Baby and Pregnancy Info

BabyCenter.com - Lots of useful resources for pregnancy and babies. Offers a weekly email newsletter which describes your baby's current development, a baby naming tool, and more.

Pregnancy

Due Date Calculator

Great Books on Pregnancy

Taking Charge of Your Fertility
An excellent book on Fertility Awareness -- planning pregnancy, natural birth control, infertility, and charting menstral cycles for health. Highly recommended to every woman for learning a vast amount of information about her reproductive health and cycles whether you plan to have children or not.
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

What to Expect When You're Expecting
The classic pregnancy book. Thorough, informative and very well-written.
Hardback - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com
Paperback - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy
A very funny, frank and informative book about pregnancy. The author draws on her experience from her own four pregnancies, plus the experiences of her many friends. While the book does not take a medical approach, it is full of great practical information, not to mention the humorously entertaining approach.
Hardback - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com
Paperback - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

A Child is Born
An amazing book full of photographs of babies before they are born, at various stages of development.
Hardback - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com
Paperback - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother's Soul
A wonderful collection of humorous and touching stories for expectant mothers and fathers, including adoptive parents.
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Baby Bargains
Tips on maternity wear and preparing for baby's arrival. See review below.

Baby Tips

Breastfeeding

There is no disputing that breastfeeding is best for your baby for the first six months when possible. It can be very challenging at first, but after you and your baby get the hang of it, it is wonderful and so much more convenient than bottle feeding. Ideally, you should start learning about breastfeeding before your baby is born.

• Start attending local La Leche League meetings (before and after baby comes) - http://LaLecheLeague.org
• Take a breastfeeding class - check with La Leche League, local hospitals, or your doctor for locations
• Read breastfeeding books

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League
A thorough discussion of breastfeeding; also covers other areas of child care, including sleeping arrangements, and going back to work or not.
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

The Nursing Mother's Companion by Kathleen Huggins
Concise coverage of breastfeeding and easy to read; includes a listing of drugs and whether they will affect your baby during breastfeeding. (An excerpted booklet of this is included with the green Peter Rabbit Enfamil diaper bag that you may receive in the hospital.)
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Additional breastfeeding tips -

Remember on which side to start the next feeding using a ring, a safety pin on your bra, by moving your watch, or a rubber band on your wrist.

Create a nursing area Near a recliner or chair with foot stool, keep a phone, reading material, water, snack, pens and paper.

Nursing the baby in your bed is great for nighttime and taking naps, especially at the beginning when they want to nurse very often. I was sure I'd never have my baby sleep in my bed with me before she was born, but it was recommended by the lactation consultant and I actually feel very comfortable with it. You can nurse in a side lying position and fall asleep while the baby eats. This will really help you to avoid sleep deprivation. If you're concerned about rolling onto the baby in your sleep, sleep with a doll in the bed first to reassure yourself.

A nursing pillow makes nursing more comfortable. The Boppy can be used for nursing, bottle feeding and as a support for a baby learning to sit up.
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Breast pumps - A breast pump is not a necessity unless you're going back to work. If you do want one for periodic use though, Medela makes excellent pumps. The Medela Double Ease Pump is a great pump which includes a lot of accessories and features for the price. As best as I can tell, the only significant differences between this and the Pump In Style is that this one has a non-leather carrying case and it does can not use a cigarette lighter adapter.
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Labeling bottles of pumped breast milk with the date can be done easily with a grease pencil from an office supply store.

Cloth Diapers

Disposable diapers are very convenient, but so many are used by one baby each day, that they generate quite a bit of garbage. This garbage fills landfills and the waste from the diapers contaminates waterways when rains cause run off from the land fills. In addition, some are concerned that we don't know the longterm effects of the gels used in disposables on babies' developing genitals. Finally, disposable diapers are much more expensive than the one time or investment in cloth diapers. I use cloth diapers during the day, at home and find that this is a reasonable compromise between convenience and conservation.

If you do decide to use cloth diapers, you'll need diapers, wraps, and a diaper pail. I've listed the items I use below.

Prefolded cloth diapers - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Diaper wraps -
Diaper wraps eliminate the need for pins and help reduce the chance of leaking diapers. I use waterproof, breathable wraps from The Natural Baby catalog. These wraps are breatheable so that they are less likely to cause diaper wraps than the waterproof kind with a plastic layer. I find that these diapers leak no more often than disposables.
Natural Baby Catalog - Diaper wraps

Cloth wipes -
I use Gerber Wiapers which I bought at Babies 'R Us with the cloth diapering supplies at 6 for about $3. (Unfortunately, I couldn't find them in the Babies 'R Us on-line catalog.) The Natural Baby Catalog also has cloth wipes, but they are more expensive than the Gerber ones.

To store the cloth wipes moistened, I bought a box of disposable wipes which came in a box with a flip top. (This is as opposed to the boxes which cause the next wipe to "pop-up" automatically.) I found a box of this type by Luvs, in a light green plastic box. Then I just wet the wipes with water, ring them out and lay them in the wipes box folded.

Diaper pail -
This diaper pail holds about 25 cloth diapers, plus cloth wipes. I use it for just cloth diapers and without bags.
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

BabyCenter.com has directions for using cloth diapers.

Baby Games and Activities

BabyCenter.com baby games.

Gymboree offers one free preview class to new parents. Even if you only go to the one class, you will learn some games to play with your baby to help their development. You also get a chance to meet other new parents in your area through the classes.

Baby Play by Gymboree
Creative Publishing International, 2001, 192pp. softcover
Games to play with babies ages birth to 9 months and up. Each activity has a color photograph to illustrate, in addition to instructions and background information. This book includes lyrics to popular childrens songs to use in play. Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Wee Sing for Baby
This is a great set of songs and games to play with a baby. It comes with a CD or audio cassette, and a song book with lyrics and descriptions of what actions to put with the songs.
CD - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com
Cassette - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Additional Baby Tips

• Install a dimmer switch in the nursery

• There are travel play pens available which include a bassinet and diaper changing area. We use one in the family room so that we don't have to go upstairs for diaper changes and she has someplace to sleep in the main living area. We also keep a stock of clothing, diapers and wipes, etc. near there.
  Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

• Swings are great. They can help keep a baby occupied and help a sleeping baby stay asleep for a reasonable length nap.

• A glider and ottoman is great. I highly recommend the padded armrests and ottoman if you get one.

• I love the little t-shirts with snaps so that they don't have to go on over the head for newborns. Also, they don't cover the umbilical cord stump like onesies do.
  Short sleeve t-shirts - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com
  Long sleeve t-shirts - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

• Love sleepers with zippers for easier diaper changes, and any clothes with snaps or buttons in the front for easier clothes changes.

• Motherhood Maternity (in most malls) has really inexpensive maternity and nursing clothes. Also, watch for their coupons in the baby magazines. (FYI - I believe that they make up for their low prices by selling your contact info to mailing lists.)

• Astroglide is a female lubricant that is much better than the leading brands. Available in drug stores.

• Look for children's consignment stores in your area. They typically have furniture, clothes and toys.

• Payless Shoes and Stride Rite offer free baby shoes. Stride Rite sends a coupon in the mail and for Payless, just bring in your baby.

• You can get a congratulatory card from President and Mrs. Bush. Send a birth announcement or Baby's name, address and birthdate to The White House Greetings Office, Room 39, Washington, DC 20502.
• A Baby sling is great for helping you keep a hand free and saving your arms from tiring out while carrying a baby around. My daughter has even fallen asleep in the sling while I was straightening up the house. There are many different positions in which to use this sling, so everyone is sure to find one that their baby will like. My husband also uses the sling.
  Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

• Digital cameras are still more expensive than comparable film cameras, however, where children are concerned, they have definite advantages. It is well-known that children are one of the most difficult subjects to photograph since they move a lot and hardly ever do what you want them to. I bought the Kodak DC4800 and love it because I can take a dozen pictures of my baby in one pose and then I'm sure to get a picture that I'm happy with. Then I can just order reprints of the picture I want and delete the others. In the long run, I believe this will actually make up for the cost of the camera since I no longer have to pay for film or photo processing.
  Kodak DC4800 Zoom Camera - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com
  I chose this particular camera because it includes a great selection of features, the reviews for it are good, and it is available at a great price for a 3MP camera. Following are some links I found helpful:
  Kodak DC4800 Zoom Camera Specifications
  Short courses on digital cameras
  Digital Camera Resource review
  Steve's Digicams review
  Viking 128MB Compact Flash card - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com
  I bought this 128MB CF card so that I would have more storage space for pictures on my camera. This particular card is available at a lower price than many other comparable cards.
  Amazon.com/Ofoto photo processing and web photo albums - Sign up or see a sample album
  This is a great web photo service. I really like the software that they give you to prepare and upload your images. It allows you to upload multiple images with one click. It has a slide show option which makes it easy to sift through the pictures taken with a digital camera. It has a cropping option which makes it simple to crop a picture to a 4x6" size. This photo service also has a nice web photo album so that you can easily share your digital pictures.

• Bathing - I really like the Safety 1st 4-in-1 Bath Station. I started using it when my daughter was around 4 months old and I really like that it has a ring in one end for her to sit in so that she doesn't slide or fall over. This ring is even removable for bathing toddlers. I also like that it is a tub so that I don't have to fill the entire bath tub with water. I noticed that several of the Amazon.com reviews mention leaking, but I have had no problems with this at all, so maybe I have a redesigned model.
  Order or get more information from Amazon.Com
  For bathing newborns, I like the bath sponge

Great Books on Childcare and Parenting

Baby Bargains by Denise and Alan Fields
An excellent book, full of product reviews, pros and cons of different product features, shopping tips, and baby care advice. Highly recommended for every new parent before even registering for baby gifts.
Additional information and updates are posted on their web site at www.babybargainsbook.com.
Paperback - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

25 Things Every New Mother Should Know by Martha Sears R.N., with William Sears M.D.
A guide to becoming a mother which gently instructs the new mother with reminders to care for herself in order to best care for her baby. Topics include breastfeeding, sleep sharing, baby wearing, mother's intuition, involving baby's father, at-home and working moms.
Hardback - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com
Paperback - Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Helpful Links

• Baby Tooth Chart - a printable chart for noting each new baby tooth

• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission - product recall information

• Moms' Corner for Kids - Fonts for Kids, crafts, recipes, icons, graphics, educational resources, scrapbooking, and other fun stuff for moms and kids

• MOMS Club International - an international organization of local groups for at-home mothers.

• One Step Ahead - a catalog of innovative child-related products

• Parentstages.com - a site sponsored by Huggies - "A parent resource with infant and toddler parenting advice, pregnancy stages, newborn baby and child care parent information, early childhood articles and toddler development information to help you grow with your child.

• SafeKids.com - a site sponsored by Huggies - "A parent resource with infant and toddler parenting advice, pregnancy stages, newborn baby and child care parent information, early childhood articles and toddler development information to help you grow with your child.

More baby books at Amazon.com

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Stacy Ichniowski
Email: stacy@tealdragon.net
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