Gerber Products Company, part of the Nestlé family, announced today a scientific breakthrough with the introduction of Gerber® Good Start® Soothe formula, the first and only routine infant formula with the probiotic L. reuteri. L. reuteri has been clinically shown to reduce crying time by 50 percent in colicky breastfed infants. Gerber® Good Start® Soothe formula is designed to reduce excessive crying and colic in healthy infants.

“The probiotic L. reuteri is an effective probiotic that has been shown to help balance the good and bad bacteria in an infant’s gastrointestinal system. This imbalance at times can cause discomfort that may lead to colic,” said Bryan S. Vartabedian, M.D., a pediatric gastroenterologist at Texas Children’s Hospital, author and expert on colic. “This is very encouraging news for parents who have babies with colic.”

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From the featured blog, 2 much testosterone

My third son was born March 2, 2009. I worked from home over my maternity leave but the day I was to return to the office full-time was inevitable. Nine short weeks after giving birth I was set to go back. Some new moms look at this as an escape. A place to go everyday to “get away from it all”. Me? Not so much.

My family and I had just relocated to a new home about twenty-five miles from where we lived for years. We were settling in as best as we could with a new baby always wanting something. A boob to feed from, daddy’s warm chest to sleep on, a brother’s lap to have exploding diaper on. This new life in my world was exhausting yet, the most rewarding experience to date. He simply fascinates me.

May 11, 2009 came too fast. Continue Reading »

From the featured blog, Sassy Silly Spunky Momma

Hundreds of books are written about pregnancy, but not much is said about what happens to your body after the baby gets here. Sure there might be a paragraph, or if you are really lucky a chapter of the book devoted to this topic, but in my opinion it is worth a separate book altogether. What follows is my account of what really happens to you after the baby comes.

1. You will be an emotional train wreck.
With the huge hormonal shift that takes place after giving birth, it is no surprise that you are a little bit more emotional than normal, but it seems nobody really tells you the crazy things that you will end up crying about. I would break down in tears every day the first month over the silliest things. I may or may not have had a meltdown over my husband controlling the remote and picking a TV show I did not want to watch.
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From the featured blog, Click Clack Mom

 
Dealing with a low milk supply with our first child was an emotional rollercoaster that dominated the first two and a half months of his life.  After multiple lactation consultations; meeting with my doula, midwife and doctor; taking supplements; buying a pump; renting a hospital grade pump; having several “baby moons”; and reading all I could get my hands on—a substantial milk supply never arrived. 

What else could make a new mother feel more inadequate as not being able to feed her newborn? With 4 weeks left in this pregnancy, I am devouring materials to help my milk supply get a head start.  As I am doing research on breastfeeding, I can recall several key mistakes that I made in the first few days and I am determined not to make them again.

My manual for this endeavor is a book recommended by the La Leche League International, “The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk” by Diana West, IBCLC, and Lisa Marasco, M.A., IBCLC.  If you have experienced low milk supply issues or would like tips for breastfeeding your first baby, here are some strategies that will help. Continue Reading »

From the featured blog, Momma Maven in the Making

So we’re getting ready to head out of town on an annual adventure trip, and with this comes the dreaded reality that we must leave our 4-month-old behind.

This will be the first time we’ve left the boy out of our care with anyone and mama is not having an easy time with it. It’s not that I think he isn’t safe without us, he is going to be in great hands, but I am really torn up inside over it. I’m sure every first time mom goes through the same thing when they must abandon the babe, ever so briefly, and be kidless for any amount of time. I mean it just seems unnatural to be taking off without him.

I’ve gone through every thought possible in my mind about this trip. I pretty much had myself convinced that we would just forego the whole leaving him behind idea and I’d just sit out and watch him at the condo while hubbs went on the trails. I thought about having a family member come with us and stay at the condo playing nanny while we went out on the trails for the day, so that at least I would have him near and could cuddle him every night when we got back. I even thought, screw the idea of going, I’ll just stay home this year with my baby and hubby can go have some man-time with his friends. I made up every excuse I could think of to why it would be a better idea if we didn’t leave him behind. I tried my best to sabotage this whole idea.
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From the featured blog, Throne of Thornes

Before I even got pregnant, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. It was cheaper than formula feeding, all those billboards I saw around town told me it would make my baby smarter, and, of course, it was “natural,” and, therefore, the easiest thing to do.

I wanted to make sure I was fully educated, so I went to a breastfeeding class at the hospital I was going to deliver at. The lactation consultant who taught the class believed formula companies were evil and said that breastfeeding would come easily for both mom and baby since women had been doing it since the beginning of time. I was worried about the possibility of a supply issue because I knew other women who had that problem. When a question about that was brought up in the class, the lactation consultant said there was no such thing as a supply problem. If you aren’t producing enough, breastfeed more and the problem will solve itself. Presto. She said that it created such a strong bond between mother and baby that a study about abuse that compared breastfed with formula fed kids found those who had been breastfed were never abused by their parents. I left the class steadfast in my decision to breastfeed and determined to make sure my baby was given back to me within twenty minutes after birth – when they have the strongest suck reflex I was told.

On message boards on the internet, I read women saying breastfeeding was hard, not so natural, and it didn’t always work. I thought they must be mistaken or selfish or didn’t try to make it work. I mean, this is how women always fed their babies before formula. How in the world could it NOT work?
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From the featured blog, Trying Our Best

Motherhood is full of moments that make you eat your words.

I never thought I could love as much as I love my kids, I never thought I would really get as little sleep as I do, I never thought I would discuss the bowel habits of another human, albeit an itty bitty human, for 20 minutes as if it were the most interesting topic in the world, and I never thought that I would be on the organic bandwagon.

{But then again I never thought I would catch someone’s vomit in my own hands and I’ve done that in the past five years way more times then I care to count.}

But really, I never saw the organic thing coming. In fact just recently flyboy uttered the phrase, “Oh come on a little pesticide never killed anyone”. And he was being serious.  I think.  But then again he’s a Marine who prides himself on his survival skills.
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From the featured blog, The Southern Belle Baby

Ah, breastfeeding. We’ve all heard how great it is for the baby, what a great bond it creates and how EVERYONE should do it. However. No one tells you what breastfeeding actually entails. You don’t hear about the massive leaks, raw nipples, supply woes or amount of time you’ll spend hooked up to a pump like a dairy cow. Well, I am not a fan of keeping people in the dark, so I’m here to tell you the truth: breastfeeding is not glamorous.
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From the featured blog, The Snyder 5

It’s tough being a mom. Period. Rewarding? Of course. But let’s not sugar coat it, it’s tough.

And this isn’t about a working versus staying at home debate. Honestly, I think it’s pretty ridiculous that there is a debate.

Here’s my story. I have three kids, all boys, ages 8, 6 and almost 2.

When our first son was born, my husband was in school full time and I was supporting us. So, even if I wanted to, there was absolutely no way we could financially afford for me to stay home. Not to mention I had a job and career I loved. Continue Reading »

From the featured blog, Mamma Talk

 
“This is for the baby!” My mom squeaked.
 
 I was newly pregnant with my first baby. And my mom had been shopping. Naturally.
 
That lamb must have been frisky because she quickly coupled off with a stuffed bear that I received at my baby shower. Soon, we were the proud parents of a stuffed pig, a Raggedy Ann doll and a quirky Mr. Potato head. Something must have been in that water because before we knew it, triplet Winnie the Pooh bears were added to our brood.  The toy stork continued her visits. Soon we were joined by a litter of Legos, an array of blocks and a zoo of plastic animals. Our nest was filled to the brim, before baby’s first birthday.
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