Category: Health

One of my twin daughters has extremely sensitive skin, and continuously seems to have diaper rash no matter what I do to prevent it. I’m always on the lookout for products that will soothe her angry red skin, and help make it feel better.

And then I stumbled across what could be a lifesaver for us…Balmers Monkey Balm. This balm is a 100% all-natural remedy specifically formulated for children and infants. Read more…

My kids are in early elementary school, and one of the things I’m starting to realize is that they do go through bouts of struggling with their self-confidence. Sometimes they feel left out of things, a friend upsets them, or perhaps a bad grade on a project has planted seeds of doubt.

It’s heartbreaking, but I know I’m only getting a tiny peek into what must happen even more frequently as they grow. And the teenage years? Well, I can’t even think about those. I’m in denial that they’re even going to happen at all. Read more…

The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this picture above was Michael Jackson’s kids. Remember how he used to make them wear those veils or blankets over their heads?

Weird.

There’s no Jackson kid behind this product, but I’m sure the King of Pop would have endorsed this. Read more…

Do your kids have a flair for the dramatic when they’re mildly hurt?

Mine are. I haven’t yet decided whether they were born this way or whether I raised a couple of wussies, but even the slightest scrape has them moaning and groaning, milking it for attention, wailing that nothing can make that tiny dot of a boo-boo better but a band-aid. Read more…

I know what you’re thinking. This post is about a pair of underwear gone horribly wrong.

No! It’s about shoes…shoes that don’t skid. Read more…

Was/is your kid a paci kid?

Seems to me that kids are either paci kids or not paci kids. I had one of each.

My second child wanted absolutely nothing to do with a paci after the first couple of months. My first? I had to pry that thing away from him on his 3rd birthday with promises of fabulous toys and prizes.

What I quickly learned about paci kids is that they have discriminating palates when it comes to their paci of choice. There was only ONE specific kind of paci that my son liked, and God help us if we tried to sneak in the wrong type in an emergency situation. Read more…

Sometimes I feel like I have to worry about every.single.thing. I buy for my kids and wonder whether or not it’s safe. It’s as if everywhere I look, another product or chemical has been deemed dangerous or toxic or cancer-causing.

One needs a chemistry degree these days to go shopping and be able to make sense of it all!

We love eco-friendly products at Smart Mom Picks, and the one I found today is really cool. Read more…

When babies and toddlers go to sleep at night and parents shut their nursery doors, the imagination starts to run wild – and not in a good way.

What if the baby isn’t sleeping in the proper position? What if his diaper falls off and he wets the bed everywhere? What if toddler climbs out of the bed and hurts himself? Why is she crying so much in there – did she lose her pacifier?

So many questions and things that go bump in the night.

Monitors and baby cameras have become standard operating procedure in most home nurseries. They’re such a great way to keep your sanity. Read more…

Kids accumulate 50 to 80% of their lifetime sun exposure before age 18.

That one statistic underscores how important sun protection for children can be. We’ve all heard about staying out of the sun during peak hours, covering our bodies as much as we can, and of course, using sunscreens (even that has become controversial).

I was recently surprised to learn that a plain T-shirt only gives 5 UPF sun protection – not much. Despite our best efforts to keep our kids’ skin covered, even that might not be enough. Read more…

I have to chuckle when I’m hanging out on Facebook or Twitter and I see newer moms desperately seeking information on how to relieve their children’s teething pain and urges.

I remember that feeling of  ”Oh God. Is this wailing EVER going to stop?” I remember the incessant drool. I remember the teething toys.

I’m shuddering just thinking about it all.

I think of two quintessential items when I think about teething (aside from infant Tylenol and frozen washcloths, that is): teething rings and teething keys. Read more…

How much time do you think mothers of infants spend washing stuff?

Thinking back to my own first year as a mom, the number had to be staggering.

You wash clothes, burp cloths, blankets, bottles (and all of their associated parts), sippy cups, baby utensils, high chairs, toys, teething rings, butts…and if you’re into cloth diapering? Well, I imagine you double the time.

One of my least favorite things to wash were baby bibs.

All of the mushy baby food seemed to Read more…

It’s a sad but true fact that even baby bathtime can be a danger zone for kids.

With all of the harmful ingredients that have been placed into the health and beauty products manufacturing stream over the last few decades, bathtime is a scary venture. Stuff that you don’t recognize or can’t pronounce makes for difficult decision-making when trying to pick the right products for your child.

We like to cover a lot of safer bath products here at Smart Mom Picks, and today is no exception. Read more…

This post is about what happens when a high school chemistry teacher uses his powers for good and not evil.

Toe Juice is a treatment for various ailments of the foot – psoriasis, dry and cracked skin, eczema, foot fungus, athlete’s foot and more. And it all started with a teacher and his baby.

The inventor of Toe Juice, Royce Garner, had a baby with cracked, dry skin that seemed unidentifiable.  So the mad scientist, I mean, chemistry teacher, headed off to his lab where he cooked up the concoction that is now Toe Juice. Read more…

I am a huge fan of using technology to get kids engaged in topics that they might not otherwise be jazzed about.

My kids love to help out in the kitchen…so long as we’re making something sweet and yummy. I’m working extremely hard to educate them about healthy eating, but let’s face it. Once mom starts talking for more than 30 seconds about anything, it starts to sound like “wah wah wah wah” to kids.

Yes, I have become the droning teacher from the Charlie Brown cartoons.

Anyway, this new iPad app from Kraft, called Big Fork Little Fork looks kind of fun. It allows Read more…

As a mom of two, deals are essential to my budget, especially given the fact that we have both a baby and a tween who is involved in competitive sports.

DealTaker.com is a site designed to help you get the very best deal possible as quickly as possible.  A major “deal hub” if you will, they have Read more…

It seems that every day, I’m learning more about how much stuff we actually throw away that could easily be recycled into something else.

In our house, we’re still working on being vigilant about recycling the obvious things: cans, bottles, and paper. When I discovered these Preserve Recyclable Toothbrushes the other day, I realized that Read more…