber around the edges to help keep them on the table (and it actually works).

The Interlocking Plate in the middle here is my favorite. It has two detachable “dipping” saucers (because we all know little ones love to dip) and the the sections in the plate are the perfect sizes for a protein, veggie, and whole grain. The Squirt Baby Food Dispensing Spoons on the left are also a very cool product. You load them up with your baby food before you leave the house, and then you just squeeze the food out directly onto the spoon when it’s time to eat! No jars or containers to carry around -- fabulous.
Boon's signature colors are the white and orange, but all these new bright colors will be coming out soon early next year. The Snack Ball (below) is another favorite of mine, perfect for holding cereal, puffs, or other baby snacks!

Lastly, the Grass Countertop Drying Rack is truly unique! It doesn’t take up your whole counter and dries bottles and sippy cups perfectly (without that water residue inside).

Boon also makes fabulous non toxic bath products and other cool gadgets for your home. This AWESOME nightlight coming out spring 2011 is sure to be a hit. This multi-colored, interactive nightlight has removable, illuminated Glo balls that turn a night time game of catch into something extraordinary. And there's nothing electronic in them, so they don't get warm and they won't break. You can even tuck them into bed with your child. The glow fades to dark after 30 minutes, helping them fall asleep. Bonus: 95% effective at keeping monsters away all night long. What a fabulous idea!!!

Feature in Charlotte Style Magazine

2010-11-03T11:45:00.001-07:00

Check out the latest issue of Charlotte Style Magazine for a feature on Little Miracles Baby Planning!

Click HERE on pages 22-23 “Mommy Fabulous”

Liquid Assets

2010-11-02T10:56:00.001-07:00

Feeding your baby breast milk does more good than you might think. Here are 18 (mostly) surprising benefits:

from Fit Pregnancy

You've likey heard that breastfeeding can confer some pretty impressive benefits to your baby—reduced ear infections and asthma, maybe even a bump in IQ among them. Turns out there are even more perks for your little one, not to mention for you, society and even Mother Earth.

1. Fewer infections “The incidence of pneumonia, colds and viruses is reduced among breastfed babies,” says infant- nutrition expert Ruth A. Lawrence, M.D., a professor of pediatrics and OB-GYN at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, N.Y., and the author of Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession (Elsevier-Mosby). Gastrointestinal infections like diarrhea—which can be devastating, especially in developing countries—are also less common.

2. Reduced risk of chronic illnesses Breastfeed your baby and you reduce his risk of developing chronic conditions, such as type I diabetes, celiac disease and Crohn’s disease (inflammation of the digestive tract).

3. Less chance of SIDS Breastfeeding lowers your baby’s risk of sudden infant death syndrome by about half.

4. A leaner baby—and a leaner mom It’s more likely that neither of you will become obese if you breastfeed.

5. Faster recovery from pregnancy and childbirth The oxytocin secreted when your baby nurses helps your uterus contract, reducing post-delivery blood loss. Plus, breastfeeding will help your uterus return to its normal size more quickly—at about six weeks postpartum, compared with 10 weeks if you don’t breastfeed.

6. Lower risk of some cancers Breastfeeding can decrease your baby’s risk of some childhood cancers. And you’ll have a lower risk of premenopausal breast cancer and ovarian cancer, an often deadly disease that’s on the rise. You may also reduce your risk of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

7. Confidence boost “There’s nothing more empowering as a new mother than seeing your baby grow and thrive on your breast milk alone,” Lawrence says.

8. Bigger calorie burn You may have heard that breastfeeding burns an extra 400 to 500 calories a day. And that’s almost right. “Breastfeeding doesn’t burn calories, but it does use them,” Lawrence explains. “Breast milk contains 20 calories per ounce, so if you feed your baby 20 ounces a day, that’s 400 calories you’ve swept right out of your body.”

9. A green machine Dairy cows, which are raised in part to make infant formula, are a significant contributor to global warming: Their belching, manure and flatulence (really!) spew enormous amounts of methane, a harmful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. “Plus, most formula companies don’t purchase milk from American farmers, so they’re not even helping our economy,” Lawrence says.

10. A customized food supply Whereas formula isn’t able to change its constitution, your breast milk morphs to meet your baby’s changing needs. Colostrum—the “premilk” that comes in a day or two after you deliver—is chockfull of antibodies to protect your newborn baby. “It’s also higher in protein and lower in sugar [than ‘full’ milk], so even a small amount can hold off your baby’s hunger,” says Heather Kelly, an international board-certified lactation consultant in New York City and a member of the Bravado Breastfeeding Information Council’s advisory board. When your full milk comes in (usually three to four days after delivery), it is higher in both sugar and volume than colostrum—again, just what your baby requires. “He needs a lot of calories and needs to eat frequently to fuel his rapid growth,” Kelly explains. “Your mature milk is designed to be digested quickly so he’ll eat often.”

11. More vaccination protection Research shows that breastfed babies have a better antibody response to vaccines than formula-fed babies.

12. Fewer sick days Since your baby will be ill less often, that means less missed work for you.

13. A vacation from your period Breastfeeding your baby around the clock—no bottles or formula—will delay ovulation, which means delayed menstruation. “Breastfeeding causes the release of prolactin, which keeps estrogen and progesterone at bay so ovulation isn’t triggered,” Kelly explains. “When your prolactin levels drop, those two hormones can kick back in, which means ovulation—and, hence, menstruation—occurs.”

Even if you do breastfeed exclusively, your prolactin levels will eventually drop over the course of several months. Many moms who nurse exclusively get their first period somewhere between six and eight months after having a baby, Kelly adds; others don’t for a full year. Another benefit in the green category: Fewer periods mean fewer sanitary products in landfills.

14. Free birth control Breastfeeding can be 98 to 99 percent effective as birth control if a few general guidelines are followed: Your period must not have resumed; you must breastfeed at least every four hours around the clock; you must not give your baby any pacifiers, bottles or formula (doing so may cause him to nurse less); and you must be less than six months postpartum.

According to Kelly, nighttime feedings are the most important to the “lactation amenorrhea method,” so do not let your baby (or yourself) sleep through a feeding. “Going long stretches at night without nursing seems to be directly responsible for the return of ovulation,” she says. In the same way, prematurely sleep training your baby can hasten ovulation—which means, of course, that you can get pregnant.

15. Faster familiarity “You have to read your baby’s ‘satiety cues’ a little better, because unlike with a bottle, you can’t see how much he’s eaten,” Kelly says. “You have to rely on your own instincts and your baby’s behavior to know when your baby is full.”

16. Budget boost According to La Leche League International, the cost of formula can range anywhere from $134 to $491 per month. That’s $1,608 to $5,892 in one year!

17. Just so easy Simply pull up your shirt and latch your baby on. No mixing or heating of formula necessary—breast milk is always available and always at the right temperature. And it’s in a pretty nice container to boot!

18. Perks for society According to a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics, the United States would save about $13 billion per year in medical costs if 90 percent of U.S. families breastfed their newborns for at least six months. Even more important, because of breastfeeding’s health benefits, as many as 911 infant deaths would be prevented.

Start smart For everything you need to know to make nursing work—from getting the right latch to where to turn if you need help—visit fitpregnancy.com/breastfeeding.

A Rude Reminder of Junk in Food

2010-11-01T12:09:00.001-07:00

from Feed Our Families blog

I don't know where to start. I'm so upset. You know how you watch your child and you know something isn't right but you can't really know what it is?

That was us Friday afternoon. My son was a little out of sorts after school but nothing terribly unusual since he's usually ready for some rest and a snack when he gets home. School is tiring and he reminds us often.
As dinner time approached things weren't so usual. But unfortunately, familiar. I didn't recognize the behaviors at first but they quickly ramped up to the point where reality slapped my cheek. Oh yes, I remember this. Thus the questioning begins: what did you eat today that we didn't give you?

Artificial food coloring. High fructose corn syrup. And it was literally drops of each. Proof that the chemical reaction that occurs in his body doesn't take much quantity.

I won't share details because I believe it was an honest mistake that won't happen again.
What I will share with you is the terrible night we had where my son couldn't control his body. He couldn't make eye contact with me for more than three seconds. He mentally couldn't process simple things like he typically can. After about two hours of increasing frustrations and challenges for all of us, we put him to bed early and wished for the best in the morning.

I'll also share with you my emotions through this as I went from frustration with him for "not listening" (repeatedly) to feeling furious that this happened to begin with. We've worked so hard, we thought, to make sure that everyone around him knew what he couldn't have. But maybe it wasn't enough. Clearly, it wasn't enough.

Then, my heart broke.

My son finds it comforting to be rolled up tightly in a blanket, sort of like a burrito. Until we found his food sensitivities, we did this often because we faced similar situations often, but I don't think we've rolled him up in many months. He usually lays there, totally relaxed, while we talk, read or listen to music.

Not tonight. He couldn't lay still. Couldn't relax. Couldn't look at me. His little body just kept moving, not within his control, while he stared at his closet door. He told me it was more relaxing to look at the white closet door because my face was too busy. As I stroked his head, I prayed that he would fall asleep peacefully and wake feeling better.

I can't begin to imagine what he felt like but I know that I don't want to see him feel that way again. As long as the food manufacturers, candy makers and beverage providers continue to use artificial ingredients, children will be exposed and at risk. I wish they would do away with these ingredients, like they have in other countries. Our children, my child, deserves better food.

A friend who has a child with similar food issues helped me see the positive in this: the reminder that all of our hard work cooking real food, scrutinizing labels, and teaching our children about healthy foods, is worth it. They are totally worth it.

If you're new to Feed Our Families and want to learn more about high fructose corn syrup, here's the link to Our Experience with High Fructose Corn Syrup and an overview on Discovering Food Issues. I encourage you to share this with friends and family so that together, we can protect our children from the impact of artificial and potentially harmful ingredients.

My special guy that I'd do anything for

Recall! Britax Recalls Chaperone Infant Car Seat

2010-11-01T12:07:00.001-07:00

Car-seat manufacturer Britax is recalling 17,251 Chaperone infant-safety seats because the chest clip was incorrectly produced, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recalled car seats were built between April 11, 2009, and May 31, 2010. The following model numbers are affected by this recall:

E9L69N9 (Moonstone)
E9L69P2 (Red Mill)
E9L69P3 (Savannah)
E9L69P5 (Cowmooflage)

The car seat’s chest clip, which positions the harness straps across the shoulders, could be too brittle and might break when used with the infant in the seat. The clip’s sharp edges could cut the child’s skin or be a choking hazard.

Britax will mail a remedy kit, which contains a new chest clip, to owners who have registered their car seats with the company. The kit will be mailed out around Nov. 11.

For more information or to contact the company if you haven’t registered this recalled car seat, call Britax at 888-427-4829 or NHTSA’s hot line at 888-327-4236.

A Sneak Peak at ABC Expo Coolness…Origami Electronic Stroller!

2010-10-22T11:16:00.001-07:00

I’m about to leave on a week vacation so it will be a little while before I get up all my posts about all the great new stuff coming out in the baby world, but I wanted to share a sneak peak of a CRAZY new idea in strollers…an electronic folding stroller!

This stroller, The Origami, is made by 4Moms, the same group of women that designed the now popular Mamaroo -- the coolest baby bouncer/swing on the market. I have to say that at first I thought “are we really too lazy to fold a stroller ourselves?? I mean I know it can be a pain, especially with multiple children, and sometimes those strollers are back breaking, but do we really need to waste batteries to fold our own strollers? But THEN I learned the facts about this stroller. It is powered by motion! No batteries, no charging, just push your stroller around and while the stroller is in motion it CHARGES ITSELF! Pretty cool. Okay, maybe it’s alright to be lazy every now and then.

The Origami also comes with this cool tiny computer at the handle bars that shows you the temperature outside, and among other things you can also plug your ipod into it. This is definitely the stroller for the 21st century!

Graco Stroller Recall

2010-10-21T08:15:00.001-07:00

Graco Recalls Quattro™ and MetroLite™ Strollers Due to Risk of Entrapment and Strangulation
Four Infant Strangulation Deaths Reported

from CPSC

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Graco Children’s Products Inc., of Atlanta, Ga., is announcing the recall of about 2 million Graco strollers due to risk of entrapment and strangulation. CPSC and Graco have received four reports of infant strangulations that occurred in these strollers between 2003 and 2005. In addition, CPSC is aware of five reports of infants becoming entrapped, resulting in cuts and bruises, and one report of an infant having difficulty breathing.

Entrapment and strangulation can occur, especially to infants younger than 12 months of age, when a child is not harnessed. An infant can pass through the opening between the stroller tray and seat bottom, but his/her head and neck can become entrapped by the tray. Infants who become entrapped at the neck are at risk of strangulation.

The recall involves older versions of the Graco Quattro Tour™ and MetroLite™ strollers and travel systems manufactured prior to the existence of the January 2008 voluntary industry standard which addresses the height of the opening between the stroller’s tray and the seat bottom. This voluntary standard requires larger stroller openings that prevent infant entrapment and strangulation hazards.

This recall involves Graco Quattro Tour™ strollers and travel systems manufactured prior to November 2006 and MetroLite™ strollers and travel systems manufactured prior to July 2007. The strollers and travel systems were distributed between November 2000 and December 2007. The model numbers are printed on a label at the lower portion of the rear frame, just above the rear wheels or underneath the stroller. The name “Graco” appears on a label on the stroller tray and the headrest. Models included in the recall are:

Quattro Stroller
$100-$190
Distributed Between
Nov 2002 – Dec 2007
Quattro Stroller Travel System
$200-$250
Distributed Between
Oct 2002 – Oct 2007
MetroLite Stroller
$90-$190
Distributed Between
Nov 2000 – Dec 2007
MetroLite Travel System
$190-$250
Distributed Between
Dec 2000 – June 2005
35735
35759
7111ASB
7111BKW
7111CLN
7111CUN
7111DIA
7111HEA
7111HIG
7111LAG
7111KSH
7112CNP
7112MTR
7113CJR
7113CMR
7113COT
7119GGG
7119WSR
7121MAY
7125QST
7126RNS
7127LEG
7132RXY
7134SMB
7138RNS
35760
7411ATR
7411BGN
7411BGN2
7411BLB
7411KBK
7411KBK2
7411LV
7411MCH
7411MCH2
7411MLY
7411MLY2
7419LIM
7419LIM2
7419OWD2
7B00BDA
7B00DRB
7B00KAS
7B01MNS
7B03CST2
7B03LTC2
7B03TFE2
1104
1240
6110DW
6110F3
6110S7
6110TS7
6111FKB
6111VIN
6113SCR
6114HAV
6114JAM
6114LAG
6114NGS
6116NRF
6120SHL
6121CJG
6121CNP
6121GGG
6121MTR
6123EME
6124LRD
6125SMB
6J01DAI
6J01HRL
6J03RIT
6J04JEN
6J05MIN
1070
7000KSB
7308DEL
7308DEL2
7308DEL4
7308TYR
7308TYR2
7406PLT
7408MRT
7409GRG
7410CON
7413CML
7413MRN
C7413CML

NOTE: Quattro and MetroLite strollers ending with the number 3 are NOT affected by this recall.
The strollers were sold at AAFES, Babies R Us, Burlington Coat Factory, Fred Meyer, Kmart, Meijers, Navy Exchange, Sears, Target, Walmart and other stores nationwide between November 2000 and December 2007 for between $90 and $190 for the strollers, and between $190 and $250 for travel systems.
The strollers were manufactured in China.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled strollers and contact Graco for a free repair kit. To order a repair kit, contact Graco toll-free at (877) 828-4046 anytime, or visit the firm’s website at www.gracobaby.com. Consumers can continue use of the stroller as a “travel system.” When the stroller is used with the infant car seat, the entrapment and strangulation hazards posed by the space gap are not present.

For additional information, consumers can contact Graco at (800) 345-4109 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday.

NOTE:: When using a stroller, parents and caregivers are encouraged to always secure children by using the safety harness and never leave them unattended. To learn more about the importance of stroller safety, download CPSC’s safety alert: www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5096.pdf

Quattro™ Stroller

MetroLite ™ Stroller

50 Best Blogs for Baby Planning

2010-10-20T12:00:00.001-07:00

Check out this great resource for the 50 best baby blogs (many of them eco-friendly)…Little Miracles Baby Planning Blog tops the list! :)

There are some fabulous blogs on this list so be sure to check them all out!

Some of my favorite people from ABC Kids Expo

2010-10-19T06:14:00.001-07:00

A brilliant nationally known pediatrician, author, and all-around hero of mine, Dr. Alan Greene!

Another great nationally recognized pediatrician and author, Dr. Harvey Karp!

Dr. Karp spoke of his five step process to soothe a crying baby and he not only showed us a video of him in action, he did his magic on a crying baby in the crowd and it was very impressive! Here’s a short video clip:

Actress Tiffany Thiessen (Saved By the Bell, 90210, etc) and Lonni Paul (winner of Design Star on HGTV) who started their own line of gorgeous baby furniture and bedding, PetitNest. Tiffany threw an awesome red carpet party to celebrate the launch of her line!

RECALL ALERT: Bathtub Toys Recalled by Munchkin Due to Risk of Injury

2010-10-19T06:13:00.001-07:00

from CPSC

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: Bathtub Subs

Units: About 34,000 units

Importer: Munchkin Inc, of North Hills, Calif.

Hazard: The intake valve on the bottom of the submarine toy can suck up loose skin, posing laceration hazard to children.

Incidents/Injuries: CPSC and the company are aware of 19 incidents of lacerations to boys' genital area. One of the incidents required medical attention.

Description: This recall involves battery-operated bathtub submarine toys. The toy is yellow, has a smiling face, turquoise windows, an orange propeller and an orange periscope that turns the toy on and off. The intake valve has a water pump that sucks in water to propel the submarine. The toy is intended for use by children during bath time.

Sold at: Mass merchandise retail stores nationwide and children's stores nationwide from November 2009 through September 2010 for about $7.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately take the recalled toy away from children and contact Munchkin for instructions on how to return the product for a free replacement toy.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Munchkin at (877) 242-3134 anytime or visit the company's website at http://www.munchkin.com/