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• Baby abandoned in Queens, husband had ordered Mom to have abortion

  On May 11, a 3-day-old baby girl was found abandoned on the stoop of a building in Flushing, Queens, along with a bag full of diapers and formula. A day later, police found the mother, a 31-year-old named Hua Zheng, by using information on the hospital bracelet the baby still wore. (Oops.) They also had surveillance video footage of her leaving the hospital with the baby – on Mother's Day. Read More... Posted May 14 2008, 08:30 AM by Brett Singer with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: new york city, news, newborn, adoption, babies, dads, moms, abortion, hospital, NYC, safe haven law, taxi baby, queens, asian, Brett Singer, abandoned baby, Kristina Yu, Hua Zheng

• A Delivery Story That's Truly Incredible

  Fill that mug with coffee and recline that office swivel chair -- have I got a pregnancy and delivery story for you. Xochitl Parra is a 17-year-old high school student who, somehow, managed to hide her pregnancy from her parents for nine months. Assuming they would kick her out of the house once they found out, she had arranged to move in with a friend after the baby was born. But then something unexpected happened: The baby decided to arrive a few days early, while Parra was in the shower. Read More... Posted May 05 2008, 09:02 AM by Jen Chaney with | with 13 comment(s) Filed under: newborn, baby, delivery, hidden pregnancy, birthing, Xochitl Parra

• Mom Brain Is Not Such a Bad Thing

  Maybe this is a second kid kind of a thing or a new baby situation, but man, I miss having my act together. Two short months ago, I totally felt I was rocking the work-at-home mom thing. Then baby #2 arrived, and while he is delightful and wonderful and a much, much easier baby than I deserve, there is no longer a single, solitary aspect of my life I am not ragingly behind on. Thank you notes unwritten, blogs not maintained, friends not called, books, hell, magazines unread. And we'll not talk about the tumbleweeds of pet fur all over my house or the disorganized cluster-you-know-what that is my work life. So I found this essay, from Parenting (my least favorite parenting mag), of all places, very reassuring.  Read More... Posted Apr 24 2008, 11:03 AM by AmyinMotown with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, newborn, Motherhood, Life, WAHM, postpartum, working at home, housekeeping, new baby, second child, mom brain, intellect

• Government to Mother: Sorry you had to give birth in the bathroom

  Reuters has a report on a couple in Chile that was forced to deliver their newborn in the bathroom after waiting for 2 hours to see a doctor at a public hospital. Read More... Posted Apr 14 2008, 01:30 PM by Brett Singer with | with no comments Filed under: news, newborn, babies, government, apology, weird, restroom, Brett Singer, toilet, chile

• Your Worst Maternity Ward Nightmare

  We've all had this thought after delivering a baby. In that post-C-section haze, as we hand our wee one off to a nurse so he can get weighed, we fleetingly wonder: Could someone kidnap my child during these few minutes he is out of my sight? And then we think, nah. But apparently that's exactly what happened yesterday in Sanford, Fla. The good news is that the infant was found fairly quickly and has since been reunited with the parents. Weirdly, this occurred just two days after a 10-year-old in Kansas City met the FBI agents who rescued her when she was abducted 10 years ago from a Kansas hospital. In the Florida case, 39-year-old Jennifer Latham reportedly changed into hospital scrubs, posed as an employee and placed the child in a large blue tote bag, then slipped by hospital security and left the grounds. Police tracked her down about 90 minutes later and found the newborn unharmed. Officials say the woman was not related to the child or the parents, and that this appears to have been a random abduction attempt. Read More... Posted Mar 29 2008, 05:30 PM by Jen Chaney with | with 13 comment(s) Filed under: newborn, baby, kidnapping, maternity ward, post-delivery, abduction

• Weekly Check-Up: Natural Birth Like the Dutch

  There's an interesting report on the Dutch tradition of giving birth from the perspective of a Reuters reporter. Basically, the Dutch believe birth optimally happens at home (30 percent of births happen this way, compared to a tiny fraction in the U.S.,) no pain medication is necessary, and that labor pains are part of the way the mother bonds with the baby. (If so, I ought to be practically fused to my child.) The bottom line is that birth is not seen as a medicalized process. Oh, and get this: A maternity nurse takes care of the family at home for a week and does cooking, cleaning, and infant care. Sign me up for that part! While I've never been a convert to the notion of natural birth as essential... Read More... Posted Mar 27 2008, 01:29 PM by Kelly Mills with | with 13 comment(s) Filed under: pregnancy, newborn, homebirth, mother, child, maternity, hospital, labor and delivery, Dutch, epidural, infant care, weekly check up, natural birth, nurse, ob-gyn, anesthesia

• Pregcellent: Babies Do Come With (Hilarious) Instructions!

  As a new parent, the whole baby thing can be overwhelming, to say the least. There's this idea we should just know how to do stuff naturally, like breastfeeding or interpreting the baby's cries correctly with little or no instruction. But of course, it isn't that instinctive. The lucky moms and dads have good relatives and friends to share parenting pearls with, and of course there's tons of books on the subject as well. But other people can get annoying with the constant advice, and the books are by and large dull as bleaugh.  That's why I think nothing is quite as good at breaking down what to do and... Read More... Posted Mar 26 2008, 09:31 AM by Kelly Mills with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, newborn, websites, babies, internet, diapers, infants, funny, humor, instructions, pictures, advice, bonding, pregcellent, help, resources, care, feeding

• IVF Moms Feel Less Confident

  As someone who went through infertility, I should probably be up in arms about this study done in Australia that shows mothers who went through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) were less likely to feel confident caring for their babies. But I'm not. For one thing, the study didn't say these mothers were objectively worse at caring for their babies, just that they felt less confident doing so. And also, anyone who has been through the infertility rollercoaster will tell you, it can do a number on your self-esteem, like this: "Crack whores have babies! Mean people have babies! BRITNEY FREAKIN' SPEARS has two babies! Why can't I have one?" Read More... Posted Mar 21 2008, 04:33 PM by AmyinMotown with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: newborn, australia, IVF, infertility, confident mothers, baby care

• Which Age Do You Like Most -- Newborns, Toddlers, Teens?

  I totally get how mothering newborns can be a real downer, but truth be told, I loved the entire baby phase with both my kids. From newborn to that first birthday, I had little to complain about -- that includes the crappy sleep, feeling like a milk truck, the soft belly (oops, still got it), the showerless weeks. Loved it. Then the kids turned 1 and sure, still nice, but that was when the whole "mommy" and "precious baby" thing starts to wear thin. But the kids still napped, so I persevered.  And then.   Read More... Posted Mar 11 2008, 05:02 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, newborn, teens, toddlers, Mothering, baby phase

• Baby Exploitation and Election 2008

  It's parenting that borders on questionable. It's the kind of thing you do with your kid where you're just asking for trouble. It's shallow, it's risky, it's exploitation of your own flesh and blood. And I love it! A freelance writer and filmmaker from New Hampshire took his itty-bitty daughter all around the Granite State during the heyday of primary election campaigning. He had one goal in mind: getting baby Dahlia photographed with each of the presidential candidates (except Mike Gravel, who he says freaks him out. Understood.)  The result is a fantastic ... Read More... Posted Jan 09 2008, 04:28 PM by Madeline Holler with | with no comments Filed under: newborn, newborns, bad parenting, Slate, absurdity in politics, 2008 Campaign, activities with kids, kids and parents, newborn babies, babydaddy, exploitatioln of children, cameras, campaign, Bad Parent, baby-daddy, election, new hampshire, campaign trail, babies at work

• Big Babies and Even Bigger Babies

  After giving birth to my second daughter, a whopper at nearly 11 pounds, I’m always interested in the details of big babies, especially the extra super-sized newborns that make mine look like a peanut. Like this one – a 14-and-a-half pounder born six months ago to a fairly wee mama (5 feet tall and slim). She looked full term at five months pregnant, and by the time she was 37 weeks along (that's her in the picture), her doctors in the U.K. insisted she head down to surgery for a c-section. The surgical staff gasped when they pulled little, er, big Jack out and held him and his linebacker shoulders and roly-poly legs, arms and bloated torso up to show his parents. Jack was suffering ...         Read More... Posted Nov 26 2007, 10:06 AM by Madeline Holler with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: newborn, large babies, sick kids, health and kids, U.K. moms

• Will My Cat Sleep on My Baby's Chest? Introducing Babies to Pets

  When I brought my older daughter home from the hospital for the very first time, I set her carrier down on the floor and then went and got our two cats. They approached her cautiously, as if she was going to explode or spew masticated carrots all over (that part came later). They got a bit closer, sniffing carefully. The she began to cry, and tey freaked. What was this...THING that sounded like another cat but clearly wasn't one?   Read More... Posted Aug 18 2007, 03:36 PM by Karen Murphy with | with no comments Filed under: newborn, babies, cats, dogs, pets, introducing oets to babies

• Mama Needs a Hot Italian Manny (Everything You *Really* Need for Your Newborn)

  We absolutely love the Must-Have Newborn List published with great care by Shelly at The Menagerie. Shelly's list is full of good advice, specific product recommendations and real admissions about what a freak-out time it is when you have to bring this baby being home and raise it among your own pack. Forget Martha Stewart's cashmere-knitted, perfectly-folded list. Toss aside the pregnancy book's generic "bouncy seat," "onesie," "changing table" list that is of no real help in the sea of products in the baby aisles at Target.  We at Strollerderby, being the helpful neighbor types, the people you either glare down or try to befriend at the pre-birth Bradley class, have just a few items we'd like to add to the Must-Have Newborn List. No need to alert your pediatricians or the authorities, but we've all pitched in and strongly advise you to stock your freezers and dresser drawers with: Read More... Posted Aug 13 2007, 10:02 AM by Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) with | with 10 comment(s) Filed under: newborn, the menagerie, layette, must-have list

• Youngest Babies in Car Seats: Death Risk?

  New parents have a hell of a lot to worry about. I remember being unable to sleep because I was obsessed with worry about whether my newborn was actually breathing, or trying to figure out what this sound and that one meant.  So I'm sorry to report that there's an additional worry for parents of newborns: it appears that there is a risk of sudden and unexplained death in less-than-one-month-old infants seated in car seats. Yikes. "While premature babies were not at increased risk, babies younger than one month old were almost four times as likely to die suddenly while seated, compared to the older babies. And babies under one month old whose deaths were unexplained were more than seven times as likely to die while seated, compared to older babies with unexplained deaths." Ever hear of a babymoon? It's the notion that a newborn's quiet getting-to-know-life time takes about the first six weeks. Parents who are able to do this stay more or less secluded with their new little person as much as possible in that time (and friends and family, or maybe a postpartum doula! help out with meals and cleaning and such). Utopian? Sure. Realistic? Not for everyone. But it helps take a potential tragedy out of the equation, if you can manage it. But that won't help the zillions of parents who don't have the luxury of (or desire for) a babymoon. And having one more thing to worry about is awful. Maybe next someone can figure out why this seems to be happening. I know I always cringed when looking at one of my little ones scrunched up in their seat in those early days when we did have to go out; I wonder if a very wee baby's natural curved position, not helped at all by being in a car seat, has anything to do with the phenomenon? Posted Jul 23 2007, 07:34 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: newborn, baby, car seats, babymoon, SIDS

• D'Oh! I Coulda Had a Doula!

  Ah, the heady days of early parenthood, when you're just getting to know your newborn for the first time ever (despite having been kicked by that person for months) in a sleep-deprived daze, a topsy-turvy melange of emotions ranging from bliss to Full Freak-Out Mode. Turns out a postpartum doula can make all that much easier. And I totally wish I had known about this. Sure, many people are aware of labor doulas, nice women who hold your hand while you moan and groan through labor, but a postpartum doula? Who the hell needs that? You do. I did. We all do. New daddies can only do so much, you know? Basically, a doula does whatever your mom would do if she was there, the whole "raised by a village" concept. A little laundry, a little cleaning, a little cooking, breastfeeding advice, or simply some handholding and listening sympathetically for the 17th time to all the gritty details of your birth story, all these go a long way in comforting the new mom. Not to mention baby-related details like about bathing and dressing that fragile squirming bundle, or just being an extra pair of hands so you can go pee without fear that your baby will vaporize if you're not there every second. Or identifying all those terrifying weird little baby-sounds they make: it would have been helpful for me to know, for instance, that newborns sound like cats and that this is normal. If you can swing the expense, even for just a few days (usually not covered by insurance, natch), I highly recommend it. If hell froze over and I was going to have another baby I definitely would do so.  Posted Jun 03 2007, 08:06 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: newborn, birth, babies, postpartum doula, doula

• Crackhead Laughs at Stillborn Street Birth

  The Oakland, Calif., woman who stopped in the middle of the street, gave birth and then walked away was released from jail -- after laughing about the matter with police. The baby was four months premature and stillborn, so police say they had no choice but to release her. Alisyn got it right in the comments in the initial post -- drugs are definitely a factor. Turns out the 25-year-old is a homeless prostitute crackhead, er, drug user, who told police the baby came from one customer or another. From what she told police ... "She was pretty much nonchalant," homicide Sgt. James Morris said. "She wasn't sorry she got caught and she didn't seem concerned about what happened. She thought it was funny."  ... I just hope she was high throughout the whole ordeal -- high as a freaking kite. There's no other explanation for such callousness craziness. Posted Mar 15 2007, 02:01 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with no comments Filed under: arrested, news, newborn, baby, mother, criminal behavior, baby abandonment

• Woman Stops, Drops Pants, Gives Birth ... Ouch

  A woman in Oakland, Calif., was walking down the street when she dropped her pants, gave birth to a premature baby, ripped out the umbilical cord and continued walking, according to police. "It's just crazy,'' said a police Sgt. Tony Jones of the homicide detail. "Once she started spitting out the baby, you have some obligation to get it some type of medical attention. She didn't do that.''  Spitting out the baby? OK, not the choicest of descriptions for an already weird, sad story. The baby died, and the woman was arrested shortly afterward. Witnesses who apparently stopped long enough from thinking -- "What the hell just happened?" -- followed the woman and pointed her out to police. An autopsy will determine whether the baby was stillborn or died after birth. I'm just hoping the woman is getting help -- not jail. And if you're reading this and think you might need an extra hand yourself, please look into this first. There's help out there. Posted Mar 10 2007, 02:02 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: arrested, news, newborn, baby, birth, mom, abandoned babies, baby health, baby abandonment

• Fake Nurse Snatches Baby From Mom at Hospital

  A woman posing as a nurse snatched a newborn away from her family at the hospital, and police in Texas have begun a frantic search for the infant -- who is in need of medical care. So if you happen to be the person police are looking for, please be aware the kid can't have milk. She's got jaundice and she needs to be dropped off somewhere safe right. now. If you don't happen to be the person and you live somewhere around Lubbock, Texas, check out the description of the kidnapper here, and keep your eyes open. Police say the woman removed baby Mychel Darthard-Dawodu's security tag around her wrist and dashed out of the hospital. Maybe one security tag isn't enough. Our hospital used wrist tags and belly button tags -- something that should become universal in practice. Posted Mar 10 2007, 12:45 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: news, newborn, mother, babies, criminal behavior, crime, kidnapping

• "Bubble Boy" Disease Test 30 Years in the Making

  Every year between 40 and 100 babies are born with what is known as "severe combined immunodeficiency disease" -- though doctors believe many more babies might have died due to undiagnosed complications. It sounds scary enough, but it gets worse. John Travolta made a movie about it -- "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble." In all seriousness, the movie was made in 1976. It's been 30 years since that catastrophe and doctors are just now working on an early screening test for newborns? What gives? It turns out that the disease has been too complicated to detect in the early, blood droplet screenings given to newborns. Until now. Wisconsin is set to become the nation's first state to screen for the disease, potentially followed by other states if a pilot program works. People, get on it. Early testing is key to fighting the disease, because if an infant becomes too sick too soon, surgery becomes more and more risky. That doesn't even take into account the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to cure if the disease is detected later -- or the sad prospect of forcing a child to live in a bubble. (I mean besides those created every day by pushy albeit deluded parents.) All I'm saying is I just hope it doesn't take another 30 years. Or another John Travolta movie. Posted Jan 16 2007, 04:00 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with no comments Filed under: health, news, infant, newborn, hospitals, medicine, babies, health and well-being of children.

• Ben Affleck Doesn't Want to Embarass Daughter. Oops, Too Late!

  “I’ve never been very judicious about my own behavior or choices, until they had an impact on someone other than me,” says actor Ben Affleck, dad to 1-year-old Violet.  “… my daughter, who has my last name.  I don’t want her to mutter it over a drink.  I want her to be proud of her old man.” Lucky for Ben, there’s so much quality film footage that he could show his daughter each time she pulls one of those teenage laments about how her parents are such douchebags.  “I understand how you feel, honey,” he could say.  “Why, I used to be embarrassed that my Mom was a school teacher.  What a peon!  Wanna watch my 'Jenny from The Block' video again?” Isn’t it funny how every new parent aspires to avoid the unforgivable sins their own parents committed: the sins of being not being “cool,” not “understanding,” not “getting it”?  But we all know it’s unavoidable.  I mean, just the fact that most of us are at least 25 years older than our kids means that we’re not going to “get it.”  And why would we want to?  When was the last time you identified with someone 25 years younger than you?  All the 5-year-olds I know are jerks. As the parent of a 4-year-old and a 19-month-old, I’m not quite there yet.  I still kinda think I can pull it off, this “cool” parent thing.  Why not?  I’ve got tattoos!  I've had piercings!  When my older daughter Hazel’s 15, I'll be able to say, 'Honey, go ahead and get that eyelid piercing you've been talking about.  I totally understand and support the idea of you putting permanent holes in your face.  You go, girl!'  When my younger girl Violet wants to go to the movies alone with her seventh grade boyfriend (or girlfriend – I’m cool with that!), I’ll pretend to think it over, before nudging her in the ribs with my elbow and saying 'You and I both know that ‘going to the movies’ is code for ‘dry humping,’ dude.  Just make sure you buy tickets to that new Ben Affleck movie, so you know you aren’t missing much!' I like to think that I’ll be able to relate to my girls when they’re older – or at least not completely mortify them.  I guess Mr. Affleck and I have that in common (boy, there’s something I never thought I’d say).  Hey, we also have a daughter named Violet in common!  And we both totally regret rubbing suntan lotion all over Jennifer Lopez’s ass in that goddamn video.  Oh wait, I guess that’s just him. Posted Dec 12 2006, 04:10 PM by Alisyn with | with no comments Filed under: celebrity, Ben Affleck, Embarassing Your Kids, infant, newborn, baby

• Teen Driver Crashes When Fake Baby Loses Its Shit

  In the ridiculously named town of Pleasanton, CA, they give high school kids "realistic-sounding baby dolls" to teach them what it's like to be a parent. This represents a quantum leap from when I was in high school in the late 80s. We had to carry around a raw egg for a few days, pretending it was our baby, and if the egg broke, the kid was a goner. But up in Pleasanton, the "realistic-sounding" doll thing wrought major havoc on one 17-year-old girl: she swerved her car into a freeway guardrail and slammed into a pickup truck after the doll in her care suddenly began to cry. "The teenager had just picked up the doll as part of a school project on responsible parenting minutes before the accident occurred Tuesday on I-580, said Steve Creel, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol." "No one was seriously injured in the crash, but the CHP will pursue charges because the girl was driving without a license, he said." I'm fascinated by this story because I wonder exactly how realistic this doll could have been to make the kid crash her Mini Cooper. According to the story, "The educational doll cries and wets itself and has a recording device that monitors how long it takes the doll's "parent" to respond to its crying." Cries and wets itself? That's it? Hardly realistic. If they wish to show these high schoolers what being a parent really looks like, they should add the following features: When the baby is in the car seat, make it poop. And make it one of those loose baby shits that pour out its diaper and drench the whole onesie in Hershey Squirt. Make the baby fascinated by everything dangerous, like electrical outlets and small shiny things and steak knives. Make the baby want to watch Sesame Street every waking minute of every god-damned day, so much so that the teenager will develop a white-hot hatred for that Elmo motherfucker and fantasize about scooping out his furry red trachea with a spork. Posted Dec 10 2006, 07:00 AM by Dad Gone Mad with | with no comments Filed under: doll, news, automobile, newborn, cars, driving, baby

• Elvis Costello & Diana Krall Have Twins - And Give Them Cool Names!

  Singers Elvis Costello and Diana Krall (sorry, but I just can’t bring myself to use the word “crooners” – so lame), welcomed twin sons on December 6. Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James were born in Manhattan, and mother and sons are “doing splendidly,” says the family’s rep. Can we talk about these baby names for a second?  How fabulous are they?  I’m a total sucker for weirdo celebrity baby names – Apple, Fifi Trixibelle, Hopper, Rebel, Seven, I love ‘em all! – but it’s the old-fashioned, so-uncool-they’re-cool-again names that really melt my heart. There is something beautiful about reaching into the past, and dusting off your great-grandfather’s name for your son.  There is a certain kind of romance that goes with naming your daughter after your favorite old jazz singer, or silent-film actress.  There is a solid and respectable air to names that have made a comeback, after a century of hiding beneath mothballs – names like Maisie, Cyrus, Harriet, Emmett. There are those who will disagree, of course, but I think the Costello-Kralls have done an admirable job giving their sons strong, classic, interesting names.  Well done – and congratulations! Posted Dec 09 2006, 07:00 PM by Alisyn with | with no comments Filed under: celebrity, newborn, baby, pregnancyegnancy, birth, twins, music, musicians