Services

I've been watching this new site Groupon for a little while. It's an interesting idea. It's free to sign up and each morning you get a daily deal emailed to you. If you want to take advantage of the deal, you buy it right there and then and then can print your coupons to use later. The deals are for local NYC businesses and activities and are generally 50% off or even a little bit more. Each deal is only available that day.

Finding the right parenting group can give you an instant social network to share the trials and tribulations of parenthood. Some mothers groups plan events and get-togethers, some offer seminars and discussions on pertinent topics, and some are just a place to chat on-line. Here are some of the best NYC parenting groups for moms and dads of every stripe. [UPDATED 8/2009]

Nobody really wants to have a cesarean section, but since C-sections make up about 30% of births in this country (possibly higher in New York City) every pregnant woman needs to know the facts about them in order to be informed and prepared. Often when you do end up having a cesarean birth the circumstances are not ideal for contemplation and fore-thought, so taking the time now to get informed, familiarize yourself with what will happen and know your options can really help you in the event that you are confronted with a c-section during your birth.

Most people consider giving birth with an OBGYN to be the "safe" choice, but having your baby with a midwife has gone from a crunchy alternative decision to relatively mainstream now. This cultural shift has come from women wanting more control over their births and becoming more educated about their choices. While midwives are becoming a more popular birth choice among a growing number of women, there are still many misconceptions and fear about giving births with midwives. In this post, we give the basic facts about midwives and information about how to find a midwife in New York City.

You will hear from many sources how great it is to breast feed your baby and the amazing qualities of breast milk, etc. Beyond the old "breast is best" and all the talk about the qualities of breast milk and maternal bonding, breastfeeding has some other distinct advantages for a New York City parent: breast feeding is green and it will save you lots of money on formula, bottles and other paraphernalia, plus you end up schlepping a lot less, meaning less hassle wherever the city streets take you.

Most people know about the benefits of breastfeeding and plan on breast feeding their baby. Many people have no trouble getting started breastfeeding, but it can be difficult for some and it is easy to get discouraged in the emotional days after birth. Another time that can be a challenge to a mother's commitment to breast feeding is the transition back to work when the idea of pumping at work seems impractical or unappealing or you're just not sure how to swing it all.

While it's okay to stop whenever you want, sometimes just a little help at those important stages can bring the mother and baby through the difficult times and get them back on track for many more months of easy breastfeeding. If one phone call and an hour or two of help with a supportive lactation consultant can lead to many more days of happy and easy breastfeeding, that seems like a good investment.

Doulas are people you hire to stay with you and support you during your birth. Their role is to help protect the intention you have for your birth, offer practical techniques to help you get through the labor, provide information to you and your partner and offer emotional support. Doulas do not provide medical guidance. We like to think of doulas as very knowledgeable friends who have been to enough births and know when to make suggestions, when to be quiet and when to bring out a little inner fierceness—some people relate the rise of the doula as a replacement for mothers and other female relatives now that families are more spread out (physically and emotionally). There are also prenatal and postpartum doulas who help you before and after you birth.

Whether it’s good old-fashioned angel food or trendy Southern red velvet, birthday cake is still the highlight of any party for kids. These days, however, the definition of “birthday cake” is expanding to also include cupcakes (amazing what one little episode of Sex and the City can do). Cupcakes are a good party choice because they can be cheaper, easier to serve, and more customizable than regular party cakes—the perfect answer when half your guests want chocolate and the other half crave vanilla. Whichever way you go, consider the following places. They’ll make any birthday party a sweet celebration.

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They are predicting 6-10 inches for Monday and as we are getting ready for bed were wondering if schools will be closed in the morning. New York City public schools haven't had a snow day in 10 five years (2004) so it's not really an issue that comes up all the time for us, but private schools and nursery schools do close and it's nice to know how to find out if there will be school closings.  

Here are the best resources I found for finding out if New York City schools are closing:

Aurea emailed me with a question about where to find help with baby wearing lessons. There is no way to underestimate the importance of finding the right carrier for you and your baby. You are going to be holding your infant (and toddler) a lot more than you might have ever guessed pre-pregnancy. The wrong carrier can be anything from annoying to down-right painful—and you want to enjoy have baby close to you, not find it a pain.

Choosing the right carrier for mom and dad (who may need his own if he is not the same size) is really important and worth investing a little time, thought and consideration into. You will need to consider the style of carrier (wrap, sling, bjorn, pack) that you are comfortable using and wearing as well as sizing, comfort and perhaps fashion.

There are a couple different routes to go when looking for help choosing and learning how to use your baby carrier. I've rounded up some good choices here:

Do you twitter? Have you figured out what it is or how to make it useful? That's something I've been wondering myself and think we might have come up with one answer: to create a cool tool that will update NYC families with the hottest, most up to the minute news of what's going on in New York for kids.  

Twitter is like "micro-blogging". You can update the world with any news you want to share as long as you can say it in 140 characters or less. Then everyone who is "following" you can see what you've said on their computers or mobile devices.

Now, I'm not a big social media person...I'm actually not a big social person. I don't chit chat, the art of small talk is lost on me and I don't really care what you had for breakfast, so, while I have the obligatory Twitter account, I have been waiting to figure out something cool to do with it before I really decided to use it.

So Karen from A Child Grows in Brooklyn and I put our head's together and figured out how we could use twitter to create a crowdsourcing tool (doesn't that sound cool?) that will let all of us get the word out to other NYC parents about the latest news for kids in New York.

Say hi to KidBuzzNY, The Inside Scoop Written by You. It's our twitter group that will let all of us spread the word about the latest and greatest for kids in New York.