If you’re feeding your new baby formula milk, this should be done every 3 to 5 hours. Breastfeeding needs to more frequent, and you may feel that you are doing this all day and night. Now you can empathise with cows. You will be changing a lot of nappies until you get used to their pattern. A good time to do it is shortly after being fed, which can be once an hour to start off with. You can check them every so often.

Whilst they still have their umbilical cord, it is best to sponge bath every few days, but the bottom should be washed daily. By using a soft washcloth rinsed in warm water you can clean your baby every day – wipe the face, neck, hands and bottom gently. After a few weeks, you will be able to bath your baby daily which will prevent nappy rash, but do watch your baby’s skin especially if it is sensitive. See that the skin doesn’t get too dry so monitor and see what is best for your baby.

You will find that your baby’s finger and toes nails soon grow and will need to be trimmed so that they don’t scratch themselves. The nails can even be long at birth, so take care by pushing the fingerpad away from the nail and using nail clippers clip away. It is easier to do this when your baby is asleep, as they may try to jerk their fingers and toes away from you.

For the first month, you will be working 24/7 caring for your baby. Try to get as much as help as possible so that you can get enough rest and sleep as you can. It is exhausting being a mother, but also one of the most precious moments of your life.

What classes do

They will help explain a lot of the choices available before, during, and after the birth and will tell you about labor, birth, and baby care. You’ll also meet other expectant parents with due dates near yours.

Where to find classes

If you’re planning a hospital delivery, hospital based classes can be useful, they’ll help familiarize you with procedures and will include a tour of the labor ward. Child birth educators generally offer classes in hospitals as well as birthing centers, but some communities offer other local venues as well. Ask friends who have young babies to recommend a good class that’s easy to get to. Most child birth classes include guidance on preparing your self for an active birth, in which your partner or birth coach is also involved.

There’s now a huge choice in maternity care, although how wide the choice is will depend on what’s available in your area. Look into your prenatal options also means looking at your birth options.

Who Can Deliver Care?

Once you know you’re pregnant, your first call will probably be to your family doctor or gynecologist. He or she may confirm the pregnancy with another test, take your blood pressure, and ask when your last period was to work out the due date. Your doctor will tell you the different options for prenatal care available in your area, and you can also talk through where the baby will be born, since these are often linked. Don’t feel you have to make your mind up on any of these issues immediately go away and think about the possibilities before finalizing details.

Hospital care

You’ll be cared for by hospital based doctors, your obstetrician and or midwife. The prenatal care may lack the informality of other options, but if you have any complications, have an existing medical condition, or are having twins, it’s probably the wisest choice to have your pregnancy monitored by professionals in this setting.

Midwives

In many places, prenatal care is given almost entirely by midwives who are based either in a free standing site dedicated to prenatal care labor and delivery or in a hospital. The comfortable, home like feeling of midwife centers is a comfort to many women who would like to have a natural birth out side of a hospital setting. Many women benefit from building a relationship with the midwives who will also deliver their babies.

Your doctor or obstetrician’s office

You’ll have consultations, checkups, and tests through out your pregnancy to make sure you and your baby are doing fine. Most pregnancies are perfectly normal, but its vital to have these check up to make sure all is well and to spot possible problems early, before any harm is done. Here, too, you will have many opportunities to get to know and bond with the professional who will be on hand to deliver your baby when the time comes.

What is Organic Baby Care?

There is no globally accepted definition of organic, although some countries have tried to establish enforceable standards. For simplicity, let us say that organic products should not have been grown or developed with the use of pesticides, herbicides, or artificial fertilizers, and have not been genetically modified in any way.

Organic baby care, then, is to bring up a baby using as many organically grown products as possible. Most parents would want to extend that to include as many eco-friendly products as well. So, what sort of “organic” products can play a part in your baby’s development.

Organic Baby Food

Ideally, feeding your baby organic foods should start while she is still in the womb. What the baby’s mother eats and drinks, breathes and has injected into her affect the quality of the baby’s sustenance before birth, and in the breast milk after birth. A mother who lives on organic food as far as possible will get her baby off to a good start.

Once the baby comes off breast milk to solids, it is important to keep as much control over her food as possible. It is very easy to avoid processed and canned food, whose origins you know little about, and may contain contaminants not only in the food itself but the lining of the can. Wherever possible use organic foods and chemical free juices and water in order to give the baby a good start in life so far as nourishment goes. If possible, follow the advice of a holistically trained professional nutritionist to find the right balance of food.

Organic Bedding & Clothing

Many parents these days seek out what they call organic bedding. It may be very difficult to find, but baby bedding does exist that has been made from natural fibers that have been organically grown. However, do look for some genuine indication that the cotton or wool is organic. An item that is just labeled 100% cotton, without any organic certification, is unlikely to be organic but chemically laden. The same applies to baby clothes.

Organic Baby Accessories

There are many baby accessories that can be eco-friendly or even organic. Organic baby wipes and diapers are now quite easily available, and they are items that parents need every day for their baby. Using organic bio-degradable diapers can be a great benefit to the environment compared to using the old style disposables. Many children’s toys are made of natural materials rather than plastics, and even organic teethers, made from 100% cotton, can be found if you search hard enough.

While it may not be possible in this day and age to bring up a completely organic baby, you do at least have the chance to minimize the chemical intake of your children. With trends as they are, more products will be developed as time passes, making your task that much easier.

Baby bath tub is very important as it gives ease to parents while bathing a kid, because infants are difficult to handle. There are various types of bath tubs you can go for. Baby towel is also essential item that you have to buy. Towels in different sizes and bright colors are available. You specially have to check the fabric of towel while buying it. Baby washing clothes are also essential for bathing your toddler. These are the items that you can also gift a mother -to-be on baby shower. The most important items for baby bath are soap and shampoo. You have to be very careful when selecting these items. There is a big variety of these products but not all are good enough in quality. You should go for reliable brand in baby shampoos and soaps which are baby skin friendly. They should not irritate the skin of your baby and meant to keep it fresh and soft. The shampoo should be of a kind which cannot irritate the eyes. The best soaps and shampoos for babies are the ones having organic ingredients. These are chemical free and hypo allergic and best for baby skin.

If you want your baby to have fun while bathing, you can also buy bath toys for him.  They will be a fun element for him and instead of getting irritated your kid will play with the toys and you will easily get him bathed. All these items are also very useable if you want them to gift a mother-to-be on a baby shower.

Baby bathtubs are available in many sizes, shapes and colors. Let us discuss some of the bathtubs that can be found in the market. Aqua baby bath ring is a secure one. The ring seat can easily hold the baby and there is no fear that the kid will fall. The seat on the tub is non slippery and allows the baby to move inside the tub and has also a back for firm support.

A munchkin safety duck baby tub is another type that is quite common. It is a cute duck tube having security disc, which will turn white, if the water in the tub becomes much hotter. This is compact and non slippery. The tub has a headrest, which makes it easy to wash hair of babies. The best thing about this tub is that it is portable and folds easily. You can take it with you wherever you want to take.

Kirby bathtubs are also comfortable ones and make a perfect choice. They are light weighted and make ideal transition from infants to grown up babies. Choosing one from the above mentioned it would be a fun time when a baby takes bath.

Why are dangerous chemicals like Phthalates in our baby products?

Phthalates are added to lubricate and soften other substances, as well as help lotion soften and penetrate the skin.  Phthalates are also used in baby lotions and baby shampoos to help the fragrance last longer. A study published in the Journal of Pediatrics February 2008 “Baby Care Products: Possible Sources of Infant Exposure.” concluded that: “Phthalate exposure is widespread and variable in infants. Infant exposure to lotion, powder, and shampoo were significantly associated with increased urinary concentrations of monoethyl phthalate, monomethyl phthalate, and monoisobuty phthalate, and associations increased with the number of products used. This association was strongest in young infants, who may be more vulnerable to developmental and reproductive toxicity of phthalates given their immature metabolic system capability and increased dosage per unit body surface area.”

How to avoid harmful products & where to find the good ones

The logical answer to protecting your child from these chemicals is to read the label before using anything on baby’s delicate skin.  Unfortunately, the label may or may not indicate the presence of toxic chemicals.  Often it is disguised behind the word ‘Fragrance’ or they do not necessarily disclose the presence of chemicals. The good news is that there are alternatives to the mainstream products such as the growing Organic Baby Product market. Products like Organic baby lotions, Organic baby shampoos, Organic baby cleansing gels and more are readily available at  online stores such as     www.takethetime.ca  

No matter where you shop,  the following are some tips on buying baby care products to guide you along the way:

Tips on Buying Baby Care Products

1. Educate yourself about the chemicals that occur in many Baby Products.  “Children are uniquely vulnerable to phthalate exposures given their hand-to-mouth behaviors, floor play, and developing nervous and reproductive systems” says Sheela Sathyanarayana, acting assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington and lead author of the study “Baby Care Products: Possible Sources of Infant Exposure.”
2. Check the labels and avoid products that contain
* DBP (dibutyl phthalate)
* DNOP (di-n-octyl phthalate)
* DiNP (diisononyl phthalate)
* DEP (diethyl phthalate)
* BBzP (benzyl butyl phthalate)
* DEHP (di 2-ethylhexl phthalate)
* DiDP (diisodecyl phthalate)
* DnHP (di-n-hexyl phthalate)
* DMP (dimethyl phthalate)
* DnOP (di-n-octylphthalate)
* Bisphenol A (BPA) is another plasticizer.

Caution: If you do not find the above chemicals on the label it does not necessarily mean that  the product is chemical free.   

3. Consider the product packaging as the container can leach phthalates into the product.
4. Change buying habits and source a retailer that only carries organic baby products – this will take much of the guess work out of protecting your baby and also sends a message to the corporations that as people become more conscious of the dangers around early and prolonged exposure to toxic chemicals, they will have to reformulate their products or risk losing business.