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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding exclusively until age 6 months and continued breastfeeding until at least 1 year of age. Unfortunately most OB/GYNs don’t talk to their patients about breastfeeding and all the benefits that go along with it. Most women are left to find out about breastfeeding on their own. It can be difficult since there is so much information out there making it hard to know what is right. Don’t be afraid to bring up the subject at one of your prenatal appointments or call your local hospital’s lactation consultant unit.
So what are some of the benefits of breastfeeding?
Some of the added benefits of breastfeeding for baby:
- Breastfeeding has been found to reduce the occurrence of gastrointestinal problems, ear infections, and respiratory problems in babies.
- Breastfeeding has been found to help protect your baby from developing allergies.
- Breastfeeding may help boost your child’s intelligence. Some studies have found a link but more research is under way.
- Breastfeeding has been found to protect your baby against obesity later in life.
- Breastfeeding has been found to protect preemies from infection.
- Breastfeeding has been linked to a lower risk of SIDS
Some of the added benefits of breastfeeding for mom:
- Breastfeeding helps mom loose the weight gain from pregnancy faster.
- Breastfeeding helps reduce postpartum bleeding.
- Breastfeeding has been linked to a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
- Breastfeeding may help protect against osteoporosis.
These are just some of the many benefits of breastfeeding for both mom and baby. It is important to do your research when determining how you plan on feeding your baby and how long you plan on breastfeeding. Remember that no matter what you decide leave room for change.
For those of you who aren’t sure if you want to breastfeed and those of you who having your first child I would recommend attending a breastfeeding class. They are offered at most hospitals (talk to your doctor or hospital to find out the details). These classes are wonderful for giving you all the scoop on breastfeeding and gives you a great opportunity to ask all those questions you have.
Something seems to happen to the common sense of a celebrity when it comes to picking a name for their baby, it disappears. With all common sense right out the window we get names like Pilot Inspektor or Moxie Crimefighter.
I found this fun poll on Baby Center where you can vote for the craziest celebrity baby name. My personal choice was Pilot Inspektor, I mean that is a profession not someone’s name!! What is your pick for the wackiest celebrity baby name?
Coming up with a good name for your baby can be difficult (I know from experience). According to a survey taken of readers on Baby Center 33% of readers said that picking a name for their baby was very difficult and drove them crazy. 26% said it took them 8 months or longer to come up with a name. I wonder how many parents don’t have a name picked out yet as they are driving to the hospital to have the baby?
Did you and your partner have a hard time picking out a name? What sort of ground rules did you set? Did you get tons of suggestions from all your relatives?
It seems that most parenting and pregnancy websites are geared more towards mom. Dad can sometimes get a little left out. Becoming a new parent is a fun, exciting, and scary time for both mom and dad. Having a little understanding about what to expect, how to handle certain situations, and what your role is can make the transition to fatherhood a little easier.
I found a few websites that are dedicated to dads. So now you'll have a place all your own to go to for information. Soon you'll be an expert and your wife will think you have been reading her pregnancy and parenting books!!
- Dads Adventure
- Dadz
- Mr. Dad
- National Fatherhood Initiative
- Fathers Network (for dads of kids with special needs)
- Fathers Forum
Being an involved and active parent is the best gift you can give your child. Learning the basics from a father's perspective can be challenging when most of the books and websites out there are geared towards mom, but now you know where to go for information just for dads. It is nice to see that there are so many helpful websites out there for dad.
There are many reasons that you may want to take a look at your family finances. The current state of the economy, of course, has many of us evaluating our spending and saving habits. Perhaps you are planning on staying home with your baby and need to take another look at your budget to make sure you can manage it. On the other hand you may be returning to work and will need to add that big expense of daycare. It is always a good idea to make a little time now and then to take a look at your budget, including spending and saving habits, and make a few little adjustments so your budget meets your current and upcoming needs.
Here are a few tips to help you get in the saving mode and keep that family budget in line.
- Log your spending. This will help you see where you can trim some excess spending and will also give you an idea where most of your money is going.
- Pay yourself first. Include yourself in your monthly budget. Determine what you want, ie retirement, vacation fund, college fund, etc. Set up savings accounts or investment accounts with automatic transfers from your checking account or pay check.
- Stagger your savings due dates. If you have money going into several savings and investment accounts stagger the automatic withdrawal dates so that all the money doesn't come out at once.
- Make paying down debt a priority. Being out of debt will make all the rest a lot easier so making it a priority early on will allow you to become debt free sooner.
- When you finish paying off a loan or a credit card take the money that you normally would have paid to that bill and put it in a savings account. You will see that this builds up a nice little cushion for you and will help you avoid going back into debt.
- Open a couple of savings accounts. Open one where the money will be fairly accessible and another where you can't touch the money (at least not easily).
- Save your loose change. Some banks offer a "keep the change" type thing where the change from your purchases will be automatically transfered to your savings account. Of course, the good old change jar works too.
- Determine your families needs and make a budget. Stick to the budget. If you want to make a big ticket purchase force yourself to save for it instead of purchasing it on credit.
- Re-evaluate your budget on a regular basis and make the necessary adjustments as your needs change.
- Teach your children about money early. It is a great gift to give your child and will make dealing with money a lot easier for them later in life.
If you aren't sure how to get started consider talking to a financial planner, particularly if you aren't sure how to get started with your savings and investments.
The great diaper debate, cloth or disposable? Until the mid 20th century there wasn’t really a choice, it was all cloth. However, with the industrial revolution and people looking for more convenience the disposable diaper was invented and the great debate began. Really it boils down to personal preference, but everyone has an opinion and when you are pregnant those opinions will definitely be shared with you. You don’t have to listen to the endless advice you will most certainly get on this topic, just listen to what makes sense for you and your family.
I don’t really have an opinion one way or the other on this topic. I think each family needs to choose the diaper that they think works best for them and then agree that it is OK to change your mind later if your situation changes. We chose to go with disposable diapers mostly for convenience. All of the kids in my family wore disposable diapers and it worked out just fine for my mom. Believe me I heard the whole cloth diapers are better for the environment speech a hundred times at least. I did a little research and it turns out that which diaper is better for the environment depends a lot on where you live. If you live in an area where landfills are a problem cloth diapers may be the better choice. However, if you live in an area where water shortages are a problem you may want to opt for disposable diapers. Of course with the whole green movement has come “green” diapers, so now there is a third component to this battle!
When it comes right down to it the choice you make shouldn’t be based entirely on the environment or on someone else opinion it should be based on what works best for your family. Be it cloth or disposable or green diapers, if it works for you and your baby it is the right choice.
To help in your research to determine which diaper option is best for you here are a couple of helpful websites.