One of the most difficult things for parents is getting enough sleep. Newborn babies cry at all hours of the night to be fed, to get affection, or because they are cold or wet. At this stage, most parents are aware that when a baby cries, day or night, it is because they need something. After several months, parents develop new concerns. First, is the need to ensure that baby is getting enough sleep, and second is the need to regain some sort of semblance of schedule so that Mom and Dad can start getting enough sleep as well.

Best Baby Sleep Books

A baby who doesn’t get enough sleep can be a nightmare. A baby who isn’t sleeping enough is more likely to be cranky and irritable. In addition, a baby who isn’t getting enough sleep is very likely keeping one or both parents awake as well, and just like babies, a Mom or Dad who isn’t getting enough sleep will also be cranky and irritable.

It is no surprise that there are hundreds or even thousands of books out there about how to get babies to fall asleep and to sleep through the night. They all have their little "tricks" but in the end, there really isn’t too much they can tell you because every baby and every toddler is different.

One school of thought suggests just letting the baby cry it out. The idea is that the baby will eventually figure out how to fall asleep, if from nothing else than pure exhaustion, on their own. Obviously, this strikes many parents as cold hearted and goes against the natural instinct to provide love and care for a distressed child. For parents not willing to just let the baby cry, there are plenty of other suggestions, not all of which are any good.

The best book about getting babies to sleep I have read is called The Happiest Baby on the Block. The main premise of the book is that babies are not ready to sleep on their own when they are born. Actually, the author goes so far as to suggest that developmentally, babies would be better off with another month or two in the womb, but that is impossible due to the increasing size of the infant.

Whether you buy into that logic or not, there author does describe an actual methodology that worked very well for our children. Ironically, the author’s method for helping babies fall asleep and stay asleep can be described in just a few paragraphs. In order to fill out a book, there is plenty of theory and stories from other parents.

Basically, there are the five S’s. You can break it down to actually two Ss. The first is to Swaddle the baby and the second is to make the "Shhh" sound. This works for two reasons very simple reasons, although the author expounds in great detail in order to fill out the book.

Swaddling the infant eliminates two major causes of babies waking up. The first is that when putting an infant to sleep you have to put them on their back to minimize the risk of SIDS. Doing so means there is a point where the baby transitions from being held to being laid down where their arm may fall backward due to gravity. This action often wakes a baby up just as they were ready to fall asleep and Mom or Dad have to start over. The second is similar to the first. Infants are very prone to have movements in their sleep. Some of these movements are sudden and jerky. They may wake the infant on their own, or they may cause the infant to be awoken when she accidentally hits herself with her hand, or she accidentally kicks out and hits the side of the crib. Swaddling effectively pins the limbs in such a way that they can neither fall out nor lash out, thus improving the amount of sleep.

The "Shh" sound is really nothing more than being your own walking white-noise machine. It’s a soothing reminder that you are there without being too loud or too distinct to keep the baby stimulated and awake.

This was all we needed to get our daughter sleeping through the night. Our son, unfortunately, had some stomach issues and was too strong and determined to be kept in a swaddle before he started sleeping through the night which led to me reading some spectacularly terrible baby sleep advice, much of which is widely repeated.

Bad Baby Sleep Advice

Some advice is bad because it is wrong or harmful. Other advice is bad because it is not helpful. Much baby advice and many baby books fall squarely in the second category.

The number one bit of advice to help babies sleep involves a routine. That is a good idea, but no matter what any author tells you, it isn’t enough. Even if it were, the routines suggested are laughable.

Almost every baby book suggests a nighttime routine that includes a warm bath and then a song in a darkened room.

That’s just great. That covers exactly ONE time of putting the baby to sleep. Even if it worked perfectly, you are still stuck for six to twelve more times of putting your baby to sleep. Are you going to give them a bath before every nap? Are you going to give them a bath every time they wake up in the middle of the night?

In other words, the whole "routine" thing is useful only for babies or toddlers that are already sleeping well enough that the only real problem is getting them to fall asleep for the night. Any parent will tell you that getting a baby to sleep once per day is a cakewalk. Keeping them asleep and making sure they get to sleep every time they need is the challenge.

The other worthless idea that is constantly prattled on about is the idea of letting the baby "fuss for a little bit."

Really?

If the only issue with getting babies to take their naps was "letting them fuss" for a few minutes, there would be no need for sleep books. We all try that or get told that pretty quickly, What these books are silent on is what to do if the baby screams bloody murder for 45 minutes straight. What about the baby who falls asleep then wakes up screaming hysterically?

My advice is to quickly return any book that makes more than a passing mention of letting a baby fuss and to return any book whose only advice revolves around getting a baby to sleep ONCE, at night, with no inclusion of how to put a baby down for a nap or back to sleep in the middle of the night.

Best Sleep Advice for Babies originally published at Undefeated Daddy

There are some nice fireworks shows for the 4th of July around Denver each year. The 2011 Denver fireworks show calendar is no exception.

Rockies 4th of July Fireworks Games

The Colorado Rockies fireworks games are popular sellouts each year, but you don’t have to be in the stadium to see the fireworks display at Coors Field. The fireworks get shot off from outside the stadium on the west side, so if you can see the western wall of the stadium, or the sky above it, you can see the Rockies fireworks from outside Coors Field. The 2011 Rockies fireworks games are on Friday July 1 and Saturday July 2 this year. (The Rockies are away on both the Fourth of July and the 5th.)

Concerned about taking young kids to fireworks? The Rockies shows are good fireworks to take kids to see, especially if you spring for tickets. You get bathrooms, assigned seats, and concession stands if needed. A great parenting tip for dads with youngsters who love baseball or who just appreciate a rare scenic opportunity is to get tickets on the west side of stadium in the bleacher seats beneath the scoreboard. Fans are not allowed to stay in those seats due to safety concerns, so they move everyone from there down onto the field to watch the game! It may be the only chance your children have to actually be on the baseball field at Coors Field.

If you are wondering what time do the Rockies fireworks show start, that is a little tricky. The fireworks are scheduled for after the Rockies game ends, but there is a significant delay for all the usual post-game stuff, plus they clear the stands nearest the fireworks launch location. In all, the Rockies fireworks usually start around 20 to 30 minutes after the game ends. Listen to the game on the radio or watch the Rockies on TV to follow along and get an idea of when the game will end. Don’t forget that the fireworks games fill the stands, so parking will be full near the stadium. Plan ahead to be sure you have plenty of time to walk to your favorite fireworks watching spot.

Rockies Fireworks End of Season Game

The Rockies also have a fireworks game at the end of the season as a fan appreciation celebration. The 2011 Rockies fan appreciation day fireworks game is Friday September 16th this year. Like the Fourth of July Rockies fireworks displays, the Fall Rockies fireworks game starts at 6:10 p.m. and the fireworks start after the game ends. Again, expect a delay between when the game ends and when the Rockies fireworks show starts.

Unlike the 4th of July fireworks from the Colorado Rockies, the September fireworks are not as popular with outsiders. The game still fills the stands with local families that want to watch the fireworks from inside Coors Field, but the areas surrounding the stadium are less crowded, mostly because fewer people are tuned into the possibility of a fireworks show downtown during September.

Fireworks Around Denver 2011

There are plenty of other fireworks shows around Denver in 2011.

Here are some of the usual 2011 Denver Fireworks displays to watch for:

• Fourth of July Fireworks at Mile High Stadium after the Colorado Rapids Game
• 4th of July Fireworks show at Dick’s Sporting Goods Stadium in Commerce City
• City of Glendale fireworks on July 2nd
• July 4th Fireworks at Folsom Field football stadium at CU Boulder

Don’t forget. In Colorado most fireworks shows are scheduled to start “at dark” which in the middle of summer is usually sometime after 9:30 p.m. Many 4th of July displays begin at around 9:40 p.m. and are timed to end before 10:00 p.m. which is a key time for noise ordinances and zoning restrictions in many Colorado cities and towns.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Colorado Rockies Fireworks Games 2011 originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Dads, “jumper” means “has built-in shorts”.

You put it on by pulling up from the feet, NOT by pulling it down over the head.

Friendly tip from a still undefeated, but partially humbled Daddy.

Dad Dressing Daughters originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Flying with toddlers can be tricky. Worse, most of the travel advice for parents out there revolves around either flying with babies or flying with children. Toddlers fall into the gray area in between older kids and young babies.

The main difference between traveling with toddlers and babies is that toddlers are much more mobile. More precisely, toddlers are more squirmy than babies. Toddlers are also much less likely to sleep the whole flight or at unusual times just because there is the steady hum of an airplane engine.

On the other hand, the difference between children and toddlers on an airplane is that toddlers are less likely to be entertained for hours by simply playing their favorite kids movies back to back on a portable DVD player.

What are the best tips for traveling with toddlers?

The most important tip for flying with a toddler is to get more than one seat. Even though a child under 2-years old can fly free on the lap of a parent, it is virutally impossible to keep a toddler in a single seat for all but the shortest of flights. This is not to say that you should pay for your toddler to have their own seat. If you are traveling with another, older child, or with another parent or adult, then that extra seat of roaming room may be enough. However, if it is just you and your toddler flying on the airplane, you should give consideration to buying the toddler an extra seat.

Most airlines will allow you to spread out into more seats if the flight is not full. However, these days, carriers have cut back on the number of flights, and only off-hours flights on off-peak travel days are likely to have enough room to make it work out for parents traveling with kids who need more space. If you do want to try for a free seat of extra room, follow these toddler travel tips.

Assuming you are flying on Southwest Airlines or another flight that does not have assigned seats, these tricks might make getting an empty seat more likely. If you fly Southwest a lot, you might be interested in the Southwest credit card that lets you earn miles to get free flights faster. You can use these free tickets for toddlers or babies you are flying with to keep costs down.

First, sit near the back of the plane. This not only puts you closer to the restrooms that you are more likely to need, the rear of the plane is generally considered less desirable. Chances are that if there is a window or aisle seat further up, people will take that one instead of walking further back.

Second, since most people want and aisle or window seat, be sure to sit in one of those. Some people will judge a window seat next a toddler as a better seat than a middle seat between adults. By sitting in a window or aisle seat, you take away one of the desired seats in the row.

Finally, don’t settle your toddler down right away. Keep your toddler in your lap. If possible, keep them standing on your lap. Travelers who see the toddler in the row from a few rows away might be more inclined to take seats that they would normally pass up for a “better seat” when they see that those better seats might be right next to a toddler who may or may not be crying or fussing the entire flight.

Regardless of what kind of airline you are flying on, don’t depend on the flight attendants for your baby supplies. They don’t come around often enough for multiple water refills and don’t really have a way to heat a bottle. Instead, prep a bottle before boarding and stick it in a pocket or bag, preferably one near your body to provide extra heat. Be sure not to make the bottle too soon so that you don’t break any of the baby formula rules or breast mile rules.

Given enough time, your bottle will be room temperature without a microwave, which they don’t have on airplanes (at least not the kind that can heat a baby bottle.) At the same time, you can be pretty sure that your toddler will be interested in a bottle shortly after take-off, so you don’t have to worry about the formula or breast milk expiring before it is used.

Of course, you’ll need tons and tons of toys to keep your toddler entertained. Don’t worry about bringing noisy toys. The background noise of an airplane is surprisingly loud and will drown out or at least normalize the sound of even the loudest children’s toys.

Flying With Toddlers originally published at Undefeated Daddy

If you are a smart parent looking to fly with children on Southwest Airlines you might come across some not very detailed information about a child fare on Southwest Airlines. There is also an infant fare on Southwest, although you can hold a baby on your lap instead of buying a ticket for the infant until the child is 2 years old.

What you will not find is how much the usual Southwest Airlines child fare is. You won’t even find information about how much cheaper than regular fare child fare is on Southwest, or how affordable are southwest infant fares?

Here is a Southwest Airlines credit card rewards review.

Actually, the answer is there on the Southwest website, but you have to speak travel agent in order to understand how much a child fare ticket is going to cost you.

Child Fares on Southwest Airlines

The official Southwest Airlines website says that there is a special child fare ticket that you can buy to fly on Southwest with kids. It also says that children’s fares are “unrestricted” and that you can change the ticket at any time. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Of course, if you speak travel-ease, you might have noticed that the child fare is not going to be cheaper than a regular adult passenger fare. In the heavily B.S. laden world of travel, there is an ongoing lie perpetrated by every airline there is.

When you buy a plane ticket, you might call a travel agent, or check Expedia or Travelocity or even go directly to the airline’s website. There will be different plane tickets you can buy. There will be different itineraries, different departure dates, different departure times, non-stop, one-stop, and so on. Each of these different options creates a different plane ticket, and each different ticket has its own airfare charge. However, at no time will you ever see the “regular” airfare price.

The “regular” or “standard” or “full fare” airfare is the price you would pay if you walked up to the counter at the airport an hour before the plane left and bought a seat. In other words, it is the overpriced airline fare that used to be charged to business travelers who had to get on a plane today and fly to Chicago, or whatever. In reality, even those travelers rarely pay full fare. In other words, full fare is a phony fare.

But, if you want to get that discount child fare on Southwest or any other airline, the supposed discount is off of that full fare ticket. That means that it will be WAY more expensive than the adult fare you found online.

This is the same scam that travel rewards credit cards use to offer a “free companion” airfare or plane ticket. It’s free, but ONLY if you buy the heavily overpriced full-fare ticket. Nine times out of ten, you’ll come out ahead by buying two normal plane tickets instead.

Basically, don’t bother with a child’s fare ticket. It will cost you much more than buying another ticket like the one you are buying.

It is not a scam, per se, but it is a false hope extended to parents who are hoping to get a cheaper ticket for their son or daughter to fly out to see Grandma and Grandpa.

How Much Are Southwest Airlines Child Fares? originally published at Undefeated Daddy

I spent several years as a professional financial planner. As a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) I guided clients through all areas of their full financial planning picture. That means that I had to help clients make very difficult choices sometimes. For example, deciding whether to save for retirement or for helping paying for children’s college education. (Save for retirement first. There are other options for paying for college. There are no other options for paying for retirement unless you want to try and live off of Social Security payments.)

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that most families simply do not have enough money to save effectively for their kid’s college education. For the most part, even financially responsible parents spend most of what they make each month. The exception are those with very high incomes, who, ironically, don’t really need to save for college because they can just pay tuition out of pocket when the time comes. However, there is a way to save for college on a limited budget by making smart personal finance decisions and letter the power of compound interest and the future propel your college savings plan forward.

How Parents Should Save For College

First, let me tell you how to NOT save for college. Do not save for college with savings bonds, Coverdell IRAs, or UTMA / UGMA accounts. And definitely, never, ever, ever, save for college using life insurance. All of these ideas are either outdated or were never a good idea. The reason your parents tell you to use a UTMA account or savings bonds or some kind of trust is, because once upon a time, that was very good strategy. However, these strategies are not the best way to save for college today.

The creation of the 529 Plan and its subsequent revisions has rendered all other forms of saving for higher education obsolete. (Coverdell IRAs still have a place if you plan to pay for private HIGH SCHOOL but are not the way to go for college savings.)

Don’t bother reading a thousand articles or books, or talking to a bunch of planner or stock brokers, just trust me on this. You want a 529 Plan. Anything negative you have ever heard about 529 plan either applies to a sub-type of plan called a “pre-paid tuition plan” which are the ones that “failed” earlier this century, or is because SOME specific 529 plans are a not very good.

See here for Which 529 Plan To Use

Don’t let the fact that some 529 plans are not good options cloud the fact that 529 plans are the best way to save for college.

Free Plan To Save Money For College

Here is my free, no-strings attached, financial plan for college savings:

(OK, there is one string, a link   Freelance Financial Writer

1. To pick the right 529 Plan find out if your state offers a tax deduction for using your home state’s plan. If so, chances are that will be your best option, unless that plan violates one of the rules below.
2. Open a 529 Plan account for your child DIRECTLY WITH THE PLAN. That is, do not buy your 529 plan through an advisor or broker. If you do, you will pay sales charges that will reduce the amount of money you are actually saving. The sale charge for investments less than $50,000 is usually very close to FIVE PERCENT (5%) or more. That means that for every $1,000 you save, you lose $50 before you invest a nickel. Unless you pay more than 5% in state income tax, the deduction is not worth the fee.
3. Setup and automatic monthly investment. People spend what they have. Set and automatic investment into the 529 plan for day after you get paid. That way, the money will be out of your checking account before you even look. Start with $25 or $50 if possible, more if you can make it work.
4. Whenever you get a raise, whether cost of living increase or otherwise, increase your automatic contribution timed with your first new paycheck. You WILL adjust your spending higher. Everyone does. However, you won’t adjust to spending money that isn’t there. If you get a $200 raise and increase your contribution by $20, your spending will adjust by $180. Otherwise, it will adjust to the full $200 and you’ll be somewhere explaining how you CAN’T cut any spending and don’t know where to find the money to save.

If you follow step 4 over the next two decades, you will eventually be saving much more than you can today, but you will still be taking advantage of what you can invest now getting the maximum amount of compound interest.

As for where to invest, choose the Moderately Aggressive or Aggressive option for kids under 10. After than, start moving more and more of the funds to more conservative options. By the time your child is 16, you should have 75% or more in a FIXED investment.

Start now, and you’ll save up a lot of money for college. It won’t be enough unless you are saving a few hundred per month or have big increases later, but it will make a big dent. And paying for half of university tuition with student loans is better than paying for all of it with student loans.

How To Save Money For College On a Budget originally published at Undefeated Daddy

New parents face one issue that matters more than all of the others: How to get a baby to sleep.

Mastering the parenting skill of putting a baby to sleep is one of the most important, and the trickiest. Fortunately, there is plenty of parenting advice out there for how to get a baby to stop crying and fall asleep. Unfortunately, much of it is not very helpful for Moms and Dads looking for a usable answer.

Parenting Books Advice on Baby Sleep

There are literally thousands of books out there with advice for parents. Whether first time parents, or parents with previous children, there is a top parenting advice book out there waiting to be snatched off the bookstore shelf. Some of them are very authoritative sounding. They are written by doctors or they bear the names of well respected medical institutions like Children’s Hospitals or doctors groups like the American Medical Association (AMA) or the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Other books are more “friendly” sounding. The bestselling parenting books are often among these. They take soft and comforting sounding names, some taken off of movie titles, others with warm, mellow sounding names that promise either a plan, a solution, or even a “practical approach.”

Regardless of which of these books you choose to read, they all say pretty much the same thing. While each particular book will have its own add-on steps, or a differing rationale about why their plan is the best way to get a baby to fall asleep, the core solution is always the same: using a pattern that leads up to nighttime or naptime to make it easier for baby to fall asleep.

(I will be deliberately avoiding the use of the “R” word here for those poor souls who are looking for the information contained in this article and try to find it by excluding pages that have the R word. — If you are wondering what the R word is, you haven’t read very much about sleeping babies yet

The idea is that by performing the same activities in order each time you put baby to sleep, the baby will grow accustomed to the pattern and then fall easily asleep in a peaceful no cry manner.

While the suggested events to execute this plan differ from book to book or parent advice column, the overall concept is the same. Dim the lights, minimize stimulation, read one book, sing two songs, and place the baby gently into the crib while they are drowsy, but still awake so that they can quickly soothe themselves off to dreamland. Once you’ve done this a few times, your baby will practically put themselves to sleep.

This is the kind of sleeping solution that only an academic or clinician could love. It is very true. This procedure does, in fact, work to help all babies fall asleep faster and easier. So, why then is this advice so utterly worthless?

Parenting Tips for Reality – Welcome to the Nursery of the Real World

What could be simpler than establishing a repeating pattern for baby’s nighttime?

Steps To Get Baby To Sleep Easy and Fast

1. Give your baby a kiss.
2. Change baby’s diaper and clothes.
3. Sing baby a song.
4. Read baby a book.
5. Sing baby another song.
6. Place baby gently in the crib.
7. Say Goodnight to baby.
8. Walk out of room.
9. Baby falls asleep.
10. Repeat.

Anyone see the catch?

The problem with the above system is that #9 has to happen BEFORE this plan can work. How can a reasonable solution include having the problem already solved as one of its steps? Just because a Top 10 Parenting Book says that establishing a nighttime ritual is the smartest parenting strategy for getting baby to sleep doesn’t mean that baby know it!

In the real nurseries and baby’s rooms of the world, little baby boys and little baby girls don’t know what comes after Step 8 (or any other step for that matter). Try the above procedure with a baby that has trouble sleeping and you’ll get a new Step #10 – Baby cries! Unfortunately, this plan has the same last step.

BEFORE you can establish any sort of sleeping ritual, you have to be able to make baby fall asleep. THEN establishing a repetative pattern can help make the process of putting baby to bed easier. But, until then, the above plan is worthless with a capital ‘W’.

What parents need is a real world method of Best Tips To Get Baby to Sleep and Top Tricks Parents Use For Sleeping Babies. These methods include ways to make baby sleep NOW, not after you’ve established some mythical sleep formula. When a baby is screaming in your face, the last thing a parent needs is a high-handed lecture about what will be the best long-term sleeping solution. They especially do not need to be told that the way that Mom and Dad have been putting baby to sleep before reading this enlightened version was all wrong, and frankly, is the cause of baby sleep problems they are having now.

The real world, tested in my own home with two babies, including one who has colic, strategies are coming soon in the Undefeated Daddy plan for Getting Baby to Sleep.

How To Get Baby To Sleep Best Tips and Tricks originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Our newest edition is home with us!

As a new father, again, this time of a young son, I am remembering some of those really great tips and tricks that helped me survive having a new baby at home last time around.  One of them is developing some resources that provide entertainment, distractions, or a way to work while simultaneously holding a baby that won’t sleep unless he’s in your arms.

It can be frustrating during those first few months when a new baby can’t sleep on their own all of the time.  Most of us don’t mind holding our beautiful baby boys or baby girls in our arms.  The issue is that we often have other things we need to be doing and with our own sleep hours dwindling, it can be hard to find enough time.  One answer is to use that time when wall baby needs from mom or dad is their body heat, smell, and breathing’s rhythmic rise and fall of the chest or stomach.

The catch is that most babies don’t turn into pliant lumps of clay that can be moved around to accommodate accomplishing tasks.  Instead, parents need to find ways to be able to do things without disturbing baby.  Usually, this means doing it one handed.

Last time around, I made sure to have a stack of printouts laying nearby.  This time around there is a better option.

The Amazon Kindle and other electronic readers like it allows you to stock up on a bunch of reading that you need to do (or want to do) and then hold it in one hand.  The latest 6-inch size Kindle can be held in one hand to allow for reading while baby sleeps in your arms.  Fill it up with reports, books, manuals, webpages, news feeds, or whatever you need and then keep it near your usual baby holding spot.  That way, when baby falls asleep in your arms, you can get through some of your reading.

Adjusting to a new baby takes both flexibility and maximizing your time and resources.  These electronic readers provide one more way to get more done while still taking great care of your newborn baby.

New Baby Survival Tips Technology originally published at Undefeated Daddy

If you have Toddlers and they like to swim, summer can be a really fun time at the swimming pool.  Of course, sunscreen is a must for children out in the sun.  Unfortunately, most kids from toddlers to teens hate putting on sunscreen.  It’s messy, hard to rub in, greasy, feels funny, and tastes bad if you get it in your mouth.  Don’t even think about how it stings if you get it in your eyes.

At swimming pools, it is doubly bad because swimming washes off sunscreen after a while.  Don’t let the word waterproof sunscreen fool you.  There is not such thing as waterproof sunscreen.  In fact, if the FDA ever decides that it is more important to protect America’s children than it is to protect sunscreen company’s profits, the word waterproof will be banned from appearing on the label.  As it is right now, any company that labels their sunscreen as waterproof is engaging in fraud, albeit legally sanctioned fraud.

All sunscreen regardless of brand or SPF level washes off in water.  It says so right on the label where it tells you to reapply after swimming.  What it doesn’t tell you right on the label is that the amount of time a sunscreen is effective in the water is measured based on how long it stays on while stationary in still water!  In other words, the time on the bottle is a lie because your kids are going to be moving around and splashing in water that is moving thanks to the hundreds of other kids who are also moving around.

Add it all up and you should be re-applying sunscreen on children every 30 minutes when they are swimming.  For toddlers, you should consider doing it even more often because of their sensitive skin.

If the thought of all that time spent making Junior unhappy and listening to crying and whining while you put on even more sunscreen than you used to, makes you sick to your stomach, there is another option.

Rash Guards are swim tops that were originally designed for surfers and divers to help protect their torsos from scratches and scrapes on coral and other water objects.  These days, they make them for just about anyone and they are perfectly comfortable in the water.  (They are not as comfortable out of the water, so plan on waiting to put them on at the pool.)

As an added bonus they cover up your boys and girls to a more comfortable level for you and them than typical swimsuits.  And, since they are made for surfers, they are already cool.  Just make sure and get fun patterns or plain colors, preferably your young kid’s favorite colors.

Since they cover up one of the big sunscreening areas, putting on sunscreen more often becomes much less of a chore, and your little ones are still protected.

It’s a win-win for everyone.

Toddlers Swimsuits Rash-Guard Shirts originally published at Undefeated Daddy

One of the most frustrating conditions for parents, especially new first-time parents, to deal with on babies and toddlers are rashes.  The difficulty is that because of their nature, rashes are easy to spot and difficult to ignore.  Whether it is skin redness, little spots on baby’s skin, or a rough texture on your toddlers arms or legs, rashes trigger a parent’s instinct to do something to fix it.

Unfortunately, the great majority of toddler rashes and baby rashes are non-specific skin conditions that require no real medical treatment.  It is frustrating to take baby to the doctor only to hear them say that it isn’t anything to worry about, and is probably just dryness or an allergic reaction to something.

Online medical research about skin rashes on babies and kids isn’t any more help.  About all anyone will find is the advice to try and figure out what is causing the allergic rash and to remove it from the baby’s environment.  This isn’t as easy as it sounds and can end up causing even more consternation among parents.

Cure for Baby or Toddler Skin Rashes

Since most rashes are non-medical allergic reactions of the skin, all any parent can do to make them better is try and reduce the allergens in the child’s environment.  Fortunately, this can be a relatively simple process for most skin allergies.

Whether it’s red skin, bumpy skin, or rough skin, the culprit is most often either bedding like sheets and blankets, or clothing.  The most common causes of such skin reactions is the perfumes, dyes, and preservatives in laundry soaps or bath soaps and other cleaning supplies.  Removing these irritants from baby’s life is actually fairly easy.

Healing Rashes With Laundry Soap

First, start by washing all of the child’s clothing AND bedding using Dreft.  Other companies make laundry soaps that are supposedly as free of irritants and chemicals as Dreft is, but since there is no way of knowing whether or not the latest “allergen free” or “pure” laundry soap is in fact just as good as Dreft, don’t take the chance just yet.  If you want to try a cheaper version of child laundry soap, do it later after you’ve eliminated baby’s rash and can judge whether or not the other laundry soap causes its return.

If comparing two products, always buy the one with no parabens.  Parabens may or may not have a cancer risk.  However, there is no doubt that parabens are a sign of cheap, low-cost, formulation and manufacturing since their only purpose is to allow a multi-year shelf life. 

You can find parabens on the ingredients list.  They will have names like methylparaben, propylparaben, or something similar.  It doesn’t matter what the chemical name is in front, a paraben is a paraben.  So anything-paraben is garbage.  If you can’t find a no parabens product, try a health food store or organic food store like Whole Foods. 

As a last resort, buy the product that has parabens the closest to the end of the list since ingredients must be listed from most to least by law. You’ll have to make a guess about whether having four different types of parabens lower on the list is better or worse than having one paraben higher on the list since their is no way to now how much they add up to.  This is one reason why you are better off just getting something without parabens instead.

Make sure and wash everything baby uses.  Otherwise, baby might still have the skin rash because of one blanket even though everything else is not causing any problems.

Be sure to wash any baby bedding including a child’s favorite blanket or wubby or whatever in HOT water.  Only hot water kills dust mites which might be the cause of the child’s skin rash.

Use the second rinse feature of your washing machine to give baby’s blankets, sheets, and clothes an additional rinse.  Don’t add anything like fabric softener, just get a second water rinse to ensure that everything possible is out.

Next, dry baby’s clothing and bedding without any dryer sheets or other additions to the dryer.  Yes, they’ll be staticy and wrinkled, but that isn’t the primary concern for this step.

Continue to do all of your toddler’s laundry in this way so that nothing comes back into contact with him or her that.

Healing Diaper Rash

Also, change baby’s diapers and wipes.  Try using one of the Huggies brand diapers if you are using others.  No matter what the label says, other diapers like Pampers have some sort of perfume or chemical in them that Huggies don’t seem to have.

To prove it, open a bag of Pampers or other diapers and put them in an enclosed space like a drawer or cabinet with the drawer or door closed.  Leave them overnight.  Then, open the cabinet and smell inside.  You’ll get a whiff of something, and that might be what is causing baby’s diaper rash.  (I haven’t experienced the same thing with Huggies, either the regular diapers or the Huggies Comfort Fit diapers.)

Also, switch to one of the “Free” diaper wipes.  You want one that has no perfumes AND no dyes.

While you are at it, buy a tube of Lotrimin.  Lotrimin is a fungal killer, or fungicide.  Most of the really painful looking bright red diaper rashes have some component of yeast infection with them.  Using the Lotrimin kills off this element.

Remember to change and wipe baby often when they have a diaper rash.  Most diaper rashes are caused by the chemicals in the child’s urine.  The longer they stay in contact with the skin, the more likely they are to cause a rash.

To get rid of a diaper rash as fast as possible, use non-perfumed diapers and wipes and change baby a lot.  By a lot, I mean too often, maybe every half-hour, but at least every hour, whether the diaper seems full or not..  At each of these diaper changes, put on some of the Lotrimin.  This will ensure that the toddler or baby’s skin gets the maximum possible amount of time without any urine chemicals on their skin and also that any yeast is killed without being able to re-spread.

Baby Rash and Toddler Rashes originally published at Undefeated Daddy