Health & Safety : Tips for Moms & Baby Websites

Post Partum Weight at 5 Weeks

Just checked my weight this morning. After 5 weeks of giving birth, my weight went from 148 to 128. Still got that flabby stomach though.

The first 4 weeks, I was wearing the post partum support band. Apparently, it’s supposed to help you lose water weight and help you get back to your pre pregnancy weight quicker.

Did it help? I honestly don’t know. I think most of the weight loss is from the baby. Did anyone else out there use a band to help them lose weight? My primary purpose of using the band was for support. But when I heard that it may help you lose weight, I started to wear it more often. Should I continue to wear it? Has anyone else used it?

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How Much Tylenol To Give Two Month Old Newborn?

We took Little Pea in for her two month immunization shots (one shot for the second dose of Hep B) this past Monday. She has been quite fussy the past few days. She was running a slight fever as well. So we gave her a little bit of Tylenol.

At the visit on Monday, she was 21 inches and weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces. That was just about the size of Little Mochi when he was first born! It took Little Pea nearly two months to get to Little Mochi’s birth weight and height!

Anyways, at 8 pounds 10 ounces, we weren’t sure of how much Tylenol to give Little Pea. After Googling it, we gave her 0.4 ml. I hope it’s enough (or not too much). Her fever is gone, but she’s still a little fussy. Don’t know if it’s because of the shot, or if she’s just gassy.

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Hello World!

No, this is not a test. I have not been on this blog in months. I have not even thought about this blog in months. Since the last time I blogged, my husband was in Maryland for business travel for a little over a month. So I moved back home with my folks. I needed the help being pregnant and all. Then we decided to permanently move back to my parents when he returned from business travel. Ever since then, it’s packing, cleaning, moving. We had a moving sale at the condo and a garage sale at my parent’s place. We are now living at my parent’s but have not officially cleared out our condo yet! And we’re not even situated here – we have all of our stuff lying around the house. It’s such a mess. And to think I’m giving birth in 8 weeks! There’s not much time is there?

A quick update on this pregnancy. I look great so far! I have gained only 20 pounds total since my last appointment. My last appointment was two weeks ago, June 15. My appointments are now every two weeks so I have another checkup tomorrow. I’m sure I’ve gained a few more pounds in the last two weeks because the baby has grown. I can feel her.

HER. Did I even tell you guys it is going to be a GIRL? It’s going to be a girl! Hubby and I have to agree on a name. I find it very difficult to find a good girl’s name. We do want a “mature” sounding name, yet something we can be cutesy as a kid. Any suggestions????

So far, I think overall, this pregnancy is easier on me. I don’t know if it’s because I know what to expect, or if it’s because it’s a girl. Or perhaps I haven’t gained as much weight as I did with Little Mochi. The only thing that I didn’t like about this pregnancy is that I have been sick 3 times already. At the rate that I was sick, I’ll probably be sick again next month, the month that I’ll be due! Augh! That could also be a reason why I haven’t gained much weight. Last month, a simple cold transpired into a sinus infection. After one and a half weeks of not getting better, of sleeping only 3 hours a day – and sleeping sitting up because my nose too congested to lie down, and of coughing, I finally gave my family doctor a visit and finally got some meds.

Ladies, your OB/GYN will NOT prescribe you any meds if you are sick. I called the OB/GYN on a Friday complaining that I did not have just a cold. It has been a week and I haven’t gotten any better. The last two times I was sick, I was starting to get better after a week. My congestion was getting worse and I couldn’t sleep at all. So I didn’t even have the energy to get better! I had so much mucous in my nose. The doc kept telling OVER THE PHONE that it is probably just a really bad cold and that I needed to drink lots of water. I called again on Monday…giving him the benefit of the doubt, hoping that I would get better over the weekend. I didn’t. I asked if I had a sinus infection. He asked if I have sinus problems. Actually, I have never had a problem with my sinuses. So he said it couldn’t be my sinus. So now it’s probably just a bad allergy so I can take Benedryl if I wanted to. I just couldn’t believe it. He wouldn’t even let me see him at the office.

Obviously, I got upset so I gave my family doctor a visit. Sure enough, I had a sinus infection. My family doctor felt area above my cheekbone. It was actually a little tender. He said the mucous didn’t drain and stayed in my sinuses, causing a sinus infection.

He prescribed me Amoxicillan. It’s safe for pregnant women. He said that Azithromycin is also safe, but Amoxicillan is a little “weaker” and to try that first. Wow, I was so happy. Of course, I didn’t want to take any meds if I didn’t have to. But I was not getting any better and I was not getting any sleep.

After one day of taking my antibiotics, I felt much better. I was able to get 5 hourse of uninterrupted sleep. Imagine that! And my mucuous started to drain slowly. I know it sounds gross.

I’m feeling great now. Just hoping that I don’t get sick again right before I deliver. Wouldn’t that be disasterious?

Until next time…

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How To Prevent Sports-Related Injuries In Children

Physical activity will always be part of a child’s life. Before a child even enters school, children are already engaged in unstructured play. As preschoolers, they are already introduced to the fun of sports through non-competitive athletic classes. At around 6 years of age, children may already be engaged in organized team sports.

There are many benefits that a child can get through sports. Aside from allowing kids to get much needed physical activity, it also allows children to be part of a team. Participating in sports can also be an opportunity for kids to start friendships, and to improve self-esteem.

Growth and development can vary for children. It is then important to consider, that children of the same age, may have a significant difference in height and weight. Children may also not perceive sports-related risks the way adults do. Thus, parents need to ensure that a child is involved in an activity appropriate for his skill level, as well as physical and emotional development.

It is crucial that children wear the right safety gear for a particular sport. In order for these to protect a child, it should also be the right size. More importantly, parents need to make sure that the gears have passed safety standards. To ensure its effectiveness, steps should also be taken to properly maintain these equipments.

Parents should also determine whether children are playing on safe areas. Some playing fields may be full of holes and ruts, which may lead to injuries. For children involved in high-impact sports, choosing surfaces like tracks or wooden floors may be safer, as compared to concrete surfaces.

Due to the risk of injuries, sports activities in children should be supervised by qualified adults. Choose the leagues or teams, which promote a child’s safety at all times. A team coach should also have training regarding first aid and CPR. More than winning games, a coach should be more focused at promoting good sportsmanship, and preventing injuries.

Before playing, proper preparation should also be done. Warm-ups are important because it prepares the body for the activity. A 15 to 30 minute warm up can help increase flexibility of the muscles and ligaments. Thus, parents need to let children know that warm-ups should be taken seriously.

To reduce the risk of injury, a child should also be knowledgeable about the rules of the game. Though training sessions and practices can help a child, it may be best if you reinforce his learning. Watch a game with your child, and point out the rules and safety precautions needed. Emphasize the need to take breaks to prevent overuse injuries. It is also important for a child to drink plenty of fluids at intervals, especially when the weather is hot.

There are organized sports teams, which require a physical exam before a child can participate. These are actually essential in determining, whether a child is physically fit to play the game. If your child has health concerns, reassure him that there are other activities, which he may also enjoy.

Children can really get a lot of benefits from sports, but proper guidance is still necessary to prevent injuries from occurring. Parents may also take the opportunity to teach life lessons in a young child. Helping a child deal with wins as well as defeats, may better prepare a child for the many challenges that life has in store for him.

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The 15 Month Check Up

It was originally scheduled this past Monday, but he had a fever. Since he was getting his immunization shots, I had to cancel the appointment. I couldn’t reschedule the appointment until his fever is gone.

After some Tylenol, Little Mochi’s fever was gone by Wednesday. So Friday morning, I called the pediatrician’s office to see if I could bring him in that afternoon for his shots. They squeezed me in at 4:45 pm.

The nurse told me that I technically should wait at least 4 days after the fever to give him his hots. But since it was only one day, we decided to go forward.

She did the routine check up. Asked about his development, measured his height, weight, and temperature.

Height = 31 inches
Weight = 24.7 lbs
Temp = 99.5.

Uh oh. 99.5 degrees. Since the temperature was measured through the ears, that’s a low grade fever. The doc said it should be ok to give the shots, but it’s really up to the parent to decide if they would rather wait or not.

If I had known that he had a very small fever, I would have scheduled the visit for next Monday. I really didn’t feel comfortable with giving Little Mochi the shot since you never know how they will react to any immunization shots. So I postponed it to next Monday.

Great. Another $10 for the copay plus 20 miles of freeway getting to the office and another 20 miles getting back home. Plus the time. I wish I would have just given him the shot. But at least I know he won’t be reacting differently or more sensitively to the agents in the shot. Little Mochi will also be getting the flu shot so an even more reason not to go through with the immunizations. I have always, always gotten terribly sick after I get a flu shot.

On the physical development side, however, Little Mochi seems to be doing quite well. He is able to feed himself finger foods quite well, drinks out of a straw, is able to chew quite well, and is running now. After visiting my aunt’s kid (who is 5 weeks younger than Little Mochi is and crawls as fast as Little Mochi can walk), he finally learned to crawl. How backwards is that!

The only thing that Little Mochi needs improvement on is his speech. I think he’s a little slow in that area. My cousin’s kid, who is 2 weeks older than Little Mochi, is already has a lot of words in his vocabulary. Little Mochi is still babbling baby talk. He’s quite good at pointing at things and saying “Oh!” but that’s about it. I think he’s almost ready to talk, though. He’s definitely been babbling a lot more these past few weeks.

The Doc did say that we shouldn’t be too concerned about his speech just yet. Yes, he should be able to call Mom or Dad or any other 3 words, but boys tend to be slower than girls. In addition, Little Mochi is surrounded by 3 languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Who wouldn’t get confused if their trying to learn to talk?

If your child has not spoken his first 3 words by 18 months, according to my pediatrician, you should consider seeing a speech therapist. He gave me a number to call in the Northern Orange County area. But if you google Speech Therapist in your area, you should be able to find one. I am reluctant to call because they will teach Little Mochi English. He can learn that in kindergarten. I really would rather have Little Mochi learn Chinese, Cantonese or Mandarin, first so that he can be bilingual. I really want to take advantage of that opportunity.

Don’t let the cost of speech therapy be a reason for not getting your child help. The cost of speech therapy is actually free. It is paid for by our tax dollars.

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Getting Baby to Nap

Often times, Little Mochi does not nap at all. I guess it’s understandable at his age. He’s 15 months now (Wow, 15 months gone by just like that!) and walking. Scratch that. He’s running now. And he’s full of curiosity. He’ll grab a ball from one basket, run to another basket, and throw the ball in that 2nd basket. He’ll then run back to the first basket, grab another ball, run back to the second basket, throw the ball in, and laugh. He’ll do this until he either runs out of balls in the first basket or until something else catches his eye.

One would think all that running around would tire a toddler out. Where does all that energy come from?

I notice that his eyes look extremely tired. So I wash his his hands, wipe his face, change his diaper, and set him down for a few minutes while I use the restroom. When I come back, he is up and about, full of energy again. I have lost that window of opportunity for an hour or two of peace and quiet.

Wouldn’t that be great if you can sleep throughout the night too? Here is a schedule that shows the number of naps and how many hours of naptime your baby / toddler should be getting:

Age	Number of Naps	Hours of Naptime
4 months	3	4 – 6
6 months	2	3 – 4
9 months	2	2 1/2 – 4
12 months	1-2	2 – 3
2 years	1	1 – 2
3 years	1	1 – 1 1/2

I sure have trouble getting Little Mochi to lie down these days. I would be lucky if Little Mochi naps once a day. Yesterday, my mom had to drive Little Mochi around the block a few times just so he can nap.

This is how I’ve been able to get Little Mochi to nap in the past.

Just what my mom did, drive your baby around the block a few times. If you’re enviromentally cautious, this may not be your preference.
When you see signs of tiredness, start winding him down. Do not overtire your baby as he may get even fussier. It will be even more difficult to put him down. Some signs of tiredness are eye rubbing, quietness, mubbling nonsense to himself, yawning, looking for pacifier or blanket or other things of comfort, and lying down. I let him lie on our bed and rub his back.
I turn on the TV and hold him while we watch TV together. He eventually falls asleep in my arms.

But the question is, how do you get your baby / toddler to take his routine naps?

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Junk Food Junkie – That’s My Kid!

A Plethora of Candy Options

Parents, you’d have to agree that nothing can stop a kid from crying more than candy. Don’t feel too bad. You’re not the only ones that use candy as a bribe. Teachers are known for using Skittles to teach her kids the colors of the rainbow. And dentists pass out lollipops after you kid gets his teeth cleaned.

So go ahead. Show your kids how much you love them. Bring 30 mini cupcakes to your kid’s class on her birthday. After all, she is learning how to share, right? As a matter of fact, they can learn to share the pink marshmallow bunnies for Easter, the green sprinkled Shamrock cookies on St. Pattie’s Day, the monster gummy bear for Halloween, and let’s not forget all the Holiday goodies for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Of all the people in the world, parents are the ones who can appreciate junk food the most. We sure know how to bribe our kids!

However, for every kid’s smile comes a future cavity. They just don’t realize it until the kid’s 8th birthday when their kid is sitting on the dentist’s chair, waiting to get their cavity filled. Heck, they probably don’t realize that junk food is linked to asthma. Do they know that one in three kids are overweight? You think that parents would begin to wonder why schools have stopped selling sodas and banned vending machines on campus a few years ago. Especially since we as a nation ranks 9th when it comes to being the fattest nation in the world. In the WORLD! But that’s OK because we LOVE our children, right? Yup.

Junk food is now a part of our daily diet. Grab your sandwich for lunch, but don’t forget about the large soda and bag of Doritos! Cuz some people might still think that Coco-cola is good for you (and your kid). Perhaps setting a good example for your kids should be on your 2009 New Year’s Resolution list.

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Exchanging Dr. Brown’s Bottles for Store Credit

I walked into the Babies R Us in Westminster a few weeks with my ten 8 oz Dr. Brown’s bottles. Surprisingly, I got a credit of over $50! Not too bad, eh? I really didn’t expect to get that much back. So I exchanged them for the BPA free bottles. If you have not seen the BPA bottles before, they are milky in color instead of the clear plastic that we normally see. It’s not so bad. I like it because, well obviously because they are BPA free, but also because they seem easier to rinse. Don’t ask. *shrug*

You get a better deal if you buy the 3 pack instead of the individual bottles. You get a few bucks off per pack compared to the individual prices. For the $50 in store credit, I purchased five of the 3 packs. The total was $60 so I paid $10 more. Not too bad of deal, I’d say!

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The Avent and Dr. Brown’s BPA Bottle Recall Fiasco

I’m pretty late on this BPA in baby bottles thing, but I guess it’s better late than never.

I recently received an email from a colleague of mine saying that there is a recall on Avent bottles. I don’t use Avent bottles. But I do use Dr. Brown’s baby bottles. So here’s the scoop on Dr. Brown’s.
I called the Babies R Us (BRU) store in Westminster. They are taking back up to 10 bottles, used or new, and swapping them for the new BPA-free bottles. But before you bring your Avent or Dr. Brown’s bottles to the nearest BRU store, you might want to call them first to ask if they’ll take the bottles back. Since there hasn’t officially been a recall (they are still within FDA guidelines and are still deemed to be safe), not all stores are taking them back. It’s under the branch manager’s discretion.

I know the Westminster branch will take them. You can bet that I’ll be bringing all 10 of mine in today!

I read something about sending Handi-Craft up to three UPC symbols of the new BPA-free Dr. Brown’s bottles and they’ll send you 3 of the same bottles for free. I called them to verify this and it’s true! What a great deal! Except…that promotion ended June 30th, 2008. Ouch, it was just last month!
Someone made some phone calls to a few BRU stores over the country to find out which store is participating and which isn’t. Click here for the link.

What exactly is BPA anyway? It’s short for Bisphenol A and is the key component in the production of Polycarbonate plastic. Polycarbonate plastic is commonly found in baby bottles, CDs, medical devices, and household electronics. Long term exposure to low doses of BPA can lead to chronic toxicity in humans.

Good luck with your Avent and/or Dr. Brown’s bottles! Let me know which store you called or went to and whether or not they are taking your bottles for store credit.

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When to Take Baby on First Airplane Ride?

Grandpa in Taiwan passed away last week. At first, I was going to stay home to be with Little Mochi but after much thought, I’ve decided to leave him with my mom and go back with my husband’s family (it’s Grandpa from hubby’s side).

It would be great to bring Little Mochi with us. But it’s nearly a 15 hour flight. Plus, the 3 hour wait at the airport and the 1 or 2 hour drive from the airport to the house. For a one year old, it’s too much. My cousin took her son on a half hour airplane ride when he was 1 1/2 years old. But that’s only 1/2 hour plane ride.

When did you bring your baby on his/her first airplane ride? Do you ever get worried about recirculated air on the plane? And what about the cabin pressure?

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