Tip #25: Alternate activities to tummy time for neck strengthening

A lot of babies hate tummy time when they are still developing the strength to hold up their heads (they get very frustrated when they can't do what they want yet!). Here are a couple of alternate activities to help them develop neck strength that you can do with them (also check Tip #12 for how to make tummy time itself less frustrating):

• Up-up-up Game: With baby lying down, hold their hands and pull them up into a sitting position. Sing "Up up up up!" and then help them to return to the ground singing "Back Dooown". When they are really young, you'll need to support their head with one hand and pull them up/set them down with the other. I've seen most need less support going up at the beginning then back down. This is also the thing pediatricians sometimes do to check upper body development.
• Assisted Airplane: It's so much more fun for baby to do tummy time when they can see mom/dad or another loved one. With you laying down, put your legs up, with your shins parallel to the floor to create a surface for baby to lay. Place baby on your lower legs and have fun! You can sing them a song, you can bring your legs towards and away from your face (stick the boppy under your head to support your neck). This is also a good way to work out the postpartum tummy. My little guy takes tours of cities around the world ("here we are flying over Tokyo, and here comes Moscow...")
• Tick Tock Cuckoo Clock: This helps development of side to side motion. With them sitting on your knee, rock them back and forth singing: "Tick tock, tick tock, I'm a little cuckoo clock. Tick tock, tick tock. Now it's striking one 'o clock. Cuckoo!" When you hit the last Cuckoo (one for one o'clock, two cuckoos for two o'clock etc.) pick them up into the air with every cuckoo.
  
• I'm a little teapot: You know this song, you can do this with them on your knee and when you get to 'tip me over and pour me out', you tip them to one side.
• Trot-trot To London: With them on your knee, bounce your knee singing "Trot trot to London, Trot trot to Dover, don't go across the bridge you might fall ooover", when you get to the over, you tip them to the side.

Sources: Various moms groups, mommy baby yoga, and experimentation.

Tip #24: Speeding up diaper changes out of the house

While on a cross country plane trip, my husband discovered a cool way to speed up diaper changes. With the diaper changing pad face up, place a new diaper and the wipes on top of it and fold it up before you place it back in your diaper bag. Next time you need to do a diaper change, just place the package on top of the changing table, unfold and voila!

Source: Super Dad

Tip #23: Line the baby bath tub with a wash/burp cloth

You can line your baby bath tub (if you use one) with a wash cloth or burp cloth to make the bath tub less slippery and more comfortable for baby.

Source: Grandma

Tip #22: Turn off your monitor when you have guests

If you're sharing a room with your baby, make sure to turn off your baby monitor when you're in the room for the night if you have guests in the house!

Source: It's a funny story....

Local Resource: Parents lists

Local parents lists are a phenomenal way of getting information about kid friendly activities, tips, advice on daycares and other various topics as well as for sale kid items and free stuff. Here are links for signing up on various lists in the Boston area.

Arlington Parents List

Boston Parents Network

Cambridge Families Group

Somerville Moms Email List

Tip #21: My favorite clothes for nursing

I was given a couple of 'hootie hiders' as gifts, which in theory are a great way to discreetly breastfeed in public. In actuality though they are usually brightly covered and my little guy loves playing with them so much when he's under them that it's more like he's flagging a jet plane onto an aircraft carrier than he is eating. Therefore, I've had to decide on clothing that I find comfortable and discreet. My favorite has become stretchy style tops (my favorite are from LL Bean), one size larger than I would normally wear and a nursing tank top. The tank top ensures all my skin is covered (in case the shirt in the back gets hiked up pretty good) and whatever skin is exposed around the boob area is covered up by the nursing baby. It was recommended to me once by a lactation consultant to use nursing tank tops and button down shirts. This didn't work for me because once I actually did it I realized I felt really exposed. Once you pull the cover down on the tank top your entire boob is exposed and a open button-down shirt won't cover it up!

Source: Personal experimentation

Wanted: Tips on what to do with a distractable baby! Since covers don't work, I don't know what to do when he rolls off the boob while eating to look around. Also, when I want/need to feed him just before I leave for work, he's often too distracted to eat!

Tip #20: Have a special toy for the diapering table

As babies get squirmier and more active, diapering gets harder and harder! Try having a special toy for the place where you change their diaper that will distract them in order to keep them still and keep them from getting their hands/feet in the dirty diaper!

Source: Mom's group instructor, hm..I think I also just read it in a Baby center email.

Tip #19: Use a mesh bag for baby socks and bra pads

Ever wonder where missing baby socks go..or maybe your bra pads? A friend in a mom's group found out the hard way that sometimes these things get sucked up over the edge of the tub in the washing machine and into the pump. You can use a mesh bag to keep all the little things in your wash from literally being eaten by the washing machine.

Tip #18: Your body will make milk..even when you are sick

Sorry I've been offline for a while now. I came down with a very nasty stomach virus that had me in bed for a full three days. On the third day of not keeping any food or much fluid down, I was restocked at urgent care with three IV bags of fluid! However, I learned a valuable lesson about milk production, even in the face of limited resources, your body will continue to prioritize production of milk! I also learned that no matter how hard it is, getting and keeping fluid is the most important thing you can do when you are sick.

Also, the answer from the pediatrician is that I should continue to breastfeed if I felt up to it. Viruses and bacteria aren't transmitted in breast milk, but important white cells that can recognize the virus are.

Tip #17: Take home as much stuff from the hospital as you can

While you are in postpartum care at the hospital you'll be inundated with diapers, wipes, and other baby accouterments. The hospital throws away anything that is opened or used, so make sure to take it home with you to help get you started. The blue bulb aspirators they use at the hospital are by far better than the ones you can typically buy in the store.

Source: Friends + I don't know how many times I've seen the generic hospital receiving blanket wrapped around a newborn.

Tip #16: Changing a diaper on an airplane

Changing a diaper in a small airplane bathroom can be quite difficult, but here are some tips to make it a bit easier:
- Strip your little one down to the diaper before heading to the bathroom
- Grab just the things you need (diaper, wipes, diaper cream).
- For older babies, you can change them standing up
- For non-standing babies, you can sit on the closed toilet and change them on your lap

Source: We're traveling for the first time soon and I found these tips here.

Local Resource: Find a daycare near you

The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care is the formal body responsible for licensing daycares (family and group) in the state of Massachusetts. They have a fantastic search feature built in for all daycares they have licensed: EEC Online Daycare search feature.

When we began our family home daycare search, I asked each one a set of questions and realized I was getting a standard response back. I then realized that a lot of my questions were covered by the licensing regulations of the state of Massachusetts. Here is a non-exhaustive summary of the things your family home daycare provider (if licensed) will/should be following (but might be a common question you have):

Child to provider ratio:
Home daycares are licensed for either up to 6 children or 7-10 children. More than 10 children and it's considered a group daycare (Infants are 0-14months and toddlers are 15mos-two years).
For up to 6 children:
Case 1: One caregiver and one assistant can provide for only three children under the age of two (at least one of these three has to be a toddler)
Case 2: Two caregivers - no limits on the distribution of ages under two years old.
For 7-10 children:
Case 1: Two caregivers + one assistant, only six children under the age of two allowed, no more than three of them may be infants.
Case 2: Three caregivers: all ten kids may be under the age of two, but only seven of them may be infants.

Visiting policy:
Directly from the EEC regulations: "Parent Visits. Parents must be permitted to visit a child care home unannounced any time during the hours that their child is present. The provider must inform all parents of this policy in writing, and maintain a copy of this notification in the child's record."

Illness and Medications:
Your child will not be allowed at daycare if they have a fever of 101 degrees or higher or have active symptoms such as vomiting or diarrhea. They must then be symptom free for at least 24 hours before returning to daycare. Children with common colds are allowed (as long as they don't have a fever). You'll need to fill out Medicine Authorization forms if they need to have medicine dispensed during daycare hours.

Vacation policy:
I can no longer find the document that contains the policy for provider vacation, but I believe it allows for two weeks of paid vacation for the provider. In addition to that the daycare will be closed (and paid) for typical holidays including Thanksgiving, Christmas, MLK, Labor day etc. Providers are required to give you a 30 day notice for the intent of a vacation (again this is from memory, so make sure to ask your provider what their policy is). Essentially, plan on paying for 52 weeks a year and hope that you can line up your vacation with theirs. You will not be discounted tuition for anytime your child is out of daycare (once they begin) for vacation or illness.

Tip #15 - Don't prebuy seasonal baby clothes

My husband and I thought we were really on top of things when we found great deals on Craigslist and at consignment shops for baby clothes before our little munchkin was born. What we didn't know, but all moms seem to find out pretty quickly, is that baby clothing sizes don't mean a whole lot! So here we were buying long sleeves for 6-months old thinking it will be fall when he's six months, only it turns out he's in most of those now (June and July). He spent about a total of two weeks in '3-month' sizes and there are even some 12-month clothes that he's in now at 16-weeks.

So if you are pregnant now, feel free to stock up on onesies, but hold off on the swimming trunks and the winter jackets until you have some idea how big your baby will be (and birth weight has nothing to do with it, I've seen some small babies put on a lot of weight as well as big ones). If you're buying presents for a friend...gift cards, so they can buy that seasonal stuff as needed.

Tip #14: Consider stroller compatibility when purchasing a car seat

There are so many factors that go into your decision to buy a particular stroller: size, price, weight, maneuverability, ease of folding, etc. One thing we didn't consider pre-baby was how our carseat was going to fit into that decision. We bought the carseat based on safety record and ease of use only to find out that it doesn't 'officially' fit any of the strollers we were interested in. It turns out it does 'unofficially' fit them however, so in retrospect I think we would still go with our same decision.

If you would rather not be caught unawares, check out this compatibility guide.

Another great tip from my brother- and sister-in-law is to consider buying a used seat from Craigslist if you want something for the stroller. If you aren't taking it in the car, then buying used is fine!

Poll

Along with the theme of Tip #13, this week's poll is what your baby's favorite food was/is when they began solids. This poll is a write-in poll, since enumerating all possibilities seemed difficult. However, to avoid needing to use an e-mail client, this poll will take you to a response-o-matic form (they have an email script on the back end that sends me an email..I didn't feel like writing my own). You can return to this page once it's sent. Thanks for voting!

Tip #13: Share baby food making with friends

I've heard lots of parents who want to make their own baby food (especially because then they can make it organic), but then the time to make it outweighs the cost factor. A great tip I heard is to create a food making group. The structure is up to you, but here's one example: 10 sets of parents get together once a month to exchange cubes of frozen food. This month, set #1 made apples, #2 made peas, #3 made butternut squash, etc. etc. So you make a large lot of food once a month and you get 10 different foods! The mom I heard this from said they would have a little party on a Sunday when they got together to exchange food, they also changed whose house they got together at every time.

Source: Friend

Tip #12: Improve your chance of tummy time success

If your little one is like my little one then you are also struggling with tummy time. You can improve their enjoyment (or at least minimize their frustration) by bolstering them up. If you aren't using a boppy or towel then start, and if you already are then add more material to make their tummy time surface higher and firmer. As our little guy has gotten stronger, the amount of bolstering material we've needed has gone from boppy+folded blanket down to just a boppy and now finally on the floor.

Also, if you aren't already, find a favorite toy to put in front of them to distract them, that could be you, a cat, a black and white card, a mirror, etc.

Source: Combination of mommy and me classes and friends.

Tip #11 - Use a dishwasher basket for hard toys and bottle parts

You can purchase dishwasher baskets to keep all those little bottle parts in one place while you sanitize them on the top shelf of your dishwasher. We actually have two, one is by the sink collecting dirty parts, while the other is getting washed and/or drying in the drying rack. This isn't an endorsement for a particular product, but here's an example at Babies R' Us. These baskets are also great for holding those small teething and hard plastic toys your baby loves to play with while they get sanitized on the top rack.

Source: Grandma set this up while she was here taking care of grandson.

Resource: Track your baby's patterns

I've been using Trixie Tracker to monitor our baby's sleep patterns. You can also keep track of nursing, bottles, pumping, and diapers. It's fantastic if you have a daycare provider (like a Grandparent or a nanny) who will use it too. It gives me my fix of knowing what's going on in my little guy's day and how much milk he's drinking (and if I'm balancing that by pumping).

Here's an example of a sleep report, the hope is we would be able to pick up on patterns of napping. You can see our little one wakes up pretty consistently at the same time and then takes a morning nap an hour-and-a-half after he wakes up (this is oriented with midnight on the far left and right and 6am is that very solid line). Of course then it's hard to say if there's any pattern for the rest of the day.
They have a 14 day free trial that will help you decide if you want to keep using it.

Source: Friend

Poll Results: Favorite Swaddling Blanket

Thanks everyone who voted for a favorite swaddling blanket (there were 11 voters). I learned a little something about polls, I should have labeled this one "What swaddling blanket works for you?" Since, clearly, who ever tries something new when something is already working? Here are the results:

Kiddopatomus SwaddleMe	4
Miracle Blanket	3
The Woombie	2
Aden and Anais Blankets	1
Receiving Blanket	1
Halo Sleep Sack	0