Posts Tagged ‘Parenting tips’

Ergonomics for Moms: Babywearing

Article & Photo courtesy of Well Rounded NY.

Dr. Gia Fruscione of DVLR Maternity shares 3 tips for supporting you and your little one while babywearing.

Babywearing has become an instinctive parenting style over the years as it allows a busy parent the freedom to continue a hands-free, daily routine while providing the child with a rich environment. While it’s great to have your baby snuggled up close to you, ergonomics is something every parent needs to consider when carrying a baby in a sling or another form of carrier.

Once you find a carrier, wrap, or sling to best suit your everyday needs (and figure out how to put it on – thank you, YouTube), the next step is to make sure you and your little one are positioned properly. Here are a few tips to help ensure that your baby is correctly positioned in the baby carrier to best support your body:

Be Aware of How You Lift your Little One: It is important to use proper body mechanics to lift your child, especially as your child gets bigger. Good lifting mechanics require you to bend at your knees (not your back) and keep the weight as close to you as possible. For example, think about lifting a gallon of milk off the floor (about 8.5 pounds) – which would be easier? Lifting while keeping your arms out straight as you stand up or bringing the gallon of milk to your chest before standing up? The closer you bring the weight to your body, the better!

Keep it Symmetric: It’s not always possible to carry your little one in the middle-region of your body, especially if you’re trying to multi-task. I commonly catch myself with my daughter on my left hip so my right arm is free. Whether you have a newborn in a sling or your two year-old on your hip, make sure you share the love between the left and right side. It’s important to keep your body balanced, and split the load between the sides over time (hips when carrying – shoulders when wearing), and it’s also very important for baby. If you’re wearing a sling or wrap, make sure to change the direction your baby is facing (head turned left or right), so they are not consistently in one position.

Disperse the Load: If you continue to use a wrap or carrier as your child gets bigger, it’s extremely important to make sure you’re carrying the load correctly. First, make sure that your child is centered correctly in the carrier and securely tightened to you – not only for baby’s safety, but also because the closer you carry the load to your body, the less strain it will have on you (similar to the first point above). Also, try to spread the load across as much of your body as possible. Carriers with waist straps in addition to shoulder straps are going to disperse weight better, and make it safer and easier for you to carry your growing bundle!

This article is by Dr. Gia Fruscione courtesy of Well Rounded NY. Conceived with love by former magazine editors Jessica Pallay and Kaity Velez, Well Rounded NY aims to be the singular pregnancy resource for city-savvy moms-to-be. Through reviews, profiles, expert Q&As, local guides and more, Well Rounded curates the New York City pregnancy and helps its readers come to terms – and term! – with pregnancy in the city.

Work From Home Parenting Tips

Work From Home Parenting Tips

Article courtesy of Well Rounded NY

6 of our favorite enterprising mamas give us their sage advice on working from home. Working from home when baby arrives may sound like the dream (and it may be), but between feedings, diaper changes, figuring out nap schedules and just straight-up parenting, it takes time to ease into a steady balance of working and mom’ing.

Check out these insider secrets from 6 of our favorite work-from-home mamas:

Nicole Gonzalez (founder of Lillies & Leon): Working from home is no easy task. It’s so easy to get distracted with life. Babies, dishes, lunch time… while I can’t say I have found the perfect balance (it’s a myth people! ;) I have found that setting aside specific time frames as well as having a “workspace” helps. We live in a small NYC apartment so creating an office is not an option. When the weather is nice I pop Lucas in his stroller and by the time we get to Starbucks (the extra two block walk to the one with outdoor seating is totally worth it!) he’s snoozing. I can get about 2 solid hours of work done and drink a latte in peace. When the weather isn’t great or it’s just one of those days where getting out of the house isn’t an option, I always try to set my laptop up at the dining room table or our small parsons desk - basically anywhere but the couch. I find it makes a huge difference in how productive I am during those short bursts of work time.

Jahje Ives (founder of Baby Jives): You have to decide what you are willing to give up both in your business and your personal life in order to achieve balance. Right now while my kids are young I am not willing to give up more than a few hours during the day with them because I started my business so I could stay home with them and experience this part of their life. So I have help a few hours a day when I can work without the distraction of kids and then I switch back into mom until I can work again after they go to sleep. It’s not an ideal schedule but it’s the one I choose right now and I know it won’t last forever.

Fleur Louise (co-founder of The Artful Bachelorette): I’m a Mama to two boys: Clark 2.5 years and August 6 months. I run The Artful Bachelorette from my ‘home office’ AKA: bed, bath and kitchen. I try and get all of my urgent work done between 7am-2pm while my eldest is at daycare. Trying to be organized and getting shit done while you have help is key. In the morning I usually do some cooking, cleaning, breast feeding with my little one, emailing, calls and most enjoyably eating, mostly all at once. It is all about multitasking.

Lindsay Meyer-Harley (founder of Darling Clementine): It’s not easy, but can be done. You’ve gotta be willing to work in short spurts, 10 minutes here, an hour there. You’ve got to get in the mentality of having a lot of projects open at once, that you work on here and there as you are able to, otherwise you’re in for a stressful day.

Raluca State (founder of Raluca State PR and What Would Gwyneth Do): Don’t try to multitask the personal and the professional. When it’s time to work, make sure your kids are out of the house or have childcare that can keep them occupied. When it’s time to mom, shut down the computer and close the office door (try your best to get an office door, if you can). Both areas will suffer if you’re trying to juggle them all at once. Don’t work in pajamas. You will be far more productive if you treat

Junia Montano (content manager & submissions editor at 100 Layer Cake): When I returned from maternity leave, I eased my way back into full time work, from my home office. The first couple of months were actually doable, because your baby sleeps for huge chunks at a time. Sadly, that fooled me into thinking that I had this all under control and could keep working full time from home indefinitely. After about 3 months, nap time became more of a game to see when she’d actually take them.

This article is by Kaity Velez courtesy of Well Rounded NY. Conceived with love by former magazine editors Jessica Pallay and Kaity Velez, Well Rounded NY aims to be the singular pregnancy resource for city-savvy moms-to-be. Through reviews, profiles, expert Q&As, local guides and more, Well Rounded curates the New York City pregnancy and helps its readers come to terms – and term! – with pregnancy in the city.

Fatherly: A Website For Guys Who Happen To Be Dads

Fatherly

Nine Naturals loves moms and moms-to-be, but that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about all the dads out there. In celebration of the upcoming Father’s Day, we are excited to share a wonderful new website that you are going to love introducing to the dads in your life: Fatherly.

Co-founders Michael Rothman and Simon Isaacs created Fatherly when they realized that, while there was an abundance of parenting content for moms, there was no specific material geared towards expectant dads! And so Fatherly, a parenting resource geared towards guys-who-happen-to-be-dads, was born. Guy-approved topics range from evidence-based relationship insights, parenting “hacks” for making Dad’s life easier as well as more light-hearted dispatches from around the web. Fatherly is committed to making the parenting process easier, whether it’s offering a spot-on recommendation or a shameless laugh to help dads focus on spending more quality time with their kid and less time freaking out.

So, why would Dads love Fatherly? Because of entertaining, but also helpful, articles like this:

1) Wearable Tech is Coming For Your Kids: Perfect for the tech loving dad - six wearable pieces of tech to keep track, in every sense of the word, of your kids, from monitoring your baby’s breathing and sleep quality to keeping tabs on your toddler’s movement.

2) Hypnotize A Screaming Baby in Five Seconds: Find the perfect distraction to calm your screaming baby and give your ears some blissful peace. Guess what song and artist soothes this particular baby?

3) Baby Sitting + Weight Lifting = This: Newborn baby keeping Dad away from the gym? Keep in shape with tools found around the house. Replicate with caution (and, perhaps, consult with your significant other first).

4) Great Moments In Pro Sports Paternity Leave: Babies + sports = all of dad’s favorite topics in one article.

5) Get Kids To Bend To Your Will With This Simple Grammar Trick: Remember to ask them “to be or not to be” rather than “to do or not to do.”

Pass along to all the dads in your life and don’t forget to sign up for the Fatherly Newsletter!

New Mom Myths

New Mom Myths

Article & Photo Courtesy of Well Rounded NY.

Throughout your pregnancy, you are likely to hear friends, family and even strangers imparting their opinions and projections about your unborn child: “Get your sleep while you can!”, “You’re carrying low – you’re having a boy!” By the end of the nine months, you’re exhausted and freaked out. Once the baby arrives, this only intensifies with more people divulging more unsolicited advice. Here are some myths that you’re likely to come across as an expectant or new mom. You’ll be pleasantly surprised that they’re exactly that…myths.

Myth: “Your baby should be sleeping through the night by 3 months old.”
Myth Perpetrator: The Mom in the Park with the Good Sleeper
“Sleeping through the night” is an antiquated notion that if a parent does x, y and z, their baby will sleep the standard 6-8 hours straight at night almost immediately. A lucky few are blessed with a baby that just sleeps well, but many babies wake frequently to feed during those first few months. What determines a baby sleeping through the night is…the baby. You can do everything right, have them on an air tight schedule, observe their every feed, time every nap, sleep train, but it may not work. Even if they do sleep long stretches, this can be interrupted later on with teething, illness, growth, milestones, or changes in season. It may seem like you will never sleep again, but you will. Don’t believe the hype: you are not doing anything wrong and there is nothing wrong with your baby. Sleeping through the night is a developmental milestone that will happen when the baby is ready.

Myth: “Breastfeeding is a breeze…”
Myth Perpetrator: Attachment Mom who Doesn’t Own a Bottle
Breastfeeding might be the most natural thing in the world, but easy it is not. It takes getting used to for both mom and baby. The first six weeks are incredibly emotional, physically taxing, and at times, painful. It is not something that just magically happens on its own. Many moms need the help of lactation consultants to make it work and many quit out of frustration, but in most cases, if you can stick it out in the beginning, it becomes second nature. As baby grows, feedings become less frequent and nursing sessions are faster. Pumping allows you to leave the baby, giving you some of your freedom back. And if you find it isn’t for you, formula feeding is always an option.

Myth: “Babies need constant stimulation.”
Myth Perpetrator: The Super Mom
Babies are pretty simple creatures: they eat, they sleep, they poop. In New York City, however, there is this ideal that a baby should be constantly stimulated and entertained when they are not doing these three activities. Because there are hundreds of mommy-and-me classes starting at “0 months,” some moms feel pressured into enrolling kids in classes even before they are born! Classes are great, but they are neither a necessity for young babies, nor do they mold them into baby geniuses or line them up to go to Yale. Cuddling, playing, taking walks, and going to the park is sufficient stimulation for the first year. When babies become more mobile, can sit up, crawl, etc. then maybe it might be a good idea, but the concept that babies are molded into Van Goghs and Einsteins at 3 weeks old is a farce. It’s exciting to take your baby to their first class and it gets you out of the house, but it certainly is not a requirement in the early months.

Myth: “You can’t get anything done with a newborn!”
Myth Perpetrator: The Overwhelmed Mom
This is a big one. Yes, having a new baby is time consuming, but what babies do most is sleep! What does this mean for new moms? Some say, “Sleep when the baby sleeps.” This is a nice thought and will get you some much needed rest, but it will also leave you housebound and swamped with things to do. Try to start every day with a reasonable to-do list: whether it is running errands, taking a walk in the fresh air, or seeing a friend. Plan your tasks around baby’s naps. If you have a stroller that encourages napping by reclining, baby should be able to sleep while you do things for yourself. They can be fed and changed on the go at this age, so get out of the house!

Myth: “You’re not experiencing motherhood if you’re a full-time working mom.”
Myth Perpetrator: The Judgmental Stay-at-Home Mom
The reality is: some of us do not have the financial luxury of staying home (which, don’t get me wrong, is truly just as much of a job). If you must return to work, or choose to, that does not diminish the mother that you are, nor does it mean you are neglecting your baby. Regardless of the hours you work, the time you spend with your baby is about quality, not quantity. Make every story, bath time, and feeding special by disconnecting from your work world and reestablishing the bond with your baby. Babies instinctually know who their moms are. It takes some getting used to (and a good amount of mom guilt), but you and your baby will adjust to the time apart. Leaving is hard, but the smiles you get when you come through the door are well worth it.

I hope these myths motivate you to be the kind of mom you choose to be: the way you elect to parent your baby, feed your baby, structure his/her day – it is all up to you and no one else.

This article is by Lauren Deneroff courtesy of Well Rounded NY. Conceived with love by former magazine editors Jessica Pallay and Kaity Velez, Well Rounded NY aims to be the singular pregnancy resource for city-savvy moms-to-be. Through reviews, profiles, expert Q&As, local guides and more, Well Rounded curates the New York City pregnancy and helps its readers come to terms – and term! – with pregnancy in the city.