CIO (Cry It Out) Helpful or Harmful?

My husband and I do not subscribe to the CIO method.  We are attachment parents.  However, I will be the first to tell you that as a daycare worker I used CIO all the time. It has never felt right for me as a mother.  When I hear Avin cry I feel it in my heart and soul.  After a couple of months I could even tell what his different cries meant from down the hall.   We have had people tell us multiple times "you know it won't hurt that baby to cry for a while".  My response to that is "well it might not hurt him but it does hurt me, sorry".  In the past couple of weeks I've come to understand that I have been wrong, extended crying can indeed hurt your child.  I'm not trying to say that anyone who uses CIO is abusing their child but studies have show extended crying to have ill effects on children.  I found the information presented in this blog article very startling but helpful: http://www.lepetitowlet.com/2010/04/dangers-of-letting-your-babe-cio.html.  Every parent has to develop their own routine and find what works for them.  I wouldn't dream of saying the methods my family uses are what would work for any other family.  I just encourage everyone to educate themselves on the subject.  Don't let others pressure you into letting your child cry it out.  Yes, babies can cry, but why should they have to?

In Honor of Earth Day: 15% Discount at Tadpoles Bedding Company~

Tadpoles Bedding Company offers a variety of baby and toddler items including organic crib sets and organic clothing and accessories.  In honor of Earth Day they are giving a 15% discount on their organic items (good until April 30, 2010) So swim on over to their store Tadpoles Bedding Company  and enter the coupon code earthday15. 

You can also follow them on facebook and twitter for more great deals in the future.

Little Ducks Organics Snack Giveaway and Review {CLOSED}

Congratulations comment #10!
As you know I am always seeking out organic foods and snacks for Avin. He's almost 10 months old and it seems like he is eating more and more solid foods every day. We've come a long way since our first homemade purees and baby cereal puffs. He loves to feed himself finger foods now and will bang his tray for more Cheerios or snacks. He isn't very patient when it comes to meal time so to buy enough time to prep his actual food we always give him a little snack that he can feed to himself. He loves all types of cereal puffs and Cheerios but I hated constantly feeding him cereal. I was very intrigued when I was offered the opportunity to try out Little Duck Organics Baby Snacks.

I received 4 packages of snack in all three of their yummy flavors. The first one we tried was Apple & Banana. (I say we because I always try foods before feeding them to Avin.) The first thing I did when I picked up the package was check the ingredients list. It was short and simple: 100% organic apples, 100% organic bananas. When I opened the package I was mildly surprised to find tiny squares of dried (almost chalky looking) apples and bananas. I had been expecting it to either be slightly sticky and shriveled looking (think prune or dried apricots) or for it to be super hard and flat. I popped a tiny little cube in my mouth and it instantly re-hydrated and the banana flavor exploded in my mouth. Satisfied that the cubes were easily gummed and began dissolving almost instantly I poured some on Avin's tray. He was able to easily grasp the tiny little cubes and began popping them into his mouth as fast as he could go! He loved it! I mixed the bag of organic fruit snacks with some cheerios to make a sort of baby trail mix. Avin loves the snacks so much he will pick through the mix and eat the fruit first.

I opened the Strawberry Mango snacks next. Once again the ingredient list was short and simple: 100% organic Strawberries, 100% organic Mango. The strawberries had a few irregular pieces that were a little bigger than the tiny cubes in the apple and banana package. I would take a second to sort through and pick out any larger pieces if you are giving them to a beginning eater. I confess that I am in love with the Strawberry Mango snacks. Seriously, my husband made me quit eating them because they are for the baby!

I love that the snacks are made with 100% organic fruit and no dyes, fillers, or preservatives. They come in convenient resealable packaging and are great for tossing in the diaper bag. These are Avin tested and Mommy approved!

The folks at Little Duck Organics are giving away a package of snacks to three of my readers! To enter to win a package of your choice of flavors you must sign up to publicly follow my blog via google friend connect and tell me which flavor combination you would like for your baby.

For additional entries:

Sign up to follow me on twitter and tweet any unique tweet about this giveaway including @diapermom and @LittleDuckOrg (Up to 3 tweets per day)

Sign up to follow Little Duck Organics on twitter (1 additional entry)

Sign up to follow me on Facebook (1 additional entry)

Sign up to follow Little Duck Organics on facebook (1 additional entry)

Subscribe to my email feed on the left hand side of my blog (3 additional entries)

Please make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry. If you are tweeting please leave the permalink to your tweet in your comment. Please make sure you include your email address in each comment so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to US Residents, 18 and older, void where prohibited. The giveaway will end Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 11:00 PM CST. Three winners will be selected via random.org.