Strollerderby : infant

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 29th

Whit Honea — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Mike Tyson's 4-Year-Old Daughter Dies

Madonna Dishes on A-Rod and Kate Hudson

Confirmed - Gisele is Pregnant With Tom Brady's Baby!

Nicole Richie, Dad Lionel & Daughter Harlow (PHOTOS)

Sneak Peek! Jon & Kate Plus 8 Season Premiere

Kelly Rutherford, Lies and Videotape

Amy Mickelson's Breast Cancer Battle

Michelle Williams and Daughter Matilda Support Their Local Coffee House

Angelina Jolie: Madonna Adopts For Fame

Jon & Kate - Who Are The Kids Happier With? (Photos)

Slumdog Kids Finally Get A Home!

Brian Grazer's Prenup Still Makes Wife Rich

Hint: We Really Might Know Our Kids Better Than You

JeanneSager — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:04:00 GMT

The best part of the latest Non-Breeder column on Babble? The author realizes she was being a bit of a tool.

Not that all "non breeders" are bad people. Far from it. But the expectation that they know better than a parent does how to raise their kids runs high among the kid-free crowd.

And somehow, for all our protestations that we might know our kids a little better than they do, comes the insistence that, hey, you can bring your kid out to the bar at 11 p.m. . . . they'll just sleep in their carrier! Or, in the case of Rachel Odell Walker, the insistence that an eight-month-old belongs on a three mile hike (with a 2,000 foot vertical climb).

I won't rip Walker to shreds, because she does that to herself in her essay. She realized she was a bit of a jerk, and she apologized. It happens to the best of us.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of non-breeders who are still stuck in the first half of Walker's essay. They still think we're staying home with our kids because we're Debbie Downer. As Walker says, "I believed she could reverse her negativity and stop focusing focus on difficult things with a mixture of personal will, therapy, and endorphins."

In a way, you can't blame them. If you don't have kids, you don't think about the money it costs to hire a sitter. You don't have to.

If you don't have kids, you don't think about the aftermath of a night out on the town, of getting up at 5 a.m. with our three-year-old when you didn't crawl into bed until 2 a.m. because the child doesn't understand Mommy wants to sleep. You don't think about the conscious decision to abstain from alcohol because you're breastfeeding.

You don't think about the realities of trying to keep a small child occupied and quiet in a restaurant. Or the fact that that small child has a right to NOT be cooped up in a highchair just because Mommy and Daddy want a night out on the town.

It's why so many of us have lost touch with friends we held near and dear before the baby days. It's important that we as parents respect their lifestyles (don't nag on them for not having kids, for cripes sake, and don't expect them to love, love, love our kids every minute of every day), but it's just as important that they get us.

That they GET that sometimes, it's a lot easier for them to come to OUR houses because we don't have to pack the trunk full of a porta-crib, diaper bag, box of toys, etc. just to have a night out. That we aren't being petulant - just realistic. That kids aren't accessories.

The chief criticism I hear for parents from non-parents is that we change our lives too much after the baby comes along. Yes, we change our lives. But how can we not? Because we are now responsible for someone's entire life. Is there any other responsibility so big? For that matter, would you tell an airplane pilot he's being a big party pooper because he opts out on "the fun" the night before he's supposed to fly a plane full of people's lives?

I'm not asking my friends to make major sacrifices just because I have a kid. They can go out and do their own thing, have their own fun on their time. It's true, I had this child; not them. They don't even have to like my child. But if non-breeders value the person underneath the new parent veil, they will realize, if they want time with us, they need to meet us in the middle.

Don't Give Me Your Tired, Your Stained

We're Not Judging You, Pinky Swear

Playdate: Does Your Sitter 'Love' Your Kids?

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 22nd

Whit Honea — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Gosselins are Good for a Gander

Katie Holmes Sets a Bad Example For Suri

Mormon Marie Osmond Supports Her Gay Daughter!

Stars Come Out For American Idol Finale: Brad Garrett and Kids Max and Hope

Barbara Walters To Interview John Edwards' Mistress Rielle Hunter!?

Bristol Palin and Son Tripp Cover People

Angelina Catches Brad and Jen Aniston Together!

Kate Gosselin Blogs Her Troubles Away

Matt Damon: Bourne to Be a Dad

Pregnant Lauren London & Lil Wayne Will Raise Baby Together!!!

Kelly Clarkson Looks Like She's Pregnant!

Caption This, Julia Roberts (or Don't)

Best of FameCrawler - Week of May 15th

Whit Honea — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

Tom Cruise Pressuring Katie For Another Baby?

Dirk Nowitzki's Fiance Arrested?

Comedian Wanda Sykes & Wife Alex Welcome Twins!

Jada Pinkett Smith a Lesbian?

Julie Bowen Welcomes Twin Boys

Mary Stuart Masterson Has Reason to Smile!

Manny Ramirez Busted!

Chyler Leigh Welcomes Daughter Anniston

Sean Penn Still Dating Natalie Portman, Robin is Pissed!

Kate Gosselin's Heartbreak: Jon & I May Separate

Look, Look, It's Another Octomom Story

Jon Gosselin Shelled Out Big Bucks To Buy Mistress Presents

iPhone Making Parents Everywhere More Helpless?

JeanneSager — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:07:00 GMT

Who knows how mothers managed before the days of the iPhone.

If the Baby Brain iPhone app is any indication, we left them sitting in poopy diapers all day and neglected to nurse!

Designed to help new parents break through the fog of the newborn phase, the app lets you track track feedings, diapers, and sleep. Sent to us by a reader who I'm sure has the best intentions, I'm just not sure how many parents will find this useful.

Maybe I'm the only parent out there who didn't log everything my daughter did as a baby? I had one sitter who gave me a list of every time my daughter had a bowel movement (which she sweetly marked "BM" with a smiley face) and a full description of each. My reaction? Er, OK. Just telling me she had some poopy diapers would have been enough for me.

Nor did I ever find myself writing down how much she ate per feeding or how long she ate for (which, by the way, they say is counterproductive for breastfeeders). And my pediatrician never asked for specifics unless there was something wrong.

I can relate to swimming along in a sleepless fog after my daughter was born, but if multi-tasking diapers and feedings is too much for you, I have a piece of advice: put down the iPhone and give your texting thumbs a rest.

What do you think, parents, will you be downloading this one to get you through the day? It's about to be available on iTunes, so if it's for you, have at!

Image: Baby Brain

Where I Say Something Nice About the New York Mets

JeanneSager — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:34:00 GMT

Ready your markers for the calendar. I'm about to do something a Yankees fan should never do.

I want to send good thoughts the way of New York Mets' pitcher Johan Santana. There I said it. Happy? Good, because it hurt.

So what did Mr. Santana do, pray tell? The pitcher skipped the Mets' home opener last night at the new CitiField because he had bigger fish to fry. Like the birth of his third child.

Santana stayed in Florida after allowing no earned runs in seven innings and pitching thirteen strikeouts on Sunday, so he could be at wife Yasmile's bedside when she delivers a sibling for daughters Jasmily and Jasmine (have they been talking to the Duggars?).

He wasn't scheduled to pitch anyway, but come on, we're talking about the home opener at a brand new park in arguably the biggest baseball town on the planet. I always love it when the big names show they have their priorities straight. It makes me respect them a whole lot more - even if they do play for the Mets.

Does finding out athletes are family oriented change your opinion of them?

Image: NJ.com

Family Evicted for Having Twins

JeanneSager — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:57:00 GMT

Ever heard of someone too big to fit inside a house? What if that person were two people - two teeny, weeny newborn people?

A Michigan couple learned their newborn twins put them over the limit for space allotted to people in their housing community this week when they received an eviction notice - just after the babies were born.

Mike Morris, Shawnee Crider, and their three kids, moved into Mike's mom's double-wide at the housing complex in Kentwood, Michigan shortly after Mike lost his job . . . and the family lost their house. Shawnee was pregnant with twins when they moved in, and she gave birth shortly after they moved in.

That's when Mike's mom's landlord sent a letter - three adults and five kids was too much for one doublewide, it said. Park regulations require at least two hundred fifty square feet of living space per person. Mike and Shawnee - and their five kids - had to get out.

Mike is still looking for a job, and this is his mom's house - his family who had offered to help them when times got rough. Where are they supposed to go? Although we don't want to send people back to tenement living, when families of ten slept in one bed in one room, there's a reason tenements were popular in the thirties - because everyone was broke.

I'm also not convinced a newborn baby needs two hundred fifty square feet of living space. For what? To stare at while they lie like a lump in Mom's arms? They're not crawling yet, not running around, and they don't spend a whole lot of time not connected to a person (even sleeping they need only the size of a bassinet - and that's if you're not co-sleeping).

Should the landlord update its rules or should they stick by them, regardless of the economy?

Image: WoodTV

There Oughta Be A Law (Really?)

Kate Tuttle — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:30:00 GMT

The state of Oklahoma is set to pass a law that would protect pregnant women against murder charges if they kill to protect their unborn child(ren). Legislators pushing for the bill (which passed the state's house this week and soon will hit the senate, where it is expected to pass) cite a case in which a Michigan woman, pregnant with quadruplets, killed her boyfriend after he punched her in the belly. The woman was charged with manslaughter; she lost the pregnancy as well.

Now, I don't know about you but I would have no problem using maximum force if someone threatened me while pregnant, or if they threatened one of my children. That said, I'm not sure a new law is needed -- I would use force to defend myself or my kids whether I was currently pregnant or not. The only purpose such a law could serve would be to make the Oklahoma legislature appear to care deeply about women facing domestic abuse while pregnant (which is a real problem), and to create a back-door justification for future legislation targeting women who do anything while pregnant that could be perceived as harmful to a fetus. So if you're comfortable with the idea of fining or jailing women for failing to take their prenatals, then you should support this law. Otherwise, it's really just a waste of lawmakers' time at best, a cynical and sneaky anti-choice move at worst.

Sadly, many women are beaten when pregnant (though it's not always or even often because they "refuse to abort their child," as argued by Representative Mike Thompson). I'm all in favor of toughening laws and procedures to help protect women from domestic violence. As for mistreatment that happens specifically to pregnant women, heck, let's see if we can rectify some of the worst abuses they face now, like expensive or nonexistent medical care, the inability to find a private health insurer who will cover them, or the lack of a federallly mandated paid maternity leave? Advocacy for those goals would help moms and babies more than this silly bill ever could.

So yeah, I'd probably kill to protect my unborn baby. But I'd fight any law -- like this one -- whose actual goal isn't to help pregnant women, but to hurt them.

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Babies Switched In NYC Hospital

JeanneSager — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:52:00 GMT

Let me just say that part of this story is absolutely awful - that a maternity ward's security practices could fail so miserably that two newborn babies are mixed up for several hours is criminal.

HOWEVER, every time I hear a re-telling of the story of Shatiesha Brown's baby being given to the wrong mom in the New York City hospital's maternity ward, I am more mystified by her misplaced anger.

Brown told a NYC news station that she was outraged that her little girl, Aniya Victoria, was breastfed by another woman at Brookside Hospital.

OK, so what? I'd be flipping a lid over the fact that my newborn child was given to someone else to begin with. That she was breastfed by that woman. . . eh. . . as long as the woman had no communicable diseases, who cares?

The thing is, Shatiesha Brown was told by her doctors that her dangerously high blood pressure had to be monitored. For twenty-four hours, they said, she would have to be separated from her newborn. It's during that period when hospital staff apparently took little Aniya Victoria to the room of another new mom, whose last name was also Brown and whose first initial was also S. The other new mom breastfed the baby and posed for pictures before the mistake was discovered.

Now Shatiesha is claiming that her daughter suffered nipple confusion and that the hospital ruined all her plans to breastfeed the little girl with the mistake. "The bond that you have when you breastfeed your child, that's everything," she told ABC 7.

Except that's not how nipple confusion works. Moving from breast to breast isn't an issue - if it was, babies would have trouble moving from the right side to the left on a mom who has different shaped or sized nipples (which is actually most of the population). Nipple confusion comes into play when a newborn baby feeds from an artificial nipple - which Aniya Victoria would have done ANYWAY if mom and baby were to be separated for twenty-four hours. Even then, babies can still make the switch, albeit with some difficulty, and many women report successful breastfeeding of a year or more after their baby received an artificial nipple during the very early days of life.

The mother I feel for is the one who breastfed Aniya Victoria . . . while her own baby lay in the nursery, missing out on the colostrum that's chock full of nutrients and antibodies.

Shatiesha is suing, of course (doesn't everyone?). I agree she has grounds to demand the hospital be held accountable for the mix-up itself, but I'm smelling a cock and bull story here.

Would you be more upset over the mix-up or the fact that your child fed at someone else's breast?

Image: ABC

Motherless Baby Breastfed By Six Women Each Day

JeanneSager — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:02:00 GMT

A baby without a mom. A bunch of moms still breastfeeding their own babies. It was just meant to be.

You don't hear about death during childbirth much anymore, (and thank goodness for that), but when Susan Goodrich lost her life shortly after giving birth to her son, one of her most important wishes for her child was fulfilled by a band of impromptu wet nurses, moms who heard a baby needed their help.

Charles Moses Martin Goodrich was born on Jan. 11, but when his dad said he wanted the boy to receive breastmilk right off the bat, he was told the hospital didn't have a milkbank. A delivery could come in from elsewhere in Michigan, but it would take several days to ship.

Then Robbie Goodrich got a call of condolence from a friend, a mom who was still nursing her one-year-old daughter. Anything the family needed, she said, anything. . . even her breastmilk. It's when Robbie told his hometown paper that things clicked - he realized other moms might want to help him in his plight, and he called on a family friend to help him round up moms with something to give.

The found twenty total women who set up a schedule - six times a day, Charles has been fed by a different woman (that's one of the volunteers pictured). And by fed, I mean actually suckling at the breast.That is the most incredible part of the story to me - that these women don't just pump their milk and ship it over. With children at home (obviously), they drop everything to drive to the Goodrich home and allow a stranger's baby to nurse. It's the kind of love only a parent could muster for a child - but these aren't his parents!

At night, his father feeds him with bottles of milk pumped by the volunteers, and Charles is a happy, healthy baby despite his rough start to life.

The subject became controversial recently with Salma Hayek's highly publicized feeding of another woman's child, which some called a publicity stunt. There's no way these nameless women could be accused of the same thing. More to the point, what they're doing is life-sustaining while Hayek's one-off feeding was not going to drastically change a child's life.

What do you think of this? Would you do it? Or would you just pump your milk and send it over?

Image/Source: The Mining Journal

They Say: Early Pacifier Use Can Undermine Breastfeeding

Kate Tuttle — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:31:00 GMT

Some parents swear by them, some swear at them, but pacifiers are a nearly universal symbol of babyhood. Now a new study by Danish researchers suggests what many have warned, that early use of pacifiers can be associated with shorter duration of breastfeeding. The study looked at data from visiting nurses who assess and assist all new mothers in Denmark, typically in the family's home around eight days after birth. The health visitors, specially trained in breastfeeding issues, specifically noted whether the baby was being offered a pacifier; two-thirds were.

Published reports about the study are notably light on details. But apparently the Danish study authors noted that early pacifier use correlated with shorter breastfeeding duration, and have advised that mothers wishing to nurse their babies should hold off on offering the pacifier in the first few weeks after birth.

At most U.S. hospitals, nurses still use pacifiers -- without parental notification or consent -- in the earliest hours and days of a baby's life. I'm fairly certain this was the case where my children were born (although nobody ever mentioned it to me one way or the other, the tiny green newborn Soothie was always right there in the bassinet). My kids were both massive nursers and refused the pacifier at home (they also refused bottles), so I don't believe their early introduction interrupted our nursing relationship; that said, it would be interesting to see a study of this sort in the U.S. Some lactation consultants here warn against their use, citing nipple confusion issues, but others hail them as a way for a baby to get its suck on while your nipples rest.

What do you say? Do pacifiers help or hinder the nursing cause?

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What If The State Kept Your Kid's Blood for "Research?"

JeanneSager — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:01:00 GMT

I never thought about what happened to the blood sample taken from my daughter in the maternity ward after she was born . . . until now.

Apparently in Texas, blood samples taken routinely from newborns are kept on hand to be used for research. Which doesn't bother me in the slightest.

But a bill making its way through the Texas Legislature will give parents who DON'T want their kids' blood used in research an out; they can ask for the blood sample to be destroyed rather than held onto by the state.

I understand there are huge privacy concerns here. Even though the state assures parents that the baby's names are not connected to the individual samples once the screenings for disease and defects are completed, we've all seen privacy breaches around the nation on supposedly "safe" credit card information, social security numbers and more. Who's to say health information is safe?

But I'm not sure I see the concern here. Is it that kids might be discriminated against if it gets out that they have a certain disease? Or that parents don't want the blood used for research? Because only three parents have actually complained about the issue so far. In one of the top states in terms of population, we're talking ridiculously low numbers of parents here.

Would you care what happens to a small vial of your child's blood?

Image: Maine.gov

Congress Looks at Postpartum Depression Support

JeanneSager — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:37:00 GMT

Unless you're Tom Cruise, you probably have some sense that postpartum depression is very real and moms could use a heck of a lot more support.

A bill winding its way through both houses of Congress could finally make postpartum depression awareness a priority in the country, along with making it easier for mothers to apply for and access treatment.

The Melanie Blocker Stokes Act, named for a new mother who took her life eight years ago, was introduced in the House of Representatives last year but floundered. Now it's back, with bills reintroduced in the House AND the Senate in 2009. According to a group stumping for supporters who will write to their Congressman begging for passage, the act "would mandate research on the benefits of screening for PPD, and it would also create programs to deliver outpatient, inpatient and home-based health and support services, including services that would promote earlier diagnosis and treatment."

Estimates put the numbers of women who suffer from postpartum depression at one in ten, but as this post from the Perinatal Pro blog correctly points out, women are often hesitant to ask for help - as much because they don't understand the true symptoms as because of a fear of looking like a bad mother. Less than two tenths of a percent of women suffer from a postpartum psychosis (think Susan Smith or Andrea Yates), but because of the intense media attention, many women think their symptoms have to be that extreme to be diagnosed with PPD.

In reality, the symptoms can be as simple as an inability to sleep even when the baby is sleeping, uncontrollable crying, massive changes in appetite or feelings of guilt. They sound like the symptoms of a lot of new moms - the issue is the degree to which they appear. Women need to know there's a way out - and getting proper treatment and support services is a big part of that. Take it from a mom who knows.

Want to help get it passed? All it takes is your name, address and zip code, and the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance will send an e-mail directly to your Congressman asking him or her to vote yes on this bill.

Image: National Institutes of Health (for more information on PPD)

Mother with Herpes Unwittingly Kills Baby with a Kiss

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:09:00 GMT

This heart-wrenching story is made bearable by the courage of the mother it involves, who has taken her tragedy as a chance to educate others.

Ruth Schofield contacted the herpes simplex virus (HSV) for the first time when she was in her final term of pregnancy. She was prescribed antibiotics for her mouth ulcers, which were still present when she gave birth to baby Jennifer.

With no warnings to the contrary, Schofield naturally kissed and cuddled her newborn baby. Soon after her birth, Jennifer stopped feeding and seemed overly sleepy, so Schofield readmitted her to the hospital. Jennifer had no cold sores or outward signs of having contracted herpes, but the virus had spread throughout her organs, and she died when she was just a few weeks old.

Doctors believe that herpes was deadly in this case because Schofield had never been exposed to the virus until the very end of her pregnancy, so her body didn’t have time to build up antibodies and pass them on to her daughter.

A few years after the loss of Jennifer—and 15 months after the birth of her second child—Schofield has started campaigning to raise awareness about the potential deadliness of HSV, which kills six babies a year in the UK, where Schofield lives.

“There is not one single sign in a chemist's and nowhere on leaflets does it say not to go near an end-term pregnant mother or newborn baby [if you have HSV]," she says. I have to agree that there is far too little awareness about this fatal, yet avoidable, situation.

Did you know that a cold sore could kill a baby?

Photo: parents.com

New for Mom: Spa Treatments on the Maternity Ward

JeanneSager — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:55:00 GMT

This might make even the die hard home-birthers opt for a hospital delivery. A new service is making the rounds of maternity wards in the Twin Cities to "mother" new moms with massages and spa treatments.

Launched last year by a mother of three and former TV producer, Go Home Gorgeous is an attempt to give new mothers a jump on recovery from delivery. And did me mention they do massages?

Business owner Rachel Swardson Wenham says after her giving birth to her third child, she was exhausted (sound familiar) and couldn't summon the energy to look forward to going home with a newborn to two toddlers.

"I looked at my swollen legs, my dry skin and was startled by how old my bulbous veins made my hands look. I looked terrible and felt awful. Additionally, nothing about my environment was very healing in a comforting sense. I craved hydration, soothing music, aroma, and someone to tell me it would be okay. I didn't want to just leave the hospital, I wanted to go home gorgeous."

They probably can't do much for the swollen legs. And the stretchmarks are here to stay. But who wouldn't want a little pampering after thirteen hours of contracting followed by forty-five solid minutes of pushing? The pain of childbirth isn't equal for everyone, but it leaves no one looking or feeling their best. We all share that same wan look in the first picture of mom and baby.And with an increased push to keep babies in the mother's room at all times to promote better breastfeeding, it's all exhaustion from there on out.

The way Wenham sees it, it doesn't have to be that way. Let Dad take care of the baby for a forty-five minute message. Get a facial while the pediatrician is taking a look-see at the newborn. And you never have to leave the hospital.

Services run from $45 to $139 (pretty standard spa prices - and that's when you're going to them rather than them coming to you). So would you take them up on it?

Image/Source: MSNBC

Family of Man: Birth Photos Shows Everyone But Mom

JeanneSager — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:30:00 GMT

It's one of the most celebrated photos of a child being born - the baby's body is stretched out with the umbilical cord stretched across his glistening body, the black and white making his scrunched up screaming face that much more vibrant.

Yet, nowhere in the picture, is the little boy's mother. Not even Joan Miller's legs are seen in the most famous photo of her life - the moment she gave birth to son David.

The defining shot in Wayne Miller's Family of Man exhibition of 1955 has gained new attention of late thanks to the publication of a book, Wayne F. Miller: Photographs 1942-1958, published late last year, and an article next month's Smithsonian Magazine. Shot on September 19, 1946 (the baby in the picture is now sixty-two), it's no surprise Mrs. Miller was hidden from view. It's surprising that she allowed her husband to be in the room at all, not to mention with a camera in hand. Although most fathers have cameras and sometimes videocameras at the ready for today's labor and delivery (and we expect photos of our friends' newborn, fresh from the womb, to be sent to our phones immediately . . . if not sooner), ours were the first dads to be allowed - or ask to be - into the delivery rooms as common practice.

Making this photo - which was chosen to be sent into space aboard the two Voyager spacecraft - all the more special is the man seen holding newborn David Miller by the leg. It's his grandfather - Wayne Miller's father, and Joan's father-in-law. I can't imagine allowing my father-in-law to be my OB/GYN (eeek), but then, to know the person helping bring your child into the world has almost as much concern for his wellbeing as you do . . . that could do wonders in putting a new mother at ease!

For a shutterbug like me, the piece was an interesting read; but for a Mom, it was even better. Check it out - and see more photos - here.

Images: Wayne Miller, via Smithsonian Magazine

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Rise in Infant Suffocation Linked to Cosleeping?

KeriF — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:35:00 GMT

The CDC published a study this month reporting that the rate of infant deaths due to strangulation or suffocation quadrupled between 1984 and 2004. Is cosleeping to blame?

Well, according to this report by Reuters it is. The article states, "Rates of sudden infant death from suffocation or strangulation have quadrupled in the past 20 years in the United States, most apparently from parents sleeping with their babies, government researchers reported on Monday."

But the CDC report, published in the journal Pediatrics, says no such thing, instead concluding, "The reason for this increase is unknown."

Part of the problem with this study is that it lumps together infant suffocation that occurs in cribs, couches, and in the parental bed. When a baby dies from suffocating under a blanket in his crib, or by getting stuck behind a cushion on a couch, cosleeping is not to blame. And when a parent accidentally falls asleep on the couch with her baby, that cannot be called cosleeping.

I'm not an ardent cosleeper; I did so for a short period with each of my children more out of laziness than anything else. And I know cosleeping isn't for everyone. But when we discuss cosleeping, let's at least keep to the facts.

Best of FameCrawler: Week of January 23rd

Whit Honea — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:00:00 GMT

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They Say: Vicks VapoRub Bad for Baby

JeanneSager — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:31:00 GMT

Have you always been slightly creeped out by rubbing greasy slime along your kid's upper lip? Good news - you don't have to do it anymore.

Of course, if you're one of those people who has always wiped the Vicks VapoRub under the kid's nose, and hoped for the best, you might want to keep reading.

Reseachers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina announced this week that Vicks VapoRub applied under the nose of children two and under might actually be making it more difficult for them to breathe.

Of course, Vicks is not promoted for kids under two, and the package clearly states it should not be put directly under the nose. But hundreds of parents do it anyway - thinking the layer of gunk under the nose is going to get their kids' mucus moving faster than it would if they smeared it on the chest (in other words, if they followed directions). Unfortunately, according to Wake Forest researcher Dr. Bruce Rubin, the incredients in VapoRub can irritate the nasal passages and cause the body to produce more mucus. The thickened secretions - especially in infants and young children, whose airways are narrower than an adults - will then make breathing more difficult.

Rubin and his colleagues started their project after treating an eighteen-month-old girl in respiratory distress whose parents had treated her with VapoRub, under the nose - despite warnings on the package.

Those pesky directions, they'll get you every time.

Image/Source: Reuters

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Mommy's Little Tax Deduction, And How To Get It

Kate Tuttle — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:33:00 GMT

You know how everyone always gives you lots of unsolicited advice before you have a baby? Like, "your life is gonna change forever!" or "sleep when the baby sleeps"? One thing people rarely tell you, but should, is this: daycare is hella expensive. Luckily, there are a few ways you can defray these costs -- either through the federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit or through a Flexible Spending Account through your work.

It's too late to sign up for an FSA for 2008, but for those trying to figure out what will work best for 2009, here's a handy calculator.

For those without an FSA but looking to claim the daycare credit (which is left unclaimed by thousands of parents who are eligible), the National Women's Law Center has assembled this useful resource. Thanks, women!

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Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

Kate Tuttle — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:02:00 GMT

Are we too quick to call babies overweight and obese? One Australian mother thinks so, and she's pulled her infant from a daycare center for fears the staff there, who labelled her ten-month-old overweight, will fail to feed her adequately. Olivia Villella, ten months old, is hitting the 75th pecentile for weight and the 25th for height -- maybe a little on the round side, but nothing most doctors would worry about -- but her teachers at the ABC childcare center in Australia have called her fat and obese (which her four-year-old brother mis-heard as "a fat beast"), prompting her mother to worry they will withold food from her should she remain there.

I'm all for helping parents feed their children a healthy diet, and even giving them tools to know when their child might need expert help, but the knee-jerk labelling of any child as obese, particularly by people who have no medical training, seems counterproductive at best. While I'm sure the mother is leaving the daycare out of embarrassment and anger as much as any real concerns of her daughter's starving, I can understand how she feels. It's all too easy to judge someone else's baby, and when those doing the judging may well be bringing in their own baggage (especially when it comes to gender: why is it always a girl baby that gets this label?), then it's downright destructive. I know that if my child's daycare wanted to put my child on a diet without consulting me, I'd be out of there fast, calling everyone on the waitlist as I went.

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In Mumbai, Italian Faces Terrorists to Bring Milk to His Baby

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:30:00 GMT

In the midst of phenomenally tragic situations, it helps to focus on happy stories within the larger horror. An Italian named Emanuele Lattanzi was at the center of one of these small but paramount triumphs a few days ago, when he faced gunmen in order to rescue his wife and baby girl from the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai.

Lattanzi, a chef working in the hotel kitchen, was evacuated out of an emergency exit with other restaurant staff as soon as terrorists stormed the building. But his wife and six-month-old daughter were trapped in their hotel room.

For the next two days, Lattanzi was powerless to get to his family, as soldiers would not let anyone through. But he communicated with his wife via cell phone, and when he learned that she had no milk left for the baby by day two of the siege, he was determined to reach her and his daughter with some powdered milk.

Finally, soldiers gave in to his pleas, escorting him to the door of his hotel room, where he remained with his family until soldiers had killed all of the gunmen. He brought his daughter to a pediatrician, where she was pronounced unharmed.

Lattanzi has rightly been hailed the "hero cook" by every major Italian newspaper.

Photo: Herald Sun

Mumbai Hero Nanny May Get Top Israeil Honor

Teen Mom Turns Herself in to Safe Haven

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Just as Nebraska’s uniquely forgiving Safe Haven law is on the verge of being amended, a young mother makes a case for keeping it just the way it is. Currently, it’s legal to abandon children up to 18 years of age at a hospital. But since the law went into affect in July, so many teenagers (and zero babies) have been abandoned at hospitals that Nebraskan legislators are looking to revise the law so that it’s only applicable to infants who are three days old or younger.

But here’s an important use of the country’s only teen-inclusive safe-haven law that many hadn’t foreseen: a 16-year-old mom walked into an Omaha hospital, hoping to find a safe haven not only for her 10 month-old son, but for herself.

The young mother said that she had been physically and emotionally abused, and that her mother had kicked her out of the house. The teenager and her son are now in foster care, and her mother will most likely face prosecution.

Grandma Takes in Seven of Nine Abandoned Kids

Nebraska to Abandon Abandonment Law

Nebraska Dad Who Dumped Nine Kids Speaks Out

Photo: Huffington Post

Pain in Childbirth May Be, Well, Pointless Now?

Kelly Mills — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:33:00 GMT

Hmmm, this is real interesting. Some natural childbirth advocates suggest that the pain in childbirth adds something valuable to the birth process, helping mothers bond with their babies and even bringing um, sexual pleasure (in some cases, but not mine, oh lordy no!) However, a study discussed here in Salon (via Jezebel) suggests that theory may be backwards. Instead, labor and delivery pain might have served to signal to the mother that she should seek assistance, and in fact drive her to desire "companionship and security" from others. From an evolutionary standpoint, this could have meant people who sought help and protection during times like childbirth and illness were more likely to survive. (Hey, if the degree of labor pain indicated individual evolutionary fitness, I would have totally had it made! Um, it doesn't, by the way.)

So, if pain has simply functioned to drive delivering mothers to seek companionship (personals ad, anyone?) then perhaps it's a perk we don't really need any more. And it could be that people are suffering without it serving any real need. Cough.

Okay, I'm sorry, but I like this take on things, curmudgeon that I am. I do think in some circles there's a strange sort of romanticism attached to labor pain, and even the idea of "natural" childbirth as being somehow noble or righteous. Buuut, that said, there are risks attached to the interventions designed to alleviate the pain of labor, and women should be informed of those as well before making any decision. I think the problem is that childbirth is so fraught with anxiety for so many of us---not only because it hurts, but because lots of us want to make the "right" choice for our babies and ourselves. Turns out "right" for me was an blessed, welcome epidural administered after I tried to go natural for a long time, but I would not think of telling you it ought to be the right way for you.

Only 43% of British Moms Offered Home Birth. Outrage!

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Insufferable: Why do people talk about managing birth pain, not eliminating it?

Walking: Why Can't Babies Do It?

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:35:00 GMT

I'm sure none of you has time to watch a video of an infant getting pushed around in a mini wheelchair by her hipster parents. And yet....

You'll thank me, I swear.

Photo: work-stuff.co.uk