Multipurpose boppy pillow - episiotomy recovery!

Well, it's been a little while since my last post... but I'm not sorry! Cause I had my baby! :)

I had a bunch of posts in the works, saved as drafts and ready for me to write... but I decided to write this one instead because it's a little more relevant to my current situation.

The boppy pillow is good for more than breastfeeding!

Goo-Goo Ga Ga! Why you should talk to your baby!

How do children learn language?

One of the best ways to predict a child's success and ability to learn and read in school is their vocabulary size when they enter kindergarten. It is incredibly important for the language learning that parents talk to their young children. "The key to early learning is [...] a child’s exposure to language spoken by parents and caretakers from birth to age 3, the more the better." (NYTimes)

The way that babies learn how to speak is by imitating language that they hear and that is spoken to them. But TV and media is not a substitution for a real human!

"Educational" TV?

Recent research has shown that infants that watch "educational" baby DVDs and shows may learn fewer words than other children. The American Academy of Pediatrics recently stated that there is no such thing as "educational TV" for children under 2. They have a huge battle to fight in America on that front though, as "90% of parents reported that their children under 2 watch some TV. And more than half of parents said they think educational television programming is important for their young child." (IT's NOT!!)

Recalls

So this morning I found an article about a popular toddler toy that has not been recalled despite serious safety concerns and fire hazard. After reading that, I decided to look up other worrisome toys and baby things.


First, here is the hazardous toy that has not been recalled:

Fisher Price Soothe & Glow Seahorse

The article on the fire safety concerns
The article says it is the 7th best-selling toddler toy on Amazon, but as of this writing (March 1, 2014), it is actually the 4th best-selling toddler toy on Amazon.

University of Denver electrical engineering professor Dr. David Gao investigated a toy brought to him by parents and experienced the same problems as many consumers. After putting in new batteries, "the coil began to burn. It turned bright red, smoke poured out of the compartment, and the plastic casing around it began to melt." If left burning to keep going, the battery may explode. "Dr. Gao said the burn risk isn't the only problem. He said the fumes from the melting plastic can be poisonous, and overheated batteries are dangerous, too. He believes the problem with the Soothe & Glow Seahorse is a design flaw that involves the battery coil, metal, wiring, and soldering inside the toy."

Despite at least 10 complaints being filed to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Fisher-Price refuses to issue a recall, asserting that the toy is safe. They have apparently made changes to the design - originally the toy required 3 batteries, now it only takes 2. Dr. Gao says that may help the problem, but the company should still recall the old models and replace them.


Now, onto the items that have been recalled: