Potty Training And Bedwetting: Why Worry About It?

Why worry about potty-training and bed wetting when Huggies and other diaper companies make these incredible contraptions known as pull-up pants? Conveniently, one Huggies brand of pull-ups, called GoodNites, can accommodate a child of 125 pounds!!!. And, of course, should your child outgrow even these before mastering perfect self-control, you can always move to a quality adult diaper brand like Depends.

Why I Hired A Lactation Consultant

Though both my children were born just shy of 8 pounds, my son practically doubled his birthweight before his first well visit with the pediatrician. He managed this through an amazing type of breastfeeding I like to call breast guzzling.

A morning shower? Forget about it. A stroll in the park? Impossible. This boy was latched on virtually from dawn to dusk. Very occasionally he would come off my breast to gurgle or burp, only to return like a praying mantis capturing a fly.

To earn the brief respite I so desperately needed, I guiltily purchased my first container of Similac. With an 8-oz bottle of it to supplement my own milk, I thought I might actually be able to wash my hair. Of course, the bottle did sate him for a while, but my own breasts became completely engorged, forcing me to make use of that Medalla Breast Pump my mother-in-law had given me as a baby shower gift. Ouch! That’s when the lactation consultant entered the picture…

Why Children Have Nightmares

Many parents believe that nightmares are just another way for children to get attention. But the sad reality is that many children actually do believe there could be a monster under their bed. Who really is to blame for all of this? Well, parents are, of course. When we expect our children to believe that an overweight bearded stranger will crawl down the chimney on Christmas Eve and a ravishing flying fairy will know where to find a bloody tooth, we’re actually just setting the stage for noctural disaster.

More Than You Need To Know About Retained Placenta

Why the pregnancy books just gloss over this one remains a mystery to me. This lovely syndrome occurs when a mother for some reason or another fails to expel the organ that joined her and baby in pregnancy during delivery. Believe me, there’s nothing like going through labor and childbirth only to find out that you need to remove retained placenta through a type of surgical abortion known as a D&C.

The Overpowering Fear Of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Call me a worrywart, but I, like many others, developed an unexpected and absolutely overwhelming fear of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) immediately following the birth of my daughter. There was no way I was going to lose my precious bundle of joy so tragically. So, I forced my poor little girl to sleep without a blanket for the entire first year of her life (being cold was preferable to strangulation, in my view). And she also spent that year wedged between a foam contraption designed to ensure that there was no way in hell she could sleep on her stomach, let alone even move. I’m happy to report that she did manage to escape this tragic syndrome, though she now tosses and turns with a vengeance, I suppose to somehow make up for lost time.

The Joys Of Childbirth: Episiotomy

There are just some things the pregnancy books leave out... Take, for example, the E-Word. That’s E for EPISIOTOMY, and it basically entails slicing an entire part of your most private flesh with a surgical knife so that your baby’s head can pass through. What happens next -- how your body is sewn back together --depends entirely on the expertise of your obstetrician.

Had I known about this little proceduce before my daughter was born, I can assure you that I would have opted for a C-section. All I do know is that Es can get horribly infected, resulting in a wrenching pain that is bearable only because your newborn bundle of job has the power to distract you day and night.