One of the hardest parts of transitioning from a one-child family to two children is realizing that you have utterly and completely rocked your first child's world. Though you understand everyone is going to be just fine in the end, it doesn't make that sometimes rocky transition period any easier.

At a recent visit to the community pool, I saw something that surprised many of the parents around me. A mom was sitting in the paddling end of the coolish pool with her three-year-old daughter and what appeared to be a very, very new baby. After splashing their feet for a while, the mom took her child (in a life jacket) and the baby to the deeper end of the pool, where the infant slept through being submerged to her chin and splashed by her little sister for a good half hour or more, with no shade from the hot sun.

Brad Pitt, who starred in tinsel town's The Mexican with Julia Roberts has allegedly contacted his former co-star to ask for some very particular advice. Pitt is due to have twins with partner Angelina Jolie in the impending weeks. Roberts has already tackled that project with twins Hazel and Phinnaeus (who are three if you can believe it!).

According to a "source" (and you know how we feel about "sources"), Brad contacted Julia to ask advice on how to deal with raising twins. The source claims Brad was "frantic," which I find hard to picture, about whether or not the rules or parenting twins are different than parenting a singleton.

The alleged response? No, it's just harder. I don't know if that is true or not--I think it depends on how you look at it. I know several couples who had twins and they've said since they never had kids before (the twins were their first) it wasn't any different or any harder because they had nothing to compare the experience to. Brad and Ange, however, already have a brood going with daughters Shiloh and Zahara and sons Pax and Maddox.

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Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk finally got the girl. The baby girl, that is. On Monday, Hawk (is that not the perfect name for a skateboarder?) and his wife Lhotse welcomed their first child together, a daughter they named Kadence Clover. Pretty name, but they had better get used to hearing "how do you spell that?"

Little Kadence weighed in at 8 lbs., 8 oz. and measured 21 inches long. She is the first child for Tony and Lhotse as a couple, but the fourth child for Tony. 40-year-old Hawk has been married twice before and has three sons from those unions - Riley,15, Spencer,9, and Keegan,6.

Congratulations Tony and Lhotse!









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I've never been much of a fan of reality TV. Putting ordinary people (who are always prettier or meaner or whinier than anyone person I've ever met) in weird circumstances to show what happens just isn't entertaining to me. I've got kids, I deal with weird circumstances ALL DAY LONG!

Apparently, I'm not the only one who isn't crazy about at least one reality TV show. The Washington D.C. based nonprofit group Zero to Three is upset with the new NBC television series "Baby Borrowers". The group's spokesperson told Page Six, "We're concerned about the fact that these babies are being separated from their parents and placed with strangers. On the first episode, the babies were separated for about 12 hours and were clearly in distress. Typically they will cry and cling and search for their parents, which they were doing. They should be with someone they've had the opportunity to get to know."

I'm all for educating teens on child care getting rid of the notion that parenting is one big ball of baby powdery fun, but there ARE better ways than dumping a baby off with complete strangers for a television show. Working at a childcare center, volunteering at a church nursery or preschool, or even babysitting are all good ways to get a small idea of what life as a parent is like.

There is no way I'd ever, ever, ever have agreed to let my babies be on a television show like this, even with a nanny stationed nearby in case she's needed. What exactly is going on with our society that makes babies fair game for a reality series, anyway?

When he was younger, my nephew managed to shove a pea so far up his nostril that he ended up spending several hours in the emergency room while the doctors and nurses tried to get it out. Eventually, they did. Not long after, however, he did it again. Luckily, this time, his mom was able to get it out and avoid another trip to the ER.

Apparently, my nephew isn't the only one to have tried this stunt. MomLogic has a list of the top ten things kids stick up their noses, along with the dangers and what to do about them. French fries are not one I would have expected to see on the list, but Crayons -- the same shape and size -- certainly are. Scarily, Kleenex is on the list, since young children may not quite get it that the tissue is supposed to stay on the outside.

Of course, the classic pea is there, along with its cousin the bean. Interestingly, jelly beans are not on the list -- I know my sister once came to the revelation that jelly beans would fit perfectly in her dog's nostrils; luckily she never actually tested her theory. The important thing here, I guess, is that you always have to keep a close eye on your kids -- and their noses.

Diplomats in Geneva recently set new limits on the amount of certain kinds of bacteria allowable in baby formula as well as the level of natural toxins in some types of nuts. They also tackled the amount of gluten permissible in products labeled 'gluten-free.' The safety standards will apply to all internationally shipped foods.

The outcome of the standards is to hopefully affect hygiene practices and therefore reduce the amount of contamination of two kinds of bacteria in powdered formulas which have been known to cause illness and death in infants. Foods labeled gluten-free would not be able to contain more than 20 milligrams of gluten per kilogram, nor could they contain wheat, rye, barley or oats. Regulations were also set for the amounts of aflotoxins in almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios. Aflotoxins are known carcinogens in lab animals.

Over 170 countries claim membership to The Codex Alimentarius Commission responsible for making these decision, which also includes the European Union. Other topics for consideration are frozen foods, flavoring, tomatoes (no surprise there given the United States' recent issues with them) and mineral water.

Sleep is an issue for any new parent. Not only are they not getting any, but where in the world is the baby supposed to sleep? Co-sleeping is either ideal or dangerous, depending on who you talk to. Putting the baby in a crib in their own room just adds distance between you and a crying baby in the middle of the night, meaning you have a much greater chance of crashing into doorways in your sleepless stupor.

The AAP has changed their recommendations over the last few years. Though they still don't support co-sleeping, citing the fact that half of all infant deaths catergorized as sudden and unexpected happen when babies share a sleeping surface with adults, they do recommend room sharing, where parents and baby share a room, but not a bed.

Lesley Porcelli over at Gourmet isn't a mom yet, but she's well on her way and pondering what kind of eater her kid will be. Like a lot of non-parents, she readily admits that she has strong opinions about successful parenting, particularly when it comes to feeding the child. And when it comes to picky eaters, Porcelli is pretty sure that parents are to blame.

Her theory goes something like this: If the whole family sits down to eat together and nobody makes a big deal out of what is on the plate, the kid will happily chow down without complaint. If a parent assumes the kid wouldn't touch a lasagna with a ten foot pole and therefore doesn't bother to offer it, chances are good that the kid will subsist on nuggets and fries until maturity.

I think Porcelli has it only partly right. Kids aren't blank slates waiting to be molded into actual people. Even as they try their first bites of solid food, they are individuals with their own likes and dislikes. From her first bite of pureed chicken as a baby, my Ellie disliked meat. She gobbled up the fruits and veggies, but spat out anything that tasted of animal. I don't know if her aversion was about texture or taste, but to this day she would sooner eat a plate of green beans than a bite of chicken. For Ellie, it isn't about not wanting to try new foods (she loves crab cakes and calamari), she just doesn't like meat.

That said, I do think parents can - and should - influence what foods their child will consume. The old "just take one bite" routine works well for us and is the reason we can all enjoy a plate of calamari together. But in the end, I don't worry too much about my picky eater. After all, I lived off bologna and mustard sandwiches as a kid and I survived just fine.

How far would you go to help your child have a child? A Michigan mom recently showed the world exactly how far she would go when she gave birth to her daughter's twins.

Crystal Sirignano, 52, gave birth last week to two healthy children, a boy and a girl. Crystal's daughter, Kendra, and her husband Aaron Simpson, struggled with infertility for years before turning to surrogacy. Though they were both hesitant at first, Crystal ended up being a healthy and helpful candidate. She moved from her home in Goodrich, where she owns a fitness center, to Arizona to be near her daughter and struggled with all the usual pregnancy symptoms at an age when pregnancy is the last thing on many women's minds.

A flaming coconut is being blamed for sending a newborn baby to the hospital in respiratory distress. The coconut in question was being used in a baby-naming ritual by a family in Woodbridge, New Jersey when things got out of control. The ritual involves stuffing a coconut with cotton, pouring vegetable oil inside and setting it alight like a candle. Unfortunately, instead of a candle, what resulted was more like a Molotov cocktail which quickly ignited the wood floor in the family's apartment.

The fire was extinguished before firefighters arrived, but not before heavy smoke filled the home. The five-day-old baby, Rayan Gandhi, was taken to the hospital, treated for smoke inhalation, and released the next day.

That is pretty much it for the story - no other apartments were damaged, the police are still investigating and the baby is apparently fine. But I am most intrigued by this coconut baby-naming ritual. Google is mum on the subject and I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to learn more about it. What is this coconut ritual all about? Who does this ? And how could the author of the original news item leave that part out?

Breastfeeding ain't easy. While it's clearly the best choice, in general, for a baby's nutritional needs, it can be difficult. That's why it's so important for doctors and hospitals to encourage and support new mothers in breastfeeding and why access to an experienced lactation consultant is critical in those first hours and days after giving birth.

Unfortunately, a lot of women in Canada don't breastfeed their babies and now there will be two less lactation consultants for the women giving birth at Burnaby hospital outside Vancouver, British Columbia. Consultants Renee Hefti-Graham and Linda Good resigned after the Nestle Corporation organized a presentation -- featuring cocktails and dinner -- at the local Hilton hotel. The presentation was to be about baby nutrition and formula which violates the World Health Organization's 981 International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.

The two consultants quit after their manager said the guidelines from the WHO on the promotion of breastfeeding by hospitals were just "propaganda" and would not denounce the presentation. "We just didn't feel supported," said Hefti-Graham. All moms should be given as much support, training, and encouragement as they need to help them breastfeed if they can. That a hospital would participate in an event like the Nestle presentation that clearly violates the WHO marketing code is a very sad state of affairs. Hopefully, they can changes to be more in line with the WHO and the needs of the babies they deliver.

Actress Tori Spelling recently debuted her new baby girl, Stella, to the media and the world. She also revealed that it only took one try for her to get pregnant. According to OK Magazine, Tori is quoted as saying she'd been on one type of birth control pill and was feeling nauseous, so went on a different pill prescribed by her doctor. She somehow missed a day in between though, and it was on that day she claims she became pregnant.

Spelling also said Stella was rather an accident--or, I guess, that they weren't trying to get pregnant. In my opinion, they weren't not trying to get pregnant, though, as we all know it only takes one shot to seal the deal and they knew that Tori wasn't protected when they had sex! Good for them--as my friend wisely said, another baby in the world is a wonderful thing. Little Stella is a beauty and I'm sure is making her parents unbelievably happy.

I can also confirm that you can, indeed, get pregnant the first shot. I wasn't trying either, nor was I not trying. And, bam, the first time we did it without protection, I became pregnant with my daughter. Seems like Tori and I are on the same track--we both have toddler sons, both got knocked up after one try, and both either have or will have a daughter in the very near future. Another thing we have in common? Well, Spelling says she might like to have a third child, just like me. Too bad i don't have an acting career paycheck to go with my life though!

Good luck, Tori--and congrats on beautiful Stella!

Every state in the union now has a safe haven law, allowing a parent to leave a baby with specified people or organizations instead of abandoning or injuring the child. I think this is a good thing -- if someone finds themselves with a baby they are unable to care for, I would much rather see that baby dropped off at a hospital, firehouse, or police station than have it dumped in a trash can or left in the woods.

I have no idea what it would be like to have to surrender one's child, but I do have some insight into what it is like to be on the other end of the process. I came across this piece written by a college student who was working at a hospital when a young woman brought in her baby. It's an interesting look at a side of the process we don't usually think about -- those who take these children in are affected too.

I wish that we had absolutely no need for these laws, but until that happens, I'm glad there are people like this young man who can help these infants with compassion and caring.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of about 320,000 Jardine Cribs due to a strangulation hazard. The crib slats and spindles can break, creating a gap in which a baby's head could become entrapped. There have been 42 such incidents with four children suffering minor injuries.

The cribs were manufactured in China and Vietnam for Jardine Enterprises and sold at KidsWorld, Geoffrey Stores, Toys "R" Us, and Babies "R" Us stores nationwide, as well at babiesrus.com, from January 2002 through May 2008 for between $150 and $300. One model, the Mahogany Positano Lifetime Crib, sold for $450.

The recall involves 28 different model numbers in various styles and finishes. The entire list of recalled cribs and their model numbers can be found here. You can find the model number located on the inside bottom rail of the headboard or footboard of the crib.

If you have one of these cribs, you are advised to immediately stop using it and contact Jardine to receive a full credit toward the purchase of a new crib. For more information, you can reach Jardine by calling (800) 646-4106 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday and between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET Saturday. You can also visit their website.

One of the things you sign away when you get pregnant is the right to modesty. That baby is coming out, and if she comes out the traditional way, people are going to be spending a good chunk of time focusing their attention on parts of your body that you yourself need a mirror and some decent flexibility to see.

Usually, though, those audience members are people that you yourself have chosen, such as a partner or spouse, doctor or midwife, mom or sister. Rarely are those people random strangers who happen to be wandering around a New York subway platform. That's exactly what happened to poor Francine Alfontent, though, who was desperately trying to make it to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, but didn't quite get there. She gave birth to Soleil, a baby girl, with the help of several strangers who stopped to help.

Mom and baby are doing fine, and according to New York Daily News, that's because passersby were willing to lend a helping hand. It really is a heartwarming story, if you think about it, and I'm guessing that Francine is grateful that, if she had to share the miracle of birth with random NY strangers, the right ones happened to be nearby.