If you’re expecting and you just cracked up reading that title, don’t worry. You’re not alone. I had to laugh at the notion of a pregnant woman who keeps her cool 24/7. That said, if any of the following tips might help anyone out there, I would be remiss to not share them here.

The American Pregnancy Association offers these suggestions to help keep mood swings under control:

* Get enough quality sleep.
* Take a few quick breaks each day to just relax and unwind, or sneak in a quick nap.
* Get daily exercise and eat a healthy, balanced diet. Talk to your doctor about what’s appropriate.
* Spend time relaxing with your partner.
* Do something fun with a friend.
* Get a massage, or take a pregnancy yoga class.
* Take it easy. Try not to get too stressed or overwhelmed with worry.

The sleep thing is definitely true. I’m not fun to be around when I’m not pregnant and am short on sleep. When I am expecting, it’s ten times worse. The rest…well, I had to laugh at the last one. Let me know if it works for you.

Posted by Sunshine.

I know several of the moms on the MomSquawk message boards have done so with no adverse effects, so please don’t think that I’m jumping on anyone. The American Pregnancy Association (APA) says that, in general, it’s safest not to paint during pregnancy, but if you choose to do so, you can minimize risks by taking the following precautions:

* Always talk to your doctor before you attempt to paint anything or use any type of paint.
* If you do paint, always wear a face mask and protective clothing to guard your skin. Also, keep the area well-ventilated.
* Paint for short periods over several days. Don’t do too much or paint too frequently.
* Avoid latex paints that contain the chemicals ethylene glycol ethers or biocides.

(Courtesy of HealthDay.)

Posted by Sunshine.

I love the idea of bunk beds. They save space, and give kids a fun way to share a room with a sibling or overnight guest. But with an average of 36,000 bunk bed-related injuries reported each year, it’s worth taking a moment to note the potential dangers with this setup.

The most common mishap, of course, is falling out of the top bunk. Kids and young adults alike (a surprising number of people aged 18-21 were among the injured) can sustain cuts, bruises, and fractures, many of the latter requiring hospitalization, from falls and other accidents involving bunk beds.

So what’s a parent to do?

The authors of the study reporting these statistics recommended the following injury prevention strategies:

* using guardrails on both sides of the upper bunk with guardrail gaps being 3.5 inches or less to prevent entrapment and strangulation;
* checking that the mattress foundation is secure and the mattress is of proper size;
* not allowing children under age 6 to sleep in the top bunk;
* using night lights to help children see in a dark room;
* removing hazardous objects from around the bed; and,
* placing bunk beds safely away from ceiling fans or other ceiling fixtures.

Posted by Sunshine.

I’ve been watching my sodium intake (and thus, my family’s since three of the four of us eat the same foods) because my blood pressure was on the rise. One of the foods we’ve learned to be very careful on is soup. We use soups in various recipes; I’m a soup person in general anyway. But have you SEEN the sodium levels in your soup lately?

If you use 1/2 a cup of Campbell’s condensed beef broth, that’s 860mg of sodium. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for sodium is 2400mg! There goes more than a third of all the salt you should have in a day!

I don’t feel bad for singling Campbell’s out because I’m about to praise them. Campbell’s does offer low sodium soups and other smarter choices (look for the “Healthy Request” line). And they just announced that they are lowering the sodium levels of soups marketed to kids. It’s the second salt reduction for these soups in just three years, and will allow Campbell’s to legally label them healthy foods.

Cutting salt may also help to keep children slim, because a new study shows that kids who don’t snack on salty foods don’t drink as much soda, which is a huge source of empty calories (and caffeine kids really don’t need).

My daughter is on a raspberry and strawberry kick right now; you’d better believe I’m all over that! Hopefully she won’t notice that a lot of her old favorite snacks, like the chips we both love, are no longer present in our house. Even if she does, I can deal with the whining, knowing that I’m keeping her healthier whether she likes it or not.

Posted by Sunshine.

I have red hair and pasty white skin. I can walk to the mail room and back (it’s really not far!) and get sunburned. So when I take my kids out, given my long history of painful experiences, I probably go a little overboard with protection.

Inevitably, though, at some point my daughter will get a mild sunburn this summer as she runs around at the park or at the lake. It just happens anyway sometimes. But what’s the best way to treat a child’s sunburn? I don’t want to hurt her more than it already does, but I have to do something!

Well, according to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, I have several options for her:

* Put a cool compress on the sunburned area.
* Give her a cool bath.
* Apply hydrocortisone cream, a moisturizer, or aloe product. (I’m a huge fan of the green Aloe Vera gel! It’s the only thing I’d ever let my mom use on me when I was sunburned badly as a kid.) Stay away from products with Benadryl/benzocaine, as these are more likely to cause reactions.

If she’s in a lot of pain, I can also give her Tylenol or Motrin to ease her discomfort (particularly handy before bed, when I need for her to feel alright so she — and therefore I — can get some sleep!). If the sunburn blisters, I should leave them alone, and I should keep her out of the sun as much as possible until her sunburn gets better.

The best thing, of course, would be to not let it happen in the first place. Sunscreen designed for kids comes in sprays and all kinds of impressively high-looking SPFs. I’ve started keeping a bottle of it in my diaper bag, for those impromptu park runs after errands and those other times when I might forget to pack sunscreen and need it (oh, and moms? We shouldn’t forget ourselves with the sun protection, either!).

Posted by Sunshine.

If you’re thinking about taking a long trip during your pregnancy, you might want to check out these tips to make your travels more comfortable for you and possibly safer for you and your baby.

Courtesy of the American Pregnancy Association:

* Travel during the second trimester is usually most comfortable — after morning sickness has passed and the fatigue of the third trimester is still ahead. (Not to mention that if you get as large as I did in my last pregnancy, you’ll hate trying to get out of the car after more than half an hour’s ride!)
* Wear comfortable, loose clothing and comfortable shoes. (Pay close attention to that last word. Comfy shoes are everything!)
* Take things to make you more comfortable, like a pillow from home and some snacks that satisfy you.
* If you’re driving, stop to get up and stretch often and take plenty of bathroom breaks. (Um, hello? I have never met a pregnant lady who skipped very many pit stop opportunities!)
* Always take your prenatal records with you on the road.
* Be safe: Wear your seat belt and follow safety instructions for whatever transportation you use.
(It might be uncomfortable, but a bit of discomfort is vastly preferable to the injuries an unbelted pregnant woman — and her baby — could sustain in an accident!

Also, be sure to check with your doctor before you leave for an out-of-town trip. If your pregnancy is high risk, you have certain complications, or you’re nearing your due date, you may be advised to postpone your trip until after your baby is born.

Posted by Sunshine.

My husband and I meant to take the kids to the little park my daughter loves on Saturday. It rained. No problem; we’ll just go Sunday, we thought. Nope. It rained. Fast-forward to today, and we still haven’t made it because of the weather. What’s the parent of a cooped-up kid to do?

We’ve gotten creative with rainy days around here. I haven’t tried all of these ideas (and some aren’t necessarily age-appropriate for my kids yet), but here’s my list of Rainy Day Blues Busters:

* Crafts — anything goes! Do like the kid in the commercial for certain markers does, and make your own mosaic of pictures of sun and fun to hang over the rainy-day windows. Fingerpaint, glitter — the sky (and your tolerance for messes) is the limit!
* Cooking — baking with the kids can be a very satisfying way to spend a few hours inside. Even small kids can help stir or dump ingredients (that you’ve already measured) into a bowl. You might have to resort to a DVD or other activity while your creation bakes, but kids will get a kick out of eating something they helped make. Decorate cupcakes together, and you get kitchen time and craft time all in one.
* Indoor scavenger hunt (mostly for older kids, though little ones can help search too) — the kid who finds the most hidden treasures wins a prize.
* Make up and illustrate your own adventure story. Making a book is fun and easy, and then you have something you can bring out on other days to look back over.
* Make a fort or a tent in the living room, and camp out with s’mores and ghost (or just plain silly) stories.
* Have a costume parade with old dress-up clothes.

If you get super-stuck, you can always do a pajama party movie afternoon complete with fuzzy slippers and popcorn!

What are some of your favorite ways to spend a rainy day with the kids?

Posted by Sunshine.

My grandmother passed away this week, and due to circumstances beyond our control, my husband and I found ourselves with a less-than-ideal choice: take a baby and a 2yo to her funeral, or miss it entirely.

We’re taking them (and boy, do I have my worries about that), but it got me thinking about what other people feel is appropriate. Do young children belong at a funeral? Does it matter whether it’s open casket (this one will not be)?

For older children, parents might want to refer to this page for advice and guidelines. And the “experts” say that children as young as three can and should attend a funeral if the deceased was someone they knew and loved. They grieve too.

Here’s my survival strategy for my Nana’s funeral — maybe it will help someone else faced with the prospect of taking small children.

* Have a quiet, non-messy snack handy (and a ready-made bottle for baby, if at all possible — eating at a funeral might not be proper, but I figure the rest of the congregation would appreciate that far more than hearing my child scream because he’s hungry)
* Have a few quiet toys/teethers on hand (I have my daughter’s favorite coloring book and a picture book in the diaper bag)
* Explain beforehand, as best I can, what my 2yo can expect to see and hear, and what I expect of her (no yelling, no running around, etc.)
* Keep in mind that kids are still just kids, even in somber attire at a grownup event. Perfect behavior is just not going to occur.
* Be prepared to take the child out if it becomes clear that she is overwhelmed.

Posted by Sunshine.

Now that one out of every three kids aged ten to twelve owns a cell phone, the benefits and risks are becoming increasingly clear for this age group.

So what? Almost every one of us adults has a cell phone glued to our ear at least a few times every day, so it was only a matter of time before kids started mimicking the trend. It’s just part of life now…but did you know that children using cell phones at the same time they attempt to cross the street are more likely to get hit by a car? A new study found strong evidence to support this claim.

Seventy-seven children aged 10 to 12 were set up in a virtual-reality environment which simulated a street with traffic coming from both directions. Children stood on a platform (the “curb”). When they stepped down from the curb, an avatar crossed the virtual street in their place.

“The children who were on the cell phone and were distracted during their crossing were significantly more likely to get hit by a car in the virtual environment,” Byington reported. “They were getting hit or almost getting hit at least [once], while the kids that weren’t on the cell phone didn’t get hit [at all].”

Who doesn’t get at least a little bit distracted when they’re talking to their significant other, best friend, or parent on the phone? I know I’m guilty of trying to do other things while I chat, and I doubt I do them as well as if I was completely focused on the task at hand, instead of the latest chapter in my drama-ridden best friend’s life.

Crossing the street, though (like driving!) is one of those things that just has to take priority. Parents, please let your children know that they should always finish their phone conversations before stepping out into the street. It just might save their lives someday.

Posted by Sunshine.

My daughter was a decent teether. She was a little cranky when new teeth were coming in, but it wasn’t too hard to handle. A bit of Baby Orajel on her gums, and she’d be a happy camper again. My son, on the other hand, is a little monster when he’s teething. He’s not nearly so easy to soothe.

So what’s a mom to do? If you don’t like the idea of topical teething gels or medicine, like Tylenol, Miss Poppy offers these natural alternatives:

For a do-it-yourself ointment for sore gums, try the old-fashioned remedy of a spot of clove oil diluted down with safflower oil. Rub it on their swollen gums for slight relief. (Slight relief? That doesn’t sound too encouraging…not to mention I don’t keep either of those oils around that I’m aware of.)

Other natural teething aids:

* Ice-cold carrot and celery sticks
* A whole, chilled peeled apple (lots of fun to hold and drop on the floor)
* A gel teething toy, frozen first in the fridge
* A clean, cold, damp face cloth straight from the fridge (This has proved to be my son’s best option during the day - I hide an ice cube in the cloth for further relief)
* Hard teething biscuits
* Crusts of bread, served chilled
* Your finger, served chilled (Okay, I know what she means, but that sounded like something you’d find in a horror flick)
* A cold drink of water or diluted fruit juice
* A cold yogurt or chilled puree of fruit

As always, you’ll want to supervise your child with any of the foods mentioned above.

Have other tips for frazzled moms like me? Squawk back and share your best stuff!

Posted by Sunshine.