What to pack in your diaper bag?

Being a new mom is full of challenges, you have to manage your house with your little ones, so you can easily miss babies essentials when you are going out, so its good to arrange your diaper bag and pack all the essential stuff of your little one before leaving home.

Items in diaper bag depends on how long you are going to be out and how young your baby is.

Diaper bag: Always choose a waterproof bag with multiple compartment so you can organize your items.

Diapers: Keep 1 diaper for every hour if you are going out for few hours, if you are going out for few days then 8 diapers per day and few extra.

Wet wipes: A pack of wipe or buy a  small wipe zip lock bag and you can refill it later.

Zip lock bags: To keep your dirty diaper.

Nursing cover: If you want to feed your baby out.

Diaper rash cream: In case if you are out for long time and you need this.

Changing pad: To change diaper of your baby, many diaper bag comes with reusable pad.

Extra cloth of baby and a small towel.

Formula milk and nipple: if you are giving formula to your baby.

Hand Sanitizer is must.

Nursing pad: To avoid leakage if you are breastfeeding.

Pacifier and Pacifier wipes: Pacifier to calm your baby if he/ she is crying.

Small clutch bag of yours: For baby immunization card and insurance card (in case baby have to go hospital then you will need this).

Blanket : You can use it to cover your baby or as a changing pad.

Hat: Hat is necessary for newborn.

For toddler: Add some more item like:
Milk bottles
Bibs
Favorite snacks and some fruits
Water
Favorite toy.

Avoid Contraceptives While Breastfeeding

Pills are absolutely fine unless you are not breastfeeding. Most of the birth control pills reduces the milk supply in mothers if they are in combination of estrogen-progesterone(these are sex hormones).

There are two area of concern while taking birth control pills during breastfeeding:

1. effect on milk production

2. there are some possibility of effect of hormones on baby

contraceptive comes in different type, some are with the combination of both estrogen and progesterone and other are progesterone only (called mini pills) .

There is no evidence that the birth control pill containing only progesterone effect the milk production. So it is safe to avoid pills specially those having estrogen during breastfeeding. Always notice while taking these medicine if you are breastfeeding.

How to sooth your baby with massage?

Massage is very important for baby's emotional and physical development. Its very common in India (and many other countries) for moms to give massage to babies.  It helps in calming down your baby as well as they will be more happy. While giving massage moms develop  special bond with their babies, and of-course massaging with oil  also helps in strengthening muscle and  soothing a tired baby.

You can use coconut oil or any baby oil, some mothers use baby moisturizing lotion for massage, which is also a good option. I am  a new mom and I also face the same problem of choosing right oil for my baby, initially I used baby oil but later I end up with coconut oil as doctor suggested and which is really good for baby skin, make sure its pure.

How to massage?

Apply a good amount of oil all over the body and massage in circular motion for at least 20 min. Press Their legs and arms, then cross babies arm and legs gently to give them little bit of stretch. This also help them in passing gas.

My doctor suggested not to do massage or use any bathing product of baby for at least 15 to 20 days till their umbilical cord falls off completely. Newborn's skin are very soft and delicate and pores should be open to breath by their skin.

I am impressed by these Food Huggers ! Are You ?

Food Huggers is a product concept from KickStarter.

Food Hugger  extends the freshness of fruits and vegetables, that have been cut into 2 parts and not used all the parts at the same time , specially Lemon, Cucumber, Onion etc. It  simply protects the cut fruits and vegetables. Food Huggers are 100 % microwave, dishwasher, and freezer safe. It is made by silicon.

Food Huggers are available in different sizes, which is designed by measuring the average diameter of onion, cucumber, tomato, egg plant, lemon and avocado. It also comes in different colors.






We can also use that Huggers as a cover of some glass bottles and     jars. This  design is very convenient, we can stack these four sets
together. The best part of this Huggers is that, it is reusable food savers.





Food hugger started as project on Kickstarter and got successfully funded and now they are shipping. 

An apple a day can help you in reducing weight

When you are hungry after gym you crave for food, That's because you are low on energy and your stomach is empty. Craving for food is caused by a  hormone called ghrelin, that  turn on cravings when our stomach is empty. Hormones are the messengers that influence how we feel, and how fast our body stores fat. If you let yourself go hungry, your cravings will be too intense to resist. Trick to stay full and suppress your appetite is to eat the fruits full with fibre content, before or after your meal. 

Start your day with an apple. Apples are low in fat and calories and loaded with fibre. These fibre keep your stomach full for longer and suppress your appetite. There is a soluble fibre in apple called pectin, which reduces the amount of sugar and calories that absorbed in your bloodstream after a meal. Even the people who sank their teeth in an apple for 15 minutes before meal they consume fewer calories than those who consume apple juice or apple sauce.

There are other foods that can suppress your appetite. Here is the list

Pine- nuts, Salad, Whey protein, Beans, Avocado, Flax Seed, Green tea, Water, Oatmeal etc.

How long can you refrigerate food?

We always pick so many food item from the grocery and store it into the refrigerator for longer time. But we never thought how long do freezer food really keep? As we think that frozen food remain safe indefinitely as long as your refrigerator is plugged in. However technically,  the foods which is kept  forever, do not actually taste as earlier.

Many people think it is not safe to eat any product after the date on the label (Expiration date), and if they do they will get food poisoning. Because there is average lifespan of some common foods.But expiration dates are not as clear cut as they seems, and sometime perfectly fine food makes you ill or cause food poisoning. The problem is, expiration dates do not indicate what we think they do.

As a general rule of thumb, frozen food will keep for three months in a standard home freezer before starting to show signs of freezer burn.Freezer burn is a common problem in which food packages covers with frost and sucks the moisture out of then and when you cook this type of food they will lack  good flavour and texture.

If you are storing foods in plastic bags, be sure to follow the guideline of food and drug administration for safe storage. sometimes the flavour can be changed due to storage of  its limited time.So to avoid this type of problem, make a chart for your refrigerated item, and use your food items at the right time.

Honey

keep forever in Pantry

Popcorn kernels
2 year in Pantry

Bottled salad dressing
6 to 9 months in refrigerator

Crackers
unopened 6 to 8 months in Pantry

Ketchup
6 month in refrigerator

Peanut butter
6 months in Pantry

Butter 
1 to 3 months in refrigerator

Mayonnaise
2 months in refrigerator

Eggs
3 to 5 weeks in refrigerator

Orange juice
7 to 10 days in refrigerator

Baby carrot 
2 to 3 weeks in refrigerator

Cheddar cheese  
3 to 4 weeks in refrigerator

Milk
1 week in refrigerator

Uncooked bacon
1 week in  refrigerator

Uncooked hot dogs

1 week in  refrigerator 
1-2 months in freezer

Yoghurt

5 to 7 days in  refrigerator

Cooked rice
4 to 6 days in  refrigerator

Deli turkey meat
3 to 5 days in  refrigerator

Wine
opened 3 to 5 days in refrigerator

Cooked chicken
3 to 4 days in refrigerator

Pizza
3 to 4 days in refrigerator

Raw chicken
1 to 2 days in  refrigerator 
9 months in freezer

Why not to eat papaya during pregnancy?

There is myth (specifically in rural part of India) about papaya that it is not safe to eat during pregnancy, because it causes miscarriage  and stillbirth sometime.

If papaya is unripe then its not safe to eat. Because unripe papaya contains a substance called latex, and this  latex may trigger uterine contractions which leads miscarriage.

But fully ripened papaya is a good source of sodium, potassium, vitamins with no cholesterol so it is safe to use papaya during pregnancy, because papaya help to reduce the constipation and heartburn which is a common problem during pregnancy. So many expert suggest to eat ripened papaya to the pregnant woman.

Papaya contains an enzyme called papain that helps in digestion.This papain is found in fruits latex and leaves. So this latex of unripe papaya acts like prostaglandin and oxytocin which is also responsible for starting labour pain (doctors use synthetic prostaglandin and oxytocin  to artificially induce labor pain).

An unripe or semi ripe papaya should completely be avoided during pregnancy, and fully ripe papaya should be used only on doctor’s recommendation in very small amount.