A dark-haired, dark-eyed dad becomes suspicious that his blond-haired, blue-eyed daughter doesn’t belong to him.

Normally, I’d want to simply scold this fellow for not paying attention in biology class — both blond hair and blue eyes are recessive genes, and thus one can pass them along to a child without possessing the features oneself.

But I guess this sort of thing does happen — we see it on Maury all the time. (Not that this is an admission that I watch Maury. That’s just what I’ve heard.)

And as it turns out, he was right. Dad orders a test — and sure enough — he is NOT the father.

Except in an un-Maury-like twist, his life partner wasn’t the mother, either.

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare (well, 99.99% of the time, anyway): almost a year ago, 2 baby girls born a year ago in a clinic southeast of Prague were switched at birth. After much deliberation about what to do, the girls were returned to their biological parents this week.

Fortunately, my latest spawn is the spitting image of her father — so much so that I have to admit I was a little creeped out when she was extracted from my womb. She didn’t just look like him — she looked like she WAS him, just little and purple and female. And my eldest daughter resembles me to a degree where I’m certain that she, too, truly belongs to us.

I can’t even imagine a situation more conflicting, nor more bittersweet. The bliss of being reunited with a child you never knew you’d lost, while giving up the baby you’ve come to love ferociously against your desires. My heart goes out to these families and everyone involved.

Posted by mctex.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Amscan Inc., of Elmsford, NY, announced a recall of Halloween “ugly teeth” party favors because they contain excessive levels of lead. (Memo to Acting Chairwoman Nancy Nord: Is it “impractical” to call for a ban on lead in products designed to go in kids’ mouths?!?)

Two more recalls of note: Toys R Us is recalling “Elite Operations” army toys due to lead paint violations (sample set below, see the recall page for more photos).

And SimplyFun is recalling Ribbit Board Games because they’ve been found to be simply full of lead.

Signed the petition yet?

Posted by MommaSteph.

Play Yard Recall: As noted by Mally, Kolcraft infant play yards are being recalled after a 10-month-old was strangled to death on the restraining strap on the changing table that was hanging down into the play yard. Also hazardous is the rocking cradle on the Contours 3-in-1 play yards, as a baby can roll and get trapped against the side of the cradle and be in danger of suffocation.

Models included in the recall include the Travelin’ Tot series, the Contours 3-in-1, the “Sesame Beginnings” play yards, Carter’s Lennon Travelin’ Tot, and the Jeep Sahara series.

The CPSC site has pictures and model numbers for the recalled play yards - please check to see if your play yard is part of the recall. Contact Kolcraft at (888) 655-8484 for a free non-looped restraining strap (cut the looped strap off the changing table in the meantime) and a repair kit to secure the rocking cradle.

Always remove the changing table, bassinet, or cradle from the play yard before placing your child in it.

Lead Paint a Global Problem: Researchers from the University of Cincinnati and the University of Ibadan in Nigeria collaborated on a study that finds that increased globalization and outsourcing of manufacturing has resulted in a flood of goods with unacceptably high levels of lead, and the problem is increasing in urgency in underdeveloped countries where lead safety standards are not enforced.

For this study, researchers analyzed lead levels in five colors of paint, from each of five brands, marketed and sold in Ibadan, a city of more than 2 million people in southwestern Nigeria. Each paint sample was applied in a single layer to a wood block, left to dry and then removed and analyzed in UC laboratories for lead content.

They found that 96 percent of the consumer paints available in Nigeria contained higher than the recommended levels of lead.

The researchers conclude that a consistent, global ban on lead-based paint is urgently needed.

Thomas Recall Update: You probably heard that more Thomas trains are being recalled for lead paint…what you may not have heard is that some parents received these lead-tainted toys as replacements for the lead-tainted toys they sent back after the last recall. “You would think they would test the trains they are giving to kids,” said Jill Cataldo of Huntley, who received one of the Toad railway cars as a bonus after she sent three of her son’s Thomas toys back to the firm following the June recall of 1.5 million wooden railway toys.

Cancer and Pregnancy: A Norwegian study presented at the European Cancer Conference in Barcelona suggests that pregnancy does not adversely affect the health outcomes for women with cancer, whether they become pregnant after treatment or are diagnosed while pregnant. One of the researchers notes, “Many women are concerned about pregnancy after cancer, as are many doctors. There have been several hypotheses for decades proposing that complex hormonal changes and immunologic alterations associated with pregnancy might promote cancer growth…Those studies that confirm such hypotheses are often based on small numbers and the findings could be due to selection bias. I see our results as further reassurance that pregnancy factors are not influencing the cancer development per se.”

A UK company called GROE Baby (stands for Growing, Recognising, Observing, Exploring) is offering nursing tops for moms that aim not only to be fashionable and allow for modest public nursing, but also to stimulate a newborn’s brain. The signature nursing top has black and white spirals over each breast and at the center of the chest. According to the site, while we look at the spirals and see this:

the baby sees this:

EEK! Can that really be good for the baby? If so, I would guess our nipples would come patterned like that in the first place.

I side with Pamela over at Exceptional Marriages: Let’s not make enforced multitasking for babies the new trend. Just let ‘em nurse and zone out at will. We can always freak out about their early education when they hit the toddler years and chase them around the house with flash cards.

Posted by MommaSteph.

Pre-Eclampsia Signs and Symptoms: A new study published in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing advises that in caring for women with pre-eclampsia, in addition to monitoring for persistent headache, blurred vision, and abdominal pain, caregivers should look out for perceived stress, vertigo, inability to concentrate and mental changes as warning signs that the pregnant woman’s condition may be worsening. Pre-eclampsia, or pregnancy-induced hypertension, affects between six and eight percent of all pregnant women. The cause is not known.

Be Happy with Your Hoo Hoo: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued a warning against “designer vagina” surgeries (discussed in an earlier MomSquawk post) that are billed as a way for a woman to “enhance her look” or revirginate as a gift for her husband (but where do you put the bow?):

Many gynecologists say the majority of such procedures aren’t backed by solid scientific studies. They say potential risks, including infection, scarring, nerve damage and loss of sensation, outweigh possible — if any — benefits.

“To do this for cosmetic reasons, and to say it will improve sexual fulfillment is totally absurd,” says Thomas Stovall, past president of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons and a clinical professor at the University of Tennessee at Memphis.

Many MomSquawk readers may not recognize my name, despite the fact that I’ve been involved with this site behind the scenes since its inception. Normally, that’s the way I like to keep things - I’m generally a private person. Sometimes, however, something happens of such significance that I’m drawn out of my cave to make use of the soapbox otherwise known as this blog.

With the above in mind, I grant you today’s reprieve from the current onslaught of breastfeeding propaganda:

Yo.

Gabba.

Gabba.

My lovely daughter is a big fan of Noggin and Nick Jr. So I’m no stranger to the weirdness that is Wow Wow Wubbzy, Oobi, and that stoner mouse whose name I can’t recall. But Yo Gabba Gabba just plain freaked me out. Observe:

Now at first I just assumed the producers were doing drugs again, but this one seemed over the top. Yes, the green stripy guy with the malformed arm joints is named “Browby”. Yes, my kid freakin’ loves it. Yes, that red guy does look like a sex toy. Yes, that is Biz Markie…

Oh wait, now it all makes sense. The Biz strikes again. And once again the world is a better place because of his efforts. Is there anything he can’t do?

Posted by Damon

PS The forums seem to have picked up on this as well.

Hand Soap? This is just wrong…

Breastfeeding Ban on Base? A new mom who works in food services at Fort Bragg wants to make sure that all nursing mothers know their rights. This, after an anonymous person complained that she was breastfeeding her three-month-old in the food court area during her break. Tabitha Redding says she breastfed her other children in mini-mall and never faced a complaint before, noting, “I’ve always been modest about it. I’m trying to make myself as comfortable as the other people.” Nevertheless, the complaint sparked a notice from her boss, ordering her to stop nursing her baby at the mall because, he said, the Army and Air Force Exchange Services, which manages military malls, bans it. Her boss later said that he miscommunicated. Under federal law, women in the US may breastfeed their babies in public.
(Via DaddyTypes.)

Prenatal Testing and Politics: Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) have reintroduced the Pre-natally and Post-natally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, which aims to “amend the Public Health Service Act to increase the provision of scientifically sound information and support services to patients receiving a positive test diagnosis for Down syndrome or other prenatally diagnosed conditions.” (Via Jaden’s Journal.)

Tired Tiger? Golf instructor Butch Harmon shared some thoughts about how new fatherhood is affecting Tiger Woods’ game (Mr. Woods and his wife, Elin, welcomed baby Sam earlier this month): “I saw him play a lot of holes up close. I saw him hit some brilliant shots and then saw some terrible ones. I don’t think he had the preparation that he would normally have for a major championship with the birth of his daughter. I think he’s in a different place in his life now…Talking to him on the practice areas, though, left me in no doubt that he’s still extremely happy. He’s really loving being a dad. The arrival of his baby is going to make him a better person. In the long term it will make him a better golfer, giving him a wonderful outlet away from the game.”

Here’s what greeted me when I opened the box containing my son’s just-arrived bargain tricycle:

“Operation Iostrucion of Adjustoble Baby Walker.”

Baby walker? Why was it being called a baby walker? It’s a bike. The papers opened with a caution: “Before using this product, read the instruction which tells you the right operation and installation so that your child will not be hurt and the strollers will not be damaged.”

Strollers? It’s a bike. What gives? But God knows, I didn’t want my child to be hurt, so I carefully removed the components of the bike/stroller/baby walker and began the assembly process, paying strict attention to the directions, which read as follows:

1. Put the head of strollers on the handlebar, aim at the eyelet and put gasket on it, locknut was locked.
2. The handlebar linked the asostyle of front-wheel drive, after encased in front-fender, and locknut was locked.
3. Inserted bolt after the eyelet of head, the eyelet of handlebar and carriage online, and locknut was locked.
4. Put the front eyelet of the back seat on the front eyelet of the front carriage, and lucknut was locked, the screw in the seat, through the back eyelet of the carriage and the back eyelet of the back seat, and locknut was locked.
5. Put the both side of the baseboard on the eyelet of the back-seat carriage, and locknut was locked.
6. Aim the basket of strollers at the head of strollers, and was locked by the hexangular screw.
7. The axes linked the try put gasket and shutoff on it and fixation and the adornment of tyre was installed.
8. Set the carriage of back seat on the back shelves both side was locked by locknut.

This strollers is a help for child who is make joy to drive, please often check it!

Um…yeah, I’ll be sure to do that. Or better yet, I’ll make joy for myself, of a bitter kind, and just drag the components to the curb now. Locknut was locked.

Posted by MommaSteph.

Baby Genius: A two-year-old UK girl has become the youngest female ever admitted into Mensa after she scored a whopping 152 on an IQ test. The psychologist who performed the test believes the girl, Georgia Brown, could have scored even higher were it not for the fact that she needed a nap after 45 minutes of work. The youngest person of either sex ever admitted to Mensa was a boy who was several days younger than Georgia when he joined the organization in the 1990s.

Doctors and Breastfeeding: A new UK study finds that around half of all medical professionals who advise new mothers are not up-to-date in their understanding of breastfeeding recommendations. For example, more that 60% of those surveyed answered that four months was the recommended minimum for breastfeeding duration, instead of six months, and half of family doctors and nearly half of pediatricians endorsed starting solids at an earlier point than six months of age.

When an Oregon first grader’s winter coat went missing, her mom was likely disappointed that belongings could disappear while under a teacher’s watchful eye.  So, when an expensive coat turns up missing, and you don’t have the cash for a brand new one, where do mothers today go shopping for a bargain?  Well, eBay, of course.

And imagine the mom’s surprise when the exact same coat, in the exact same size her daughter had lost, was for sale by someone in her exact same town.  What were the odds� And after some Nancy Drew style detective work, the mom discovered that it was, in fact, her child’s teacher (!!!!) who was selling the jacket.  The eBay listing describes the jacket as in excellent condition…I’m sure it was, considering the seller STOLE IT FROM HER STUDENT!!

What has the world come to when your child’s personal effects aren’t even safe with their teacher?� Blah.

I hope she enjoys the felony charges now coming against her, and the whooping $46.00 she made on eBay to get them.

Posted by Dorian.