Today’s Tip - The Baby Bjorn Carrier is great if you like doing things

If you want to prepare food (don’t cook), clean and do other activities standing up, but don’t want to leave a fussy baby alone, get one of these carriers. My son loves riding around in it, and it lets you put him in facing forward or facing your body. Generally, it’s good to keep them facing forward, otherwise all they’ll see is your chest, which isn’t good for brain and eye development.

Parenting, Baby, Carrier

Today’s Tip - Remember to put a diaper on your baby when you take the old one off

Sounds obvious, but I forgot. My wife and I alternated nightime shifts, and I can be pretty groggy and out of it when I wake up. I must have still been half asleep when I changed our son, since my wife woke up to him going to the bathroom all over inside his jumper and crib. Oops!

Parenting, Diaper

Today’s Tip - Always shield your baby’s eyes in the sun

Though you might like taking your infant out on a sunny day, the bright light can harm his eyes quite a bit. Especially since he doesn’t know to not look directly into the sun. The sunshine can even attract their attention and make matters worse. Try to keep their face away from the big yellow globe in the sky and keep their face covered if you’re going to be changing the way they face (on a walk, carrying them around in a park, etc.)

Parenting, Eye, Safety

Today’s Tip - Turn on the vacuum to settle down your baby

Got a screaming infant who won’t stop being fussy? Turn on the vacuum. Ours settles right down when we start cleaning, and usually he falls right to sleep too. It seems to work where all our other tricks won’t, and if he doesn’t stop crying right away, the sound makes the crying a little more bearable.

Parenting, Cry, Sleep

Today’s Tip - Test the bath water with your elbow, not your hand

We were quickly told today by our baby that the bath water was too hot by his high pitched wail and kicking feet, even though it felt fine to the touch when we stuck our hands in it. Water temperature will feel more like what your baby feels on your elbow, in the same way that testing formula temperature on the inside of your forearm is a good gauge.

Parenting, Bath, Safety

Today’s Tip - When bottle feeding, feed your baby upright rather than on his back

Holding your baby at a 45 degree angle rather than flat on his back will help reduce the amount of air he takes in when he feeds. Whether or not this decreases the chance of colic is debatable. However, having a little gas does tend to make babies more fussy than usual. Plus, if you’re feeding your baby his pre-bedtime meal, you want him as happy as possible when you try to put him down for the night.

Parenting, Sleep, Feeding

Today’s tip - Split up night time duty

My son gets up three times at night, so my wife and I started splitting up duty so that we both could get more uninterrupted sleep. She pumps enough breastmilk so that I have a bottle for his 3 a.m. feeding, and she takes him at 1:00 a.m. and then gets up with him at 7:00 a.m. for the day. It’s worked out well so far, and we both know that the other person is more than willing to get up and help if things go sour.

Parenting, Sleep, breastfeeding

Today’s Tip - Waiting six weeks before exercising is a good rule of thumb for women who had a C-section

You should check with the doctor that performed your surgery before you head off and begin training for the olypmics, but six weeks after your surgery is a good grace period to let the scar and body heal. Take it slow once you get back into exercise. Chances are the last three months of pregnancy were pretty laid back. Treat your return to action as if you had taken half a year off from all activity.

Parenting, Exercise, Health

Today’s Tip - The Summer Infant 2.4 gHz baby monitor is great for listening to your infant

While you may sleep whenever the baby sleeps initially, there will come a day where he’s down in his crib and you need to be elsewhere. We bought The Summer Infant 2.4 gHz baby monitor and we absolutely love it. It switches to a clear channel automatically, which is nice since the first monitor we had picked up our neighbors as clear as day. And it’s powerful, I can go anywhere in my yard and still get reception.

Parenting, Baby, Monitor

Today’s Tip - Make the first year of life a feast for the senses.

The more you introduce your baby to, the better his senses will develop. Play with brightly colored, high contrast toys. Read. Sing, talk and imitate your baby’s sounds. Let your baby touch and grab on to many textures. Vary your diet and your child’s diet once he’s on semi-solid foods. Encourage exploration. Take your baby outside often. Teach him how to swim. In short, let him experience as much of life as possible.

Parenting, Development, Physical