ExpectingWords.com - Helping expecting couples find the right words at the right times

The New York Times reported last week that Disney has dreamed up a new personality for Mickey Mouse. Mickey’s simple kindness wasn’t making enough money, so they decided to give him an edgier personality: now he will be naughty and selfish.

Well Mickey, I don’t want to be your friend and I hope my son doesn’t either. There are enough bully characters out there on TV and in the real world.

Now I’m not saying Mickey should be a symbol of perfect generosity and kindness, but there’s no need to go to the other extreme either. If Mickey needs an edge why don’t you give him one that every child wishes he or she has: the ability to give good comebacks.    (more…)

Pregnant Cover Model of Teen Vogue Raises Eyebrows

The magazine said they didn’t know she was pregnant before the photo shoot for the November issue. Should that matter? Is a 19-year old pregnant cover model a bad influence or can her experience be a good starting point for parents to talk to their teens about sex and pregnancy?

Umbilical Cord Blood Cells Give New Hope

The Salk Institute conducted a study where they were able to turn cord blood stem cells into an embryonic state. This is an important discovery because cord blood stem cells can now offer all the power of embryonic stem cells without any of the ethical questions. Needless to say, this opens up a number of potential uses for cord blood. ViaCord blogs about this development in their post, The Value of Cord Blood—Even Greater than Once Imagined. And  Science Daily published an article, Umbilical Cord Blood As A Readily Available Source For Off-the-shelf, Patient-specific Stem Cells.

38 Weeks is too Early to Induce Labor

Induced deliveries are on the rise and though national guidelines discourage (more…)

I admit it, my one year old son Blake watches Sesame Street on DVR in the morning and during many meals.

Actually, that’s not entirely true anymore.

When I made that admission last week at my son’s class, the teacher kindly admonished me. She explained, “When the TV is on, your child gets into a zone-like trance. That may be okay at 6am when you’re too tired to entertain him, but meal-time TV watching is the beginning of bad eating habits. Television makes your child zone out so that he has no idea what’s going into his mouth.”

Watching TV causes my son to zone out? But that’s exactly why I use TV, to zone him out so he’ll sit still in his high chair long enough to eat a healthy breakfast or lunch… or dinner. I never thought TV was educational (and the Baby Einstein refund practically confirms this), but I also didn’t think moderate TV watching was harmful.

I gave my “defense,” to the teacher and other parents, (more…)

Expectant mothers are magnets for unsolicited advice. Some of the advice is rude , some is helpful and the rest is based on old wives tales. Our guest bloggers today, Drs. Shawn A. Tassone and Kathryn M. Landherr, are going to help us separate fact from fiction. As experienced gynecologists who are a husband-and-wife team of physicians, and parents of four children, they wrote the newly released humorous and informative book, “Hands Off My Belly! The Pregnant Woman’s Guide to Surviving Myths, Mothers, and Moods” published by Prometheus Books. Here they share an excerpt of five surprising myths and truths about pregnancy. Thank you doctors!

1) I heard that if I eat more breakfast cereal I will have a boy.

Really, can you imagine? Actually there is a shred of truth in this statement based on a study done in England regarding pre-pregnancy diets and their relation to fetal gender. Scientists found more boys were born to women who ate a high-calorie diet. More specifically, a higher percentage of boys were born to women who ate breakfast cereal each morning prior to becoming pregnant.     (more…)