If you use these brands of bottles - Dr. Brown’s, Evenflo, Gerber, Playtex - you may want to read this article on CNN.

The baby bottle industry is saying that the chemicals found by independent experts convened by the National Institutes of Health are harmless. The experts say otherwise.

I’m glad that we use Avent Bottles right now. It may be a case of he said, she said, but when it comes to things like this I think you should err on the side of caution.

Update - Looks like Avent bottles are in there too, just not listed in the subhead of the article.

Whenever we take our son out to a restaurant or to see family and friends, we’ve got trouble getting him to eat. There’s always something else going on he’d rather be doing, some toy on the floor he’d rather be playing with. It doesn’t matter if there’s carrots or cake on his plate, he wants out of that high chair.

It doesn’t make matters any easier when people who aren’t my wife and I play with his feet, show him toys, make silly faces or loud noises at him. Yeah, I know I’m no fun, but a kid’s gotta eat!

So what are some keys to keeping your kid focused on his food and letting him be social at the same time?

• Remove all unnecessary distractions like T.V., radio and toys
• Eat with your child. If you’re doing something else, he’ll want to as well
• Encourage other people to save the play for another time and aid his eating by saying things like “Yum! That looks good!” or by playfully feeding him or having him feed them
• If your baby refuses to eat and wants down, let him. Continue your meal. Chances are he’ll notice everyone else is eating and will want back in on the action
• Let him eat like a big boy. Set him on your lap or next to you if he can

Your baby is probably just getting to the stage where he “gets stuff.” You show him how to throw a ball, and he throws it. You show him how to play peek-a-boo, and he laughs and hides. Someone shows him how to scream at the top of his lungs, and unfortunately, he follows suit.

Now is the perfect time to start teaching him how to recognize family members. It’s very easy to do, and you don’t need the family member to do it. So you can teach your little one his wily tricks in secret, and then bust them out at the next get-together and steal the show.

What You Need

A picture of the person and some patience. When you’ve got your baby settled down or you’re reading him a story, pull out a picture frame or two. Point at the person and say who they are. Grandma, grandpa, etc. Even if they don’t get it exactly right, say “good job” and pronounce it right for them. They won’t get confused because you’re reinforcing the association, not the pronounciation. That’ll come with practice. For instance, my son says something that sounds like “Kaka” for grandpa, but he says it everytime he sees him.

At my son’s first birthday party, my Mom had lots of pictures of our family out. Since my son loves people, he made beelines for the pictures and pointed at people saying “dada” and “grandpa.” It’s a real crowd-pleaser and it’s good for their visual memory too.

A full year is over and we’re all grown up! Not really, actually, toddler years are staring us right in the face.

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Today’s first time parenting tip - Remember where you came from to get where you’re going

Day 1 - Today’s Tip - Have an OB that you like, trust and knows your wishes.

Even though its common sense to trust your doctor, its even more important to like them and to know without a doubt that they’re looking out for your best interests. My wife and I chose an OB/GYN with 5 doctors, and for pregnancies they all rotated both office visits and hospital coverage. Of course, we had two favorites, one we disliked, and two we didn’t know that well.

When the time came to suggest a C-section to my wife after 13 hours of fruitless labor, we were both relieved that our favorite doctor was on to talk us through it. Had it been one we didn’t like or didn’t know that well, we probably would have fought the C-section. But we trusted him, and even though we didn’t like it, we knew he would only suggest it in our best interests. Turns out it was the right call, our baby was very big, 10lbs, 23.5″, he was sideways in my normally 114 pound wife and he had the cord wrapped around his neck.

That was the first post I made a year ago today when my son was first born. Looking back over the posts I’ve made has taken me back and made me realize how far my wife and I have come as parents.

In the beginning, as you can see from the post above, my tips were general and short. We were happy just to be surviving. As time wore on we felt like maybe, in some strange universe, our son might be lucky enough to survive our bumbling attempts at parenting for another month or so. Then we got in a groove, and most things because natural.

The posts at the end of the year were more specific. Less about making it through the day, and more about making it better.

And when I look back at videos and pictures of my son over the year, I can see how much he’s changed too. I remember how fragile and completely dependent he seemed when he was first born, wailing his head off and clutching my hand because he had no idea what was going on. Now he’s walking all over the place, figuring things out for himself and still clutching to his mom or his dad when he feels scared.

It’s been a year unlike any other, and I hope I’ve helped some other parents out there. The great thing about the age we live in is that it’s so easy to share information, and you never have to feel alone.

If you’re a first time parent and are scared, don’t be. Everyone has been along the path you are about to journey down. There are lots of other people out there with experiences similar to yours.

Enjoy the ride.

Today’s First Time Parenting Tip - Track your baby’s milestones to make sure they’re developing correctly

Its important to make sure that your infant doesn’t have any developmental problems, but if he or she seems slow in one area, don’t worry about it too much unless they’re way behind or your pediatrician seems concerned. Everyone loves to compare their accomplishments to others, but the fact is some babies are fast in verbal development, but slow in the physical department, or vice versa. If you’re worried about it, ask your pediatrician. At the end of the twelth month, your infant should be able to:

• Pull up to a standing position from sitting
• Drink independently
• Stand alone
• Give a high five or play ball
• Walk for a step or maybe two
• Put objects into a container

Probably will be able to:

• Say a word other than mama or dada
• Stand well by themselves
• Walk for more than a few steps
• Understand and respond to the word no sometimes
• Gesture for an object that they want without crying

Taken from What to Expect the First Year

Parenting, Verbal, Physical, Development, Emotional

Today’s first time parenting tip - Switch your infant from formula to whole milk gradually.

If you’ve got a good natured baby that takes well to change, switching from formula to whole milk for their second year of life cold turkey might be a good approach. But if you’ve got a fussier baby or one that’s more resistant to change, going gradual might be a good strategy.

Here’s how to do it:

• Start with the middle of the day, and work out. Most infants will resist giving up their morning and bedtime bottle the most
• Mix 2 parts formula and 1 part whole milk into a sippy cup for the first few days. If your baby doesn’t want to drink out of the cup, then try just focusing on the whole milk part.
• Add more and more milk in three day increments, until your infant is drinking a whole serving of milk
• Replace another feeding and give it another three days or so. By the time you’re done, your child should be drinking 16-20 oz. of formula
• Serve the milk how you’d drink it yourself. Cold milk might put off some children, but you also don’t want to be warming glasses of milk up for the rest of your life either. Try it both ways and see what happens
• If you’ve successfully made the switch and your baby starts to refuse milk, don’t go back to formula. Try other dairy products like cheese or yogurt.

What’s your success story with making the switch?

Parenting, Milk, Formula, Switch, Whole

Today’s first time parenting tip - Try Crayola Color Wonder Fingerpaints and Coloring Book if your baby likes to color but you don’t want a mess

Coloring might be your infant’s thing. If you let him mess around with crayons or fingerpaints every once and awhile, you know how much of a mess they can be. Especially fingerpaints. They have a way of getting on and staining everything, no matter how washable they say they are.

Enter Crayola Color Wonder Fingerpaints and Coloring Book. Your baby simply touches their finger to the non-toxic “paint” cups, and then they touch the wonder paper, and they’re off! The color appears right before there eyes.

The great thing is, the special “paint” only leaves a color on wonder paper. So if some does get in the carpet or on the wall, its pretty easy to wipe off. Plus, it’s less messy than fingerpaints.

The only thing I don’t like is that you can’t color outside the lines. I’m big on teaching kids to think non-linearly, and coloring inside the lines (even though you can make a purple sun or a blue lamb) seems kind of restrictive. All in all, a fun toy. I think my wife had a great time with it too.

Parenting, Paint, Color, Crayola, Finger, No, Mess

Today’s first time parenting tip - Track your baby’s growth with yearly pictures and an object

Want to track your baby’s growth, but don’t want to mark up the doors in your house? Try what my wife and I are planning on doing.

Every year, we’ll take a picture. The idea is that he’ll be wearing the same kind of clothes (I think we both like jeans and a plain, red shirt). In the picture we’re also going to have some kind of object that will show how much he’s grown.

I want to do a ball. My wife wants to do an adult sized belt (He’ll wear the belt and it’ll be ridiculously large until he’s 10 or 11).

After you do this you’ll have a great record of how your baby grew and changed his appearance over the years. And they’ll love looking at it in the end to see how far they’ve come.

Parenting, Growth, Track

Today’s first time parenting tip - Let your baby do his favorite things often

Routine and repetition are good for babies, so if he wants to read that story for the 15th time or wants to sing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” for two hours in a row, it’s actually a good thing. It helps them build memory and cognition.

So as part of the yearly round-up, here are my son’s top 5 favorite things to do.

• Go to the aquarium
• Read books
• Watch cars and trucks drive by
• Dance and listen to music
• Play with the cat

Honorable mention - Crawl over Mom and Dad

Parenting, Favorite, Activity