The Perfect Photo with Santa!

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When you have a young baby, taking the perfect picture with Santa can be quite an ordeal! What is the perfect outfit? what is the perfect position? Should Santa hold your baby? Decisions, decisions, my advice is keep it simple. This is a picture that will just create a simple memory for you, your baby won’t ever remember it, except to look at the picture when he is older! if your baby is under 4months, I recommend you hold your baby. Yes sorry that means you need to be in the picture. But your child will look back on this picture and enjoy seeing you as much as he will enjoy seeing himself. As for the outfit, if your baby is all in red, chances are you won’t see much more of him than his face next to Santa, so choose an outfit that will make him stand out a little more.

When you have a little one find out the quietest time of day for Santa. This will probably be when they first open of maybe early afternoon when toddlers take naps and older children are still at school. So call ahead to find this out or make an appointment if you can. There’s nothing worse than your baby getting over tired because you have been waiting too long, and he is either screaming or sleeping.

But remember no matter how the picture turns out, it will be adorable and the memory will be captured. Happy Holidays!

Transitioning from the swaddle to a sleep sack!

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I am often asked how to transition a baby from being swaddled to having their arms free and sleeping with a sleep sack, and why use a sleep sack and not just regular thick pajamas?

In my opinion the best time to transition your baby out of the swaddle is at 4months old. This is when your baby’s nervous system has matured enough and now he won’t be constantly waking himself with jerky hand movements from the moro reflex. You need to transition your baby gradually. I recommend swaddling your baby with one arm out first. Let him sleep like this at night time and during the day for 5 days. Bear in mind, that the first night or two your baby is going to be a little restless as he gets used to the feeling of having his arm free. Then 5 days later, swaddle your baby with both arms out.  Again your baby will probably take a couple of nights to transition. Having both arms out will be quite strange for him and often you will see he will wake himself with the movement of his arms. To help make this a little easier, I like to offer a transitional object. A great transitional object is a baby blankie or lovey. if you place the blankie, in one of your baby’s hands this will allow your baby to feel it as he goes to sleep. Being swaddled, your baby has gotten used to feeling of the swaddle blanket, so this gives your baby something to replace that blanket feeling. After five days of swaddling with both arms out you can switch to using a sleep sack. This should be an easier transition for your baby as he is already used to sleeping with both arms free.

I prefer to use a sleep sack instead of warm pajamas because it will resemble a blanket a little more than pajamas will. Not to mention if you have an active baby, it will take him a little longer to be able to move as freely in the sleep sack as he could do in pajamas. I’ve known a few little ones who, when they are bigger like to swing their legs up and over the side of the crib, this is less easy to do in a sleep sack! It is absolutely fine to use a sleep sack until your baby moves into a big bed. As long as he is in a bed by about two and a half years old.

Having a drink during the holidays, while breast feeding?

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Drinking excessively, can be very dangerous to your baby if you are breastfeeding as a young baby under three months old does not have a mature enough liver to process the alcohol. To have an occasional alcoholic drink has not been proven to do any harm. So if you would like to have a glass of wine or something similar during the holiday season, go ahead. But, remember pumping and dumping, or drinking alot of water will not remove the alcohol from your blood stream. You simply need to give the alcohol time to work it’s way out of your bloodstream and breastmilk. So for as long as you feel the effects of the alcohol it will be in your breastmilk and you should not be feeding your baby at this time.

So enjoy a little, but make sure you have some reserve breastmilk, while your body’s metabolism has time to digest the alcohol. Enjoy in moderation!