Thursday, January 5, 2012
Filed under: Blog Posts
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season celebrated with family and friends. It's hard to believe it's already 2012!
Today I wanted to pass on some information from one of my clientsabout her business selling the Arbonne skincare line. As a mom, she fell in love with the products and decided to take her passion into a business. Here's what she had to say about the clean-rinsing Arbonne baby line that solved skin issues with her sons:
"The baby lotion worked on my youngest when nothing seemed to soothe his dry skin. The diaper cream is great for diaper rash as well as eczema. All three of my boys suffer from eczema and I was using a steroid cream to combat it, which I didn’t like, now all I need is Arbonne’s Diaper cream and it disappears fast!"
Check out Kim's website or Facebook page for more about the ABC Baby Care set as well as products for the whole family. Arbonne products are healthy, botanically based and inspired by nature.
| Posted by Cheeky Chops at 6:24PM |
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Thursday, November 3, 2011
Filed under: Blog Posts
Daylight savings tips Fall back.
On November the 1st at midnight the clocks get turned back which can throw our body clocks out slightly. To help you little one with this adjustment, here are some tips:
If you child goes to bed at 7pm then when it is time to put the clock back it would be 6pm. This is not a problem for bedtime but can cause some early morning waking and if you child is currently an early riser it can get even earlier. As an example if your child is used to getting up at 6.30am he will get up at 5.30am.
Here are two approaches for you to use as preventative measures.
Cold turkey. Keep your child up on the first night up to one hour later than their normal bedtime – in the morning if they wake early maintain your normal routine by the clock. Hold off from getting them up until their normal time if you can. You may have to be a little strict about it by putting them back to bed. This is an easier with older children.
Gradual. Start on the Thursday night (October 30th) and work in 15 minute increments Move your childs bedtime later by 15 minutes every night (7.15pm, 7.30pm, 7.45pm, 8.00pm) and delay getting them up by 15 minutes every morning (7.15am, 7.30am, 7.45am, 8.00am) for example. By Sunday night once the clock has gone back an hour they will be back to going to bed at their normal bedtime of 7pm. This is easier for babies and younger children.
Dont compensate for the lost hour and work on the real time as it is by the clock.
| Posted by Dawnn Whittaker at 9:19AM |
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Friday, May 28, 2010
Filed under: Sleep Products, Blog Posts
In our last post, we talked about the various benefits of using Sleep Sacks. I'm happy to pass along a great offer for 10% off the Kinderel brand of sleep sacks.
Kinderel products use an eco-friendly combination of organic bamboo and cotton. Their sleep sack is one of the most versatile sleep sacks on the market. It features arms that snap on or off for seasonal versatility, has a two-way zipper for easy diaper access and even comes with a stroller slot so that it can be used as a stroller blanket.
Readers of CheekyChops can now purchase Kinderel products, including this sleep sack (retail $89), for 10% off!
Simply go to the checkout using coupon code dawn10.
Happy Sleeping! - Dawnn
| Posted by Cheeky Chops at 5:48PM |
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Thursday, May 27, 2010
Filed under: Sleep Products, Blog Posts
Part of every sleep training consultation I do involves keeping track of sleeping and feeding. Prior to starting sleep training, this gives me a picture of how your little one spends his days and nights. My custom sleep plan will involve tweaking your existing schedule to help your little one sleep better during the day and at night.
Many parents opt to use the 'old fashioned' pen and paper, but if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can use an application called Total Baby to track your baby's day. The single application, which previously was several applications for nursing, sleeping, etc, allows you to log diapers, nursing, bottles, solids, sleeping and much more. You can even use the application to keep a diary, log milestones, growth and doctor visits.
There are five timers included in the application, showing you the amount of time (above) since the last timed start or end for all five timer options. If you're sleep deprived, the nursing timer also lets you record which side you last nursed on!
One of my clients put together her own Pro/Con list to share about the Total Baby application:
Pros
- Quick and easy recording of data.
- Calculates total times and durations between (very handy if you're sleep deprived and trying to remember when your baby last fed, slept, pooped etc.)
- Can do multiple kids for eg baby's sleep and pre-schoolers TV time.
- Records doctor visits, vaccinations, milestones.
- Can add photos.
- Can export data via email eg sleep record to sleep consultant.
- Easy to use and intuitive.
- Nicely formatted.
- Probably the best app around for this area.
- Easily worth $5
Cons
- Exported data needs some features added. Eg would be nice to choose sleep or other data only, not everything that happened that day, although you can edit the email after it's been exported.
- Exported data is not easy to read, eg. doesn't total sleep, or show duration between naps like in the actual app.
Update: as of verson 2.0, these cons are now resolved! Great update!
Another of my clients graciously offered a review of Total Baby as part of her experience with sleep and sleep training:
"It was only just a few years ago when my first son was born. As a first time mom, I had some initial difficulties with breastfeeding and our newborn lost over 10% of his body weight within the first 5 days. Our doctor recommended that we track his wet diapers and feedings on a daily basis to help us understand his progress. Eventually, he started to gain more weight and we were heading in the right direction.
One thing that I learnt early from this experience, was that tracking our newborns feeding habits, number of wet diapers and how much sleep he was getting on a daily basis really helped to reassure myself that our son was healthy, happy and thriving.
I tracked everything manually in a notebook, although tedious I found it very helpful to understand his daily ‘routine’
Almost three years later, my second son was born, but this time around, I had an iPhone and discovered a tracking app called Total Baby.
It’s a fantastic baby-tracking app that has definitely made my life easier. We use the App for tracking baby’s schedule. The app can track 5 main functions: Diapers, Feedings, Sleeping, Baths and other. The feeding function allows you to use a timer to track nursing with left/right side options or an entry option where you can enter the type of food (solids) eaten, the amount, date and time of the feed. Sleeping and bath functions also consist of a timer or a one-time entry to records naps/bedtimes and baths. With Total Baby you can track activities of one or multiple children. Not only does it track number of occurrences, but also keeps track of the amount of time since the last feeding, diapers, bath, ect. All of the day’s activities are organized on the main screen making a recap of the day’s events easy to view. It has numerous features and functions to list but have found the tool very useful including the ability to export the data to excel so that it can be shared with others.
Using Total Baby to track really helped when we consulted with Dawn for sleep training aswell. Having the ability to track every detail to the minute and being able to export the data was a valuable tool to help provide an accurate picture of our baby’s schedule for Dawn to see.
It is without a question that Dawnn has dramatically helped changed my life around for the better in only a few short weeks. Our son is sleeping 12hrs continuously through the night now and also his daytime naps are much more consistent. The iPhone app is a great tool that is easy and convenient for me to use. Dawnn was able to see what was going on with baby with a clear, consistent and detailed data export, and the tool also helped us stay on top of the schedule Dawnn had laid out for us to follow."
If you choose to keep your sleep diary going after your 'training' has finished, you will continue to spot patterns in your child's sleep as he gets older and goes through developmental milestones, teething, illness and more. This can help you a great deal in dealing with unexpected changes in your life and in getting your childs sleep patterns back to normal.
| Posted by Cheeky Chops at 11:32AM |
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Thursday, May 20, 2010
Filed under: Blog Posts
I often get asked about what products my clients can use to keep baby warm when the baby is rolling all around the crib at night, making loose blankets hazardous. I also have parents coming to me asking for help when their toddler can't get back under the blankets themselves at night and they're constantly having to get up to cover them.
The solution to both problems can be found in wearable blankets such as those made by Grobag.
For baby, the Grobag Sleep Bag
The Grobag sleep bag is an arms-free blanket that baby wears. You can start using this blanket for your newborn or as soon as you transition from swaddling. Many babies will associate their sleep bag as a "lovey", helping them to fall asleep. Putting on the sleep bag can also be a step in your sleep routine (for more about the sleep routine, contact me).
For the older child, the Grobag Stay-On Duvet
The Grobag Stay-On Duvet is a great transition step from sleep bag to regular sheets and bedding. With the set, the cover can be attached to the fitted sheet using a zipper system on both sides. This gives you the security that, not only will your little one stay warm, but they also can't fall out! As a bonus, the pillowcase can also attach to the bottom sheet, removing the risk of the pillow going over their head at night or falling off the bed. One of my clients kindly supplied some Pros and Cons for the Duvet that I'd love to share:
Pros:
- it kept my little girl in bed
- the side zippers only go about 1/3 down the duvet length
- the designs are super cute
- the duvet is 100% and warm
Cons:
- it's expensive
- it could be too warm or too snug for a larger baby
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You can find the Grobag Sleep Bags or similar sleep sacks in most specialty children's stores, at large retailers like Toys 'R Us, and online. The stay-on duvet is not as easy to find in retailers, so you may need to purchase it online.
| Posted by Cheeky Chops at 3:34PM |
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Comments
harriet
Posted 1 year ago
I just started doing the gradual approach . He's already going to be half an hour later, now I'll gently tackle the other half hour by Nov 7.