Check out our new article on Infant Massage. There are many ways for moms and dads to bond with their baby, but infant massage provides not only the benefits of a bonding experience, but health benefits as well. Learn more about the infant massage here.
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I See Me Personalized books coupon code
My daughter received a personalized CD of music a few Christmases ago. I have it in our car and it’s always the first thing she asks when we get in – to listen to her “Morgan CD”.
There’s something about a personalized gift like that that kids absolutely love. It becomes a memorable gift and keepsake and something they can enjoy for many years.
I See Me has some really great gifts that are perfect for new babies and older children alike, including personalized books, puzzles, t-shirts and wall art. The books are so beautifully illustrated and written that they make grown men cry when they read them!
From now until April 13th, you can use the coupon code “FSR615″ and get $5 off any orders over $40!
Click Here for $5 off on orders that are over $40! Use code FSR615 at checkout.
March 30, 2009 No Comments
Wednesday's Q – Did Your Water Break?
My daughter was born naturally and even though I was in labor for 24 hours, my water never broke on its own. The resident tried to break my water with what looked like a giant crochet hook. It was one of the strangest feelings I’ve ever felt. It felt like I had a giant water balloon in my stomach and someone was trying to pop it.
After trying for a good 5 minutes or more to break my water, the resident was unsuccessful so she had another doctor try. He was also unsuccessful but I think it did start leaking a little bit so it never actually “broke”.
I had an emergency cesarean section with my son shortly after I was induced so I didn’t get to yell, “My water just broke!” then either. Maybe next time. 
What about you? Did your water ceremoniously break in a cab or a restaurant like in the movies or were you robbed of that gushing feeling like me?
March 25, 2009 No Comments
How to get kids to eat spinach
I’ve been having trouble getting my kids to eat spinach so I thought I’d try something different today. Normally I add baby spinach to sandwiches (like egg salad or salmon sandwiches) but they always pick it out. Today, I made spaghetti and threw in a bag of baby spinach while boiling the spaghetti.
After it was cooked, I tossed it with some pasta sauce and served it to my little unsuspecting kidlets.
They both ate every last morsel, spinach and all!
When they were finished, I told them they just ate a bunch of spinach. I made sure to mention that spinach makes you “big and strong like daddy” so they were perfectly happy with that.
So if you’re looking for a way to slip some spinach into your kid’s diet, try boiling it with some pasta next time.
March 24, 2009 1 Comment
Babies laughing hysterically
There’s no better sound than a baby laughing, especially a baby laughing hysterically. I was in the mood for some baby laughin’ this morning so I was digging around YouTube. I’ve seen most of these videos numerous times before (some even years ago) but they’re still just as great so I thought I’d share a few in the hopes that you’ll get a few chuckles today.
March 19, 2009 No Comments
Separation Anxiety in Babies – It's Not A Bad Thing
I remember going through the “separation anxiety” stage when my daughter was 7 months old. I went to work for my old boss temporarily while she was recovering from surgery so instead of spending every second of the day with my daughter, I was spending 8 hours apart from her every day.
It was a big change for both of us, and also perfectly normal that we both cried every morning before I headed to work.
Almost every child will go through separation anxiety. At what age differs greatly – it could start before they turn a year old (like my daughter) or it could start when they begin their first day of school.
My son just got over his separation anxiety and he turned 3 years old in February.
Separation anxiety in babies is completely normal and healthy. It shows signs of bonding between you and your child. It doesn’t mean it’s easy though.
Babies with separation anxiety may cry every time you leave the room while toddlers will throw tantrums when you take them to daycare or preschool. Whatever the situation, it’s not pleasant! However, this is a learning opportunity for them because they’re figuring out recognition and trust.
How to cope with separation anxiety
My solution for dealing with separation anxiety? Quick goodbyes and distraction.
When I left my daughter to go to work, I’d say good bye and leave (and sob all the way to the car!). Hanging around and trying to calm her down just made the situation even worse. She picked up on my own anxiety and it would get her worked up even more.
My mom was watching her during the day so we also made sure to have some sort of distraction while I left like a video or breakfast.
Speaking of my mom, her solution when I was going through separation anxiety was to leave me with her sweater. She used to work very early hours and I wouldn’t let her leave so she gave me her sweater to sleep with like a teddy bear. Worked like a charm.
As for my own adventures to work every morning, sneaking out of the house was sometimes the only way. It was easy, but I wanted my daughter to learn how to deal with it so I avoided “sneaking” as much as possible. As much as I would have loved to spend all my time with her, it just wasn’t possible. She needed to learn how to be OK without me and she needed to trust other people. Sneaking out just prolonged that learning experience.
It was difficult while it lasted, but it didn’t go on for more than a month. If it lasts longer than you think it should, and it’s affecting their eating and sleeping habits, you may want to ask for some advice from your doctor. In the majority of cases though, it passes with time just like teething. It may be tough, but it’s all part of the process!
You can learn more about separation anxiety and how to cope with it here.
March 16, 2009 No Comments
Healthy Eating for Kids – How to get your toddler to eat
Getting their kids to eat healthy is a priority for a lot of parents. Unfortunately, it’s not usually the #1 concern for the kids. Pizza and chocolate would be on the menu every day if we let them, but as parents, we need to make sure they’re eating healthy.
Developing healthy eating habits right from the start will ensure your child is developing and growing properly, plus it helps them maintain those healthy habits as they become more independent and start choosing their own foods.
Almost any parent knows that it can be difficult to get their kids to eat healthy, and I’m no exception. Thankfully, I’ve learned a few tips to help make it a bit easier.
BREAKFAST
Skipping breakfast is a problem a lot of busy parents go through. Sometimes there just isn’t enough time, other times their child is not hungry. However, an empty stomach can throw you and your child off for the entire day.
Won’t eat breakfast? Wake up earlier – It takes about 20 minutes for our hunger signals to kick in after we wake up in the morning, so I like to make sure my kids are up early enough that they want to eat breakfast before we head off to preschool.
Picky breakfast eaters? Establish routine – I feed my kids the same thing every morning for breakfast. This way they always expect it and don’t waste time by changing their minds 30 times until they finally decide what they want (like they do for lunch and dinner).
No time? Plan ahead – If I know my time is going to be limited in the mornings, I do as much as I can the night before, including setting the table for breakfast. It may not seem like much, but it really does save a lot of time and frustration in the morning when everyone is in a rush to get out the door.
FRUITS AND VEGGIES
Lots of kids shy away from fruit and especially vegetables. It’s not uncommon to find dinner plates cleaned up except for a pile of peas and carrots pushed off to the side. I’ve seen my daughter scoop the corn from her plate to her brother’s so she didn’t have to eat it.
Refuses veggies with supper? Sneak them in – There are lots of recipes that allow you to sneak in vegetables. (If you sign up for my free Baby Tips Newsletter, you can download an ebook full of mom-tested recipes instantly.) I also like to make dishes, especially casseroles, that have vegetables in them but are almost impossible to pick out. Thus, the kids are forced to eat them. Muahahaha!
Won’t try new fruits? Make smoothies – My kids squeal with excitement when I drag out the blender because they love smoothies. You can throw almost any kind of fruit in there with some yogurt and they’ll drink it, no questions asked.
Choosing junk food instead of healthy snacks? Make it fun – Serving fruits and veggies for snacks in a fun way is bound to capture your child’s interest. Snacks served in colorful containers and fresh fruit and veggies cut into shapes is much more fun to eat than just biting into a boring apple.
SHORT ON TIME AND MONEY?
It’s hard eating healthy when you’re limited by a small budget and hectic schedules. It costs money to keep the kitchen stocked with fresh food and it takes time (sometimes more than you have) to plan and prepare meals.
No idea what to make for supper? Plan a menu – Menu planning (mapping out your meals for a week in advance) will prevent you from making last minute trips to your favorite fast food restaurant. It also saves time since you won’t be searching through your fridge and pantry trying to figure out what to make.
Tight budget? Plan a menu – Yep, planning a menu will also help for those of us who don’t have money trees growing in our backyards. Again, it saves going through drive-thrus which saves a bundle plus you can make one trip a week to the store. That will keep food from going to waste and saves mid-week trips (and gas) to pick up one or two ingredients at a time.
Time not on your side? Guess what? Plan a menu! – I’ve saved hours each week by planning my menus. I have my menu, I have my shopping list, I go grocery shopping, and I cook whatever is on the list for each meal. There’s no wondering what to make for supper, there’s no wandering through aisles in the store figuring out what to buy, and there’s no searching for hours through recipes to find something that includes ingredients I have on hand.
With those obstacles out of the way, it’s much easier to plan healthy meals for the family.
Instilling healthy eating habits as soon as your child has their first solid food is the best way to get them to eat healthy when they start to get older. But for those times when they refuse to be anything but picky and unwilling, you may need to whip out a little creativity. The important thing is to stick with it!
March 10, 2009 No Comments
Barbie and the Diamond Castle – It's actually good
My daughter received the Barbie and the Diamond Castle
Normally these kinds of movies are hard for me to watch with my kids because they make me groan, but this one is actually good. It’s even funny!
Now I find that I walk around the house singing the songs in the movie at the top of my lungs. My daughter was singing one of them this morning and when she finished the last note as loud as she could, my 3 year old son says “Brabo Morgan, brabo!”.
March 7, 2009 No Comments
Weaning from the bottle
Whether you’re weaning from the bottle or from the breast, it can be a stressful time for you and your baby. A lot of mothers find weaning to be a huge struggle.
I was very fortunate that the weaning experience was a smooth one and the whole transition took very little time for both my babies.
I breastfed my first child as long as I could (5 months) but after visiting my doctor and trying everything I could, I just couldn’t produce enough milk for her. Eventually she was feeding exclusively from the bottle so when it was time to wean her, I only had to wean her from the bottle.
My mother had told me as soon as she was born to never let her hold her own bottle. I remembered that and stuck to her advice. I believe that made a huge difference when it was time to wean her off the bottle.
When she was a year old, I gradually introduced more sippy cups
with milk and less bottles until she was completely weaned. The whole process took a few weeks.
When my son was born, I was determined to make a better go at breastfeeding. I was devastated when I had to have surgery one day after he was born and couldn’t breastfeed him. I tried pumping but with the nurse’s help and a hospital-grade pump, I could barely get an ounce of milk.
By the time the drugs from the surgery had worn off and I was able to breastfeed again, my short supply of milk had almost dwindled to nothing. My son and I both suffered for seven weeks trying to breastfeed until I finally switched to the bottle permanently.
Thus, my son was weaned from the bottle at one year of age as well. The process was virtually the same. I never let him hold the bottle and when it was time to wean, I slowly added more sippy cups as the days went on. He was completely weaned from the bottle within a few weeks.
The biggest obstacle for me with both my children during the weaning phase was that they always wanted the bottle to fall asleep. I expected this long before it was time to wean so I made sure to develop some strong sleep routines.
I would always wrap them in a blanket right before bedtime, then sit and rock with them in a rocking chair while listening to Baby Einstein music and feeding them. This put them to sleep every time. Sometimes their little eyes would roll back and they’d fall asleep as soon as they’d hear the music. They were used to the same routine every single time they went to sleep
When I started to wean them, I took the bottle away but kept the same routine of swaddling them and rocking them while listening to music. They hardly fussed or put up a fight at all.
You can read the article I wrote about weaning here:
How To Wean Baby Off The Bottle
I’d love to hear your own thoughts, questions or experiences with weaning your baby.
March 2, 2009 22 Comments
Waldorf Salad – Easy way to get your kids to eat fruits and veggies
My kids love to eat fruits and raw vegetables, but I usually have trouble getting them to eat salads. However, I’ve discovered that they’ll eat waldorf salad until the cow’s come home so I try and make it fairly often. It’s easy to make and very versatile. Here’s the recipe I use:
Kid-Friendly Waldorf Salad
1/2 cup celery, diced very thin
1/2 cup red seedless grapes (I chop these in half to prevent choking)
2 apples, cored and diced (I use gala apples but any will do)
1 cup raisins
3 cups lettuce (I always use iceberg)
3 tbsp mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
1 tbsp lemon juice (fresh is best)
I like to dice my celery really thin or it just doesn’t seem right eating a huge crunchy thing while everything else is soft and juicy. Sometimes I leave the celery out completely. Next, I chop up the grapes. It’s easier to eat when they’re cut in half, plus I feel safer knowing my kids won’t choke on a whole grape. In the meantime, I let a cup of raisins soak in some water, then squeeze them dry with paper tower. I leave the apples until last to keep them from browning before they’re mixed in.
I mix up the mayo and lemon juice in a measuring cup and let it sit in the fridge until I’m ready to complete the salad. Next up is the lettuce. Iceberg lettuce works great as it’s nice and crispy.
Sidenote: I was reading a magazine and saw this Prepara Salad Prep Set
Anyhoo, I always prepare all the ingredients beforehand and then throw them all together right before it’s time to eat to keep the salad from getting too soggy. There usually isn’t anything left over but if there is, it keeps well for about a day.
It’s a great way for your kids to get a healthy dose of fruits and veggies without all the complaining. When I make this, my daughter always says, “Mommy, you’re the bestest cook in the whole world!”.
Don’t forget: You’ll get lots more recipes like this when you sign up for my free Baby Tips Newsletter – plus you’ll receive exclusive baby tips delivered right to your inbox.
February 26, 2009 No Comments
Croup cough – just call me Dr. Mom
My son recently woke in the middle of the night with croup cough. Normally I would have been extremely alarmed but I had experienced croup cough with my daughter a few years ago so I recognized the sound at once.
Croup cough has a very distinct sound when your child coughs. It sounds like a bark. Some say it sounds like a seal barking, but since I’ve never heard a seal bark, I’m going to say it sounds like an old dog! Or maybe even a cat coughing up a hairball. Either way, it’s not pleasant.
Croup cough is fairly common in young kids. My daughter was not quite one year old when she had it. My son has just turned three and this was the first time he ever had it.
When I first heard him coughing, I checked on him first and was scared to see that he could hardly breathe. My daughter was prescribed all kinds of medication and had to be on a breathing machine so I was worried for my son. However, it was about 2 a.m. and I wasn’t able to take him to the doctor so I hoped Vicks VapoRub would suffice until the morning.
I rubbed a bit of Vicks on the sides of his neck and at the base of his throat, just above his chest. He was instantly quiet. I was amazed how quickly and effectively it worked. I went back to bed and didn’t hear another peep out of him.
The next day he had almost no signs at all that he had croup cough. I got lucky this time. He was back to his usual cute and trouble-making self. My daughter was a lot younger and was extremely fussy for at least a week.
Croup cough can come and go very quickly, but it can also become serious so if you’re at all worried about your child, take them to your physician. If they’re having a lot of difficulty breathing you may need to take them straight to the emergency room. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
February 23, 2009 1 Comment
