[ad]No parent likes to listen to their baby cry, much less scream their heads off.  There is something wrong and we seldom know what it is if the crying goes on for more than a few moments, and usually it isn’t easy to figure out.  It is frustrating for you and the no doubt the baby.  I ran across this article and thought I would add it to our content.

Crying Babies – Parent Calming Strategies That Work
By Marie Hendrix

At the sound of his cry, I instantly transformed from a mild mannered mother to, well, Supermom. With adrenaline offering me superpowers, I leaped with a single bound more quickly than a speeding bullet to his side, ever ready to restore peace to his world. At times, that feat took only a few seconds. At others, it seemed I was against a force more powerful than kryptonite.

Sometimes, I wondered if he was an alien from another planet. In some ways, he was. The process of childbirth separates infants from all that is familiar and comforting to them. They land in a strange new world outside the womb. Crying is part of adjusting to that change. It is their first method of communication. Parents quickly learn to decode messages from the pitch, tone and fervor of their child’s cries. “I’m hungry.” “I’m mad.” I’m sleepy.” “I’m hurting.” Amazingly, infants can recognize and effectively communicate these feelings. Like adults, their tiny bodies have built-in monitoring systems.

A cry signals that a system is out of balance. Supermoms, Superdads, and Super Heroes who care for children respond promptly. Hungry? Wet? Sleepy? Super Caregivers check each system carefully and make needed adjustments. Feed. Diaper. Burp. A quick fix assures us of our super powers. If the crying continues, we rely on our super insight for a solution. Our powers of instinct, experience, and creativity come to our aid.

Often we mimic the sensations of the womb to recreate a comfortable atmosphere.

Motion, pressure, and sound soothe unhappy babies. Babies continuously experience these before birth. Mom’s swaying walk. The tightness of her bulging tummy. Distant voices and sounds. Blood swooshing by. Her thumping heartbeat. Super Caregivers identify a child’s unique comforting preferences. Rhythmical movement is often an instant peacemaker.

By design, rocking chairs, cradles, baby swings, and bouncing and vibrating seats provide calming motion. Super Caregivers achieve the same results with only their bodies. Their arms are versatile cradles that walk about. They also sway from side to side. When standing, their knees are built-in bouncers. When sitting, their laps become vibrating beds. Read the rest of this entry »

With all of the controversy over the Miley Cyrus’s bare back and shoulders being photographed I wonder if we ever stopped to think what we are doing to her as a kid? Yes, she is a superstar Disney hit worth half a billion and on track to be a billionaire by the end of the year, but she is still a fifteen year old girl.

I understand the brand issues at stake here. I use my own name on my blogs and when I comment elsewhere. I have to be careful what I say because it is out there for everyone to see. That is part of the problem for her. She is in fact two brands, Hannah Montana the wholesome Disney girl, Miley Cyrus, a budding starlet. On top of that she is a fifteen year old girl who like most fifteen year olds is trying to figure out who she is. Read the rest of this entry »

Chenee runs the epitome of invincibility and confidence and I must say it was a fun read.  While she feels she “always screw up all the good things”  in her life she certainly has a way about blogging them.  I have my doubts whether she screws them all up, we Virgos aren’t known for doing that.  I of course could be biased about that last statement, which is something us Virgos are known to do.

A life can’t be too screwed up though if you list books first among your favorite things.  I would recommend that she pick a few from the book listing I did earlier today.  Life goes on to further be good when you list pastries among your favorite things that is unless you of course have no pastries.  Ad those pastries to the movies or music she likes and it is a win!

In the end it is a quirky blog by a quirky girl!

Here at WTF Are We Going To Do Now we have decided to expand our horizons and allow you to share your own experiences in our new forum. This is the part of the Parenting Course where you can ask and answer questions, give your opinion, and just hang out with other parents.

100 Entrecard credits will be given away to each of the first 50 people to make 3 relevant posts to the forum.

Sarah is now a little more than a month old and it is time for me to do a little analysis of the pros and cons of gift giving.  As a stay at home dad let me point out that I am all about practicality and functionality over what is cute.  Without further ado here is my short list

• A good bath towel is preferable to a receiving blanket. Unless the person giving the receiving blanket has made them, which isn’t hard with a sewing machine and $2.00/yard material, a bath towel is infinitely cheaper, more durable, warmer, and has long lasting practicality.  I’ll make my case for this in a separate post, but here is the quick price comparison from Wal-Mart package of 4 20″x30″ thin yet cutesy receiving blankets, $12.00.  Terry cloth bath towels in the 24″x48″ size range can regularly be had for $2.00 to $3.00 each on sale.
• Stay at home parents should consider cloth diapers.  I’ll make my case for using them in another post too, but the financial end of it is easy.  Wal-mart’s price for a dozen name brand pre-fold cloth diapers is $11.49 and a package of six rubber pants is $3.00.  The generic newborn diapers at walmart are $12.00 for 56 and considerably more for the name brand ones.  The average baby is going to go through eight to twelve disposables a day depending on the baby, but for coparative purposes we’ll lowgball it at eight.  That equals $12.00 give or take a week in diapers.  Call it $50.00 a month for the first three months and theprice goes up from there sharply.  I recommend four packages of cloth diapers, two packages of diaper pins, and two packages of rubber pants, call it $60.00 after taxes.
• Don’t skimp on buying baby wipes, go directly for the large refill box of generics.  Wal-mart has their generic brand in packages of six (6) – eighty count packages for less than $8.00.  At nearly $4.00 each for an 80 count package in a semi hard plastic box, the price difference here is easy to figure out.  Though some people are going to gasp at this notion, most baby wipes can be washed, dried and reused at least once.  I discovered this by accident, but once I did I realized they are still much stronger than paper towels and good enough for some tough jobs like cleaning the surface of my flattop stove, inside the microwave, coffee spills, and any other job where liquid is involved.  My guess is they would be great for car detailing work too.
• Bottles are a pain to clean and sterilize unless you can keep on top of it.  Buy lots of small ones, a good bottle brush with a nipple cleaner, a 1 gallon batter bowl, and an electric kettle.  Since I have to hand wash my dishes to get them clean, I prefer to do a large lot of bottles at once, and do them separately from all the other dishes, or at least first.  If you have hard water this is about the only way to ensure they actually get clean and don’t end up with that scumy film the dishwasher leaves on plastics.  Once you get them clean sterilize them in boiling water. bottles, nipples, rings, and even their pacifiers.  I find the best and safest way to get boiling water fast is a cordless electric kettle.  It takes three or four minutes to get six or seven cups boiling which about fills the one gaqllon batter bowl I use to sterilize bottles in.  With a spout and handle you can easily pour the water water out later rather than fishing through a container of really hot water if you need something immediately.
• Don’t buy expensive baby detergent until you have used your normal stuff.  Telling parents they need special baby detergents for all of babies things is nothing more than an act of commercial terrorism playout out against parental paranoia.  Simply put advertisers know the mommy brigade will buy anything if you can convince them not doing so is not only the worst possible thing they canh do for their child, but makes you a bad parent if you don’t buy their product.  Some babies will have real skin issues and specialty soaps should be considered for them.  These conditions are very rare.  If clothes washed in your normal detergent irritate your babies skin simply add between a quarter and a half cup of borax powder to the wash cycle.  This usually solves the problem, which was caused by the detergent not fully rinsing away.
• Sleep and coffee are your friends.  Catch a nap whenever you can.  Television isn’t that important and frankly in this day and age can be watched after the fact very easily.  If the baby is asleep at eight o’clock make the most of it rather than staying up to catch Bones, House, or your latest favorite reality show.  You can download those shows later if you didn’t DVR them.  Drink as much coffee as it takes to be wide awake and properly alert.  Light roasted coffee, such as those designated breakfast blends, have the most caffiene for they cup.  A French Press coffee pot is an excellent gift for any parent to be.
• Don’t buy an expensive baby sling.  I can only do so many things at once and many of them require both of my hands.  If your baby is the type that demands to be held regularly this can hamper the other things you want or need to do. I blog for a living and sometimes making a deadline for a paid post has to be done no matter what Sarah wants from me.  I am not a person who can type one handed, so at first I improvised a baby sling out of a king size bed sheet which worked well enough to hold her in place next to me while I did other things.  This was hell on my neck, so I had to redesign it.  I will make a full post on this later, but you can easily make one the right size out of three to four yards of cheap material.  I paid $1.00/yard for mine as opposed to $25.00 for a fancy sling.

As I said before there are some things that just can’t be put off when you have a baby in your care and in a few minutes I expect Sarah is going to wake up and I will have to take care of them.  I have more tips and articles forthcoming.  Stay tuned.

Everyone hates talking about sex with their kids. Most parents don’t want to believe their kids will have sex before they are married and then only lights out, eyes closed, under the covers in the missionary positions. Ha! That just isn’t the world we live in. You don’t have to tell young kids everything but the younger you start talking to them about risky behaviors, including sex the easier it is to keep them safe. This little video should give you some clue about how silly the talk can be, and just how easy the conversation can be to start.

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How young is too young to start your kids on the internet? I keep thinking I need to run a parenting course on this subject. Unless I can some how find a way to charge for it though I am not sure I can afford the time to do it. It needs to be done though. Someone needs to put the internet into perspective for parents who just don’t get it.

With a new baby on the way and a nine year old I am forced to visit the question of how young is too young all the time. Katy and I are rarely separated from out computers when we are home. They both sit in the living room. Everything we do is for household consumption. This is has been a way of life since we got broadband replaced with streaming television, clear radio broadcasts from around the world replaced the crap we could pick up locally, and last but not least the plethora of interesting information replaced most of our non-fiction reading materials. It is lots of cheap entertainment in one package.

Liam knows we are always connected, and is really starting to take an interest in it himself. His interest right now isn’t so much socializing as it is a substitute for traditional television. He loves the available online games almost as much as he loves my Xbox or his old Sega. The cartoons on Disney, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network sites have the potential to keep him occupied and out of trouble. Where the television was my babysitter, so be it the computer for this generation. There will come a time when those interests grow beyond that. Read the rest of this entry »