N.J. woman gives birth on commuter train [USAToday]

Books to Help Talk to Tots About a New Baby [lilsugar]

Jessica Capshaw Expecting Third Child [CelebrityBabyScoop]

Baby No. 5 On the Way for Kelsey Grammer [People]

How Does a Millionaire Discipline His Kids? [Parenting]

Family Fun on the Cheap [RealSimple]

Kastor, After Pregnancy, Sees Trials as New Start [NYTimes]

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PregnancyWeekly.com

I Guess I Forgot to Wean My Baby [Jezebel]

10 Dads Who’ve Written Songs For Their New Babies [lilsugar]

Giving Birth like Beyonce at Maternity Spas [Yahoo]

Victor Cruz Welcomes Baby No. 1 [CelebrityBabyScoop]

Choosing a family cord blood bank [OCRegister]

Heinz baby step [NYPost]

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PregnancyWeekly.com

A couple of weeks ago, we asked readers to send
in the strangest comments that they received during pregnancy or since
becoming a parent. You didn’t disappoint! It’s incredible what some
people will say. Here are a few of our favorites and the winners of a
free copy of Mama Never Told Me:

From mother-in-laws:

“How do you expect her teeth to come in if you
aren’t feeding her anything hard enough to push her gums down passed her
teeth?’”

“I am happy you are having a boy, but we really
would have enjoyed a girl more.”

After deciding to be a stay-at-home mom – “Well that is too bad that you won’t be using
your hard earned education for so long.”

From a new grandma:

“Whenever you and your husband are ready to start
having sex, it is important that the baby isn’t anywhere where she might be
exposed to it or become confused. Just bring her over to my house whenever you
want to have sex and I’ll watch her and keep her happy until you’re
done.”

From a new grandpa:

“Duck tape and peanut butter, peanut butter to keep them quiet and duck tape
to keep them still.”

From co-workers:

“They used to
give women a beer to get their milk to come in when they started breast
feeding. I was having some trouble producing enough milk for my daughter so I
thought I would give it a try. I tell you! My ta-ta’s grew three sizes and were
so full I couldn’t feed her enough. So if you ever drink a beer while
breastfeeding be prepared to look like Pamela Anderson for a day!”

“I just thought
you were getting fat!”

From strangers:

“The best way to go into labor is to DRINK a
margarita or two and go home and have sex with your husband.”

“The comment that I find the strangest is when people look
at my baby and say, ‘She’s a keeper!’ I always wonder if they have
ever seen a baby that’s not a keeper!”

Others:

“My mothers friend told me that if i did not want my hair to fall
off after the baby is born while in labor I need to have someone cut my ends
or when the babies urinates for the first time put it in my hair.”

“The very best ‘tale’ that I have been told during pregnancy is that if you ever put
your hands above your head the baby will get tangled in the umbilical
cord.” 

“Does being out in the wind give infants gas?”

Thank you so much for your submissions!

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Can Your Name Affect Your Personality? [ModernMom]

When Can You Add Spice to Baby Food? [Just the facts baby]

Mothers buy into freeze-frame parenting [LATimes]

Bones reveal 18th and 19th-century breastfeeding fads [NewScientist]

The 2011 Best Illustrated Children’s Books [NYTimes]

The Next Nine Months: Postpartum Exercise Time Line [lilsugar]

“Autism can be an advantage in life,” says scientist [DailyMail]

How to Reveal a Pregnancy Over Facebook Chat [thehairpin]

That Baby Really Does Roar Like a Lion [DiscoveryNews]

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Emily Van Do has released her second book that reveals all the strange things that people will say to new mothers. Mama Never Told Me.. is a beautifully illustrated record of the eye-brow raising commentary that Van Do received after the birth of her baby. It follows the release of her first book which took a humorous look at what people say to pregnant women.

“When are you due?” and “Just rub his gums with whiskey!” are only a couple of the strange but very common questions people ask new mothers. When family and friends are asking, it’s easier to let it go, but the illustrations in the book reveal the unbelievable places where complete strangers will try to provide parenting advice. The advice-givers are not limited to those without children, who might just not understand. As Van Do’s book reveals, the most inappropriate suggestions often come from other mothers. The book is a must-read for new parents that might want to brace themselves, relatives of new parents and anyone compelled to provide parenting advice to strangers. Although people often have the best intentions, these comments are anything but helpful and unfortunately, very common!

ParentingWeekly is giving away 15 copies of the newest of addition of Mama Never Told Me… We want to know what is the strangest thing that anyone has said to you during your pregnancy or since becoming a parent? Send your entries to emailus@parentingweekly.com, with the subject line “Mama Never Told Me.” The contestants with the most hilarious, jaw-dropping entries will receive a free copy of the book and their comments will be anonymously posted along with the other winners at a future date. Please send your submissions before November 15th.

Mama Never Told Me [Website]

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PregnancyWeekly.com

BPA To Be Banned In Calif. Baby Bottles, Sippy Cups [NPR]

H&M Debuts Stylish Charity Collection for Kids [People]

‘Fed Up with Lunch’ exposes worst school meals [USAToday]

My Children Had Lead Poisoning [WebMD]

New Mom Milestones [FitPregnancy]

The 7 Best Birth Books [Babble]

Pregnancy-Approved Cookie Dough Recipe [Babble]

Nia Long Bares Her Bump On Cover Of Ebony [CelebrityBabyScoop]

How to Tell Your Infertile Friends that You’re Pregnant [in these small moments]

Top 5 Reasons to Ditch your OB/GYN [Babble]

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PregnancyWeekly.com

The authors of the all-inclusive pregnancy book The Mommy MD Guide to Pregnancy and Birth have taken their product one step further by creating a convenient app, now available on iTunes. The app features a pregnancy calculator,  weekly to-do lists, and over 275 tips from the many mothers with PhDs that made the book possible. You can also learn about the weekly development of your child, receive a daily tip, and learn when it’s critical to call your doctor or midwife.

The current app costs $0.99, but the first 100 people who buy the app and write a review before September 30th will receive a free book – your choice of either The Mommy MD Guide to Pregnancy and Birth or The Mommy MD Guide to Your Baby’s First Year. Whichever free book you choose to receive, you’ll be asked
to review it on Amazon.com. To take advantage of the offer, email jenniferreich at mommymdguides.com after purchasing and reviewing the app.

Purchase the app here.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Joy After Twins Joined At Head Are Separated [SkyNews]

A Sneak Peek Into Melanie Brown’s Chic Antique Nursery [lilsugar]

Mother With Two Wombs Has Twins [MedicalNewsToday]

Breast Milk Antibody Fights HIV but Needs Boost [ScienceDaily]

Learning to see: How vision sharpens [CNN]

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein are back to take on the way we view birth in the United States. More Business of Being Born will have four parts, with a release date of November 8^th, 2011. The first film that the duo produced, The Business of Being Born, is a must-see for any expectant parents and their book Your Best Birth is a valuable resource during pregnancy.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Marla Sokoloff Is Going To Be A Mommy! [CelebrityBabyScoop]

 Not our parents’ divorce [TheWeek]

Photos of Lauryn Hill’s Baby Boy Revealed [PopCrush]

World record breastfeeding attempt [Voxy]

100 Best Children’s Books [Babble]

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PregnancyWeekly.com

The Hot Moms Handbook, by Jessica Denay, is an excellent
resource for expectant and experienced mothers alike. Denay is a mother who has
worked alongside celebrity parents planning events and creating nurseries, and
was the editor of Mom and Pregnancy Magazine. In her book she offers great
advice on everything from creating a maternity wardrobe to handling emotions. Here are some of her favorite gift ideas for expectant moms:

Babymoon. A trip for the expectant parents to
have a last hurrah before welcoming their baby is an incredible gift. If you
can afford to provide a weekend getaway, the couple will be forever grateful.

Cord Blood Banking. If you want to provide a
potentially life-saving gift for the baby and family, helping to pay for cord
blood banking is a great way to go. Stem cells from umbilical cord bloodhave
been used to treat many life-threatening diseases, such as leukemia and other
cancers, and are showing potential in research to treat conditions that have no
cure today—like brain
injury and juvenile diabetes. To find out more information or contribute to
the gift of cord blood banking, go to www.cordblood.com.

Relaxation. Whether it’s a trip to the spa or a
visit with a masseuse, providing a chance for mom to relax is always
appreciated and well-deserved.

Dinner. If you can’t afford something
extravagant as a gift, dinner is a perfect contribution (especially if you have
culinary skills).

Cleaning. For new moms, cleaning the house can
quickly become impossible. Paying for a cleaning service or providing the service
yourself is a great gift.

Babysitting. The gift of babysitting can be a
gift for both parties – the parents get a night to themselves and you get to
spend time with their young ones.

Basics. Don’t underestimate the value of a fresh
pack of diapers or some wipes. Essential items will always get used.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

No Doubt’s Adrian Young Expecting a Daughter [People]

New Study Finds Gender Bias in Children’s Books [NyTimes]

No More Infant Dose of Over-the-Counter Acetaminophen [ABC]

FDA Warns About Teething Gels for Babies [WBAY]

Sex After Pregnancy [AskMen]

Mother’s Day Gift Guide from Bon Appetit [Yahoo]

Cluster Feeding And The Breastfeeding Blues [Babble]

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Homebirth in recent years has become more popular, in part
due to the spiritual experience and as a respite from a rising C-section rate
in hospitals. However, homebirth is not for everyone. First time moms don’t
know what to expect and women who’ve had previous difficult or traumatic birth experiences are likely to opt out of having a
homebirth. Plus, any kind of condition that puts your pregnancy in the high
risk category would dash any hopes of giving birth at home. Nevertheless, for
women who want the spiritual experience of a homebirth without the risks, there
are many ways you can heighten the birthing experience in the hospital.

1. Stay at home when labor starts. Most expectant mothers,
   particularly first time moms, will labor for hours before they give birth. If
   you’re nervous about staying home too long, the on-call nurse at the hospital,a doula, midwife, or experienced mother can help
   you to determine when it is the right time to head to the hospital. In general,
   once contractions are 3- 5 minutes apart then it’s time to head in. Staying at
   home allows you the comfort and freedom to labor in any position, eat, drink,
   take a bath and relax with your family. Plus, many hospitals will only allow
   you to labor for so long before they press for a C-section.
2. Use equipment as backup. Fetal monitoring, IV drips, epidurals, and
   other gadgets commonly used during labor will prevent you from changing positions and walking around. While all of these devices may make you
   feel safer, many studies have shown that they do not reduce risks to the mother
   and baby. Use the hospital as a safe place to labor and should anything go
   wrong, these devices are there for you.
3. Cope with the pain naturally. There are many effective ways to cope
   with pain without drugs (although you shouldn’t feel bad if you decide to use
   pain relief). Breathing exercises are the most common and can be very effective. Music, massage, hypnosis,
   acupressure,
   and vocalizing
   are just a few methods commonly used by natural birth advocates.
4. Use a midwife and/or doula. Midwives
   and doulas
   are excellent at helping a woman get the birth experience she desires. Many
   hospitals and birth centers partner with midwives so that they can oversee your
   birth in the facility. Doulas act as your advocate while you are in the throes
   of labor. They help to encourage you in whatever your goals are and have been
   shown to reduce labor times and C-section rates.
5. Learn about birth. This tip might seem obvious, but learning about
   the feeling of birth can help you understand what to anticipate and how to
   overcome tough periods. Reading anything by Ina
   May Gaskin is a good place to start as well as reading birth stories of
   other women on the web. Videos can also be helpful. The more you know about
   things like what’s commonly referred to as “the ring of fire,” the better you
   will understand how to summon the strength to get through it. Also, learning
   about the reasons for a C-section, as well as common but unnecessary scenarios
   where they are used will prepare you for complications that might arise.
6. Use a birthing tub. Many hospitals and birth centers provide
   birthing tubs. Birthing
   in water relieves pain, takes the load off your pregnant body and is
   perfectly safe for the newborn who won’t take his first breath until he is
   exposed to the air.
7. Create a mood. The hospital might seem like the last place to have
   atmosphere, but you’d be surprised how much dimming the lights and putting on
   some music can create a relaxing sanctuary as you labor.
8. Change positions. Lying on your back is probably the most unhelpful
   position to give birth in. The baby is making a corkscrew dive down the birth
   canal, so moving around helps his journey. Also, use the laws of gravity to
   your favor with squats and other upright positions.
9. Stay nourished. If you don’t use drugs for pain relief, then there
   is no
   reason to forgo food and drink while you labor. Keep the snacks healthy and
   nourishing. Sometimes a little bit of energy is all you need in order to stay
   strong.
10. Breastfeed immediately. Most hospitals will whisk away the newborn
    to allow the mother to recover and record the baby’s first stats. Let the
    hospital staff know that you would like the baby to breastfeed within the first
    hour after birth, which is the recommendation of the American Academy of
    Pediatrics. Sometimes, this first interaction can lay the foundation for
    successful breastfeeding down the road.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Comedienne Tina Fey (39), of 30 Rock, is expecting her second child with husband Jeff Richmond. The funny mom revealed the news on Oprah while promoting her new book Bossy Pants, which is getting great
reviews. Tina joins co-star Jane Krakowski who
is also expecting. The new author is currently 5 months along and is already
mother to 5-year-old Alice.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

If you’re expecting your first child, the first year of your baby’s life will probably cost around $11,000. If you’re expecting your second child, it will cost roughly the same. But if you’re having your third or fourth child, the annual cost is much less, according to author Laura Vanderkam.

Before having her third child and while writing a book about budgeting, Laura decided to parse the data to find out if the costs would be less or the same for her third child as they were for her first and second. She told the New York Times: “With any big project, there are startup costs.” After reviewing nationwide data, she found that the cost of a third or fourth grown child per year is about $2,880. College costs were not part of the equation.

“I think two things happen,” she explained. “One is that some costs get amortized over additional children (cribs, clothes, and food gets bought in bulk). Second, you change your expectations. You might bring two kids to Europe. You’d bring 4 kids to your nearest state or national park.“

For many parents, there are so many things we thought we needed the first time around that later proved to be unnecessary. Certainly, reusing equipment and clothing comes into play, as well as a changed attitude towards parenting overall. Plus, as kids grow up, they are able to help cut costs in other ways, like helping out with babysitting.

Do you have more than one child? Have you found that you’re paying less for the second or third child than you did for your first?

The Marginal Cost of Children [NYTimes]

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PregnancyWeekly.com

There are some wonderful pregnancy apps available now in the App
Store. There are timeline apps, nutrition apps, paternity
apps, and more.

Hello Baby Plus – Pregnancy Calendar

Just as your unborn baby is developing quickly, so is the Hello Baby
App. This Plus version enables you to see a complete 360° view of your baby’s development
at simulated actual-size. You can also record your voice to
hear what you may sound like to your baby in the womb. The app also allows you to share your baby’s developments with the whole family through email and
Facebook.

Things you can do with Hello Baby Plus:

• Double tap the baby to toggle between Actual-size View and Timeline View.
• Enjoy a complete 360° view of a typical baby’s development on three exciting weeks of your pregnancy, weeks 6, 12, and 24.
• Use the Womb Translator to record your voice to hear what you may sound like to your baby in the womb. 
• Share a typical baby’s development week by week on Facebook or, now, through email.
• Watch Pampers video series for a little parenting advice and a lot of laughs.

$2.99/Download

Pregnancy Food Guide

 This application will tell you about foods you should eat, how to plan your diet, which foods to
avoid, and which food groups work best for you.

The application is divided into two parts; Pregnancy
and Postpartum. Both parts start with planning and then they follow the food you eat and recommend foods to avoid. This application doesn’t provide any recipes.

$3.99/Download

My Pregnancy Diary

Collect your thoughts, sensations, emotions, and your physical changes in
your pregnancy diary. With the pregnancy diary app you can:

• Know your gestational progress.
• Record your activities, emotions, and important
  dates.
• Add pictures to entries.
• Read useful information weekly about your pregnancy.
• Keep track of your physical changes.
• Keep track of health care visits.
• Search thousands of names to choose your favorite baby name.

$3.99/Download

Pregnant Dad

This is the best selling app for dads to be worldwide.

Besides essential information regarding the growth and development of the baby, you receive hints and tips for surviving as a
man during these important 9 months. Sliced in 2-3 bits per week it
has the right amount of information for men to follow.

$1.99/Download

Mini-atlas Pregnancy 

 The Mini-atlas Pregnancy is the perfect pocket tool for physicians.
With just a few taps on the iPhone, doctors can use the app to
effectively communicate with their patients, showing them illustrations
to help explaining the stages, physiology and pathology of gestation.
All the relevant aspects of the process are included in great detail.
Whatever you’re looking for, the Mini-atlas Pregnancy App has an image
for that.

Incredible features:

• A huge database of detailed and labeled images related to pregnancy
• Each illustration has explanation text beneath it
• Zoom in with your fingers to any section of the picture
• Easy search – just type part of the topic you’re looking for
• Email any image or section of an image you need
• Available in English or Spanish
• Works in portrait or landscape mode
• Available for iPhone, iPad and iPad touch

$8.99/Download

Milk Maid

The Milk Maid app was designed to help pumping moms manage their stash of breast milk.

• Record pumping sessions and quickly see your inventory of fresh and
  frozen milk in multiple locations. (Home, work, daycare, etc. Want to
  add Grandma’s house? You can easily add custom locations.)
• Milk Maid keeps track of individual bottles and bags by pumping
  date so that you can use the oldest milk first. You can combine milk from multiple pumping sessions or pour milk from
  one bottle into multiple bottles and freezer bags.
• Record the bottles and bags used by you or your caregiver each day.
  Have a business trip? Milk Maid will calculate the average milk you
  used last week to help you estimate how long your stash will last.
• Set an expiration period for each storage location and Milk Maid
  will track the expiration time of each bottle/bag in your stash. Browse
  the stash to see containers that are nearing expiration or expired.
• Use Milk Maid’s optional features like the handy timer if your pump
  does not have one and the Left/Right feature to track each side
  separately.

$2.99/Download

MedCalc Pro (medical calculator)

MedCalc Pro is a medical calculator that gives you easy access to
complicated medical formulas, scores, scales and classifications. Each
entry has been individually designed and optimized for the iPhone
screen. Running MedCalc Pro on an iPad reveals a user interface attuned
to the much larger iPad screen.
The Pro version offers an exclusive patient management system which
allows you to save and retrieve formula results, notes and images. Upon
saving results, MedCalc remembers certain patient input like height,
weight and a range of lab values. These values will be inserted on
demand into subsequent formulas.

$7.99/Download

Sweet Baby

The next generation of baby books for the modern family. Preserve all
your child’s precious memories in beautiful digital form with the first
baby book designed specifically for iPad.
Sweet Baby captures video, photos and text of all your child’s
landmark moments and collects them in a beautiful, and sharable virtual
book. Pre-loaded pages and fill-in-the-blank questions make creating
your baby book easy and fun, while original artwork make every baby book
a beautiful collection of baby’s earliest memories.

$14.99/Download

From Here to Paternity by Andrew Cullen

When his partner Kate discovered she was pregnant, Andrew Cullen
decided to write the kind of book that he wanted to read but couldn’t
find anywhere, one that was truthful about the man’s experience. His
pregnancy diary, candidly recording the significant little details as
well as the dramatic moments, is an ideal companion for anyone thinking
about becoming a father… or a mother. “Pregnancy” is a story that
embraces all genres: it is a romance, a comedy, a thriller, a suspense
tale, a travel book about the most amazing journey of your life. This
unique chronicle is an honest, witty, touching account about what a man
really thinks about becoming a dad.

$7.99/Download

Anne Geddes Beginnings HD

The Anne Geddes Beginnings HD iPad app is a visually rich tour of
Anne’s captivating new book, Beginnings. Beginnings explores the
parallels between ourselves and other miracles of nature, placing these
complementary wonders side by side in an attempt to evoke a deeper
appreciation of the simple yet deceptively complex beauty of our
existence.

Free/Download

Source

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PregnancyWeekly.com

The
college students learned mothering skills by caring for “practice
babies” – infants lent by local orphanages to live at the school.

Lisa Grunwald researched the practice and used it as the premise for her novel The Irresistible Henry House. She says she discovered this use for orphan babies while working on an
anthology of letters written by American women when she found a snapshot
of “the most beguiling baby with this roguish grin.” She learned he had
been a practice baby at Cornell University.

“He had been cared for by about a dozen women who took turns being his practice mother,” Grunwald told NPR’s Michele Norris.

By the 1950s, there were 40 or 50 colleges and universities
throughout the country who had this program in place, or something very
similar, Grunwald says.

The baby Grunwald
came across was named Bobby Domecon, short for “domestic economics.” All
of the babies at Cornell took the last name Domecon, and all of the
practice babies at Illinois State University had the last name North or
South, depending on the building they were raised in.

Grunwald says the babies would come from the orphanage as young as
possible, and the mothers would take rotations caring for them. The
rotations depended on the college — sometimes one mother would have a
baby a week at a time or 10 days at a time. In others, a mother would
put the baby down for a nap, and another student would be there when it
woke up. But it was always on a very careful schedule.

“When
I first read about this, I thought it was sort of weird and a little
bit creepy,” Grunwald says. “But, in fact, at the times in which this
took place, everything was considered a possible opportunity for a
scientific approach, and child care was no exception. The practice
houses really embraced the idea that you could learn mothering the same
way you learned cooking or learned chemistry — everything was learnable,
and systems were really important.”

Many of
the babies arrived at the universities suffering from malnutrition, and
they were quickly plumped with good health after their stint in those
programs.

Grunwald says she found little evidence of controversy around the practice, with the exception of a 1954 Time magazine
article, where the Illinois state child welfare division found out a
child was being raised on campus this way and was extremely disturbed by
it.

Grunwald also wanted to find out the long-term effects on someone who
is raised this way. She says she talked with various experts and
psychiatrists.

“They told me about attachment
disorder,” Grunwald says. “If a child doesn’t form one really tight
bond in the first years of life, it sometimes happens that he or she can
develop attachment disorder.”

But there was no evidence, because the babies weren’t followed and studied as they grew up.

“It
was really the reason I wanted to write it as fiction because the
alternative didn’t seem very viable,” Grunwald says. “They were returned
to their orphanages and they were adopted in due course, the way most
children were adopted, which was, at the time, very anonymously.

“While
there is some evidence that some parents really wanted a Domecon baby —
because he or she had been raised by scientific methods — there doesn’t
seem to have been any way of tracking them or following them. There was
never a study done, there were never even records kept.”

Source

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Breastfeeding isn’t always easy but setting yourself up before you give birth can be very helpful.

Educate yourself. Pick up a copy of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and read it, go to Kellymom’s website and look up anything you’re even slightly curious about or that anyone tells you, also browse the La Leche League
website. Encourage your partner to read some of the basics as well. You
can have an information overload, especially when everything is new to
you, but knowing things like the fact that a newborn can nurse 14 times a day and it’s totally normal can save you tons of stress.

You don’t need to “toughen up your nipples.” There’s
no evidence it does anything, other than just make you uncomfortable.
In fact, it can actually make your nipples incredibly sore, making early
nursing even more uncomfortable than it has the likelihood of being.

Don’t stock up on or accept any “just in case” formula. Though people often feel like they need some formula in the house just in case, it’s mental sabotage, and can turn into real sabotage if Daddy, thinking he’s being helpful, gives baby a bottle — one bottle of formula can interfere with 2-3 breastfeeding sessions. Decide here and now that you ARE going to breastfeed and you will not have formula in your house unless you end up really needing it.

Pregnancy breast changes say little about supply. There is one medical condition where
breasts lack the proper ducts (this is visually diagnosable
pre-pregnancy) and it can make exclusive breastfeeding difficult or near
impossible, but in general, whether your breasts start leaking and
swelling in your second trimester or you don’t see a drop until baby is
born and don’t engorge for a week, don’t judge your milk supply by
changes to your boobs. If you do have colostrum leaking and big cup size
changes, be confident in your body — those are great signs.

Surround yourself in the right support. Start attending La Leche League
meetings, and surround yourself with women who have succeeded with
exclusive, full-term breastfeeding. As much as you may love your
friends, if they didn’t breastfeed for a long time or at all, as
well-meaning as your friends might be, they’re not going to be the
breastfeeding support you need. Physically, 98 percent of women can
breastfeed, but it’s bad info and sub-par support that hurts the
majority of other women. Have faith that just like your body is
doing right now, nourishing your baby 100 percent, it can continue to
do that once baby is on the outside as well. Tell anyone who says
anything remotely negative that it’s not helpful. Nicely.

Know that you’re not your mother. Your mom’s
breastfeeding history has absolutely nothing to do with yours. Neither
does your sister’s.

Make yourself a nest. Choose a couch, your bed, and
start moving stuff in there: your laptop, TV, maybe a mini-fridge,
trashcan, book, phone, and phone charger. If you go in with
expectations that your main goal for the first few weeks is to feed
your baby and heal your body, you’ll do a lot better than if you’re
always exasperated that the baby needs you AGAIN and you’re stuck
being able to do nothing AGAIN. Make sure your partner and family
members know this as well — they can help you be entertained and
comfortable, but your main job for the first few weeks or so is only
to get to know your baby. Anything that interferes with that can just
make life harder.

Easy access, or even nudity, saves a lot of effort.
Invest in some very comfortable clothing, such as nursing tanks or
even just tank tops with a built-in bra that you can lift your boob
out of easily and comfortably. Nursing bras with no underwire can make a huge difference. Figure out what you’re going to be most comfortable with in public
because if you go out in those early days you will need to nurse —
pumping and bottles can cause you a lot more problems than they’re
worth, and baby isn’t going to be content for your entire dinner, even
if you nurse in the car before you go in. Decide if you want to do a
double-shirt to pull one up with the other still covering you, want to
try a nursing cover, or maybe you just don’t care at all — it’s all
personal.

Source

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PregnancyWeekly.com

In
his book, Medina unravels how a child’s brain develops, and reveals
what you can do to optimize it.

One of his chapters is dedicated to pregnancy – what you can do while
your baby’s still in the womb, and what fetuses are aware of during
their stay in the protective environment of your body. He highlights
four key points that moms-to-be should be aware of: 

1) In the first half of pregnancy, babies
mostly want to be left alone.
Medina writes, “From the baby’s point of view, the best feature of life
in the womb it its relative lack of stimulation.” This is the time the
embryo’s pre-brain is very active, pumping out neurons at an amazing
rate of 500,000 cells a minute. To do this, a peaceful, non-interactive
environment is just what the baby needs. 

2)
Don’t waste your money on products claiming to improve a fetus’ IQ,
temperament or personality. None of them have been proven to work.
Some books published in the ’90s (and earlier) falsely advertised things
such as, “Teach your baby to spell in the womb,” “Teach your child a
second language before birth” and “Increase your baby’s IQ by as much as
30 points.” According to Medina, no commercial product has ever been
shown to do anything to improve the brain performance of a developing
fetus. 

3) In the second half of pregnancy,
babies begin to perceive and process a great deal of sensory
information. Their sense of smell becomes heightened to the point that
they can smell the perfume you wear, the garlic on the pizza you just
ate and even the amniotic fluid they’re living in. Medina says your baby
may actually prefer these comforting smells after birth; it’s called
“olfactory labeling.” He has this advice for moms who have just given
birth: Immediately after your baby is born, rub her with her own
amniotic fluid before washing her with soap and water. Studies show it
will calm the baby down.

4) A mother-to-be can
boost her baby’s brain development with four things: proper weight gain,
a balanced diet, moderate exercise and stress reduction.
These have all been scientifically proven to help a fetus’ brain develop
to its optimal level. Medina also says there are two supplements that
are known to influence brain development in utero. One is folic acid; he
advises women to take it around the time of conception. The other is
omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential components of neurons. Humans
have a hard time making omega-3s, so the best way to get them is either
by eating fish or taking a supplement. Researchers recommend that
pregnant women eat fish that has low concentrations of mercury, such as
salmon, cod, sardines and canned white tuna. 

Read more: http://www.momlogic.com/2010/11/can_you_create_a_smarter_baby.php#ixzz143ozeAJq

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Dr. Michael Thorpy and Dr. Shelby Freedman Harris of the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Medical Center:

For most parents, having a newborn in the house can wreak havoc on
sleep schedules. Generally, there aren’t any long-term health effects. I
personally see it as an evolutionary thing that’s built in to help us
raise newborns, though there are really no studies on this. New parents
can prepare by understanding, and accepting, that the first few months
will most likely consist of disrupted nighttime sleep. If you follow the
guidelines below, the disrupted sleep will likely last for only a few
months, which is rather short-term in the scheme of things.

During the first six months of life, babies sleep soundly in two- to
four-hour periods. Newborns are not born with a circadian cycle that
makes them stay awake during the day and sleep at night. Rather, sleep
is spaced evenly in chunks throughout the 24-hour day. Bottle-fed
newborns tend to sleep for slightly longer periods, generally three to
four hours, whereas breast-fed babies tend to sleep in one- to
three-hour cycles.

After 6 months of age, infants begin to sleep for longer periods, and
they generally sleep through the night (as defined by a six-hour
stretch). From 6 months to 9 months, however, many infants, even those
who were fantastic sleepers when they were younger, begin to exhibit
episodes of night wakings. These night wakings are generally due to
developmental and physiological milestones. Instead of sleeping, babies
often find it more interesting to practice newly acquired skills like
crawling or sitting up. About 30 percent to 50 percent of infants at
this age awaken at least once per night for a short while, usually for
about one to five minutes at a time, with 25 percent of 1-year-olds
continuing to do so.

Since newborns sleep upward of 16 hours per day in small chunks,
parents often find it difficult to get a full seven or eight hours of
sleep at night. Parents need to work their sleep schedules around the
newborn’s patterns. In essence, sleep when the baby sleeps. We realize
that this is easier said than done, but making some changes — and
enlisting the help of others, if possible — can help new parents adjust
as best as they can to a fragmented sleep pattern.

Creativity and flexibility are important here. For example, some
parents prefer to break up child care into “early night” and “late
night” shifts, whereas others swap off nights. Once a baby is 6 weeks
old, parents can start to have a standard bedtime routine set at a
desired time, though it might migrate earlier or later depending on the
baby’s schedule. Keep in mind that it is unlikely that your baby will be
sleeping through the night just yet. These routines help to reinforce
that it is bedtime and help the child ease into sleep.

Keep the routine uncomplicated, simple and always in the direction
toward the crib — for example, bath, followed by bottle in a nursery
chair, then reading in the chair and then crib. In addition, try not to
have baby fall asleep at the bottle; instead, put the newborn to bed
“drowsy but awake.” This helps the child learn to self-soothe. Becoming
attuned to baby’s sleep signs, like rubbing the eyes, yawning or
fussing, can be helpful. Pushing the bedtime later will only cause the
baby to become overtired and sleep worse. Gradually moving the bedtime
earlier can actually help lengthen the sleep period.

Remember to always put your baby to sleep on his or her back (the
phrase “back to sleep” is a helpful reminder). Do not swaddle in many
clothes or wrap the baby in a blanket; government officials also
recently advised against using infant sleep positioners.
Make it possible for the baby to be able to move around in the crib. On
hot summer days, dehydration is a major cause of child discomfort, so
be aware that babies lose water more easily than adults.

From 4 to 6 months of age, babies start to sleep through the night.
They require few or no night feedings. Babies who are “self-soothers”
can easily fall back asleep on their own, but some babies require the
presence of a parent, food or object (such as a pacifier) to return to
sleep.

If a baby continues to need your help to return to sleep, a number of
methods have been developed to teach a baby to self-soothe. A common
misconception is that babies will outgrow this phase. Studies have shown
that 80 percent of children who had sleep problems as infants continue
to have difficulties three years later.

There are many treatments available to help babies become
self-soothers, including the “cry it out” Ferberizing method and “no
cry” solutions. Choosing which treatment to use is a very personal
decision, and one that some feel very passionate about. Many of these
treatments can be helpful, but consistency is critical for success. A number of helpful books are available, including “Sleeping Through the Night,” by Jodi Mindell; “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child,” by Dr. Marc Weissbluth; and “The No-cry Sleep Solution,” by Elizabeth Pantley.

As a baby begins to sleep through the night, many parents notice that
they have trouble doing the same. They have adjusted to sleeping in
short chunks, and returning to pre-baby sleep patterns takes time. Those
parents who had trouble sleeping before the baby arrived often have
more difficulties with this transition. Try to avoid checking in on your
baby whenever you awaken. If you are needed, your baby will let you
know.

If Mom or Dad continues to suffer from insomnia, cognitive behavioral
therapy or pharmacological treatments may be necessary. We recommend
that new parents first start with cognitive behavioral therapy for
insomnia, as it can be quite effective without the addition of
medication.

While poor sleep and fatigue are believed to be the norm for new
parents, postpartum depression may be an underlying factor and can
worsen sleep. Studies have shown that women with a prenatal history of
depression may be more affected by the multitude of changes that happen
after childbirth, including psychological, hormonal and immunological
shifts. It is important that new mothers let their doctors know of any
symptoms of depression, including sad mood, tearfulness, feelings of
hopelessness or guilt, insomnia, changes in appetite, extreme loss of
energy, loss of interest in things and thoughts about death, suicide or
harm to others.

If a new parent or baby continues to have troubles with sleep,
pediatric sleep specialists or behavioral sleep medicine specialists are
available to help. The American Board of Sleep Medicine has a list of certified behavioral sleep medicine specialists on its Web site.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Over the centuries, most cultures have believed – and then dismissed
the belief – that what happens to you in the nine months before you are
born can affect everything that you become in life.

Now modern scientists are reviving this ancient idea, writes Annie Murphy Paul in her new book “Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives,” which is being released tomorrow.

 The book is filled with such facts as:

• Eating chocolate during pregnancy can lead to a happier, less fearful baby.
• Eating lots of fish high in omega-3 fatty acids and low in mercury
  during pregnancy produces smarter kids, with better social,
  communication and motor skills.
• “Moderate” levels of stress during pregnancy is associated with
  accelerated brain development at 2 weeks of age and better motor and
  mental development scores at age 2.
• Severe stress, on the other hand, can have lifelong effects. Adults
  who were in utero during the flu pandemic of 1918, for instance, did not
  go as far in school or earn as much money as their adults who were in
  utero just before or just after the pandemic, but were more likely to
  suffer from disabilities and receive welfare. And people whose mothers
  were pregnant during the Nazi siege of Holland, the famine during
  China’s “Great Leap Forward” and the six-day Arab-Israeli War in 1967
  are more likely to suffer from schizophrenia.

It’s not as if no one had wondered whether outside influences during
pregnancy could have lasting effects on a baby. After all, look at all
those couples playing Mozart for their unborn children. But only
recently, Paul argues, has “the nine-month-long process of shaping and
molding that goes on in the womb” been seen as “a crucial process of
preparation for the specific world the baby will enter.”

There is a danger to this “pregnancy determines everything” lens, of
course. It could too easily become one more source of guilt for pregnant
women, as if there weren’t enough of those already.

Paul agrees it is a worry. She
agreed to write a guest post today for Motherlode about how “blame the
mother” would be a shortsighted and off-the-mark use for all this
emerging data. Instead, she says, most of the things that can go wrong
in pregnancy are “collective in nature (matters of food safety,
environmental pollution, safety in disaster situations, and so on) and
require collective solutions — not more responsibility and blame piled
on individual pregnant women for situations they can’t possibly rectify
on their own.”

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Soccer Moms. Helicopter Moms. Mama Grizzlies…the list goes on. Moms carry many titles and have many roles, and as the saying goes, “Mom knows best.”

That’s what makes one of the newest pregnancy books somewhat unique. Titled Mommy MD Guide to Pregnancy and Birth, it includes unique tips that doctors who are also mothers used during their own pregnancies. Here’s what Dr. Dianna Kim, an ob-gyn and mother of three, shared about why she decided to bank her children’s cord blood:

“My husband and I decided to bank each of our children’s cord blood. We thought we would do that just in case something happened. Researchers are finding more and more applications for stem cells, so I think that in the future cord blood may be even more useful…”

Visit the MommyMD Guide to Pregnancy and Birth website to learn more or to order a copy.

The Mommy MD Guide to Pregnancy and Birth is just one of a growing number of pregnancy guides that addresses cord blood stem cells. Other great books that provide perspective on this topic for expectant parents include The Hot Mom to Be Handbook by Jessica Denay, YOU: Having a Baby by “America’s Doctor” Dr. Mehmet Oz, and Dad’s Pregnant Too by journalist Harlan Cohen.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

You take your baby to the pediatrician for her regular check-ups, vaccines, and at the first sign of a fever. You keep her away from runny-nose friends and steer clear of the sun. You babyproof your home and gently bandage her boo-boos. All to make sure your child grows up healthy and strong. But compelling new research is showing that the strength of your emotional bond with your baby may well trump all of those other measures you take to help her thrive.

A close attachment can prevent diseases, boost immunity, and enhance IQ in your baby, says Deepak Chopra, M.D., the endocrinologist turned mind-body — medicine guru, Parenting contributing editor, and coauthor of Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives: A Holistic Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth. Those hugs and kisses are a force of nature more powerful than ever thought, says Dr. Chopra. Mother-child bonding has evolved to become a complex physiological process that enlists not just our hearts, but our brains, hormones, nerves, and almost every part of our bodies.

There are decades of evidence to back up Dr. Chopra’s claims. In one study from Ohio State University, rabbits that were cuddled by researchers were protected against the artery-clogging effects of a high-cholesterol diet. The love and attention affected the rabbits’ hormone levels, the study authors concluded, helping them withstand heart disease. Researchers at McGill University in Montreal found that some female rats took more time and care to lick their infant pups than others; the pups that were licked frequently grew up to be less stressed and more adventurous in temperament, while pups that weren’t groomed as much exhibited nervous, stressed-out behavior. And yet another study, published in Pediatrics, found that premature babies who were stroked gained nearly 50 percent more weight than those who were not. Such skin-to-skin contact (known as kangaroo care) has been shown to have other health benefits for preemies, too.

It’s well known that the nipple stimulation that occurs when a baby nurses causes a hormone called oxytocin to be released in the mom, which in turn triggers milk let-down. But oxytocin is also called the “love hormone” because it’s produced during orgasm and other affectionate moments. In fact, oxytocin behaves in the brain much the same way that morphine does; it turns on our “reward” center, easing pain, making us feel good, and causing us to crave that emotional high again and again. Women who don’t breastfeed, or choose to eventually switch to or supplement with formula, happily do not miss out on the “love drug.” Simply gazing into your baby’s eyes while bottle-feeding or just snuggling or massaging also unleashes the feel-good hormones in both of you.

There’s more evidence that we’re hardwired to connect with our kids: Pheromones — the chemicals we secrete to attract a partner — are also secreted by our babies, ensuring that we’re similarly smitten with them. In one study, 90 percent of moms were able to identify their newborns by scent alone after having spent as little as ten minutes with them. When the moms spent an hour with their babies, 100 percent of them correctly distinguished their own baby’s smell from the smell of other infants.

A baby recognizes his mother’s scent, too. Last year, researchers in Japan found that infants who smelled their own mother’s milk while undergoing a routine heel-stick procedure exhibited fewer signs of distress than babies who were exposed to the odor of another mother’s milk, formula, or nothing at all. The mere scent of their mother’s breast milk was enough to calm the newborns and ease pain. Here’s an interesting aside: The act of kissing may have evolved as an affectionate gesture because it puts our nose in direct contact with the base of our partner’s nostrils, where pheromones are generated.

Just as scent motivates you to care for your child and motivates your child to stay close to you, so too does a smile. In a recent study conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, brain MRIs were taken of women while they looked at photos of their own children and of other kids making sad, happy, and neutral faces. The scans found that when a woman saw a photo of her own child, the parts of her brain associated with rewards processing (meaning they make you feel good!) were activated, and even more so when she saw photos of her child smiling. It’s all very primitive: Mom make Baby smile, Mom get reward, Mom want to make Baby smile again.

So ignore your e-mails and forget about the laundry. Don’t stress about vacuuming or entertaining guests. Let bonding with your baby become your priority. Lie around with her, doing nothing. Cuddle. Play. Dr. Chopra believes in “nourishing all of your baby’s senses” by holding her, massaging her, singing to her, using soothing scents (lavender, rose, vanilla), and showing her colorful, interesting shapes and objects. Remind yourself that you’re building a connection that will comfort both of you for years and years. And when you need a break, take one.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Eve, the first woman to become pregnant, suffered from excruciating pain during the delivery because she cheated on her diet. God told her to not eat an apple, but she was tempted by the serpent’s claim that the forbidden fruit would endow her and Adam with worldly knowledge. In God’s fury, he transformed the serpent into a belly-crawling creature. Then he turned to Eve and said, “I greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.”

The thought pattern was set. Women deserved pain. In 1591, Eufame Maclayne was burned at the stake for asking for pain relief during the birth of her twins. Attitudes did not change much when safer anesthetics were discovered in the middle of the nineteenth century. Most people thought they were fine for surgery but not childbirth. Devout men and women believed that the pain in childbirth was a heavenly duty. If you couldn’t endure the agony of childbirth, how would you handle the ups and downs of motherhood? (Why no equivalent hazing process for fathers? Vasectomies without pain meds?) Pain relief became somewhat acceptable when Queen Victoria asked Dr. John Snow for a whiff of chloroform to ease her delivery during the birth of Prince Leopold on April 7, 1853. But only somewhat.

Birth from antiquity through the Middle Ages was an all-girls affair orchestrated by men who had never seen a baby born. It was considered obscene for a man to enter the delivery room, yet they wrote the guidebooks, doling out advice based on hunches handed down over generations. (In 1522, Dr. Wert, a German doctor, was sentenced to death when he was caught dressing like a woman and sneaking into a delivery room.) Their words of wisdom (or of ignorance) were a man-made concoction of myth, herbs, astrology, and superstition. Nearly everything was about good sex and good thoughts and eating and drinking the right things. It was not simple. As far back as 1500 BC, probably even earlier, women had access to all sorts of explicit information about sex, pregnancy tests, abortions, and contraceptives.

If you were lucky to be in a city, you may have been helped by a licensed midwife (European cities started educating and registering midwives around the fifteenth century); if you were in the rural outback, you may have had an uneducated but experienced midwife or a female family friend. In any event, you were surrounded by a gaggle of women. Oddly enough, expectant women were not supposed to be catered to, but to cater. You were expected to act as hostess and serve the aptly coined “groaning beer” and “groaning cakes.” Friends of the laboring woman were called “gossips,” as in God sibs, as in siblings of God. You can assume they did what all women would do under the circumstances — sit around and talk about other people. So what was once an epithet for “close-to- God” morphed into a term for “behind-the-back chatter.”

Women were told how to speed labor (a concoction of herbs), what to eat (nothing too spicy), what to drink (not too much wine), and what to think (no angry thoughts). Women were told how long to breast-feed and when to hand the baby to a wet nurse. They were told to have enough sex because a splash of sperm moistens the womb. They were also told not to have too much sex because it wears out the baby-making machinery. That’s why “whores have so seldome children,” one guide said, because “satiety gluts that womb.” In France, pregnant women rarely left the house after dark because they were told that if they looked at the moon, the baby would become a lunatic or sleepwalker.

Reprinted from Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank by Randi Hutter Epstein. Copyright 2010 by Randi Hutter Epstein.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

Eve, the first woman to become pregnant, suffered from excruciating pain during the delivery because she cheated on her diet. God told her to not eat an apple, but she was tempted by the serpent’s claim that the forbidden fruit would endow her and Adam with worldly knowledge. In God’s fury, he transformed the serpent into a belly-crawling creature. Then he turned to Eve and said, “I greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.”

The thought pattern was set. Women deserved pain. In 1591, Eufame Maclayne was burned at the stake for asking for pain relief during the birth of her twins. Attitudes did not change much when safer anesthetics were discovered in the middle of the nineteenth century. Most people thought they were fine for surgery but not childbirth. Devout men and women believed that the pain in childbirth was a heavenly duty. If you couldn’t endure the agony of childbirth, how would you handle the ups and downs of motherhood? (Why no equivalent hazing process for fathers? Vasectomies without pain meds?) Pain relief became somewhat acceptable when Queen Victoria asked Dr. John Snow for a whiff of chloroform to ease her delivery during the birth of Prince Leopold on April 7, 1853. But only somewhat.

Birth from antiquity through the Middle Ages was an all-girls affair orchestrated by men who had never seen a baby born. It was considered obscene for a man to enter the delivery room, yet they wrote the guidebooks, doling out advice based on hunches handed down over generations. (In 1522, Dr. Wert, a German doctor, was sentenced to death when he was caught dressing like a woman and sneaking into a delivery room.) Their words of wisdom (or of ignorance) were a man-made concoction of myth, herbs, astrology, and superstition. Nearly everything was about good sex and good thoughts and eating and drinking the right things. It was not simple. As far back as 1500 BC, probably even earlier, women had access to all sorts of explicit information about sex, pregnancy tests, abortions, and contraceptives.

If you were lucky to be in a city, you may have been helped by a licensed midwife (European cities started educating and registering midwives around the fifteenth century); if you were in the rural outback, you may have had an uneducated but experienced midwife or a female family friend. In any event, you were surrounded by a gaggle of women. Oddly enough, expectant women were not supposed to be catered to, but to cater. You were expected to act as hostess and serve the aptly coined “groaning beer” and “groaning cakes.” Friends of the laboring woman were called “gossips,” as in God sibs, as in siblings of God. You can assume they did what all women would do under the circumstances — sit around and talk about other people. So what was once an epithet for “close-to- God” morphed into a term for “behind-the-back chatter.”

Women were told how to speed labor (a concoction of herbs), what to eat (nothing too spicy), what to drink (not too much wine), and what to think (no angry thoughts). Women were told how long to breast-feed and when to hand the baby to a wet nurse. They were told to have enough sex because a splash of sperm moistens the womb. They were also told not to have too much sex because it wears out the baby-making machinery. That’s why “whores have so seldome children,” one guide said, because “satiety gluts that womb.” In France, pregnant women rarely left the house after dark because they were told that if they looked at the moon, the baby would become a lunatic or sleepwalker.

Reprinted from Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank by Randi Hutter Epstein. Copyright 2010 by Randi Hutter Epstein.

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PregnancyWeekly.com

September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month. As a country we are failing our babies miserably. Too many never make it to their first birthday. An estimated 2 million babies die within their first 24 hours each year worldwide, and the United States has the second worst newborn mortality rate in the developed world, according to a recent report by Save the Children.

Diving into the report’s stats only darkens the picture: American babies are three times more likely to die in their first month than children born in Japan, and newborn mortality is 2.5 times higher in the United States than in Finland, Iceland, or Norway. Only Latvia, with six deaths per 1,000 live births, has a higher death rate for newborns than the United States, which ranks near the bottom of industrialized nations, tying with Hungary, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia with five deaths per 1,000 births.

Although the newborn mortality rate in the United States has fallen in recent decades, it continues to disproportionately affect people of color, especially African Americans. Only 17 percent of all U.S. births were to African American families, but 33 percent of all low-birth-weight babies were African American, according to the report.

Indeed, the statistics on black babies are the most dismal of all. African Americans have 2.3 times the infant mortality rate of non-Hispanic whites. Black babies are four times as likely to die as infants due to complications related to low birth weight as non-Hispanic white infants. Other sobering statistics from the CDC:

• African Americans had 1.8 times the sudden infant death syndrome mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites, in 2005.
• The infant mortality rate for African American mothers with over 13 years of education was almost three times that of non-Hispanic white mothers in 2005.

This last statistic shows that education does not help protect black babies from poor birth outcomes like it does other ethnic groups, and poses a unique question about how to reverse the tide and save more black babies.

One of the theories being put forth by researchers is that black women tend to enter pregnancy unhealthy and overstressed and cannot reverse years of unhealthy habits and unresolved stress in the 40 weeks of pregnancy. The result is babies who are born too soon or too small – both avoidable outcomes. “In countries where mothers do well, children do well,” Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children, said in a written statement accompanying the report.

As a country we have to figure out how to address this problem. Obviously teaching black women – and all women whose pregnancies are at risk in this country – to live healthier, less stressful lives isn’t going to happen overnight. And I don’t expect the government to figure out how to save our babies, or at least, I’m not willing to wait that long. As mothers, whose lives are all interconnected, we have to figure it out.

I’m going to fight it with the stories I write, the issues I bring up, and the positions I take. I’m also going to fight it with my pocketbook. This month at MochaManual.com we’re donating 50 percent of all our sale proceeds to the March of Dimes to further their research to help all of us have healthier babies. If you want to help me help us, click here to shop our line of maternity and new Dad tees, baby Onesies, gift baskets, and Mocha Manual books to help a worthy cause or just make your own donation to the March of Dimes.

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PregnancyWeekly.com