The Baby Mall Blog

Nothing really prepared me for the amount of work, or the amount of rewards, that came with being a new mom. It was a whole new world for me, and what I found invaluable was the advice and experience of my friends, their mothers, grandmothers and all the other moms out there with their wealth of experience. I am forever grateful for all the “tricks of the trade” known to mothers everywhere, both seasoned and relatively new, and I hope these help you too.

Rain, thank goodness, is an excellent traveler. She’s been flying with me since she was a little baby. At first I was worried about taking her on the plane, but had gotten lots of good advice from fellow moms. One of which was to be sure she’s sucking — whether breast or bottlefeeding — when the plane takes off and lands, to protect her ears. I would also make sure I sat by the window with my husband next to me. I had a Hooter Hider when she was really young and transitioned to a bottle as she got older. We would be sure to time it right for take off and landing. It worked like a charm! No screaming baby, whew!

As Rain got older, she began to understand what was happening with the plane. Okay. Different ball game.

It had been about six months since our last flight. Rain was around 14 months old, and I very clearly explained to her while looking out the window of the plane that we were going to go, “Up, up, up … in the sky!” I must have said it to her at least five times, until I knew she really understood. And I made sure that I wasn’t scared or worried or nervous for her, since she can pick up on mama’s emotions.

We also watched all the other planes go “up, up, up” while we were waiting for takeoff. She began to say, “Up, up, up!” as she watched. I basically made flying into kind of a game, a ride. We looked out the window as we started to go down the runway and I said, “We’re going faster and faster, and then up, up, up!” We looked at the clouds and she saw we were “up.” Once we were in the air, she would look out the window and see all the “baby cars,” “baby houses” and “baby trees.” It was fun! When we landed, she said, “More?” I was so happy – and relieved. Fortunately, there was a connecting flight so we did it all over again.

Since then we’ve taken about 15 or so flights and she’s loved every one of them. Now whenever she sees a plane she says, “Up, up, up.” I can’t even take her to the airport with me when I pick up friends anymore because she cries that she’s not going on the plane.

About five months ago, I temporarily moved from our home in Los Angeles to Shreveport, Louisiana. Being in a new city with a toddler can be a bit of a challenge. Towards the end of my visit the temperature got to be over 100 so that’s when I had to get really creative.

We arrived at our new home and I didn’t know anyone. And again, being the only cast member with kids on location, I was kinda on my own. I’m used to a big city with a thousand options, so the internet quickly became my best friend. Gymboree, I love you! Shreveport had a Gymboree!

I’d also get the inside scoop from other moms. I’d see a mom at a park and I would say, “What do you do here?” They must have thought I was crazy, but I’ve found there’s an unspoken bond between moms. When I told them I just moved, they completely understood. And the people of Shreveport are so warm and friendly.

There was a good selection of parks, which made me feel a little better but there’s only so much park-going you can do, especially since it was getting hotter day by day.

Rain wanted to see “aminals,” but there wasn’t a zoo within 100 or so miles of Shreveport. However, there were pet stores. Thank you, Critter Co., for letting me visit over and over! We would spend afternoons there and the owners were so kind that they’d let us take out a puppy and play. They had rabbits, guinea pigs, kittens, mice. She loved it! Can’t thank those guys enough! But even pet stores can get boring if you’re doing it day after day.

I discovered an “animal museum” – basically a taxidermy museum filled with stuffed animals. I don’t know about any of you but taxidermy kinda freaks me out. As it turns out the Touchstone Wildlife and Art Museum been family owned and operated for generations. Apparently, the animals get donated from zoos all around the world after they pass away. That made me feel a little better. There were stuffed zebras, giraffes, armadillos, elephants, tigers and tons of species of animals I’ve never heard of. Rain calls them “babies.” She was so excited she could touch the “babies” and get to see her “aminals.”

I also took Rain on a hayride, to a farm, milked a goat and picked wild blueberries. For a city girl, these things were AMAZING to me and I could write a whole blog on that — but trying to keep this short. Other than finding cute, kitschy places like the museum or adventurous outings like goat milking, I also discovered I could waste hours in the toy aisle at Target in the a/c, thank you, thank you, thank you! She’d bounce the balls, and see all the toys and loved it. I’d buy a toy each time as my “price of admission.” And honestly I kinda dare anyone to walk into Target and not buy something. There’s always something we seem to “need,” right?

There was also a Barnes & Noble where I was pleased to see other moms doing the exact same thing I was doing – hanging out in the children’s section. Books galore!

What about a mall? They usually have play areas… I found a mall but alas, no play area. So we made our own. The stores were closed on Sundays but the mall would leave their doors open. Again, air conditioning — yay! Rain would spend time running up and down the mall’s corridor to her heart’s content. She could scream and hear her echo. It was glorious! Needless to say, as time went on, I got more and more creative.

One time, I fearlessly drove 3½ hours to the nearest amusement park. Yes in 90-100 degrees, oh boy! Not recommending that. Drove back the same day and Rain slept the whole way home — thank you, honey. I timed it out so her going to sleep time would coincide with the drive. Worked perfectly but I was exhausted the next day! Worth it though. She had a blast!

I gave up on trying to wean her off the bottle completely since I’m tackling potty training. Gotta get her ready for preschool and don’t want to try two new things at once. WISH ME LUCK! I’ll keep y’all informed!

To all you wonderful moms out there, I love you so much! Moms rock!

– Marisol Nichols

It may be a mark of how commonplace fertility treatment has become in such a short time that nobody in this country really talks about test-tube babies anymore.

Now, we’re all much more likely to talk the the technical jargon — such as IVF, or in vitro fertilization — just like the docs. Fertility treatments led to the birth of nearly 60,000 kids in 2007, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But back in 1981, the idea that a baby could born after an egg and sperm were combined in a lab was pretty radical. So the birth of Elizabeth Carr, America’s first test-tube baby, in December of that year was huge news.

Now, Carr, whose married name is Comeau, is back in the headlines as the proud mom of her own baby, a 7-pound, 12-ounce boy named Trevor, born Thursday.

Carr figured she’d make the papers again as the first of the U.S. test-tubers to become a mom. And she had the gumption to write her own story, which appears in Friday’s Boston Globe. All those early headlines seem to have made a good impression on her. She became a journalist and works on the Globe’s website.

She answers the big question pretty quickly. Little Trevor was conceived the old-fashioned way — no test tubes or Petri dishes required.

It really is a miracle that we have come so far in such a little amount of time…

“I’ve decided the reason my kids don’t accomplish tasks I assign them isn’t that they’re lazy. I’ve come to the conclusion that they are simply incapable of doing certain things. I have yet to figure out a way to make them speak in a voice quieter than a jet plane taking off. This is especially true when the baby is taking a nap. And for some reason, my kids can’t sit still for an hour in church, although they could sit still for twelve hours playing video games without so much as a butt cramp.

I would pay money to anyone who could train my kids to brush their teeth without being reminded twenty times, or teach them to use toothpaste while brushing, or show them how to rinse the globs of toothpaste down the sink, or teach them to hang their toothbrushes up when they finish with them. OK, so they need a class on the whole tooth-brushing experience. I’ve spent years trying, unsuccessfully, to persuade the kids to put their clothes in the laundry basket instead of using them as carpeting, lamp shades, doorstops and, in some cases, bungee cords.

And I would weep with joy if any of my children ever replaced the roll of toilet paper with a fresh one when they’ve used the last of it. When they finish a roll of toilet paper, they seem to think that was the very last roll of TP society had to offer. There couldn’t possibly be another roll anywhere with which to replace the last one.

After all, why should they do these things when they have a mom to do them for them?”

This was an excerpt from Dawn Meehans “Because I Said So”

When my friends and I would sit around thinking about pregnancy, we would all say things like “I can’t wait…I’ll get to eat whatever I want” and “I Can’t Wait Until I’m so big I can just rest my cereal bowls and dinners plates right on my stomach.” However, more and more research is developing about pregnancy and weight gain, and all of it looks bad for my friends and I’s hopes for pregnancy. Much research has shown that only an additional 200-400 calories during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters is recommended. I guess there goes our hopes for brownies, ice cream and pickles in one sitting…

Recent studies issued by the University of Michigan and New Jersey shows that the more weight a mother puts on during her pregnancy, the more likely it is that her child will become overweight. For women who gain more than 53 pounds, it is likely that her child will be more than 8.8 pounds at delivery.

Now we all know an underweight baby has increased risks for health problems, but and overweight baby does too. But how much weight is okay to gain?

It all depends on a woman’s BMI. For obese women, only an 11 - 15 pound weight gain is healthy, while women with a healthy BMI should gain between 25 and 35 pounds.

I guess the days of eating whatever we want, within reason for the baby, and getting to use the excuse.. well I’m pregnant.. are waning. In the past few weeks, research has been spewing about this topic. Too, for the first time since 1992, the Institute for Medicine updated their recommendations for amount of weight to gain for pregnancy. Check it out here… http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2009/Weight-Gain-During-Pregnancy-Reexamining-the-Guidelines.aspx

Meera Sanghani Jorgensen is the mother of a happy, healthy, and adorable 14-month-old daughter. She’s grateful for everything she has, but says one thing continues to bug her about her pregnancy — her weight.

The 36-year-old says she went from being considered underweight at 120 pounds on her 5-foot-6-inch frame before her pregnancy to now carrying around an extra 20 pounds that she just can’t manage to shake off, after gaining 42 pounds with the baby.

Weight gain and how to lose it can be a major cause of postpartum stress, experts say, especially when images from Hollywood showcase bikini-clad new moms looking fit and trim mere weeks after delivery. In a recent issue of FitPregnancy magazine, two cover stories deal with losing weight: one about how much to gain while pregnant and the other on how to shape up your abs after the baby is born.

“A lot of Hollywood glamorizes the postpartum body,” says Jasmine Jafferali, a woman’s health and wellness consultant and personal trainer. “It’s misleading to the public and us everyday moms.”

Jafferali, herself a mother to two, an 11-week-old and 3-year-old, says the thing to remember about those stars is that most are fit going into their nine months and are extremely careful to eat a well-balanced diet during their pregnancy — a key to taking the baby fat off postpartum.

“Getting back in shape after pregnancy depends on what you did during the pregnancy: eating a nutritious well-balanced diet, getting a good amount of sleep, exercising every day, and keeping the stress down,” says Jafferali, who writes a column on family and pregnancy health for online newspaper Examiner.com. “Even in the articles you read you’ll see those actresses did all the right things.”

Healthcare providers are taking note.

In May 2009, an Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee of doctors, nutrition experts and public health researchers issued new guidelines on how much weight women should gain while pregnant. It was the first time they changed their recommendations since 1990.

While much of the report stayed the same, recommending a 25- to 35-pound weight gain for healthy women at a normal weight for her height, what differed was a reference to women considered obese prior to pregnancy — limiting their weight gain to between 11 and 20 pounds. The change was a direct reference to the obesity epidemic in the United States and a message that too much weight during the pregnancy can have negative effects on the baby and the mother postpartum.

“If you’re at your ideal body weight [going into a pregnancy], we ask you to eat 200 extra calories a day — that’s just a yogurt and a glass of milk,” says Dr. Kimberly McMahon, a clinical instructor at Northwestern and an ob/gyn with the Northwestern Specialists for Women in Chicago. She advises patients to be very careful even during pregnancy to watch what they are eating. Eating whatever you want just because you’re pregnant is a myth, experts say.

Stick with nutritious, heart-healthy foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole-grain breads and other complex carbohydrates and lean protein.

“It takes 40 weeks to get this weight on — it takes time to take it off,” says McMahon. Some experts say it can take up to a year postbaby to get your hormones back in sync and your body in shape.

Breast-feeding can burn up to 900 calories a day, but while nursing, some moms plateau with their weight and just can’t lose the last 10 pounds, says McMahon.

McMahon tells her patients that after that six-week postpartum checkup, most are able to work out and actually diet — as long as they are hydrating properly, especially if they are still breast-feeding. Dieting doesn’t mean starving yourself. It just means picking healthy food options rather than snacking on sweets and simple carbs, which will leave you feeling hungry and looking for more rather than fulfilled.

Jafferali tells clients to just start moving — weather and health permitting. “The best thing someone can do after they’ve had their baby is to just go ahead and take their baby for a walk.” Not a leisurely stroll — a power walk where you’re up against the weight of your baby and that 15-20 pound stroller for a full 30 minutes every day. But, don’t expect miracles.

Reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian is a high-profile example of how not to lose the weight. In an episode aired last month, she collapsed running on the beach while filming her show “Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami.” The 31-year-old, who gave birth in December to her first child, admitted she hadn’t eaten before taking on a vigorous workout in a quest to prepare for an upcoming shoot for Life & Style Magazine.

“The weight loss should not be dramatic, but consistent,” says McMahon. “It’s really restricting your caloric intake and accounting for everything that you are putting in your mouth. And it’s hard work.”

Jafferali believes in eating every three to four hours and getting in a protein and good fat at every meal, with limited simple carbohydrates. She starts her mornings off with a green smoothie packed with Omega-3 fatty acids from flaxseed oil, iron from spinach and antioxidants from berries.

She recommends thinking of weight loss as 60 percent nutrition, 20 percent exercise, and 20 percent sleep. The last one is what often undermines even the best-laid diet and exercise plans by new moms.

Jorgensen, a yoga instructor and vegetarian, says she’s still working on getting her daughter to sleep through the night. “I’m just not getting a full solid seven to eight hours of sleep — I sleep four hours and then wake up and sleep another three to four hours.”

Experts say it may be unrealistic for new moms to expect to lose all the weight before their little ones actually do sleep through the night. Lack of sleep can raise cortisol, a stress hormone, which in turn can prevent your body from losing those extra pounds.

Jorgensen, who is contemplating a second child, says things will be different the second time around. “I’ll be more conservative with my diet when I’m pregnant again so I don’t have to go through this again.”

Throughout the nation, nursing mothers are celebrating World Breastfeeing Week.

California boasts events all over the state, from walks, celebrations and forums held throughout the week.

These mothers hope to bring awareness to breastfeeding and other issues regarding breastfeeding. On Wednesday, there is a walk at the State Capitol from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. supporting breastfeeding mothers and employers who provide exceptional workplace accommodations for nursing mothers, for example.

The state of California is very big on this issue. California law requires all employers to provide a private space and break time for women to express milk while nursing.

The walk today by hundred of women will not only be to celebrate the employers providing services to breastfeeding women, but also to thank hospitals in California for their breastfeeding programs. Many hospitals in California have education and support systems to help women learn how to breastfeed and continue breastfeeding for the first six months of life.

In California alone, 80% of women would like to breastfeed, but many feel the constraints of work and other such issues changing their mind. It is the hope of the women’s breastfeeding coalition to highlight issues such as this so women have every opportunity to breastfeed if they would like.

Today, breastfeeding has become increasingly popular and many people are growing more comfortable with the idea of public breastfeeding. Many men and women believe it is a natural thing, and most agreed that “as long as the mother makes an attempt to cover-up,” it is a postive thing that all women should reserve the right to do.

A King County judge has denied a request by prosecutors for a court order to prevent a pregnant woman, already convicted of starving one of her children, from having contact with her newborn child when the baby is born.

Brittainy Labberton, 21 and pregnant sat through the hearing, sitting with her arms crossed over her bulging belly, rolling her eyes and shaking her head as the Senior Deputy Prosecutor described how she had starved her infant because she was afraid she would become fat. A second child was removed from the home because Labberton threatened to kill her, according to court papers.

Both children were taken into state custody in late 2008. Labberton and her husband, Samuel, 25, are seeking to get them back, her attorney said at a hearing Thursday.

O’Donnell told Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell that he believed the third child — due in four weeks — could be in danger if the judge did not order the hospital where the child is born to take the baby away immediately after delivery. The Senior Deputy on the case reports: “This is a train-wreck,” and I would have to agree.

Is there some sort of mental issues, as a mother starves her baby because she is afraid of a fat baby?

The prosecutor noted that Brittainy Labberton was admitted to the hospital earlier this month after failing to eat enough to provide nourishment for her unborn child, according to court testimony.

Strike two: doesn’t that seem as though this mother has some sort of body dismoriphic disorder?

She has since been released from the hospital. The couple are homeless, a court filing said.

A spokesman for Child Protective Services (CPS) said the state agency will not get involved in a child’s welfare until after it is born.

Ramsdell denied the request for a court order but told the couple that they are to report the child’s birth immediately to the state social worker overseeing visitation of their other children. If they don’t, the judge said, they face a contempt-of-court charge when they are sentenced on criminal-mistreatment charges on Sept. 3.

That charge came after their second daughter, born in August 2008, gained only one pound in her first two months of life — prompting authorities to place the child and her then 2-year-old sister in protective custody.

The Labbertons both pleaded guilty and face up to a year in jail for the gross misdemeanor.

According to charging papers, Labberton was depressed, suicidal and homicidal after delivering her second child in August 2008 and failed to adequately feed her. After the child was removed from their Bellevue home and began to gain weight in foster care, the couple told authorities they feared she was becoming “fat.” Labberton, who according to court papers filed in January, was 5-foot-5 and weighed 90 pounds, complained to CPS that she didn’t want her children to be fat. She told the social workers that her husband, who was 6 feet tall and weighed 180 pounds, had a weight problem.

The Labbertons were allowed regular visits with their daughters until January 2009, when a laboratory test indicated that the younger girl had been fed a laxative, according to CPS. The girl had diarrhea after a visit with her mother, court paperwork said.

After that, Brittainy Labberton was not allowed to prepare her daughter’s bottles without supervision, court papers said. The two girls remain in state custody, and the couple is allowed twice-weekly supervised visits, CPS said.

This whole case is very sad. This mother obviously is sick, and has some sort of eating disorder, both mentally and physically. It is sad that she too, is passing it onto her children. However, what we can all hope for now, is that the court decide who has jurisdiction over the unborn child. Whose responsbility is that child. Currently, courts and left questioning, is this my responsibility or someone elses? And each second they wait, that poor child is being left in the care of a mentally sick woman.

“The day after her first child was born in January at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington County, Suzanne Libby discovered that he was missing from the hospital nursery. Searching frantically, she found Spencer in his hospital bassinet — in another woman’s room. Standing next to him was a hospital aide, a stricken look on her face.

The relief that Libby felt at finding her son was later replaced by fresh anxiety: The woman, it turned out, had breast-fed her newborn.
More than two hours passed before hospital officials told Libby, 34, and her husband, Reed, 36, how the mix-up had happened: The aide had neglected to match Spencer’s ID bands with the other woman’s. The next day, hospital officials told the couple that results of blood tests run on the woman showed she did not have HIV or hepatitis B or C, diseases that can be passed to a baby through breast milk.

It’s impossible to know how often breast-feeding mix-ups happen, because many states do not require hospitals to report them unless there is serious harm.

Ruth Lawrence, a breast-feeding expert at the American Academy of Pediatrics, says that she hears about them occasionally.

Although some experts say the potential for harm to infants is minimal, federal authorities say the possible exposure to HIV or other infectious diseases should be treated just like an accidental exposure to other body fluids.

The incidents also point to a larger problem of accurate patient identification — a major cause of health-care errors. That is a particular risk with newborns, and experts say sleep-deprived mothers are sometimes confused: It can be hard to recognize a swaddled infant brought by the nursing staff for feeding in the middle of the night.

Last month, the hospital’s risk-management officer, Susan Richardson, sent a lawyer hired by the Libbys a two-sentence letter that expressed regret and said: “Please know that after looking into the matter the Virginia Hospital Center has no knowledge of anything indicating that the woman who breast-fed Spencer Libby on Jan. 31, 2010, exposed him to any disease, toxin or other harmful substance.”

In response to a reporter’s inquiry, Virginia Hospital Center said in a statement July 14 that one employee was fired after she “failed to follow standard protocol.” The hospital also said that it had “conducted comprehensive laboratory tests and has no knowledge of anything indicating that the woman who mistakenly breast-fed the infant exposed the infant to any harm” and that it had “taken the necessary steps to ensure that this situation does not happen again.”

Hospital officials declined to elaborate, citing patient confidentiality. ”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705976.html?wprss=rss_print

“Baby Matters is recalling about 30,000 Nap Nanny portable baby recliners because infants can partially fall or hang over the side of the product even while the harness is in use.

There have been more than 22 reports of infants hanging or falling out over the side of the product including a report of a 4-month-old girl who died in a product while the infant was in her harness and found hanging over the side, caught between the product and the crib bumper. An another incident, an infant sustained a cut to the forehead.

Nap Nannys were sold at toy and children’s retail stores nationwide and online, from January 2009 through July 2010 for about $130. ”

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/28/1749181/baby-recliners-being-recalled.html#ixzz0uyskT7JK

Erika Johnson and Blake Sinnett were overjoyed when they learned they were expecting a baby. Although both parents are blind, they were excited for the challenge of parenthood, and all the joy and love a new child would add to the family.

However, when the baby was born, the family was not allowed to take the baby home. Why? Because the parents were blind. “The state …appeared to take a cue from draconian eras when society deemed the mentally ill or physically disabled unfit for parenthood.” I’m sorry, but does anyone have the right to take a child away from its parents, just because of a physical handicap? Should the state see if the parents are capable before just assuming that they are not?

The child was placed in protective custody until Tuesday. Sure, why don’t you take the baby from its parents, and then put the little girl in protective custody. I’m sure the parents are THAT disturbed/violent to hurt the child. What the heck was going through their minds?
What I want to know, is, how did the state even come to this decision? Has there NEVER been a blind parent to raise a child in Missouri? From all I’ve researched, it seems as though blind people have been raising children for years.

If I am trying to make any understanding of the state of Missouri, I guess I can understand that they thought the couple would run into problems. But isn’t every parenthood full of challenges? Blind parents may face different challenges, but challenges are challenges, and every parent has the right to prove they can fight and overcome those challenges.

The Missouri Department of Social Work states that they we concerned for a variety of reasons. The couple lacked a lot of family that could help the new parents, and the parents were young, unmarried and uninsured. The department further attempted to justify their actions by stating the infant was having trouble breathing the first time her mother tried to breastfeed her. The nurse was alarmed, as the mother could not see the child was having trouble breathing when she was pushed against the breast. Okay, this probably would have raised concern with me too, but instead of educating the mother about proper breastfeeding techniques, the parents were shortly thereafter met with state officials. Why did they not even give this couple a chance?

This is such a sad case for our society today. Despite major gains in areas such as civil rights, accessibility to jobs for the handicapped, and expansion of hiring rights, this story just confirms that we have a long way to go before we can pat ourselves on the back for treating people equally.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/21/2099222/baby-saga-sparks-many-questions.html