Sleep training is one of my least favorite things to do as a parent. I understand the importance of teaching your baby how to sleep, but like most parents the crying can be unbearable.  With C2 (now almost three year old), I swaddled him until he was 7 months old. Being first time parents, we did not really sleep train our son until he was a nearly a year old.  I thought the “Cry It Out” method seemed mean, more because I could not handle the crying. It broke my heart. My husband graciously allowed me to take the lead on sleep training because I was the one reading all the books and spending more time with our son at night. To be fair, my husband thought we should of sleep trained our son much sooner, but I was not ready.  However, finally at 12 months I was ready and we went to the “Cry It Out” or “Ferberizing“. We all needed sleep desperately.  Yes, I do know there are several types of sleep training methods and I tried them. With my daughter Ace who is nearly 5 months old, we began sleep training her around 4 months old.  The circumstances were different and yes, as the experts say, every child is different. Plus as parents for the second time, we were more comfortable sleep training her earlier.  My daughter is a much bigger baby than my son and much longer; she no longer fits in the Halo Swaddle Sleeper. Moreover, at nap time she lasted 20-30 minutes and at night she was getting up every hour or hour and half and not because she was hungry or wet, she just wanted to sleep being held.  We would lay her in her crib and...

As a mom, I have done things I never thought I would such as sucking the snot out of my child’s nose. old.  I swore before ever having children that I would never use the NoseFrida Snotsucker. Yes, I said Snotsucker. Really, why and I talking about snot much less sucking snot out?   Unfortunately, one of the responsibilities listed in my job description as mommy is “snotsucker” and I take it serious when my baby gets a cold.  I am sure as you are reading this, you are either saying, “eww gross” or “I would never” because like me, the thought of sucking snot out from your child’s nose with your mouth grosses you out .  Well, I said in the past, “Never say never” and I have written in previous post that I have done things as a parent I “never” thought I would, this being one of them. We had our second child in September and since her birth, she has always been stuffed up, which made for breathing difficulty. After using several aspirators over the course of the last three months to help clear the snot and “boogies” out of her nose, I decided there had to be a better solution. Using the bulb aspirators, I would spend minutes just trying to get some of the snot out and not enough to even make her breathe easier.  Plus, I am not sure if you ever tried getting snot out of a moving infant, it is like trying to play pin the tail on the donkey after you had a few glasses of wine. Lil’ Ace (of course not her real name) would squirm anytime she saw me come close to her nose with an aspirator and it would take, what seemed...

Does your toddler get sand chafing while playing on the beach? Mine does. After spending a couple of days at the beach with my son who loves to play in the sand and the water, I needed to come up with a solution to fix his sand chafing rash. After playing in the sand for two hours with a wet swim diaper from the salt water, my son would come home with bright red chafing rash on the inside of both his little legs. He would tell me, “That hurts me” when I put him in the bath. Being an athlete and having to deal with chafing issues myself, I knew what I did to prevent chafing while running, on a bike, etc; I would use body glide, Aquaphor or chemise cream. So the next day before going to the beach, I put Boudreaux’s Butt Paste® where he was getting the rash. Then lathered him in sunscreen, got the swim diaper, shirt and swim trunks on and we were off. Low and behold after spending two hours digging and building sand castles in the dirt – no rash. The next day, I repeated the same steps, but with Aquaphor Healing Ointment and it worked as well. After trial and error, both Boudreaux’s Butt Paste or Aquaphor work well to prevent sand chafing. Ensure you put the chafing prevention ointment on prior to putting their sunscreen on; apply the sunscreen afterwards. Good luck and happy beach...

Toddler protection from the sun and bugs. Now that the first “unofficial” weekend of summer just passed us by, most of us and our families will be out in the sun a great deal more, especially at the pools and beaches.  I wanted to share with you two great products that I have found that are so helpful in protecting my toddler (1 years old and up) from the sun and bugs. No Mess Sunscreen Wipes My new summer favorite is the Baby Silk Babysafe Sunscreen Towelettes Sunscreen Spf 30. In my house, we no longer have the sunscreen battle; my two year old does not mind having sunscreen put on his face anymore. I only need one or two towelettes for full coverage on my two year old. They are not messy and so easy to carry around. They are more expensive than regular sunscreen, but what you are paying for is convenience, no mess and no more fights. Great toddler sun protection. According to the packaging, the product features are: Contains no phthalates, lanolin, mineral oil, petroleum or waxes Contains physical sunscreens, titanium and zinc oxide, as the only active ingredients Protects against UVA and UVB rays Clinically tested & hypoallergenic Made in the USA. No animal testing The Babysilk Babysafe Sunscreen Towelettes Spf 30 are $26.00 for 20 on Amazon.com (does not include taxes, shipping or handling).  I would suggest doing price comparison at a couple stores in order to get the best price. This product can be purchased at Amazon.com, Diapers.com, Drugstore.com, etc. Natural, Chemical Free Bug Repellent Another new favorite is the non-toxic, non-chemical, non-invasive and non-irritating California Baby Bug Repellant Spray, 6.5 Ounce.  The bugs already seem to be out in droves’ this summer and my two year...

Finding a care giver you can trust and leaving your baby in the hands of someone else is difficult. There are several things to be taken into account before you plan to hire a babysitter. Questions like whether your baby would be safe in the hands of the babysitter or if he or she would be happy with the babysitter would bother you. To find the perfect answer to these questions you need to do a bit of homework to zero in on the perfect babysitter. The first and foremost, while searching for a babysitter think about how long you want to leave your children with the babysitter. The best references generally come from your friends and relatives. Your office colleagues can also be of good help while you are searching for a babysitter. Funny enough, I remember babysitting at 14 years old, but I do not find many parents now willing to leave their baby to a 14 year old – myself included. I much prefer that I have someone capable of driving in case there is an emergency; yes, I know there is 911, but it makes me as a mom feel better that my babysitter has a license. However, if you are in a situation where none of your family, friends and neighbors do not have good suggestions for babysitters, consider looking into the following websites Care.com, SitterCity.com and/or CareNovate to help navigate through the world of babysitters.  Provided below are key benefits for Care.com and SitterCity, but unfortunately I have nothing yet on CareNovate because they were just launched in October 2011. Care.com Key Benefits Secure sitter service but smaller database which can affect more remote towns. Background checks and references available Instant access to sitter profiles Reviews from other...

With our new Au pair starting last week, I knew it was time to update our Child Care Emergency Checklist. You might not use a babysitter, care giver, family or friends to watch your children often, but there will be a time when your child is left in the care of someone else; therefore, have the emergency checklist prepared before you need it. Here are some items to include in an emergency checklist. Keep the list on your refrigerator or close to the phone and give a copy to your care giver. Child Care Emergency Checklist Your children’s full names correctly spelled. Your children’s address, ZIP code, and phone numbers. List two addresses if parents live at separate homes. Contact information for each parent, including work and cell phones, name of employers, work addresses, and hours they will normally be there. Please provide the best number to reach the parent at, for my family it is always our mobile phones. The pediatrician’s name and contact information (including address) and the same information for any specialists your children see, along with a notation on what their specialties are. Contact information for the dentist and orthodontist. Drug and food allergies your children have. Local Poison control number. Fire Extinguisher status. If you have one in the home, let the care giver know where it is located. Fire Escape Emergency Route. Medical conditions your children have, medications taken, and danger signs to be aware of for each of those conditions. Your children’s health insurance policy number, the subscriber’s name, and the address and phone number of the insurance company (there’s usually an 800 # or member service number listed on the back of the insurance card). According to Care.com, some insurance companies will allow you to order duplicate...

As I mention in my last three posts about child care, this is one of the biggest decision a parent makes when it comes to the wealth fare of their child/children. I have outlined a table of alternative child care if staying at home is not option, including nannies, Au Pairs and day care. As the term Au Pair and nanny are often used interchangeably, it is worth pointing out that, in fact, Au Pairs provide very different childcare support from nannies. When deciding on child care options, I often mixed the two up, so it is common and most likely have to explain to people the difference. Au Pair is a French phrase for “as an equal” – the idea is that an Au Pair becomes a temporary member of the family. When you are choosing an Au Pair, it is recommended that you adopt a similar approach to the one you would use if you were selecting other types of in home (e.g., nannies, babysitters and/or family). Au Pairs are entrusted with the well-being and safety of your children, so it is up to you as a parent to ensure they are capable of performing the tasks involved. It is also up to you as an employer to ensure that you treat them in a fair and professional manner and that they are abiding by the local immigration laws. You can decide on the level of childcare experience and training you would like your Au Pair to have. Similar to the post about choosing a nanny, you and your family need to assess your needs before moving forward with the Au Pair process. How many hours a week will you need the Au Pair to work (from 30 hours to 45 hours)?...

As a parent, child care is undoubtedly one of your biggest concerns. This can be especially true if you are a two-income family, a single parent family, or in a situation in which you feel you need a little extra help.   The typical advice is to start looking for a nanny eight weeks before you need someone. Between now and then, start talking to people you know with nannies and ask where they found them, what they like/don’t like, etc. and to assess what your family’s needs are as well. Do you want a live-in nanny or live-out nanny?  A live-in nanny is someone who lives in your home full time. A live-out nanny comes to your home during certain times, and may accompany when you go on vacation. How many hours a week you will need a nanny (anymore than 50 generally is too much)? What benefits you want to give and how much vacation time? Is it important to you to have an American nanny, or will a foreigner be OK with you? What will be your parenting philosophies and how important that your nanny believe the same way? What other duties will you want the nanny to perform? Do you want someone with lots of experience and are you willing to pay for that experience? It is also important to consider this in your screening process, since live-in and live-out nannies require some slightly different arrangements. With a live-in nanny, you will need to consider the following issues:  1) Privacy: Your nanny will need her own living space, including bedroom and probably a dedicated bathroom; 2)  Time Off: Even if your nanny is living with you, you will need to provide a couple of days off for the nanny, and certain...

In my prior post about Child Care Can Be Controversial, I mentioned several alternatives if staying home with your baby is not a feasible option. To follow-up on that post, I provided a table below that compares the benefits vs. disadvantages of three (Nanny, Au Pair and Day Care) options side-by-side. Good luck with choosing your child care. Please stay tune for follow-up post on How to Find a Nanny and/or an Au Pair and the cost analysis between the two. [ws_table id=”1″] Disclaimer: I don’t work in child care services at all. I am a mom that likes to share my experiences and those of others in hopes it makes your child care decision making process more...

With baby shower seasons  just around the corner it is only appropriate to talk about one of the best baby shower gift a new mom could receive. Yes, generally speaking the expecting couple registers at stores that are specific for babies or have a large baby selection (Buy Buy Baby, Babies R’Us, Target, etc.) or online retailers (Amazon, Diapers.com, etc.) and friends and families usually purchase their gifts off the couple’s registries. However, one of the best gifts I received at my baby shower was a basket full of everyday items that mom and baby need after the baby is born; usually items that mom and dad are not thinking about until the baby arrives. To help prepare the new family for their arrival, consider putting a gift basket together of the following items with a note that says, “All the things you need, but don’t know yet.” The new mom and baby will greatly appreciate the gift. Butt Paste – Awesome diaper rash cream. Price  is approximately $7.19 for a 4 oz. tube. Gripe Water – Completely natural product which is great for curing hiccups and relieving gas pains in newborns. C2 had hiccups starting at one week old. Price is approximately $7.00 per bottle. Baby hair brush and/or comb – Price is approximately $4.99 per set. Baby Nail clippers – Babies nails grow so quickly, we were cutting C2 nails once a week, so he would not scratch up his face.  Price is approximately $2.29 per set. Baby Wipes – Always in need of these. Boogie Wipes – Developed by moms tired of chasing runny noses, Boogie Wipes® are the latest innovation in a moist wipe product. Price is approximately $3.79 per box. Aquaphor – Fragrance-free, preservative-free formula for baby skin care...