“Don't just rely on instinct: Class will give you baby care tips - Jackson Sun” plus 4 more

Don't just rely on instinct: Class will give you baby care tips - Jackson Sun
Glass found in baby food isolated incident - Sioux City Journal
Mom ordered to stop baby-sitting friends’ kids - MSNBC
$25K Bond For Mom In Neglected Burned Baby Case - WCPO
State to Mich. mom: She's running illegal day care for watching ... - Los Angeles Times

Don't just rely on instinct: Class will give you baby care tips - Jackson Sun

Posted: 29 Sep 2009 03:17 AM PDT

Kyle Pack said he would freak out about having twins if his wife wasn't a nurse. He doesn't have much experience taking care of a baby compared to his wife, Britni, who works on a hospital maternity floor, he said.

They don't have any children, but taking care of a baby is second nature to Britni, Kyle said. The couple is expecting twins in January.

"When we babysit our nephews, her motherly instincts just kick in," Pack said. "She'll change their diapers. When I do it, I have her come watch me to make sure I'm doing everything correctly.

"I have a lot to learn, and I don't want to rely on my wife to teach me everything," he said.

Soon-to-be parents can learn the basics of newborn care, including how to bathe, feed and burp a baby during a class on Oct. 7 at West Tennessee Healthcare.

Selena Cash, a registered nurse who teaches the class with lactation consultant Kathy Medlin, said attendees will also learn about diaper rash, umbilical cord care, circumcision care, diaper rash and how to soothe a colicky baby.

"A lot of parents don't know what to expect," Cash said. "This can help decrease some of their anxieties about becoming a new parent."

Kyle said he wants to know what to do if his babies cry a lot or spit up. He said he'd rather take an infant care class than read a baby book.

"I feel like I need to learn what to look for and how to remedy the situation, whether it be a fever or cough," Kyle said. "I've got a little experience from babysitting my nephews, but they're about to be a year old. They're starting to crawl, pull up on things. I see why you have to watch babies every second."

Britni said she and her husband are a little anxious about caring for two babies at the same time.

"This is my first pregnancy," she said. "One of my biggest concerns is if they're born pre-term because twins do tend to come a little early. As far as sleeping arrangements, we have to get a bassinet that's big enough for them."

Breastfeeding is also another concern of hers.

"That is something I want to do, but having to breastfeed two babies, I'm worried I won't be able to," Britni said.

She reads parenting magazines and talks to relatives and friends about what to expect as a new parent. She also talks to pregnant women at the hospital where she works.

"A lot of my information comes from them," Britni said. "I also talk to my sister-in-law who has twin 11-month-old boys. I get a lot of advice from her, too."

Cash advises new parents to listen to their instincts.

"And if they're not sure about something, call a doc tor and get advice on what you need to do," Cash said. "Most clinics in Jackson have a doctor who's on call, so don't just sit there and worry about it."

Visit jacksonsun.com and share your thoughts.

-Ashley Anthony, 425-9631

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Glass found in baby food isolated incident - Sioux City Journal

Posted: 29 Sep 2009 08:10 AM PDT

ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) -- The Chicago-based maker of Nature's Goodness baby food says a South Dakota day care provider's discovery of a 3-inch-long shard of glass in a jar of sweet potatoes appears to be an isolated incident.

Bay Valley Foods spokesman Ron Bottrell says officials still do not know where the piece of glass came from. He also says there have been no other consumer complaints.

Aberdeen day care provider Jodi Gardner says she found the glass inside a sealed jar last week. Bottrell says the piece is about three-fourths of the top of another glass jar.

Stephanie Kwisnek, a spokeswoman for the federal Food and Drug Administration, says the agency is continuing to look into the matter. But she says officials do not believe there is an immediate public health threat.

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Mom ordered to stop baby-sitting friends’ kids - MSNBC

Posted: 29 Sep 2009 11:02 AM PDT

It seemed like such a practical and good arrangement, the kind that moms have been making with each other since the beginning of time: One woman would watch her friends' kids while they waited for the school bus so the other women could go to their jobs.

And then the Michigan Department of Human Services stepped in to tell the Good Samaritan mother that she was facing fines and possible jail time for running an illegal day care center.

"To me, this is just a friend helping a friend, plain and simple," Lisa Snyder said during an interview with TODAY's Matt Lauer from her Middleville, Mich., home Tuesday.

With Snyder were her friends and fellow moms Francie Brummel, Mindy Rose and Lori Forbes, who began the school year by dropping their kids off at Snyder's house to wait for the school bus. With them was Michigan state Rep. Brian Calley, who is working to change a law that he and the women feel is being misapplied to punish friends and neighbors for helping each other out.

"It takes a village, but I guess in Michigan we're saying it takes a licensed village," Calley told Lauer, referring to the title of Hillary Clinton's book about raising children.

An unwelcome letter
The bizarre story began on Sept. 8, the first day of school, when Brummel, Rose and Forbes dropped their young children off at Snyder's home in a rural neighborhood to wait for the bus. The kids all regularly played together and they were at Snyder's house for not even an hour every morning.

But just three days later, on Sept. 11, Snyder got a letter from the Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) telling her that someone — presumably another neighbor — had complained that she was running an illegal day care center. Snyder was told that she had to either get a license to run such a service, or face fines and up to 90 days in jail.

The law, which dates back to 1973, says that anyone who watches an unrelated person's child for a period of 28 days a year is running a day care center and has to have a license. It doesn't matter if the child is being watched for five minutes a day or five hours.

When Snyder got the letter, she was dumbfounded.

"I called my husband. I was a little bit freaked out," Snyder told Lauer. "Then I called all the other mothers — and my mom."

'Buy an umbrella'
Snyder then called the DHS to try to find out why she needed a license when she was just watching her friends' children and wasn't being paid.

"I started asking questions, and I told them I thought it was ridiculous," Snyder said. "Some of the answers that they gave me, I just started getting angry, and I said, 'I don't agree with this.'

"I said that the children should be able to come into my house if it's raining or there's a snowstorm," Snyder went on. "The lady said to me, plain and simple, 'Tell the parents to buy an umbrella.' She was serious."

Snyder also asked if the kids could come to her house for playdates. She was told that if the children's parents were at home during the playtime it was OK, but if they dropped the kids off to play and then went to the store or out to dinner, it was no longer a playdate — it was day care.

'Difficult to believe'
Calley, who got involved when one of Snyder's friends told him about the situation, agrees that it's absurd.

"I found it very difficult to believe when I read the letter and the account of what happened," the state legislator told Lauer. "I thought surely I must be missing something. I called the department personally, and they confirmed that the letter and everything in it was true, and that it was the position of the department that a day care license was necessary for the kids to wait for the bus in this house."

Lauer suggested that if one of the children were injured while in Snyder's care, there could be legal issues, and that might be a basis for the DHS position.

"I understand the idea of regulating a business in that way, but when friends are helping friends, I think parents are in much better position to determine what's safe for their kids than the Department of Human Services," Calley replied. "There's no amount of testing or interviews or applications that somebody could fill out and send them to the Department of Human Services that would make them more capable of determining a safe environment for kids than the parents themselves."

James Gale of the Michigan Department of Human Services confirmed the facts of the case and told NBC News that the department must look into all complaints about illegal day care centers. "In the interest of protecting children, we will investigate all allegations or complaints of unlicensed child care."

Snyder is sure that one of her neighbors must have complained, but said she has no idea who it might be.

Despite the DHS warning, Snyder continues to allow two of her friends' children to wait for the bus at her house. Brummel has stopped dropping her son off while they wait for the issue to be resolved. And Calley is working to rewrite the law to allow people who aren't paid to look after friends' children.

"The law itself is taken way out of context. It's meant to regulate the business of providing day care services. It's not meant to apply to friends helping friends in this way," Calley said. "What I'd like to do is clarify the law and take away the ability of the department to apply in this way."

Added Forbes: "It's not a day care — it's a bus stop."

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$25K Bond For Mom In Neglected Burned Baby Case - WCPO

Posted: 29 Sep 2009 09:43 AM PDT

((CINCINNATI, Ohio)) A North Fairmount mother is facing allegations that she failed to get an infant medical care after he became burned.

It's a story you saw first on Good Morning Tri-State.

Police tell us the baby was just six-months-old at the time and suffered burns that are being called severe.

23-year-old Brandquise Chatman was arrested Monday on a charge of endangering children.

A warrant had been issued for her arrest after the alleged incident took place in March.
Cincinnati police say her son, Steven didn't get medical care for several hours after being burned because for whatever reason, Chatman waited to call for help.

Those burns are mostly in the baby's genital area. It is not clear how he was hurt.

She was given a $25,000 bond in court on Tuesday morning. The case heads to a grand jury on October 9th.

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State to Mich. mom: She's running illegal day care for watching ... - Los Angeles Times

Posted: 29 Sep 2009 12:21 PM PDT

Lisa Snyder, left, watches kids play at their bus stop, which is also her driveway, Friday, Sept. 25, 2009 with other neighborhood mothers Francie Brummel, back left, and Mindy Rose, back right, in Middleville, Mich. Snyder has been notified by State of Michigan that she is breaking the law because she watches her neighbors' children each morning before they get on the school bus. State Department of Human Services officials told her last week that she was operating an illegal day care. (AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press, Katy Batdorff) (Katy Batdorff, AP / September 29, 2009)