I was flipping through a maternity magazine at my doctor’s office when I came across an advertisement for an innovative baby bottle by Adiri, designed with the help of doctors, moms and lactation consultants. The shape of the bottle captured my attention immediately; it looks nothing like your standard bottle, and well, it looks a lot like a breast. It turns out this “feature” not only differentiates this bottle in terms of form but mostly in function. This 100% BPA-free bottle “encourages the same type of open-mouthed latching that is required for breastfeeding, making bottle feeding and breastfeeding more easily interchangeable.”

Today, very little research is put into the creation of a baby registry. This is mainly due to the convenient ready-made lists your store of choice hands you along with the zapper. Those generic baby registry lists are categorized, itemized and tell you how many of each item to get. While it’s a great guide, I’m going to tell you how to make it even better.

These three essential tips will ensure you are registering for the best, most useful and safest products to meet your individual needs:

1. Take a new mom with you
2. Three must-have books on baby gear
3. Online ratings and reviews

A quick, easy, and healthy vegetable recipe for your toddler. Sweet potatoes are some of the most nutritious vegetables, boasting high levels of Vitamin A, C, and manganese.

In the U.S., the common first food that is gentle on the stomach is baby cereal made of rice. I started my baby on organic cereal made of oatmeal by Earth’s Best. It’s a fantastic cereal that comes in a good size box for a good price. In general, I recommend oatmeal and brown rice cereal over the standard white rice cereal due to a stronger nutritional profile.

After a few months of baby eating solids, I came across a new cereal product, HappyBellies, which is the only organic immunity boosting probiotic dry cereal with DHA on the market.

After some digging and no luck finding non-toxic baby personal care products in my local stores, I came across a one page guide created by cosmeticdatabase.com; Safety Guide to Children’s Personal Care Products (pdf). It is a lifesaver! It is split up into sections: tips, ingredients to avoid, and suggested products by category (that would be available in your store).

One of my closest mom friends heard from another friend that too much soy in baby boys affect their estrogen/progesterone balance in the teenage years along with fertility concerns. The research I did on the internet was insufficient so I e-mailed soyhappy.org with my concern. Soy Happy is a consumer advocacy service that promotes and facilitates vegetarian options on mainstream menus. The director of SoyHappy, recently named one of the top “Women to Watch” in the San Francisco East Bay area, forwarded my question to a nutritionist and PhD at PCRM, who in turn wrote an answer for me…

The second hardest thing at the beginning, was adjusting to staying at home and saying bye-bye to a career I nurtured. I starting doing research online for activities or mom groups and I found a class cleverly titled Babygarten at my local libraries.

Spiffies are individually wrapped tooth wipes with xylitol that prevents tooth decay in babies. As a mother of a one year old with 10 teeth already - the Spiffies allowed me to introduce the concept of brushing teeth in a pleasant and acceptable manner.

Here’s to a happy teething baby! The Razberry Teether is the first hands-free all silicone teething pacifer. The stimulating multi-textured surface helps soothe baby’s gums. The non-toxic 100% medical grade silicone means it’s clean and healthy for baby too! Conforms to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s requirements for pacifiers.

Natural nasal saline recipe for baby to loosen mucous and clear congestion before feeding and sleeping. Provides relief without the irritation of the nasal syringe.