Child Proofing Check List

Child Proof Basics
from Babble

Childproofing your home is an important part of keeping your kids safe. Unfortunately, with each new stage of your child's development, new dangers arise on the home front that you have to guard against. It's important to childproof each room of your house for each stage of your child's growth (see below). Your home can be a safe and healthy place for your child, but many dangers are easily overlooked.

Quick Tips from the Experts

• Give your house a "crawl test" to check for unseen dangers.
  
• Don’t call medicine "candy."
  
• Always have the number for Poison Control handy
  
• Keep your children from seeing you unlock doors and drawers or open safety latches. They can learn from watching you.
  
• Keep dog and cat dishes away from your child’s play area.
  
• Keep watch for small objects in reachable distances of your child. This includes food, buttons, and other objects kids can choke on.
  
• One study shows that parents with childproofed homes don’t need to say "no" as frequently because all dangerous objects are out of reach and children are in safe play areas.
  

!!Baby Gates 50% off at The Pump Station!!

Different Rooms to Baby Proof: Basics

• Living room: Anchor down TVs and all light or loose furniture (lamps, bookcases). Anti-Tip Furniture Straps at The Pump Station
  
• Bedroom: Latch all drawers.
  
• Nursery: Make sure crib rails are no wider than 2 3/8 inches wide.
• Bathroom: Latch the toilet cover. Toilet Locks at The Pump Station

What to Buy and What to Replace

• Fit all electric outlets with outlet covers, keep a few in your bag for when you're out.
  
• Replace rubber-tipped door stops with soft door jambs. Soft door Jambs at The Pump Station
  
• Make sure smoke alarms are working.
  

See all our Safety Items from KidCo. Appliance Locks, Blind Winders and more.


For more information Check out Child Proofing Basics from by Vicki Lansky, available at The Pump Station.

Learn the best safety tips and advice for room-by-room child proofing. You'll also find helpful ideas for when you and Baby are out and about. Holidays, meals and more - it's all covered in Baby Proofing Basics.

American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC)
Pharmacists, physicians, nurses, and poison information providers answer the calls to 1-800-222-1222
24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Language interpreters are always available.
American Association of Poison Control Centers
and
California Poison Control Website

read full article...

SHHH! Surprise Dad with Photos this Father's Day!

Pictures in the Park with Docuvitae

Join Professional Photographers

Laura Kleinhenz and Rebecca Rotenberg

for a 15 minute photo session at Douglas Park on Friday May 21st, 2010 from 10:00am-2:00pm

Take advantage of this great special!

Session cost is $89.95 + CA sales tax

Regular $325- a $235.05 SAVINGS!

Session Includes:

•15 minutes of portrait photography at Douglas Park

•1 high resolution image file suitable for printing up to 8x10

•online gallery with print ordering services (password protected) available within one week of photo shoot

Call our Santa Monica Location at (310) 998-1981 to sign up!

www.PumpStation.com

Baby Swimmers are the Best

Baby Swimmers Have Better Balance
ScienceDaily (May 7, 2010)

...Teaching babies to swim turns out to be more than just fun. Baby swimmers have better balance and are also better at grasping at things than non-swimmers. This difference persists even when children are five years old, when babies who have been taught to swim still outperform their peers, research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) shows.

Get a cute Hooded Towel for your Swimmers from Pump Station

...The baby swimmers had participated in swimming classes for two hours a week from the age of 2-3 months until they were about 7 months old. A typical session might involve helping the baby do a somersault on a floating mat, having the baby dive under water, jump from the pool edge, and balance on the hand of a parent while reaching to pick up floating objects.

At approximately age 5, both baby swimmers and the control group were tested with similar exercises. The exercises included walking on tiptoes, balancing on one foot, skipping rope, rolling a ball into a goal and catching a beanbag. The results were crystal clear, the researchers say.

"We saw very clearly that baby swimmers were the best in exercises that related to balance and the ability to reach for things," says Sigmundsson. (Hermundur Sigmundsson, a professor of psychology at NTNU.)...

read the full article...

Ellen Degeneres Approved

Ellen Degeneres's Amazing Mother's Day Giveaways! aired last Friday. Ellen's audience was all soon-to-be first time mothers! She showered them with gifts from the Puj Tub to baby slings and carriers. Ellen had the best gifts.
Get these great Ellen approved gifts from The Pump Station



Puj Tub
The Puj Tub is a soft and flexible baby tub that you can use in any standard bathroom sink to quickly and safely bathe your baby. Easy to use and quick to put together, the Puj Tub is a great item for every mom on the move.



Aden+Anais
Today, aden + anais, has brought the legacy of muslin together with fashion forward design to create a line of products that are as stylish as they are useful; and as simple as they are beautiful. We believe in muslin - the way it looks, the way it feels, the way it works - to improve the lives of babies and their mothers no matter who they are or where they live.



MD Moms
Products Developed by Pediatrician-Moms.


We at The Pump Station also approve these Slings, Carriers and Wraps from Baby Pouch, The Peanut Shell, ERGObaby and more!


If you're local check out our Free Sling Clinics

Babies Born to Dance

A new study says that rhythm and melody make babies happy.
by Heather Turgeon
April 8, 2010

...Kids love music. Lullabies and nursery rhymes are soothing and engaging, and there is even reason to think tunes are good for our little ones' health (premature babies in intensive care units have been found to gain weight faster and leave the hospital sooner when they listen to 30 minutes of Mozart a day).

Get the Classical Baby CD

...Babies may also get a dance buzz because it stimulates their "vestibular sense": the body's system for balance and movement (involving the inner ear and lower brain regions). It's our oldest sensory system, in the evolutionary sense, and it's one of the few senses that are highly developed at birth. As parents know from the early months of baby rocking, activating the vestibular sense is calming, and many think it has ties to attention and learning as well.

read the full article...

Take a Class with Heather Turgeon at The Pump Station

We have Beatles, Elvis and Seseme Street CDs.
See our Selection of Music CDs at The Pump Station

sorry for re-posting this article - blogger hiccuped and removed the previous post

How to Soothe a Crying Baby

How to Soothe a Crying Baby: Mellow Motions, Gripe Water, and Other Remedies
from WebMD

Soothing sounds:
Just as loud noises like thunder or a popping balloon can make your baby cry, soothing sounds may be able to calm your infant and stop the crying. During the nine months your baby spent in the womb, she became very accustomed to the constant sound of your heartbeat. Because of this, many babies are comforted by monotonous background noise, especially sounds that mimic the sound of the womb.

You may find that your baby is comforted by listening to a white noise machine, a recording of a heartbeat, or even the whirring sounds of household appliances like dishwashers or washing machines. If there is a particular sound that seems to comfort your crying baby, consider making a recording of the sound to play when your baby is upset.

Gripe water
Gripe water is an age-old remedy for colic that was traditionally made at home using dill, bicarbonate, and alcohol. Now, most drug stores carry commercially available gripe waters that do not contain alcohol.

Get Baby's Bliss Gripe Water at The Pump Station!

Mellow motion
Many crying babies are comforted by smooth, rhythmic motion, such as being rocked in a rocking chair, hammock, or infant swing. It can also be useful to take your crying baby for a walk in a stroller or for a car ride.

Pediatrician Harvey Karp, MD, recommends using the 5 S's
The five S's include:

* swaddling
* side/stomach soothing (laying your baby on her side/stomach)
* "Shhhing" sounds
* swinging
* sucking (nursing your crying baby or give him a pacifier

read the full article...

Get Harvey Karp, MD's books, CDs, and DVDs at the Pump Station!

Come to the Screening of Babies and get a chance to win great prizes!

The Pump Station & Nurtury™ is sponsoring the screening of

“Babies”

on Wednesday, May 5th

at 7:30pm

The Egyptian Theatre

6712 Hollywood blvd,

Los Angeles, CA 90028

tickets are available on fandango.com or at the box office of the theatre (not open during the day)

The adventure of a lifetime begins…

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Thomas Balmès, from an original idea by producer Alain Chabat, Babies simultaneously follows four babies around the world – from birth to first steps. The children are, respectively, in order of on-screen introduction: Ponijao, who lives with her family near Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia, near Bayanchandmani; Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, who resides with her family in the United States, in San Francisco.

Re-defining the nonfiction art form, Babies joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all.

A Focus Features presentation of a Chez Wam/StudioCanal co-production with the participation of Canal +. Babies. Executive Producers, TBC Productions, Chez Wam. Original Idea, Alain Chabat. Adapted by Thomas Balmès. Edited by Craig McKay, A.C.E., Reynald Bertrand. Produced by Alain Chabat, Amandine Billot, Christine Rouxel. Music by Bruno Coulais. Directed by Thomas Balmès. A Focus Features Release.

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

At the Screening

First 50 Moms

who come wearing their baby in a carrier or sling

will receive a Pump Station™ Swag Bag!

Come to this screening and

enter to WIN one of our great Gift Baskets!

Swag Bags and Gift Baskets filled with product from these great vendors:

• The Pump Station™
• Episencial
• Epicuren
• EcoMom
• Plan Toys
• PediPed
• Aden & Anais
• Kissy Kissy
• Mustela

At our Store

Attend the screening, then bring your ticket stub to any Pump Station™ location and get 10% off your entire merchandise purchase. Offer good thru May 31st, 2010.

Tickets to the screening of "Babies" are not sold out!

For those of you interested in purchasing tickets for the screening of "Babies" through fandango.com, we want to inform you that the site is having technical difficulties. Tickets are not sold out. Please check back in a day. You may also purchase tickets at the Egyptian Theatre box office.

We hope to see you on May 7th!

~The Pump Station & Nurtury™

Special Screening of "Babies"

The Pump Station & Nurtury™ is sponsoring the screening of

“Babies”

on Wednesday, May 5th

at 7:30pm

The Egyptian Theatre

6712 Hollywood blvd,

Los Angeles, CA 90028

tickets are available on fandango.com or at the box office of the theatre (not open during the day)

The adventure of a lifetime begins…

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Thomas Balmès, from an original idea by producer Alain Chabat, Babies simultaneously follows four babies around the world – from birth to first steps. The children are, respectively, in order of on-screen introduction: Ponijao, who lives with her family near Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia, near Bayanchandmani; Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, who resides with her family in the United States, in San Francisco.

Re-defining the nonfiction art form, Babies joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all.

A Focus Features presentation of a Chez Wam/StudioCanal co-production with the participation of Canal +. Babies. Executive Producers, TBC Productions, Chez Wam. Original Idea, Alain Chabat. Adapted by Thomas Balmès. Edited by Craig McKay, A.C.E., Reynald Bertrand. Produced by Alain Chabat, Amandine Billot, Christine Rouxel. Music by Bruno Coulais. Directed by Thomas Balmès. A Focus Features Release.

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

At the Screening

Come to this screening and enter to win one of our great gift baskets featuring products from:

• PediPed™
• Kissy Kissy®
• Medela®
• Aden & Anais™
• The Pump Station™

At our Store

Attend the screening, then bring your ticket stub to any Pump Station™

location and get 10% off your entire merchandise purchase. Offer good thru May 31st, 2010.

Breast-Feeding During Pregnancy: A Painful, Controversial Choice

By Erica Kain

I had a positive pregnancy test when my first daughter was just 9 months old, and I immediately called my ob-gyn to share the news.

“Stop breast-feeding,” she told me, and dutifully, I weaned my daughter that night.

A week later, when I miscarried what turned out to have been a chemical pregnancy, I had two things to mourn: the baby I’d expected, and the nursing relationship I’d ended with my daughter.

I wondered, even if the pregnancy had continued, was it necessary to wean her? Why would my doctor have said that?

What I’ve learned since that day has changed my mind entirely about nursing during pregnancy. In fact, if I am lucky enough to get pregnant while breast-feeding, I’d want to continue the nursing relationship, even extending into a “tandem nursing” situation after the baby is born.

Why don’t pregnant women breast-feed more often?
In all my years of playing with my young children in parks, I have never once seen an obviously pregnant woman breast-feeding. Why not?

Many times, apparently, it’s very painful.

According to Wendy Haldeman, one of the founders of the Los Angeles–based The Pump Station, it can hurt to breast-feed during the first trimester. “The nipple soreness is just something the mother has to endure,” she tells me. “Some can; others find it is just too painful to continue.”

Local mothers who attempted nursing while pregnant agreed with Haldeman. “By the time I was about 2 months pregnant, nursing became excruciatingly painful,” Amanda, a local mom, tells me. “I almost cried every time I went to nurse, it hurt so bad. I ended up weaning my son at that point.”

Milk supply can also diminish. “My experience is that if the first baby is over a year, the milk supply is not as much of a concern,” Haldeman says. “Infants under 9 months of age frequently need to be supplemented with formula because the mother simply can’t produce enough milk.”

Basically, your body begins producing a different quantity and quality of milk sometime in the second trimester. This is spelled out in Breastfeeding for Dummies by Sharon Perkins, RN, and Carol Vannais, RN:

“Somewhere between four and eight months of pregnancy, your milk does start changing from mature milk back to colostrum, the first type of milk that you gave your baby. The colostrum usually tastes a little different than mature milk, so you may find your baby not as interested in this new menu item and starting the process of weaning.”

But if I could bear the pain and my baby could bear the “new menu item,” is it a good idea from a medical perspective?

Will nursing hurt my unborn baby?
“In most circumstances, breast-feeding can be continued during an uncomplicated pregnancy,” says Pamela Berens, MD, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center, at Houston, who researches lactation and breast milk.

However, she explains that if your health-care provider has instructed you not to have intercourse, then you may not want to reconsider breast-feeding.

Apparently, both orgasm and breast-feeding trigger a release of oxytocin, which some women may want to avoid, as it can cause uterine contractions. “The increased oxytocin could be problematic in the patient that is experiencing preterm labor,” Dr. Berens says.

Dr. Berens advises that women with a history of preterm labor, placenta previa, or a “classical” C-section uterine incision consider weaning. However, these reasons occur later in pregnancy, so the mother wouldn’t need to wean abruptly in her first trimester.

Also, Dr. Berens recommends weaning for women with severe hypertension (high blood pressure), severe vascular or renal disease, or a prior “growth restricted” infant (a cautionary recommendation based on what Dr. Berens describes as a “small body of research that suggests that the weight of the infant born to the mother that breast-fed during her pregnancy may be very slightly reduced”).

Could nursing cause a miscarriage?
Though no research has found any increased risk of miscarriage in women who continue breast-feeding during pregnancy, women might want to consider weaning if they are experiencing bleeding during early pregnancy, says Dr. Berens.

But be sure to confirm the pregnancy is viable. “If the pregnancy has already miscarried or is ‘non-viable’ (meaning no fetus has formed or the fetus has no heartbeat), then there is no benefit to weaning,” Dr. Berens says.

If only I’d heard that sound advice four years ago! Armed with this knowledge, I know that for any future pregnancies, I’ll hold on to my nursing relationship with much more confidence.

"Breast-Feeding During Pregnancy: A Painful, Controversial Choice." Erica Kain

Health.com, April 21, 2010