Christmas Crafts

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.....

Christmas is coming up, and along with delicious meals and gift wrapping, comes bad weather. What to do then!!!!! No worries, pinterest has the perfect solution for you.. FUN CHRISTMAS CRAFTS!

Check this page out and have fun the entire holidays.

http://www.pinterest.com/wholefoods/creative-christmas-projects/

Dance to the rythym of ......

Music can whirl us away, it makes us smile and cry, it reminds us of special moments in our lives. Babies should be exposed to nurturing music from the womb. Infants recognize melodies far before they to words. Toddlers can move and sway to it increasing their coordination and mood. Learning music and lyrics helps children learn words, secuence events, and even learn movements with songs like "head- shoulders-knees-and-toes."
Music can also develop social skills and its dynamics; children cooperate and have fun together while singing and dancing.

Encourage your child to sing and dance, teach them songs and bond over melodies!

http://www.peps.org/ParentResources/by-topic/development/physical/language-dev/benefits-of-music-in-child-development

Mom recepies!

As you may have noticed, I am somewhat of a nutricion freak!
I believe it is a HUGE HUGE HUGE part of growing up RIGHT. Creating habits from childhood is very important and if we can teach our kids to be and eat healthy.

http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/

You are what you eat.

Food. We are all about food. The world has become much more aware about eating organic, eating green, staying away from too much processing etc. As much as we take care of ourselves, we should take care of our children. Childhood obesity is on the rise, infants should be eating much better than adults being that they are growing and developing.

I can't stress the importance of nutrition begining with breastmilk, everything we give them from the day they are born affect their entire lives. Aside from the fact that eating healthy means better health, if children begin eating fruits and vegetables earlier, they are more inclined to continue eating and enyoing them as teens and adults.

I will leave you with an age-by-age guide of feeding your baby(: 

http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-your-baby_1400680.bc

Good luck and enjoy!

CDC Vaccine Schedule

Vaccines are of incredible importance to me, I can't emphazise it enough. Just to keep you moms in the loop and as a quick reminder, these are the Vaccine Schedules in the Us. I am sure your pediatrician keeps up with the vaccines but it is important for you to do it to. 

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/

Article on the Spotlight: Food Allergies & Its Effect on Growth

Allergies have always been around, they are common and easy to handle; yet what other effects do they have. This article compares the growth of children with allergies vs children without. The problem with these allergies is the avoidance of certain food groups and the deficiencies of these can lead to a less well rounded diet.

http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(14)00510-1/abstract

Mehta, Harshna, Manish Ramesh, Elizabeth Feuille, Marion Groetch, and Julie Wang. "Growth Comparison in Children with and without Food Allergies in 2 Different Demographic Populations." Journal of Paediatrics 165.4 (n.d.): 842-48. Web. <http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(14)00510-1/abstract>.

Article on the Spotlight: How Early Should Obesity Prevention Start?

Food. It's everywhere we look. We see it on TV, on huge billboards that we pass by everyday, Instagram, Pintest.... just everywhere. New and bigger desserts come out of the blue everyday, each more and more delicious. This food boom is growing both towards a healthy take of food and the other way around. Organic food is easily found, vegetarian options are available on more menus yet obesity is still escalating by the minute. The amount of childhood obesity is dreadful and it is important to start preventing it NOW. 
This article address childhood obesity, and the importance of it's prevention from an early age. 

Enjoy:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1310577

Gillman, Matthew W., and David S. Ludwig. "How Early Should Obesity Prevention Start?" New England Jounal of Medicine (2013): 2173-175. Web. <http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1310577>.

Article on the Spotlight: Imunization, and its importance

V A C C I N E S.

How can such an importan concept be so controversial. Yes, I understand, vaccines are realtively new but so are computers and we don´t doubt them. Keeping your child up to date with the vacination schedule of your country is IMPERATIVE to their health and well-being.

I BEG YOU, read this article to have an idea of why you should definitely vaccinate your child, visit your pediatrician and if you can´t afford them, there are various goverment clinics with very low cost vaccines.

Omer, Saad B., Daniel A. Salmon, Walter A. Orenstein, Patricia DeHart, and Neal Halsey. "Vaccine Refusal, Mandatory Immunization, and the Risks of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases." New England Journal of Medicine(n.d.): n. pag. Web. <http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa0806477#t=articleTop>.

Article on the Spotlight: Sick Child, Healthy Wallet

Life. There is no shortcut, not even in the boardgame. On top of there being no shortcuts, there are a ton of things that come in to make your life just a tad bit harder....... thank you world.... One of these factors that can bring your week from hard to disasterous is having a sick child. 

Work makes being a mother a million times harder, especially if you wonderfull child is sick. You can´t concentrate, you can´t leave your child alone so you send him to school feeling dreadfull and everyting just keeps on piling. 

This article talkes about how leaves, especially when your child is sick should be enforced, and how important they are to health. If you can have the day off to take care of your child, while not having to suffer economically can greatly benefit childrens health everywhere.

Schuster, Mark A., and Paul J. Chung. "Time Off to Care for a Sick Child — Why Family-Leave Policies Matter." New England Journal of Medicine(n.d.): n. pag. Web. 5 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1404860#t=article>.

Article on the Spotlight: Impact of Breast Milk on Intelligence Quotient, Brain Size, and White Matter Development

Breast feeding has become an iffy subject, many moms do anything to breastfeed as long as posible while others dread even the thougt of it. The benefits of breast milk are numerous, one well known benefit is that of immunity and the protection that it brings to the child in both its early and later years of life. 

I want to leave you with this article which talks about breast milk's impact on the brain and how it promotes IQ, brain size, and white matter development.

If you are interested on the subject and are considering breastfeeding I truly recomend reading this article (at least the discussion). As for my personal opinion I am without a doubt, all for breastfeeding!!!

I also leave a link to a website on 101 REASONS TO BREASTFEED.
http://www.notmilk.com/101.html

Isaacs, Elizabeth B., Bruce R. Fischl, Brian T. Quinn, Wuy K. Chong, David G. Gadian, and Alan Lucas. "Impact of Breast Milk on IQ, Brain Size and White Matter Development." Pediatric Reaserch (2011): 357-62. Web. 4 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nature.com/pr/journal/v67/n4/full/pr201066a.html>.