Parenting
Is Your Child Constipated?
There’s a lot of confusion about what “regular” means. That’s because different specialists will cite different norms for what is considered normal or healthy when it comes to children’s bowel movements. And although you may hear that famous quote that “everybody’s differ...
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12 Nutrition Tips for Picky Eaters
Are you struggling with a picky eater? In my practice I see many parents worry about food and whether or not their children are getting enough nutrients into their systems. They nag, threaten, bribe, and sometimes fight over meals. This type of tension is not conduc...
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Savvy Back To School Meal Planning
It’s time to go back to school and parents are scrambling to find foods that their kids will eat (and not trade or throw away) at lunch and snack time. The name of the game is convenience – food and snacks that can be packed with the least amount of fuss or muss. Compani...
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Does Bribery Work?
Does bribing your kids work?Giving a child a choice empowers him/her unlike punishment, rewards, or bribes. The use of these methods belongs to the authoritarian system and the firm establishment of power. In a system of equals, a job gets done because it needs doing, an...
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Eating Disorders In Children
Believe it or not, recent studies show that boys and girls as young as 7 years old are suffering from body image and eating disorder issues. More and more kids are struggling to live up to the unrealistic images they see in the media and are willing to put their lives at...
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Children's Nutrition: Colorful Plates
Parents of picky eaters ask themselves the same question every day: how do I ensure my children are getting the nutrition they need? When a child’s palate is limited to only a handful of food choices, we naturally worry that he is not receiving all the vitamins, mineral...
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Heavy Metals and Kids Health
Aluminum, copper, mercury and lead are words we are familiar with and associate with things like piping and industry. Today however these heavy metals are far more prevalent than many of us parents realize and are subsequently affecting the delicate health of our childre...
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Immune Boosters For Kids (And Adults)
Your immune system is your bodys natural defense against illness and disease. Keeping your immune system healthy will ensure that your body will know exactly what to do when you are exposed to a cold, the flu, or other infections. It also knows exactly what to do if you ...
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Natural Head Lice Treatment
Most parents dread lice - the pesky little critters that love to set up house in our children’s hair. We dread even the word because we know if its being tossed around at school that it means that one of the students is infected – or rather infested. This also means tha...
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Can Parents Do Anything To Prevent Autism?
With autism statistics sharply on the rise, many parents are asking whether they can do anything to prevent the condition from affecting their unborn or newborn children. While in the past many doctors and experts would have dismissed this possibility, claiming that auti...
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Recognizing Childhood Illnesses
One of the less pleasant things about having children is the childhood diseases that come with the territory. As much as we parents try to protect our little guys from getting sick or feeling unwell, there is only so much we can do. Children simply get sick – often from ...
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Baby's Immune System
As with all other organs and systems in the body, a newborn is not born with a fully developed immune system at birth. Rather, their immunity - a protective function consisting of cells, proteins, and organs - grows and strengthens with time, striving with each new day t...
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How To Pump Breast Milk
For mothers who choose to breastfeed, the one downside that is commonly noted is the lack of freedom they have to leave baby for more than an hour or so at a time. Since breastfed newborns rely strictly on mom for their existence, new moms have little flexibility to leav...
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Making Sense of Baby's Dirty Diapers
For new parents even changing a diaper can be daunting. Its not the physical act itself that is particularly challenging but rather interpreting the contents. Just how do you know that the color and consistency of what you find in your little one’s nappy is what it is su...
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Protective Strategies For Diarrhea
At some point in your young child’s life they will probably develop diarrhea. This protective mechanism results from their body’s attempt to expel a pathogen or substance that has caused them irritation or an upset of sorts. Diarrhea can range from being a minor irritati...
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First Foods For Baby: What and When?
Many debates abound over what foods to introduce first and at what exact point we should introduce them to our growing babies. We often hear one opinion from our mothers and quite possibly another from our doctors. Our best friend can give us advice on what the moms in h...
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Breast Feeding My Baby
I was never one to love breast feeding. Surprising, right? But true.I now have 3 kids - an 8 year old son, 6 year old daughter and a 4 month old daughter. I breast fed all of them, but my experiences with each were very different.Before my son was born, I knew I want...
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Are Our Kids Too Clean?
Cleanliness has become an American obsession. We want everything very clean – until it sparkles and even smells clean. But is this desire for cleanliness irrational and even harmful?Keeping our bodies clean is essential to good health. We know that regular washing o...
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Baby Weaning
You have been breastfeeding your baby for as long as you think appropriate and are now ready to quit. So just how do you stop this daily habit that you know your baby enjoys and is attached to? Well although the process may not be as easy as simply stopping cold turkey,...
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Air Travel With Baby
The experience of traveling with your new baby can be wonderful. Or it can be awful. Most likely though, it will fall somewhere in between. To make the experience as pleasant as possible for the whole family, preparation is key.Ideally you want to wait until baby is...
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Breastfeeding During Pregnancy
Many women wonder whether they can continue to breastfeed their first baby when they become pregnant with their next. According to La Leche League International (the international breastfeeding experts) the answer is yes in most cases although certain considerations shou...
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Helping Your Baby To Sleep
Ask most parents what the hardest part of parenting a newborn is and they will most likely tell you it is the sleep deprivation. As adults we value and need our sleep. So when our baby comes along and interrupts this much-needed restful phase of our days, we suffer. But ...
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Introducing Your Dog To Your New Baby
Introducing the dog to your baby can be somewhat scary for new parents. Before the baby is born, start by allowing your dog to be in the baby’s room, but only at the doorway. You can do this by taking your dog to the baby’s bedroom door and telling it to stay. If your do...
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Healthy Diapers for New Baby
You have a brand new little one and you want to do right by her. So you feed her well, buy organic or natural clothes and toys, and avoid using toxic chemicals in the home. But what about something as mundane and quotidian as diapers?The average child will go through app...
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The Role of Expectant Dads
Much information is available to educate a pregnant woman about how to care for herself as her body mysteriously goes to work at creating a new human being. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the expectant father. Expectant dads are often at a loss for what they can or ...
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Understanding Your Baby's Cues
For many new parents trying to understand their newborns is a bit like trying to decipher a code – near impossible. The cries they thought were from hunger aren’t. The fussiness they thought was from soiled diapers isn’t. As a result many new parents are left wondering how to ...
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Improve Children's Digestive Health
When stomach upset occurs in small children it can be very unpleasant for both children and parents alike. Sometimes a sore tummy can be symptomatic of a cold or allergies, and you either have to wait it out or, in the case of allergies, consult your health care practitioner. ...
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Baby's First Week - What Mom Should Know
Being a first time mom is intimidating – there are so many new things to learn that you wonder how you’ll ever get through those first months. In preparation many moms-to-be read as many books as they can and talk to all their experienced mom friends to get the scoop about the...
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Teaching Kids About Eating Seasonally
Most kids today don’t know that the bananas they eat daily are imported from tropical countries or that the strawberries they see in their cereal in the winter may have had to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles. Kids today don’t know this because supermarkets carry all...
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Kids Allowance & Money Management
Allowances are a great opportunity to teach kids about money. That means that you don’t send mixed messages and use allowance to bribe your kids to do their chores or punish them by taking it away when they don’t. Chores should be kept separate from money management issues. ...
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Green Your Back to School Shopping
Its the time of year again: Kids and parents around the country are getting ready for another school year, and that means serious shopping time. But before you head out for a marathon shopping day, think about the ways you can go green to make your childs school year an ...
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Protecting The Health of Our Boys
A fascinating yet shocking development has been transpiring over the past few decades: the world is slowly starting to lose its boys through declining male births. This recent phenomenon has a lot to do with the steady infiltration of hormone-disrupting chemicals in our daily ...
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Too Much TV Means Poorer Health
The average American child spends four to five hours a day in front of a screen—that’s roughly one-third of their waking time either in front of a TV or a computer, and all that screen time could be adding up to poor health. The trend toward more time in front of the t...
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Green Nursery for Baby
Kermit the Frog said, “It ain’t easy being green” but creating a healthy space for your infant is easier today than ever before.Paint: Paint the walls of your nursery and furniture with VOC-free paint. Paints can produce significant off-gassing in your home. Most VOCs (vo...
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Natural Remedies for Teen Acne
My adolescent daughter is devastated. Granted, at this age, it doesn’t take much to pull her into an emotional frenzy. Today’s culprit is a small, red bump that has appeared on her forehead, smack in the middle of her eyebrows. “What is this?” she claims, pointing at her head. “...
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Natural & Green Ways to Welcome New Baby
Welcoming a new baby home is one of the most exciting and memorable experiences for new parents. We prepare for baby’s arrival for months in advance, ensuring we have everything ready when or if baby needs it. While shopping, it is wise to consider the quality of the products ...
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Childhood Obesity from a Holistic Perspective
It’s frightening to read statistics that suggest children in the United States are not expected to live past the generation before them. The United States is unique in that it is the world-leader when it comes to children who are both malnourished and obese. These seemingly con...
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Parenting Tips for Moods and Feelings
Do you ever notice that your kids act up when you're having a bad day? If you are down in the dumps it's not unusual for kids to be affected by it. Families interact with each other in such a way that our disposition impacts everyone in the household. It's not un...
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Tips to Get Your Toddler to Eat
Almost every child will go through at least one phase where his or her appetite is decreased. This could be due to illness, fatigue, stress, or asserting their independence by trying to control their food intake. In most cases, parents have nothing to worry about as the child ...
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Preparing Your Child for a New Baby
You have done all the tests and now it is official - baby number two is on the way. You and your partner are delighted and look forward to the arrival of the newest member of your expanding family. The only problem you can foresee is that your firstborn will not be too happy abou...
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