I wanted a natural way to increase milk production and I looked into different foods that I could eat or drink that were delicious. I came up with this list of great things to add to your diet for nursing moms. These items would also make great home-from-the-hospital gift baskets! Read the rest of this entry »
About our blogger: BrookeLeiberman
Brooke is a mother, wife, designer, entrepreneur behind Baby Bear Hugs. She is an alumni of The University of Michigan {GO BLUE} and holds a BFA in Art & Design. Teaching and creating art (by Re-Using materials and recycling) is really important to her as well as the cornerstone of her new Upcycled clothing line.
Before becoming a mom, as an artist/Jeweler she coordinated the manufacturing for a large eco-friendly online jewelry retailer at Casting House in Chicago and worked as a bench Jewelry for the award winning designer Eve J. Alfille in Evanston. She also has been teaching in informal education for 7 years.
Connect with her on Facebook and read about her life and crafting adventures her on the blog.
Visit BrookeLeiberman @ http://www.babybearhugs.com/
Posts by BrookeLeiberman:
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Finding Jewelry {just like her mommy}
I couldn’t figure out what she was doing, but she was having a ton of fun tossing everything on the floor while I was feeding Mini. (I saw her inside and knew that she was OK to explore since she only weighs 26 pounds.)
Read the rest of this entry »
30 Second Hamentashen Cookies Recipe
I wanted to make Hamentashen with Baby Bear but I needed something easy that she could do almost totally herself since she is in a ‘me’ phase. I used an easy ‘recipe’ that my aunt gave me to do it.
Mini and Her Milk
Mini is doing so much better with 2 weeks on only Breast Milk. Her moods were much better since her tummy was happy. She does not seem as uncomfortable either and has gotten lots of cute baby chub. Plus her skin was much less dry and flaky.
Then I suddenly ran out and Read the rest of this entry »
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Toddler Crafting~Writing with a Quill
Toddler Crafting~Writing with a Quill
We were at a friends Bar Mitzvah this week and they had a great craft to try with kids- writing with a quill. The activity was to show kids how a scribe writes the prayer for Tefillin.
Read the rest of this entry »
Mishloach Manot for Purim
I love Purim, it has always been my favorite holiday. Put very very simply; Purim is the story of the deliverance of the Jewish People in the 4th century BCE. It involves a King and a Queen {who was Jewish} and an evil man that plots to kill the Jews. All of the makings of an incredible story. It is not just your traditional meal with family, but rather a time that you can dress up and party {read more here} . One of the traditions is making Mishloach Manot- baskets with food to give to friends. The foods are given on Purim and have at least 2 different types of food in them. Since Purim is so close to Valentine’s day, I pilfered Target and Michael’s for some good quality items to use in my basket and make it a part of the basket theme.
This is what I found to use. I originally found some great pink and red striped acrylic baskets, but on the way to the check-out, I spotted these stuffed animal backpacks! Much cuter and then I didn’t have to worry about packaging it up with ribbons.
The butterfly lollipop kit we will use to Read the rest of this entry »
Easy Tip for Calm Diaper Change
My aunt taught me this tip for Baby Bear.
She got us the Baby Buzzr when Baby Bear was born. I just pulled out this toy when I heard it buzzing around in our baby toy bin and tried it with Mini.
Tip to Calm a Baby During a Diaper Change
Play a classical music toy near them. {we have the Baby Buzzr} You can see Mini listening intently on the sound.
She was fussing when I put her on the changing table, but when I put the music on, she stopped and listened.
Baby Bear liked to hold this toy during a diaper change when she got older and it is also fun to up in their mouth.
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Things only a Grandparent can do {via modern technology}
Baby Bear just assumes that when she talks to someone that there is the possibility to FaceTime or Skype and see them. She is growing up in a world where this is the default and your friends and family can join you at anytime on real time video.
Tonight Baby Bear really did not want to go to bed in her own bed and was having a hysterical breakdown. Mr. BBH was not home. I tried to calm her down and put her back in bed, but nothing worked. I called my Dad {Baby Bear’s “Babba”} since I knew her would help and not judge my parenting {my mom totally would tell me what to do!}.
I got Baby Bear to go in her own bed with a promise that Babba would FaceTime. My Dad called Read the rest of this entry »
My Modern Wet Nurse
As you know, I am slightly obsessed with Breast Feeding since I had such a hard time with Baby Bear and didn’t get enough milk.
I prayed that I would not have the same issue with Mini, so we monitored it very closely with weight checks every few days in the first few weeks. The verdict was in that I have Insufficient Glandular Tissue sometimes called IBT also. You can read about it here. I can produce some milk, but not enough for Mini to thrive on so I have to supplement. Mini has horrible gas and bloating plus always sounded congested so I tried several types of formula on her and nothing really helped.
What if I could just give her breast milk though?
So I am not into actually having someone physically nurse my baby (besides me) I just needed some milk.
Mini’s Donor Milk
I looked into ‘eats on feets‘ with Baby Bear {a group of women that have milk needs or donations for no charge} but was not brave enough to try it. I took a leap of faith Read the rest of this entry »
Life with 2 little bears
I feel like I passed a secret test today. I took my 2 little Bears with me out of the house alone. Baby Bear needed to use the potty and Mini Bear needed a diaper change. I helped Baby Bear onto the potty with one hand and held Mini with the other. It seemed like I was on autopilot and I was Super Mom not even thinking of how I was going to do everything at once.
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| Mini Bear 2 weeks |
Baby Bear is slowly getting used to the idea of Mini Bear as her sister. When she first came to the hospital, she was excited to see the baby for all of two minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
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