Breastfeeding: Know Your Rights

Two mothers have stirred up quite the social media storm after being unjustly denied the right to freely nurse their children in public.

Lindsay Jaynes and Deanna Bratter, were informed by airline employees, on two separate occasions, that they would not be able to nurse their children while on the flight without a nursing cover.

Jaynes, mother to a 10-week-old son, tweeted @DeltaAssist prior to her upcoming flight inquiring about their breastfeeding policy. A representative for the company replied, informed Jaynes that she would not be able to breast feed on the flight without a cover.

Bratter was also to 'cover up, ma'am,' by a flight attendant for Frontier Airlines while she was nursing her child to sleep.

Both Jaynes and Bratter immediately asked to see the company's policy manuals, which they found did not state any restrictions on breastfeeding. The mothers then took to social media to voice their outrage over the misinformation, and to demand apologies.

After several hours of other parents chiming in, Delta tweeted an apology to Jaynes.

Delta representative tweets apology

Bratter received a formal written apology in which Lori Junker, Senior Manager of Customer Relations, stated that the company would be 'revisiting current written policies, procedures, and training regarding breastfeeding.'

The mothers are satisfied with the apologies. Bratter stated that she hopes other mothers are aware of their rights as a breastfeeding mother, and  won't shy away from nursing in public for fear of being reprimanded.

Government Urges Graco to Add Infant Seats to Recall

After last month's recall of 3.8 million, Graco has added over 400,000 more seats, due to faulty harness buckles on select toddler and booster seats.

Yet the National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration (NHTSA) is still not satisfied with Graco's recall. The NHTSA believes that Graco should add 1.8 million infant seats to the recall, as these infant seats have the same harness buckles that are responsible for the current recall.

The government has given Graco until March 20 to explain this puzzling omission of nearly 2 million Snug Rides, that all use the same buckles as the toddler seats, from the recall. Graco said the child seat buckles got stuck because children dropped food or drinks on them, according to a New York Times article, which they, allegedly, claimed infants don't do in their seats.

Rear-facing infant seats are not being recalled because infants do not get food or drinks on their seats, a Graco spokeswoman, Ashley Mowrey, said in February, according to the New York Times.

However, Graco is now offering to replace the faulty buckles of both toddler and infant seats per the request of the customer, at no charge.

Graco seats included in the recall are 2006 through 2014 Argos 70 Elite, Ready Ride, and Smart Seat with Safety Surround. You can find the full list of recalled seats on Graco's website.

Mommy Match-Making

Motherhood is hard, but finding friends who share in your experience doesn't have to be. 

A new, online service, Mom Meet Mom works as a match-making service for mothers across the nation who are in need of a friend who understands the joyful craziness we call motherhood. 

Started by three moms, Julia High, Meg Gerritson, and Christa Terry, they co-founded the site after realizing that finding other mothers to relate to is hard to come by. Mom Meet Mom serves not only mothers, but also nannies, aunts, grandmas and the likes, who are looking to socialize with similar mothers and children in their area.

“We have created a sophisticated matching algorithm... to help you find local moms with similar interests, schedules, families, and personalities,” says the Mom Meet Mom website.

Mom Meet Mom is perfect for mothers who are looking for like-minded friends, but don't know where to find them. Instead of mustering up the guts to find a friend at the nearest playground, Mom Meet Mom allows each mother to pick and choose who they think would be a perfect fit at the click of a button.

Signing up is easy, all you need is a Facebook profile or an e-mail address. Once you've registered you're able to edit your profile to your liking- and the more you include, the better chance you have of finding a perfect match. 

From religion to dietary preferences, Mom Meet Mom is here to adhere to all your needs in the search for the perfect mama-friend. 

Parents, Be Advised of New LATCH Regulations

If you think you have finally perfected the art of installing a car seat, think again. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has revised it's regulations on how to use the latch system, and these new revisions are something every parent needs to be aware of to keep their child safe. 

The LATCH system has been in effect since 2002 and is used to ease the installation process of a car seat. Rather than using safety-belts to secure the seat, LATCH uses lower anchors and tethers that are found on the seats and the vehicle.

As of February 2014, parents who use the LATCH system will be able to continue doing so only if the combined weight of their child and it's car seat is under 65 pounds. Once the combined weight exceeds this limit, the car seat will have to be attached using the safety-belt system. This switch away from using the lower anchors at the combined 65-pound weight limit is a safety precaution, according to the NHTSA.

According to a survey done by Safe Ride, the average car seat weighs 25 pounds. Some weigh less and others weigh as much as 33 pounds. So, by the time children are at 32 pounds parents will have to make the switch from the simple LATCH system to the standard safety-belt system.

2014 car seat LATCH revisions 

Gearapalooza 2014 - Your One-Stop Shop!

Finding out your pregnant is one type of frightening. But registering for that little mister or miss takes frightening to a whole new level.

It doesn’t matter how much preparation you have done or how many baby books you have read- walking down the baby aisles at the local superstore is absolutely overwhelming. How are you supposed to decide whether your newborn needs Pampers or Huggies? Or whether you need a swing or a bouncer, or both? 

Well, that's where the duo of Bump Club and Beyond (BCB) and Jamie Grayson, the Baby Guy NYC, come together to throw the new mom event of the year- Gearapalooza.

Gearapalooza, according to their website, “is the ultimate baby gear and registry event.” BCB and Grayson, along with their independent baby gear retail partners, travel across the country hosting events in various major cities to help inform expecting moms (and dads) about the newest, and best, baby gear on the market.

  

Gearapalooza is set to stop in 11 major cities across the country, including Los Angeles, Miami, and Chicago. Don't fret, though, if one of these 11 stops isn't a city near you because a 12th stop will be decided by the fans. You can vote for your city on the Gearapalooza facebook page by simply "liking" the page and commenting on the post.

Stop by their facebook to find a Gearapalooza near you so you can start shopping at this one-stop shop!

eight months too fast.

alright, so blogging hasn't been as easy as i initially thought. i mean, honestly, who knew that sitting down and writing out your thoughts every day could be hard? because this girl didn't.

well, not that it's hard, but more so that I'm too gosh dang lazy and exhausted most of the days to pick up my laptop and write my little heart out. like, DANG. sometimes this mama just wants to lay on the couch with something fattening (preferably pizza) and melt. and to be honest, sometimes that melting happens for hours... like four hours.

alright, im pretty lazy sometimes. ill admit it, dangit. but, until you're a mother, you never realize how much just sitting and doing absolutely nothing- except eating- feels so damn good. and by good i mean heavenly.

literally, HEAVENLY.

okay, enough with my rant about how great being lazy feels sometimes. now to focus on what is really important:
PAISLEY TURNING EIGHT MONTHS OLD TODAY, yeow!

actually, i'm not quite sure how i feel about it. especially since her first tooth decided to pop through today, also. ugh. i want her to have a toothless grandma smile forever. whyyyyy must her teeth grow? why must she grow? and why is it all happening so fast!?

sitting with her today while she tried to chew on literally everything possible, got me to thinking about how much joy and bliss these eight months have brought. and how the months are passing far too quickly.

oh, sweet little girl, you are growing up far too fast and mama is not a fan of it. not even the tiniest bit.

oh, but baby girl, the more you grow, the more you learn. the more your personality shows. the more you smile. the more you laugh. and, inevitably, the louder your cries become. all of which i witnessed today.

the smiles that are wider than your chunky thighs. the laughs that are so hard to pull out of you, but when they come, they sound of the purest joy. the personality that shows your sweet side, but gives us a glimpse of that rebellion. and the cries. the piercing cries that could make someone go insane. but, today. today those cries brought me to tears. today those cries weren't because you were hungry, or sleepy, or bored. today those cries were because of your tooth. that first tooth that signifies that my newborn isn't so new anymore. that my little tiny baby is growing. growing so fast. growing too fast.

so, tonight i held you tighter. tonight i held you longer. and tonight, more than any other night, i thank God for giving me the greatest blessing eight months ago. because these things- yes, including the cries- will be far in the rearview mirror sooner than we know it. one day, you'll go from your speedy little crawl to a speedy little run. and one day, your cries won't be because of a tooth, but because a stupid boy broke your heart. and one day, hopefully far away, you're going to move out and be on your own.

and all of those days, i can wait for.

happy eight months, beautiful girl.

day 2 & day 3,

Apparently my attempts to daily blog were short-lived seeing as I have already failed. Oops. But, I mean, who's perfect anyway?

To be honest, this weekend has just been hectic. Our landlord sent us a sweet "Happy Holidays" email only to follow it up with an "I'm raising your rent by 1/3 of what you're currently playing" email. She's a sweetheart, eh?

So, we've been attempting to look for a new apartment while trying to maintain a semi clean home- which we've learned is nearly impossible with a small child. I literally cleaned the entire house, including bleaching all tile/sink/bath stuffs, and did all the laundry (eight loads-- yes, I said EIGHT) only to come home today to a home that looks like a tornado ran through it. TWO DAYS. Two days is all it took for my house to go from sparkling to a disaster zone. C'est la vie, right?

WRONG.
well, actually it's right but is it okay for me to be pissed about it? Because I am. Not necessarily pissed, but just in shock. How does that even happen?! I lived in a sorority house for a year and that didn't even get messy that fast. Basically what I'm trying to say is my house gets messier faster than a frat house.

Okay, fine. I'm being dramatic. My mama did always say I should have been an actress because of how much drama I put into things. Hollywood, here I come! I can already see my name on the walk of fame.

Alright, I'm done with that day dream, haha. Back to what I was really here to blog about... my second and third day of gratitude!

Even if it gets messier than a frat house and even if the shine and sparkles don't even last an entire week, I am grateful to just simply have a home.

Living in Los Angeles (county) and less than a mile from the beach, it's easy to forget how truly lucky you are to have basic human needs. Food. Shelter. Clean water. Three things that millions of the people around the world have never known, and most likely will never know.

So, for these two days, I am extremely grateful to have a home. A place I can kick my shoes off, turn on the heater and take a nice hot shower while listening to music out of my brand new iPhone. Simple things that I take for granted that people in other parts of the world day dream about their entire lives.

It's realizations like this that make me feel so small in the big scheme of things. So small and so insanely blessed.