Tender Heart Infant Massage

The International Association of Infant Massage is a great resource for finding Certified Infant Massage Instructors around the U.S. and the world. This association trains and certifies instructors who in turn teach parents and caregivers how to massage their babies.

One of these Certified Infant Massage Instructors is Cali Petitt, who introduced us to this program. She is a mompreneur (and Baby Blog Addict reader) who recently started her own business, Tender Heart Infant Massage.

"It's basically in-home infant massage instruction that can be done privately or for groups of friends who want to get together for a series of three mommy and me classes," Petitt told BBA. "Using a teaching doll, I teach parents how to properly perform infant massage. I strongly recommend learning from a certified instructor, since all of the massage strokes have been researched."

Some of the benefits of infant massage include:

• Deepens bond between parent and baby
• Promotes relaxation and can help baby sleep better
• May relieve symptoms due to gas, constipation, teething, sinus congestion
• Stimulates healthy growth and development

Cali Petitt, CCLS, CIMI, teaches in the Mandeville/Covington, Louisiana area, so if you are in that area, you can reach her at 985-502-0629. If not, you can find a Certified Infant Massage Instructor in your area by checking out the U.S. list of 7,000 instructors.

Go Back To Work Midweek

The idea of going back to work when your maternity leave ends can be overwhelming. If you can ease back into it by working part time for a little while, try that. If you don't have that flexibility and have to go back full time when your maternity leave is over, try to start with a short week. Instead of going back on a Monday and having to face five full days of dropping your baby off at daycare and working for eight hours a day, you should think about going back on a Wednesday or Thursday.

Consider this option. Sign up your baby to start daycare on the Monday of the week you go back to work. Drop them off for a couple of hours each day - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This will give you some time alone to get things prepared at home and will ease you into the transition of being separated from your baby. When you go back to work on Wednesday or Thursday of that week (my vote is for Thursday), you can see light at the end of the short tunnel. Friday is only a day or two away. Now I'm not saying this makes going back to work after maternity leave easy, it just makes it a little bit easier.

BumpyName Orbit Labels

Throw away the markers for labeling your kids' sippy cups. We have better and cuter options for you. A while back we featured Baby Labels on BBA. Now, here's another way to label your kids' sippy cups.

BumpyName Orbit Labels are a great solution for labeling bottles, sippy cups, snack containers and other drink containers. I haven't used them yet, but I've heard a lot of great things about them from other moms. They are non-adhesive, so you can use them to tag different items, but if you want to keep them on the same cups and containers all the time, they are also dishwasher and microwave safe.

$12.95 will get you four custom labels and you can get a four pack of two-line custom labels for just $1 more. The two-line labels are also great to list a food allergy below the child's name as a reminder to child care providers.

Study: Heating Plastic Bottles Poses Risk

Parents who heat plastic baby bottles risk feeding their children a synthetic hormone linked with medical, reproductive and developmental problems, according to a University of Missouri study released recently.

Preventing Pain in Infants

Infants have to get shots, and they hurt. But a new study finds that there is an anesthetic that is not only effective but also easy to administer and safe: sugar water.

24,000 Cribs Involved in Recall; Gov't Warns About Soft Bedding

Last week, safety officials announced a recall of 24,000 cribs and also warned parents against putting their babies to bed with pillows and other soft bedding that could suffocate them.