Baby Learning How to Crawl, Getting Raw Elbows?

Great baby stuff tip:

When your baby is just learning how to crawl, and doing the "army crawl" around the house, she or he can get raw elbows especially on rough carpeted areas. put a little lanolin ( I use Medela Tender Care Lanolin) on their elbows and knees.

It stops the sting and helps protect from more damage happening, along with wearing long pants and long sleeves on them. We all know that's not possible in summer weather sometimes though!

Hope this helps. Let me know what else you have used on baby's chafed skin.

Yeast and Thrush, a Mommy Nightmare

Acidophilus naturally fights yeast
in the digestive tract

There have been a few inquiries lately on what to do about baby thrush and yeast infections. Thrush is a type of yeast infection, and doctor's will normally prescribe Gentian Violet for this. It is messy and stains, and I prefer to use acidophilus as my first resort. Acidophilus is a bacteria naturally in your intestines which aids in digestion. It also fights the natural yeast population also present in your digestive tract.

Better than OraGel For Your Teething Baby

Teething Medicine: Oragel Alternatives

Now that my son is 11 months old, he has just cut another couple teeth, and it has been miserable for him as usual. He's come down with ear infection, and a cold that includes a sore throat, and I can hardly know what to do to help my sweet little boy who has turned into a whiny little bundle of misery. Especially with all the warnings about pain relievers.

Can't Afford Cloth? No Problem! Free Cloth Diapers

Many people these days are turning back to cloth diapers. Much like the bottle feeding rage that took over the world once formula became available, disposable diapers had also become the "norm" and using cloth "old-fashioned". But now, with new studies and ever increasing awareness of the advantages of doing things the old fashioned way for our babies, more and more people are returning to breastfeeding and also, believe it or not, to using cloth diapers instead of disposables. Gosh, even the thought sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? But many are doing it anyway, and here's why:

Disposable Diaper Health Concerns (info from www.realdiaperassociation.org)

Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paper-bleaching process. It is a carcinogenic chemical, listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals. It is banned in most countries, but not the U.S..

Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) - a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals.

Disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrylate, a type of super absorbent polymer (SAP), which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. A similar substance had been used in super-absorbency tampons until the early 1980s when it was revealed that the material increased the risk of toxic shock syndrome by increasing absorbency and improving the environment for the growth of toxin-producing bacteria.

In May 2000, the Archives of Disease in Childhood published research showing that scrotal temperature is increased in boys wearing disposable diapers, and that prolonged use of disposable diapers will blunt or completely abolish the physiological testicular cooling mechanism important for normal spermatogenesis.

Disposable Diaper Environment Concerns (abbreviated)

In 1988, nearly $300 million dollars were spent annually just to discard disposable diapers, whereas cotton diapers are reused 50 to 200 times before being turned into rags.

No one knows how long it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose, but it is estimated to be about 250-500 years, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone.

There are things to know about using cloth diapers as well, such as how to clean them, and the importance of getting them completely clean. There are a few options you can use, like a diaper service, or special cleaning products. On the Real Diaper Association website is a how to guide on using cloth diapers that answers FAQ and leads you step by step. Click here to read it now!

Cloth Diaper Foundation: Free Cloth Diapers

Covering the world in fluff one baby bum at a time.

So what if you would like to try cloth diapers, but don't think you can afford to buy the supplies? There is a place you can go for help with costs, another organization dedicated to putting our babies in the REAL good stuff. They are called the Cloth Diaper Foundation (formerly Miracle Diapers) and their website is www.clothdiaperfoundation.org

People donate supplies to this foundation, and you can apply to receive them! All they ask for is shipping costs. Even if you are just a little curious, it can't hurt to check out their website and see what they are about.

Do you use cloth diapers? Have you considered using them? If not, what is the main reason you haven't tried them yet?

Things Your Kids Can Do Besides Watch TV

I found another blogger, Tsh Oxenreider, who made a great list of activities for kids besides TV or video games. When you read it, you will know that these are no brainers, and things you probably loved doing yourself when you were little, but for some reason it can be hard to think of these things when kids get whiny and you are busy trying to get something done..

Her blog is called Simple Mom- Life Hacks for Home Managers. Its a great place to go learn new good things, for any mom trying to live simply and raise her kids well.

20 Indoor Activities for Kids – besides TV

by Tsh on August 17, 2009

in kids

Photo by Woodley Wonderworks
“Mom, can I watch a movie?”
This is how I woke up this morning.  A cute little four-year-old face, inches away from mine, asking to be entertained by major Hollywood corporations.
I don’t have a problem with TV or movies — we watch them occasionally.  But I believe that they are FAR too often used as the default choice of leisure time for children. They can easily suck away imagination, energy, and the innocence of our kids, and a few hours of distraction just isn’t worth that, in my opinion.
But during these dog days of summer, it’s also hard to shoo your kids outside — at least if you live in a climate like ours, where the norm is 100+ degrees fahrenheit daily.  Unfortunately, it’s just not safe to let kids sweat in this brutal heat for hours at a time.
So what’s a parent to do?  Not much.  But there’s plenty that children can do indoors on their own — without touching a remote.  Here are a few ideas.

1.  Read a book.

This is a go-to favorite in our family.  Our library is right in our living room, available for access any time of day.  Our kids know they can pull a book off the shelves at any time and enjoy, even though they can’t read on their own yet.  And don’t forget about your public library.

2.  Write a book.

Photo by nd.strupler
Even if your kids aren’t writing fluently yet, they can still compose literature on their own.  Create a collection of blank books, and let your kids illustrate a story.  Later, you can write the words for them as they dictate them to you, or they can sound out the words phonetically and write the story on their own.  These books will make great keepsakes later.

3.  Act out a book.

Does your child have a perennial favorite book?  Have her act it out — the plot may take a unique turn, all her own.  While I was making breakfast, my daughter said, “Mom, right now I’m going on a walk at half past nine.”

4.  Listen to a book.

Audible Kids has a great selection of quality literature for children.  Download a few to your mp3 player, and either give your child some headphones, or play the book over speakers while they play quietly.

5.  Make an indoor clubhouse.

Corey wrote a great column on how to build a blanket fort.  Get your child started, and see how else they architect a little place of their own.

6.  Perform a puppet show or play.

Photo from Make and Takes
Hopefully you have a collection of hand-me-down clothes and thrift store finds in a dress-up box for your kids.  They can use these to create costumes for a play, with you as the audience.  Or they can let their stuffed animals star as puppets, and hide behind the couch for a dramatic reenactment starring their pretend friends.
You can also make a simple puppet show theater with a spring-loaded curtain rod and a piece of fabric in a doorway.

7.  Have an indoor picnic or tea party.

Lay out an outdoor tablecloth on the floor, and enjoy lunch together down there.  Kids think it’s a big treat to do the everyday in a special place, and the floor is one of those places.  Or brew up some warm tea (my daughter’s favorite is blackberry), and have a little tea time in cups with saucers, alongside crackers or sweet bread for an afternoon treat.  This is best done during baby’s naptime.

8.  Make homemade play-doh.

Play-doh made from scratch is incredibly easy, and you can make an endless array of colors with basic food dye.  Plus, it doesn’t have that awful commercial-brand smell.  Spread the outdoor tablecloth on the floor, and give them dull knives, a rolling pin, and some cookie cutters.

9.  Help with chores.

Many younger kids think it’s a blast to help Mom with the chores — but even if they don’t think it’s fun, it’s good for them to do chores anyway.  It teaches kids that running the house is a family effort, and that life involves work (and things we don’t always enjoy doing).  I’ve recently updated our family’s preschool chore chart on the downloads page.

10.  Save up those TP rolls and wad up your socks.

Arrange TP rolls like bowling pins on one end of the hall.  Stock up a few balled-up socks on the other.  Bowl or throw at the “pins,” and you’ve got an indoor bowling alley.  There’s tons of other crafts you can do with toilet paper rolls, too.

Go to Tsh's blog post 20 Indoor Activities For Kids Besides TV to read the full list and leave your own ideas!

Trouble Switching to the Bottle

Since I am expecting again, I have had to get my 6 month old onto the bottle. You can imagine how pleased he was. I had a lot of trouble but I finally figured it out, let me tell you how.

I picked Similac Advance to start him on, since that is what the WIC program here supports and I will be using the WIC program. I made a nice warm bottle, 4 oz to start just to see if he would take it. I tried putting it to his lips. Now, usually, he will open up for anything. If you hold a sock up, he assumes its food and opens wide (Funny, yes!). But with the bottle, no go. His lips were sealed and when I tried to drip a bit in for him to taste, he started wailing. I began to suspect he knew what was going on.

So I laid down with him at nap time, and halfway through breastfeeding, when he was good and sleepy, I made the switcharoo and he didn't even notice. He drank a couple ounces before falling all the way asleep. So I thought, now he's used to it, he'll probably take to it easier next time. No such luck. Crying and tears all around no matter what I did. I even tried the switcharoo technique again and he was too smart for me that time.

I tried giving him a bottle with just water in it. Well, he opened right up for that one, even though he only chewed on the nipple because he wasn't thirsty. I let him play with the bottle of water and encouraged him to drink from it. The next day I tried again. He was very hungry when I tried, and he thought it was water at first, so he sucked a couple gulps right down before the wailing started. Argh! But this time, when I squeezed a little in his mouth, he swallowed it instead of spit it out, probably because he was hungry. After about an ounce, he stopped screaming and refused to open his mouth.

So now he has drank about three ounces total of formula and we are getting nowhere. Also, he has developed the runs. I decide he is probably sensitive to milk like I was as a baby, and I decide to hold off on bottle feeding til I can get an appropriate replacement formula to try.

Woo Hoo!

I got Similac Sensitive, which is supposed to help with fussiness and gas problems, and is also lactose free even though it is milk based. I made up a nice warm 4 oz bottle of it. I picked up my baby and got ready to fight. But lo and behold, as soon as I squeezed a bit of the new formula in his mouth, his expression relaxed and he sucked it all right down. What the heck?

He has also not had a problem with the runs since he has been on this formula. I suspect he knew what was good for him and didn't want the first formula because he couldn't digest it anyways. Unless Similac Sensitive is a whole lot yummier to babies, this is all I can think. Plus, his runs disappeared and he is feeling good again. So, if you have this much trouble getting your baby on the bottle, maybe all he or she needs is a new kind!