In June, France’s minister for culture and communication, Christine Albanel, issued a “cry of alarm” to parents about channels dedicated 24 hours a day to baby-targeted programming. In a newspaper interview, she called them “a danger” and urged parents not to use them to help their children get to sleep.

She was referring to Baby First TV and Baby TV.

The ruling cites health experts as saying that interaction with other people is crucial to early child development.

“Television viewing hurts the development of children under 3 years old and poses a certain number of risks, encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, over-excitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration as well as dependence on screens,” the ruling said.

I think that France may be taking this whole thing too far. My son has been watching TV since he was 8 months old. It has helped him learn how to talk and has taught him new songs and dances.

SOURCE

Gia Zavala Damon arrived today the star’s rep confirmed.

“Everyone is great,” Damon’s rep tells Us. “She’s healthy and beautiful.”

Gia joins Isabella, 2, and Damon’s stepdaughter, Alexia, 10.

PHOTOCREDIT:Jon Furniss/Wire Image VIA USMAGAZINE.COM

The babies arrived a couple of weeks ago via surrogate mother his representative said in a statement today.

“The children, delivered via gestational surrogacy, are healthy and already under Ricky’s full-time care,” said the statement. “Ricky is elated to begin this new chapter in his life as a parent and will be spending the remainder of the year out of the public spotlight in order to spend time with his children.”

We look forward to seeing Ricky’s babies. I bet they are adorable!

SOURCE

My son currently receives treatment from a facility that has needed to cutback on a lot of their support staff because the government did not increase their funding this last year.

At the end of my post, I appealed to some of the companies that our website has relationships with to donate new developmental toys to his facility.

The very next day I was contacted by Kushies, who generously offered to donate some of their toys from their Zolo line.

This line of toys was created with many purposes in mind. Kids will only see the bright colours and exciting characters, but parents will love some of the developmental benefits.

Kushies toys encourage many developmental skills including dexterity, flexible thinking, explorative play and independent play.

Some of the toys the facility received were:

Stacrobats - Magnetic Stacking Acrobats($52) - Build your imagination, balance, and dexterity while you play! The magnetic figures, balls, and base are easy to attach. Connect them in zillions of ways!

Pupa Musical Caterpillar($60)- Stick balls together to create & build! Squeeze to hear musical notes! Full 8-tone scale lets you play tunes, including color coded songs.

Play Garden Magnetic Activity Garden($74) - Magnetic creatures stick to the garden and the magnetic plant pieces stack and build! This unique garden window box doubles as a zippered carrying case for toddlers on the go!

Growing Your Baby thanks this amazing company for their generosity and we encourage our readers to support companies, like Kushies who give back to the community.

Kids were dancing to raucous classics like Bob The Builder and the Chicken Dance when officials in Auckland responded to a complaint from a neighbour to pull the plug on the bash.

Head teacher at One Tree Hill Kindergarten, Lisa Gordon, told The Dominion Post how a noise control officer turned up at their annual party at 6.30pm looking a bit sheepish.

“I think he must have been pretty embarrassed,” she said. “It just strikes me as pretty absurd. It was only 6.30pm.”

A spokesman for Auckland City Council said: “The noise was deemed by our noise control officer to be excessive. The music could be heard two doors down the road.”

Some people really have nothing better to do! Who complains about noise at 6:30? SOURCE

It feels like everyday I read another story about a small child who has either lost their life or has been hospitalized after being left for hours.

15-month-old Cassandra Starr died after she was left inside a van for nearly three hours when her family returned home from church services Sunday afternoon.

The family of six — including four children — had returned about 1 p.m. after attending services at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Brogue, Chanceford Township, where the victim’s father, Chris Starr(photographed, left), is the associate pastor, York County Coroner Barry Bloss said.

Cassandra’s mother, Jenny (photographed, left), had taken the oldest three children — ages 4, 5 and 7 — into the home and asked the father to help unload some bags and get the baby,

“Unfortunately, the father forgot,” Bloss said.

Jenny thought that the baby was sleeping, until 7-year-old sibling noticed the baby was not inside her crib.

The mother immediately ran to the van where the baby was found, Bloss said. The mother called 911 for help, and there were attempts to revive the baby but they were “too late,” Bill Johnson, Jenny Starr’s father said.

Everytime I read a story like this I am at a loss for words. I cannot imagine forgetting my son in the car, at the airport or anywhere for the matter. Has no one ever heard of double checking?

Related Articles:

• Crappy Parent Alert in Michigan!
• Mom Fights To Create Awareness About Leaving Children In Cars
• 13-week-old Baby Survives After Being Flung 10 ft In Air!

SOURCE

This photo was taken last Thursday at a government hospital in Manila.

I cannot believe how many moms are sharing one room and possibly the same beds.

It really gives us pampered moms here in North America a bit of perspective.

I remember having a heart attack when the nurse moved me into a quad room before my son was born. The space I was given to sleep in was no bigger than 8ft x 8ft.

I am sure than any of these women would feel like they had won the lottery if you offered them the ‘cubicle’ I had.

We really do have it good…

PHOTOCREDIT:Ranoco/Reuters VIA YAHOO.COM

“The doctors told us she lost her pulse again this morning. We were both next to her and you could she was really gone this time. You can’t imagine what we’re going through.”

Dr. Moshe Daniel, deputy chief of staff at the Nahariya hospital, told Ynet

“The medical team did everything in its power to save this baby, but unfortunately, a premature baby in the 23-week-old pregnancy has very little chance of surviving”

Originally posted: Since starting this website, I feel like I have covered this same story many times. Micro-preemies are such amazing little fighters!

Medical staff at Nahariya hospital were stunned after premature baby showed vital signs five hours after being pronounced dead, while being kept in the hospital cryolab.

The baby’s mother arrived at the hospital a few days before the baby’s birth for a series of prenatal tests.

The tests showed that she was experiencing some intrauterine bleeding and that her fetus had no pulse. This is when doctors scheduled a second-trimester termination procedure.

Once the procedure was completed, the medical staff followed protocol and verified that the 23 weeker was not breathing, subsequently pronouncing her dead.

The baby was then transferred to the hospital cryogenic laboratory (cryolab), before being sent on to the pathology lab for a battery of routine postmortem tests, meant to give the doctors and her parents more answers as to the cause of her death.

The baby had spent five hours inside the cryolab’s cooler when her father, accompanied by the medical staff, asked to see the body.

Upon opening the cooler, the baby began showing signs of spontaneous breathing. She was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit and placed in an incubator and on a respirator, to assist her breathing.

Doctor’s believe that it was the cold that kept the baby’s metabolism rate and use of oxygen low, adding that medical literature is familiar with case of children and adults who have “come back to life” after being seemingly frozen.

Related Articles:

• Mom Recalls How Her Preemie Was Kept Alive By Tickling Her Feet
• Baby Shocks Family By Breathing Just Moments Before Burial
• 24 Weeker Born In Toilet Is Thriving After Low Odds Of Survival
• Life Threatening Tumor Causes Baby To Be Born Twice

SOURCE

Here are some of the highlights:

When is the baby due?

I don’t put a due date on the baby, whenever he’s ready to come out.

How did you decide to have a home birth?

I saw Ricki Lake’s documentary, The Business of Being Born. I think all women kind of like to be in control, but I want to really experience the birth. Society tells you , “You get pregnant, you go to the hospital”, and that was just naturally what I was going to do, but once I saw that there was another option, it just fit me. I want to be fully present - I don’t want any medications. I just want to be in control of the situation - as much as I can be anyways.

Any details you can share about your birth plan?

I’m going to have water there, but I know that I might not end up giving birth in the water. Or, I might just use my own tub.

Do you plan to breastfeed?

I’m definitely breastfeeding. God gave us the gift. Our bodies are made a certain way to nuture our children. To certain point, anyway. I’m not going to be one of those mothers breastfeeding my 3 year old.

For more of the interview and more pictures please pick up a copy of Pregnancy Magazine.

This company produces cds that parents can play for their babies to help them fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.

Created with recorded samples of the intrauterine environment at an advanced low-frequency ambient technology, this new technology is fast on it’s way to becoming the leading baby sleep solution for fussy babies.

The first thing that struck me when I listened to the cd was how calming the music was.

I would be perfect for moms who are in labor because of the soft sounds of the heartbeat and low music in the background.

When I had my son all I got was annoying birds and waterfalls, which ended up driving me crazy!

SoundSleep’s soft and peaceful music would definitely go a long way to keep an anxious mom calm during the tough stages of labor!

GIVEAWAY: 5 of our readers will each win 1 of these cds

To enter our giveaway please e-mail us at giveaways@growingyourbaby.com , with the subject ‘ Soundsleep’ and tell us your best baby sleep trick.

Giveaway closes Thursday August 21th, 2008

Discount code: Growing Your Baby readers will 15% discount on any Soundscience product orders from www.sound-science.com when they use the code ab15gyb at checkout.

Giveaway Rules