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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Walking and Baby Proofing Our Home

When will my baby start walking?  That was a question that I had a few months ago.  Seeing him cruise along the furniture and the walls was pretty impressive.  Then seeing him let go and trying to balance was awesome.  But then when he took his first step - our jaws just fell to the ground. 

My dad warned me.  He said to give Little Mochi two weeks to learn how to walk after he took his first step.

Today, I will officially say that he is walking on his own.  He even knows how to push himself up.  He wouldn’t know how to fall when he loses his balance two weeks ago.  However, he now can fall and laugh about it. 

He walked all over the house today.  Literally all over the house.  Granted that our place is small (1000 sq ft), but it is still impressive that he can walk from one room to the next.  And it all happened so fast.  It all happened today.  Little Mochi seems so happy to be mobile, to be independent.

Initially, I was so happy because I don’t have to hold his hand everytime he wants to go across the room.  I just let him walk there by himself while I am at my computer.  But then I realized that he was crawling under the tables and into the cabinets!  Arg.  So I still have to follow him.  I’d have to admit that I haven’t baby proofed our place yet.  I just didn’t feel the need to since he spends most of his day at my mom’s.  And when he’s at my mom’s, there’s always someone there to play with him or watch him. 

I talked to my cousin who has a 2 year old son.  She said that the baby proofing gadgets didn’t work.  Her son eventually learned to work around them or break them.  So it really wasn’t worth the money or effort in installing them.  Especially the ones that hold the toilet bowl down.  I guess I won’t be baby proofing our place.

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Toddler Choking on Water?

Nearly his first 9 months, Little Mochi’s bath wasn’t truly in a bath tub.  My husband and I would lie him down on our laps holding his head above the tub.  We’d use a bath towel to wet his hair, shampoo it, and then use the same bath towel to clean off the shampoo (we’d do that by saturating the towel and then squeezing the excess water onto his head).  This way, it would prevent any water from getting into his ears and cause an ear infection.  Then, we’d let him sit in the tub full of water and clean him quickly.

However, recently, he’s been getting rather rowdy in the bathroom.  He loves his baths.  When I say Love, I mean LOVE.  He gets extremely excited when he hears the water running in the bathroom.  He jumps up and down when he sees us pull out his bath tub.  Somehow, he knows that bath tub is his and that we’re going to give him a bath when we pull it out.

At around 10 months, I sat him in his tub and decided to wash his hair “normally.”  I applied the dab of shampoo on his little head, foamed it up, and poured water over his head.  Stupid me.  I almost choked him.  Little did I know, he doesn’t know that he’s not supposed to breathe when the water comes down his face or he’ll end up breathing in water.  Well, that’s what he did.  He breathed in the water that was coming down his face.  The water that I poured over his head.  He couldn’t breathe for awhile and started to choke. 

Poor Little Mochi looked up at me with fear and started to grab on to my legs.  I quickly picked him up, put him on my lap and started to pat his back. 

I’ll tell ya, that scared the sh*t out of me!  That was the first and last time I poured water over his head!

Just until recently, I discovered something new that enabled me to pour water over his head without choking him.  I would first use my left hand, form an “L” out of my hands, and cupped his forehead.  That way, when the water falls down his face, my hand acts like a visor/shield.  The water actually falls down the side of his face instead.

Don’t know if that’s something stupid, but it works for now.  At least until he realizes he’s not supposed to breathe in water. 

Just curious, has this happened to your baby?  And what do you do?

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Finally, He’s Teething

At 11 months, I finally see those swollen gums.  I thought babies were supposed to have a mouth-ful of teeth by now!  But Little Mochi is only beginning to show his bottom two.

On Saturday (Jun 14), we noticed that his head was a little warm.  Took his temperature and it was 100.4 degrees.  Wow.  I quickly drove to Walgreen’s and purchased the cherry-flavored Tylenol for infants.  Didn’t really know how much to give him so we based it on the dosage from last time he was sick.  0.4 ml last time.  So let’s try somewhere between 0.6 ml to 0.8 ml.  It should work, right?

Of course, he’s got runny stool as well.  Just the other day, he was constipated.  Suddenly, he’s got runny stool.  What is going on?

Monday, he’s still got a fever.  We’ve been able to control it with the Tylenol and a cold cloth on his head.  It’s been a few days and his fever is still there, although it’s on and off.  So I decided to call the pediatrician.

Ha!  Guess what?  Little Mochi weighs 22.5 pounds now.  He’s still cute, chubby Little Mochi, but he hasn’t gained much weight in the last few months!  I guess they stop growing once they reach a certain month.  But because he’s now 22.5 pounds, the 0.6 ml of Tylenol was too little.  Much too little.  Doc said to give him 1.2 ml.

Ay ya!  No wonder he fever doesn’t go away!!! 

The Doc checked for infection.  None.  So he either has a small cold, or the fever and runny stool is caused by the teething.  I’ve heard that teething symptoms include runny stools and fevers.  And that they are normal for a teething baby because his body is going through so many changes.

The only reason why I think he’s running a fever because of his teething is because he now constantly wants his pacifier so he can chew on it.  And he won’t let it up.  Especially at night.  I used to be able to pull it out after he falls asleep.  Now, he’ll wake up and cry for it.  He’ll also burst out crying for no reason at all sometimes.

Hopefully, this stage will pass soon because he doesn’t sleep much.  That means I don’t sleep much.  And a mom who doesn’t sleep much?  Well, I’m sure you know how they get…

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Snacking on Joe’s O’s!

Last Saturday, May 31, I finally decided to feed Cheerios to Little Mochi. Actually, I forgot to buy them from Costco since we were there buying drinks (I’ll tell ya, those Costco coupons are dangerous! They make you spend more than you need to spend). So we stopped by Trader Joe’s and bought the Cheerios equivalent - Joe’s O’s. (I know, isn’t that cute?) Apparently, Joe’s O’s got a lot of iron and fiber. Makes a great snack.

Wow. Little Mochi loved them! It’s so strange to see him try to chew them since he still doesn’t have any teeth! Speaking of teeth, I finally see some white on his lower front gums. They’re finally breaking through his gums! At 11 months, he’s finally teething!

Anyhow, the Joe’s O’s are great! Not only are they nutritious, but they keep him busy for a few minutes. They keep him from kicking and screeming, especially when I need to put him back into his car seat as we leave from Grandma’s house.

I guess he’s ready to start chewing on real food huh? It’s so amazing that they even know that they’re supposed to chew! He knows what they are now so when I sees the ziplock bag full of Joe’s O’s, he points to it and starts mumbling something. I give him one (can’t resist because he’s so cute!), then he smiles at me - what a happy kid.

So how do you know your baby is ready for Cheerios anyway? I figure it’s when he’s starting to learn how to use his tongue to push the food back and forth in his mouth. I see Little Mochi doing that quite a bit with the one Cherrio in his mouth.

It’s great to see such a wonderful milestone. In addition, he’s now able to hold up his own sippy cup. So far, I think he’s doing OK.

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A Few Facts About Autism

It’s national autism awareness week!  Here are a few facts about autism:

  1. 1 in every 150 child will be diagnosed with autism.
  2. it is more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined.
  3. It is 4x’s more likely to affect boys than girls.
  4. New research enables your child to be diagnosed as early as 6 months.
  5. Pediatricians can easily diagnose your child with something else, thinking your child is just “behind” on reaching his milestones.  So it’s imperative that the parent pushes back and does further screenings for autism since they “know their child best.”

Since autism is so prevalent in today’s society, every little “abnormal” behavior is believed to be a sign of autism.  But the only way you can really tell if your child is autistic is to have him professionally diagnosed.  Contact Autism Speaks for more information or assistance.

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Car Seat Recall: Evenflo Discovery

If you own models 390, 391, 534 and 552 that were made between April 2005 and January 29, 2008, make sure you contact Evenflo to get a free dual-hook fastener that will lock the car seat the base. Evenflo is recalling 1 Million of these because the car seats can detach itself from the base in the case of an accident.

Evenflow’s phone number: 1-800-356-2229.

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Helping Fight Autism $0.49 at Time

I received an email from a friend today.  It reads:

 

Hello All,

I’m sure everyone of you knows at least one family affected by autism, as ours is.  Please watch this video and pass it along to everyone you can. The band, Five for Fighting, is generously donating $0.49 to Autism Speaks each time this video is viewed. The funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal.

http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214
 
For those who are curious what life for a parent of an autistic child is like, watch the Autism Every Day video on this link: 
 
http://www.autismspeaks.org/sponsoredevents/autism_every_day.php
  
Much love.

 

We all can help fight autism, even if we are not affected by it.  One day, I am sure you will run into someone who is affected and wish you could help. 

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