Caring for a Newborn

Many know how to care for a newborn, but I had my last baby at home and my midwife gave me a few tips and tricks for caring for a newborn. Here they are:

1. Olive Oil: Use olive oil on the babies bottom each time you change a diaper, this is especially important for the first few days because of the meconium that they are eliminating from their systems. The olive oil keeps the meconium from sticking to their bottoms.
   
2. Alcohol & Cotton balls or Q-tips: We all probably know this one, but doctoring their umbiblical cord stump with alcohol and a cotton ball or Q-tip with each diaper change will help their cord to dry up & fall off faster.
3. Blanket Swaddling: Wrapping your newborn up in a blanket with his/her arms to their sides can help to calm the baby and make them feel secure. It also helps the mother in her attempts to nurse.
4. Colic: If your baby is colicky it could be due to low magnesium levels. Low magnesium levels can cause a great deal of pain from gas or any disturbance in a newborn. If you are nursing, you can simply take extra magnesium or you can give your baby homeopathic colic medicine (liquid or tablets). Vitamin B deficiencies and food allergies could also be possible problems with your baby. You could also try a catnip/fennel tincture--2-3 drops in distilled water--given to your baby; that helped with my last baby.
5. Burping Baby: Have you ever had trouble burping your newborn? My last baby screamed for 3 hours after she nursed right after birth, she needed to burp. I nursed her and nursed her; finally while lying on her right side, she burped and settled down to sleep for the rest of the night. There are many ways to burp a baby, I often try setting them up and placing my hand under their chin while patting them gently on the back. Rocking them back and forth in this same position also helps. But when they start to wiggle, that usually means that they have to burp.
6. Cradle cap: When your baby has cradle cap they have this yellowish scaley skin all over their head. Their are a few treatments for this: olive oil, vitamin E, or baby oil can be rubbed into their scalp; let it soak in for several hours and then brush it out with a soft brush.
7. Increasing Your Milk Supply: A few herbs that can help with your milk supply are: alfalfa, blessed thistle, fenugreek, red raspberry, fennel, and anise. Low milk supply could also be from fatigue or sickness, if so try taking zinc, brewer's yeast, selenium, and vitamin E. Drink plenty of water, 8 ounces in between each feeding is recommended, but you may need more. Low fatty acids can inhibit the milk supply also; flax seed oil, evening primrose oil, borage oil (taking one of these supplements) and walnuts can help to restore the balance.
8. Positioning baby while Breastfeeding: A quote from one of my readers, "For encouraging the milk to come in and for increasing milk supply it has really helped me to use all sorts of different nursing positions. From the traditional cradle hold to the football hold and everything else in between. the reason being that with each new position the baby is sucking from a different angle and the milk ducts get fully opened."~written by Mama at Mama's Thoughts and Questions
   

I am sure that there are many other things that I could include, if you have any additions or ideas, leave me a comment and I will continue to tweak this list until I feel it is complete.

Homemade Baby Wipes

Homemade baby wipes are very easy to make, and very inexpensive. I have used them for several years now. One thing that I have noticed about these wipes is that you don't have to worry about your child's skin reacting to these wipes. Just about everything you need for these wipes you probably already have.

Homemade Baby Wipes

1 1/2 cups water, if your wipes have a tendency to mold, use distilled water or a drop of tea tree oil
baby oil (a couple squirts, equivalent to 1/2-1 teaspoon)
baby bath (one squirt, 1/4-1/2 teaspoon)
1/2 roll Bounty paper towels (you have to use Bounty, nothing else will work)
1 container that will fit the paper towel roll, I use a plastic shortening container, it fits the paper towel roll perfectly.

Instructions:

Using sharp knife or an electric knife cut the roll of paper towels in half. If you are not using an electric knife, it is best to use a sturdy straight edge knife with a long blade. Use precautions, you might want to do this when the children are in bed. My husband uses his band saw to cut ours in half, but when he did not have a band saw, I used an electric knife.

Once the paper towels are cut in half, pull out the cardboard center and mix together the water, oil, and baby bath. Pour into your container and very carefully put the paper towels in (which are still in the roll) making sure that you pull out the corner of center paper towel so that it is easy to grab. Put the lid the container and your wipes are done. To help distribute the wet wipe solution, you can place the container upside down for 30 minutes, otherwise it will eventually absorb all the liquid on its own.

Grocery List

• creamy peanut butter
• baking soda
• toilet paper
• tomato puree
• salsa
• potatoes
• canned green beans
• canned corn
• soy sauce
• chicken bouillon
• beef bouillon
• flour tortillas
• paper plates
• dish detergent
• brown gravy mix
• powdered sugar
• dishwasher gel tabs
• wax paper
• children's allergy medicine
• trash bags
• light bulbs
  

To Do List: Things to Remember

1. Cook sausage for pizza.
2. Lay out London Broil Steak for Saturday.
3. Lay out hamburger for Friday.
4. Make hamburger rolls.
5. Find all Leftovers in refrigerator for tonight.
6. Freeze leftovers not eaten.
7. Make something new from rice & such.
8. Wash whites.
9. Wash dresses.
10. Clean toilets.
    

Home Remedies for Coughs, Colds and Stomach Virus

For Children 2-3+ years and Adults:

Cold, Cough & Earache Remedies:

1. Honey and lemon: Mix 1 part lemon juice to 1 part honey. Mix well, may mix together better if you heat it for a few seconds in the microwave. This is good for soothing a cough, it is also good for a cold because of its healing properties. I don't know HOW it works, I just know it does.
2. Vitamin C: Ester C is best but it is also the most expensive. Ester C is good because it absorbs into the body better and is not wasted in the through any of the bodily functions. I usually follow the directions on the bottle, but if your child is sick you can give them 250-500mg of the standard (not Ester C) Vitamin C, 3 times/day for a child 2+ years, but if they get diarrhea then lower their dosage.
3. Chicken soup: Of course we all know how to make this, but just in case, here is a simple method. Dice 1 whole chicken breast or use chicken that you already have cooked, add water to cover, 1 tsp poultry seasoning, 1 tsp garlic salt, 1-2 diced onions, 4 diced carrots, 2 diced celery sticks, & 2-4 diced potatoes if you are not adding noodles. Cook everything well & serve. Why all these veggies? Onions have the same properties as garlic, they help the infection, carrots are high in beta carotene heals the inflamed mucous membranes and strengthens the immune system, celery has wonderful cleansing properties, and potatoes are high in Vitamin C. If you or your child don't want to eat the chicken & veggies, drink the broth, it will also help.
   
4. Garlic: Why use garlic?Here is why: it is a natural antibiotic, it calms a cough, and because of its natural infection fighting properties it actually may help you get better faster by destroying the free radicals in your system. Use garlic internally for earaches, too. Remember we are fighting infection here!
   
5. Giving Garlic to Children: You can give garlic to children by hiding it in a spoonful of applesauce. Here's how: Take a spoon and put a little applesauce on the spoon so that it covers the whole surface. Make an indention in the applesauce with your finger and put 1/8-1/4 tsp garlic powder or the contents of a garlic capsule (the ones with the gelatin shell & powdered garlic inside) in the indention, then cover it with a little more applesauce.
6. Garlic for Adults: Take 1-2 garlic capsules or tablets 3 times a day.
7. Treatment for Earaches: You need a towel and cotton ball. Peroxide: Warm up a little peroxide in the microwave for 5-15 seconds until lukewarm in a medicine cup. Then use a dropper to put it in the ears & dry with a towel. This will clean out the infection. Sweet Oil or Olive oil: Heat the sweet oil up in a cup of hot water for about 8-10 minutes. You put the warm oil in the ears with a dropper, and put a cotton ball in the ear to keep it from dripping everywhere. The warm oil will soothe the earache and help it to get better, but it must be warm. Cold olive oil does not have the same healing properties as warm olive oil.
8. Echinacea, Zinc & C Lozenges: Echinacea is known for speeding up the immune response, Zinc has healing properties, as does Vitamin C. 1/4 - 1/2 lozenge for children.
   
9. Fenugreek & Thyme: Helps to thin the mucous, & helps sinus pressure. This is good for allergy symptoms, too. I only use this for adults.
   

Diarrhea & Vomiting Remedies Or At Least Helps:

1. Blackberries: Blackberry jam, fresh or frozen blackberries, or blackberry juice (sweetened with a little sugar) will help to stop the diarrhea. This is an old remedy given to my mother for severe diarrhea in children (esp.) by a pediatrician.
   
2. Oatmeal gruel: This is simply over cooked oatmeal. You can make it by taking 3/4 cups oatmeal and adding 3 cups water, sugar to taste, and a pinch of salt. Cook this mixture until it resembles a thick pudding. When finished you can add vanilla for flavor. This is also a remedy given to my mother from a pediatrician.
   
3. Dry cereal & Crackers: Rice Chex, Cheerios, saltines, & circle cracker are always good. I don't know exactly how they work, but they just do.
   
4. Homemade Pedialyte: 2 quarts drinking water, 7 Tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, unsweetened koolaid (optional) if you want to flavor it. This is good for diarrhea and upset stomach. This gets the fluid in and settle the stomach.
   

For those of you that also have children suffering from sickness, I hope this helps.

*NOTE: I am not a doctor, nor do I claim to be. I am simply a mother who has been there. I have tried every remedy that I have listed. If your child is prone to food allergies, PLEASE, please take precautions. Also, I am not encouraging you to not use a doctor, these are only recommendations and they are not guaranteed to help with all children and/or adults. If your child has experienced a long battle with an illness, please take them to the doctor!!!

Blessings!
Heather