One of my favorite books is called The Best Loved Poems of the American People.  It is a compilation of poetry with a copyright date of 1936.  I recently came across a poem I had to share.  It is fascinating to see we have come full circle in our infant care.  Another interesting point, this sarcastic poem is written by a man.  Here is your laugh for the day.

The Modern Baby

“The hand that rocks the cradle”–but there is no such hand;

It is bad to rock the baby, they would have us understand;

So the cradle’s but a relic of the former foolish days

When mothers reared their children in unscientific ways–

When they jounced them and they bounced them, these poor dwarfs of long ago–

The Washingtons and Jeffersons and Adamses, you know.

They warn  us that the baby will possess a muddled brain

If we dandle him or rock him–we must carefully refrain;

He must lie in one position, never swayed and never swung,

Or his chance to grow to greatness will be blasted while he’s young.

Ah! To think how they were ruined by their mothers long ago–

The Franklins and the Putnams and the Hamiltons, you know.

Then we must feed the baby by the schedule that is made,

And the food that he is given must be measured out or weighed.

He may bellow to inform us that he isn’t satisfied,

But he couldn’t grow to greatness if his wants were all supplied.

Think how foolish nursing stunted those poor weaklings, long ago–

The Shakespeares and the Luthers and the Buonapartes, you know.

We are given a great mission, we are here today on earth

To bring forth a race of giants, and to guard them from their brith,

To insist upon their freedom from the rocking that was bad

For our parents and their parents, scrambling all the brains they had.

Ah!  If they’d been fed by schedule would they have been stunted so?

The Websters and the Lincolns and the Roosevelts, you know.

An amazing organization with a fantastic product out to do good in this world.  What could be better?  Please go to their website and see how you can be involved in helping babies around this world grow up instead of being a statistic.

The Embrace incubator

I have found one of the most amazing baby accessory….kind of that one stop shopping. It’s called the Orbit Baby Travel System. Carseats and strollers are probably the most important (well, besides diaper, wipes, and clothes) purchase parents make. We want something that is versatile and easy to use. This travel system is like no other. You have a stroller seat base that completely rotates 360 degrees. Three different types of seats to put on it depending on what age your child is. Best of all, a convient storage compartment that comes off and you can wear. You can even fold it easily with one hand.

It was created by some dads so it’s even cool enough for dads to confidently sport around town.

How do I explain to my 5 year old son how a man can be pregnant?  Thankfully my brain quickly came up with a simple answer he understood.  People on t.v were referring to Thomas Beatie (the pregnant man from Bend, Oregon) who is pregnant again.  I know these children are born into a family full of love which is what any kid needs.  However, how do you explain to those kids that the person they think is daddy was the one to birth them?  I wonder about peer teasing and how they will be accepted.  I personally feel sorry for Thomas because he seems to be confused.  He wants to be a man yet at the same time he wants to do the one thing that truly sets woman and men apart.  I see the ability to have babies a woman’s sacred ability.  I can understand transgender thinking, however, I just cannot wrap my mind around this.  He wants the be man and woman.  What do you think?

New motherhood can be a rough adjustment whether this is your first, or your fifth.  Baby massage can step in and give you a little break.  First, you get to spend relaxing time one on one with your infant.  This is also a great way to get daddy involved.  Usually dad’s just aren’t sure how to handle the baby until they can actually play and be active.  When your baby is fussy, you can have some tools to calm the baby down and have a more pleasant mothering experience, especially if your baby has colic (i know your pain!).  Lastly, babies hate ‘tummy time’, however, it’s crucial to their development.  What a great way to make tummy time a fun experience!

Below, Janice Battiste from Growing Baby Prenatal Classes shows us series of simple massage techniques you can use on your baby at home.

When we are pregnant, we think about the birth, breastfeeding, and sleepless nights.  We don’t really think about infant CPR or choking.  i know, i know, it’s another thing to be worried about especially with an infant and all the checking we do when they are sleeping to make sure they are breathing.  If your older child gave the baby a small toy and it landed in the baby’s mouth, would you know what to do (i mean after you start to panic)?

For me, choking is personal.  When my oldest was a little guy, my brother was feeding him some food and he began to choke.  Talk about a scary situation!  my sister-in-law had to leave the kitchen because she was freaking out.  Thankfully i had training and was able to take charge.  i grabbed Chandlur out of my brother’s arms, put him over my arm and started hitting his back with the heel of my hand.  At first, there was nothing, that is when panic began to set in.  i hear my sister-in-law asking if we need to call 911.  i just kept on whacking him focused fully on his little body, praying God would intervene.  Finally the food shot out of his mouth and into the sink.  It was one of those sobering moments when you realize in an instant you could loose your child.  If i did not know what to do, i would have freaked out from the start, and the situation would have been much worse.

These are some great videos from The Pregnancy Show on infant CPR and choking.