Protecting Your Child’s Health: Expert Answers to Urgent Environmental Questions (Excerpts Inside)

Hot off the press comes Protecting Your Child’s Health: Expert Answers to Urgent Environmental Questions, the latest guide book from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). It'd be the perfect addition to your collection of parenting books if you would like to become better educated about how to protect your child from potential health hazards posed by environmental issues.

About the Book:

Because of their smaller,rapidly growing bodies, babies, children and adolescents are at a higher risk of negative effects from exposure to environmental hazards. Protecting Your Child’s Health provides guidance from the experts at the AAP to help parents protect their children from toxins where they live, learn and play – as well help to prevent unnecessary exposure.

With an easy-to-follow Q&A format that offers advice across a variety of environmental topics, the book empowers parents and caregivers to make educated choices and arms them with invaluable information about food and water safety,air pollution, sun protection, lead, radiation, and pesticides that children may encounter at home, at school or in the community. It also teaches us that although large scale events such as massive forest fires heighten awareness of environmental threats, we must also pay attention to the invisible hazards in children’s day to day lives.

The book is now available for purchase on Amazon.

Tommee Tippee Baby & Toddler Gift Pack Giveaway {New Year Cheer Giveaway Hop}

New Year means new beginnings, including the start of a new life with a baby. Tommee Tippee offers a wide range of products that are carefully designed to help parents take better care of their babies and toddlers. And here's your chance to win an awesome prize pack consisting of four of their most popular items!

Closer to Nature bottle: A favorite among parents and babies alike, this bottle has a breast-like nipple to simplify the transition to bottle-feeding. It is developed with breastfeeding experts in mind to mimic the natural movement of breastfeeding. Its slow flow nipple with super sensitive valve eliminates excessive air flow so babies ingest less air.

Comfi-Neck bib: This super-soft bib will keep sensitive skin happy with its special dribble-catcher to prevent unwanted rashes during feeding time – available in pink, blue and beige. This is a personal favorite of mine. My toddler drools a lot and the comfi-neck bibs really help to save his shirt collars from getting soaked during play time. They are easy to clean and comfortable to wear. The reversible and stylish design also makes them easy to match different outfits.

Join Life is Good to Honor Heroes of Optimism

Do you have an everyday hero that you would like to honor? Then share your story with Life is Good and help support childcare professionals for kids in need!

The positive lifestyle brand, Life is Good would like to hear your story about someone in your life who inspires you to focus on the good. Share you story at www.lifeisgood.com/heroes, on Instagram using hashtag #GROWtheGood, or via email: goodstories@lifeisgood.com. For every entry received, Life is Good will donate $1 to support childcare professionals who are everyday Heroes of Optimism for kids in need.

Plus, everyone who shares by August 5, 2016 will be entered to win $1000 to split between the winner and their hero of optimism. Winner will be randomly selected from all eligible entries. Join the campaign now to help spread the power of optimism!

About Life is Good:
The Life is Good Company is a $100 million lifestyle brand dedicated to spreading the power of optimism. The company donates 10 percent of its annual net profits to help kids in need. To date, the company has donated over $11 million, principally through Life is Good products, events and community fundraising efforts. The company was co-founded over 20 years ago by brothers Bert and John Jacobs, who were inspired by their mom, the first powerful optimist in their lives. While the brothers struggled during the early years selling t-shirts from their van, they were motivated by the inspiring letters they received from people fighting to overcome life’s biggest challenges with the power of optimism.

Stay Hydrated with Pedialyte and Exclusive Savings

With cold and flu season in full swing, it is important to keep your family care kit filled with all the essential items such as Pedialyte Liters or Powder Packs. Hydration is necessary to keep our bodies function properly. It is needed even more when we are sick and at the risk of losing vital fluids. But keeping the kids hydrated can be challenging at times, as they tend to favor sugary drinks that do not really help prevent dehydration. Pedialyte offers the perfect solution that meets medical guidelines, with flavors that appeal to children.

Our family got hit hard by the flu a couple of weeks ago. As the only one who didn't get caught, I was fully occupied with taking care of my husband and kids, who had been suffering from symptoms like high fever, vomiting and coughing. When I consulted our family doctor for advice, he stressed repeatedly on the importance of keeping everyone hydrated. Having Pedialyte on hand makes me feel like a smart mom because my kids think of Pedialyte as a special treat and are more than willing to take it when their bodies are in serious need of rehydration. Pedialyte is available in liquid, powder packs and freezer pops. We buy the 1-liter bottles most often, with Strawberry and Mixed Fruit being the kids' top choices.

Unlike soda, juice, or sports drinks that are too high in sugar and too low in sodium, Pedialyte is medically formulated with an optimal balance of sugar and sodium, an important electrolyte lost due to diarrhea and vomiting, to promote fluid absorption and help restore the body's potassium, sodium and chloride minerals, also known as electrolytes. I am not at all surprised to learn that Pedialyte is the #1 pediatrician-recommended oral electrolyte solution and the #1 pharmacist recommended brand for hydration.

Walmart is where we normally shop for Pedialyte, as they have the best everyday prices and a good variety of flavors, including Strawberry, Grape, Mixed Fruit, Bubble Bum, and unflavored (for infants). Pedialyte is very easy to find in the baby section at our local Walmart store. I also spotted the new Pedialyte AdvancedCare in Cherry Punch flavor during my recent visit. More forms and flavors of Pedialyte products are available at Walmart.com.

Want to stock up and save on Pedialyte? Be sure to click the picture above to access the exclusive savings offer from ibotta, which provides a $2 rebate on any variety of 2 one-liter bottles of Pedialyte.

Pedialyte is not only useful when someone is sick, but it also helps combat dehydration due to exercise, heat exhaustion or travel. And it works for both children and adults! I strongly suggest you keeping a few Pedialyte products on hand so that you can use them to help everyone in the family stay hydrated both at home and on the go, any time of the year!

Disclosure: I have been compensated by Pedialyte for this post; however, I am sharing my own thoughts. All opinions are my own.

Join the "Protect Infants Now" Campaign and Help Prevent the Deadly Meningococcal Disease!

While we as parents, try everything we can to provide a safe and comfortable living environment for our new bundles of joy, we also want to protect our infants from deadly diseases that they are most vulnerable to, some of which we may not even be aware of.

Meningococcal disease, also called meningitis, is a less known but most dangerous disease that poses a serious threat to children's lives. It may kill a previously healthy child within 24-48 hours of the first symptoms, which usually appear to be non-specific flu-like symptoms. Recent CDC estimates suggest that infants under one year old are at a disproportionately higher risk (3-7 times higher) for contracting meningococcal meningitis due to their less sophisticated immune systems.

Along with injuries and neonatal complications, meningococcal disease is among the leading causes of preventable infant death in the U.S. Yes, preventable! Vaccines are available to prevent this aggressive and devastating disease, but they are not currently universally recommended for infants.




In response to this problem, Meningitis Angels, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about meningitis and other vaccine-preventable diseases, has initiated the "Protect Infants Now" (PIN) campaign, which aims to encourage the CDC to include meningitis vaccines in the recommended vaccination schedule for infants. You could really help support their efforts by signing the online PIN petition. It takes just a few seconds and only your name and location are required as a valid signature.

Join in the action now! Together we can make a difference and protect our children from this horrible disease!

Disclosure: I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central and Meningitis Angels. This campaign was made possible in part through support provided by Novartis Vaccines. A small donation to a charity of my choice was made in my name from Mom Central as a thank-you for participating. All opinions in this posting are 100% my own.

Win $12k Cash from Care.com

Care.com has recently launched their Year of Care Sweepstakes, in which one Grand Prize winner will be awarded $12,455 cash-the cost of a year of child care for the average American family.

To enter, simply visit Care.com, sign up for a free Basic Membership or subscribe for a full Premium Membership. If you already have an active membership to Care.com, you can enter by clicking on a button on your homepage. The sweepstakes is open to U.S. Residents aged 18 or older. The deadline to enter is 10/9/09 midnight pacific time. Please read the official rules here.