The Natursutten is the latest in safe pacifiers for baby. They are made from pure natural rubber and the name comes from the word Natursut which means “Natural Pacifier.” Natursutten Pacifiers are made in Europe where they have strict standards for safety, health and environment.

With all the talk about BPA (Bisphenol A) in baby teethers and pacifiers it is awesome that the Natursutten is available to provide a safe alternative for baby and peace of mind for mom.

These rubber pacifiers are quite a bit softer than silicone pacifiers and extremely hygienic because they are molded into one piece, so there are no joints or cracks where dirt and bacteria can gather. This also make sit easy to wash. This also ensures that it won’t fall apart and make you worry about potential choking.

I found my baby took to it really well. He was happy as a clam. I was very happy as well to know that his paci had to BPA, chemical softeners, parabens, PVC or phthalates. It is just a useful product without any chemical nasties.

I also found them to be comparable in price to other pacifiers so you aren’t paying a premium for safety. They can be found online for as little $5.95. The Natursutten is also a green product as it produced using a sustainable raw material, the tree sap from the rubber tree.

To care for it we just sterilized in boiling water before the first use and then we followed up from then on with soap and water since our baby is older than six months.

Where to buy: Amazon.com

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Encourage independence, watch your kids blossom into cheerful workers, reward performance, and get a little help around the house with the Magnetic Responsibility Chart. It includes 134 wooden magnetic pieces to help your kids reach their goals.

I bought two of these charts about a year ago for my two oldest kids and we LOVE them! It is a magnetic chore/responsibility chart that encourages independence and responsibility. It is really easy for children to understand even young children that can’t yet read. Basically you have spaces along the left side for chores or goals and then corresponding spaces for every day of the week. It offers a variety of chores and positive behaviors on magnetic pieces that kids love. They are actual chores like set the table or make your bed and then there are goals like no hitting and use the potty. There are plenty of different ones to choose from, suitable for all ages, and there are blank ones so you can customize.

If the goal is met or the chore is accomplished that day the child gets a reward button such as a star, a heart, a flower, a trophy, a bear, and many others. The right side has a section for even more magnetic buttons that show the results of the goal or chore set at the end of the week. I imagine this would be were you could write out a reward or incentive they receive, like allowance. The chart is also a dry erase board and you can write on it as well. It is simply outstanding and its bright colors and adorable pictures mean kids love it to. It can be folded for easy storage and it has a sturdy strap so you can hang it on a wall. The only feature missing is a snap closure so you can snap it closed while it is hanging so that little brother or sister can’t reach it and grab the magnets and run off with them! This is a very helpful product!

Where to Buy: Amazon.com

The best way to take care of colds is to prevent them with good nutrition and hand washing. But despite our best efforts, all kids will come down with a cold occasionally.

The advantages of natural remedies are, among other things, that they are generally safer than allopathic remedies, less expensive and easier to administer. Here are some of the more common ways to help ease your child’s colds.

If your child has a fever, fight the urge to attempt to bring down his temperature. Fever is quite helpful at limiting the course of an illness. Generally after a “good fever”, kids get better quickly. Unless your child is listless and not responding to you normally, he’s probably fine. Better to assist his body’s natural attempts to heal itself. Allow your child to rest and avoid overstimulating him with too much TV or electronic media. Read to him, play card games and just hold him as much as possible. Allow the chores and other things to wait as much as possible.

If your child has a sore throat, ease it with warm salt water gargles. Honey lemon tea is also nice. Just squeeze a little fresh lemon juice into a mug of warm/hot water and a teaspoon of honey. Homemade chicken broth is also very nice and serves to keep your child hydrated and nourished as well.

Avoid giving your child decongestants and antihistamines when he has a cold. These have been proven to have little effect on colds, and may even be harmful.

Using acupressure may ease the symptoms of a cold and your child may also enjoy it. Consult a guidebook on acupressure and follow suggestions for targeting the bladder, large intestine and lung pressure points.

Vitamin C, Echinacea and Goldenseal are all traditional remedies for colds. Give your child weight and age appropriate doses of these remedies short term to boost his body’s efforts to heal.

If your child has trouble breathing, try a cool mist humidifier. Be sure to keep it scrupulously clean.

Eliminate sugars as much as possible when your child is ill. The same holds true for junk foods. Supporting his body with good nutrition is very important at this time. Fresh vegetable juices, homemade soups and other easy to digest foods that provide hydration should be emphasized.

The number of children that are diagnosed each year with autism continues to grow. Each child diagnosed is different from the next and no one is ever quite sure what causes autism as each case appears differently. As of now, there is no cure, but as the research continues several autistic families are finding natural ways to improve the symptoms.

There are a few ways you can improve symptoms of autism naturally, meaning without drugs. The diet is the first and easiest way to start. You can approach this by going the dietary supplement way or the by getting rid of certain foods. For some families success has been gained by taking out wheat or other gluten products out of a diet. This would include breads, some kinds of oils such as soybean and canola, and other flours. With a growing concern for the foods we all put into our bodies there are several resources available for you to use in gluten free cooking. You could try a site such as www.glutenfreecookingschool.com

Another food that families find success with, by getting rid of that is, is dairy products. Milks, cheeses, yogurts, etc. Of course by taking out two very large parts of a regular diet you should probably consult a nutritionist to make sure you are still giving your child everything he/ she needs that would be in the products you are getting rid of. To know exactly what foods are going to make a difference in their diet you will have to take the time to experiment, but there are many great alternatives that you can find to most dairy and gluten products, just check out your local grocery store that has an organic/ natural/ gluten free section.

If their dietary intake doesn’t make a difference in symptoms you can try to add some nutrients to their diets. Because some nutrients may not exist in the food they are currently receiving, or because they have a poor absorption of the nutrients this could make a huge difference in their behavior. Two of the best nutrients found to improve autism symptoms are vitamin B6 and magnesium. In proven studies (http://www.autism.com/treatable/form34qr.htm), it is shown that both dietary supplements and different diets have made huge changes in autism better than most drugs. This is great news because it means that you have a better chance of improving your child’s quality of life by using their diet than a prescription pad.

Everyone has their own opinion on the treatments to use for autism. If you do not agree with your doctor or do not feel that your child is being taken care of the right way, you should consult someone else for a second opinion.

Not all autistic children need medication and for many the symptoms can improve with other vitamins, nutrients and diets. The down side is it takes a bit longer to go through and find something that works out of all the available options for diet and supplements.

By researching the symptoms your child shows you may be able to reduce this time and get better results faster, you can also get help from your local support group or online forum, as these too may decrease the amount of time you need to spend doing trial and error.  It can take a lot of time to see significant improvements, but the earlier you start, the better your chances, and in the end it will be well worth it.

One new craze that has been reappearing over the last few of years is wearing your baby in a sling, wrap, or baby carrier. There are hundreds of companies now available that make these slings, wraps and baby carriers so you can literally wear your baby whenever you want. Many different styles ensure that you will find the best fit you and your baby but why wear your baby at all?

With attachment parenting becoming more mainstream, more and more moms are learning about the benefits of wearing your baby and want to try it themselves. In case you haven’t heard all about these benefits, check out the ones listed below.

One really nice benefit is that your baby is always very close to you. They spent many months inside their mother’s body, warm and secure and connected to her, so this is where they are used to being and love being, with you. They can hear your heart beat, feel your warmth and smell your scent as well. It is wonderful for moms and dads to wear their babies close and be able to look down at them often and talk to them, helping to develop that deep attachment that is so important. The love they feel from you is something that they will thrive on, and the closer they are to you, the more they can thrive.

Another benefit with the newborns especially is they can easily be fed and you are always ready to feed them. The slings especially allow you to easily slip them inside a protective pouch for some discreet breastfeeding. Even if you do bottle feed you can use the sling to help you hold them. They will feel cradled and loved in these positions and possibly fall asleep from in comfort.

Believe it or not, the slings and carriers that are coming out are actually good for your back. There used to be carriers that were like a backpack and they did wear on your back a bit, now though with the slings available they put the weight of the baby in just the right spot so there is less stress on your back. Even as they grow older, up to 25 pounds the slings are better for your back than carrying them around on your hip.

When you have a new baby one of the things that seems to cross every moms mind is getting rid of baby fat. You can’t wait to shed those pounds. This is another benefit of baby wearing. Carrying around that little bundle of joy all the time adds to the calories you burn.

One last huge benefit of baby wearing is it gives other family members the chance to be close to baby and bond with them as well. If you are breastfeeding it can be tough on the others that waited with you for this special bundle, especially dad. Have him slip a sling on and carry the baby to get some of that ultra bonding time with the baby.

Baby wearing is a great experience for mom, dad, and baby; you can find slings all over the Internet that will work great for this activity. If you aren’t having a baby soon, definitely keep these in mind for baby showers and new baby gifts.

Do you know what is in the diapers you put on your baby? Unfortunately most people don’t know what is in the diapers they purchase for their small children. Since they are widely accepted as the diapering standard, they use them without ever considering alternatives. After all, cloth diapers are such a pain to take care of, and kids just wet through them, right?

Actually cloth diapers have come a long way. There are several options available for cloth diapering and there are several reasons to use them as well. Take a look at the following:

Cloth diapers are better for baby’s skin. Disposable diapers are loaded with chemicals that can irritate baby’s tender skin, Cloth diapers often sport natural fibers like cotton that are soothing to the skin and very breathable. They get fewer diaper rashes, which means less discomfort for baby and less crying.

Disposable diapers are also filled with toxic allergens. Your baby might even be allergic to disposable diapers. There are many things in them that can cause allergic reactions, such as problems breathing and rashes. If your child is having these problems you should consider cloth diapers.

Cloth diapers are better for the environment and your pocketbook. Cloth diapers are reusable from child to child, which means less waste going into our already overstuffed landfills. You should figure that in the years one child is diapered you will go through on average, 2500 to 3000 diapers. With cloth diapers you could easily get by with using only 3-4 dozen diapers and those diapers can be used on one or more subsequent children.

When you are done with your cloth diapers you can sell them too at usually 50-75% of the retail price of new ones. That means you can get back 3/4 the cost of using cloth diapers. Even after you factor in water, time and detergent you are still winning out compared to the $20 a week you spend on diapers.

Washing diapers is very easy too. It should not amount to more than a load or two of extra laundry each week. Wet diapers can be tossed into a diaper pail to wait for cleaning and diapers with loose stools can be shaken out over the toilet before they too are stored before washing. Odor issues can be controlled by placing a tissue with a few drops of essential oil at the bottom of the diaper pail or sprinkling the pail with baking soda.

Cloth diapers have also greatly evolved in terms of style and ease of use. There are many options available for cloth diapers including some all-in-one (AIO) varieties that closely resemble disposable diapers as far as ease of use goes. There are pocket diapers for parents who want to customize absorbency and there are one-size diapers for parents who want a diaper that will grow with their children. There are also diapers available to use for night time, and diapers to use while potty training.

You can also make your own cloth diapers with several patterns available online. That reduces the cost even more. It really is easier to use cloth diapers than you might think. Before you check them off as an option, give them a shot, you might really like the benefits and how happy your baby is in them.

Sometimes we get sick, and sometimes it’s our kids that get sick, either way it is difficult enough to take care of ourselves and the kids without having to run to the doctors and the pharmacy on top of it. Conventional medicines also have many unpleasant side effects and work to mask symptoms rather than heal. With that in mind, it might be a good idea to turn to our kitchens first to see what we can do for ourselves when we are feeling under the weather.

One item that most kitchen pantries have is honey. Raw or natural honey is best and it is great for your health. You can use it for coughs, infertility, allergies, and other many other ailments. In fact many in the natural remedy field recommend using honey everyday as a supplement to your diet; it helps your immune system and keeps you well. There is nothing better than a little preventive medicine right?

Apple cider vinegar is good for many sicknesses and illnesses. If you are sick it is helpful to restore your ph balance, and it helps your immune system. You will also want to add this to your everyday diet as it is helpful in several ways to your body. Make sure you buy organic apple cider vinegar to get the most benefits out of your purchase.

Another common ailment is constipation, and it can be quite painful and uncomfortable. There are two ways you can work with constipation. You can purchase karo syrup and take a teaspoon of this, or you can drink some prune juice. The karo syrup is also used for infants that are constipated. Either of these methods will help adults who constipation. In the future drink a lot of water with the fiber you consume. Getting lots of fiber from green leafy veggies daily will help too.

For the little ones at home they often get diaper rashes. These can pop up from being in the diaper too long, being allergic to chemicals in disposable diapers, having too much juice, or their body’s disagreeing with what they have eaten.

In any of these cases a good home remedy to use is corn starch. Corn starch is much like powder but without the scent. It is very dry and helps keep the rash and any sores dry. It can begin to heal the baby’s skin in little to no time. The cost is nominal for the amount of times you can use it, and the comfort it brings to baby’s bottom and mommy’s ears.

There is a nice plant you can keep around your house for cuts and scrapes. It is called an Aloe plant and it is absolutely a great investment. When your child (or you) get cut all you have to do is break off a little piece of the end of the plant and use the oozing ointment on the cuts. It is also good for sun burn, as it is in most commercial products that treat sunburn.

Another home remedy you can use is for colds and flu. Fruits have a lot of vitamin C in them and this vitamin helps to get rid of these illnesses. Invest in a juicer and drink a lot of juice and eat a lot of fruits to decrease your time being sick.

There are several products we keep in our house that are perfect for home remedies, using these products will keep you at home and more comfortable during your illness.

It can be rather difficult to get kids to eat healthy foods these days. Healthy foods seem to be their least favorite and they would rather eat candy, cookies, ice cream, cakes, and all the other junk than sink their teeth into some good ole broccoli. It is even harder when society teaches them to eat foods not good for them. These societal lessons can be learned via television, commercials, school cafeterias, and even family events. So what can you do?

Fortunately there are some ways we can get them to increase the amount of healthy foods they eat without stressing the whole family. Some involve how we cook, some involve how we shop and some even involve how we eat, whichever the way, you can do it, and have your kids eating more vegetables and fruits.

One way is to make the foods taste good. They have many tasty competitors on the market so taste is important. There are a lot of ways you can do this without making them unhealthy. You can add cheese to a lot of foods to make them taste good. Most vegetables would be good with cheese, just melt a bit of cheese and pour it on top of the veggies. You can also add natural sweeteners to foods like raw honey or sucanat instead of using refined sugars. There are spices you can add to food too that do not have any MSG or salt in them. You have to read the ingredients carefully, but it will make the food you eat healthy and yummy.

You can also encourage them to eat fruits, especially their favorites. This isn’t usually too difficult to do because they are already sweet and/or sour and these are two tastes kids love. One thing you can do is switch up the fruits available to them. Get some apples and oranges one week, grapes and pears another week, and plums and peaches another week. By switching it up they are more apt to eat all of the fruits every week. Put them in a big bowl on the kitchen table or counter and make them accessible for snacks.

Another tactic that works is to eat healthy foods yourself. Like it or not we are our kid’s role models and if we want them to behave a certain way, we should behave that way as well. Whether it be foods we eat, things we say or the actions we take, they are going to learn from us. So, make sure you have healthy foods on your plate at meal time, and they see you eating them.

There is a lot to say about how you shop. The first thing to do is to not go when you are hungry or craving. When you do that you will fill the cart with everything possible, and most of it will taste really good, which could mean it is really bad for you.

Instead shop after dinner or another meal and try to shop around the perimeter of the grocery store to get fresh and healthy foods for your family. You might also try shopping a grocery store that offers a natural and organic area to shop for condiments, and boxed foods.

Last but not least check out some new and useful recipes. You can make honey pancakes, put chopped up broccoli in your macaroni and cheese and more. These are additional ways to make foods healthy even when they still taste good. Give it a shot and your kids will be eating healthy in no time.

It’s surprisingly easy to start elimination communication (EC) with your baby.  It’s really a matter of being observant about the times your baby naturally eliminates, then anticipating those times, cuing baby when he goes and catching his offerings.  Here are a few more pointers about the process.

Part of getting baby to pee in a container, rather than in his diaper, is to reinforce for him the dry feeling, and how that feels so much better than being wet.  This is the part about EC that does take more work.  An infant can pee as often as every twenty minutes, and if you’re using prefold cloth diapers, it doesn’t take much wee to wet the diaper.  You won’t catch every pee, and that shouldn’t even be a goal.  But you do want to get baby out of his wet diaper as soon as you can, preferably immediately after baby wets it.  You want baby to be dry most of the time, so even during times that you’re not trying to get baby to pee in the potty, you want to be checking his diaper at least every half hour and changing it as needed.  If you happen to catch baby in the act of wetting his diaper, you should cue him to strengthen his association between your cue and his elimination.

This brings up the question of whether you can successfully EC using disposable diapers or even some of those more high tech cloth diaper systems that try to keep baby feeling dry even when the diaper is wet.  You can EC with disposable diapers, but the challenge will be that since wet disposable diapers don’t feel wet your baby is less likely to develop a strong connection between peeing in a diaper and being wet or feel much difference between “wet” and “dry.”  You can still observe baby’s elimination functions and work with him on EC when you know he’s likely to go.

Once you start ECing your baby, you will tend to find more times that he’s likely to go and be able to anticipate those times.  You may have gotten started on a pattern of peeing right after nap.  But then you noticed baby also likes to pee right after nursing.  As you see more patterns, go with them.  You can also start trying to encourage baby to go by using your cue.  At first, you’re merely anticipating what he was going to do anyway.  But by using the cue, you create an association for him between your cue and eliminating, and this allows for you to encourage baby to eliminate at times he might not otherwise.  Some babies are really sensitive to the association, and others are less so.  Still, if you EC baby regularly throughout the day, most babies will begin to hold it at least for a few minutes.

Another thing to note is what your baby does right before he goes.  Maybe he squirms or wimpers.  Newborns especially seem to get their entire bodies involved in the process of elimination.  That can become baby’s way of communicating to you that he needs to go, and you can then take him to the potty.
Elimination Communication is a journey, not a destination.  It’s a fun way for you and your baby to communicate about an important function.  It’s another way for baby to let you know what he needs.  You should do it as long as you’re both having fun with it and it’s enhancing your relationship.

A woman’s body is the only one that can bring another human being into the world. Women are made specifically this way just so that they can birth another person. They can trust in their bodies to be able to come through the experience of childbirth as they were designed. With that in mind we need to focus on how to have more natural childbirths and thus have healthier moms and babies. Unfortunately society in general has forgotten to trust in a woman’s body to be able to birth a child. Instead we view pregnancy and childbirth as a medical condition and not a natural process.

The U.S. is 41st of the list for mortality of mothers giving birth in the world. This statistic has started to encourage many moms to consider natural childbirth options and shy away from medical intervention. Natural childbirth is when you use little to no medical intervention to birth your baby. This usually means no inducing, no medications, and can go as far as having a doula or a midwife present for the birth.

Here are some other reasons why natural childbirth is better for moms and babies:

There won’t be any bad reactions to drugs. Even though a large percentage of people do not experience serious side effects to drugs, there are still many people who do. When given so many drugs to birth your baby you are at risk to have bad reactions that will cause further complications to delivery.

Natural childbirth without medication helps to keep mom aware and functioning at high levels during her birth. Using numbing drugs that paralyze her from the waste down can mean the birth process lasts for much longer and mom and baby can get tired, leading to the possibility of a c-section.

Statistics show that reduced medical intervention means lower chances for difficulties during birth. This includes pitocin to induce contractions, breaking the water to start labor and even a planned cesarean.

Medical intervention seems to cause your labor to slow. Sometimes it can help to relax you so you can dilate better, other times it slows down the whole process putting you and the baby through a lot more work than is needed.

Because medical intervention seems to slow down the birthing process it also raises the statistic for cesareans. You see doctors only want you to birth so long, they say you get too tired and you can’t handle it, or they are worried about you. Many times they could be more worried about getting it over with so they can get back to their families. This is another reason so many people have planned cesareans.

Although for many people they are safe, cesareans are performed on 30% of pregnancies in the U.S. when they are only needed for 10%, and unfortunately even the smallest mistake in a cesarean can cause the mother or baby to have complications as tragic as death. With natural childbirth available, why take the chance?

Sometimes cesareans are completely necessary and the mom or baby would be at more risk not having one. But as you can see only about one third of cesareans are considered emergency, and the other two thirds are putting themselves needlessly at risk. Natural childbirth is the way nature intended and much more safe for mom and baby.