Save Yourself the Explainations

Another quick blurb for you. You know, something to look forward to or commiserate if you are or have been here. Babies eat paper! For the last few weeks I swear Cutes Patoots has sought out every scrap of paper she can find to put in her mouth and rip to shreds. I am sure she has swallowed at least one piece of a print to ship tracking receipt before I wrangled it from her iron grasp.

Here is my advice if you are in school do all of your homework on the computer and print it the day it's to be turned in. That way you are less likely to have to hand in a mangled taped together scrap of paper missing 2 corners with a mysterious hole in the middle. Thankfully all my schooling is online and I have not had to do this. Though I did recently have to mail in a form that was missing a corner. Seriously keep all paper on a surface at least double the hieght of your baby. They have Go-Go Gadget arms and will find it. Once they learn to open boxes even a box isn't safe. We have lost at least three perfectly unused but thoroughly chewed and mangled diapers in the least week to a clever box opening Cutes.

Quick Painting Idea

So anyone who crafts or paints knows you need something to squeeze paint on to. We have all used various things; sheet of paper, paper plate...a dinner plate. Hey you may have even bought yourself a fancy paint pallet. I recently came up with a great idea. My daughter was napping and I wanted to paint some clay hand prints for a project I will share at a later date. The trouble was I knew she'd wake up before I was done. So I grabbed a spare travel wipes case I had laying around. Now not only did I have somewhere to put my paint but if Cutes Patoots found my pallet she couldn't just get her hand, foot, or tongue on my paint. We all have several of these cases laying around because it seems like every box of wipes comes with one.

So there it is my Mommypotamus craft tip!

Google, Pregnancy, and Babies

     The obsession starts the moment you decide to become pregnant or if it's an unplanned pregnancy the moment you get the little plus sign. You start Googling every. Little. Thing. From "am I really pregnant" to "is green poop normal."  What about "Is a wheezing sound normal." Sounds reasonable to look that up until you realize your baby learned they can make sound by inhaling. (Yeah I went there because yes I did it.) Maybe you even look up "how reliable is Internet information," though not many do. (I'd bet you right now there are ten things posted on your Facebook page that seem legit but if you researched them are fake.) My point is when you find out you are going to be a parent Google seems like your very best friend. In fact I bet you are Googling right now, otherwise how did you end up here?

     As a new or even a second or third time parent Google can be a very useful resource. For instance you can look up product reviews, recalls, and recommendations. You can also find out what the latest safety guidelines are for newborn care, foods, milk storage, car seats, etc. But you have to be careful and make sure the information you are reading is accurate. We all know that but few of us bother to fact check or consider the source we are getting our information from. Where it gets really hinky is when we start Googling things like "infant wheezing" "lower abdominal pain pregnant" "newborn congestion and cough." We start looking up medical issues trying to determine if we should go  to the doctor. What we end up doing is freaking ourselves out, calming ourselves down, freaking out again, worrying constantly, and then running to the emergency room or urgent care clinic because we are convinced our baby is going to die of some rare complication because it doesn't happen often but "oh my god it happened to all these people on the Internet!!!" We go to Google or Bing or whatever search engine we prefer to try and calm our already over active imagination down and end up feeding fuel to the raging inferno. I am not saying to not look things up. It is a pregnant and parental compulsion, but when reading information steer clear of reading discussion boards. One, chances are most of the "answers" to the question will be other parents going "mine too, what is this" or two, it will be a story of someone who had a bad experience. Chances are pretty good that cough is a cold and not something worse. A healthy dose of caution is a good thing, but the internet is likely to take that caution and turn it into nearly paralyzing fear.
     "But Mommypotamus I have so many questions I need answers to?" you say.Go ahead and Google away, but make sure to check your facts and consider your source. Even What to Expect When You're Expecting has segments written by people that are not experts. If it is a medical issue your best bet is to talk to you doctor or pediatrician. They are the only one who is going to give you true peace of mind. And believe me during pregnancy and especially through that first year they have probably been asked before and they EXPECT you to have a million questions. Don't be afraid to call and ask if hey think you should come in. I actually called to ask how many days could pass before I should be concerned if Cutes Patoots didn't have a bowel movement. (The answer is about a 5 days in a 2 month old, and the nurse had me give her diluted prune juice. We did end up seeing the pediatrician at day 6 and she had us give her 1/2 a glycerin suppository. You get them at the pharmacy. Just in case you need to know....Don't do it in the kitchen....Yes you are likely to get poop on you.)
     My final thoughts on Google, pregnancy, and babies is this: for every "answer" you run across that gives you some measure of peace you will read about 10 that will just freak you out, possibly running to the emergency room. So when you are reading horror stories or even just guidelines try to remember to consider the source, avoid getting "facts" from discussion boards, and ask your pediatrician. There is no way someone on the internet who can not see you or your baby can give you a completely accurate evaluation of your situation. Learn to sort through what you find, and this applies to pretty much anything. Jackie Chan has died in a stunt accident more times than I can count thanks to the internet adn last I check he was still alive and kicking.