HaltonParents

Back to school doesn’t have to mean back to coughs and Kleenexes

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Halton Guest Blogger

It’s been just over a month since the kids have been back at school. Have your kids had to miss any days so far due to an infectious illness? With cold and flu season right around the corner, it’s a good time to think about stopping those infections before they start. After all, your aspiring scientist needs a good attendance record at school to help keep those grades up!

As a parent, here are some easy things you can do to help reduce the number of infections at your children’s school (and prevent your kids from bringing home germs!): Continue reading →

Posted in Children & Tweens, Keeping Your Child/Tween Safe, Keeping Your Teen Safe, Parenting Your Child/Tween, Parenting Your Teen, Teens | Tagged children, flu season, germs, infectious diseases, Physical Health, school, school absenteeism, school health, sick, students, wash hands | Leave a comment

Chewing Tobacco: Candy Coating Addiction

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Halton Guest Blogger

Smokeless tobacco (aka chew, snuff, plug, dip, etc.) is no longer just the stuff of pro baseball players and cowboys.

Recent Canadian research has shown that half of those who used chew tobacco in the past month were under 25 years old.

Flavoured chew tobacco tins tucked in with the candy it is designed to resemble. Picture from http://www.flavourgone.ca

When I was in high school, chew wasn’t on the radar with the exception of a few guys on the football team who used it. I never understood why someone would use chew – just the thought of it makes my stomach turn. Then I found out that it’s not just plain tobacco: it’s practically candy, complete with packaging and fruity flavours (check out the image on the left – can you even see the Skoal chewing tobacco?). Continue reading →

Posted in Alcohol, Tobacco & Drugs, Healthy Eating for your Teen, Keeping Your Teen Safe, Parenting Your Teen, Teens | Tagged baseball, chew, chewing tobacco, dip, disease prevention, high school, Physical Health, plug, school health, snuff, sport, teens, tobacco | 4 Comments

Breastfeeding and returning to work? Oh my!

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Halton Guest Blogger

Halton Region is celebrates World Breastfeeding Week 2011 from October 1-7. Celebrate with us! This post is the final in a series of three breastfeeding posts.

It was 11 months into my year-long maternity leave when I could no longer pretend that I wasn’t returning to full time work and needing to start my daughter in daycare. Although I had enjoyed my job before having a baby, I couldn’t imagine leaving her. How did other women do this?! Since Ava’s preterm birth at 36 weeks, there had been very few occasions when we’d been apart. For her first 7 months of life, she had exclusively breastfed. Although she was now eating a great variety of solid foods, she continued to breastfeed frequently at all hours throughout the day. I began to think about how my return to work would affect breastfeeding. I knew that some moms had a baby friendly workplace where they pumped or manually expressed to relieve breast engorgement, while others collected their milk throughout the day to give to their daycare providers. Continue reading →

Posted in Babies, Breastfeeding Your Baby, Breastfeeding Your Child, Parenting Your Baby, Parenting Your Toddler & Preschooler, Toddlers & Preschoolers | Tagged baby, breastfeed, Breastfeeding Your Baby, child care, nursing, Physical Health, pumping, return to school, return to work, toddler, working | 6 Comments

Breastfeeding in Public

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Halton Guest Blogger

Halton Region is celebrates World Breastfeeding Week 2011 from October 1-7. Celebrate with us! This post is the second in a series of three breastfeeding posts.

When I was a new mom, I found that it was one thing to breastfeed in the comfort of my own bedroom or living room, and quite another to nurse my baby at the mall or in a restaurant. While much less of me would be uncovered than when wearing a bikini, (which is a whole other story once we are mothers!) I still found myself retreating to a very overheated or chilly car in the parking lot, or even worse, sitting on the toilet in the ladies’ room because there was nowhere else to sit in privacy. Continue reading →

Posted in Babies, Breastfeeding Your Baby, Breastfeeding Your Child, Parenting Your Baby, Toddlers & Preschoolers | Tagged baby, breastfeeding in public, Breastfeeding Your Baby, nursing, outside, Physical Health, public, rights | Leave a comment

Getting Ready to Breastfeed

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Andrea Scott RN

My husband and I are expecting our first child in December. Over the past 7 years I have I have helped countless moms and dads on their breastfeeding journeys, first as a postpartum hospital nurse and now as a Public Health Nurse with Halton Region.

And now, it’s my turn! You might be thinking – oh, Andrea, you have nothing to worry about. You’ve got all the knowledge, you’ll be fine!

It’s one thing to help a mom to latch her baby and a whole other thing (far as I know anyway) to latch your own baby. For one, the view is different! Making the switch from nurse to parent should be interesting…

My biggest concern is breastfeeding. I wonder if I will be able to follow my own breastfeeding advice. So, with all of you as my witnesses, I’m going to outline my advice to myself. Please feel free to add your own advice to me below! Continue reading →