Archive for February, 2010
I happened to be in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday when I realized that it is Fur Rondy week. Since the Fur Rondy dog sled race starts in Downtown Anchorage on the first day of the events, the streets were full of pedestrians and other streets were blocked off to make way for the racing dog sleds.
My thoughts turned to families when I saw Mom and Dad and the kids walking together to get to the race starting point. What a great family outing. I felt warm inside to see the families together and I thought of the home before leaving when everyone is making way for the same occasion. They are not splitting up to go to school, work or whatever individual pursuits that take them on their separate ways.
They are spending this day together as a family with its shared experiences to see the races, Maybe they shared the Panake Breakfast at Pioneer Hall. They will see the parade and maybe the ice sculptures or share in any number of the events planned for the first day of Fur Rondy.
I love it!
Carbon monoxide (CO) comes silently into your home and the only way to detect it is with an alarm installed for just that purpose. If your alarm should go off, go outside immediately and call 911 to have your home checked by professionals. The alarm should be installed close to the sleeping area of your home and you should learn the sound that the alarm will make when it detects carbon monoxide.
Deadly carbon monoxide is produced by malfunctioning of the equipment; such as, fuel-burning heating equipment, furnaces, wood stoves, fireplaces, kerosene heaters, gas-burning water heaters, gas-burning kitchen stoves.
You should always operate your family barbeque outdoors. Be sure that the family car that is parked in the garage is turned off immediately upon entering the garage and make sure you do not run the car engine for any reason while it is parked in the garage as the CO can travel through your house from the garage.
And, again, remember to install that life saving carbon monoxide detector to ensure the home safety of your baby, yourself, and all of your family from this deadly gas.
When you are a new mother and you have placed your baby in a rear-facing car seat in the back seat of your vehicle, you will probably be concerned that the baby is still okay all the way back there by himself. The use of a specially designed baby mirror that clips to the visor of your car should give you a better feeling about his safety. At least you will be able to see him and know that he is still okay. Another feature that can be added to your car to protect the baby is a shade that can be pulled down if the sun is bright and it is shining right in the baby’s eyes.
These are both inexpensive items that can be easily installed and will make life easier for the baby and for you.
This was published in the Anchorage Daily News.
While almost everyone today is embracing breastfeeding, some young mothers still struggle to nurse their infants. Lack of familial support and the lack of the opportunity to learn the art of breastfeeding are common problems.
For a young woman who has just given birth and is in a vulnerable position, coping with pain, fatigue, emotional and hormonal upheaval, it is natural for her to look for support in decisionmaking from the people around her.
Fathers play a huge role in breastfeeding. For new mother to establish a healthy nursing relationship, she needs rest, fluids and quiet time with her baby. It helps enormously for the husband to take on some of the household chores or hire a housecleaning service for temporary relief. The time that he can spend time with the baby’s older siblings will give the mother the necessary peace and tranquility to nurse properly. His reassurance and comfort of his wife supports her when she becomes tired and frustrated.
When you have a crisis such as occurred because of the Haiti Earthquake, the mothers who were breast feeding their babies did not have the difficulties found by other mothers. No matter how the mother is able to eat herself, she is always able to nourish the child. The breastfeeding also helps the baby build immunity. Baby safety was definitely aided by breastfeeding.
Mothers who were not breast feeding their baby, or mothers who stopped lactating after the earthquake, had very few solutions for the baby. There was no milk, there was no clean water for powdered milk and they were not able to sterilize the bottles. In some cases they tried to feed them foods that the baby was not yet able to digest.
The ranch style home with everything on one floor is becoming rare as the need for building space is becoming difficult for many cities. The result is stairways in most of our homes which brings safety concerns for all of us.
Toddlers may try to reach the banister when they are walking up or down the stairs, but it causes an unsafe posture for stairways. There is a unique secondary railing system that enables a banister at a safe height for the toddler to assist them down or up the stairway. This will provide the necessary baby safety at home.
With all of the two and three story homes built today, it is advisable to have fire safety ladders in your home to aid firemen. It also adds peace of mind to know that there is a way to get out of the home in case the fire has blocked all exits and the window seems the only means of escape from the flames.
When I look out of my bedroom window and try to imagine jumping without the aid of a ladder, it is pretty scary. I feel sure that I would jump to escape the flames, but I know I would be injured. The thought of the escape ladder in my room gives me a feeling of safety. I hope I never need to use it, but just having it is a relief.
Children should be fully informed on the existence of the ladders and how to use them. This is one item that we hope will never be used, but it will help ensure the child’s safety if it should ever come to that.
Your baby is learning to communicate from the time they are born. Their first form of communication is crying. The baby learns when he cries that he will get your attention and he is communicating with you in the only way he knows.
About two months later, you will notice that when you speak to your child, he will gaze at you and coo and sometimes smile. At that time he has started to connect between what he hears and what he does with his mouth. When you speak to him in your monolog, he will start to recognize words and sounds.
Be sure when you converse with your baby, you leave him time to reply. He is babbling, but he is also attempting to imitate the sounds that he hears. He is making vowel and consonant sounds now and in a few months he will be able to imitate your words.
The excitement of his first word will remain a favorite memory of yours for years to come.