Shortly after my wife and I found out we were pregnant with our first child, we made the four-hour drive to my hometown to visit my parents and tell them the news. On our way there, we stopped at a bookstore and picked up a baby name book to peruse, figuring that the eight [...]
I received a copy of So Smart Sights and Sounds DVD and was anxious to check it out with my son. The DVD is produced by so smart! productions. Their work has won 30 national awards for educational products.
The DVD was designed for babies ages 3 months to 36 months, and is divided into 6 [...]
When I was just a teenager, my father informed me of a fact that I still carry with me to this day: since he was the only one of his siblings to immigrate to Canada from Italy, and that I am his only son (I have two sisters), that it was my responsibility to have [...]
While browsing through a website on infant health, I discovered a study that correlated sleep and weight gain for infants and toddlers.
According to the study, babies and toddlers that slept fewer than 12 hours per day were more likely to be overweight. The author of the article was quick to point out that the [...]
For a baby’s or toddler’s Easter basket, there are many alternatives to the traditional chocolate bunny, surrounded by a variety of other sugar-packed treats.
If you want to include the chocolate bunny for a toddler, you can add all sorts of fillers which are fun and sugar-free (or at least, low in sugar).
Plastic Easter eggs can [...]
A must-have book for sleep-deprived parents is parent-educator Elizabeth Pantley’s “The No-cry Sleep Solution”. I am reading it right now, in hopes of being able to gently train our baby-on-the-way to sleep better. I don’t think Pantley suggests doing much to alter a newborn’s sleep patterns; he or she usually needs to sleep, eat, pee [...]
My friend recently delivered a gorgeous, healthy 6lb baby girl. Her weight was below average but certainly healthy. Her daughter gained weight at every checkup, but remained in the 10th percentile, some way below the average line. She exclusively breastfed, and her doctor told her, fairly brusquely, that her baby was not getting [...]
Researchers at McMaster University have found that exposure to nicotine while the baby is still in the womb, whether because the mother was smoking or through secondhand smoke, compromises the baby’s ability to respond to oxygen deprivation which increases the chances of a baby falling victim to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The birth supposedly triggers [...]
Let’s face it: many child-centered activities and destinations can be very pricey. When my kids were toddlers, some of my favorite things to do with them were either free or very inexpensive. I know I’ll be looking for similar things to do with my new little guy who’s due to arrive this spring. Honestly, I [...]
