Refluxers are notoriously bad in the car. The second you fit them down into the carseat well and begin to buckle the straps they spit up and typically scream or cry for the entire car ride. The reason for this is that most infant bucket style car seats are designed for older babies and despite that the seat puts them in an upright position it puts pressure on the tummy which can cause refluxing. In a bouncy seat or swing it’s possible to roll up a hand towel to fill in the well and relieve some pressure but it’s not safe to do that in a carseat.

I was excited to come across the Hug Me Joey car seat support which can alleviate the pressure on the tummy and has been extensively crash tested and hospital-approved. The Hug Me Joey has a wedge that goes into the well of the carseat to minimize it, lifting the baby up and out of the well. It also has a positioning roll that keeps the baby from slumping over to the side. The roll creates a cozier sense of boundaries in the carseat for newborns that makes them feel more secure.

Next to tear and barf-free car rides, my favorite thing about the Hug Me Joey is that you can also use it in a bouncy seat, swing, or stroller and the roll can be used to help position a baby for side sleeping or can be placed around the baby in a U shape to prevent a tiny baby from rolling down a slightly propped crib or bassinette mattress, which makes it a great value.

If you are tired of cleaning the carseat and baby each time you take a quick car trip try the Hug Me Joey. Another practical parenting picks winner!

Sleep solutions are hard to come by with reflux kids and if you’ve had one you understand what I’m talking about. For the parent of an older baby, toddler or child with reflux, sleep can be elusive and frustrating - especially given how the lack of it can both affect their development and household temperaments.

If you have a younger baby who is placed on a wedge with sling from an early age they adapt very well to it. However, some babies aren’t diagnosed with reflux until they are older and by then they want nothing to do with a harness. For them and the unfortunate toddlers and older kids who are too big for baby reflux wedges there aren’t many propping solutions.

It takes a 30 degree plus angle to provide real relief from reflux. An adult can simply recline with their torso on a wedge and remain that way all night. Children are very active sleepers so that solution doesn’t work well. They either roll off the side of the wedge or scoot down to the flat mattress, rendering the wedge ineffective. To make matters worse a baby may roll down and become wedged against blankets or crib railings, increasing the risk of SIDS.

I was so excited to learn about a fairly new sleep solution for acid reflux in children and pediatric reflux - an ingenious foam bed comprised of a series of stacked wedges that allows babies who weigh at least 15 pounds, toddlers and kids up to 5 years old to sleep on an angle without either rolling off the side of a wedge or sliding down to the foot of the bed or crib.

The Comfy Lift kid’s reflux bed is basically a series of wedges at the head sloping down towards the feet with another series of wedges at the feet sloping the opposite direction back to the bum to keep the child from sliding down. As the child grows and the wedges at the feet are no longer needed they can be removed. There are also wedges at the sides sloping in to the body to prevent the child from rolling off the sides of the wedge.

The bed comes with a waterproof cover and one fitted knit cotton sheet. It has a rather large footprint (48″ x 28″) but does fit in standard American crib and toddler bed frames. It can also sit directly on the floor. At it’s highest point it is 16″ high so once an older baby starts climbing you should use a secure crib tent to prevent any falls, or move the whole wedge to a toddler bed frame or the floor.

Karen over at www.InfantReflux.org has an extensive review of the bed with images. If you have never been on her site before it has an amazing forum for parents and caregivers of infants with reflux that I highly recommend.

For the toddler or older child with low oxygenation levels, pediatric GERD, sleep apnea, congestion or other breathing troubles that cause frequent and/or painful night wakings this bed is a blessing and worthy of a practical parenting pick!

I just recently finished reading Reflux 101: A Parent’s Guide to Gastroesophageal Reflux by Jan Gambino, aka Reflux Mom. I’ve followed Jan Gambino for the last 5 years since she’s been a driving force behind the PAGER organization, a non-profit pediatric reflux website. She’s also written many articles on reflux and writes a weekly reflux blog for the HealthCentral Network so she knows a bit about infant reflux.

The book was an easy read that I wish I had when my first was born. It covers what is normal and what is GER versus GERD, sleep issues specific to reflux, positioning, testing, medications and prepares you for conversations with the pediatrician. There is a section for reflux in older children and information on high needs parenting, returning to work and taking care of yourself.

Jan covers all the topics a parent with a refluxer would be experiencing and then some, based on her experience from years of monitoring reflux boards. What I particularly love about this book is her easy writing style, non-judgmental or alarmist approach to the topic and the useful tips and stories from the trenches that other GERD parents have shared.

This book is the perfect thing to make you feel less isolated and see what has worked for other parents in your same situation. It definitely ranks as a practical parent pick!

Whiff!

First tooth gone - and now I’m out $2.

For mother’s day we went to the beach and poked around the tidal pools at Discovery Park. The sun made a rare appearance and we had a scrumptious picnic. Best. Mother’s. Day. Ever.

Perhaps dreaming of chickens?

Grandma finally made it back from Arizona just in time for Easter! We did a little Easter wrestling with cousins

Some hunting

Some eating

Some impressing of the ladies by being able to work the radio while not paying attention to driving

Some surveying of law breakers

And as much force on the accelerator as possible

When it comes to baby carriers I have tried almost all of them. I’ve spent a small fortune on carriers trying to find just the perfect one that would be supportive and soft enough for a tiny baby but still work for one of those older toddlers who still demands to be held all the time or one who runs off in crowded places.

The perfect carrier needs to make the baby feel safely supported, distribute the baby’s weight correctly for mom/dad so it’s not isolated in the same spot day in and day out, and should be flexible enough to allow for different positions (front versus back facing or even on mom/dad’s front versus mom/dad’s back.) It also needs to be easy to adjust for baby’s constant growth.

If the baby has infant reflux it is critical that the carrier puts him in an upright position closely positioned on mom or dad’s body for support and with a straight spine. If the baby carrier does not correctly support the baby, he will slump which puts pressure on his tummy and causes reflux even though he is in an upright position.

The Moby Wrap fits the bill, easily achieving these requirements. It comes in a wide range of colors which is nice since I consider a baby carrier to be the ultimate mommy accessory - a highly visible item you wear on your person. It’s nice to coordinate it with your wardrobe.

There is a small learning curve to tying the wrap but once you’ve done it, it becomes second nature. When we left the house to run errands I would tie the wrap on and leave it that way, popping the baby in and out when we reached our destination. It was so much easier to do that then to lug the huge carseat carrier in and out of the car.

It made those nights of walking the floor with a fussy baby that much easier since he would instinctively calm down once I put him in the wrap and remain quiet while I gently moved. I used it when vacuuming, making dinner or helping my toddler. The Moby Wrap was indispensible for my family and let us resume some semblance of normalcy during those turbulent new baby months.

The Moby Wrap definitely deserves a Practical Parent Pick!

As a new parent I found it incredibly frustrating to wade through differing parenting methodologies, or to determine which gear was necessary - and of those which ones were thoughtfully constructed versus poorly designed or manufactured. To compound matters, items that worked for mellow babies might aggravate babies with reflux or colic. I spent a fortune on products that I ended up throwing or giving away!

I’ve spent the last five years researching products that work well for infant reflux or colic but I also have a huge appreciation for quality products, thoughtfully made that benefit first the baby and then the parent. I phrase that carefully because I believe there are many items on the market today that benefit the parent to the detriment of the baby (like hands-free baby bottles and baby videos.)

If you have a product you believe is worthy of my Practical Parent Picks Award, or have a website that is sincere and genuinely helpful to families please email me at Annette@PollywogBaby.com with your info.

The other day I finally made it around to some fall yardwork (now that it’s March!) I was thrilled to clear away a huge pile of leaves and find this underneath:

Hopefully it will look this sweet once the chickens arrive…

I’ve been really remiss about posting lately, in part due to designing the makeover for the front yard and starting veggie starts but also because of the crazy number of experiments going on over in my kitchen.

And now, I dedicate the remainder of this post to the kids.

So last week Chicken Little had his first sleepover with his friend Lisa who pretty much lives across the street from us. She is a little bit older than he is but she had never slept over at someone else’s house before and was just as excited as he was.

We normally make pizza for dinner on Sundays but we planned it for Saturday since every kid loves pizza. She came walking across the street with a large duffel bag and grocery bag full of her stuffed animals, pajamas and pillow. She was thrilled to hear about pizza for dinner and even more excited to learn that they would each have their own sleeping bag and small tent to sleep in.

When it came time to make the pizza she was amazed beyond belief that not only were we going to make it but that the kids got to help. She and Chicken Little took turns up on the stool spreading the sauce, carefully placing the slices of fresh mozzarella (from River Valley Cheese, a blend of cow and yak’s milk this time of year but soon to include water buffalo milk at the onset of spring), kalamata olives from Napa and sweet Italian sausage from Skagit River Farm. She kept clapping her hands squealing “I can’t believe how exciting this is!” Chicken Little might have done some eyerolling since this is old hat to him but he kept his cool.

They were complete partners in crime most of the night, carrying on excited conversations about how they both planned to be scientists when they grew up. “Hey Lisa if you’re a dinosaur scientist and I’m a dinosaur scientist then we’ll be working TOGETHER! Won’t that be fun?!!!”

After dinner they got to watch a movie with buttered popcorn in individual movie-style red and white striped bags. And then all too soon for them it was bedtime. They chose to sleep in tents in the living room but Chicken Little decided his sleeping pad was too uncomfortable and he wanted to sleep in his own bed so I moved Lisa’s tent in there and tucked him in. They each had a nightlight.

About 10 minutes later I heard them arguing and Chicken Little came stomping into the kitchen, hands on hips telling me grumpily that Lisa wouldn’t turn her light off and he couldn’t sleep. We tried an old eye mask I found, we tried covering his eyes and facing the other way but he was pretty bent on getting that light extinguished. Finally I realized she was alseep so I snuck into her tent, moved the nightlight to the other side of her and away from Chicken Little and covered her nightlight a little with a stuffed animal to take the edge off.

Finally, around 10 p.m. - a full 2 hours after bedtime - he managed to get to sleep.

All in all they had a great time together.

Chicken Little had this brainstorm yesterday - he wants to have a sleepover. His first choice was Dylan across the street who was unable to come over this weekend. So he invited Lisa, across the street and a few houses down.

He’s been talking about it non-stop, planning what they will play with and watch, where they will sleep, even the dinner menu. It’s very sweet to see him so excited about something.

Tonight after his shower he spent a long time in his room. When I went in to check on him I was amazed to see it completely picked up. And not just all put on top of the dresser, thrown inside the closet or swept under the bean bag this time but really put away and organized. I was speechless so he quipped “I wanted it to look nice for Lisa.”

It was so hard not to giggle, especially since he was standing there in his superman robe with his hair all slicked back like a young Hugh Heffner. My little man. I just hope things turn out at least sort of the way he wants them to since he doesn’t deal so well with disappointment.

In the past he and Lisa have been kindred spirits, watching Godzilla together and running around the house screaming that they just saw a ghost. Lisa has changed this year though. She is a year older than Chicken Little who has an August birthday so I chose not to start him in school yet. That means this is her second year in elementary school and Chicken Little is still in preschool. When she was over the other day she spent most of the time reading our library books much to Chicken Little’s chagrin.

I guess I need to begin this process of hoping for the best, knowing he will be disappointed that things don’t work out just as he envisioned, and helping him move on. Preschool is just about over - it’s time for the real parenting to start.

Chicken Little has been amazing lately. The first sleep behaviorist we hired when he was about 10 months old told us he would probably mellow out around 5 and she was right. The tantrums are becoming fewer and farther between, which makes them easier to manage, ignore and forgive.

He has made HUGE progress with his letters this year. He knows them all and their sounds and is starting to piece them together into words. That knowledge is pleasing him in the same way that he was pleased with himself immensely when he started to walk and could take things into his own control. It feels like we have entered new territory with him.

Toddler, on the other hand, has converted from mild-mannered Mr. Flexible into a full-on crazy monkey. His recall is worse then the neighbor’s blind, deaf dog’s. He is adamantly stubborn, willfully disobedient and does it all with the sweetest smile on his face. This week has seen a lot of hitting and refusing to apologize on his part. It’s a phase - right? Or so you always hope when it’s negative behavior. That sweet smile though, that is here to stay. I just know it.

There is nothing better than washable markers! And nothing worse then discovering that markers you thought were washable are not…

In primitive cultures masks represented cultural ideals, summoning the magic that only something so pure could conjur. The day after my cupcake class Chicken Little asked if he could use the cardboard circle for an art project. I agreed of course, eager to recycle rather than throw away. He disappeared into the recesses of his closet and emerged with the huge art bin, some paints and yarn about 10 minutes later.

While I went about some mom-ish chores he set to work with a fever unparalleled. About 30 minutes later he proudly showed me his creation - and then proceeded to put on some sort of mystical ceremony wearing his mask.

I’m not sure if he was trying to make it sunny or drive away swarming pests but it surely was entertaining. And my heart was bursting at his ingenuity, creativity and independence. I think he did a bang up job, whatever it is supposed to be.