Do Infants have Nightmares?

My daughter has never been a good sleeper. She would take very short naps, around 30 mins, during the day and she would get up 3 to 4 times a night for feedings. Then at around 3 months she began to sleep at night for 8 hours before waking up for a feeding. I was so happy I really thought she would start sleeping through the night. Then when she turned 4 months she began getting up throughout the night screaming. It was as if she was having nightmares. She would be fast asleep and then out of no where she would start screaming. I would go running to her crib and she would still be asleep but screaming loudly. I thought to myself is she having a bad dream? Which lead me to question do infants have nightmares? This kept happening night after night and I just didn't know what to do. I would pick her up every time and rock her back to sleep but it didn't stop the bad dreams. It would happen so many times throughout the night. I really felt helpless. I wanted to make her nightmares go away but I just didn't know what to do. I discussed this issue at my support group and it seems that some of the other children around her age were also having the same problem. One of the other mother's called them night terrors. I did some research online and I found a very useful article on night terrors. It seems that night terrors occur when the central nervous sytem is still maturing. They said its best to not wake the child up and that the child has no memory of the night terror. The article stated that night terrors would likely disappear on their own as the nervous system matures. I think this article is pretty accurate because her night terrors just stopped all of a sudden. She is back to her old sleeping habits and I am very happy to be getting sleep again.

Do Parents Really Know Best?

I have been getting a lot of unsolicited parenting advice from well meaning family members lately and its starting to drive me a little crazy. I don't want to sound rude or ungrateful but is their a nice way to say I don't want your advice?  Most of my family members never breastfed, used cloth diapers, or made their own baby food so their parenting style is much different than mine. A lot has changed since they were parents. Their advice is not up to date and sometimes it is just plain wrong. It's not that I don't want any advice, I do, but I don't like feeling obligated to follow it. I just want everyone to know I am the parent and I know what is best for my child so please respect my rules and follow them.

Easy Guacamole Recipe

If your running short on time try this guacamole recipe. It's easy, quick, and delicious.

Prep Time: 5 mins

Ingredients
2 large ripe avocados
1 ripe roma tomato
1 serrano pepper (Mild use 1/4 of the pepper, Medium use 1/2 of the pepper, Hot use the whole pepper)
1 lime
salt

Directions
1. Cut the avocados in half. Using a spoon scope out the avocado.
2. Wash the tomato and cut in four pieces
3. In a food processor place the scooped avocado, cut tomato, and serrano pepper. Chop for about 2 mins. For a thicker guacamole chop for 1 min.
4. Add salt and lime to taste.

Cloth Diaper Review - Cotton Babies Econobum and Flip

When I made the decision to use cloth diapers I wasn't to sure which brand to use. I researched all the different types of diapers: organic prefolds, contour, fitted, all-in-ones, and pocket. I liked the variety but I didn't like the prices. I wasn't sure if I would stick with the cloth diapers since I had never used them before so I wanted something more economical. I also didn't want to purchase individual diapers, I wanted a starter kit. I wished more cotton diaper companies had starter kits. Only two companies carried starter kits: Bummis and Cotton Babies. Bummis had an organic cotton prefold diapers starter kit and Cotton Babies had a prefold diapers kit, Econobum, and an insert kit, Flip. Since the Econobum kit was only a third of the price of the Bummis starter kit I decided to try Econobum. This starter kit came with 3 one size diaper covers and 12 prefolds. I had to prewash the cotton prefolds 3 times before I could use them and the diaper covers only had to be prewashed once. I loved the one size diaper covers and the cotton prefolds! The diaper covers snap system was very easy to use and they fit my daughter well. The elastic in the back of the diaper cover and the legs kept her runny stool from leaking. The cotton prefold was very soft to the skin and had great absorbency. The only con to these diapers were the bulkiness. They were so bulky that some of her clothes didn't fit over her diapers. Since I was so pleased with Cotton Babies I decided to try their Flip starter kit. I am so happy with these diapers. The Flip system had the same great diaper covers and the inserts had the same great absorbency but without any of the bulkiness. My husband even thought our daughter was wearing disposables!  I was able to use my exisiting diaper covers with these inserts so I didn't have to buy any additional covers. I bought additional inserts so I wouldn't have to do laundry everyday. I am very happy with the Flip system and wished I had bought it from the very beginning.

Tip of the Day

Are you tired of buying unhealthy products at the grocery store? Since my daughter was born I have been noticing how unhealthy the products my local grocery store carries. I would never want to feed my daughter this food. So I decided to make her baby food from scratch. While I was looking for good recipes I came across this site Cookus Interruptus.  They have tons of recipes and video demonstrations. Their videos are very entertaining and they really focus on making eating  local organic wholesome foods easy for a busy family.

How to make Poached Pears in Pomegranate Sauce with Mascarpone