Laundry Pre-Treatment: Amaze by Sunlight

I've been trying to determine which laundry pre-treatments work best on which type of stains. My latest trial was a product called Amaze by Sunlight.

For the most part Amaze was great; however, my daughter went to play in the garden on a damp day and got mud all over the bottoms of her pants. I followed the directions on the box, but there were still some mud stains on her pants. To be fair, it would not have mattered which laundry pre-treatment I used. Based on experience, mud is difficult to remove. I'm on my third wash of the pants.

To remove fresh baby spit up stains, Amaze worked well. I found that I could use the soak feature on my washing machine to soak the baby clothes for 15-20 minutes before adding the detergent and the color safe bleach. Again, most of the stains came out; however, the carrot stains were most difficult.

Bottom line, as of this writing I do not believe that there is a laundry pre-treatment product that will remove 100% of stains 100% of the time. Some stains require Mom to put some elbow grease on them.

Going Green

By going green, I do not mean turning into Kermit the Frog. I do mean doing our little bit to be more environmentally friendly so that our children have a less polluted world to inherit.

Some of the things we can all do right now are the following:

1. Running a FULL dishwasher and using the air dry option.
2. Only doing a FULL load of laundry.
3. Hanging clothes to dry. Dryers are some of the biggest energy hogs we have in our homes.
4. Buying family sized packages rather than individually packaged products. We like to go to Costco and buy meats there. We'll buy the 2kg (~4 lbs) of steak/pork/chicken and break it down into dinner sized portions and then freeze the rest in. This option makes sense if you have a family, but if you live by yourself, then this is a bit difficult unless you don't mind freezing things in for longer or eating the same thing for a week.
5. Think before opening the refrigerator. Take everything you need out in one go rather than opening the door many times. Same goes for the freezer.
6. Turn lights off in rooms you are not in.
7. Set the thermostats to 20 C (68 F) in winter when you're there and to 18 C (65 F) when you're not there. Have an electrician install a digital thermostat so you can have a better control of the temperature and you can program the thermostat.
8. In summer run your air conditioning to the warmest you can handle. I run mine to 74 F. I just like to take the humidity our of the air. I don't like the grocery store chill in the summer. When I'm not home, the program calls for 78F. About 30 minutes before I get home, the thermostat starts cooling to 74F.
9. Install a blanket around your water heater. The extra insulation will keep your water hot longer thus preventing your heater to start more often.
10. As your bulbs burn out, replace the incandescent light bulb with compact fluorescent lights (CFL). When a CFL burns out make sure you dispose of properly since CFL's contain mercury.
11. Around the car, make sure the tires are inflated to the proper air pressure. This will make your car more fuel efficient. Make sure your car is well maintained. Go to the garage for the scheduled maintenance.
12. Consider getting a manual lawnmower rather than a gas powered one.
13. Recycle your plastic bags. We bring our plastic bags to the grocery store now. Our grocery stores in Montreal have started charging $0.05 per bag.
14. Take advantage of your community's recycling services.

The above tips are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to going green at home. I'm sure I've forgotten a few.

Baby Stains on Carpet

Let's face it, sometimes the baby will either spit up or poop on the carpet. Case in point: I was changing my daughter's diaper when she was 3 or 4 months and she had gas. Besides getting it on me, there were a few spots on the carpet--this was high pressure gas.

After removing the excess, I used Pet Mess carpet cleaner. I figured I had nothing to lose. I followed the directions on the package and it came out.

Good luck. If you have any other suggestions please let me know.

Exercise

Now that the realization of my going back to work in almost 4 months is complete, I need to start exercising to lose the stubborn 10 lbs that won't go away. With my first baby, it was easier to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight; however, with my son it is proving more difficult.

By my 6 week visit to my OB/GYN after my son was born, I was at my pre-pregnancy weight. I was so happy. This was short lived. I used all the excuses in the book to eat ice cream. The best excuse was I am breastfeeding, so I need the extra calories. As a result, I am now 10 lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight.

My plan is quite simple. While the baby is sleeping, I will be bicycling on our exercycle for 30 minutes. I started the intensity level at 1 last week because I want to be able to get off the bike and walk upstairs. I need to start doing this 3 or 4 times a week, preferably every day. Yesterday, I went to intensity level 2--living life dangerously.

Now I'm off to the exercycle.

Caulking the Bathtub

When it comes to giving baths, be prepared to wash the bathroom floor after the bath if your child is a fish like my 34 month old is. I usually end up with water everywhere. So when my husband and father-in-law painted our bathroom last year, I asked that the caulking be redone around that bathtub (I was pregnant with my son and the time, so I supervised from afar). Our tub had been removed the plumber a few times to fix a leaking header which would drip into our downstairs powder room. The resulting caulking job from the plumber was not to my standard. Not that my standards are super high, but if it is worth doing it is worth doing well.

Being pregnant did not stop me from being helpful in the gopher way--as in honey go for this. During my lunch breaks at work, I would go pick up supplies at the hardware store and this is where I learned how to apply latex caulking. The gentleman in the paint department explained that you want to cut the tube applicator as small as possible so that the bead that will come out is just big enough to cover the widest crack between the wall and ceramic or wall and tub or whatever combo you have in your house.

So I instructed my father-in-law how to do this:

1. Remove the old caulking using a tool you can find in the hardware store. I actually did this because I needed to patch the walls with "putty" and sand it down before painting the bathroom.
2. Clean out the dust and debris so the caulking can adhere better.
3. Only draw a line of caulking about a foot at a time.
4. Pass your finger on the line after using lots of water on your finger. You don't want the caulking sticking to you.
5. Ventilate the room as best you can. You see as caulking dries it gives off an acetic acid (vinegar) smell. Being preggers at the time, I couldn't stand the smell of caulking.
6. Let dry for about 24 hours.

The job has now been done for a year, and I have to say my father-in-law did as good a job as the plumber did.

Baby Spit Up Stains

I've tried many products to remove stains when baby starts to eat solids. Those carrots, sweet potatos, and bananas can be a pain to remove, not to mention what comes out the other end.

The best way I've found to date is by using Spray and Wash Dual Power. After removing the excess, I pretreat the stains--it is best to completely saturate the stain with Spray and Wash and let it wait a few minutes before putting the garment in the machine. Next I wash as usual. Most times, this works fine; however, some of the stains are really stubborn. When this happens, I do not dry the garment for fear of "cooking" the stain. Instead I reapply Spray and Wash and will rub the liquid in the stain and rub. Be careful because this chemical is an irritant and will burn your hands. Wash your hands with copious amounts of water afterwards to avoid the burning sensation.

If after the second application of Spray and Wash the stain is still there, you can saturate the stain with Spray and Wash and let it dry in the fabric if the fabric is white or colorfast. I tried this on my daughter's lime green t-shirt and where I Spray and Wash went, the color was a bit faded. It didn't matter though because this was a daycare shirt.

Baby Bottles

With my first born, I wanted something easy to put the formula powder in, so I chose the Avent bottles because the mouth opening was large. They were unbreakable. These worked well and I liked all the things you could do with them like add handles when the baby started to "hold" the bottle. With the BPA scare, I recycled these bottles as soon as I found out I was pregnant for my second.

For this time around, I was looking for something that had a wide mouth to make it easier to pour the formula powder in. This time there were no Avent bottles to choose from at least like I wanted. I was looking for something that I could use some of the Avent things I had like the handles or the flat lids or the spare nipples. I found all of that in the Chicco bottle which is made of glass. My only worry though is what if I drop it or my son drops it. I'll get to that when I get to that. So far the Chicco bottle is working fine.

I was at WalMart the other day and noticed that Avent has come out with a non-BPA plastic bottle but only in the small size. I haven't seen the larger size yet.

Getting Your Toddler To Listen and Do What You Want

My 33 month old is currently in the "I want to help you Mom phase". I am taking this to my full advantage. Recently we needed to take my toddler to the Dr. At her previous visit she let go of my hand in the parking lot while I was using the stroller for my infant with the other. Imagine my worry.

This time I asked her if she wanted to help me with the stroller. She said yes and did not let go of the stroller while we were in the parking lot.

Another chore she is quite fond of is doing the dishes. She likes to "dry". My thinking here is if I don't let her dry the dishes she may not want to help when she is older. So I let her "dry" the plastic things and the unbreakable, non-dangerous things. I need to redry them and it takes more time, but I think in the long run this strategy will pay off, I hope.

Laundry Stains: Grease

How to remove grease from clothes:

1. Sponge off/wipe off excess grease
2. Apply WD40, yes that lubricant found in your garage, on the stain. Let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Apply your favorite dish washing detergent (in my case Sunlight) to the stain.
4. Wash clothes on the hottest setting for the fabric and dry

If the stain is still there, try the process again. This worked for me many times even after I had missed the spot and put the clothes in the dryer. I had thought I had "cooked" the stain, but this process worked.

Daycare Immunization Period

Whenever a child leaves the family home and goes to a daycare whether it be in a smaller family setting or a bigger daycare with classrooms, there is an adjustment period with regard to "germs" and a child's immune system. No matter how well the daycare is cleaned or how vigilant the daycare personnel are about hygiene, just the fact that your child is in a new setting with other children is enough to start the immunization period. By this I mean that your child will be exposed to viruses and bacteria from other children causing your child to become sick. For the first year in daycare, it will seem that your child is continuously sick--one cold after another. I have heard that children will get upwards of 200 colds in their first 2 years in daycare.

Based on personal experience, I can say that this is absolutely true. Within a month of my daughter's going to her first daycare in a family setting (8 kids total with 2 adults), she had an ear infection requiring antibiotics. She had one cold after another to the point where I didn't know where the old cold went away and a new cold started. She finally seemed to get ahead of the "germs" about the time when we put her in a bigger daycare this past February.

Again, within a month of being in the new daycare (80 plus kids with many staff), she had another ear infection requiring antibiotics. In March, she had a high fever of 103/4 F for 3 days in a row. I gave her ibuprofen to keep her comfortable. Once the fever broke, she was left with a cough that starts off dry and goes productive now for the past 5 weeks or so. This didn't seem to bother her too much because she slept through it at night until recently.

Just this weekend, the cough changed to the point where she would wake up from sleep. So off to the pediatrician we went. Her nasal secretions changed color. She did not have a fever, but I thought it could be a sinus infection. The diagnosis was another cold.

How does a mother provide relief to her child?
1. Salinex (a saline solution) to hydrate the nose and to encourage the sinuses to drain.
2. Vicks Vaporub (the old standby) on the chest and the back. I've also rubbed Vicks on the soles of my daughter's feet which seemed to help. Remember to cover the feet with socks because you do not want the greasy Vicks on your floors. Never use near the mucous
membranes (nose).
3. I've used some homeopathic remedies to provide relief for my daughter's throat. Boiron Stodal seems to quiet her throat at night. This is a honey based syrup and tastes great.

Now if only I could get rid of my own cold.

Son with Brachial Plexus Injury

My son was born on Sept 6, 2008 via c-section. During his first day, I was unaware he had any issue because he did all things newborns did--he suckled and did in his diaper. I did not notice that his right arm was in a flexed position at the elbow and his wrist was flexed outward because he was bundled up tightly in hospital fashion. When the duty pediatrician gave him his complete physical on day 2, this is when the Dr. noticed the problem.



The Dr. ordered x-rays to make sure there were no broken bones to explain the position of my son's arm. The x-rays came back negative for broken bones. This is when the Dr. requested my son be seen by the Shriner's Hospital in Montreal. At this point we were going on the hypothesis that our son had a brachial plexus injury. We had our appointment 10 days after.



At the Shriner's we met with a specialist and her team. We left the Shriner's without a diagnosis because our son did not present the classical signs of a brachial plexus injury; however, treatment began with the hypothesis that our son did have a brachial plexus injury. The specialist requested we consult with another Brachial Plexus specialist who would then recommend we consult with a neurologist should the need arise. We started with occupational therapy right then and there, and a splint for his wrist to be used at night to correctly position his wrist. At first the Occupational Therapy (OT) visits were every 3 weeks where the OT would teach me how to exercise his arm and what signs to watch for. Then the OT visits would be scheduled based on my son's development and hitting certain milestones.



After consulting with the other specialist, again the Dr. could not make a definitive diagnosis and so arranged for us to visit with the neurologist. At the neurologist visit, the Dr. thought that our son did not have a brachial plexus injury but prescribed a CT Scan to rule out a lesion on my baby's brain. The CT Scan came back negative.



So we were back to square one. What did our son have and what was the prognosis? Both Brachial Plexus specialists consulted with each other and recommended we take our son to their specialized clinic for Brachial Plexus Injury at Hopital Marie Enfant . During this visit our son was examined by both Brachial Plexus Injury Doctors plus a team of occupational therapists and physical therapists. Again our son did not present in the classical brachial plexus injury. The good news though was our son continued to make improvement. He could move his arm from the shoulder, he could move his elbow, there was slight movement in his wrist, and his thumb was no longer stuck under his other fingers. Only his 3rd or middle finger remained "stuck". The team at Marie Enfant recommended we see the neurologist again for an EMG.



At this second visit to the neurologist, my son was finally diagnosed with brachial plexus injury after the EMG in March. In all of the neurologist's experience, (he's in his late 50's or early 60's with grandkids the age of my son), he had never seen a case like my son's. The neurologist then ordered and MRI to localized which nerve is damaged. Because my son had continued to make progress, his prognosis is good according to the neurologist.



As for my son hitting his milestones, he was about 4 to 6 weeks late in holding his head. At 7 months if I leave him on the carpet, he is sure to end up at the other end of the room by rolling over. He is not crawling yet but tries to get to his knees when on his stomach. He is able to hold his bottle with his left hand and support it with his right. He is aware that his right hand exists as he sucks his right thumb almost exclusively. He uses his right hand as a helper for his left hand when he wants a toy.



Our OT visits are on a weekly basis because he is making so much progress. The current sign we need to watch for is with the elbow at 90 degrees can our son twist his wrist. YES he can, ever so slightly, but YES!!! This means that the nerve is working/healing from the shoulder to the wrist.