After months of waiting, the time has come and gone. For a little under a year you’ve rubbed feet, and lower back. You’ve braved various “birthing” classes and read as many books as your time allowed. You’ve been given tips from other fathers, whether solicited, or not. The moment you were waiting for has come and gone. Now, one of the most incredible moments of your life, the birth of your first child, has given way to something else. After all the preparation you’ve now set about the task of figuring out what exactly it is you’re to do with this newborn baby. And quite frankly, you’re left scratching your head like that guy in the produce aisle who stands there glazed over, seemingly overwhelmed at the enormity of what is in front of him.

Infant Bonding

It’s no secret that many men look at the early bond between mother and infant and wonder “Where do I fit in?” You look at that beautiful infant who seemingly does nothing but poop, cry, eat and sleep and wonder, “What can I do? She/he doesn’t do anything?” So, you fall back on those masculine instincts and decide that you’ll do what you know. You’ll take those gadgets you bought in anticipation of the birth and capture everything your baby does. Around this same time you also begin to imagine all the things you can do with your child when he or she is older. The footballs you’ll throw, or the suitors you’ll scare off. The first birdhouse you will build together or the father/daughter dance. All those wonderful things you’ll do when your little one “does more.” Some guys I know feel guilty for having these thoughts or feelings but for men who, by nature of the process, are not as bonded physically with the infant, these feelings are quite natural.

Allow me to offer up this notion. To reconnect, live in the moment. You see, in order to journal everything through the lens of a camera or camcorder, you have to step back from the action a bit and disconnect. To help you stay in the moment, I’ve given you something you’ll probably like…a list. Trust me, time goes by fast and before you know it you’ll be sending your new bundle of joy off to college and wondering where the time went.

Newborn Parenting: Dad’s List

• Help with breast feeding - I know you may be thinking, “What can I possibly to do help with that?” You can actually help ensure that the baby is properly “latched” on to mommy as she might not be able to tell from her angle. Prior to the actual feeding you may offer to make sure that mom has all the pillows she needs and is properly supported to comfortably feed baby. There are actually breast feeding pillows you can buy to help facilitate this, but in the absence of finances to purchase one, any pillow will do.

• Napping – I know you and mom may both be concerned about your ability to “be gentle” with baby, but I don’t think you’ll be crushing your little one any time soon, so take a nap with your baby. One of the most wonderful memories I have from when my daughter was an infant is a picture my wife took of me napping with her laying on my chest. I remember that day, dozing off, like it was yesterday and that picture only cements the wonderful bond I have had with my Princess since she was just a newborn. This benefits baby because he/she will get the chance to further become acquainted with daddy’s scent and let’s face it, this kind of tender, appropriately intimate moment never hurts!

• Include Baby – I have a friend who is a huge Patriots fan and since his infant was weeks old he has watched football games with her. Now that she’s old enough to hold her head up on her own and sit up, she sits right next to him on the couch during those marathon Sundays of football viewing. You know what? Now, she actually responds to him as he responds to the games! Just make sure that you bring baby into the game. You’ve got a captive audience. Involve baby and you’ll have a game buddy in no time. You see, you don’t need to wait for tomorrow to enjoy sports with your baby boy or girl. Today is a great day to start.

• Talk to Baby – Remember when baby was en utero and you used to talk to mommy’s tummy all the time? That doesn’t have to stop now that baby is born. Of course, you won’t be talking to the tummy any more, you actually get to talk to the baby directly so go ahead and tell him or her about all the wonderful things you’d like to do when they get older. Tell baby about your ideas and daydreams of tossing the ol’ pigskin around or donning a Tux for that Father/Daughter dance. You’ve got a captive audience and, ultimately, one which deeply desires to interact with you.

• Bathing – Last, but definitely not least, bathe baby on a regular basis. Make bath time your special time. Sing a funny song while bathing baby. Tickle your little one. This is play time for both of you and just another opportunity to nurture a bond that will hopefully last a lifetime.

The great thing about all of these tips is that not only you and baby benefit from your being “in the moment,” but mom benefits by getting a moment. She’s with baby day and night right now and getting some time to herself to sleep or do whatever she needs to recharge, will work wonders for everyone in the household.

Having a baby means learning a lot of new practices. If you haven’t changed a diaper before, the first time can be an eye opener. Feeding a baby can also be a trick, especially when you are still getting to know each other and aren’t aware of baby’s preferences, such as a warm vs. cool bottle, which nipple or bottle baby prefers, and more.

But just when you think you have it all down pat, something changes. Suddenly the baby doesn’t take to the nipple as easily, or the songs you used to sing to get baby to sleep don’t have the same ring to them. It’s time to learn something new, all over again.

I call it the re-learning curve, and for me it happens when baby is about four or five months old.

My son and I are going through it right now, primarily with his sleep. We’ve been blessed with a baby who has been sleeping through the night since he was about a month old, but lately his sleep patterns have been different. He used to nurse to the point of falling asleep, after which I could pick him up, swaddle him in a soft blanket, and gently place him in the crib and he’d be out for the night.

The other night, however, he didn’t cooperate. He nursed and nursed, but showed no signs of falling asleep. Just as I began to feel frustrated with his seemingly cluster feeding, he finished eating and stayed quiet. I looked at him and he looked up at me, inquisitive looks on both our faces. His look seemed to ask me, now what?

Now what, indeed. I sat like that for a few minutes, stroking the wisps of downy hair on his head and enjoying the warmth of his little body next to me. Then my husband walked in and suggested putting him down in the crib.

But he’s not asleep, I thought, before looking at the clock. It was near midnight, and a full hour after the time my son usually nods off. So, at the risk of waking him up and having to un-swaddle him and feed him again, I gently lowered him into the crib. And he slept. All night.

So now, at night, when he seems to be satisfied and full – yet still awake – I put him down for the night. Sometimes he wakes up and eats more, and sometimes he falls right asleep. Either way. it’s definitely something new, and something that we are learning together.

I’ll never forget the moment when I was absolutely sure that I just couldn’t keep going as a mom.  My two year old was having a fitful sleep and kept waking me up with her yelps from the nightmares she was having.  My newborn was sleeping in the bed with me because it was the only way we could get him to sleep.  My husband was asleep downstairs because he couldn’t handle getting woken up several times an hour, so I was left to deal with it all on my own.

My son woke up crying, so I woke up and discovered that his diaper had leaked all over us, so both him and I were covered with pee.  The bed was soaked but I didn’t have the gumption to get up and get new sheets because I was exhausted.  It then hit me that I was completely willing to sleep in a puddle of pee because I didn’t have the energy to go get new sheets, so I started crying right along with my son.  I held him and cried, and figured that if there was a breaking point for moms then it probably looked a little something like this: a sobbing mom sitting in a puddle of pee with a crying newborn.

Ah, memories.

If you’re a new parent then you can expect to have moments like this.  You might not wind up in the exact same situation – I really hope you don’t, by the way – but it could be any number of things.  I had one friend who absolutely lost it on her father-in-law when he ate the last banana in the house that was supposed to be for her baby’s breakfast.  I had another friend who called me sobbing in a panic because she just couldn’t stand looking at the walls in her house anymore, yet couldn’t fathom gathering her twin boys into the car to leave.  A few years later, all of us are competent moms who only break down sobbing once in a great while, and usually because our kids do something so moving that we cry from good emotions.

The point is that you can get through the really tough times with your baby.  Yes, there will be times when you are so exhausted and so emotional that you feel like you simply can’t do anything other than stay in bed and cry, but try to keep it all in perspective.  You’re tired, you’re hormonal, and chances are you’re a little overwhelmed by the thought of being responsible for another life.  It’s no wonder we all crack once in a while.

You can do it.  Trust me.

Let’s face it: Babies and toddlers have temper tantrums at the most inopportune times.  Whether you’re in line at the grocery store or sitting in a church service, young kids seem to have a sixth sense about when it is the worst time to start crying and get upset.  Some might make the claim that it’s harder to deal with babies when they have these fits since they can’t really tell you why they are upset, but remind me to tell you about the tantrum my three year old son had the other day where he slapped me across the face and told me “Shut up!”

But I digress.

It can be really tough to keep your cool when your baby is freaking out.  It’s one thing when you can pinpoint the issue, such as when a diaper needs changing or you know your baby is way overdue for a nap.  It’s another thing when your baby just starts flipping out for no apparent reason.  Does something hurt? Does she want a specific toy? Is she scared by something that you don’t see?

It’s only made worse when there are people around you giving you that tsk-tsk look that some people give.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about printing up a shirt to wear that says Unless you’re going to offer me help with my kids, keep your critical glances to yourself.  I never did get that shirt printed up but I have perfected conveying the same message through an equally critically counter-glance.

So how do you keep your cool when your baby is having a full-blown tantrum? It’s important to remember that the younger your child is, the less likely it is that what you’re experiencing is an actual “tantrum.”  Young babies start crying and fussing as a result of being unable to say, “Mom, I’m hungry,” or “Mom, that guy with the beard is scaring the heck out of me because I’ve never seen a beard before.”  When a baby is young, this certainly isn’t the time to discipline.  You can’t hope to get a newborn to stop crying by delivering a stern speech about how to act in public.

It’s better to try to soothe your baby while also getting through whatever it is you’re doing.  If you’re in line at a grocery store, it may be worth it to simply finish your transaction and let your baby have a cry in the stroller.  If your baby is in your arms it makes it a little harder, but keep in mind that the world doesn’t stop because your baby is upset.  In other words, you can’t expect everyone around you to be nice for long if you hold up a line of shoppers so you can soothe your baby with a lullaby.

Above all else, just do what you can to stay calm.  Your baby can probably sense your mood, so if you freak out then your baby will be even more scared because she’s looking for you to fix the problem instead of making it worse.  Believe me when I say that it’s not always possible to not get a little frazzled.  There have been plenty of times when I was ready to hang up my Mommy hat because I was so taken aback by my kid’s temper tantrum.  Just remember: stay calm, stay focused, and remember that this too shall pass.

I’ve never been the kind of person to refer to the dog as my furry baby, or buy her outfits, or attempt to carry her around in a fluffy pink crystal embellished dog handbag.  Still, I love my dog and I think she’s a bit fond of me, in a “oh, there’s that person who walks me and puts food in my bowl” way.

So when I got pregnant, I wasn’t too worried that the dog would feel like she was replaced and get upset or jealous of the baby. And she wasn’t, as long as she kept getting food and walks.  Well, there were a few instances when I was especially sleep deprived with a newborn and the dog was hungry and my brain couldn’t work out what she wanted. Dog barks. I look at her dimly.  Dog stands by her empty food bowl and whines. The gears start to turn slowly in my mind. Dog tries to hack her way into the dog food bin. Oh! Food. Yes. That only took about five minutes to work out.

And so things went smoothly, until the baby started crawling. Do you know what the most fascinating thing in the whole world to a crawling baby is? Dog or cat food bowls. No toy can compete. Mom and dad are dull in comparison. There’s water to splash, either squishy wet food or interesting kibble (yum), dog cooties and dog drool, and the dog or cat will appear and query what baby is up to, plus mom will scream and remove baby which is the best way to make a baby want to do it again.

The dog (or cat) is also a bewitching creature. I have a theory that babies with a pet in the home start crawling earlier than those who don’t, because they want to be like the dog.

And they feel good too. Tail to pull, fur to grab, ears to poke fingers in, whiskers to yank. Sharp claws and teeth do not mix well with delicate baby skin so babies must always always always be supervised around animals and that includes the gentle creature that you’ve had since she was a puppy/kitten and who has never hurt a fly. Any animal can snap or scratch if baby is hurting or annoying them.

I’m currently trying to teach Daycare Baby to be gentle with our dog. The routine goes like this. Daycare Baby crawls up to dog, attempts to whack dog in the face. I grab her and hold her hand and stroke the dog gently. “Gentle, gentle” I say. So far, this has not worked.

It took my toddler son a while to understand the concept of “gentle” so I know that I have to persevere and try to protect the dog as best I can until she does get it.

Did I say that my toddler son understood the concept of “gentle”? Yes, I did, and he does understand. But one caveat: he understands but he’s quite capable of pretending he doesn’t. He’s also much faster than me and has pulled the dog’s ears several times. Toddlers are rarely being mean when they hurt animals, there’s no malice when they pull tails, they are interested in the reaction it gets, and it’s often a good one from the animal and the parent.

So my policy with toddler and the dog is keeping calm, removing him from the dog and quietly but firmly telling him that he’s hurting the dog when he does that, and he must not pull her ears or throw things at her or poke her.

That one is taking some time to work too, but he’s getting better. And the spontaneous moment of kindness to the dog – stroking gently, wanting to help feed her – make me hopeful that he’ll grow up and be nice to animals.

There is an easy answer to this common problem, and that’s simply asking your husband to help you out with the baby.  On the other hand, those of us who have already gone through the stage of having a newborn baby and being confused out of our minds do know that when it comes to being a new parent, things are seldom easy.

Sometimes new moms really want to portray the image of a mom who can do it all effortlessly.  I know that I wrestled with asking for help when my first baby was born because my train of thought was that I should be able to handle a baby without a problem.  After all, I grew her inside me without a problem, so why should it be difficult to deal with her? The truth was that I was exhausted and confused and way too proud to ask for any help.  I know if I would have asked my husband for help, it would have happened.

So the question isn’t really how do I get my husband to help with our newborn but instead becomes what is the best way to ask my husband to help with our newborn?  Although not all men are the same, there are indeed some tactics that you can use that may help you get a positive response from your husband:

Don’t be vague.  Casually mentioning that you’re tired or declaring in a sing-song voice that someone needs to change the baby’s diaper isn’t direct enough.  Instead try something along the lines of, “Will you please take the baby so I can take a nap?” or “Will you please change the baby’s diaper?” Conveying your needs clearly will save you an awful lot of potential arguments in the future.

Don’t be a taskmaster.  Ask your husband to help you with the baby, but unless he asks for specific instructions you don’t want to load him down with lengthy directions.  As moms we all like to think we’re the best at dealing with our babies, but that doesn’t mean we get to insist that everything is done exactly our way every single time.  Let dad figure some things out on his own, and he’ll be a better father for it.

Don’t assume he can read your mind.  You might think to yourself, “Certainly he knows how exhausted I am! Why isn’t he offering to help me?” while at the same time he’s wondering, “Will I offend her if I offer to take the baby for a while?” Don’t allow resentment to build up because the two of you are assuming that you each know what the other person is thinking.

Be reasonable.  Hey, he’s tired too.  He might be just as overwhelmed as you are, if not more so.  Give the guy a break.  You can’t insist that he does absolutely everything.  Ask for help, but be willing to give help too.

You may be pleasantly surprised to find that your husband wants to help, but just isn’t sure what you need.  He won’t know until you tell him.

An Old Wives Tale That’s True?

Heartburn makes many a pregnant woman miserable. And if you moan about it, people tell you that it means that your baby will have lots of hair. Because that’s totally going to make you feel better when your throat and stomach are burning up.

OK, babies with lots of hair are something to ooh and ahh over, all that beautiful fine, soft baby hair. (But bald babies are really cute too.)

A group of skeptical scientists researched a group of pregnant women, expecting to debunk the old wives tale that heartburn=newborn hair. Turns out that almost all women who had moderate or severe heartburn while pregnant gave birth to babies with above-average amounts of hair. And, the majority of women who didn’t suffer from heartburn had bald babies or babies with below-average amounts of hair.

How weird is that? Many old wives tales are absolute nonsense, but many do have a ring of truth, and this is one that I would never have believed could be true at all.

My son fits with what the scientists say: I don’t remember having heartburn when I was pregnant. My son was born with just a tiny amount of blond fuzz. That’s mom-speak for bald. But hey, it grew. He’s two with hockey hair now.

How about you? Did you have heartburn, and then did your baby have lots of hair?

And if you are pregnant, and clutching a bottle of antacid as you read this, does the prospect of a baby with lots of hair make you feel any better?

Okay, now I get it.

I always wondered why other moms would stare so longingly at my newborn, especially when they would start to tear up or literally look as though they wanted to eat my baby right then and there. I naturally assumed it had something to do with how incredibly adorable both of my babies were (yes, I’m biased), but sometimes the whole encounter just seemed a little weird.

Fast forward to present day. My youngest is no longer in diapers and I know that we’re not going to have another baby. Whenever I see a woman walking along with a newborn baby I’m drawn to the baby like a moth to a flame. It doesn’t matter if I don’t know the woman, or if the baby is crying, cooing, or asleep. Whatever the circumstances, I can’t help but gravitate toward the baby and hold myself back from reaching out and trying to snuggle with him or her.

Now I get it. Now I understand what it is like to have experienced having a newborn baby in your arms, and then when your kids start to grow you miss the feeling like crazy. You forget all about the sleepless nights, the sore nipples, and the really gross diapers. All you know is that you would love to recapture the feeling – if only for a minute – of having a newborn baby nestled in your arms.

So if you see me longingly staring at your newborn, don’t worry. I’m not insane. I just miss the feeling of a newborn in my arms. I speak on behalf of all moms who have toddlers and preschoolers, by the way. Don’t be afraid of us…just take our staring as a compliment of how incredibly cute your baby is.

Baby sleeping bags have been popular in Europe for many years. It’s only recently they have started to catch on here too and once you try them, you’ll wonder why we went so long without them.

Baby sleeping bags, or sleep sacks, if you are not familiar with them, are like a wearable blanket that baby’s arms and head stick out of, and baby is zippered in snug, safe and sound.

They regulate a baby’s body temperature better than blankets, they can’t be kicked off, and best of all, babies can’t wiggle their faces underneath them and get trapped, or worse.

Grobag is a European import. They come in chic euro designs, three different thicknesses for different seasons, and three different sizes – Small (0-6 months) Medium (6-18 months) and Large (18 months-3 years). Grobags are expensive, running around $50 a bag, but they are excellent quality, and the bigger sizes are good value when you consider your baby will be able to use it for a year or longer. My son wore a Medium size for over a year, and it still looks as good as new after all that washing and wearing. A bonus is that every Grobag comes with a free nursery thermometer.

Lullabag is a US company, making sweet pastel sleeping bags for boys and girls, decorated with sleeping animals, and for my money, the most stylish sleeping bags around. Their bags fasten with an ingenious double-way zipper which is very useful for accessing diapers in the middle of the night, without totally undressing the baby.

Kiddopotamus & Co Beddiebye fleece sleeping bags have a fantastic feature which is that they zip around the outside of the bag, instead of up the front, so you can put a sleeping baby in one without waking them up. Trust me – you’ll appreciate that! They make two sizes to fit babies up to six months.

Halo Sleepsacks come in lots of cute patterns, and either summer-weight cotton or winter-weight fleece. The newborn size has removable swaddle “wings” that make the best, snuggest, swaddle you’ll find for a wiggly newborn.

Baby blankets are a thing of the past. Your newborn is going to wake you up a lot but with a sleeping bag, waking you up because she’s tangled up in her blankets or kicked her blankets off, shouldn’t happen.

Sleeping bags – an essential for every baby registry!

Ask any new mom what her favorite smell is. Number one answer: her baby’s head. Isn’t it delicious? That warm, sweet, milky, furry, perfumy baby smell. It takes a couple of days after birth for the smell to start, but once it does it’s overpowering when you get close. My son smelt like sugary cake. It’s the best smell in the world!

When you are having the worst day, instead of stopping to smell the roses, pause, pick up baby, and inhale. It’s legal, it has no side effects, and you can drive after using. It’s highly addictive though. Falling asleep with nose planted in a napping baby’s hair is likely.

Apparently every baby has a unique smell, and moms can recognize their own babies just by smell. Something passed down from our prehistoric ancestors, I believe. I suppose newborns all look kinda alike, especially before the era of today’s thousand different baby clothes stores and spotting your kid by the one-in-gymboree vs. the-one-in-babygap method.

Inhale, inhale, inhale. In no time sweet baby will be stinky teenager. If only they could bottle that wonderful baby head smell!

Remember the case of the Quaid twins and the heparin mistake? You`d think it was an unfortunate but isolated incident, right? Something that normally doesn`t happen in hospitals in the developed world. Well, think again.

A study in France whose results were recently published in The Lancet reported that such mistakes actually happen frequently. Too frequently, I would say. They call it iatrogenic events (IEs) ? defined as unintended harm or suffering caused by health care. The researchers followed up 388 newborn babies admitted to a French neonatal hospital between January and September 2005. 267 cases of IEs in 116 newborn babies were recorded. Other findings include:

• 34% of the IEs were preventable.

• 29% of the IEs were severe.

• 2 cases were fatal.

The most common events were infections contracted at the hospital itself.

There were 34 IEs that were due to drugs, 19 of which were medication errors.

Unintentional, accidental, whatever they call it. The fact is, these are newborn babies we are talking about. Little human beings who can`t cry for help or complain about the care they are getting. I know that health care providers are only human but oh, this is so unfair!

The case of the Quaid twins was highly publicized but actually they weren`t the only babies who were given the wrong heparin dose at that time. It makes you wonder how many similar cases were actually unreported.

Source:

HealthDay News 4 Feb 2008

Of all the responsibilities I had when my babies were newborns, the one I hated a feared the most was clipping their nails. Something about the task terrified me. I would rather change twenty poopy diapers than clip one fingernail on my baby because I was so scared of accidentally clipping the skin. For a while, both of my babies wore those hand covers available at stores that are made for parents like me who can’t work up the nerve to clip fingernails. By the way, I heartily applaud whoever thought up that genius invention.

Once my babies figured out how to pull off those gloves my husband and I struck a deal: I would change every single diaper when we were out on the town (which was the chore he hated more than anything else) if he would handle clipping fingernails. He happily agreed, and it worked for us for a while until he had to head off on a deployment to Iraq. I was then left to finally face my biggest fear…I had to clip my baby’s fingernails.

I finally figured out a way to do it and still stay calm. I cut her nails while she nursed. She stayed calm and didn’t even notice I was doing anything, and this meant that she wasn’t squirming and that made me less apt to clip her skin by mistake. I never really got used to the task, and I will never claim to have enjoyed it, but this is just another example of how moms and dads learn how to adapt when necessary. Now that my daughter is older I just clip her nails while she watches television, and every time I do it I remember back to when she was an infant and the very same task used to make me break out into a cold sweat.

I was a little terrified when I headed home from the hospital with my first baby. I think it’s natural for most first-time moms to be scared out of their minds after their first babies are born, especially in cases like mine when I had never really been exposed to newborn babies. Why was she crying? Was she nursing enough? Did she innately know that her mommy didn’t have a clue?

What I remember most about bringing her home was how I would sit there while she slept, timing her every breath and making sure that she was still breathing. I was honestly scared that if I didn’t monitor this that she would simply stop breathing while napping or sleeping in the middle of the night. Yes, I know that’s irrational, but when you combine sleep deprivation with the strongest and truest love I have ever experienced, I guess I couldn’t be surprised that my mind was working in weird ways. As a result, I wound up spending a lot of time sitting there and listening to my daughter breathe.

You may find yourself in a similar situation. Maybe you’re like me and you spend an inordinate amount of time listening to your baby breathe, or maybe you have something else you feel compelled to do before you can rest well. You probably tell yourself that you’ll lighten up as your baby gets a little older, but let me tell you something: My first-born just turned four last week, and guess what? I still can’t get to sleep at night unless I stand outside her room and listen to her breathe in her sleep for a while. My guess is that I’ll probably follow this ritual until the day she heads off to college.

The fact of the matter is this: No matter how old your kids get, you still feel compelled to protect them. Although you may be able to loosen the proverbial apron springs as your babies age, you’ll always think of your daughters and sons as the little babies you brought home from the hospital. Seriously…I plan on sending homemade cookies to my daughter long after she has been sworn into the Oval Office.

I nursed both of my kids, and I did it in public quite frequently. In the beginning I was terrified to do it, but since I didn?t even bother with bottles then unless I wanted to be a shut-in I knew that eventually I would have to feed my baby while out and about. The first time I did it was almost comical. I remember it quite vividly?it was at the mall and my daughter was six weeks old. My husband and I took her to get some portraits done, and since we had to wait an hour for the prints I was prepared to try nursing her for the very first time in public. I brought a full-size blanket?yes, full-size?and draped it over both her and me, making a veritable tent. This all happened on a bench outside the portrait studio because I was so nervous I didn?t even think to head into a restroom or dressing room. No, that would have been too simple.

I was terrified. Luckily my daughter latched on like a champ, and even though I was probably shaking we managed through the venture splendidly. There was no stopping me after that, and I quickly lost the blanket and stopped caring what people thought. I?ve nursed on a plane, while eating at a restaurant, while watching monkeys at the zoo, and even while plopped down next to the ice cream freezer at the grocery store. Hey, when your baby wants to eat, what else can you do?

The bit of advice I would like to offer those of you who are contemplating nursing your baby in public is this: Let me assure you that not many people take notice at all. For the few disapproving glances I caught from strangers, there were plenty of people who either smiled or just ignored me. It?s not like I live in a liberal community either; I live smack in the Midwest and there aren?t many women like me who would nurse a baby anywhere, anytime. Just know that if you?re wondering what it?s like to breastfeed in public, it?s really not that bad at all. You should also know that if you aren?t quite as extroverted as I am then you?ll be amazed at how eagerly stores will grant you access to dressing rooms, executives will give up their offices, and doctors will allow you extra time in an exam room to feed your baby if you just ask.

When my first child was born it was hard to determine sometimes when he was cold or warm. I used my own internal temperature. When I was warm, a t-shirt and shorts worked fine. If needed, I could take him all the way down to a diaper and know there was not much else to take off.

Winter was a different story. When I was cold, I layered him so that we could remove or add back as needed, but many times I wasn’t sure if what I put on him was too much. My son never seemed to mind, but he also couldn’t vocalize, “Hey mom, I’m hot.”

Winter has blossomed everywhere in the U.S. and in my little corner, I have noticed an array of how parents bundle their children. From “not enough clothing” to “way too much the baby will suffocate.”

But regardless of what stage of parent you are, a new “over clothed” parent, or a seasoned “it’s not too cold” parent, a baby’s body can not adjust to the cold temperatures to keep their bodies warm like an adult can. Bundling up is your child’s best protection.

There are three things according to RN Jan Nissi, parents need to consider and remember when bundling baby up for an outing:

• Body surface
• Shivering
• Fat

Mom and dad are more proportioned when it comes to weight compared to body surface. We are able to maintain our body heat but a baby’s body will lose their body heat at a faster rate because their large body surface.

Shivering is something everyone does when it is cold outside, but have you noticed your little one? Baby’s body doesn’t react to cold, so he won’t shiver like you will, which is our bodies way of creating internal warmth, combined with your layered clothing, keeps you warm.

As adults, we also have an added layer to our body – fat. Our fat layer is like our own personal blanket to help keep us warm. Our baby’s body does not have enough fat to help keep warmth in and keep them warm.

So, I feel better knowing that I didn’t bundle my son too much and my daughter five years later was just fine, having learned from my first. I do limit exposure to the cold though; keep outings to a short amount of time and try shopping inside stores instead of our outside mall.

Cold Exposure in Babies, Author Jan Nissi, RN, BS. Yahoo Health, provided by Healthwise.