Traveling With Baby: Baby Travel Gear

We recently took our first family vacation, and because it was two weeks long, there was a lot of preparation on my part. Some things that we took were completely unnecessary and then there were others that I wish I would've thought of before hand.

The Best Baby Travel Gear

Daily Life With A 3-Month-Old

Though I promised not to write solely about my day-to-day life and turn this blog into a diary, I have posted about what daily life is like with a 2-month-old, and intend to write a similar post each month as my boy ages.

So, here's what a standard day is like (for me) with a 3-month-old. It really isn't all that different from when he was 2-months-old... he's just awake a little bit more. We were on vacation for two weeks, which sort of threw of his schedule (not that he really had one). But, this is roughly what life was like with him for that month. These are all average times... perhaps in the future I will try and document one full day, if it's an interesting one.

Separation Anxiety: First time away from baby

Many babies, once they reach a few months of age, often experience separation anxiety when separated from a parent (usually Mom). This post, however, is not about baby's separation anxiety, but my own.

I attended a Pregnancy & Beyond Fair a week before Mother's Day and won a free 30 minute-massage, which I had to schedule later. As a Mother's Day gift, my husband scheduled it and extended it to an hour long. I was told to arrive 30 minutes early for a brief chiropractic consultation, and since it was located half an hour from my home, we decided that my husband should come with me to watch the baby. That way, he'd be much closer to me should he get hungry. (He's still nursing about every 2 hours, and the total massage time, plus the consultation and drive would equal 2 1/2 hours).

Baby G slept in the car on the way there, and we hoped he'd sleep a little longer so we just decided that I should go in for my appointment instead of waking him up to feed him. Since he'd only eaten 45 minutes earlier. My husband was planning to push him in the stroller through the shopping center to keep him asleep.

What was strange to me was that I had discussed with my husband the possibility of interviewing babysitters for down the road. Being able to go out for an hour or two for a quick date without baby seemed like a nice idea at the time. Sometimes I feel like just a milk machine and like the baby is just permanently attached to my breast. I can hardly get anything done around the house, and my husband and I can't really cuddle on the couch and watch tv like we used to. So being able to spend an hour or two just the two of us - even if only once a month - at a restaurant or movie theater or even just a frozen yogurt place seemed wonderful.

But then, I was sitting there, in the waiting area, filling out paperwork and started to stress out. The farthest I'd been from my baby since leaving the hospital was about 20 feet. And the only time I wasn't able to really see him or touch him was when I was in the shower. I just kept thinking, "What's going on? What's he doing? How is he? Are he and my husband ok? Is he crying? Is he still asleep?" and so on. I would attempt to calm myself: "He is fine. He's with his daddy. They are okay, daddy knows what he's doing. He ate less than an hour ago, so he shouldn't be hungry yet..." But still... I was experiencing a bit of separation anxiety.

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: