Rumor has it, Nicole Richie has decided on a name for the baby boy she is carrying. According to sources close to the expectant celebrity socialite and her partner Joel
"When she heard Donald
Nicole
Earlier this month, there were reports saying the celebrity couple is expecting a son after their friends allegedly claimed to have seen them buying blue-colored baby gear. When asked to verify the story during "Larry King Live" on Thursday, May 28, Nicole said, "We want the surprise ..... I'll get the clothes after."
Source
New parents often have many questions when it comes to Mom and baby's nutrition. How will Mom cope with "morning" sickness? Will you choose breast milk or formula for baby? Here are some key steps for keeping your family happy and healthy during these new and exciting times.
Morning sickness: Nausea and vomiting can occur at any time of day during pregnancy, and for some, well past the first trimester. What's going on? A surge and change in hormones are suspected. To reduce symptoms of "morning" sickness eat small, frequent meals (including snacks) throughout the day. Stay clear of strong flavors and odors - and follow a low-fat (not fat-free!) meal plan. Before getting out of bed in the morning, eat. Keep a snack-size pouch of pretzels or crackers on your bedside table to nibble on before leaving your bed. Eating a bedtime snack rich in protein and heart-healthy fats such as plain yogurt mixed with granola may also reduce symptoms as well.
Save money while eating on the fly: Personal schedules often pick up pace closer to baby's due date. Family budgets can suddenly become of utmost importance, too - especially if taking leave from work. Save money and build healthy meals at home. Plan weekly menus based upon schedules and meal plan needs. On the days you cook, keep it simple. Create colorful, heart-healthy meals with whole grains, vegetables and lean meats.
Breast milk or formula? Breast milk is the best nutritional choice for most babies. It allows mom to pass along precious immune defense compounds, as well as essential nutrients tailored directly to each stage of a baby's development. That said, strictly breast feeding for the first six months of life and supplementation with infant-appropriate solid foods between 6 to 12 months is nutritionally preferred. If breastfeeding isn't an option, choose a formula that's convenient and similar in composition to mom's milk.
Solids - which ones? After baby's first month or so of eating solids, you may notice they're ready to move past rice cereal. Regardless whether you plan on preparing baby's food from scratch or not, commercially prepared options deserve consideration. They allow flexibility with schedules, travel, out-of-home care and family visits. When choosing a line of baby food, focus on brands offering all-natural, single foods and "mixed" meals without preservatives, artificial colors, added sodium and sugars.
To juice or not to juice? This is a common topic of debate for parents. Do children need juice? No. Whole fruits can provide one's daily servings of fruit. Can juice help meet daily servings of fruit? Yes, if it's 100 percent juice. If offering juice, keep these in mind: Don't offer juice before 6 months of age; only offer it in a cup, never in a bottle; and keep daily serving sizes to no more than 4 to 6 ounces for children ages 1 to 6.
By arming yourself with nutritional strategies early on, you'll be ready to tackle anything that comes your way - keeping Mom and baby healthy for optimal growth and development. Carrie Taylor is a registered dietitian and licensed dietitian nutritionist with Big Y. If you have a nutrition question, e-mail her at askcarrie@bigy .com or write Ask Carrie, 2145 Roosevelt Ave, P.O. Box 7840, Springfield, MA 01102.
New Book, the "Ultimate Baby Bargain Guide", for Expectant Parents Released
0 comments Posted by RR at 6:17 AMGeorgetown, KY (PRWEB) -- The "Ultimate Baby Bargain Guide" is now available at http://www.MommyDaddySavers.com. The guide is designed especially for first-time parents, but can help all new and expectant parents formulate, plan, and prepare for the financial aspects of having a baby. In fact, the authors themselves have personally saved thousands of dollars over what the average parent spends and compiled everything in this quick, easy-to-read Guide.
"We've left no stone unturned," says Joshua McDonald, author. "We only spent $300 total on baby supplies during the first year including the crib, nursery décor, changing table, dresser, baby bath items, breast pump, bottles, toys and clothes. We outline in this guide exactly how we did it."
This guide carefully explores the critical financial issues of having a baby with tips and instructions from when you start trying to get pregnant all the way through baby's first year. It says that the expenses can be overwhelming and if not well planned can lead to serious problems including martial tensions. Parents who fail to plan should be prepared to cope with a huge amount of debt.
The "Ultimate Baby Bargain Guide" is divided into eleven information rich chapters that reveal everything from preparing a budget to finding baby bargains both online and offline. This includes how to get no or low-cost baby clothes, maternity bargains, information on baby clubs, and links to websites that took over 2 years to find. The guide even includes helpful information about maternity insurance and what to do if you find out your pregnant and your insurance plan does not cover pregnancy.
The response to this guide has been overwhelming. Tammy Brown from Versailles, KY says, "My kids are already five and three, so I thought I knew most of the tricks, but I was pleasantly surprised. There are definitely some new ones for me here! I'll be referring to this guide for baby number three. I'm a stay-at-home mom so any new bargain information really catches my eye. What I like most about this guide are the website recommendations and the recipes for homemade art materials."
About the Authors:
Joshua & Shauna McDonald are the owners of the website http://www.mommydaddysavers.com. They help many expectant and new parents to better financially prepare for having a baby. They offer the "Ultimate Baby Bargain Guide", which is the compilation of absolute best ways to get bargains on baby clothes, furniture, toys, and more. To learn more about the Ultimate Baby Bargain Guide you can just log on to http://www.mommydaddysavers.com.
According to Meriden's housing statistics for 2008, there are 4914 single-parent households. That's a lot of people that are trying to make ends meet on their own. It's difficult for a married couple to hold down two jobs, be able to afford their mortgage and keep up with all the household work that needs to be done. On top of that add children into the mix. Now take one of the partners out of the picture and you have us. That's right, the single parent who's doing it all: bath time, making dinner, cleaning, providing the roof over their cute little heads. How we have done it up to now we don’t know. We just plod along, cut corners and somehow make it work.
Even if you don’t keep up with the news, you’d have to have been living in a cave this past year to not be aware of the spiraling economy. It’s impacted everyone and everything. Groceries have gone up, gas is more expensive and our salaries (if you’re lucky enough to have not been laid off by now) are still the same. So how can you make it work when it was barely working before? It’s not easy, but we just have to cut more corners and be smarter with our money. It’s a very challenging time for everyone, but even more so for single-parents trying to raise and support their children on their own. The bottom line is a very basic economic rule, either make more or spend less.
Spending less can seem impossible at first. It takes some practice and maybe some creativity, but it can be done. If you go out for lunch, start buying and making your lunch at home. A medium coffee from a coffee shop can cost you about $2.00 - that’s $10.00 a week if you buy one every day. All those things add up quickly. It’s more cost effective to buy a thermos and make coffee at home. Start clipping coupons and buy only those items that are on sale. If you don’t know where to start, keep a journal of everything you buy and what it costs for at least a week. At the end, analyze the amount of your income that goes to frivolous purchases and then stop buying them. Some good ways to decrease your bills are to cut down on the little extras. For example, do you have the gold star phone plan on your home phone and cell phone? Why? Most cell phone basic plans include caller id, call waiting and free long distance. Cut your home phone plan down to the bare minimum and save $10-$20 per month. The same goes for your cable, do you really need 75 movie channels? The answer is, “No, you do not!” Get rid of the expensive package and get basic cable. You can rent unlimited movies from NetFlix for as little at $9.00 a month with no late fees.
If you’re not a good saver, you’re going to need to earn more money. As single-parents, we hardly have the luxury of picking up overtime because that would probably warrant child care…or your sanity if you’re already working full time. One option is a home-based business. There are a lot of home-business opportunities out there, but you have to wary of those that claim to make you $1000 per week for making a couple of phone calls. Those with a hefty start-up cost are not attractive either. Ideally you want something that you like to do and has the potential to make you some extra cash. Some valid home-based businesses that I have been involved with are sales/consulting business such as Usborne Books & More. They won’t make you rich overnight, but you can do most of the work while your kids are asleep. The best part is that you make your own hours and can work as little or as much as you want.
There are ways to keep your head above water during the coming months, just dig deep and set your mind to it.
LOS ANGELES — Their names are eerily known to many: Adam Walsh, Polly Klaas, Amber Hagerman, some of the children who have come to symbolize families shattered through abductions and murders.
But they also represent hope in the form of new laws and other public policies aimed at keeping kids safe.
Ahead of National Missing Children's Day on Monday, safety experts emphasized that most child abduction cases result in family reunions. Since 1990, the recovery rate of missing children has jumped from 62 percent to 97 percent, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The special day was created in the 1980s to help make that happen, offering tips for parents and spotlighting children who have yet to be found. Safety events around the country this month have been compiled by the national center and posted on its parenting site, take25.org.
Nancy McBride, safety director for the center, and Robin Sax, a former Los Angeles County prosecutor who specialized in crimes against children, urged parents not to shy away from the subject in gently teaching children as young as toddlers how to stay safe. They also said it's a process that should continue through the teen years.
It's a grim topic, but the two said parents should talk repeatedly with children about who they can trust and how they can avoid predators both online and in their neighborhoods. The key is to avoid scare tactics, McBride said.
"Fear is a paralyzing element," she said. "It doesn't help anybody learn anything."
Instead, use "teachable moments," everyday incidents children experience that emphasize safety, said Sax, who recently published the book "Predators and Child Molesters: What Every Parent Needs to Know to Keep Kids Safe."
Both women warn parents against falling into overly traditional notions of who's out to harm their children. So-called "Stranger Danger" can hinder youngsters from getting help if they're lost, McBride said. Besides, strangers often aren't the ones to worry about.
"The very real issue is that the real danger to kids is from somebody they know rather than somebody they don't know," McBride said.
More tips on educating younger children:
- Start talking early, but keep the tone informal. "When you go out to a mall, make it a teachable moment," McBride said. "Then go get some pizza."
- Listen carefully to what children say. It can indicate what areas parents need to work on and help them spot abuse, Sax said.
- Tell children to go with their gut and get away from people who make them uncomfortable. "They don't have to be polite," McBride said.
- When explaining inappropriate touching, Sax said use swimwear as a guide: "Anything your bathing suit covers isn't a place that anyone's allowed to touch."
When children learn core safety values at a young age, it can then be adapted as they grow to take on new scenarios involving such things as the Internet. More tips on educating older children:
- Set boundaries. "You're paying the bill on the cell phone, you set the rules," McBride said.
- Don't let children roam online unchecked. "Even if you're not a technology maven, you've still got the experience and the judgment your child doesn't have," McBride said.
- Remind them it's not just about safety, but also about reputation. A provocative cell phone shot or embarrassing video can come back to haunt a teen well into adulthood, McBride said.
- Let children go online when they're ready, but do it safely. Instead of letting them jump straight to MySpace or Facebook too young, Sax recommended Disney's Club Penguin or similar entertainment fare.
- Get your children to show you what they know. "I play a little bit dumb," Sax said. She gets her teens to show her around such sites as Facebook and YouTube. "They're teaching me," Sax said, but at the same time she's "able to assess their maturity and growth."
If abuse is suspected, Sax said it's important for parents to let law enforcement take over. Evidence can be tainted and prosecutions derailed if parents confront suspected abusers or conduct their own investigations, she said.
If a child goes missing, McBride advised that parents do a quick search of their home and vehicles, then contact police. There's no waiting period to file a missing person report on children, and time is of the essence.
Not all missing child cases have happy endings.
The national center was founded in 1984 after several high-profile cases, including the 1981 disappearance and murder of 6-year-old Adam Walsh in Florida. In 1993, 12-year-old Polly Klaas was abducted and murdered in California. Amber Hagerman, 9, was kidnapped and murdered in Texas in 1996. Amber Alerts for missing children were named for her, and are now used in all 50 states.
Sax, the mother of three, said safety training for children is a necessary first step in making sure fewer tragedies occur, and it's just good parenting.
"Parenting is the one job that if you're successful at it you get fired at the end," Sax said.
The free parenting workshop, entitled "How to Get Your Kids to Listen and Cooperate: Connect!", which was held at the Lutheran School of Venice on Tuesday, May 19, 2009, was a great success.
A large group of parents turned up to hear parenting expert, Vickie Holland, provide tips on how to improve their parenting and gain more cooperation from their children. Parents identified a lack of cooperation from their children and their own resulting frustrations as areas in which they hoped Holland would be able to help them.
Holland was an engaging and entertaining speaker. She invited audience participation and engaged in role-playing to illustrate her point.
Connecting with children based on their emotional needs
With a great sense of humor, she started off by highlighting that children have four emotional needs: to feel (i) powerful, (ii) heard, (iii) important and (iv) loved.
And she defined three levels that parents tend to connect to their children on.
Low level connecting involves neglect.
Medium level connecting is when a parent is present with their agenda in mind. For example, when the parent takes the child grocery shopping, or when a parent is cooking and the child is playing nearby. She expressed that a "lot of life is here" meaning that parents necessarily engage in a lot of medium level connecting because of their varied responsibilities.
High level connecting involves being present with your child's emotional agenda in mind. Holland states that a few of these moments a day can help tremendously in cutting down misbehavior. This is the ideal.
A guide for connecting at a high level
According to Holland, parents must take eight steps to engage in high-level connecting with their children.
The first and most important step is for parents to create positive energy by setting their intention to connect peacefully and at a high level. One can do this by using self talk or breathing techniques to get into the right frame of mind. Furthermore, Holland recommends building a "reservoir of peace" by taking at least ten to fifteen minutes each day to do something to nurture yourself, emotionally, physically, mentally or spiritually. Doing this allows one not to resent the constant care-taking that a parent has to undertake every day.
The second step is to make warm and loving eye contact so that the child feels important.
Third, get on the child's level when speaking to the child, creating a balance of power in the relationship through your body language.
Fourth, a loving touch should be applied. Fifth, deploy that smile.
Sixth, and rather unexpectedly, Holland recommends using fewer words to get better results.
Seventh, parents should ask questions that involve the child in the decision making process, so that the child feels some ownership with regard to what he has to do. Holland recommends getting out of the habit of giving out orders.
Finally, the parent should give the child information about the situation and get information from the child, so they can respond appropriately.
Measuring your success
What made Holland's workshop interesting was that she answered parents specific questions, and illustrated how to implement this eight step strategy by role playing, which also made the presentation more entertaining. Most importantly, however, she advised implementing her strategies in small steps. And with great insight reminded parents that they know their children best and should implement strategies that work for them. "I speak as if this is truth" Holland said, "But it's up to you to decide what is true. You know your children best."
Parenting is a process of bringing up the child. It is a method of growing a child with full love and care. This process of parenting starts right from the child’s childhood that is when they are the small babies. Thus it is known as baby parenting that is helping a baby to grow, develop with much needed love and affection.
Initially when your baby is small he may not jell with you properly due to various reasons. But not to worry you can adopt various steps to solve this problem. Some of the things that you can do as a part of baby parenting are as follows:
(1) Spend as much time as possible with your baby. This will help you to know the baby better and also the baby to know you. You may come across its various likes and dislikes which will help you to jell with the baby. Thus is a very important part of baby parenting.
(2) Take care of your baby’s needs and wishes that is whether he or she likes toys? Or whether he or she wants to sleep? Or whether he or she is hungry and requires something to eat? Looking after such questions will help you for the growth of baby.
(3) Do not pamper the baby a lot. Do complete the baby’s wish but only the one which are wanted and necessary. Otherwise there is a possibility of your baby being spoilt right from her childhood. Surely your baby will cry for that moments but it is good as compared to he or she being spoilt.
(4) Visit your doctor regularly. This will definitely help you to know your baby better. Doctors are the one who can tell the babies problem within no time. So they can help you a lot regarding various matters of your baby.
(5) Look after the baby very minutely. Always keep them under the microscope. Do not leave them only as they are still unaware about what is going on around them there is a possibility of they harming themselves. This will not keep the baby as well its parents to be happy as baby will cry if it hurts itself and the parents become very emotional when they see their baby crying.
(6) You can help your baby walk by using a crib but make sure that your baby likes it. Crib allows your baby to start learning walking at a relatively very young age. This is not a very essential part of baby parenting but it helps in the growth and development of the baby.
(7) Similarly taking your baby to a garden or somewhere else where the ambience is good will help your baby to know the outside world. This will also help the baby for its growth and development.
Thus you should remember one important point while dealing with various above points that you should always treat your baby with much needed love and care. This will always help your baby to grow and develop faster.
There is something fascinating about twins and many women long for a twin pregnancy. In recent years, the number of women having a twin pregnancy or even higher types of multiple pregnancies such as sextuplets has increased. This is due to a large number of reasons. Many women simply want to have a twin pregnancy so that they do not need to have another pregnancy to produce a sibling for an only child. The trauma of birth is often something that many women feel that they only want to go through once and having twins would be the perfect answer.
Twins do hold a particular fascination for a lot of people and a lot of research has been done into how a woman can increase the chances of her having a twin pregnancy. Some of the results are fairly unusual. For instance, the mother's diet may influence whether she has a higher chance of a twin pregnancy. There are more twins in certain cultures and one of these is a tribe where they eat a lot of yams. So, there is a theory that it is a certain chemical in the yams that helps the women in this culture have a twin pregnancy. Obviously, the mother needs to eat re than just yams to have a healthy pregnancy but it is an interesting theory that she may want to consider if she wants a twin pregnancy.
If a woman is breastfeeding when she conceives then she is more likely to have a twin pregnancy than women who were not breastfeeding. The breastfeeding causes a reduction in the amount of calcium in the woman's system and this has an effect on the egg during conception and ovulation can increase the chances of her having a twin pregnancy.
Older women are more likely to have a twin pregnancy. There is an increased ovulation of multiple eggs in older women and this can lead to a higher chance of the woman having a twin pregnancy. Fertility treatments can also lead to an increased chance of multiple pregnancies. It is also evident that women from African backgrounds are more likely to have pregnancies that are twins or more.
There used to be a theory that twins actually skipped a generation but now it is widely believed that a twin is more likely to have a twin pregnancy themselves. Obviously, this is genetic, but it is another point to consider if you are a twin and want to become pregnant. Similarly, if your family history or that of your partner's has a lot of twins then there is an increased chance that you will have a twin pregnancy too.
There are various types of pregnancy due date calculator that health professionals can use to determine the due date of a baby. In the very early stages of a pregnancy the most frequently used types of pregnancy due date calculator involve using the date that a woman had her last menstrual cycle and the usual length of her period. This type of pregnancy due date calculator is only a rough estimator of when a baby is actually due. A number of factors make this type of pregnancy due date calculator being less than accurate. The most important factor is using this form of pregnancy due date calculator is that a woman needs to know the date of her last period. If she has missed more than one menstrual cycle before she thinks that she may be pregnant then her accurate recollection of the date of her last menstrual cycle is not very reliable. A woman may not have a period or may suffer from irregular menstrual cycles and this makes the date of her last period even less accurate for the pregnancy due date calculator.
The pregnancy due date calculator not only works with the inaccurate information provided about the date of a woman's last menstrual cycle but also assumes that every woman has a menstrual cycle of 28 days. This means that in the early stages of pregnancy a pregnancy due date calculator can only used to produce an estimated due date for the baby. Of course, your health professional will use this type of pregnancy due date calculator in the initial stages of your pregnancy to give a general timeline for the pregnancy but it is important to remember that the estimated due date given can be extremely inaccurate.
After approximately ten weeks a woman is usually given a scan to help more accurately assess the length of the pregnancy. The size of the growing foetus can be used from these ultrasound scans to provide various measurements which are used in a pregnancy due date calculator to determine the estimated due date more accurately. For example, the length of the foetus and the size of its head at various stages throughout the pregnancy are measured and these provide more accurate figures for a pregnancy due date calculator to be able to predict the date of birth. This is because a foetus grows at a predicted rate and it is by using these measurements that a pregnancy due date calculator can give the woman the best estimate as to when her baby is due.
Blood tests that measure that amount of hCG in a woman's blood can also be used by a pregnancy due date calculator. Blood and ultrasound results are the best sources of data for a pregnancy due date calculator and are likely to provide a much more accurate due date compared to any type of pregnancy due date calculator based solely on a woman's previous menstrual period.
