New parents need all the help they can get, and that never changes, no matter how many they have! I’m the mom of four children and I still have questions. “Baby Talk” magazine just may be the source for information we’ve all been searching for. With the goal of educating parents not only in the basics of baby care but in the new discoveries in medical care and inventions to make your life easier, this magazine is a valuable tool in the jungle of parenthood. The best part is — it’s free.
I’ll give for example this month’s issue (March 2007) so you can get a feel for the wide variety of topics covered. We start out with an article headed “Health Scoop,” entitled “Baby Checkup: Six Medicine Maneuvers.” We get six helpful tips for getting baby to take her medicine. In the sidebar we see a blurb confirming that breastfed babies are more prone to jaundice, but it also explains why and what to do about it.
Then we see a section entitled “What to Expect,” where moms can write in and have their questions answered by the woman who wrote the book “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Today’s question – is it all right for a baby to suck on the washcloth during bath time? Will the soap and dirt in the water hurt baby? With calm reassurance, author Heidi Murkoff tells the mother that a small amount of bath water won’t hurt the baby, but if the baby were to poop in the water, then it wouldn’t be wise to let her drink the water. Other questions answered are about weight gain during pregnancy and how to clear a stuffy nose in an infant.
Next comes an article called “Baby Steps,” which discusses milestones in development and what you can expect from your baby. We discuss birth to four months, five to eight months, nine to twelve months, and thirteen to eighteen months, and along with expected behaviors we see reassurance that if our child is not exactly on schedule, it’s not the end of the world; every baby is different.
Other articles:
*A Day in the Life of a Mother of Two
*Turn a Bad Day Around
*Is it Still Good? (A guide to knowing when to throw out the contents of a bottle)
*Good Night and Good Luck
*Girl Talk – for the times when only another mom can help
I did find the magazine a little heavy on the advertising side, but all the ads featured pictures of the world’s cutest babies, so it wasn’t too hard to take. The articles were helpful and I felt very reassured in my sometimes frequent motherhood struggles. You can learn more about the magazine here.
Related Blogs:
Highlights Magazine — Fun with a Purpose
What to Expect from a Three-Month-Old