My Chicken Little is the friendliest of friendlies. He thrives on external stimuli and loves to meet new people, sharing his whole life with them in the first few minutes. Even as a toddler he would invite people home with us at the grocers, the library, out on the street. It was to the point that we made up his own “calling cards” so that he could give out our phone number and email for potential playdates.

He was so fragile of spirit that I was afraid to explain the concept of stranger danger to him. It seemed unimportant since he was with my constantly, holding onto my pants and afraid to leave my side. That gave me some comfort. But I knew he needed to know more about it – that there were people out there who would do him wrong given the chance. I was at a loss to explain what might happen in a way that would not frighten the friendliness right out of him or give him bad dreams since he was already prone to night terrors.

Then I came across this stranger safety video. It was created by the John Walsh, host of America’s Most Wanted who started that show after losing his child to a stranger and Julie Clark, the creator of the Baby Einstein videos. This video is up to date, compelling enough that even a nearly 6 year old Power Ranger fan wanted to watch it again, and clear enough that he was able to repeat for me everything he had learned correctly.

The information is presented in a non-scary format yet by the end of the video he understood the very real possibilities that could happen and what to do to prevent them. This is something I plan to watch with him at least several times a year since kids frequently forget.

What I particulary love about this video is that it has instant credibility. I could explain things to him until I’m blue in the face and they wouldn’t sink in. For some reason this information needs to come from someone else, someone outside his circle of safety, and the fact that it was presented in a media-rich format makes it real to him. Sadly, kids really do believe almost everything they see on TV. Use that to your advantage.

This video is a must-have for every household with kids over the age of 3, even though the video says 4 and up. If you have put off having the stranger danger talk, or even if you haven’t, please consider this video today. You can find this and other great child safety products at www.MyPreciousKids.com.

Another product, very worthy of a practical parent pick award!

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 12 months on 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!

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.

Cloth diaper we do butt sometimes the poo, oh the poo, oh the poo oh the poo and doo doo…

With Chicken Little I was somewhat militant about cloth diapering, which meant that I frequently was carrying soiled stinkies around with me because I needed to take them home to wash. It meant that my diaper bag really only had room in it for, well, for diapers. When Toddler was born I softened a little. I’m still committed to reducing my environmental footprint but overnight we use disposable. If we have a sitter we use disposable. And if we have a lot of errands to run we use disposable. At first my goal was to use no more than 7 a week but lately we’ve been on the go a lot and I noticed our disposable diaper consumption has increased. I’m starting to save up some garbage for the next week because the can is already full.

So last week I finally broke down and tried G Diapers. They are an interesting concept. The filling looks like the huge maxi pads of my teenage years that fit inside a trim little cover. They contain fewer chemicals than other diapers (although any filling that can absorb that much liquid cannot be entirely natural) but they break down in 50-120 days as opposed to 500 YEARS. That’s right, I said 500 years. That is how long it takes a regular disposable diaper to breakdown. Let alone the added “landmass” we are created in refuse. If we could only take that garbage landmass and add it back to the eroding coastline we are experiencing through climate change but I digress.

One interesting thing about the G Diaper is that it’s flushable. In order to flush it you tear open the outer cover of the pad and shake out the inside material. I tried this with great trepidation the first time but it flushed ok. My trepidation was rooted in the fact that we are a one crapper household, baby bjorn potty notwithstanding. While we were renovating the bathroom I went for 3 days without a toilet while 6 months pregnant so I’m a little nervous when it comes to doing without functional plumbing.

Tonight Toddler threw me a curveball in his G-diaper and for some reason I didn’t just toss it in the garbage. Without thinking I started ripping the outside and tried “shaking” the inner contents out without losing the smeared on contents, or the contents of my stomach. Of course I was holding the insert by the cleanest edge I could find, trying to pull the inner section out. The closer I got to the unsavory section the more stubborn and rooted the insert became. It was halfway out and I reasoned that what with swirling around in it’s little whirlpool it should finish coming out on it’s own so I gave it a flush. It looked like it flushed just fine.

About an hour later my husband approached me, tactfully asking if I knew of any reason the toilet might be overflowing. Well, there was one I could think of. The toilet was hopelessly plugged, even after about 10 minutes of furious plunging. Suddenly my husband remembered that the natural alternative to certain death for all wildlife as we know it Drano and Liquid Plumber also worked on toilets. He shook a little into the bowl and 10 minutes later it was completely unclogged. The particular brand we purchased is called Earth Enzymes but there are other natural enzyme products out there as well.

And the Earth Day moral of the story is (1) be sure to follow all directions when someone is telling you how to flush a large bulky object down your toilet and (2) always have a backup plan, or Earth Enzymes on hand just in case.