johncsnider

Are you still struggling with some last minute gifts? My favorites are the homemade ones! I have some great Pregnancy and baby crafts as well as older sibling crafts  my Pinterest page !

Check my Facebook page to see if you won. I gave away a  FREE brand new double breast-pump: The First Years Breastflow Memory Pump valued at $179.99 .

I am sharing a great video from Stanford on how to get almost 2x the milk from pumping for premature babies and moms immediately returning to work outside the home. Of course only nursing (no bottles) is the best way to have a good supply of breastmilk as the baby can eat on demand and his or her suction is the best type for draining and stimulating more milk. Pumping is not as great at getting milk out. New moms who try to pump when their babies are very small find that little or no milk comes out. These moms should try to keep the baby on the breast as much as possible. If the baby is premature or she is already returning to work outside the home, here is a great "hands-on" method to use your hands and pump simultaneously to maximize output. If output does not increase a Lactation Consultant should be privately hired (pediatricians and OBGYNs are not specialized in milk production). http://newborns.stanford.edu/Breastfeeding/MaxProduction.html

The Wold Health Organization (WHO) recommends that 15% of births should be by cesarean. They have done endless research globally. I respect the WHO.  My sister-in-law told me her birth story in Germany five years ago. Her doctor assigned a midwife as soon as she was pregnant. The midwife did everything from prenatal visits to the delivery. A doctor was at the hospital overseeing that the birth went okay but was there just in case of emergencies and not to deliver the baby. The midwife then made several home visits after the birth to ensure that breastfeeding was successful and that mommy and baby were healthy. Her region has a 17% cesarean rate. I love birth stories .

Do you wonder why my family doesn’t get the flu? Here’s my secret recipe. Mainstream medical professionals all agree that the flu shot is safe for pregnancy women. While I was pregnant with my second baby in 2009-2010, it was during the swine flu scare and I had chosen not to get the flu shot. My caregiver tried all sorts of things: “You won the giveaway, it is free!” “No thank you”. It is always questionable as to how much the flu shot works and I personally didn't feel right about injecting merc ury ( Thimerosal, found in some flu vaccines)  and  formaldehyde  in to my bloodstream that would then go to my baby. So how is it that I have three germ carrying kids and have not had the flu in 9 years? Well 9 years ago, I was going through a transitional time and I was eating so much processed foods. This was just a year after I had been living in Africa, eating mostly unprocessed foods, and was exposed to plenty of Vitamin D daily. Now my body for the first time in several years foun