8 Natural Ways to Make Baby's Vaccinations Less Painful

maandag 9 september 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Jeanne Sager 2 hours ago

I can't be the only mom who has a love/hate relationship with vaccines. I love that they protect my child from deadly diseases. I hate that they make her scream bloody murder because they HURT!

And preventing that pain isn't easy. Every time you turn around, another over-the-counter pain reliever has been recalled. So what's a mom to do when her baby is going to get his shots? When in doubt, go natural!

Here are some easy natural pain relievers -- approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics -- to make immunizations a little easier on your little guy or girl:

1. Dip the pacifier in sugar. I'll admit this one surprised me, but it turns out Mary Poppins was right! A spoonful of sugar does help the medicine go down -- or, at least, a sucrose solution on the pacifier does! Mix one packet of sugar in 10 ml of water to get the solution right. You can also use a syringe to put the solution directly in the mouth.

2. Don't stress. Kids feed off our fears, even babies. According to one study, at 6 months, maternal behavior accounted for 26 percent of infant pain behavior. If you're calm about their shots, they will likely be less stressed ... and less likely to notice the pain.

More From The Stir: 5 Tips for Helping Your Kids Deal With Pain From Injuries

3. Apply pressure. Pressure right at the injection site has been shown to reduce the pain. It's as simple as using your finger. Hey, it works on a bug bite, doesn't it? So why not a shot? To be therapeutic, you should keep your finger in place for at least 10 seconds at the site.

4. Ask for the shots to be given at once. If baby is getting more than one shot and there are multiple practitioners available, ask for it all to be done at once rather than one at a time. Studies have shown this helps reduce the pain.

5. Ask for a topical anesthetic. There is no perfect anesthetic to dull all the pain, but they can help. There are even some devices now that buzz on the skin rather than applying any sort of cream.

6. Distract them. Believe it or not, it can be as simple as making sure baby doesn't see that needle going into their little thigh.

7. Breastfeed. This goes along with distracting baby, but it also plays into something that little ones already find soothing. Bonus: one study indicates breastfed infants are less likely to suffer fever after their shots.

8. Pop in the pacifier. Whether you use the sucrose solution mentioned above or not, simply sucking on a soother is, well, soothing!

How do you comfort your baby during their shots?

Image via Army Medicine/Flickr

Click the "Like" button below to get Natural Parenting stories on Facebook. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

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‘Facebook Cheating’ Is Just as Painful as the Real Thing -- But Should It Be?

maandag 29 juli 2013

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AppId is over the quota
by Nicole Fabian-Weber 46 minutes ago

No doubt, infidelity has been on the rise since social media has sunk its claws into the otherwise somewhat content world. We now pretty much have access to anyone, any time we want. And let's not forget, things are so much easier to say -- whether they're filled with hate or filled with lust -- when you're sitting behind a computer and don't have to face an actual human being. But should "Facebook cheating," i.e., exchanging sexy messages, etc., online -- and online only -- be just as upsetting as the real thing?

Turns out, most people think so.

A new study shows that couples who discover online acts of infidelity are just as upset as if they realized their partner was cheating in real life. Research conducted by Texas Tech University concluded that, although the stages of coping with online cheating are different, the infidelity itself creates a similar emotional experience for the person who was cheated on. Jaclyn Cravens, one of the lead authors of the study, said: "This is very important because there is a line of thought that if the infidelity was discovered online, or confined to online activity, then it shouldn't be as painful."

I can't imagine what it would be like to discover something as awful as this. It would, without question, be incredibly painful and feel like a punch to the gut. But I can't help but wonder if the relationships in which the cheating was solely restricted to the Internet are more salvageable than the ones where actual, physical contact is made.

By no means am I diminishing "Facebook cheating." Like I said, I'm sure it's absolutely devastating. But the truth is, online, people are completely different people. Clearly, one's "online persona" is a part of them (that may or may not lie dormant) if they have the ability to act a certain way -- but is it the "real" them? And isn't the web, for some, just a really bad way to deal with real life problems they have? For instance, trolls probably aren't as big of assholes in real life, but they're probably not very nice or happy people. Am I making any sense?

I guess this is just another interesting and sad layer that's been added to society, compliments of social media. I certainly don't condone or would want to be on the receiving end of "online infidelity," but maybe the sum is bigger than its parts? Maybe the problem is social media? Maybe people should ... get the hell offline for a while.

Would you be as upset if you found out your partner was "Facebook cheating"?

Image via denharsh/Flickr

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Lady Gaga's Nose Piercing Video Is Painful to Watch

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by Mary Fischer 1 hour ago

The fact that Lady Gaga got her nose pierced really isn't even remotely shocking -- but I should probably mention that her makeup artist, Tara Savelo, filmed the whole thing and put in on YouTube. Yep, she calls the vid "haus life," and it's even set to music.

I mean, who doesn't want to see Lady Gaga lying on a table with some dude hovering over her sticking a fat needle (or whatever the heck they use) through her septum?

She got the new bling this past Monday at MasterMind Ink Custom Tattoo Studio in Chicago, and you can see Gaga proudly showing off her new circular nose ring in the photo at left, which the studio posted on their Facebook page.

Ok, so are you ready to watch the whole thing go down? If you're at all squeamish, this video might freak you out a little bit. I definitely had to cover my eyes a time or two while viewing it.

Ahhhh! Well, at least it was over pretty quick, right? And can you believe how still and relaxed Gaga was the entire time? She's a braver soul than most of us, that's for sure.

What do you think of Lady Gaga's new nose ring?

Image via Facebook

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mary Fischer

is the writer behind The Mommyologist, and the mom of a future famous comedian. Her current loves include cosmopolitans, reality TV, and shoes that don't pinch her feet.

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Lea Michele and Cory Monteith's Family Go Through the Painful Steps of Saying Goodbye

donderdag 18 juli 2013

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by Emily Abbate 12 hours ago

For what feels like the thousandth time since I heard the sad news late Saturday, again I will say rest in peace to Cory Monteith. After the Glee actor's unexpected death Saturday, Monteith's cause of death was confirmed by the British Columbia Coroners Service as "mixed drug toxicity, involving heroin and alcohol." Today, news comes out that Cory Monteith's body was cremated in Vancouver following a private viewing with his family and Lea Michele, his girlfriend.

One person not in attendance at the viewing? His estranged father Joe Monteith. Joe tells TMZ that he wasn't told about the cremation until after the fact. Apparently, Joe is "totally devastated" he didn't get to see his son a final time.

We don't know much about Cory's interactions with his father or the relationship between Cory's mother and father, post-divorce. What do we know? That handling an unexpected death is never easy, and Cory's is no exception.

Handling the loss of someone close to you is heartwrenching. When that loss comes at a time you least expect it, it's almost unbearable. It's clear with the pace of things that happened following Cory's unexpected passing that his family and Lea are really "in it," so to speak. They're going through the motions.

Plain and simple: During a difficult time like this, it's so hard to catch your brain and heart up to the unfathomable events at hand. Regardless of the fact that there's no way they're used to Cory being gone and probably won't be for some time, they were forced to face the process. I'm sure that the media circus surrounding Cory's death and the information about how he passed being so public doesn't make it easier for them. To Cory's family and so many of his fans, he will always be an amazing man, a talented man, and a man with a good heart.

My thoughts and prayers are with Cory's family and especially Lea Michele.

Are you still in shock over Cory's death?

Image via Pacific Coast News

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