Hands Off The Baby

Do you ever feel like putting an invisible force field around your baby when out & about?

In particular – The Supermarket!

Ah! The ‘My Baby has far too many Fans” situation.

The peril of every parent who has a beautiful, gorgeous baby that draws attention like a bee to honey, which makes around 99% of the entire baby population. No wonder celebrities get narky at times.

The other day, waiting in line at Michel’s Patisserie (who make the best shopping mall Chai Latte by the way) 

I was playing Peek-a-boo with a fractious baby while mum was trying to order a birthday cake and some other delectable items.

There she was, looking so sweet, so adorable, sitting in a grocery filled shopping trolley…. I just couldn’t help myself. 

Actually I thought I was helping her mum, while I was locked in waiting for my own Chai.

Well, she had stopped crying and started giggling so I thought I was doing mum a favour in those few seconds, till she scolded me 

“CAN YOU STOP TALKING TO MY BABY!”

Oops. Gulp.

Red faced, grab now finished Chai, exit promptly, baby returns to crying.

 I was one baby entertainer too many for her mum that day.

OK, as parents we do enjoy the ego boast that comes with the compliments and the attention, why not? don’t we love our children?

But when its every aisle, every stop to study products, at the register, it does get too much, especially when it involves staving off wondering hands.

Elderly shoppers tend to be the worst in my experience, followed close by clucky women and the ‘grandparents in waiting’ crowd.

‘It may take a couple to make a child but it takes a village to raise the child’ primal instinct going on here, but do they have to suck on my baby’s first, just because she is so delicious they could eat her! Ewwwwwww!

I warrant that type of experience is a little too ghastly for words!

I encountered this when my first daughter was 3 months old. There she was laying on the baby seat of a shopping trolley, looking all things perfectly angelic, a full mane of little black ringlets, a pristine white frilly dress, I was gushing with all the maternal pride & deep joy I’m totally entitled to, when an elderly man stopped us in the bread aisle.

Nothing unusual, she had already developed a fan club following from the previous 4 aisles.

She had curled her little fist around his finger, smiling up at him; he started to kiss her little fingers then by surprise, started to suck on her hand. Um, Um, Um……. Excuse me mister,…..um……could you let go of my baby please…um sir…mister please…

“HANDS OFF THE BABY” even with that outburst,  I still had to  literally wrench them apart!

Up until that point I admit, I enjoyed people complimenting me on my beautiful, darling, drop dead gorgeous baby girl. She was!

However, I did feel uncomfortable when strangers proceeded to pinch her cheeks, pull at her toes (I thought leather moccasins might have stopped this from happening), poke her chest, play with her ringlets, rub her head, tap her nose (sometimes a tad too hard) or kiss her adorable arms. I also wanted to get my groceries done.

There were times I felt I needed to add ‘personal bodyguard’ to the growing list of parenting duties.

There seems to be no personal space when it comes to children.

By the sounds of it, most parents I’ve spoken to, can recount at least an ‘odd moment or few’ from their experiences.

I remember one mum in a our playgroup wanted to pin a sign on her baby’s chest “Nice to Look, Not Nice to hold” or “Warning – Baby bites”

I stopped placing my babies in the shopping trolley seat, or the pram and used my Bubba Moe sling permanently out in public.

When it comes to the effectiveness of adult personal space, Slings take on a wonderful subliminal brilliance!

An invisible cocoon shoots up when babies are carried in a sling. Strangers very rarely cross the line of adult personal space, which stops the ’I must touchy-feely the irresistible baby’ habit dead in its tracks.

I’ve often noticed a finger head towards a baby then stop as if repelled by some unseen force field!  Works every time!

Basically, if you want to stop all that uninvited physical attention that your superstar baby draws, carry your precious cargo in a sling.

In managing your baby’s public appearances, positioning is very important also.

The 2 positions I recommend for baby’s public engagement is the Lap & Hip Position.

There are specific reasons why!

Babies from around 6 months and hitting a peak at around 9 months of age, babies become very aware of familiar & unfamiliar faces.

Having a baby locked in a full frontal forward position (like most upright carriers) can be very intimidating for baby at this stage. Your baby can feel you, but cant quite see you fully and this can cause quite a lot of distress. Babies will, when socially distressed, ‘push’ their backs to their parent’s chest, turn their heads and almost force their cheeks to their parents, like a vertical stiff plank, before they start to cry. Crying is the last resort emotional resort.

This is why the Lap & Hip positions shown here, is the most developmental ideal.

Babies can still be chest to chest with their parent, yet still look forward as their confidence allows them at their own pace. So in strange & unfamiliar places, baby will turn to their parent’s chest for comfort before facing forward again. 

They seek reassurance from mum or dad that everything is ok.

If baby becomes too distressed or overwhelmed, a quick slide from the Hip or Lap position will have baby in the Snuggle hold (chest to chest) within a few short seconds with out having to remove baby from the sling.

Snuggle hold is often called the ‘comfort hold’. Unfortunately this quick manoeuvring can’t be achieved at all with stagnant or stationary uprights such as the Baby Bjorn or Ergo carriers, which means parents should consider their lifestyle when choosing a baby carrier that will suit them best.

If parent’s lifestyle involves lots of people congestion, such regularly using public transport or many social events, the benefit of using a hammock sling such as a Bubba Moe Sling would be an ideal choice.

Enjoy!

all photos either gratefully sourced from the web or from Bubba Moe's own gallery.

Bubba Moe discovers the Levity Layne Breastfeeding cover

While I was at the PBC Perth Expo couple of weeks ago, I discovered some wonderful products that I think you would love to know about!

The first one that had me more excited than...... anything

is the

Levity Layne

Bamboo Breastfeeding Covers

At only $39.95, not only  great value for money, also fuss free, easy to wear, with timeless understated elegance.

I want one too!!

Made from Bamboo, the cool scrumptious feel that's drapes divinely over the body is almost heavenly.

Really who could resist not wearing this as a fashion item long after breastfeeding days are over?

Kerry Bryson, the intrepid designer of Levity Layne, chose bamboo for her product for its pure properties.

Why Bamboo?

• Antibacterial - keeps you odour free,  feeling and smelling fresh
• Tremendously  Absorbent - keeps you and your baby dry while feeding 
• Impressively Insulated - keeps you cooler in summer and warmer in winter
• One of the softest fabrics on the planet - you'll love the way it feels on you and your baby
• Natural UV Protectant - protect yourself and your baby from the suns UV rays (great pram cover while in the sun) 
• Hypoallergenic - natural bamboo does not cause allergic reactions
• 
  
  
  
  Made from the most eco-friendly plant on the planet - help save your planet
  
  
  Visit www.levitylayne.com.au
  
  

WAHM of Note - Emma Cook of 'Wired to the Moon'

This is a guest post from Emma Cook, founder of the wonderfully named photography business 'Wired to the Moon'
Emma, a newbie flying soloist, has a business that allows her to juggle kids & family life, definitely the envy of most WAHM's & GTWM's




 Whilst Emma has turned her passion into a business, like many new solo businesses, she has done so with some learning, discovering, hurdles & triumphs in between the good & the bad days, along the way.
As Emma says, its all very exciting and daunting at the same time.

I've been doing photography as a hobby on and off for around 10 years. And started taking it seriously 3 years ago just after my daughter was born. I am completely self taught, and everything just clicked and I started with just taking LOTS of photos of my kids, and in February I decided that I wanted to take my passion, and start a business. I realised life is too short to be doing something you don't love.

I love taking my camera and creating beautiful images. Portraits are what I love doing, I love capturing those moments when a child is playing and exploring, and just doing what they naturally do.  I steer towards doing natural light and outdoors sessions as I find I capture the persons true essence as they are not posed as such in a studio. I specialise in portraits - children, families, couples and adults. Working in western Sydney and the locations I shoot at are good for people who live closer to the city or north west and also people who live in the Western Suburbs.

I worked in customer service before I had kids, then when I had kids I found I lost myself to being a mum, which I love, but I also needed something for myself, to get my creative juices flowing and photography is the perfect thing for me.

The struggles I have come across is getting my name out there, and getting clients. I learnt very early on that marketing is a huge part of being a photographer, which led me to designing flyer's and business cards, and actually branding my product so that it is a distinctive Wired to the Moon Photography product. 
This includes my site http://www.wiredtothemoonphotography.com>  my flyer's, business cards, CD presentation etc. So I'm proud of how my brand looks, as an artist, how I present my work is very important, and I did it all myself so that has been a triumph in itself!

I guess some unexpected things have been that there is a lot of help out there if you know where to look and who to ask, I was always really apprehensive about contacting other photographers but I have found them to be really friendly and helpful and encouraging which has been lovely.

The thing I recommend about being in business are:

 - Start from the beginning. Figure out what you want your business to be, who your target market are and know your product or service before you start charging for it. Be confident in yourself, and your abilities and as a photographer I know that every photo I take is for my portfolio.

My worst day since being in business is when I've had a challenging session and I come away from it feeling deflated and the best day is when I do have an awesome session and I click with the clients and we have a great time shooting, and the images the come from the session are gorgeous!

I do most shoots on weekends so that dad can have the kids, and I have a lot of late nights of editing so that I get the most out of the day with the kids. But so far I haven't found the work/life balance to be a challenge, and because I love my job, I don't find it hard to balance it!

My clients have found me through word of mouth and my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/wiredtothemoonphotography <http://www.facebook.com/wiredtothemoonphotography> ) and a few through the flyer's.


Emma

Death by bombardment and how to be unliked by fans

Blogging used to be the domain of artists, thespians, budding wordsmiths and some unrequited authors, much like 'The Mean Fiddler' a once was, uniquely styled pub, that attracted the likes of same sort of people, has now become over run by the masses.

No longer do artists, writers frequent 'The Mean Fiddler'. Their muse has made way for underage clubbing, pub crawling of the weekend and family bistro on Sundays.
I hear it is now on one of the most violent pubs of Sydney list. ***Sigh***.

It is now mandatory for all businesses to have a social media side whether they are good at it or not. Thankfully there is a new merging business trend on Social Media skills building, which I, like a few thousand others are learning.

One is bombardment, apparently never appropriate.

Take a look at the novice trying to uploads some photos of new products on Facebook. Last week, one could upload to an album then share when finished. Remember those days! life was simple then.
Then it changed, one photo at a time please........
This week the novice, after 3 photo's realises something is different, scratches head, tries again, only to find they are shut out of their page for spamming
Sniff, sniff, sniff..............pouted lips.... I was only trying upload some photos. Enter the 'inadequacy syndrome'.....or DODIFS (Dear Oh Dear I Feel Stupid)

I am in constant trouble from all sorts of people about this blog. Well consistency should be a hallmark of all businesses I agree, so I am consistent about one thing; being in trouble.

OK, so I haven't included much about 'Slinging'  I was under the misguided belief that's what the official website is for? "But a blog will give extra tit bits and info" my Virtual Twitter man emphasises on the phone. Well when it comes to the numbers game he is right, he is winning hands down compared to my efforts on Facebook. Between you and me, I don't know any of those Twitter people. I might know several languages but Japanese isn't one of them. I do know the wonderful people on Facebook though.


To appease my VA, I started an article on Sling safety using a few different types of carriers as well, cant seem, nor do I want to be appear biased.
I came across an American site that is the guru of baby wearing safety, cool beginnings I thought, until I saw some of their photo's. After a few minutes I managed to collect my chin that had fallen down onto the desk and pushed back  my eyeballs before they popped and caused harm..........WHAT THE FRIGGIN F>>>>>>>>> (censored)
Karen Fantastic turned off the heater with a quip  "Its suddenly gotten hot in here?"
Steam was erupting from my ears.
I downloaded the offending 'safe' photo's for this blog and decided to make a photoshop copy of each to show the correct way. After several epic fails on photoshop,  I was trying to reconstruct a babies leg which kept turning out more like a pasty sausage salami looking appendage. ****Sigh****

3.30 am I haven't been to bed yet and its at least an hour after I normally get up (2.32am and I are long standing friends) The first of, what seems to be a few thousand daily inbox drops from a company called www.makeuseof.com  greets me with a large hello via Entourage's distinctive loud chime.

Normally this would irate the bejesus out of anybody, definite breach of social media etiquette and candidate of the year for "bombardment", but inside every single notification is something I can use or entertains me. At some point of the day I peruse each one. At this rate of education I will be a certified geek by years end. Whoo Hoo, get to wear the dusty mortar once again.

I found this site after my most famous DODIFS moment ever in my living history, no one was around to witness this vital crucial moment of epic fail proportions, but I did have the tissue box to help me though.

A project of trying to get a 'live' inventory accessible to our sales reps led me to seek out my brother in law Andy, the computer programmer extraordinaire!! thinking this was a completely logical & safe move.

I can out 'Excel' and database anyone at 10 paces but MySql is language that I don't speak either, but Andy thought I was up for it, confident, even insisting "I am quite confident that you should be able to set up a simple database access within 2 hours live on the Cloud" he left me with that. 6 Hours after that conversation I vowed never to speak to Andy ever again unless I do some serious physical harm first.

The one thing I have learnt in this modern time is that if you have a problem of any kind, then 'google it'. Guaranteed some poor misfortune soul has had that problem before you. Once I set up the Bubba Moe's MySql, which was incredibly easy, the blank black page appeared.......blink, blink, gulp.
Headed straight for Google for any possible life rafts that might have been floating on the sea of despair & humiliation.
I found 'Make Use Of', within an hour I could initiate a simple programme on MySql. Trying to get the programme working on the level I needed it to be was eating at my sanity, while trying to push aside an epiphany that arose somewhere in between.
Being a classic Taurean, the stubbornness meant I couldn't stop till I could do it, then I went for the far more intelligent user friendly system called google doc's which Make Use Of recommends.
What I like about Make Use Of is that its not all serious software & gaming & business solutions & articles but a whole list of seriously funny bits, as picured in this article.
One cartoon all about 'blogging' of all things, managed to surface on my Mac dashboard surrounded by my sticky notes instead of my downloads. So I am off to Goggle again with "How do I get a clip file that has appeared on a dashboard?"
Oh look! there's the answer, some other idiot has done that too!!


OK the Safe Slinging article coming soon

Frankie slid into my bag and made my trip enjoyable

FRANKIE MAGAZINE : Frankie is straight-shooting, funny, intelligent and inspiring. Frankie celebrates individuality - manifested in our editorial perspectives, design values, fashion coverage and a mindset that allows for an absolutely unique point of view. Frankie – change is one thing I don’t mind. (extract from the Frankie Blurb)


I am an anti-gloss magazine type of woman. I haven't bought one in years. The only 'gloss' magazines I read are business specific or relative to our industry. For more years than I can remember I have purchased Practical Parenting. I can safely say this magazine has accompanied me on the parenthood road like a trusty guide and companion in arms. To Practical Parenting magazine a heart thank you old friend.


Its the 'womens' mags that I don't take to all that well. I like to call them the 'bling, bling, ting, gloss & made up gos coupled with the over-expectation of the stiletto healed, permanently coiffured, plastic mannequin culture.' 
Its great if you're into things that might include botox@20, budget outfits for only $700, revolving door boyfriends, acting the environmentalist life. 


Most women agree, even if secretly, mags like these are a visual plastic surgery to cover the ageing cracks of reality. Shiny & pretenious, 'gloss' style magazines are 90% advertising, the remaining 10% is the content that pushes the realistic boundaries by portraying high end lifestyles as the minimal social norm; certainly makes a mockery of the lives lead by the everyday suburban women. An unreachable expectation that usually has most women breathing out a unrequited sigh. 'If only I could......


For years I have perused the stands for a magazine to sate my thirst, searched for something intelligent, something light, real and uncluttered with hype. Every so often I find a rare gem in amongst what I call "MagTriangulation",  my 'sar-chasim' on the 3 main reading genres of magazines. I feel strangled by the lack 'unfearful' perspective on offer, or yet  to uncover.


I also abhor the over use of advertising in nearly all of them. Articles seem to disappear in the ravines of tiny spaces between the mountainous domination of advertising. Oh joy! did I buy this expensive mag for a handful of 3 paragraph articles or did I pay for the 300 pages of advertising with the articles thrown in as a tokinal gesture?


I like to read about real people, they don't always have to be the everyday heroes, though I adore them too. I savour content that is true, non-hype, down to earth; a realistic read without the blah of social tweedom, havetobe wannabe's, social correctness and the pandemic of ever increasing environmental bullying rammed in between the lines 
(must be pandemic level if anxious 3 year olds are tallying up their daily carbon footprint emissions before they go to sleep at night), I grew up with a simple prayer of thanks.


I like fashion. In general, I think it's a good idea to wear clothes. 
I enjoy seeing apparel that is individual, gutsy, subliminally out there, wearable and reachable, with a bent idea of comfort. 
Life seems to be a perpetual motion of fast paced 24 hour consumption of all things living. Yielding to the daily onslaught of regimentation, every moment accounted for. Rare is the opportunity to be an accidental tourist in your own day.


We even economise our time outs to simple micro stops, with a coffee 2 go, read and stand, waiting for the bus/train/taxi, emails in transit. On route publicly, we find that magazines are a friend, a buddy to keep us company in the awkwardness of waiting in a communal space shared with others.
A favourite mag that provides the literature of personal taste will be enough of a dynamic interlude to consider it a best friend of the moment.
Just like a chummy catch ups, a great mag will emotionally recharge the batteries until the next time, where we'll pick it up again, start where ever, no matter how long its been; both human & text friends are great value for that.
This is were advertising takes its place; in the consumers delight of discovery while in captured audience.


Sadly the success of advertising is no longer based on position but how much advertising is featured in the whole magazine; too much and the reader will automatically glaze over. Mag Readers might like to read with a balance of pictorial content, they also want to be swept away like a fling.
Conceptionaly, segueing articles and advertisements is extremely effective with lasting impact, but very rarely done. Spaces, like the tedious boredom of rote are permanently templated. Inside front cover is always the most expensive place to advertise, by that conditioning, consumers bypass it altogether.Sadly for the product owner it becomes a wasted financial enterprise.


Sadder still is the reader who faces the dilemma of being a Nigel. 
Single, an unattached reader. 
You see them hovering over magazine stands near train stations hoping to pair up with a compatible mag for their journey. Some will leave empty handed, for them its  a case of 'I'm between reads right now' others will head straight for second best, the quick use & dump variety of 'The 30 Minute Stand'; politely called a Newspaper.
Sometimes its love at first sight and this is how we get to Frankie.


My daughter sent me a text on her way to Tafe, "Frankie slid into my bag and made my trip enjoyable".
followed a little later with a text "Bringing Frankie home, cant wait for you to see".


Gulp. 
I hadn't planned on actually cooking.
I was going with the drag the feet and procrastinate approach till one of my sons, preferably the one that is an exceptional cook will offer to take over. 
Its a parental revenge thing.


I finished cooking a lovely meal for all 7 of us +1, when she came through the door, alone.


"Where's Frankie?"
Blank look. 
Ping! 
Gasps in complete awe as she revelled Frankie from her bag. 
Oh, it's not a person. 
Jubilant and excited about her find, her secret garden, her butterfly amongst a gale of moths. Obviously she was smitten, stricken with the love bug. Once I finally got the chance to handle Frankie, I was more than half way there too.
While we are getting to know Frankie better, two of the boys battle tug -o-war style over Frankie's plate.


I must be the only person in the entire world that cooked dinner for a magazine. Well if there ever was a magazine that could be a person, it would be Frankie!


There was an opportunity that Frankie and I would get some one on one time while I waited at  Little Miss Mischief's Judo class this afternoon, no, my oldest daughter has taken Frankie for the day, I will just have to find a Frankie of my own


Go find Frankie, the hunt for the shy flash of genius its well worth the treasure!
Another blog, written smoke free by the author. All rights reserved 2011 by Bubba Moe Slings Pty Ltd