Monday, April 28, 2008

A Little Organic Info

Check out www.organic.org for further information...

"Organic produce and other ingredients are grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms or ionizing radiation. Animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs and dairy do not take antibiotics or growth hormones." All organic farms and the plants that produce organic products are inspected and certified organic, these inspections are scheduled and random. They must also have strict record keeping. You do need to be careful though, something labeled Organic will only have 95% organic ingredients. It must be labeled 100% Organic. A product labeled "made with organic ingredients" will have a minimum of 70% organic ingredients, with the remaining 30% being strictly restricted to ingredients that do not contain genetically modified organisms (GMO's). Any product that has less than 70% organic ingredients can list these on the side label but can not claim to be organic on the front package.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

More Advice

I hated getting advice from people. Now I have turned into one of those people that gives advice when not asked...well, only here!

1. Everyone is tempted to go out and buy yummy smelling baby soaps and lotion. I stocked up on lavender calming bubble bath, shampoo and lotion. Little did I know that my baby would have sensitive skin. Everything I bought made her break out in a rash! All the money I had spent went to waste, which don't get me wrong, was worth the waste if it meant my baby would not have a rash! If you have to baby smelling stuff, buy trial size and test them out. Otherwise, stick with the fragrance free for sensitive skin...with everything!

2. Along the same line...everyone tells you that you have to buy baby laundry detergent. Wrong! That stuff is marketed to smell like a baby. And of course, you want your baby to smell good! However, if your baby has sensitive skin, this stuff is the worst. Grayce goes to a dermatologist because she has baby eczema. She said that the best detergent to buy for your baby is ALL Free & Clear. No scent, no dyes. Do yourself and your baby a favor and don't fall into the marketing trap of baby detergent.

3. Does your baby have gas? Mine did! My lifesaver was Mylicon. It is baby gas relief. Not only did my little one love the pink flavor of it, it worked and helped her be less fussy!

4. Another life saver...it is by Homedics, you can buy it at Kohl's. It is a little projector that has three different scenes that flash across your ceiling and plays 8 "tunes"-lullabies, nature, water. When Grayce was first born, this was the only thing that would get her to sleep! My husband and I would joke around and ask eachother if we put her "movie" on! She loved it and I would definitely suggest that you invest in one.

5. My number one advice for any parent. Go organic! Start with the food you feed your baby. If you are doing formula, buy organic...Earth's Best is good-a little clumpy but I would sacrifice that so I can have organic. Same with solids, Earth's Best has a good line of baby food. Better yet, buy a little baby puree'er, they aren't expensive, and make your babies food. It is so easy. Buy some organic veggies-carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, and some organic fruit-apples, bananas, pears and even mangoes. Boil or steam them (except bananas and mangoes), add some formula or the water you boiled in, and puree away! The mangoes and bananas just need some liquid to puree. You can even freeze all this, your little one will love it! It is all natural and yummy. Next go through your household cleaning items, look at all the chemicals in them. Did you know, 6 seconds after you clean with one of these items, traces of the chemicals can be found in every organ and tissue of your babies little body? It is true. It is a bit more expensive, but think of your little ones lungs and the stuff that she is breathing in. I have a good link on my page for organic cleaning products. Check it out.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

My advice and favorite things

Before I start "testing" products, I thought I would write about some things that I love/hate/can't live without! Everyone has advice for you and of course, you want to be nice and listen to it all. However, most of it just goes in one ear and out the other, at least for me it does. I am going to write this anyways!
1. When I was pregnant, I loaded up on things I thought I would need. One of those was pacifiers. All babies need pacifiers, right? Um, wrong! I have a plethera of binkies, nuks, pacies or whatever you want to call them...and Grayce never wanted them! My advice, buy one newborn pacifier and be done with it. If your kid can't live without it then by all means, stock up.
2. Don't go out and buy "buntings" and for those that don't know what those are (I didn't either), I call them snowsuits. If you are having a winter baby, please refrain. I made the mistake, like I am sure many do, of buying snowsuits, in fact, I bought three. They are so cute, right?! You don't need them! If you put your baby in it you practically have to drive with the air conditioning on so your kid doesn't die of heat exhaustion. When you arrive somewhere, if you baby is sleeping-of cours you don't want to wake them-you need to take them out of the snowsuit so they aren't too hot-good luck doing that without waking them...so much for dinner! And try finding one that fits right. Impossible, they are almost always too big and then you can't get them in the car seat. My advice, but a carrier cover. I don't know what they are called, I call them "her little cocoon." They fit over the carrier and are fleece on the inside. They zip up and cover everything but your little buggers head! This is the best invention ever!
3. Everyone says don't waste your money on the wipe warmer. I say it is not a waste. The first time you use a cold wipe on your baby, you will know it is not a waste...when you get a spray of pee on ya! My advice, buy the warmer...and use it, it is a live saver.
4. If your baby is like mine, her hands will be cold all the time, especially at night. Little mittens are great, however, go one step better. They sell pj's that fold over your little ones hands-like the t-shirts they put on your baby in the hospital. These are wonderful! My advice, stock up on these, they also work great to keep your little one from scratching her face with those razor sharp fingernails.
5. Don't buy all one size of anything. Stock up on various sizes of diapers and clothes. If you buy little by little while you are pregnant, it won't hit you as hard later. When diapers/formula/clothes are on sale, buy them! If you are buying formula or baby food, make sure you check the expiration date. I just bought Grayce a 24M Christmas dress for $1.80 from Kohl's. This is great, and if it doesn't fit, oh well, it was $1!
6. Make sure you buy season appropriate clothes. If your baby is due in the winter, during the summer when you are pregnant, you can buy clothes ahead of time. But do the math...your baby is due in December, so next summer she will be 6M. I got tons of clothes for my shower that were super cute, but size 3M...um, Grayce was due in November! Come on people.

Well, that is it for now. If this gets any longer no one will want to read it! More advice to come. I have several products that I have received from companies to test out, I am in the process of doing this and will write about them soon.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

I'm New Here

Just want to introduce myself, I'm Brianne and I am starting this blog so I can write about different baby products that I use with my daughter. I hope that this will help new moms, or any moms for that matter, in their search for the perfect baby items!

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