As I sit here, my head pounding, my nose stuffed up, my throat dry and sore, my legs aching and a cough that's keeping everyone awake at night, I think fondly of the days when I was single and without kids and never, ever got sick. Tales of Koalas and Rhinos and Giraffes are not the only things my Jared and Sara are bringing home from zoo camp -- and it's only going to get worse when they're back in school.
There are, however, things you -- and your little ones -- can do to limit your exposure. First off, wash your hands. More importantly, teach your kids to wash their hands. Having them recite the alphabet or sing a song while they wash can help make sure they do it long enough. They also need to wash often -- before they eat, when they get to school, after touching just about anything. The more they wash, the fewer germs they bring home, share with siblings, or put in their mouths.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced yet another crib recall. This time, about 500 Baby Appleseed Davenport Cribs are being recalled because they fail to meet federal safety standards for cribs. These cribs have a two-mattress support system and the secondary one, used for the lowest position, doesn't meet the full 26 inch minimum height requirement in its lowest position. This could allow a child to crawl over the railing and fall out of the crib.
These were made in Vietnam for by Baby Appleseed and sold at specialty juvenile product stores nationwide from December 2006 through September 2007 for between $600 and $800 each.
The recalled cribs are the Davenport models that begin with model numbers 273 and have manufacture dates on or before August 2007. You can find the manufacture date printed on a label on the right side of the lower inner panel of the crib. Newer Davenport cribs with model numbers beginning with 244 and having just one mattress support are not included in the recall.
If you have one of these cribs, you should stop using it in the third lowest position, which uses the wooden mattress support. If you are currently using the crib with the metal mattress support in the top or middle positions, you can continue to do so while awaiting a repair kit. Repair Kits will be available from the firm in mid-August 2008.
To receive your repair kit, contact Baby Appleseed by calling (877) 348-2199 anytime or by visiting their Web site.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 1,300 Mother Hubbard's Cupboard cribs. The cribs fail to meet federal safety standards in that the distance between the mattress support bracket in the lowest position and the top of the side rail in the highest position is less than the required 26 inches. This poses a fall hazard to children.
The recall involves wooden full-sized cribs in the following models: Enchantment (model #210), Hush A Bye (model #215), Once Upon A Time (model #320) and Rock A Bye (model #1900-359). Only cribs with date codes from 0306 through 0308 are included in this recall. You can find the words "Mother Hubbard's Cupboards", the model number and date code printed on a label on the bottom inside of the right side of the crib.
The cribs were sold at juvenile product stores from March 2006 through March 2008 between $500 and $650 each. More pictures of the recalled cribs can be found here.
If you have one of these cribs, you should stop using it immediately and contact Mother Hubbard's Cupboards to receive instructions on how to reinstall the support brackets and eliminate the hazard. You can reach them by calling (888) 661-8201 between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday and between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. ET Friday and Saturday, or by visiting their Web site.
After a bedtime routine of bath, brushing teeth, and book reading, my daughters still often resist settling in under getting under the covers and settling in for the night. So we started a new routine where, once they are tucked in and quiet, we turn off all the lights and I read them a few pages from a chapter book (with my booklight). Not only does this give them incentive to get settled into bed, I figure, they're imaginations get a workout as they try to picture the story in their heads. Last week, my three-year-old pulled out Stuart Little. I wasn't sure if they were ready for it yet, but they seem mesmerized by the story so far, and it's so much fun to sink back into an old children's classic.
Stuart Little has delighted children for decades, but did you know that the book got off to a rocky start? The New Yorker has an excellent piece about the relationship between E.B. White, his wife Katherine, and book reviewer Anne Carroll Moore. Moore is credited with creating the idea of a children's library and story time, and became a powerful influence in children's literature. Though she pushed White for years to finish his book, once the manuscript was finished she fought its publication. Saying "I was never so disappointed in a book in my life," and that it had been written by "a sick mind," she refused to order it for the New York Public Library, and therefore influences libraries across the nation as well.
It's a story that's nearly as interesting as the book itself. Parents with an interest in children's literature, classics, or even the history of the New York City Library will find this piece of the past engrossing.
Sleep is an issue for any new parent. Not only are they not getting any, but where in the world is the baby supposed to sleep? Co-sleeping is either ideal or dangerous, depending on who you talk to. Putting the baby in a crib in their own room just adds distance between you and a crying baby in the middle of the night, meaning you have a much greater chance of crashing into doorways in your sleepless stupor.
The AAP has changed their recommendations over the last few years. Though they still don't support co-sleeping, citing the fact that half of all infant deaths catergorized as sudden and unexpected happen when babies share a sleeping surface with adults, they do recommend room sharing, where parents and baby share a room, but not a bed.
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.
In the last week or so, my almost-5-month-old has abandoned his admirable new habit of sleeping 6+ hours at a time in favor of waking up every three hours to demand yet another feeding. It's not horribly disruptive since he essentially wakes up, rings his version of the dinner bell, powers down a bottle and falls immediately back to sleep, but my body has been experiencing something like a cringing depression at having to get back into the routine of staggering out of bed at 1 AM, 4 AM, etc.
It doesn't help matters that my husband snores peacefully throughout each awakening, then innocently asks in the morning whether or not Dylan woke up in the night. (Jeez, at least pretend like it screwed up your sleep too, you know? Otherwise I might be forced to help you SHARE in this wee-hour inconvenience, by, say, dumping a glass of cold water into your open slumbering snout.)
My gut feeling is that the baby's going through a little growth spurt and that we don't have a bigger sleep issue going on, mostly because of how he's waking up: he's not frantic or wanting comfort, he just seems hungry. I can sympathize, really -- if being a small growing baby is anything like being pregnant, I don't know how he makes it through the night without getting up and eating yet another toasted, buttered, and salted Thomas' "Everything" bagel.
(What? You didn't pork out on salt-and-butter bagels at 3 AM during YOUR pregnancies and wake up with poppy seeds stuck in your teeth? Freak.)
I'm hoping we get back to a more reasonable sleep schedule soon, because even though I suppose it's not all that tragic to have to deal with a couple quick feedings with a mostly cheery baby in the middle of the night, I'd rather up my chances of making it all the way through that dream involving George Clooney and the bathtub scene in Out of Sight, you know? (ALL THE WAY TO THE HAPPY ENDING IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN AND I THINK YOU DO.)
I don't plan to try Dylan on solid food for a few more weeks still, and I know there is supposedly no correlation between solid food and sleeping through the night. However, I'm curious as to whether or not your experience matches what the experts say. Did your baby sleep better once he/she was eating solids?
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.
Good news if you're a coffee junkie: that venti drip could possibly prolong your life, and it certainly won't kill you. A new study has found that coffee drinkers -- even those guzzling decaf -- had slightly lower death rates than their coffee-free peers.
The best news for sleep-deprived parents, though, is that drinking a LOT of coffee isn't any worse for you than drinking a little. The study found that women who consume two to three cups of coffee a day showed an 18 percent reduction in death from all causes, while drinking four to five cups was associated with a 26 percent reduction.
Apparently I am going to live forever (let's just say five cups is a bare minimum for me every day).
The health benefits of coffee include a reduction in inflammation, which may in turn reduce the risk of heart disease, and a lowering of blood sugar levels, which may stave off diabetes. And of course when you're all jacked up on the coffee, it's hard to sit still, so you may get some incidental exercise in there, too.
Okay, that last one wasn't from the study. But you know it's true.
According to researcher Esther Lopez-Garcia, Ph.D. of the University of Madrid, "We can't say from this one study that coffee extends your life, but it does appear that it doesn't increase the risk for death for people who are healthy." So the moral really seems to be this: if you're downing three (or more) cups of coffee every day in an attempt to compensate for sleepless nights and jam-packed days, you may not be compromising your health as badly as you might think.
In other words, the coffee may not make you live longer, but it probably won't kill you, which is good news for moms and dads everywhere.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 28,000 children's camouflage pajama sets due to excessive levels of lead in the screen print on the shirt.
The pajama sets were sold with long and short sleeved blue shirts with a red screen print that reads "Athletics 90" and a coordinating pant. They were available in boys' sizes XXS (2/3) to XL (14).
The pajama sets were made in Vietnam and sold exclusively at The Children's Place stores nationwide and through The Children's Place online store from December 2006 to January 2008 for between $15 and $17.
If your child has these pajamas, you are advised to immediately take them away and return them to any The Children's Place store for a full refund. For more information, contact The Children's Place at (877) 752-2387 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit their Web site. You may also email the company at customerservice@childrensplace.com.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 20,000 Simmons Kids Crib Mattresses. Some of the mattresses measure smaller than the 27 ¼ inch minimum width required to prevent gaps between to mattress and crib side rails. This poses an entrapment hazard to infants.
Simmons Kids and the CPSC have received a report of a 6-month old baby becoming wedged between the mattress and crib frame. Fortunately, the baby wasn't injured.
The recall involves open coil crib mattresses manufactured between July 1, 2006 and March 23, 2008 with a color label attached to the top or side of the mattress that has the following model names:
Pottery Barn Kids by Simmons Kids Lullaby
Simmons Kids Slumber Time Evening Star Luxury Firm
Simmons Kids Baby Mattress Series 400
Simmons Kids Baby Mattress 234 Coil Count
The mattresses also have a tag sewn into the edge which has the date of manufacture and in most cases will contain one of the following model numbers: H59044.15.0014, M59082.15.0002, M59027.15.0002 or M59065.15.0006.
The Pocketed Coils® and Simmons Kids or Simmons Juvenile Products crib mattresses manufactured before July 1, 2006 or after March 23, 2008 are not included in the recall.
These mattresses were sold at Pottery Barn Kids and nursery furniture retailers from July 2006 through May 2008 for between $100 and $150 each.
To determine if your mattress meets the 27 ¼ inch minimum width requirement, remove all bedding and place the mattress on the floor. Using a yard stick or tape measure, measure the width near the middle from the outside edge of the tape binding to the opposite side of the mattress. If yours measures less than 27 ¼ inch, you are advised to immediately stop using it and contact Simmons Kids to receive a free replacement mattress.
You can reach Simmons Kids by calling (800) 810-8611 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Thursday, and between 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. ET, on Friday or by visiting the firm's Web site.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 550 Bassettbaby Wendy Bellissimo Hidden Hills Collection Cribs. The space between the spindles on some cribs fail to meet federal standards and can pose an entrapment hazard to babies.
The recalled cribs are full-sized with a Navajo Pine finish and model number 5446-0521 printed on the bottom rail of the headboard. They were made in China and sold exclusively at Babies "R" Us stores nationwide from November 2007 through February 2008 for about $500 each.
If you have one of the recalled cribs, you should stop using it immediately and contact Bassettbaby to schedule an in-home inspection of the crib. Recalled cribs will be replaced. The firm has contacted consumers directly.
You can contact Bassettbaby at (866) 618-5446 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Sunday.
As I sit here, my head pounding, my nose stuffed up, my throat dry and sore, my legs aching and a cough that's keeping everyone awake at night, I think fondly of the days when I was single and without kids and never, ever got sick. Tales of Koalas and Rhinos and Giraffes are not the only things my Jared and Sara are bringing home from zoo camp -- and it's only going to get worse when they're back in school.
After a bedtime routine of bath, brushing teeth, and book reading, my daughters still often resist settling in under getting under the covers and settling in for the night. So we started a new routine where, once they are tucked in and quiet, we turn off all the lights and I read them a few pages from a chapter book (with my booklight). Not only does this give them incentive to get settled into bed, I figure, they're imaginations get a workout as they try to picture the story in their heads. Last week, my three-year-old pulled out Stuart Little. I wasn't sure if they were ready for it yet, but they seem mesmerized by the story so far, and it's so much fun to sink back into an old children's classic. 
The 
Good news if you're a coffee junkie: that venti drip could possibly prolong your life, and it certainly won't kill you. A new study has found that coffee drinkers -- even those guzzling decaf -- had slightly lower death rates than their coffee-free peers.
The 
