New Mom Baby Fears? Not Even Pregnant Yet and Scared?

I am constantly around new babies – I swear I sneeze and there are 2 new babies in my life from my best friends to cousins to family members. Sometimes it is overhwhelming hearing about all of their “new-mom” or “to-be-mom fears.” It makes me think, what kind of new mom will I be? I did a little research and here are some new mom baby fears and how you can conquer them. J

LEAVING THE HOUSE WITH YOUR NEWBORN

• Fear: You don’t want to expose him to all sorts of germs. 
• Re-Think It: Sneezing kids and groping strangers are legitimate concerns, but cabin fever is an even bigger one. You need fresh air and a change of scenery to boost your spirits. Plus, even very young babies benefit from the stimulation of a different environment. 
• Move Forward: Run errands together, go for strolls, and boldly live your life. But be smart about bugs: Avoid crowds until your child is 3 months old (especially during the winter, when colds and flu are rampant).

MAKING NOISE DURING NAPTIME

• Fear: Everyone says, “Don’t wake a sleeping baby.” 
• Re-Think It: Tiptoeing around the house impedes your ability to get things done in those precious free moments, like tidying up or phoning a friend. Ordinary household noise won’t wake most babies, who are used to sounds from the womb. 
• Move Forward: While it’s certainly not advisable to blast your stereo, break out of your Cone of Silence. If your child is particularly noise-sensitive or tends to awaken prematurely, try turning on a fan. And if you live in a bustling city environment, a white-noise machine can effectively mute street sounds.

PUTTING YOUR INFANT DOWN TO BED WHEN HE/SHE IS CRYING

• Fear: The last thing you want is to leave her emotionally scarred from your “abandonment” or feel like you are being a “mean Mom.” 
• Re-Think It: Endlessly rocking and patting your still-wailing baby can heighten up your anxiety, frustration, and exhaustion levels — three things a new mother definitely doesn’t need any more of. What’s even worse: A child who spends almost all of her time in Mommy’s arms may become even fussier when you put her down. Nip it in the bud!! It will become a vicious cycle. 
• Move Forward: Accept that crying is part of being a healthy baby, not something you always need to stop. Often, it’s your child’s way of soothing his or herself. While it’s fine to soothe your infant for a while, placing her in the crib and leaving the room to take a breather is totally permissible. Just make sure he or she is not in distress.

 SLEEP-TRAINING

• Fear: No one wants to listen to her child shriek for hours nonstop. 
• Re-Think It: If a few months of nighttime wakings have left you feeling super tired – now imagine doing it for a year or more! While stumbling into the nursery multiple times a night to help your baby settle down feels like the right thing to do, it’s not: Sleeping through the night and self-soothing are learned skills — and it’s your job to teach them! 
• Move Forward: By 3 months, your baby is developmentally ready for sleep-training. While you can certainly wait until, say, 7 or 8 months to let her cry it out, keep in mind that the older she gets, the more ingrained her nighttime habits will become. Start by putting your child in her crib, drowsy but still awake.

CHECK OUT LE TOP BABY AND CHILDREN’S CLOTHING AT
www.letop-usa.com

Read Full Post »

REMINDER: 3-days left! Santa Holiday Picture Contest! Win $100 worth of Le Top!

Don’t forget! You have 3 days to submit the cutest and “most scared” pictures of your babies and kiddos photographed with Santa! Make sure to tell your family and friends at school to submit pictures of their children too!

We want to ring in the holiday season with a few laughs (and smiles) and have a contest on the best “scared of” and “cute” Santa pictures. We know it is only December 7th, so that’s why we are running this contest until December 16th to give you enough time to snap your photos. We will pick 2 winners – one will be for the cutest Santa picture with your child(ren) and the other will be for the funniest “I’m scared of” Santa photo with your child(ren). Submit your pictures – dead is Friday, December 16th. (A little blurb about the pic would be great too!)

We will choose our winners (at random) who will win a $100 shopping spree from our Le Top online boutique – www.letop-usa.com. The lucky winner will be announced on Friday, December 16th.

So, where to send these photos?

Email service@letop-usa.com or Facebook your image with a blurb on our fan page by clicking here: Le Top on Facebook

Read Full Post »

Santa Holiday Picture Contest! Win $100 worth of Le Top!

The next two weeks we are looking for the cutest and “most scared” pictures of your babies and kiddos photographed with Santa!

One of last year's winners

We want to ring in the holiday season with a few laughs (and smiles) and have a contest on the best “scared of” and “cute” Santa pictures. We know it is only December 7th, so that’s why we are running this contest for the next week and half until December 16th to give you enough time to snap your photos. We will pick 2 winners – one will be for the cutest Santa picture with your child(ren) and the other will be for the funniest “I’m scared of” Santa photo with your child(ren). Submit your pictures starting TODAY through December 16th. (A little blurb about the pic would be great too!)

We will choose our winners (at random) who will win a $100 shopping spree from our Le Top online boutique – www.letop-usa.com. The lucky winner will be announced on Friday, December 16th.

So, where to send these photos?

Email service@letop-usa.com or Facebook your image with a blurb on our fan page by clicking here: Le Top Facebook Page

GO TO WWW.LETOP-USA.COM FOR LE TOP HOLIDAY CLOTHING

 

Read Full Post »

Baby Colic? Incessant crying? Here is the latest news..

Many moms are up late on the computer browsing the internet for any sort of cure or treatment to help a colicky baby. Many parents try loads of remedies they learn of, but are still driven mad by it.

Next time your protesting, colicky baby has you wavering on the edge of sleep-deprived insanity, consider a cup of herbal tea. For who? Not you! For the baby!

Baby colic is a common condition, affecting as many as a quarter of young infants. Yet the underlying reasons remain mysterious, and there are no safe and effective treatments.

Fortunately, the crying — which can last for hours every day — usually disappears when the baby is a few months old, and the condition is harmless, experts say.

A new report, published in the journal Pediatrics, summarizes all the complementary and alternative medicines as well as nutritional supplements for colic — including herbal extracts, sugar water, probiotics, massage and reflexology.

Tea –made with chamomile, licorice, fennel and balm mint– was one of the most effective treatments for relieving symptoms of colic, according to this new Pediatrics study, which reviewed 15 randomized clinical trials of alternative treatments for infantile colic.

The study analyzed trials that included various types of treatment and found the most encouraging results came from treatments using herbal remedies and sugar solutions, while the least effective results came from treatments involving manipulation and probiotic supplements.

There were some signs that fennel had a positive effect. For instance, one study found that 65 percent of babies who got fennel seed oil dissolved in water before meals were cured of their colic. That compared to 24 percent of those who just got water.

The study stated:

The difficulty in finding an effective treatment is related to our lack of understand of IC (infantile colic). Its pathophysiology is unclear; food allergies, formula intolerance, immaturity of gastrointestinal tract, excessive gas formation or intestinal cramping have all been suggested as possible etiologies. Arguably, any rational treatment should be directed at the mechanisms of the disease itself.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the study is how the authors explain what many exhausted parents already know – that it’s hard to know how to treat colic because colic itself is such a wily beast. But the studies were few and far between, and none of the studies were scientifically solid, the researchers found.

All and all, despite these new studies – I say your baby just needs a lot of Tender Love and Care (TLC). What do you do to help your colicky baby?

Read Full Post »

Squirmy Kids at the Dinner Table & Tips to Make it Stop

Whether you are a mom, dad, babysitter, relative or grandparent trying to feed your toddler at the table, it can be a challenge because kids at this age are very squirmy. Here are some creative tips to keep them happy at the dinner table and in their chair eating:

1. Be creative with toddler utensils. For example, give your kids a garlic press to puree some of their own dinner.
2. Let them play with a cookie cutter, whisk or lidded containers with food inside of them (this entertains them while you are at the table so you can get a quick bite in too!)
3. Keep a small stash of plastic toys ready that you can put onto the high chair tray as your child’s interest in the food begins to go downward.
4. Play farm animals – ask your toddler to pretend to be an animal who can “eat some of his or her meal.
5. Use plastic cars or trucks to drive up to the food (fill the truck, such as a dump truck, with food and “drive” it into a pile for him or her to eat.
6. Lastly, consider eating in your toddler’s favorite spot. If your child eats with you at the dinner table every night, why not switch it up and eat at his or her play area once in awhile or perhaps have a “special night” not in the high chair as a treat! 🙂

Read Full Post »

It’s our First Mommy and Me Class

Yesterday was Paulo’s first pre-pre-school type class. I remember taking my daughter to this FOUR years ago! The classroom looks exactly the same. The toys are still the same toys. The format is the same. And we also have the same teacher. It was weird being in the same environment with my second child. Just so surreal!

With my daughter, the class seemed so fun and relaxing. We did puzzles, Playdough and paints, and she was very easy going. It was a gratifying and pleasant experience. With Paulo, it’s a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT story. At first, he wouldn’t walk into the classroom. He clung to my leg and I had to walk into the room looking like Frankenstein. Then within the first 15 minutes, he threw puzzle pieces all over the floor, toppled over a stack of blocks, screamed and whined because he wanted the exact same cars that another boy was playing with, then proceeded to have a tantrum in the middle of the rug. The teacher had to come over to see if he was okay. (Yeah, he’s fine. Just the Terrible Twos.)

At Circle Time, he didn’t want to sing the “Slippery Fish” song. He wanted to eat the toy fish that each child was given to hold then had a fit when I tried to pull it out of his mouth. The fish stayed in his mouth. At least he wasn’t screaming, right?

At snack time, he accidentally flung his spoon out of the yogurt he was trying to eat and spilled a spoonful onto floor which happened to spill on his t-shirt and jeans on the way down. Easy clean up, right? Until I realized that the little spoonful of yogurt managed to splatter all over my sweater, shirt, and jeans before landing on the ground! (Lovely!) Then when he had HALF-EATEN everything out of his lunchbox, he threw another tantrum on the floor because he was done eating and wanted to go to the train table. A little girl walked up and stood over him and said, “Are you okay?” (Too cute! That would have been my daughter.)

At recess, he didn’t want to share. He cried because another boy was playing with the steering wheel on the play structure. He wanted someone else’s ride-along car. He wanted to sit on the swing that was occupied. He tried to steal a child’s bucket in the sandbox. And finally, he took a handful of sand and tossed it in my direction. So now I have sand stuck to the yogurt on my sweater and jeans that I didn’t wipe off completely, plus I have sand in my shoes! (GRRRR!!!)

But enough about the negatives. Here are some positives…

• He made a shamrock project.
• He learned to play with Playdough instead of eating it.
• He didn’t dominate the train table like he usually does.
• He got some much needed outside playtime.
• And most especially, Mommy got to spend some quality time with my little “angel.”

It’s all good!

This class goes on for 10 weeks. One week down, NINE more to go. This is the first time he’s been exposed to all kinds of stimulation in one place at one time. I know (and I hope!) that each week will get easier, and that he will learn to play nicely with others. I really don’t want to be the mom that everyone talks about behind her back. “Oh, she’s the one with the bratty child.” It will get better, right? Right?

Read Full Post »

Better late than never! Scared Santa Contest Winners

Our SINCEREST apologies here at Le Top for the tardy post and announcement of the winners for “best scared” and “most cute” Santa Photo Contest! The holidays had us busy mommies crazy and then down for the count with a cold. We want to thank all of the mommies and daddies for taking the time to submit photos of their babies and kids in their “prime” Santa moments! Check out the photo gallery we also posted on Facebook of other submissions that came to our Customer Service email address. We had a tough time deciding who our winners would be with such special and memorable photos.  Okay, enough of our boo-hooing about being sick and late….and the WINNERS are…..

Winners, please email service@letop-usa.com to redeem your $100 shopping spree at Le Top at www.letop-usa.com. Congratulations!

For “Most Scared” Santa photo….congratulations to Sam Wilson for your babe’s “not too pleased” face. What a Kodak moment!

Le Top's most scared photo with Santa winner

For “Cutest” Santa Photo….we thought this was so sad it was CUTE! Congratulations to Gina Calamita’s daughter, Bella – our winner! This was her daughter’s fist time meeting Santa. According to Gina, “She was not a fan, but finally gave up and accepted that she would have to sit for a picture with the big scary bearded man.  The look of utter defeat on her face says it all. Hope you get a laugh out of it like my husband and I did!”

Le Top's cutest photo with Santa winner

Read Full Post »

Toddler Timeout

Paulo was put in a timeout while on a playdate. His friend, Amalie, decided to join him for moral support.

I started putting Paulo in timeouts when he was about 12-months old. It seemed so silly to put him in a corner because at his age I didn’t really know if he understood the reason or grasped the concept. According to Dr. Sears, timeouts should be around one minute per year of age. So since he was a year old, he sat in the “naughty corner” for one minute.

The first time I put him in timeout, he sat for about two seconds, then ran back to me with a big smile. I guess he thought it was a game. I couldn’t help but smile back because he was just so darn cute! So just what every mother would do, I swooped him up and showered him with kisses until he giggled.

The subsequent times that followed weren’t “cute” anymore. This time I meant business! Every time he hit his sister, he was sent to the naughty corner. I guess after many timeouts, it finally clicked.  Now at 21-months, he runs up to his sister, hits her, then walks to his corner. (Stinker!) Ok, I guess he learned the wrong lesson, but in his defense, he usually hits his sister if she happens to take away the toy he was playing with.

Read Full Post »

REMINDER! Santa Picture Contest! Win $100 worth of Le Top!

We have decided to extend the contest deadline to next Monday, Dec. 20^th!
We are looking for the cutest and “most scared” pictures of your babies and kiddos photographed with Santa!  Submit your pictures until Monday. (A little blurb about the pic would be great too!)

Inspired by our blog posts this month – we want to ring in the holiday season with a few laughs (and smiles) and have a contest on the best “scared of” and “cute” Santa pictures. This Monday, Dec. 20^th, we will pick 2 winners – one will be for the cutest Santa picture with your child(ren) and the other will be for the funniest “I’m scared of” Santa photo with your child(ren).

We will choose our winners (at random) who will win a $100 shopping spree from our Le Top online boutique – www.letop-usa.com. The lucky winner will be announced on Monday, December 20th.

So, where to send these photos?
Email service@letop-usa.com
or
Facebook your image with a blurb on our fan page by clicking here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/le-top/117553138255670?ref=sgm

Read Full Post »

Santa Holiday Picture Contest! Win $100 worth of Le Top!

For the next two weeks we will be looking for the cutest and “most scared” pictures of your babies and kiddos photographed with Santa!

Inspired by our blog posts from Wednesday and Friday – we want to ring in the holiday season with a few laughs (and smiles) and have a contest on the best “scared of” and “cute” Santa pictures. We know it is only December 3^rd, so that’s why we are running this contest for 2 weeks until December 17th to give you enough time to snap your photos. We will pick 2 winners – one will be for the cutest Santa picture with your child(ren) and the other will be for the funniest “I’m scared of” Santa photo with your child(ren). Submit them starting TODAY through December 17th. (A little blurb about the pic would be great too!)

We will choose our winners (at random) who will win a $100 shopping spree from our Le Top online boutique – www.letop-usa.com. The lucky winner will be announced on Friday, December 17th.

So, where to send these photos?

Email service@letop-usa.com
or
Facebook your image with a blurb on our fan page by clicking here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/le-top/117553138255670?ref=sgm

Read Full Post »