Chronicles of a “Mr. Mom”

I wish we could all be made this happy, so easily

In many ways, pediatricians do know more than parents. When your doctor says your newborn needs to ride in a rear-facing car seat, don’t argue. When he says your 2-month-old with a 105-degree fever needs to get to the doctor’s office — and fast — you’d better listen.

But there are far more areas that are gray and have no science, or not very good science, to back them up, says our panel of pediatric experts. They say that sometimes, this means your pediatrician is giving you his or her opinion, not medical fact.

Full story: When it’s OK to question your pediatrician’s advice

At four months, babies may be too young to speak or crawl, but they can certainly tell when a speaker has switched to a different language – with only visual cues.

Researcher Whitney Weikum from the University of British Columbia found that infants are able to discern when a different language is spoken by watching the shapes and rhythm of the speaker’s mouth and face movements.

The findings suggest that babies growing up in a bilingual environment advantageously maintain the discrimination abilities needed for separating and learning multiple languages.

Full story: Babies can tell between languages

To minimize the risk of crib death, the nation’s largest organization of pediatricians is recommending that babies be put to sleep with pacifiers and in their own beds, despite intense opposition from advocates of breast-feeding and the “family bed.”

Full story: To Cut Crib Deaths, Separate Beds Are Urged for Babies

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.

Name of product: Baby Trend Back Pack Carriers

Units: About 4,000

Importer: Baby Trend Inc., of Ontario, Calif.

>> Full story

“– And Every Mother Can Do It!

Breastfeeding isn’t only about providing mother’s milk. While seldom recognized in literature, doctors’ advice or common conversation, there’s a whole lot more to breastfeeding than nutrition and immunity.”

Full story: Nursing…

Should infants be given the Hepatitis-B vaccine? Does it help them? Or hurt them?

“Babies who are breastfed are more likely to move up the social ladder as adults, a study has suggested.

The University of Bristol team looked at 1,400 babies born from 1937-1939 and followed their progress for 60 years.

Those who were breastfed were 41% more likely to move up in class than those who were bottle-fed.”

Full Story

Ravi Jayagopal / MyCuteCard.com

Prairieville, LA (PRWeb) January 15, 2007 — When breastfeeding does not come natural to mothers whether due to illness, psychological barriers or other problems that may come with giving birth to a baby, then breast pumping can be an option that will still allow moms to get that incredible nutritional breast milk to their baby.

However, the cost associated with purchasing a brand new breast pump can be overwhelming to some. Parents that have financial issues or confronting illnesses due to premature birth or congenital diseases, may be unable to obtain a breast pump in order to express their breast milk needed for these particular babies in critical need of their mother’s breast milk.

Fortunately, through a memorial foundation established by Wendy Williamson, these families can now acquire a breast pump at no cost. The foundation assists by arranging the administration of donated breast pumps to these parents, allowing them to acquire a free breast pump and provide breast milk to their baby.

Now that it is a new year, GotBreastPump.com is challenging all moms who have experienced the great gift of providing breast milk to their babies and assist these families by either donating their breast pumps or providing a financial donation.

The 2007 GotBreastPump.com Breast Pump Challenge goal is to encourage mothers to donate their breast pumps to 100 families throughout this year. Now that your baby has become healthy and beautiful from precious breast milk, it is time to give to those families in need.

To learn more about how to donate your breast pump, or to receive a donated breast pump, visit www.GotBreastPump.com, a web site geared toward educating new mothers about the great benefits of breast pumping for both baby and mother. Wendy Williamson, mother of two and founder of GotBreastPump.com, hopes to create a greater awareness of donating breast milk and breast pumps to mothers who want to provide their milk to premature or ill babies.

When we are looking for educational toys and games for our children, it is always helpful to know what children are like at the various stages of their development.

During infancy, nearly everything a baby can touch, taste, smell, see, hear or feel is a learning experience, but there really are very few educational toys and games for a child of this age, with the following exceptions: language ‘games’. Learning language, even from birth, is of extreme importance to your baby’s mental development and preparation for school. Talk to your baby!! If you name objects many times a day, these objects become his ‘educational toys and games’! Your baby is learning to associate a particular sound with the particular object, whether it is a toy, or baby’s feet during bath time, or your nose (and baby’s nose), and so forth.

You can also talk about activities throughout the day, every day. The repetition of words is key. Our babies recognize many words long before they can speak even a single word. How would your baby ever know to say “mama” or “dada” if you did not repeat these words hundreds of times?

I remember when my first-born learned the word for moon. There was a favorite soft book of his, with dozens of pictures that we would look at together, every day, saying the word of each object. When he was about 16 months, there was a full moon in a clear sky. We went out on the porch to enjoy the early evening, and he spotted the moon. His enthusiasm was immense, as he alternated his little feet in a fast dance, and pointed to the sky exclaiming, “Moon, moon, moon!!” This was the first time he had ever said the word.

As your baby gets older, educational toys and games are in abundance. Blocks, crayons, easy puzzles, hand puppets, stacking toys, mobiles, and so on, all help to develop motor skills, spatial awareness, recognition of various sounds, and language skills if baby has ‘talking’ company for some of the time when he is engaged in play. Of all the toys your pre-school child might have, their value will be enhanced dramatically by your participation in his play, with spoken words, words, words! Language skills are further increased by naming the surroundings, the travels from one room or one place to another, and so forth.

Educational toys and games are a big part of your child’s early years when they are fun! Babies and children are naturally curious, from the first few weeks of life. They are hungry to learn. But the keyword is “fun”. We should not try to teach letters and reading and math until a child is ready to learn, and this is generally not during the preschool years, even though there are some exceptions. Follow the child’s lead, and if she points to a magnetic letter on the refrigerator and says its name, we can applaud and share in her enthusiasm.

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Welcome To My Little Toys! My Little Toys offers products of the highest quality that will enable you to make your child’s world a delightful, stimulating, educational and safe environment. Please visit us often as our product catalog continues to include more toys for all age groups.

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