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On July 26, 2010, moms and babies got the attention they deserve thanks to Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard of California. Roybal-Allard, along with 25 co-sponsors, filed the Maximizing Optimal Maternity Services for the 21st Century bill (HR 5807) also known as “MOMS for the 21st Century.” A sweeping piece of legislation, MOMS for the 21^st Century aims to promote optimal pregnancy outcomes by making evidence-based maternity care a national priority. Key provisions include:

• Establishing a focal area on optimal maternity care in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health;

• Establishing a federal interagency coordinating committee on the promotion of optimal…

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The lack of adequate, restful sleep can affect your child’s mood, behavior, health, memory, and growth. If there is anything standing in the way of a good night’s sleep it’s important to address the issue and solve the problem. Following is a list of typical sleep disrupters and possible solutions.

Nightmares
Children spend more time dreaming than adults do, so they have more dreams—both good and bad. After a nightmare saying “It was just a dream” doesn’t explain what they experienced—after all, most kids believe that the tooth fairy and Big Bird are real, too. After a nightmare, offer comfort just as you…

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Never underestimate the power of Dora the Explorer, Scooby Doo, and Shrek. The results of a recent study, published in the July 2010 issue of Pediatrics, found that cartoon characters affect kids’ food preferences.

Researchers at Yale University asked 40 children (all 4 to 6 years old) to taste three pairs of identical foods in either a clear package or one with a picture of a cartoon character. The children were then asked whether the two foods tasted the same or one tasted better than the other, and which of the two foods they would most like as a snack.

For each…

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Disguised as a means for insuring that finicky toddlers would get essential vitamins and nutrients, Enfagrow was pulled from the market on June 9, 2010 in a surprise announcement by its maker, Mead Johnson. Originally launched in July 2009 sporting a vanilla flavor, it was the release of a chocolate flavored version in February 2010 that proved to be not only unhealthy but unwise. With 19 grams of sugar in each 6-ounce serving, critics of Enfagrow chocolate weren’t hard to find. And with childhood obesity having reached epidemic proportions, many argued that the last thing most children needed was a…

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New parents have countless concerns: Is my baby too hot or too cold? Is she sick or just fussy? Do I need to wake her at night to breastfeed? While concerns may vary from parent to parent, one concern is universal—how will I know my baby is getting enough (or too much) to eat? Learning to recognize your baby’s feeding cues and to respond in an appropriate way is an important part of parenting. All babies (at some point) will transition to eating solid foods and drinking from a cup, and when that occurs, the same feeding cues will…

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From the minute my oldest child was born, I have found myself singing. There have been the traditional nursery songs, the cherished lullabies, the dusted-off golden oldies, and the educational ditties. In a class of their own are the improvisations, made up on the spot to encourage a child searching for a lost item, coax him upstairs at bedtime, get him to lie still during a diaper change, or tease him into his winter gear.

It is easy to imagine Alison Blenkinsop’s musical imagination similarly taking hold as she prepared to teach a new mother about breastfeeding, to explain to expectant…

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It’s unanimous. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted 5-0 in support of new standards to address the dangers posed by cribs—including risks associated with drop sides, mattresses, and slats. The standards are designed to eliminate gaps that allow a baby to fall out of the crib or become entrapped and suffocate.

The CPSC action comes on the heels of an announcement by Pottery Barn Kids that it is recalling more than 80,000 drop-side cribs due to concerns over entrapment, suffocation, falling.

Pending final approval by the federal commission sometime next year, the new standards would ban the sale of drop side…

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