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Minimize food bacteria getting into the babies diet

BabyMomma — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:01:30 +0000

The fridge has become such an everyday part of our kitchen that we sometimes forget how to use it safely and efficiently. We all think that we know how to use a fridge, but in fact most of us forget the basics! I got these secrets from the Frugal Fridge…and my husband wanted me to share with everyone!

The History of the Refrigerator:

Before we learn How To Use a Refrigerator it is good to remind ourselves about the history….when was it invented and how was it developed.

The earliest commercial refrigerators were invented in the late 1800′s and used toxic ammonia or sulfur dioxide gas as the refrigerant. The first domestic refrigerator was invented in the USA in 1915, but they did not gain wide acceptance until the 1930′s when mass production enabled the price to be brought down. At the same time non-toxic refrigerants like Freon where developed which made fridges and freezers safe to use in the home. However, these same chemicals have since been replaced in 1994 due to the harmful effect they were found to have on the ozone layer.

The difference between a Fridge and a Freezer:

A fridge keeps food fresh by slowing down the growth of bacteria. This is achieved by keeping the food below 5C and ideally at around 3C. A freezer, on the other hand, stops bacterial growth completely by freezing them solid. A temperature of -18C is best for storing food and -23C for freezing it. A faster freezing process produces smaller ice crystals inside the food and so gives an improved texture when defrosted.

Freezer Ratings:

In order to use a refrigerator safely it is important to understand the star rating system. Frozen food and freezers carry a star rating as a guide to how long food can be kept and at what temperature. Typically the little freezer compartment in a normal refrigerator is only suitable for storing frozen food (either in transit from your main freezer or pre-frozen food from a shop) rather than actually freezing it because it will not achieve the -23C required.

* : min temperature = −6 °C (21.2 °F). Maximum storage time 1 week
** : min temperature = −12 °C (10.4 °F). Maximum storage time 1 month
*** : min temperature = −18 °C (−0 °F). Maximum storage time 3 months
*(***) : min temperature = −18 °C (−0 °F). Maximum storage 12 months

Temperature Profile inside a Refrigerator:

The temperature inside your fridge is not even….there are warmer and colder places. It is really important to understand this temperature profile so that food can be stored safely. For example, it is not a good idea to put fresh meat in the rack on the door as this is a warm place and the meat will warm up even further every time the door is opened.

The Bottom Drawer: designed to be not so cold (8 to 10 C ) and so is best for vegetables and salads which are damaged by the lower temperatures
The Coldest place: The shelf at bottom just above the drawer…this is where to put your meat and fish at around 2C
The Middle: Typically 4-5C for and ideal for“refrigerate after opening” products
The Top Shelf: Typically a bit warmer at around 8C and suitable for butter and jam
Door Shelves: These are the warmest place at around 10 to 15C and warm up every time door is opened so use only for drinks, eggs and butter

Guidelines for How to use a Refrigerator:

You probably all know these things but it is always useful to have a reminder!

Don’t overfill the fridge as it needs air to circulate to be efficient
Only open the door when necessary…close as quickly as possible
If you put warm things in the fridge then the whole temperature rises….
Keep the freezer compartment as full as possible in order to be most efficient (ditto for your freezer)
NEVER let ice build up inside your fridge or freezer. This will reduce the efficiency and use more energy

Spring Break 2012 is March 5-23!

BabyMomma — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 08:37:34 +0000

What are you doing for Spring Break? March 5-23, 2012: unlike earlier years, weeks when the biggest number of students are out this year is quite evenly spread over those three weeks of March.

What are the Top 10 Spring Break Hot Spots for 2012?
Where Everyone Will Be for Spring Break 2012!?

Cancun still dominates despite (false) reports of popularity decline, but budget travel staying key means Florida beaches keep climbing the spring break hot spots list; volunteer travel’s still growing, too. Europe: expect way more American students than usual. Rosarito Beach will see last minute traffic, Puerto Vallarta jumps up another rank, and the hospitality-challenged Bahamas drops three points.

Here is a great article I found that answers just those questions: http://studenttravel.about.com/od/springbrea1/tp/to_spring_break.htm

Where to Go for Spring Break Without a Passport:

Plenty of tropical paradises are your pearl for spring break without a passport: you can drive to Mexico with a PASS card, for instance (which is why Baja’s Rosarito Beach will see traffic again this year, as will Mazatlan). Fly to the Caribbean’s colonial Puerto Rico or US Virgin Islands’ sugary shores without a passport. Hawaii is a US state; Florida, of course, is as near as a road trip or a cheapie student airfare. And if you seek snow rather than sand, North America has some truly great ski resorts (we’ve rounded up those welcoming spring breakers). Let’s check ‘em all out:

I think I will go to the island of St.Kitts this Spring Break! Check out their tourism website at: http://www.stkittstourism.kn/ Will post photos soon!

For Canadians travelling to St.Kitts, here is the official visitors guide: http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=252000 . It is always best to research a place before you!

Valentine’s Crafts With Kids

BabyMomma — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:02:37 +0000

We found this really cute website called “http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/valentine.html” with these activities! My kids loved it today and had a blast making valentine’s for their daddy!

This site features lots of cool crafts for kids!! Also featuring this cute butterfly from a mommy site at “http://energizerbunniesmommyreports.com/2012/01/easy-to-make-valentines-crafts-with-the-kids.html” Check it out! super cute

Valentine's Day crafts for kids

“You Inched Your Way Into My Heart” Inchworm Printable Valentine’s Day Card Craft for Kids

What you will need: Pink Card Stock (Heavy Paper), Green colored tissue paper (the kind you use to wrap presents), craft foam shapes or other decorative items, tiny googly eyes, scissors, glue, large paint brush or pencil (about 1 cm wide).
How to make this valentine card:

1. Draw a large heart on a pink sheet of paper and write, “Valentine, you inched your way into my heart.” as shown in the picture.

2. Cut two slits about one inch long about one inch apart in the middle of the heart. (A pattern for this craft is available to members.)

3. Make the tissue paper inchworm according to the elephant trunk directions below. Glue tiny eyes and a tongue on one end of the worm and stick it between the slits in the heart as pictured above.

Wild Wild Poker – Free2Play – $2000coins for all new players!

BabyMomma — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:33:35 +0000

We wanted to extend a congrats to our friends who have launched this Free app for casual gamers. As a mom without alot of time, i find it great to relax with some games after work or when the kids have gone to bed. What do you guys think about casual social games? Do you like to play games such as Farmville or Zynga Poker or Words with Friends? I like to play poker alot as it stimulates my mind and gives me something to challenge myself.

Wild Wild Poker Free2Play – Casual Gaming is giving away Free $2000 coins for all new players! Click here to join with Facebook Now to redeem. BestofKidsites.com will do a promo with them soon and we will give one of our parents readers $50,000 Free coins! Please stay tuned, LIKE the game and support small game developers!

Thank you!

———————————————————————-

Press Release – Feb 1, 2012 -

Wild Wild Poker Alpha to opens its doors – Feb 6, 2012

The World’s First Video Poker Free2Play app, Wild Wild Poker, opens its doors and welcomes new poker players to come try out the game for free. All new users recieve $2000 Free coins and more promotions daily during their grand opening.

Launching on the biggest social network platform in the world (Facebook), the latest poker app is scheduled to be released on Feb 6, 2012. Facebook currently has over 200+ poker related apps and 700+million users worldwide in over a hundred different countries. “We chose to develop our Wild Wild Poker app for Facebook because we believe we are offering a product that is fun and unique,” says a rep from Lucky Lady Games. “…we didn’t want to just be a copycat in this space, so we chose a game we loved and put our own spin on it. A few collegues think this move was rather risky for our first game launch, but we welcomed the challenge and here we are. We are very excited and interested to see what responses we will recieve from players.”

Wild Wild Poker puts a different spin on the social poker community by offering the world’s first Free2Play app that focuses on Video Poker. Though many social casino games offer video poker as a part of their suite, none focus specifically on Video Poker.

Creative and well produced, Wild Wild Poker features a playful backstory with gaming elements that include ransom collection, progressive jackpots, instant wins, in-game power boosters and real-time statistics tracking. The alpha release is minimal and has 30% of the completed game.

A few key gaming elements which will be released during their BETA round are listed on their website at http://www.wildwildpoker.com.

The development team at Lucky Lady Games is comprised of industry veterans. Creativity and technology does not seem to be a concern for this team but rather the marketing.

Lucky Lady Games co-founder, Sandra Wong, explains: “This is nothing out of the ordinary with new game studios. Most of us don’t have big marketing budgets like Zynga to buy users into the game. We must rely on great communication and utilize our social marketing techniques. We of course hope that our own social networks and the community will show their support by trying us out and sharing it with their friends.”

To try out the game and get your $2000 FREE Coins launch promotion, visit www.wildwildpoker.com to Play Now with your Facebook account.

Wild Wild Poker on Facebook Poker Game

Thomas the Tank engine Birthday Party Ideas!

BabyMomma — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:03:37 +0000

My children are totally obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine! Why? Because he is awesome…we just recently had a thomas the tank party for my son’s 2nd party and i attempted to create Tidmouth Sheds. Here is a photo of my cake and game ideas!

Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday Party table cake

For games we did a pinata, Hot COAL game (similar to hot potato except we used a black lump of coal from one of my son’s toys) and whoever has the coal when the music stops gets a prize. We wanted to do last guy standing but the kids are small so they all cheered whoever had the coal so we changed the game. We also did, pin the train on the tracks, which i printed names of all the kids and then blind folded them and whoever got their train on the track won a prize!

Thomas Birthday Games

Here are some cool facts about Thomas for all the hard core Thomas Fans which i found really interesting:

Letter to Christopher

Dear Christopher,
Here is your friend Thomas the Tank Engine. He wanted to come out of his station yard and see the world. These stories tell you how he did it. I hope you will like them because you helped me to make them.
Your Loving Daddy

The Story of Thomas & Friends
Our story begins in 1917 in the sleepy village of Box in Wiltshire, England. A young boy lies awake in his bed, listening to steam engines huffing and puffing along the nearby Great Western Railway. To the little boy tucked up in bed, listening to the engines, it sounds very much like the trains are talking to each other. The young boy is Wilbert Awdry – later to become the Reverend W. Awdry, the creator of “The Railway Series” and the most famous tank engine in the world –Thomas.

Many years later in 1940, when Wilbert was married, he found himself passing on his love of railways to his own son, Christopher Awdry. In 1943, when Christopher was confined to his bed with measles, Wilbert amused his son by improvising stories about the steam engines from his own childhood. And so began the adventures of Edward and two other engines, Gordon and Henry. These original stories were told over and over again until, pressed by Christopher to be more consistent with the details, the Rev. W. Awdry finally scribbled the stories on scraps of paper.

It was only due to the persistence of his wife, Margaret, that the Rev. Awdry eventually offered his scribbles to a publisher, and his first book, “The Three Railway Engines” was published by Edmund Ward in 1945. At Christmas of that year, the Rev. Awdry made his son Christopher a simple wooden toy engine that was later christened “Thomas.” And so Thomas the Tank Engine was born. At Christopher’s urging, his father began to make up stories about Thomas too. “Thomas the Tank Engine” was published the following year and steamed onwards. The Rev. W. Awdry invented a fictional setting for the stories – the Island of Sodor – and wrote a new book every year until his twenty sixth and final story,
Steaming Across Generations

In the following years, the Rev. Awdry enjoyed his semi-retirement, responding to thousands of letters from the fans of his books. In 1983, following in the footsteps of his father, Christopher began writing stories for the amusement of his son Richard. “Really Useful Engines” was the first of 14 books by Christopher Awdry that have entertained a second generation of Thomas fans. Around that time, Britt Allcroft, a television producer, had been filming a documentary on a preserved steam railway. She found herself fondly reacquainted with books she had enjoyed in her childhood and was inspired to bring them to the television screen.

“Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends” chugged onto ITV television for the first time in Britain, in October 1984 and the series became an instant hit. Within just a few months, 8.5 million people were tuning in to watch. More people were watching Thomas than were viewing the popular sports programs on other channels. Children and adults alike were besotted by the little steam engine and adored the beautiful railway models in the series. The next stop for Thomas was America in 1989 when Thomas and his friends pulled into the PBS television station. Canada’s YTV also took Thomas on board and the tank engine saw no signs of stopping there. Thomas puffed his way over to Japan in 1991, to Germany by 1997 and he has now appeared in 130 countries all around the world.

In 2000 Thomas became the first steam engine to star in his own movie. “Thomas and the Magic Railroad” was a feature length film that delighted audiences in cinemas everywhere. Today, Thomas is entertaining a third generation of children with a new series of “Thomas & Friends” from HIT Entertainment. With a theme park in Japan, countless games and toys, hundreds of “Day Out With Thomas” events in Britain, Canada, America, Thomas Land in the UK and Japan and a brand new website, the little wooden model made by Rev. Awdry over 65 years ago has come a very long way indeed. Everyone who loves Thomas the Tank Engine hopes he’ll be going full steam ahead for many more years to come.

How I retired at age 30

BabyMomma — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:42:02 +0000

My husband sent me a pretty good common sense article today on MSN personal finance about a guy writing about his retirement at 30. It’s all pretty much common sense and I think everyone should read it as it is most likely doable by all if people just put their minds to it. Stop trying to keep up with the Jone’s, don’t live within your means, but BELOW them!

There is nothing to prove to anyone but yourself and as you get older the superficiality of stuff really doeson’t matter anyhow.

Regardless, here is the article, and you can read more on msn finance:

“I have been asked many times to provide some more gritty details on how I became Mr. Money Mustache at such an early age. Commenters and email writers have asked me to provide salaries and savings amounts through the years, as well as describe any windfalls or unusual maneuvers that made it all possible.

I have hesitated to share the details until this point, mostly because I didn’t keep a written record through the years and it seemed pretty complicated and imprecise in my mind. Also, it’s embarrassing to walk around in your monetary underwear in front of thousands of people. But many financial bloggers have graphs of their net worth right on the front page, so the least Mr. M. can do is provide a vague summary of some ancient history.

And for my own benefit, it is worth sorting things out just for the record, so doubters can be convinced, voyeurs can be entertained, and aspiring Mustachians can compare their own progress. So here it is, my best effort at retelling the story.

Year 0 (1997): The full-time working career begins. Mr. Money Mustache has just finished a grueling computer engineering degree and is now ready to party. He gets right to work in early May, skipping even the university graduation ceremony because he doesn’t want to miss any work (he had already moved to a new city 300 miles away from the university). Age: 23. Starting salary: $41,000. Student loans: zero — due to low spending, about $10k of help from parents, and good high school and summer jobs.

But also absolutely ZERO net worth. No bank balances, never owned a car, just a bike, a backpack, and a diploma.

Year 1: In this first year I foolishly started out by buying a three-years-new 1994 Ford Probe GT sports car for $16,000 with tax. And I borrowed money from my older sister to do it (what a clueless young man!!!). It took most of the first year to pay off that loan. I also flaunted my new salary around town with frequent bar and restaurant hopping, purchases of computer equipment and furniture, accessories for my car, and a trip to a resort in Mexico.

Fortunately, I did enroll in my employer’s retirement savings plan. I also worked like a crazy company slave, enjoying weekends and late evenings in the office. Because of this, and a rising tech market in general, I got a raise to $57,600 at some point in the first year, resulting in a Year 1 ’stash: $5,000 (in a retirement account).

Year 2: Through both of these first two years, I lived with roommates by sharing a series of nice houses, which we called Nuthouse 1, 2 and 3. The rent averaged about $350 per month, plus some negligible share of utilities. With the unnecessarily expensive car paid off and the higher salary, I was able to save more: $5,000 into the retirement account, $3,000 into an employee stock purchase plan, and $10,000 in cash. Year 2 ’stash: $23,000 ($13k cash/shares, $10k retirement).

Year 3: This was late 1999, and both the job and stock markets were on fire. I got a new job and moved to the United States for a salary of $77,000. I drove the ol’ Probe GT down to Boulder, Colo., and used the local newspaper to find another nice roommate situation, so my rent was only $400 a month.

I decided to buy a house — but was disappointed to learn that I would need $47,000 in cash for a down payment on a starter home, which would cost a minimum of $235,000. I cashed out the stock purchase plan shares from Year 2, which were now worth $10k, and saved up a few of my new higher paychecks. After a few months in the new job, I had the down payment. Year 3 ’stash: 67k ($47k home equity, $10k retirement, $10k cash).

Year 4: My future wife graduated from her longer and more meandering education up in Canada and decided to join me in Boulder. She drove down in her 1993 Civic hatchback, and hunted for a job. She found one for $44,000. And I was recruited to another nearby high-tech company for the ridiculous salary of $83,000. Now things were getting crazy in the income department, although we weren’t thinking about early retirement yet. During vacations, we toured much of the U.S. including Hawaii, and took a trip to Australia and New Zealand at some point too.

I saved 20% of my salary in the 401K and got a $5k match from the company, as did the girlfriend. We both started Vanguard accounts to capture any extra cash. We also made some extra mortgage payments occasionally. Year 4 ’stash: $150k.

Year 5: We both scored raises. I earned $100k including company bonuses, and she earned $60k. I was also working heavily on the house renovations this year. We hosted many great parties at that house, and life was grand. That year, I foolishly took a $10,000 step backward by buying a brand-new motorcycle. But the investment gains on stocks started accumulating, adding about $10k to our earnings this year. So we still ended up increasing the savings by close to $100k after tax. Year 5 ’stash: $250k.

Year 6: Salary went up slightly because of an unexpected company bonus, and girlfriend earned a raise to $65k as well. And we didn’t buy anything silly that year. In fact, I finally wised up and sold my car, and we became a one-car couple. I didn’t miss the second car for a moment. Investment gains on the existing savings contributed another $20k. It is complicated to remember what portion of income was taxable salary, and what was nontaxable gains inside of retirement accounts and such. But a reasonable estimate of the total is Year 6 ’stash: $365k.

Year 7: No increases in salary, but similar amazing earnings and moderate spending, combined with $30k of investment gains. Year 7 ’stash: $490k.

Year 8: A raise to $70k for the now-wife(!). Meanwhile, I actually switched to four-day-per-week work that year in exchange for a 20% pay cut — my first test of the waters of early retirement. But it was still a bumper year for me due to cashing out stock options, stock purchase plan, and annual bonus. My earnings must have been something crazy like $125k that year. Investment gains $40k. Year 8 ’stash: $600k.

Year 9: I quit my job!!! And I started a small house-building company as a semi-retirement job. It earned me about $50k in the first year, and wife still worked for part of the year until the baby came, earning $60k. In addition, we moved to a new town and bought a cheaper house, renting out the first house for a very high positive cash flow due to a low mortgage and its increased value.

At this point in the accounting, we will add in the appreciation of this house — which was about $100,000 after subtracting for the cost of the materials I used to renovate it. About $50,000 of this was due to market appreciation, and 50k due to renovation appreciation. Investment gains continued at about $35k. Year 9 ’stash: $720k.

Sometime during Year 9, we declared ourselves as “retired!” as we quit full-time work to care for the baby. The rent from the previous house was more than covering the mortgages on both houses. However, part-time work also trickled in after the first few months of baby raising. Eventually we moved one more time to our current house and had two rentals. Eventually both rentals were sold and the gains were put elsewhere. And I became even wiser and sold my motorcycle, to free up both cash and garage space for my greater love: my workshop. Year 10 ’stash: 800k or so.

Mixed in with those later years, but left out for clarity, was this house-building business of mine. It was a firecracker of success in the first year, then a firehose of disaster in the second year. I’ll save the details for another time, but the end result is happy: I’m just stuck with one newly built house, which we rent out, that is tying up a certain percentage of our retirement savings.

Nowadays I do not build full houses and try to sell them. I closed the old company and the Mrs. and I started a cozy new two-person company that does whatever we want it to do. Custom renovations and finish work only for local, nice people on my side, and real-estate sales for local, nice people on her side. This low-stress career agrees very well with us, and keeps me from sitting on the couch typing to YOU all day.

Some people will say, “But wait! You just said you still work sometimes! That’s not retirement!” To these people, I can only say, “You’ll see.” Because when you quit your corporate job, you end up with even more energy, which means you want to do more stuff! If some of this stuff happens to earn you money, so be it.

I define us as retired, because that is a novel word to throw around for those under 50 that sounds much more interesting than “financially independent.” Also, the cash flow from investments is much higher than our spending, so work is only done for fun and on our own terms. For example, this year I stopped taking on carpentry work altogether and just started typing my blog and doing other unpaid work like school volunteering. Other years, I may accidentally earn hundreds of thousands of additional dollars by starting another company. Who knows!? Even then, Mr. Money Mustache will still be retired, so there.

Since Year 10, several more years have passed, and because the rental house pays all bills and we still do some work on the side when the boy is in school, the investment gains and income have just been building on themselves. We also paid off the mortgage on the primary house.

So, even if we refuse to let ourselves do any more enjoyable part-time work from this point onward, at some time in our lives we will either have to drastically increase our spending, or more likely, do some generous and worthwhile things with the surplus money to put it to good use.

Frugality plays a part
Isn’t that weird? That I would rather give money away completely, than spend it to hire a bunch of guys with noisy gas mowers and leaf blowers to cut my lawn for me every week so I could sit inside and watch them? Yes, folks, I point this out to show how frugality can grow on you, to the point that you’d rather live an efficient and self-sufficient life even if money were not an object.

I’m sure the questions will come about where these investment gains came from. Most of it was just plain old dollar cost averaging and dividends. And the amount saved from capital gains is still small compared with the amount saved from old-fashioned not buying things. The fundamentals of this plan mostly involved the two of us living on a shared $30k to $40k of spending money per year, including housing costs, and saving the rest. The biggest single factor producing this low living cost was probably deciding to live close to work and not commute excessively by car.

Other people will scoff at the high salaries involved, compared with the U.S. median level. I won’t deny that. More normal salaries, of course, would require some adjustment to this plan. You might decide to settle down in a house that costs less than the $400,000 that is tied up unproductively in my current house, for example. Or you might decide to work as late as 40 or even 45! But in almost any middle-income situation, retirement is something that can be earned drastically earlier than age 60-65, if you start early enough.”

You can read the article here: http://money.msn.com/retirement-plan/article.aspx?post=dd544488-f716-496b-b314-8e25b69e7aa9

Weaning Toddler off Pacifier & Soothers

BabyMomma — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:42:26 +0000

Both my kids are addicted to soothers! One is 3.5 years old, the other just turned 2. I know alot of people keep telling me to get them to stop and right away, but soothers have been my godsend considering most of the time I am a single mom and i work from home. I guess this is selfish, but you know, i dont get alot for myself so this is a gift i give myself.

My oldest however is primed about giving up her soother on her 4th birthday. I dont want to stress her out but i know it is time as I dont know if it will be bad for her teeth and gums. She loves it so much though and she is my baby so i would like to do what is best for her.

I guess one of the reasons she has been using it so long is because when her brother was born, he got one and we just sort of let her have it too, so it is fair.

I have researched a few places online about Weaning and these answer seems quite good:

“Like your son, many young children use the sucking of a pacifier as a comfort mechanism; it helps to calm them down, and is soothing especially when they are tired. There is nothing wrong with this, and most children have less of a need to suck as they get older.

I do recommend that, just as you have done, the pacifier use be confined to the crib, once children have turned a year old. Children can then use it when they want to settle down and go to sleep, they don’t use it at all the rest of the day. The only problem with this is that then children truly associate their pacifier with falling asleep, and they almost can’t fall asleep without it.

You can break this association, and I would do it abruptly, rather than try to limit the time he is using the pacifier. You’ll have two or three bad nights, and then the whole thing will be over. For children of about two or three years, I recommend that you pick a date, and tell your child that he is going to stop using the pacifier because he is a “big boy” now. Remind him a couple of days beforehand, and again the day before.

On the appointed day, collect all the pacifiers, and have your child go with you as you “give away” the pacifiers to a baby. You can use a friend’s new baby, a baby from church or preschool — it doesn’t matter, as long as he can see that there really is a small baby. It’s best not to have a baby that he will see regularly, or knows very well. Then have him leave the pacifiers in a little bag with the baby (obviously, the baby won’t really use these used pacifiers, but he doesn’t know that).

You should then go to get some predetermined “reward” (a new older kid toy, a special outfit, etc.). Most two or three year olds will go along with all of this pretty well. Kids under two might have some difficulty actually giving their pacifiers to a baby, in which case you might just want to plan on throwing them out.

The difficulty begins that first night or with the first naptime. The child will get in the bed and then realize there is no more pacifier. You will have to remind him that he can’t have it anymore. You won’t have to worry about giving in, since you’ve gotten rid of the pacifiers! It will likely take a good hour or more for the child to now fall asleep, because he doesn’t know how to without the pacifier, and needs to learn a new way to fall asleep. Be prepared for tears and screams, but don’t scold him, just support him as he works his way through this.

Usually, by the third or fourth night, he will have learned how to fall asleep in a short time again, though don’t be surprised if he still asks about the pacifiers. The one thing you have to make sure of is that you don’t substitute yourself as the new “object” that he needs in order to fall asleep. You want him to learn how to fall asleep on his own. Read more on FamilyEducation: http://life.familyeducation.com/toddler/sleep/42317.html#ixzz1iN3RnnhO“

What are the disadvantages of using a dummy?

Using a dummy for long periods can result in middle ear infections:

Sucking may back-track bacteria from your baby’s mouth into the narrow channels between his ears and throat (Eustachian tubes).

If your baby uses a dummy a lot, it may affect the structure of his mouth. This may result in mucus not draining so well along the Eustachian tubes.

Limiting the time your baby uses his dummy will guard against ear problems. Perhaps just let him use it to settle himself to sleep.

Using a dummy may affect your baby’s health in other ways too. Babies who use dummies seem to be prone to more chest infections and tummy upsets. The exact cause hasn’t been established, but using a dummy has been linked to an increase in:

vomiting

fever

diarrhoea

colic

The longer your baby uses a dummy, the more likely it is to cause changes in the way his teeth grow. This can result in an overbite or crossbite, where the top and bottom teeth don’t meet properly. This is especially the case if your child uses his dummy until he’s three or four.

The same goes for thumb-sucking, though. The British Dental Health Foundation recommends avoiding the use of dummies and discouraging thumb-sucking.

Using a dummy may affect your baby’s speech development. Encourage your baby not to use his dummy while he’s trying to talk or make sounds.

Will using a dummy interfere with breastfeeding?

It may do. Unicef and the Department of Health say it’s best not to give your baby a dummy until you’ve established breastfeeding. This usually happens by the time your baby is between six weeks and eight weeks old.

It’s also recommended that you use a dummy only for settling your baby to sleep. That way your baby won’t waste valuable time sucking on his dummy instead of at your breast.

Dummy use has been linked to earlier weaning off the breast, and breastfeeding exclusively for a shorter length of time. However, we don’t whether this is because dummies interfere with breastfeeding. There could be other reasons why mums stop breastfeeding.

For example, if you are having problems breastfeeding you may find yourself relying more on a dummy. Or you may use a dummy because you made the decision to stop breastfeeding.

Other experts believe that if you use a dummy:

Your baby may find it hard to switch between the different types of sucking needed for the dummy and your breast.

You may miss your baby’s cue that he wants to feed and use a dummy to calm him instead.

Your breasts may not get enough stimulation. This could cause a fall in your milk supply. The belief that they don’t have enough milk is the main reason that mums give for stopping breastfeeding in the first six months.

I’ve decided I do want to use a dummy. What else do I need to know?

Dummies can give you a break when your baby’s distressed. If you’ve decided it’s best for everyone if your baby has a dummy, here are a few tips:

Use an orthodontic or flat dummy. There is some slight evidence that this might be better for your baby’s developing mouth than a cherry dummy.

Keep the dummy as clean as possible. Sterilise it as you would any other bottle-feeding teat.

Check dummies regularly. Cracks, splits and holes can trap germs. If you find any problems, buy a new dummy straight away.

Never dip the dummy in sweet foods. Don’t coat your baby’s dummy in foods such as honey or juice to stop him crying. Honey can harm your baby, and sticky, sweet food and drink can cause tooth decay.

Wait until your baby really needs a dummy. For example, if your baby has colic or you want to settle him. Don’t let his dummy use become a habit.

Wean your baby off his dummy before he turns one. It will be easier to do it then, than when he’s older. He should have stopped using a dummy before he’s four.

Help, my baby refuses to give up his dummy!

If your baby is using his dummy all the time, or is not giving it up as soon as you’d like, try these ideas:

Gradually decrease the times when you let him use his dummy.

Only let your child have his dummy at certain times, such as bedtime, or when he’s ill.