Who knew that former party girl Nicole Richie was such a giving and charitable person? I think that the way she has turned her life around and started giving back to those less fortunate is wonderful and I applaud her efforts. And apparently she has only just begun helping children - here and around the world.
Through the Richie-Madden Children's Foundation, Nicole is launching an online gift registry that will help needy mothers and their children. Families in need can sign up through local social service agencies and submit a list of the things they need for their children. Asked-for items could include cribs, blankets and other essentials. Donors could then look at the registry and choose what they want to contribute. Initially, the registry will benefit families in New York and Los Angeles, but the hope is to take it nationally and then internationally.
I think this is fantastic idea and love the idea of being able to choose a family to give to and personally pick out what they receive. Way to go Nicole!
Forget the newborn swaddles and wipe warmers. We're talking about rambunctious, opinionated, high-energy toddlers! It seems from your responses (or lack thereof) that most toddlers are like mine - more interested in a wooden spoon or stick in the yard than any shiny new product.
However, take a look at a few toddler essentials we drummed up.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 19,000 Bright Starts Infant Rattles. The tip of the rattle's antenna (attached to a bee figure) can detach and pose a choking hazard to small children. The distributor of this rattle, Kids II, Inc., has received two reports of this happening, including one where the tip of the antenna ended up in a baby's mouth. No injuries have been reported.
The recalled rattle is a soft bee with a yellow head, ring-shaped green body and blue/green wings with purple/red antennas. You can find the model number 8534 and date code PA8 printed on a sewn-in label on the bee's head.
These were made in China and sold at toy stores, mass merchandisers, and other retail stores nationwide from January 2008 through June 2008 for about $2-3 each.
If you have one of these rattles, you should immediately take it away from your child and contact Kids II to receive a free replacement rattle. You can reach them by calling (877) 325-7056 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or by visiting their Web site.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 115,000 It's My Binky Personalized Pacifiers. The pacifier can come apart and pose a choking hazard to infants. No injuries have been reported, but the company has received two reports of this happening.
Made in Malaysia for It's My Binky of Henderson, Nevada, the pacifiers were sold at Nordstrom and baby boutique retail stores nationwide and online from February 2006 through June 2008 for between $5 and $6.
The recalled pacifiers have the word "Japlo" imprinted on the front of the pacifier shield at the bottom center. They were sold in blue, white and pink with various words or designs printed on the button of the pacifier. Photos showing examples of some of the text and symbols on the recalled pacifiers can be found here.
If you have one of these pacifiers, you should immediately take it away from your child and return it to the store where purchased or contact It's My Binky to receive a free replacement pacifier. You can reach It's My Binky by calling (888) 689-9444 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday PT or by visiting their Website. You can also email Danielle Riiber at Danielle@itsmybinky.com.
It's time for another installment of ParentPicks, a veritable gold mine of parental wisdom. Our sneaking suspicions were right - you DO have some fantastic baby picks up your sleeve!
Well, let's keep the good ideas flowing. This month's ParentPicks feature will be focused on the darling, yet obstinate toddler stage. Personally, I have been thrown blindly into the Terrible Two's Ring of Fire during the past month. (HOLD ME.) The only item that elicits a guaranteed smile from my outdoorsy dictator is his Kettler tricycle.
What about you, though? What product or item could you not live without during the toddler years? Your insightful responses will be compiled and presented in August for everyone to enjoy. Now, get to it! Parents all over the world will thank you!
A recent letter from the Vice President of Communications at Nike, which was perhaps inappropriately shared, has controversy brewing. Apparently, one Amanda Miller contacted one New York Times writer Joe Nocera in an attempt to pitch him some sort of stroller. Nike Communications is a public relations firm that sells expensive stuff. Joe, and everyone else who responded in the comments section of his blog about the letter, was offended, or at least annoyed. You see, Ms. Miller referred to children as accessories. This is nothing new--people have worn their babies since, well, since they've been having them. What we carry them in, as opposed to on us, has changed, but little else.
Oh, perhaps there was a time not so long ago when women didn't really leave the house and therefore, when with child (in or out of the womb) they didn't leave either, which meant no one really saw much of children until they were working age. But now, all that has changed. Now celebrities can be seen with their spawn doing whatever it is they do when they're not busy making the millions required to purchase the kind of stroller Ms. Miller is suggesting to the tune of $1,000.
Celebrities procreate--many of them doing so two at a time--and then they show them off to the world. The question is no longer what those celebrity moms are wearing, but what their babies are IN. That's right--out with Halston, and in with the Phil & Ted's chic stroller, and their new Traveller, which is actually just a playpen. Clearly Ms. Miller should be fired. Not for attempting to sell people stuff they don't need at a ridiculous price--after all, it's a PR firm, that's what they get paid to do!--but because Joe Nocera is clearly not her target audience. I can think about at least ten people, all of them women, who would eat up the letter from Ms. Miller and barely wash it down with an iced decaf skim latte before immediately setting out to purchase one. Did I mention I live in New York City? Joe Nocera? Clearly not interested.
As anyone with children knows, dirty diapers smell worse than anything in the entire world. No kidding, once my dog ate cat poo and then threw it up, and even that did not compare to what it smelled like when my son starting consuming solids on a regular basis.
To combat this, and to make life easier in general, the Diaper Genie was born. For those of you unfamiliar with this contraption, it's made out of plastic and has a bucket at the top in which you put the used diaper. You then pull a lever (depending on the model) and it removes the diaper from sight, locking it away in a waste bag for disposal later. Diaper Genies require actual Diaper Genie bags, however, that may be in short supply when you really need a new one.
I have something similar that one can use with any plastic bags. Right now we're using regular old garbage bags in there and it seems to be working out all right. Except for one thing: The unbelievable, undeniable smell that counts as some sort of bio-terrorism in my book (or at least should). Regardless of carrying the odor away in the immediate, once you pull the bag out of the Genie to change it the smell is upon you--it's like that line from Michael Jackson's Thriller where Vincent Price discusses "the funk of 40,000 years." The new Diaper Genies are supposed to be even better at whisking away the smell, but I haven't used one to know whether or not when you pull out the full bag the smell might kill you.
Do you use a disposal system, and, if so, does it really work?
It seems like being a baby is a bit dangerous these days. On the heels of the Jardine crib recalls, The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced yet another one. This time, the recall is for about 1,200 2nd Nature Built to Grow Cribs. The cribs fail to meet federal standards for crib dimensions and when the mattress support is in the middle position, the space between the mattress and the crib could be too wide. No injuries have been reported, but this does pose an entrapment hazard to infants.
Made in Slovenia for Stanley Furniture Company Inc., of Stanleytown, Va., the cribs were sold in department and furniture stores nationwide from March 2006 through December 2007 for about $1,100 each.
The recall involves the full size 2nd Nature Built to Grow cribs, model number 353-14-220. Only those cribs with that model number and the following serial numbers are included in the recall:
Both model and serial numbers can be found on the crib's headboard.
If you have one of the recalled cribs, you should immediately stop using it in the middle mattress setting. Adjust it to the low or high setting and contact Stanley Furniture to determine if your crib is subject to this recall. If it is, Stanley will provide a free placement crib headboard. You can reach Stanley Furniture by calling (888) 839-6822 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or by visiting their Web site.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 320,000 Jardine Cribs due to a strangulation hazard. The crib slats and spindles can break, creating a gap in which a baby's head could become entrapped. There have been 42 such incidents with four children suffering minor injuries.
The cribs were manufactured in China and Vietnam for Jardine Enterprises and sold at KidsWorld, Geoffrey Stores, Toys "R" Us, and Babies "R" Us stores nationwide, as well at babiesrus.com, from January 2002 through May 2008 for between $150 and $300. One model, the Mahogany Positano Lifetime Crib, sold for $450.
The recall involves 28 different model numbers in various styles and finishes. The entire list of recalled cribs and their model numbers can be found here. You can find the model number located on the inside bottom rail of the headboard or footboard of the crib.
If you have one of these cribs, you are advised to immediately stop using it and contact Jardine to receive a full credit toward the purchase of a new crib. For more information, you can reach Jardine by calling (800) 646-4106 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET Saturday. You can also visit their website.
It's not unusual for expectant mothers to be given more than one baby shower in anticipation of a new arrival, which can quickly translate into more onesies or outfits than any one child could ever use.
One way to keep a clothing avalanche (and the resulting gift returns) to a minimum is to have a book shower instead. Rather than tradition baby items, attendees are asked to bring a children's book they enjoy to give the parents a head-start on building Baby's library. Not only are the expectant parents well-prepared for bedtime story requests and starting the lovely and educational habit of reading to their child, sharing a beloved book is much more personal and meaningful than ordering off a department story registry.
A nice touch to Baby Book Shower would be to include a bookplate with the invitation that guests could use to inscribe with a special message and affix to the inside cover of their gift.
Baby's extra friends or relatives might consider going in together to purchase a sturdy little bookshelf to neatly store all these literary treasures.
Remember how it came out that the bisphenol-A found in many baby bottles was, according to one study, was dangerous and linked to cancer, obesity, diabetes? Now a group of parents in Ohio have sued five companies, claiming that the manufacturers knew that bisphenol-A (BPA) was dangerous, but did not disclose that to consumers.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical makers including those that manufacture BPA, says that there is nothing to worry about and that BPA is safe, even for babies. According to Stephen Russell, plastics director for the ACC, government studies "have been strong, uniform and clear, that at the levels to which consumers are exposed, BPA base materials do not pose a risk to consumers."
Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, however, decided to pull all bottles containing BPA despite the government's and trade group's assurances that it was safe. Toys R Us has done the same. I don't know if BPA is safe for babies or not, but it seems to me that this is one area in which it's easy enough to play it safe.
Stewi Griffin (of television's Family Guy) make want Gwen Stefani dead, but somehow I can't get enough of her. The singer and business woman, who has her own line of clothes, bags and perfume, is set to be mom to baby number two any day now, but she and husband rocker Gavin Rossdale don't know the sex.
Rather than choosing to find out, they are going the other way and keeping the suspense until the last minute. But, how to buy? How to decorate? How to have fun while you wait (outside of your reunion with No Doubt)? Not a problem. The rockers plan on having a Goth baby and painting the child's nursery black.
Rossdale is quoted as saying this to OK Magazine in regards to whether he was going pink or blue with the nursery. I'm sure Gwen,already mom to Kingston, was amused at the remark if anything. The whole thing is probably a joke, but I wouldn't put it past these two to actually follow through with it! I wonder what color Kingston's room is!
ParentDish readers are just filled with baby wisdom. And based on your comments, if only one tip should be stamped on our brains forever and ever, it should be to SWADDLE YOUR NEWBORN LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW.
Thank you for that pertinent information. (Personally, I'm in full agreement.)
However, swaddling devices weren't the only products mentioned. Take a gander at your ParentPicks Top Newborn Essentials.
I can't remember exactly what method I used to keep track of my girls' feedings when they were nursing. I've got vague recollections of a safety pin, and it's possible for one of them (probably my second, as I was a total wreck those early weeks), I think I just only snapped one button on my nursing bra instead of two to remind myself which side we were on. Not a perfect system, by any means.
That's why I think the person who invented the nursing bracelet is a genius. These handy bracelets not only help you remember on which side you last fed, but also how long your baby ate at their last feeding -- good information to have if you're feeding on demand.
Francesca over at DIYLife recently shared tips for making your own nursing bracelet. Creating your own version allows you to make something that suits your own personal style and would also make a thoughtful baby gift for a mom-to-be.
To some women the thought of a "green" pregnancy conjures up images of nausea, vomiting and general discomfort. That's thankfully not what we're talking about here. As the green movement to save our environment continues to sweep the nation, check out these tips to see how you can make that bun, and your experience carrying it, as healthy and helpful to the environment your child will some day inherit.
In an article very humorously titled "What to inspect when you're expecting," writer Amy Linn Grist relays such ideas as using organic or all-natural shampoos and "prettying" products, and going organic whenever possible. True, organic can be more expensive, but I have to say from experience it's generally also a whole lot tastier. And when you're pregnant, taste counts for a lot! She also suggests shopping at second-hand and consignment stores for furnishings (and clothing). I've gotten a ton of cute, great baby clothes from such places for a fraction of the original cost. Kids outgrow clothes so quickly they hardly have time to mess them up!
The article also offers "five cent solutions" to the suggestions. Sure, it's easy to tell someone to only eat organic or to avoid Teflon, but how are regular folks supposed to be able to handle that--especially in this economy? Well, second-hand makes its appearance more than once. Reusing things, and taking care of what you have (so you can hopefully use it with the next baby, if there is one) is the easiest thing to do. Borrowing and swapping, as I do with a few pals, never hurts either. We're super-inclined to take care of the borrowed/swapped items since they belong to someone we know and love.
Maybe some of these tips are seemingly out of reach for your budget. Well, how about trying just one? Also consider the tip everyone can follow: Following the same rules we've all grown accustomed to hearing. Avoid cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and mega-caffeine (which, by the way, could save you enough money to get those organic products you've been eyeing!).
Who knew that former party girl Nicole Richie was such a giving and charitable person? I think that the way she has turned her life around and started giving back to those less fortunate is wonderful and I applaud her efforts. And apparently she has only just begun helping children - here and around the world.
The 
It's time for another installment of ParentPicks, a veritable gold mine of parental wisdom. Our sneaking suspicions were right - you DO have some 
The 
It's not unusual for expectant mothers to be given more than one baby shower in anticipation of a new arrival, which can quickly translate into more onesies or outfits than any one child could ever use. 
Remember how it came out that the 
