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Be sure to check out the great articles by our trusted baby doctors, including:
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Featured Video
VEGGIE BABY
You'll meet Ava, star of our newest video "VEGGIE BABY" which takes you into the lives of a young couple - vegetarian parents who face the challenges of raising their baby as a vegetarian.
Lisa Goode, our BabyMeTV nutritionist, makes a house call to provide helpful answers. This video provides informative ideas that will help you with your child's diet even if you're not a vegetarian
Lisa writes our nutrition articles in her BabyMeTV column "GOODE FOR YOU". Find her under the SPECIAL GUESTS tab.
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PARENTING TIPS
SUMMER TIME FUN
Summertime - ahhhh, the livin' is easy. Yeah, right! The kids are restless and bored. If they have been released from the structure of school, they want to let loose and have fun.
But what to do with them? If you focus on their interests you can come up with some answers that will make everyone happy. For example, my 6-year old grandson just finished kindergarten. He's interested in everything and loves to read. His parents encourage this love by getting books from the library that are on his summer reading list. He has already discovered the pleasures and adventures that can be found in a good story. This seems to be the secret to helping him retain all that he learned in the past year and he's having a great time doing it.
He loves all the things little boys like...bugs, frogs, butterflies, rocks, fishing and now his new interest: camping. A bright and energetic child like this must be kept involved in something he likes or his behavior will degrade from merely annoying to horrible! He'll torture his little brother and make life stressful for everyone.
On our visit just ended, we took the family on a camping trip in the mountains of North Carolina. (Hoping to escape the extreme heat of Charlotte.)
The idea was to make it a fun and educational trip for our grandsons. We took nature walks, fished in front of our camp site, explored the intricacies of camp cooking (including roasting marshmellows over a campfire) and just had a grand ole time. We made memories that will stay with us and especilly the kids for a lifetime. How about that video as Logan caught his first fish!
Now, what can you do with other age groups? Babies are easier to entertain than toddlers.
Splashing in a baby pool is just fine with them.
Toddlers will love nature walks as much as the older kids. They're fun for all ages.
If you give it a bit of thought, you can come up with fun places to go where your kids will enjoy every minute. Your geography will dictate what you can do. If the beach is out of the question... there's the swimming pool or even a blow-up pool.
If you get to the beach (ocean or lake), the kids will love learning about shells and aquatic creatures.
You may even get some ideas for summertime craft projects. Think shell necklaces.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to follow good water safety procedures and keep an eye on little ones at all times.
Take advantage of the fact that everything is new and exciting for little ones.
And who knows? You may discover a bit of childhood magic for yourself.
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Dear BabyMeTV Visitor
Welcome back. In this newsletter, although it's a little late, we want to SALUTE OUR DADS... We hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day.
Now that summer is here, it's time to prepare for your baby's skin care routine. Be sure to read Dr. Susan Kressly's article Summer Skin Care for your Baby. Even on a mild, cloudy day your child can get a bad burn without sunscreen.
See the preview of our newest articles below and to read the complete articles go to www.babymetv.com.
Visit our video library to see insightful snapshots of the lives of real parents and their real life experiences. Some of our subjects are: SEPARATION ANXIETY , BABY MASSAGE, STAY-AT-HOME DAD, INTRODUCING SOLID FOODS.
Mary Halperin, Editor
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COLUMNIST'S CORNER
As a special treat for FATHER'S DAY, we have a new and entertaining article from our Dad Columnist, Bill Paterson - THE FUNNY THING ABOUT DADS - Father's Day Makes Me Think - Bill tells us how he is just an awesome dad and goes on to site various evidence of his awesomeness! Bill is the primo funny dad who enjoys every moment with his little girl, while laughing all the way.
Jennine Craig, returns with another great article in her column, CRIB NOTES - Preparing for and Giving Birth. You'll experience her angst as a pregnant lady working full time. You'll experience all that she faced the birth of her first child. See Jennine's past articles as she takes you though her experiences with pregnancy.
Aileen Solana, MAMA TALK - Organic Broccoli with Cheez Whiz Please - gives us her rather unusual methods of getting her kids to eat healthy foods with a bit of creativity. We're trying to bring you helpful nutrition advice in every newsletter.
Laurel Cossit, A GRANDMOTHER'S CIRCLE - tells us what it means to be a Real Deal Doula. (The dictionary defines doula as a woman experienced in childbirth who provides advice, information, emotional support and physical comfort to a mother before, during and after childbirth.) Laurel shows us that it means much more when the new mother is your own daughter.
Please go to www.babymetv.com to see the full articles in this newsletter as well as some other interesting ones you might have missed. |
THE FUNNY THING ABOUT DADS
by Bill Paterson
Bill is an advertising copywriter living in Niagara Falls, New York with his wife, Jenn, and 2-year old daughter, Katie. He still finds it shocking that the universe has entrusted him with the fate of another living thing.
Father's Day - It Makes Me Think
It makes me think - that I'm an awesome dad. A bold statement, I know. Please allow me to elaborate. It all goes back to my first Father's Day, which came when my daughter, Katie, was a mere four days old. At that precarious stage I was still quite convinced that my ineptitude would spell doom for this amorphous creature that had aggressively invaded my house. But as I take stock three Dad's Days later, I can only describe my parenting performance as a success of massive proportions. (Note: If you've read this column before, you know that I'm slightly prone to exaggerating for effect. But only slightly.)
I'll offer several reasons for my unabashed pride, if I may. Let me be clear that I don't expect credit for the basic stuff - like managing to avoid dropping her in hot
tar and knowing the difference between Pam and WD-40 when spraying the frying pan. No, I'm talking about some serious Dad-tastic child care.
read more...
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CRIB NOTES
by Jennine Craig
Jennine released the shackles of a full-time job in advertising to be at home with her family after the birth of her first baby. In this article, she reveals the angst that a first time pregnant woman faces when working full time, with a long commute. Her baby, Lindsay, who is now a toddler, helped Jennine learn what it means to be a mommy. And now she is expecting a new baby due in August.
Preparing For & Giving Birth
So, after about 8 months you just start to feel big in every sense of the word. Getting in and out of the car or standing up after sitting down is a bit of a chore. And, you really start thinking, "when will this be over?" I suppose it's a good thing that gestation takes 9 months, because there is a lot to adjust to physically, emotionally, and financially. But, as the end nears, you are definitely ready to give birth.
For me, as a full-time working pregnant gal, I started to have some anxiety about when and how the actual giving birth part was going to happen. I worked a good 1-1/2 hours from home. Which meant my hospital, my doctor, and my husband were all one heck of a commute away if I went into labor. And, then there were client meetings. What if my water broke in front of my clients? Would I be able to make it home? Would a pool of water be left in my wake? What would my colleagues say? Or worse, the partners for the firm? Could I withstand the humiliation of that moment? I started to wonder if I should start wearing adult diapers or something...
read more...
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 MAMA TALK
by Aileen Solana
Aileen lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania wither her husband, two young boys and a big black lab. She works part-time for a non-profit agency and is fully enjoying the highs and hiccups of mommyhood. And now she is preparing for the birth of her third child.
Organic Broccoli with a little Cheez Whiz Please
Upon the birth of our first son, breastfeeding was a natural choice but I was a little more perplexed when it came to feeding him solids. Jarred baby food seemed to be my only option and was my initial reflex response. But I soon found myself growing bored of the seven or eight main selections. One weekend night while making butternut squash soup for dinner, I decided to save some of the homemade puree for our son. The instant satisfaction was two-fold. Our seven month old son devoured his
first home-made meal while I sat back in sheer delight. My friends, an obsession was born.
read more...
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A GRANDMOTHER'S CIRCLE
by Laurel Cossit
Laurel wrote this article after the birth of her first grandson,Aidan. She has been a registered nurse since 1969. She earned her BA in Cognitive Science from SUNY Buffalo in 2002. Without bragging, she felt quite capable of providing the services of a doula - a woman experienced in childbirth who dispenses advice, information, emotional and physical support before, during and after childbirth.
Being the Real Deal Doula
Hubris. It's an old friend of mine. The coyote is my animal guide, evidenced by being "she who shoots herself in the foot." So it was no big surprise that most of my casually pronounced predictions about my daughter's recent birth experience should have been wrong.
I'm not a great prognosticator but, come on, I've had LOADS of experience with the process. I'm a nurse for heaven sake. I've experienced the birth and care of hundreds of children, not to mention my own three. So when my daughter announced her pregnancy, I just naturally assumed that I would be the perfect person to act as her guide, advisor and general comforter. Yup, I was all set to be the real deal doula.
For those of you not familiar with the term, a doula is a mother's helper. Unlike generations past, the women and men having babies now, are often not able to have their parents around as free help. Gone forever are the days when grandma or grandpa routinely lived with their procreating children...
read more...
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