Baby Bottle Holder

Ever bottle feed your baby, set the bottle down to burp your baby and the bottle tips over? How about set the bottle down and it leaves ring marks on the table? Well, both of those things were happening to me all the time, especially with angled neck bottles, so DH devised a baby bottle holder. It is handmade and solid wood. It is basically a cube with a hole in the top to insert the bsby bottle. One side of the baby bottle holder is also open, so you can see how much remains in the bottle. A handy little feature.
The baby bottle holder fits standard size bottles, but can be custom made to fit wider bottle sizes.
If interested, the baby bottle holder sells for $10.00, shipping/handling and tax are included and may be purchased at my website.

Forget Swaddling, Try a Sleeper

The first few weeks after my newborn came home, I would swaddle him, which, btw, is one way to help soothe a baby. Swaddling was going well until one day when he started kicking out of his blanket. Shortly after that, out came the sleeper sack his brother had used. At Christmas time Kmart had a good deal on the blanket sleepers with feet. Unfortunately, the smallest size they had was 2T. I picked one up anyways to have on hand for when he grew into it. A few weeks ago I decided to put it on him. What a good idea! The blanket sleeper with feet is big, so he has lots of room. I just roll up the sleeves. It's soft, warm and zips up, so I don't have to worry about him kicking out of it like a swaddle. With a risk of SIDS for babies under a year old, the blanket sleeper is also much safer than a blanket. A blanket sleeper with feet also makes it easier to strap him into his carseat, swing, or leap frog learning seat.
If your baby keeps kicking out of his swaddled blanket, I highly recommend trying a blanket sleeper.

Nebulizer

Last Thursday my newborn, who's almost 3 months old already, caught a cold. Stuffy nose, chest congestion, cough, lots of mucus, wheezing. Was hoping the humidifier, saline drops in the nose and Vicks BabyRub would help, but his congestion just kept getting worse, so I took him to the doctor today who gave a prescription for a nebulizer. I've never used one before, but it's a machine you add a presciption liquid medication to and it blows a fine mist/vapor out a tube which you hold over the baby's mouth and nose to help loosen the mucus. Nebulizers are also used for asthmatics. If you have a baby with congestion it's definitely a good idea to take them straight to the doctor. Apparently his chances of developing asthma are now increased due to his wheezing. Not significantly though since there is no family history of asthma. Still a chance though.
Just glad it's not RSV. RSV affects the lower respiratory system. According to Baby 411, wheezing is not usually a sign of a lower respiratory infection. A good RSV indicator is if the baby sucks in his rib cage and flares his nostrils when he breathes as if he is air hungry. RSV can be extremely serious so, if you suspect your baby may have it, call the doctor right away.
BTW, if you have a baby, reading Baby 411 is a must. It has info on just about every baby topic you can think of. It is also written by pediatricians.
They also have a Toddler 411 book which is just as good.

Child Cold and Congestion

My 3 year old got sick over the weekend. He woke up Saturday morning with a really mucousy cough. By the end of the day he had a fever and runny nose. He's had a flu shot so I'm assuming it's the cold his father had a few weeks ago. If he's not better in the next day or two, I'm going to take him to the doctor just to be safe.
To treat the fever, I'm giving him Motrin Children's Pain Reliever/Fever Reducer for Ages 2 to 11 when he gets up in the morning and before bedtime. I'm giving him Tylenol Children's Pain Reliever/fever Reducer, for Ages 2 to 11, Stage 2 before his morning snack and before his afternoon snack.
For his cold symptoms, I'm giving him Hyland's Sniffles & Sneezes 4 Kids tablets before breakfast, before lunch and before dinner. I'm not real sure yet if these are helping him much, but they have received good reviews and are supposed to cut the duration of a cold in half. Hyland's Teething Tablets work great for teething, so I guess these are worth a try. They are very small tablets. You take 2 every 15 minutes until symptoms are relieved and then 2 every 4 hours. At first I just gave him 2 and then 2 more an hour later and then 2 every 4 hours. 2 every 15 minutes seems like a lot. They are homeopathic tablets, so no ibuprofen, no acetaminophen and not allergy causing.
I also turn his humidifier up on high and rub Vicks Vaporub Ointment on his chest, back and feet and then put socks on him. According to this site, Chester's Home Remedies, putting Vicks on his feet and then socks will help with his cough.
When sick, it's important to keep hydrated, so lots of fluid. Pudding, smoothies, popsicles and making jello with double the amount of water are also good.
Here's the smoothie I made him. It was delicious:

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 tbs honey
squirt of lemon juice
scoop of vanilla ice cream
1 banana
handful frozen peaches
handful frozen strawberries
handful crushed ice

I'm also giving him a little pickled garlic, orange juice, and apple juice with a squirt of lemon juice and honey, spoonfuls of honey several times a day. Honey is a good home remedy for coughs.
Here's a good link on the common cold. Apparently a cold can be contagious for up to 3 weeks. Yikes!



Order Hylands Sniffles n Sneezes Tablets for kids, 125 Quick-Dissolving Tablets