Yes, twins can sleep in the same crib—in fact, many pediatricians encourage it. You know how your bed seems empty when your partner is out of town? Think about how you’d feel if the two of you were together there 24 hours a day, for 35 weeks or more, then suddenly pulled apart. For twins, having each other close by is comforting, since they’ve been together since the get-go. So go ahead and let them sleep in the same crib....
Pros • Smooth ride • Cushy, adjustable handlebar • Full-shade coverage for infants • Easy, one-handed fold Cons • Heavy and somewhat bulky when folded • Limited canopy coverage for toddlers • Initial assembly is complex Bottom Line The Chicco Cortina Magic Stroller is a sturdy everyday stroller for both infants and toddlers with lots of storage space and adjustable components, like the seat, footrest and handlebar, that make it easy to find a comfortable fit for your child....
Gastric bypass surgery — which essentially changes the size of your stomach to dramatically cut down on the amount of food you eat — shouldn’t make it more difficult for you to conceive. In fact, just the opposite may be true. By losing weight, you’re likely to dramatically improve your odds of getting pregnant. That’s because obesity, which is the most common chronic disease in the US today, leads to an imbalance of hormones, which can muck up your ability to ovulate....
I was one of those women who had a blissful first trimester—no morning sickness and no fatigue, nothing but excitement for my first baby. But life as I knew it changed once I hit my second trimester, when I was diagnosed with a condition that has left me completely bald. It started when I was about 14 weeks pregnant. After shampooing, I started to find huge clumps of hair clogging the shower drain....
Breast pumps are pretty cool inventions. They keep the milk flowing, allowing you to maintain your milk supply and feed baby if you aren’t at home. Keep in mind, however, that pumps aren’t perfect. Some women have an easy time pumping, while others find it pretty challenging. For this reason, you’ll want to give your pump a test run before you head back to work, suggests Andi Silverman, author of Mama Knows Breast....
Starting solids is an exciting and important milestone in baby’s development—one that not only opens them up to a brand-new world of flavors and textures, but also puts them on the right path to growing healthy and strong. Here’s what you need to know about how and when to start baby food for a smooth transition. In this article: When to start baby food How to start baby on solids Best first foods for baby Introducing allergenic foods...
As I got towards the end of my pregnancy with my son, I thought I knew how the delivery, hospital stay and the early days of parenting would go. There are two lists. The first is what you want to happen. The second is what actually happens! I thought my water would break, I’d start timing contractions and go into the hospital when they were close together. I thought I’d labor there for a few hours, beg for an epidural and spend a couple of hours pushing....
Between your swollen feet, aching back and dry, itchy skin, there’s never a time you’ll need a spa day more than when you’re pregnant. But can you go to a spa when pregnant? The good news is yes—but timing is important, and so is knowing what treatments to avoid to ensure spa pregnancy safety. “Going to a spa can be safe in pregnancy—it can be a good way to relieve stress and alleviate some of the normal discomforts of pregnancy,” says Sara Twogood, MD, an ob-gyn at the University of Southern California who blogs at LadyPartsBlog....
And the Winner Is: SkipHop Silver Lining Cloud Baby’s View Activity Center Real talk: Sometimes you just need a safe spot to plop baby so you can take a shower, make dinner or drink a cup of coffee while it’s actually hot. We’ve been there. And as fun as a game of peekaboo can be, it’s also kind of nice to offload the entertaining efforts for a bit. The SkipHop Activity Center is a veritable theme park for your little one, with multisensory toys and a light-up piano that plays music notes and short songs....
And the Winner Is: Frida Mom Labor and Delivery Postpartum Recovery Kit If you didn’t register for a NoseFrida SnotSucker, do it. We’ll wait. It’s a parenting rite of passage and a Best of Baby Winner. But even better than that is the Frida Mom Labor and Delivery Postpartum Recovery Kit. It’s made by the same company and just as genius. The CEO and mom of three overhauled the products available to women for the recovery period resulting in revolutionary alternatives....
If you fell in love with a baby name that’s turning out to be everyone else’s new fave too, you’re not alone. Even after scouring the web for hours and thumbing through mountains of baby name books, it can be easy to fall for a name and then discover it’s been on the most popular list for the last few years–especially as a first-time parent. (Hey, it happens to the best of us....
It’s most moms-to-be’s biggest fear: How the heck is an entire baby going to fit through there? The very best news is that, because of how awesome modern medicine is, doctors are now informed about virtually every detail of your baby, including her size. Every time you visit your OB, she’s taking measurements to make sure not only that baby is growing at the appropriate rate, but also that you’ll be able to deliver vaginally, if that’s your preference....
Thinking about starting a family soon? Before you take any active steps toward trying to conceive, consider scheduling a preconception visit with your ob-gyn, especially if this will be your first baby or if you have any underlying health problems or concerns. A quick consultation will give you the chance to get a health status report, find out if you need to make any changes to your lifestyle or medication regime, discuss any potential risk factors and learn more about fertility and ovulation....
We know that women are having kids later and later in life. But our genes might be encouraging us to do otherwise. A study out of Oxford University is the first to focus on the biological reasons women delay motherhood. We already know the sociological reasons: the rise of contraception, furthering education, career aspirations. And what researchers found was “a clear genetic component linked to the age of mothers when they have their first child, and to the number of children they have,” according to Oxford professor Melinda Mills....
They’re determined It’s probably the same determination they used to drive themselves to become elite athletes in the first place — Olympic moms want to excel and self-motivate to do it. Beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh is competing in her first Olympics since having two babies just a year apart and having gained about 36 pounds with each pregnancy (and she competes in a bathing suit!). “In my heart, I’m so far from done [competing in volleyball],” she told SI....
The use of medicinal marijuana has been in the news for quite some time, but the recent onslaught of CBD (short for cannabidiol) products—backed by celebs like Mandy Moore and Olivia Wilde—has made CBD oil the remedy du jour. It’s touted as the natural treatment for an impressive list of ailments like anxiety, muscle pain and nausea—symptoms that are all too common during pregnancy. With so many forms available, you can drop some CBD oil under your tongue (or in your coffee), snack on CBD gummies, massage achy feet with a CBD cream or even unwind with CBD bath bombs....
So much about the labor and birth process feels shrouded in mystery for first-time parents. Sure, childbirth is a natural process and our body eventually takes control, but understanding what’s happening to our body and how to help it along is key—and it’s not something we’ll learn by simply scrolling through beautiful images of birth on Instagram. To really prepare for the experience of labor and delivery, turn to an expert-led childbirth class....
Ah, the pregnant waddle. We all say this will never happen to us, but it can be unavoidable. That’s because, as your pregnant belly grows, it throws your center of gravity out of whack, so you end up shifting your weight to offset the added heft in front. Plus, all those pregnancy hormones cause your joints to loosen up. “Joint laxities make the lower part of the spine looser and more unstable,” says Myra Wick, MD....
When Los Angeles model Sarah Stage posted pics of her surprisingly slim 8-month pregnant bikini bod on Instagram, she certainly received the attention she solicited. Some praised her impressive physique while others remarked she must have an eating disorder and unhealthy pregnancy. So began a heated dialogue about what pregnant women should look like. Then, much to my surprise, I received messages from women striving to get “pregnancy abs.” I write this not to bash Sarah Stage for her outrageously fit pregnancy....
“W, X, Y and zed!” Whoa, wait, did my toddler just triumphantly end the alphabet song with “zed”? Sure he was born here, and has both US and UK passports, but the Britishisms spouting from his two-year-old mouth is still a shock to this very pregnant American mother (I’m due with my second in August). Every day he excitedly points out the “lifts” and “bins” to his “mum,” but that’s to be expected....
