Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Some Tips for Working and Breastfeeding from Dr. Sears

Enjoy nighttime nursing
Breastfed babies who are away from their mothers during the day often nurse more frequently at night. After mother returns to work, some babies reverse their daily patterns by sleeping more and feeding less during the day and then clustering their feedings during the night.

This is actually a good thing, and mothers who succeed at combining breastfeeding and working recognize this and even welcome it. They bring their babies into their bed so that they can nurse at night without waking up completely, and they treasure this extra opportunity for closeness. (Working fathers like it, too.) In fact, many mothers report that they sleep better with their babies next to them, even if that means baby nurses through the night. Breastfeeding helps mothers unwind, relax, and sleep better, just as it helps babies feel calm and comforted. Also, a long feeding in bed in the early morning, just before it's time to get up, will help baby sleep, or at least be content, while you get ready for work.


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Take care of yourself.
Faced with the demands of a job and a baby, you may find you can accomplish little else beyond doing your job and taking care of your little one. This is a completely realistic expectation. The one thing you should not neglect is taking care of yourself. Fortunately, breastfeeding can help you do this

When you get home from work, head for the bedroom and nurse while you rest lying down. If you and baby can take a short nap, the whole family will have a more pleasant evening. Have a quick and nutritious snack, so that there's no pressure to start dinner right away, and enjoy being with your baby. If you have an older child, include her in this reunion.

»see more nursing sleep wear

From Ask.DrSears.com > 20 Tips for Working and Breastfeeding

Monday, June 28, 2010

July 8th - Party at Pump Station Hollywood, 5th Anniversary - Food & Prizes

Come & Party to Celebrate The Pump Station & Nurtury™ Hollywood’s 5th Anniversary!

Thursday, July 8, 2010 from 5:00pm-8:00pm
1248 Vine Street, Hollywood, CA 90038
Directions

Fun, Food and Great Prizes!Come and celebrate with us and start off our 14 days of fun!

Customer Appreciation
In celebration of 5 great years in Hollywood, we want to offer all of our Pump Station Families who spend more than $500 in any of our stores a 5% off family card for all your purchases for the rest of the year! *
*5% off good in store only until Dec 31, 2010!
*$500 purchases before taxes
*Pumps, rentals and consultations do not apply
*Website purchases do not apply
*For more details check in with one of our stores or call:

Santa Monica: 310-998-1981
Hollywood: 323-469-5300
Westlake Village: 805-777-7179
And Don't Miss Our Weekly Specials!
Items Below 20% OFF through July 4th.


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»see more

www.PumpStation.com

Monday, June 21, 2010

Offering a Breastfed Baby a Bottle

One of the many concerns facing a new mother is whether to feed her new infant from the breast or the bottle. Many women are choosing to breastfeed, but with busy and demanding lifestyles they often find it necessary for their babies to accept a bottle (hopefully filled with breastmilk). Occasionally a breastfed baby balks at accepting an artificial nipple for feeding. Below are suggestions but, none of these are necessarily an absolute 'fix'. It will require practice and patience for several weeks.

When to Start
  • Two helpful markers are that the mother's milk supply is well established and breastfeeding is going well. We suggest starting at two to four weeks of age since an older baby may strongly refuse the bottle.
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Born Free Bottle 9oz
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Born Free Glass Bottle
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The Approach
  • It can be helpful to have someone other than the mother offer a breastfed baby a bottle. Mothers may want to step out of the room, or leave the house during the bottle-feeding. Again these are suggestions, the mother may have better luck.

  • Have the father/caregiver mimic the nursing mother's feeding ritual and practice respect for the baby's newly learned breastfeeding cues.

  • If the baby resists being cuddled, have the father/caregiver hold the baby with his or her back against their chest with the baby facing out. Looking out into the room provides a distraction, which may be helpful.

  • As a last resort, the father/caregiver can try feeding the baby seated in an infant seat.

  • Try short, frequent trials until the baby takes the artificial nipple without difficulty. It's better to try several short trials than to have a major bout of screaming.

  • Instruct the father/caregiver to give the baby a bottle after a nap, before the baby is fully awake, or before the baby is overly hungry. The more mellow the baby, the greater the possibility of accepting something new. Try feeding before your baby is too hungry and after naps.

  • Don't let the father always be the "bad guy."

For more complete information, helpful tips, and proper feeding expectations read the full article Offering a Breastfed Baby a Bottle from the Pump Station


Thanks to Susan OTT, RPT. CLC, Janet Jondron (excerpted from Rental Roundup), Carol Follingstad, RN, MPH , CLC, and Cynthia Epps, MS, CLE for their suggestions.

This article has not been prepared by a physician, is not intended as medical advice, and is not a substitute for regular medical care. Consult with a physician if medical symptoms or problems occur. Copyright © 2001 by The Pump Station. All rights reserved. No part of this handout may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means. Electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, without permission in writing from The Pump Station.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Nurturing Fathers (Tips for Dad)

Ideas for Becoming a Happier and More Involved Father, from Chen Z. Oren, Ph.D

As a psychologist, I see many dads who take pride in and also struggle with being a father. In honor of Father's Day, I have some ideas for becoming a happier, more involved father.


Fathers have always had an important role in the family, but the demands on fathers have exploded over the last generation or two. From a father's role being limited to income earner, fathers are now expected not only to provide, but also to be nurturing and supportive of their partners and children, involved in their children's school and sports, good role models, caretakers, and so on. A unique situation is created with this shift in expectations and fathers can feel a little frustrated as they juggle different roles without much training. Boys are generally taught from a very young age to be tough, competitive, and not show feelings (and definitely don't cry). What background do most men have to be good fathers? How do they learn to nurture? When you ask fathers, a majority say they did not have good role models. Almost 2/3 report that they can not use anything from how they were fathered.


I have found that most men welcome some coaching about being a dad. Here are some tips:


1) Recognize the positive benefits of being involved, not only for the kids and partner, but for you.
While it is true that children with involved fathers are more confident and do better in school, being an integral part of your family leads to a better you. Good fathers engage in less risky behaviors - I had a father decide to quit smoking so he could be around to walk his daughter down the aisle. Involved fathers take better care of themselves - get that pain checked out or stop putting off going to the dentist. When you are involved with your family, you are likely to be more physically active and happier too.

2) Ask for help and support from your partner.
Ask your partner to recognize your efforts of being involved. Allow yourself to ask how to do things you are not sure of. Ask to be respected when you try new things with your children. Fathers who feel supported are more involved with their kids and are more confident in their parenting.

3) See yourself as important to the next generation.
How do you want your children to think about you today and in the future? What do you want them to say about you as their father? What do you want them to learn from you? What will your legacy be? Allow your answers to guide your daily interactions with your family.

I've never heard clients say that their father tried too hard to be part of the family, and no man has expressed to me that he wished he was not close to his children. Focus on what you do well and bring your strengths and passions home for your kids, for your partner, and for yourself.


Happy Father's Day

» SEE MORE Father's Day Gifts (don't forget grandpa)

If you are in the Westlake Village, CA area call our store Dr. Oren's Father Talk Class








Chen Z. Oren, Ph.D., licensed psychologist and professor in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program, Phillips Graduate Institute, Encino, California. His main area of expertise is the psychology of men. Dr. Oren is a counseling psychologist with a private practice in Westlake Village, California. He works with a men, women, and couples, and facilitates a men's group. He is an active member of APA's Division 51, the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity, and currently serves as the division treasurer. With his wife, Dora Chase Oren, Ph.D., he co-edited Counseling Fathers (Routledge), a book that bridges the gap between fathers and professional helpers. He has presented symposia and workshops at local and national conferences in the area of fathering.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Mindful Mothering: How to Create a Joyful and Compassionate Home for Your Child

By Jill Campbell, Psy.D.

Often as moms we end up getting a lot of unsolicited advice. This advice, although well intended, might conflict with our own instincts and intuition. I believe that as mothers, trusting our intuit has become an increasingly difficult thing to do. There is a lot of pressure today to be the “perfect” mom. We have this unrealistic image in our heads of this woman who always knows exactly what to say, what do to, who perfectly organizes and manages every detail of her family's life. In trying to live up to this idealized image in our heads, we often begin to lose who we truly are. The reality, however, is that not only should we let go of the goal of perfectionism, but according to renowned author and professor, Jon Kabat-Zinn, “perfect is simply not relevant." He states that “what is important is that we be authentic, and that we honor our children and ourselves as best we can. Being present, paying attention, being true to yourself .” I believe that, if we let it, motherhood can become a spiritual journey. It is a practice that teaches and inspires us to look inward, and grow as individuals. Parenting mindfully means parenting consciously and with awareness of what the present moment requires. Mindful parenting helps us to be present and attuned to our child's inner world. In order to do this we need to become calm, balanced, and consistent with ourselves. One of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child is their full attention and validation.

Two wonderful books that I highly recommend on this subject are Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting by Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Buddhism for Mothers: A Calm Approach to Caring for Yourself and Your Children by Sarah Napthali. Both books do a superb job of showing us how to really enjoy and embrace ourselves in the process of parenting, and how to see our children for who they really are. In Everyday Blessings, Kabat-Zinn tells us to try to imagine the world from your child's point of view, purposefully letting go of your own. He asks us to do this for a few minutes everyday to remind ourselves who this child is and what he or she faces in the world. It is really such a simple exercise, but extremely powerful at the same time. It instantly evokes empathy and understanding which takes us out of our own heads, and brings us right back to the present moment. It helps us to see the difference between our expectations of our children, and who they really are. In Buddhism for Mothers, Sarah Napthali teaches us how to be aware of any tension building up in our bodies, and how to consciously release it. An exercise that can take just a moment to do, but completely centers and energizes us. It is from this place that we can begin to trust our instincts and intuition. It is from this place that all you need to parent lovingly and successfully comes to you.

I am very excited to announce that I will be leading an experiential workshop on Mindful Mothering at The Pump Station. This workshop will teach powerful tools and techniques on how to be present and centered, thus creating an environment in which you can take better care of yourself and your family.

Come to our new

Sizzling Hot Topic Lecture

Mindful Mothering: How to Create a Joyful and Compassionate Home for Your Child

Hollywood: Wednesday, June 23,

7:30pm-9:00pm

Westlake Village: Wednesday, June 30,

7:30pm-9:00pm

Santa Monica: Wednesday, July 28,

6:30pm-8:00pm

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Come create a unique and priceless keepsake of your newborn or child's hand/foot for yourself, your spouse or the grandparents!

Precious Prints will be at the Pump Station in Santa Monica this Saturday, June 12th from 1:30 pm-4:30 pm

The clay used is non-toxic and completely safe for children of all ages. Precious Prints offers over 40 designs.

Check out the website at www.clayprints.com for a sneak preview. Appointments are preferred but walk-ins are always welcome.

Call Kristan today at (310)802-8013 to create your keepsake!

Seeking your help, Need Cord Blood Donation

My apologies if you’ve already received this messaging from another source but I’m writing to ask your help please to spread the message to your constituencies (yes, that means students, alumni, faculty, friends, family, OBGYNs or other healthcare providers you know, whoever will listen) about our very time-sensitive search to help save the life of a Yale student, Mandi Schwartz (no relation).

Mandi has leukemia and, in short, needs a stem cell transplant from an umbilical cord donation.

We have 60 days to find a woman of German/ Russian/ Ukranian descent (or any combination thereof), anywhere in the world, who is willing to donate her umbilical cord blood after delivery.

We actually need to find 200 women because the doctor (Dr. Tedd Collins is the lead doctor on this search) needs that many in order to have a decent chance of finding two donors who match sufficiently close.

200 women, 60 days, it’s a big world with lots of babies expected. I’m calling on you shamelessly and obnoxiously (as Dr. Collins says, “you can apologize later”) to use your communications avenues to spread the word-both through your professional and personal circles.

Expectant parents can learn more at becomemandishero.org.
The donation process is free, non-intrusive to mother and child, and can save either Mandi’s life or someone else’s (if the expectant couple signs up and it turns out they are not a match for Mandi, they may very well be a match for someone else).

My goal is to be able to look her parents in the eye and be able to tell them I did everything in my power to help, regardless of the outcome.

Thanks truly for anything you’re able to do.

With my gratitude,

Stephanie Schwartz

HELP US SAVE A LIFE:
LOOKING FOR EXPECTANT MOTHERS DUE JUNE OR JULY: becomemandishero.org

Monday, June 7, 2010

Join us at any Pump Station Locations for Anni Daulter's Book Signing, Author of Organically Raised: Conscious Cooking for Babies and Toddlers

Come to this Book Signing and Meet with . . .

Anni Daulter, MSW, Author of Organically Raised

Anni is an eco-mama, cook, advocate of sustainable living and author. Anni was the founder of a fresh organic baby food company, Bohemian Baby and recently launched her new site Conscious Family Living. Anni sees the aesthetic beauty in creating a more natural backdrop to life and wants to help families tune into more connection with each other, while supporting greening up mother earth.

With knowledge and passion about child well being combined with love of healthy but tasty cooking, Anni wrote her first book called, Organically Raised: Conscious Cooking for Babies & Toddlers (Rodale, May 2010). Anni has two other projects in development called Popsicle Craze (Sellers, 2011) & The Organic Family Cookbook (Sellers , Fall 2011).

Anni has been a guest speaker in the kitchen at Baby Celebration, The Pump Station™, several LA moms groups and has written for LA Parents and Orange County Parents and is the resident baby/toddler food expert for Hot Moms Club, City Mommy, Citibabes NY & Mindful Mama.

Anni lives in Los Angeles with her family. She has one son, Zoë (12) and Tim & Anni have one daughter together Lotus Sunshine (5) a little boy, Bodhi (3), and baby, River Love.

Join us for this book signing and some Q & A!
•Ask questions about feeding your baby
•Ask about solid foods and more...
•Try samples of Anni’s recipes
•One lucky mama will win a nice goodie bag!

Join us at any of our 3 locations!




For more info on Anni Daulter visit

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Save The Date!


Come & Party to Celebrate
The Pump Station
& Nurtury™ Hollywood’s
5th Anniversary!


Fun, Food & Great Prizes!

For more information please call
323-469-5300

Friday, June 4, 2010

McDonald's Recall Of Shrek Glasses Started With Tipster

by SCOTT HENSLEY

How did the Consumer Products Safety Commission find out that cadmium, a toxic metal, was present on millions of Shrek drinking glasses now being recalled by McDonald's?

Well, an anonymous person with access to some pretty slick testing equipment tipped off Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) about the problem.

Her office confirmed that somebody using a Thermo Electron Niton XRF testing gun found a lot of cadmium, sometimes used in yellow pigments, on the surface of the glasses. The source overnighted glasses to Speier's office last week, which then turned over the test results and specimens to the CPSC.

The CPSC was nice enough to acknowledge Speier's help in a footnote to the release about the burger chain's recall of the Shrek Forever After glasses being sold at its U.S restaurants.

By law, no more than 75 parts per million of cadmium is supposed to be present in paint on kids toys. Speier's office said the amount found on the glasses was quite a bit higher than that. She's pushing legislation that would apply the toy standard to all sorts of products used by kids.

She also wants heavy metals, including cadmium, banned from children's jewelry. The cadmium levels on the glasses, by the way, was less than those found in children's jewelry that was previously recalled, the CPSC said.

The CPSC confirmed the results passed along by Speier and then told McDonald's about the findings. The burger chain is recalling all 12 million of the glasses as a "precautionary measure" and told consumers not to use them anymore. Refund information will be available starting June 8.

McDonald's said a third-party lab found the glasses to comply "with all applicable federal and state requirements at the time of manufacture and distribution." But the company acknowledged CPSC's views on what level of cadmium is acceptable are in flux, so McDonald's pulled the glasses out of an "abundance of caution."

What, you might ask, is this XRF stuff anyway? Well, it stands for X-ray fluorescence. The tipster "fired" a beam of X-rays from a testing gun at the glasses. That beam caused the cadmium to glow with a characteristic wavelength of light that identified the metal and how much was present.

Turns out the CPSC uses just these sorts of guns, too, when testing products in the field for lead and other toxic metals. (If you're really, really interested in that, see this video press release from CPSC.) And the gizmos even have their own blog here.

Finally, heavy metals, including cadmium, are also showing up in drinks that are supposed to be good for you. Earlier this week,we wrote about metals in protein drinks popular with people trying to bulk up their muscles.

Update: We just found some more details about the cadmium testing from The Smart Mama blog run by Jennifer Taggart. She was one of the people who submitted testing data to the CPSC, she says in this post. She got several readings of more than 1,000 ppm cadmium on her XRF gun.

Second update: Taggart confirmed in an e-mail to Shots that she was one of two tipsters. The other one, she said, wishes to remain anonymous.

www.npr.org, McDonald's Recall Of Shrek Glasses Started With Tipster, June 4, 2010

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/06/04/127474049/mcdonald-s-recall-of-shrek-cups-started-with-tipster

******************************************************

Jennifer Taggart is a frequent Lecturer at the Pump Station & Nurtury™. She lead our “Navigating in a Toxic World: How to Steer Clear of Toxic Baby Toys and More" Hot Topics Lecture Today.

She is lecturing next:

August 13- The Pump Station-Santa Monica, 310-998-1981

August 20- The Pump Station-Hollywood, 323-469-5300

August 27- The Pump Station-Westlake Village, 805-777-7179