By Stephanie Maziejka Touch. It means something different to each of us. It is nearly impossible to live life without touch. We touch and are touched every day. We hug when we are happy and we hug when we are sad. The same action can convey very different emotions. Yet in today’s society touch is almost taboo. The media covers stories of negative touch so frequently that in our minds touch is a bad thing. Touch has the power to transfer emotion and intent and we must learn when and what kind of touch is acceptable. My mission as a Massage Therapist is to educate about touch and its amazing benefits for the mind, body, and spirit. In my monthly posts, I will be discussing touch as it relates to different demographics and giving you tips on how to use and introduce touch to your family! Infant Massage is a great place to start talking about touch since the best way to ensure a healthy lifestyle is to introduce healthy habits at a young age! Infant Massage focuses on providing nurturing touch to promote bonding and attachment between you and your baby. An Infant Massage class or session is facilitated by a Certified Educator of Infant Massage (that’s me!) with parents being the ones to administer the massage strokes to baby.  The massage itself is compiled of techniques taken from Swedish massage, Indian Massage, Reflexology, and Yoga. In addition to the strokes Infant Massage teaches baby behavioral states and body cues to help parent’s better respond to their newborns. It is a lot more empowering as a parent to look at your little one and know he’s sleepy than to run through a checklist of a thousand possibilities as to why your sweet...

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...

The Crane Frog Humidifier is not only cute, but extremely quite.  It does not require filter replacement or daily cleaning.  You can find this humidifier from anywhere from $31.99 – $43.99 all depending on the store you purchase it from. The only down fall is you still need to purchase distilled water, which we now purchase gallon jugs.  This humidifier comes in other cute animals, so if you are not into frogs you have other options.  Here are some of the Crane collection. Why a humidifier? Are they necessary for a new born?  No, I don’t think that they are necessary, but boy they can help when your child gets a cold.  When C2 got his first head cold, we were told by our advice nurse to purchase a cool mist humidifier. Apparently a cool mist humidifier helps relieve congestion, which it did for C2.   Of course, like any parent would after work I headed over to Buy Buy Baby to purchase one.  There are so many different brands of humidifier, plus you can choose between a cool or hot humidifier.  I thought I made a great purchase; I walked out with a Vicks Cool Mist Humidifier. I never had a humidifier before, so I was not quite sure what to expect.  It cost about $30, which I thought was reasonable.  We used it for about 6 months before purchasing the Crane Frog Humidifier.  The reason we switched is four fold. 1)      It required filters that are $15 a piece and they need to be replaced every three months. 2)      The humidifier needs to be cleaned out daily or else pink bacteria would grow, which defeats the purpose of purified air.  Cleaning out the filter was not easy because it has nooks and crannies...

Is the hotel kid friendly? Traveling with your baby and/or toddler and planning on staying in a hotel? Kristy Wood, one of my favorite guest bloggers, and I have developed frequently asked questions to make sure the hotel you plan on staying at is kid friendly. If this is the first time staying in a hotel with your baby, make sure you ask the hotel the following questions or be sure to check their website for the accommodations before booking your reservation.  By finding out the answers to the questions before you arrive, will make for a more pleasant first time experience for your entire family, plus you will be more prepared. Do you have refrigerators in the standard rooms? If not, be sure to ask if they could put one in for you. A refrigerator is essential if you are breast feeding and you need to store breast milk. Or you have a toddler that is already on whole milk and you need to keep some at your disposal. In my experience some boutique hotels might not provide refrigerators in the rooms, but they will put your breast milk in their kitchen refrigerator. If they do, be sure to mark the cooler well with your last name and identify it is breast milk. Do they have a crib available to use or rent? This is only essential if you are planning to not bring your own pack-n-play or another sleeping device.  Ensure you ask them how old the cribs are and if they know when they were purchased.   From experience, I found that higher end hotels generally have the newer cribs ones that have not been recalled, but with lower end or cheaper hotels they have cribs that have been recalled or the...

During the next two weeks, I will be spending some well needed time with my family and will not be writing as much, so I’ll be running posts from the olden days, starting with…15 Tips For Flying with Lap Infants.   Don’t worry though Stroller Runners, I will continue to update the stroller friendly race calendar on a daily basis. For Updated October 2013 United States Domestic Airlines Stroller Regulations, check out Flying the Stroller Friendly Skies. ___ Flying with kids of any age can be very stressful, but flying with kids under the age of two seems like you are embarking on an epic journey. It does not have to be that way. I am no expert in baby/toddler travel, but I have driven several thousands of miles with my son and flown more than 8 times with a “fly free” or lap infant in the past 20 months, so I feel I might be able to provide some useful guidance and tips on traveling with a toddler.  With the holiday season coming up and families are considering traveling to see friends and relatives; I thought this would be an appropriate topic to broach. Here are my top 15 suggestions for parents with lap infant or “fly free” kids (children under the age of 2 years old) to make you and your baby have a more relaxing trip. 1.  Fly when your child seems to be the most relaxed. This might require trial and error. Some parents say flying the red eye is best, or flying during nap times. I have flown during my toddlers nap time; did not work because he was too excited. I have flown a red eye (night time, think that would work); nope he was up the entire flight....

  My husband and I travel a lot with our toddler. After doing numerous road trips, triathlon weekends and hotel stays, we got tired of lugging around our Pack-N-Play. Pack-N-Play’s definitely serve a purpose especially for babies under 12 mos. old, but we realized once C2 could roll over and move around without any worries of SIDs, that the Pack-N-Play could be replaced. The reason for the realization is we were taking our two week vacation to California and didn’t want to have fly with the Pack-N-Play. We already had a BOB jog stroller, Deuter Kid Comfort II Child Carrier, three suitcases and other baby equipment and if we could find something more compact and safe for C2 to travel with we were bound to find it. I did research and found two other viable options that we felt comfortable with other than the Pack-N-Play. 1) Tuck-Me-In Travel Bed with Removable Mattress & Accessories – $79.99-$89.99 From One Step Ahead travel bed bigger and cozier! One Step Aheads kids’ inflatable bed features a larger, fully-detached mattress, for snugglier sleepovers and easier linen changes. Soft and cushy, with a flocked surface and built-in safety bumpers. Pump and tote included. Coordinating travel blankets, linens, and accessories sold separately. 2) Kidco PeaPod Plus Indoor/Outdoor Travel Bed, Red – $84.99 KidCo’s PeaPod™ the travel bed that does it all for the on-the-go parent!  The inflatable air mattress helps protect baby from cold, damp floors while providing a comforting place to sleep.  Great for outdoors because of its UV protection and wind screens.  Zippered panels allow parents quick and easy access to baby from virtually any angle.  The slick, easy to fold design makes it ideal for storage and use anytime. Weighs 4.75 lbs. Ultimately, we chose to go...