Reviews

REVIEW: Get Dreft’s new stain remover for hard-to-remove food & poopy diaper stains

Posted on December 12, 2014

Since the launch of this blog, I’ve always advocated that one of the first things first time moms-to-be do after having their baby shower and being gifted loads of infant clothes is to sterilize the clothes by washing them in detergent like Dreft.

The gentle cleanser has been around for ages even before newer brands entered the market, of late. It is void of all the harsh chemicals that can cause irritations on a a newborn’s skin.

That being said, I was thus elated to learn that Dreft has come out with a few new products that make it easy for new parents to clean hard-to-get out stains from baby’s clothes. We tested out a review sample (valued about $25).

Its new Dreft Laundry Stain Remover detergent works well as a soak for those times when baby’s bottom explodes from trying out carrots for the first time or has a bad reaction to a new formula. You just need a small cap-ful of it to do the job. When washed, the yellow stained onesie we soaked for about an hour before washing came out quite free of any semblance of a stain.

Sweet!

For other stain lifting job, we tested the Dreft Laundry Stain spray travel sized sample and just spritzed on a few splashes on a red dress with some peas stains on it. This option is better because soaking a red shirt for too long could dull the color of the top. After a couple of rigorous rubs before tossing the entire dress in the wash worked to eliminate the baby food stain. The sample size of the spray is also portable and could be whipped out to pre-treat leaky poopy diaper stains without having to soil your hands with the excrement while out and about.

Finally, for treating stains on the go or while visiting grandma or relatives away from the home, the convenient pen is the best. During a shopping mall outing when our 6 month old baby tester threw up a little after a bottle feeding, leaving a yellowish stain on his bib.

To clean it, we immediately wiped the milk with a washcloth then used the Dreft Portable Pretreater Pen pen to rub across it for a few strokes and schucked in in the diaper bag.

About a few hours later, after we got home from holiday shopping, we hand washed the bib and could see the stain was gone for the most part.

Good job!

What a God send I wish I had when my little ones were that age. Think about picking it up for your baby’s hard to remove stains!

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Jewish families integrate Christmas with Hannukah trees

Posted on December 11, 2014

Are you surprised that more and more Jewish families are adopting and putting up Hannukah bushes and trees, and even Menorah trees in their homes?

With Christmas being such a major celebrated holiday and season in the United States, many parents of Jewish children have found a way to meld the festivities with their own religious beliefs and culture.

More and more families are hanging Hannukah stockings, and integrating the traditional festival of lights with the customs of Christmas.

Miami Herald

A Pew Research survey released last year found that 32% of Jews said they had a Christmas tree in their home the previous year.

It’s common especially in interfaith families among Jews married to non-Jews. The survey found that 71% said they put up a tree.

My mother is Roman Catholic and my father Muslim and he looked forward to decorating the tree and exchanging presents more than us kids even. Over the years, it could easily be argued that the Christmas season has become secular to a certain extent.

That’s exactly what those who are critical say. The reason it’s easy for non-Christians to adopt Christmas traditions is because the holiday has become an excuse to get caught up with the consumerism that has taken over Christmas. It has become less about the birth of Jesus Christ and more about an excuse to go crazy in the mall.

Your thoughts? If you are Jewish, have you or would you consider putting up a Hannukah tree?

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The 10 Portraits you drew as a kid

Posted on December 9, 2014

File this one under “C” for cute!

It’s a guide to 10 of the types of portraits we drew as a kid and certainly, those of us with little ones have seen much already coming from art class and hanging on our fridgerators now.

It’s compliments of Stuart Morris, the leading provider of school portrait tea towels.

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5 Ways to Raise Kids on the Cheap

Posted on December 8, 2014

Raising

children is an expensive yet necessary part of life. There are ways

that you can save money while raising children and you can still give a

child everything they need to live a healthy, happy life, as well as

some of the things they want. Being a parent usually totally drains your

finances, but using the following five tips can help to put more money

back in your wallet.

1. Avoid Name Brands

Name

brand foods, clothing, and toys will cost a lot more money over the

long run than those brands that are considered of lesser quality. If you

can be disciplined enough to find quality products that have

lesser-known labels on them, you will be able to work with a much lower

budget. Your money can be stretched a lot further without name brand

products.

2. Easy Savings at Home

When

you do laundry, wash clothing in cold water. Hang your clothing to dry

it instead. Without the use of hot water or hot air, your energy bills

will cost a lot less. You can also seal windows in the winter or wrap

insulation around pipes to keep more heat in. Heat costs a lot, and you

can save on energy bills if you can use less heat.

3. Smart Banking

When

you receive monetary payments, immediately put it all into an account

at a bank you trust. You’ll only go to the bank to take out money when

you need it, so you are less likely to spend more money than you need if

you have to go to the bank every time you need money. This can also

help you to accrue interest on the money you place in the bank. Money

you deposit now will be worth more after it’s been in the bank a while.

4. Refuse to Exceed your Budget

You

should set a weekly budget, and be staunch about not exceeding it.

There are times when emergencies happen and you need to actually spend

more money, but that’s why tip 3 is so important. Additionally, spending

less than your budget can help you have a greater cushion for another

week when you may need more.

5. Find Free Stuff

If

your baby needs a new crib, try to find one from a relative or friend.

This goes for clothing, toys, games, materials for repairs, and anything

else that life throws at us. There is some chance that something you

need is not being used by someone else, so it never hurts to see if they

wouldn’t mind parting with it. You can never get too much free baby

stuff.

Parenthood

can be a financially difficult time. If you follow this advice, you can

at least make your finances a bit more manageable, and you’ll find

yourself with plenty of money left over do have some fun. After all,

having children can be fun in addition to being costly. Enjoy being a

parent with a bit more money in your pocket.

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Don’t ever do these 5 things with your infant car seat

Posted on December 7, 2014

Infant car seats are safe ways to transport baby while in the car, however some parents get into the habit of using them for other purposes from our friends at NannyPro, here are five things you should NOT do with an infant car seat:

1. Using it as a routine sleep space. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises against using infant car seats for routine sleep. Due to their positioning, an infant’s airway can become narrowed in a car seat, which can result in breathing problems. This can result in death. If your baby falls asleep in his car seat, move him to a firm, flat service as soon as possible.

2. Putting it in a grocery shopping cart. Shopping carts aren’t designed for infant car seats to be latched onto. In fact, babies can die when parents use their grocery shopping cart as an infant car seat holder. Even when a baby is properly buckled into his infant car seat, it can topple off and fall to the ground when the infant car seat is placed in or on top of the area of the shopping cart that’s designed for small children to sit in. This can result in the injury or death of the baby strapped inside.

3. Adding a Bundle Me to it. Lots of parents use a Bundle Me to keep their infants warm while traveling in their infant car seats, but doing so without modifying it is not safe. The Bundle Me, as designed, can interfere with the harness straps in the infant car seat, preventing the straps from properly tightening and fittingly snugly against the infant’s body. For proper protection, the straps must be fitted snugly against the child with no more than one finger fitting between the child’s body and the harness under the child’s collar bone. A Bundle-Me allows for much more than that.

4. Using it after it’s been in an accident. While the National Highway Traffic Safety Commission encourages parents to automatically replace car seats after moderate and severe crashes and says they don’t need to be routinely replaced after minor crashes, different car seat manufacturers have different guidelines. Be sure to check with your car seat manufacturer if your car seat has been in a crash to determine their recommendations and to err on the side of caution.

5. Using it after it’s expired. Most parents are unaware that car seats actually expire. Car seats are made out of plastic, which can become brittle and lose strength over time. According to the Car Seat Lady, car seats typically expire 6 years after their date of manufacture. Plus, new seats with new and better technology come out that can increase the safety of infant passengers, so using an expired seat makes no sense.

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6 Toys to Avoid giving to your Kids this Christmas

Posted on December 5, 2014

About one quarter of a million children head to the nation’s hospital emergency rooms each year because of toy-related injuries, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission repors.

A survey from AllAboutVision.com revealed that 41% of parents either “rarely” or “never” considered eye safety when choosing toys for their kids.

Dr. Gary Heiting, senior editor for the site assembled a list of 6 types of toys parents should consider not getting for their children this Christmas because of the dangers they pose to their kids’ eyes.

Guns that shoot any type of projectile, water balloon launchers, games that include toy fishing poles, toy wands and aerosol string are among the list of toys.

The injuries can be serious.

They can range from a minor scratch to the front surface of the eye (called a corneal abrasion) to very serious, sight-threatening injuries such as corneal ulcers, traumatic cataracts, bleeding inside the eye and retinal detachment.

Serious stuff. Be mindful and careful. Check out the site for more information on the complete list.

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Use this Holiday season to whip your kids’ behavior into shape!

Posted on December 4, 2014

‘Tis the season for whipping your children into shape!

The holiday and Christmas winter season has extreme value to parents who want to change some of their children’s bad habits and behaviors.

How?

In my home, my husband and I create a bulletin board with daily tasks that our three kids (ages 12, 9 and 6) need to do in the morning and evening like brush their teeth, do homework, pack their book bags in advance, remove all empty snack papers and juice boxes and backpbacks from the SUV after school, pick up after themselves, generally.

The kids are allowed up to 20 chances to mess up, with every 5 strikes (Xs) netting them one less Christmas gift.

We put this discipline plan into play last year and it totally worked on getting the kids to FINALLY do, regularly all the various things we’ve asked them to do each day to keep our day running smoothly and to keep the car and home junk-free.

I highly recommend it!

All you need is a chalkboard, a hand written chart or a whiteboard erected in the kitchen or family area where all can see and track their points.

This technique is even great for older kids who have since stopped believing in Santa Claus.

The key is to keep to the promise to withhold the gifts.

We do give children the opportunity to re-earn the points back by doing some extra chores or some other activity. And with that, you can get some housework done around the house too.

But in a nutshell, it’s a GREAT opportunity for parents that shouldn’t be passed up! ha!

Try it in your home this holiday season!

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Small Business Saturday: Search your local small biz HERE

Posted on November 29, 2014

Today is Small Business Saturday, a day dedicated to promoting small businesses, mom and pop stores and other small entrepreneurs.

Small business fuel the economy as there are more of them than larger businesses.

For example, in Maryland, independent grocers generate $2.27B in annual sales and are responsible for over 20,000 jobs and wages $872.75 million. That fuels $218M in state and local budget, and almost $200M in federal resources.

Given all the contentious dialogue going on these days around immigrants, it’s also a great time to highlight all the ways immigrants in America, including small business owners, also contribute to the economy. One out of every 10 American workers is employed by an immigrant-owned business, and these firms contribute over $775 billion to the American economy, each year.

Today, make sure you support a local small business.

Use this tool to find a participating small business near you HERE!

SUPPORT our Bellyitch Blerd Girl Shop

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Study: Low alcohol consumption while pregnant not linked to birth defects

Posted on November 26, 2014

Heavy alcohol consumption during pregnancy has long been linked to a range of developmental problems and birth defects including fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), low birth weight, and preterm delivery, but a new study from Yale and Brown University shows that low to moderate alcohol consumption is not associated with an increased risk of specific birth outcomes and measures of fetal growth.

The study is published in the Nov. 19 issue of the Annals of Epidemiology.

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Thanksgiving arts and craft project for the kids

Posted on November 25, 2014

Want festive, homemade Thanksgiving decorations? Need an activity to keep the kids occupied? Pine cone turkeys are the solution to both of these problems. Thanksgiving pine cone turkeys are cute and simple enough that even young children will be able to make them with minimal supervision. If you’re looking for an activity that will keep the little ones busy while you are preparing Thanksgiving dinner in the kitchen, this one is definitely worth trying.

Gather supplies– A day or two before Thanksgiving, gather up all of the necessary supplies and tools and put them in a box. That way they’ll be ready to set out for the kids to work with when the time comes. You’ll need:

    Various sizes of pine cones

    Feathers

    Brown pipe cleaners

    Glue

    Googly eyes

    Orange felt

    Safety scissors

    Paper (optional)

Create the tail- The children can create a colorful turkey tail for their pinecone by using different colored feathers. If they want, they can dip the quill end of the feathers into some glue before poking them into the wide end of the pine cone. The glue is optional because the feathers should stay in place if pushed all the way into the pine cone layers. Continue to fill in the tail with feathers to make it as full as desired.

Make the head- Take the brown pipe cleaner and bend one end over to create a hook, then pinch the hook closed so that it’s shaped like a head. Set the pipe cleaner aside. Cut a very small triangle out of the orange felt for a beak. For young children, you may wish to do this step ahead of time. Glue the googly eyes and beak onto the shaped brown pipe cleaner and allow it to dry for a few minutes.

Attaching the head– Once the head is dry wrap the opposite end of the pipe cleaner around the pine cone until the head and neck are sticking up from the front. If the pipe cleaner is too long, cut it with the scissors or break it off by bending it back and forth at the same spot.

Adding feet– If you’d like to add feet to your turkey, you can freehand cut some feet and legs from the orange felt. Glue the legs to the underside of the pine cone with the feet sticking out in front.

Place card holders– Have the kids make enough turkeys so that each place setting has one. Using cardstock, construction paper or any other paper you have on hand, write the names of everyone that will be attending your Thanksgiving dinner. Lean the place cards against each turkey or stick it between the middle layers of the pine cone. Now you have seasonal place card holders that can be used from year to year. Or you can send the turkey pine cones home with the kids as a little party favor.

Tips:

You can use store bought pine cones for this craft or bake gathered pine cones in the oven at 250 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes to make sure there are no bugs in the pine cones. Do this in advance so the pine cones have plenty of time to cool.
If you don’t have any pipe cleaners you can glue the felt beak and googly eyes directly to the front of the pine cone.
If you can’t find feathers or don’t want to use them then you can use feather shaped construction paper in various fall colors. Depending on how much space is between the layers on the pine cone you may or may not need to glue in the paper feathers.

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