Recently in Health / Fitness Category

It is well established thy brushing with an electronic tooth brush improves overall dental hygiene. I use the Sonicare and my dental hygienist always comments on how clean my teeth are. On my recent trip to the pediatric dentist I was told that the Sonicare for kids is highly recommended to establish lifelong good dental care. I tried using my adult Sonicare with my tots with not so favorable results because they were bothered by the vibration. The difference with the specially designed Sonicare for kids is that this model has varying modes that ramp up the sonic vibration so your Tot will get used to it. It starts off slow, in other words, not so ticklish and gradually will increase with each use until it reaches the optimal speed. At which point your Tot is on his/her way to properly maintaining the adult teeth they will be using for the rest of their life. Philips Sonicare for Kids Toothbrush at Amazon for $69.99.

With so much debate and controversy over BPA and it's harmful affects, I decided to speak to Ron Vigdor, President of Born Free, maker of BPA free sippy cups and bottles. The importance of the discussion regarding BPA cannot be over stated. It is because of consumers like us who demand change that the industry and government has taken action. There has been decades of conspiracies to cover up this known harm because plastic is a $374 billion industry. The FDA has known about the potential danger of BPA since 1997 yet they have not banned BPA and are only influenced by lobbyists from the plastic industry. Meanwhile, children in the US have been and are still being exposed to the possible harms while more studies and test are conducted and analyzed. There are technicalities that make this issue terribly confusing but instead of waiting for the FDA to give us a clear understanding, we have decided to rely on the one rule parents have always followed - to better be safe than sorry.

Why did you start Born Free?

I saw a documentary in 2006 regarding the harm caused by BPA in plastics and it inspired me to develop products that would do good and be good.

Why is BPA so dangerous?

BPA (bisphenol-A) is an endocrine destroyer, hormone mimicker, causes cancer, diabetes, early puberty and learning and developmental delays and alters the gene physiques in the womb if ingested by the mother. It was used as a birth control substance in the early 1900's. BPA is particularly harmful to fetuses and babies under the age of 3 because of their inability to properly and fully synthesize and filter waste. The waste stays in their bodies longer and this causes more damage.

No time to clean the floor? Don't worry, just slip on these Evriholder Slipper Genie Microfiber Cleaning Slippers and clean your floor as you run back and forth chasing your tot around the house. OK, it's not the cleanest cleaning, but hey, it's better than nothing. Every little bit of lint and dirt you pick up is icing on the cake! If there is one thing mommies are good at, it's multi-tasking. Plus, the chenille slippers are pretty comfortable. When you're done, throw them in the washing machine. Comes in women's and men's sizes, for equal participation. At Amazon for $11.97.

It is raining cats and dogs here, or Pigs and Spongbob Squarepants! But with the heater going, you still always need a good humidifier. I have an area in my garage with all the reject humidifiers. The Crane Cool Mist is best, and most of my friends with tots agree. It is stealthily quiet, you can control the amount of humidity and comes in super cute designs. Another plus, when your tot is sick, according to my pediatrician, cool mist is best. My 2 year old recently got crup, it's where the larynx gets infected so the air way is inflamed and blocked. She sounded like she couldn't breathe and her cough was the sound of a barking sea lion! She ended up in the ER where they gave her an oral steroid but they also treated her with cool mist - just simple plain saline water in a mist form. I was told to take her home and keep her in the bathroom while running a cold shower. I told the doctor about my Crane humidifier and he agreed that it would do the exact same thing, except using WAY less water!! Plus, I can keep this on all day (auto shut off when the water runs out). If you crank this thing way up, you will create a rain forest in your room. You do need to elevate the machine to avoid misting the floor - it does get really wet! I put it on a steady step stool with a towel underneath when blasting the mist on HIGH. The Crane Pig Cool Mist Humidifier, SpongeBob SquarePants and other designs at Amazon for $34.99 and $39.99.

I always wonder how tots can crawl at break neck speeds on hard floor without a wince. For those who have chased tots on our knees can attest that it is painful and probably damaging for our knee caps. I do realize tots are much lighter so the load is more delicate but it would be better for everyone's knees and sanity if there was padding, like the Silipads knee pads with silicon padding. Why didn't these exist when my tots were crawling?? These are great for going outdoors because scratchy abrasive surfaces does not stop a tot from wanting to be on the go! Put these easy to go on pads and let them go! But wear gloves of course =) One size fits most, comes in blue, green, orange or red for $14.95 at Silikids.

Yes, it is flu season and we try everything we can to avoid getting sick but it's impossible to be 100% vigilant. This Braun Thermometer saved my sanity when both my daughters AND my husband got sick, one after another with some overlap. I was spared, possibly because of the flu shot I got (none of them got the shot) but most likely because I am the mommy and I had to stay healthy to take care of everyone. The last thing you need to worry about is fighting with your tots over the rectal thermometer. It is just brutal. But you really need to keep a constant eye on their temperatures and there is nothing more accurate and easy than an ear thermometer. I love this thing! Every hour I would go around and get a fast and easy read (about 3 seconds), it comes with a cover but I reused the same one for each tot (and husband). You can change it easily from Celsius to Fahrenheit depending on your preference. This is a MUST for newborns and if you are still using mercury, you cannot wait another day, get this NOW!! At Amazon for $69.

There is nothing more horrifying than the thought of losing your child to abduction. Or even just losing them, not matter if it is only for 5 minutes. During the busy shopping season, our minds are elsewhere and stores are crowded, so this unfortunately this is also the season for tots going missing. Did you know, a tot goes missing every 40 seconds? That bit of factoid is going to keep me up at nights. The most crucial factor in finding them is time, and the quicker information about your child and go out to authorities the more likely they will be found quickly. The Amber Alert Registry™ allows parents to update their tot's latest vital information (height, weight, photo, medical issues etc..) to be at the law enforcement's fingertips. The Amber Alert Registry saves critical time to initiate an immediate response from local authorities. It is $19.95 for the yearly subscription to the service and the processing fee is free the first child and a one time fee of $4.95.

The founder of Amber Alert Registry is also the co-creator of Eyedentity Label. The labels are in the form of a temporary tattoo with important information like allergies, medical conditions and your contact information. This is especially crucial for the mentally challenged and the elderly.

Hopefully, you will NEVER need this information but anything you can do to prevent something horrible from happening, you should do it. Especially when it is so easy to do. Just a few simple steps and you can have a bit of peace of mind.

Dr. Margaret Mitchell, DDS, owner of Mitchell Dental Spa a dental spa facility in Chicago's Water Tower Place, offers the following tips to for protecting your kids teeth at Halloween:

· Avoid sticky candy such as taffy, gummy bears, caramel, etc. Sticky Candy adheres to teeth and causes decay.

· Have you child chew gum with zylitol sweetener with prevents tooth decay. Orbit and Trident both have zylitol sweetener.

HAPPY TRICK OR TREATING!!!! (P.S. These tips go for grown ups as well. I am one of those who buy my favorite candy bar to give away, which means, half are gone before I get the first trick or treater!!).

Let's just cut to the chase here, this stuff WORKS!! I have heard that this is a favorite among models but how much help do models need really? I need the strong stuff, not the superficial cream for minor blemishes, I've got serious problems here! That is why I haven't tried it until it was given to me to review. After having 2 kids, the skin on my stomach looks like something out of a sci-fi alien movie, it was certainly not the human skin I was born with. I don't mind sporting my pooch but I stop at wrinkly, bunchy, wavy skin. It is enough to make me phone a plastic surgeon. I've tried every kind of cream, very expensive ones, and they had some positive results but none like this one. After 2 weeks of use, the skin on my tummy is visibly smoother. I can't say much for the actual loss of fat but it definitely makes me look nicer and therefore in my mind skinnier. The main ingredient is L-carnitine which is natural in the body and metabolized fat into energy. It comes with dietary supplements that will help this process but I am taking other vitamins already so I did not take these (and I still had results!). Nivea Good Bye Cellulite with 30 day supplements at Amazon for $20.47.

My perfect 22 month old was diagnosed with strabismus at 6 months old. Crossed eyes are normal for small infants who are still adjusting to sight but once they reach 6 months of age they should be straight. Your pediatrician will check for this at the 6 month check up but you know best and should see an ophthalmologist by the 7th month if the eyes do not straighten out.

As soon as the ophthalmologist saw my tot, she knew there was a problem. Her crossing is caused by her being far-sighted but strabismus has many causes. Some are caused by a stronger dominant eye or a misalignment of the eyes and in order to avoid double vision, the brain chooses to disregard one eye and the suppressed eye becomes lazy and will wonder. My tot's far sightedness causes her to strain her eye muscles unnecessarily and causes both eyes to cross indiscriminately (both cross equally). It is a brain mis-communication, the brain is telling the eye muscles to work too hard and this causes the eyes to cross. Initially the doctor thought the crossing could be corrected with glasses. The idea was to correct the far sightedness and therefore re-signal the brain to relax the eye muscles. Of course, this is all very non-technical, laymen terms that I have come to understand.

The glasses did help in the beginning and as soon as she started wearing them, her eyes straighten out. I was really sad that she had to wear glasses but they are really cute and she always gets a lot of attention from people seeing a little baby with glasses on. After 6 months of wearing glasses, she showed amazing improvement so the prescription was reduced. We were really hopeful that this would continue until she no longer needed them, even though the doctor warned that it could take into adolescence for this to happen. I just didn't want her to have to wear glasses for the rest of her life but more importantly, I needed for the glasses to work because I wanted to avoid surgery! Unfortunately, this is not the case.