Friday, April 30, 2010

fantastic pregnancy and parenting book all-in-one


















mothering magazine published a wonderful, and very thorough, book called natural family living : the mothering magazine guide to parenting .  it has great info on everything from the fear factor of childbirth to questions to ask on your hospital tour to worries about milk supply while breastfeeding to breast infections to vaccinations to starting healthy solid food to positive discipline....

need i say more?

Thursday, April 29, 2010

car seats : keep 'em rear-facing to age 4!!














there's something kind of exciting about turning your kid's car seat around to face forward (once they fall within the 20lbs/one-year-old previously recommended guidelines)...i know, what can i say...simple pleasures.  there is this hope that he will be more amused, and in turn, more content with long car rides.

well, i have been hearing mixed messages about this and apparently some compelling information is coming out saying that car seats should remain rear-facing until age 4.  read more here.

photo via here.

Monday, April 26, 2010

mother's day gift...or new baby gift?
















with that title, you know i'm not about to suggest a 5 oz. size of elizabeth taylor's passion eau de parfum.  WITHOUT that title, you know i'm not about to suggest a 5 oz. size of elizabeth taylor's passion eau de parfum.  anywhoo, i came across a gift item that would be quite lovely for mother's day.

it's a memories book called the story of a lifetime, and there are over 500 questions about the recipient's life that they fill out.  it is leather bound and also includes a family tree.  it is $79.95.  this $85 version at sundancecatalog.com is pretty too.  see the more affordable canvas cover version in the "baby manual recommended products" sidebar.

what a great memoir that any mother, young or old, could fill out and pass on....

mother's day is sunday may 9th.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

swine flu hoax.















i have some information for you...

remember last june when the swine flu pandemic was declared a level 6?  well, declaration of level 6 allows a "switch" to turn on.  a switch that says "glaxosmithkline, and competitors, send out the vaccines!!" many countries had previously signed contracts in place, so the gigantic order was easy to fulfill once the switch was flipped.

let me back up...

in early may 2009, the WHO website changed the definition of "pandemic" from "an enormous number of deaths and cases of the disease" to "occurs when there are more cases of that disease than normal...worldwide." a cnn reporter pointed this out on may 4, 2009.  in other words, there was no longer a specification that a pandemic referred to many, many cases and deaths.

a week or so later, in mid-may 2009, 30 senior reps from pharmaceutical companies met with the director general and the secretary general of the WHO.  they were presumably discussing upgrading to a phase 6 since now there was a pandemic.

as of january 2010, an estimated 60 million americans had received the untested h1n1 vaccine.  how many worldwide?  how many children?  how many pregnant women?

wow.  the power of the media and pharmaceutical companies.....need i say more?

read more here.

photo via here.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

vitamins after the baby...













nearly every new mother i speak with continues taking her prenatal vitamin after she gives birth.  as did i.  of course, this is perfectly fine for a little while.  though you may want to consider getting on a really great multi vitamin as soon as you can.  you'll need it to stay super healthy particularly if you are breast feeding, because the baby sucks everything out of you!

be sure your vitamin has 10,000 iu of vitamin d, and if it doesn't, you can supplement.  also, try to find a multi that has probiotics in it like this fantastic multi vitamin from mercola--i got the seal of approval from my wonderful doctor on this one.

check out getting a blood test that includes your vitamin levels sometime in the first year after birth as mentioned in this previous post.

photo via here.

green bath toys














i try to minimize the amount of plastic toys that my son comes in contact with--since everything goes straight into his mouth.  so i realized that i should also probably minimize the amount of plastic toys in the bathtub seeing as it's just plastic soup that he's bathing in otherwise.

i actually came across some pretty cool and affordable items (see below).  oh, and by the way, his favorite bath-time toy by far to date is a little stainless condiment cup that we permanently borrowed from a local restaurant.  it's a water-collector and launcher, mouth-fart maker, echo-microphone, and musical instrument among other things....

the little tugboat below is only $4.95, and it winds up and motors through the water!  it's from the etsy shop jacobswoodentoys.


the handmade sailboat below is $18.  find it at the etsy shop jacobswoodentoys.


















if you would like some bpa- and phthalate-free plastic bath toy options, check out the items below by boon.  amazon links in right sidebar.



















Tuesday, April 20, 2010

no more plastic bottles...















aren't these pvc-,phthalate-, and bpa-free glass bottles by lifefactory lovely?  they were featured on dailycandy.com today and are 25% off with discount code ILOVEGLASS.  lifefactory also makes glass baby bottles with the same cool silicone sleeves.

and for those of you that are happy to reuse a snapple bottle for some water and need the baby bottle equivalent, check out this previous post.

photo via here.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

rotarix vaccine for rotavirus pulled after contamination discovered.










rotarix, by gloxosmithkline, is one of two licensed rotavirus vaccines in the united states.  it was approved in 2008, and over 1 million u.s. children and 30 million children worldwide have received it.  federal health authorities have recommended its suspension by doctors since the recent discovery of contamination of pig virus.

rotavirus (symptoms similar to stomach flu), though vaccinated against in this country, hospitalizations have not dropped in the last 2 decades in the u.s.  rotarix is associated with a an increase in pneumonia-related deaths in children, compared to a placebo.

read more here.

photo via here.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

whole children, whole planet expo in los angeles







if you don't live in los angeles, then cover your ears....
the greatest-sounding expo ever is happening in los angeles on earth day, saturday april 24!!  it is the whole children, whole planet expo.  all i had to see was that mothering magazine is a sponsor, and i'm there. in the mean time, i recently received an email that the founders of api (attachment parenting international) are speaking there, too.  here is a list of the workshops and speakers.

check out this line up of a few of the MANY fantastic exhibitors:

la leche league
dasc (doulas assoc. of southern california)
boiron
woolly pocket garden (!!)
aubrey organics
farm fresh to you

info:

saturday april 24, 2010
9:30am - 6:30pm
highland hall waldorf school
northridge, ca
FREE!

photo via here.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

good resource for natural remedies.















knowing how crunchy i am when it comes to health care, my step-mother lovingly sent me a lead on an awesome website.  it is called the people's pharmacy, and has loads of great natural remedies. actually, it has much more than that, including an herb library, great reader comments and advice, and an email newsletter to enlighten you.  check it out!

photo via here.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

what are the emf's doing to us?



















emf stands for electromagnetic frequency.  what i'm talking about here are the electric and magnetic waves that flood our lives now.  some could say they have been a threat since the invention of electricity, but those emf's are typically only mentioned in the case of high voltage power lines near homes causing health problems.   i'm not really talking about electricity in this post though...

i am talking about emf's coming from wireless phones, internet, cell phones, BABY MONITORS, etc.   for some reason, we all seem to just trust that wireless technology (that is nearly inescapable in this country) is not interfering with our health.  wifi is out of sight, out of mind, right?  certainly, cell phone companies will not be offering up any studies....nor will the wifi companies any time soon.  all i'm saying is.....ever heard of the tobacco industry?

ok, well that's not ALL i'm saying.  what i'm also saying is please be mindful about where your baby sleeps when it comes to emf waves. consider the placement of wireless baby monitors (do you really need one?), laptops, cell phones, and your wifi source (if you live in my house, there are 9 coming in from neighbors already).  consider turning all of your devices off when you go to bed if possible.

read up on emf's here and about children and emf's here.

photo via here.

i probably have no business posting this on here, but....



















ok, maybe i could say that these would be cute diaper bags.  and you could nurse in one of the tops below.  but mainly i just wanted to share some cute stuff.  and it's from ll bean!!!  i'm surprised, are you?  i love when old-school companies rock updated versions.

don't forget to go to retailmenot.com for coupon codes for free shipping, etc.