Summertime safety for babies

Every new parent enters their first summer season with a certain amount of reservation. With so many things to be wary of, combined with the natural anxiety of being a new parent, it can be challenging to be confident about one's capabilities. As any parent will tell you, a certain amount of trial-and-error will come into play. On the other hand, a little bit of common sense will go a long way too.

While it is natural to want to keep your babies skin covered, parents must be careful not to overdress the little one. Yes, it is good idea to keep baby's skin protected from the sun. Just be sure that your baby is not overdressed. Try to use clothing that is made from light cotton or linen, and always be sure to cover the wee one's head with a great, big hat.

It is next-to-impossible to completely avoid the sun in the summer months. Many parents opt to keep their children out of the sun, as opposed to using sunscreen and letting them roam free. This is a very thoughtful approach, but not always practical. Be sure to use a high quality sunscreen, with an SPF rating no lower than 30, when you are in the sun with baby. And don't forget that the little one will need sunscreen when in the pool, too!

Insects are another consideration, especially those pesky mosquitoes! In the past they were more of an annoyance than a health concern, but in recent times there are some valid concerns regarding West Nile Virus. Aside from the standard mosquito prevention techniques advised by the public health authorities, there are a few alternatives available. As a parent, I would not feel comfortable applying DEET to may baby's skin. DEET is an extremely poisonous and toxic chemical designed for the military, not for babies. Try using scented oil such as tea tree oil or rosemary. These are safe, natural alternatives. If you are going to be spending time in the wilderness, make sure baby is wearing light clothing that leaves very little skin exposed.

If your little one is old enough to ride a tricycle, be sure that you have a good quality helmet for him or her to wear. Every year, hundreds of children are rushed to the hospital for easily avoidable injuries. Play it safe, and make sure your child always wears a helmet when playing with any moving toy with wheels. For smaller children that are just learning to walk, why not consider using a baby harness? This way, you can let your child run free without having to worry about scrapes and bruises! Have a great summer, and play safe.

Baby shower invitation help what to write

Baby shower planning is a very big ordeal. You have all things prepared: food, fun, games, and the program. But wait, you forgot something critical. The party invitation! You basically forgot something really important when holding a party. What good is a party if there are no guests?

Creating party invitations may take some time if are choosy with words. Selecting the best wordings for the invitation is imperative as this sets the tone of the party. If the party’s theme is casual, you definitely can relay that in the invitation. Knowing which theme party you want can be used as guidelines in picking out the right words for your invitation. Fun themes like teddy bear and balloon party requires humorous and informal wordings.

You can make use of poems, famous quotes, or you can create your own too. There are several websites that offer sample wordings you can adapt for your invitation. Make a quick search and pick the catchiest wordings that you can emulate in your invitations. It can either be a general one or gender specific. Just be sure that you know ahead of time what gender the baby has.

Using baby rhymes would be a superb idea in your baby invitation. Placing the names of the expecting parents will give the invitation a personal touch. You can also put in song lyrics that are popular with kids and even nursery rhymes. Famous kiddie rhymes like Humpty Dumpty, Baa Baa Black sheep and Hickory, Dickory, Dock can add spice to your invitation too.

The main things that your baby shower invitation should include are the name of the guest of honor, the date, time, and where it will be held. If the venue for the party is quite unfamiliar to the guests, make a simple sketch to guide them to the right place. These key information are needed, and make sure that they are printed big and clear.

Don’t forget to place in the invitation whether the event will be a surprise or not. If the party is going to be a surprise, your guest should be informed to keep it secret. You would not want any guest sending in advanced gifts for the party and spoil the plan.

Another important thing to place on the invitation is the RSVP or Regrets only note. Don’t forget to place your phone number in there too of course, as guests likely will contact you their response as you requested them to.

You might want to add a registry list or the gifts you wanted your guests to bring. This is very practical if you don’t want to end up having three or four strollers which you may not use. Guests would love it if their gifts would be appreciated and would not end up just being set aside.

As important as the wordings, the presentation of the invitation speaks too. Follow the theme if you have one. If you select angels, place cute pictures of these on the invitation cover for the desired effect. If you don’t necessarily have a theme, then just select pictures that relates to a baby. Colors are important too. Use blue for boys and pink for girls. Invitations are there to create impression and entice your guests to come in this very special day. So unleash your creativity, get that pen and have fun writing.

Don t forget to plan some baby shower games when you plan or host a baby shower

Sometimes baby showers are hosted before the baby is born and sometimes after. Either way most baby showers have at least one thing in common, baby shower games.

When you host a baby shower it is fun to have games to play as entertainment as well as to break the ice. You may have guests that don't know each other as well as several different age generations in attendance.

I like to have different types of games when I host a baby shower so the same guest isn't always the winner. I also like to find games that require little preparation or expense. Here are a few free baby shower games you are free to use when you plan or host a baby shower.

1. One game you might want to play is to see who can name the most nursery rhymes. Give your guests a few minutes to write them down and see who thought of the most. Beforehand you can prepare a list to compare to if you want. Plus if your baby shower guests appear stumped you can name a few to get them started on the right track.

2. A word scramble is also a good type of game to have. You can scramble up some baby words and print them out on a piece of paper and let the guest unscramble them. You could also give your baby shower guests a blank sheet of paper and have them write a phrase such as Jill's new baby, or the new baby's full name and have them see how many words they can find in the letters.

3. If you want to liven things up a bit give every guest a piece of paper with a baby related word on it and tell them not to show it to anyone. When everyone has arrived explain to them that every time they hear their word they should cough and say excuse me within 5 seconds. The other guests then can each make one guess as to the word. You can give prizes to whoever guesses the most right as well as to whoever stumps the other shower guests the longest.

Basically just try to find a variety of baby shower games that everyone will enjoy playing and have a great time celebrating the blessing of a new baby.

Baby crib advice and tips

Congratulations! You have just learned that you are having a baby. Whether this is your first or not you need to look at cribs. Do you have one already? Is it an antique? A second hand crib whether antique or not needs to be carefully looked at. This is for the safety of your new baby.

The screws, bolts, and/or other fasteners should all be in place. Are they loose? Will the position of the mattress hold under your baby's weight? It is imperative that this be tested before you put your baby in the crib. Take something that approximates the weight of your baby at about 4 months old. Bounce it off the mattress to be certain it will hold its position. If it doesn't it could cause serious injury to your baby or worse.

When setting up the nursery (if it isn't already up) consider very carefully where you will place the crib. If you place the crib near a window and you have Venetian blinds, either shorten the cords or anchor them somewhere that your baby can't reach and get a hold of them. If it all possible avoid placing the crib near the window. As your baby grows into a toddler and s/he attempts to climb out of the crib; s/he could possibly fall which could cause serious injury to your baby.

Blankets and your baby are not necessarily a good mix. With the incidents of SIDS today, you want to be sure to do everything that could possibly put your infant at risk. It is more advisable to put your baby to bed in a sleeper. If you absolutely have to have a blanket on the baby, tuck it tightly around and under the foot of the mattress with your baby's feet touching the footboard. Also you don't want to put the blanket any higher on the baby than up to his chest as that will help prevent him from slipping under the blankets and suffocating.

Bumper pads are a great concept but unless they are secured properly, there is a risk of your baby slipping between the mattress and the bumpers and possibly suffocating. If you use them they should be anchored in at least eight places one at each corner of the crib and at least two spaced evenly on each of the sides. There should be a total of 16 ties in all, for the top and bottom.

Mobiles are a nice addition and look adorable but... the caution here is that if you use a mobile as soon as your baby starts to sit up on his own the mobile should be taken down to prevent your baby from getting tangled in it. Also make sure that it has no small removable parts that your baby could choke on.

If your crib is second hand no matter whether you had for a previous child or you got it from someone else check out the mattress carefully. Make sure there are no cracks or holes in the mattress covering. Make sure too that the mattress properly fits in the crib. Here again, your child could slip between the mattress and the sidebars or the end boards and suffocate. The mattress should fit snugly in the crib. Now the sheets you use in your baby's crib should also fit properly and not slip and slide. Sheet anchors are available that hook on the sheet under the mattress and keep it in place.

The position of the mattress is imperative for your child's safety. Most parents put the mattress at the highest position when the baby first comes home because it is so much easier to change him in that position. As your baby becomes more active you will want to lower the mattress accordingly. Once your baby is able to pull up to a standing position put the mattress in the lowest possible position and to be sure your baby is safe, measure the distance between the top of the side bar and the mattress. In the lowest position the distance of the top of the side bar should be no more than 26 inches above the mattress. If your child's head is over the side bar or they climb out of the crib, it maybe time to move your child to a regular bed. Some cribs are convertible into beds tat will grow with your child.

The crib itself should be looked over for things that might put your baby at risk. Have you seen those cribs that have ornate designs carved into the end boards? They are beautiful but they pose a danger to your child. Your child could get his head or arm and leg caught and sustain an injury. The simpler the design of the crib the safer your child may be.

Since approximately 1974 federal safety guidelines for cribs state that the slats should be no more than 2 3/8 inches apart. This is to prevent your baby from getting his head stuck between the slats. This could cause injury to your baby but it would necessitate the removal of some of the slats and that alone would compromise your baby's safety.