Eating for two? Try this healthy breakfast recipe

Family Features

What you eat not only affects you, it could affect your unborn child.

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Of the four million women who give birth in the US each year, some 3,000 babies are born with neural tube defects, which include certain birth defects of the brain and spinal cord. Folic acid is a critical element needed for proper spinal cord development during the first three weeks of pregnancy. Because this is often before a woman even knows she’s pregnant, it’s important for women of child-bearing age to follow a healthy lifestyle and to include folic acid as part of her diet.

The Grain Foods Foundation would like to remind all women of child-bearing age of the important role folic acid plays in preventing birth defects. Enriched breads – and many other grains such as rice, tortillas, pasta and cereal – are important sources of folic acid. …

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Children’s backpacks tip the scales, test the limits

By Ellen Warren, Chicago Tribune

We’ve all seen the kids in their skinny jeans and baggy plaids slouching their way to school, nearly collapsing from the weight of those insanely giant backpacks.

How many moms and dads on any given school day lift those jammed school bags and say, “What are you carrying around in there?”

Well, now I know.

Equipped with a bathroom scale and a reporter’s snoopy — I mean inquisitive — attitude, I headed for Oak Park, Ill.’s Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School to find out just how much poundage the students were carrying around and to try and figure out if they really needed all that stuff.

I got there just in time to welcome the kids arriving early for band practice. Many were...

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Teen births in U.S. lowest in 70 years

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

ATLANTA — The rate of teen births in the U.S. is at its lowest level in almost 70 years. Yet, the sobering context is that the teen pregnancy rate is far lower in many other countries.

The most convincing explanation is that contraceptive use is much higher among teens in most Western European countries.

Last week, U.S. health officials released new government figures for 2009 showing 39 births per 1,000 girls, ages 15 through 19 — the lowest rate since records have been kept on this issue.

That’s close to the teen birth rate for Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria in 2007, the latest numbers available from the World Bank, which collects a variety of data gauging international development.

The teen birth...

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When can my baby start eating solid foods?

From Nemours/KidsHealth.org

Q: A friend of mine just started giving her 3-month-old applesauce and rice cereal. My son is just 2 weeks younger than hers, and I am wondering if I should be introducing solids soon, too. What do you think?

A: Wait a bit longer. Most babies are ready to start eating solid foods when they’re between 4 to 6 months old. Why? Because in order to eat solid foods, an infant needs good head and neck control and should be able to sit up. Your son may not be able to do these things until he’s 4 to 6 months old. Before this age, you may notice that he pushes the food out of his mouth just as quickly as you put it in. Babies start to lose this natural tongue-thrusting reflex around this time, which will make it easier for him to...

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Moms gear: EuroTote can be anything you need

By Emilie Le Beau, McClatchy-Tribune

Many adults despise sleeping in an upright position, especially in airplane seats where the “recline” option is practically an insult.

Despite the adult aversion to sleeping upright, many parents expect their babies to snooze contently in a sling or carrier.

There are ways to carry baby so the little one is lying flat and able to snooze comfortably. The lillebaby EuroTote is a convertible carrier that changes from a cradle carrier to a bunting bag to a toddler stroller bag.

The machine washable cover can also be changed to a cool mesh designed for summer temperatures or a warm microfiber/flannel mix for colder weather.
The cradle carrier accommodates up to 25 pounds and has two straps so parents...

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Got a cold? Study says echinacea won’t help much

By STEPHANIE NANO, Associated Press

NEW YORK — Got the sniffles? The largest study of the popular herbal remedy echinacea finds it won’t help you get better any sooner.

The study of more than 700 adults and children suggests the tiniest possible benefit — about a half-day shaved off a weeklong cold and slightly milder symptoms. But that could have occurred by chance.

For most people, the potential to get relief a few hours sooner probably isn’t worth the trouble and cost of taking the supplement, researchers said.

With no cure for the common cold, Americans spend billions on over-the-counter pills, drops, sprays and other concoctions to battle their runny noses, scratchy throats and nagging coughs. Some turn to echinacea, a top seller...

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Pregnancy-related deaths creeping up in the U.S.

By Pete Basofin, McClatchy Newspapers

Although it’s rare for U.S. women to die of complications in pregnancy, a study by the Centers for Disease Control shows that such deaths are increasing in this country.

Researchers found that between 1998 and 2005, the national pregnancy-related mortality rate was 14.5 deaths per 100,000 live births. In 1986, the rate fell to a low of 7.4 per 100,000 before experiencing a gradual rise. (A pregnancy-related death is considered any death occurring during, or within a year after pregnancy, that is caused by a complication of pregnancy.)

The study doesn’t identify a precise cause for the increase in these maternal deaths. But it notes that in recent years more women of child-bearing age are dealing with obesity...

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Secret thoughts of a newbie dad

By Tait, TheBump.com

Always curious about what your guy is thinking — especially now that he’s a pops? TheBump.com asked one brave dad (stay-at-home dad, Tait) to spill what’s really going on in those mysterious dude brains of theirs. Here’s what he revealed …

Baby books can drive you mad!

I did a lot of reading before my son, Finn, was born last April, and there were two questions that every book I read assumed guys needed answered: “Why is my woman acting so crazy?” and “So, am I still going to get laid?” Not only was this info useless, it was pretty patronizing. The simple answers are “hormones” and “not as much.” (Look at that, hundreds of pages of reading...

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Spend the kids’ winter break creating a cardboard kitchen

By Debra Immergut, Disney FamilyFun magazine

Here’s a simple recipe for fun: grab a couple of shipping boxes (often in ample supply at this time of year, thanks to holiday deliveries), a plastic bowl, duct tape, and a few items from the recycling bin, and assemble the perfect play center for aspiring chefs. Whether you place it as a gift beneath the tree or make it with your child as a cure for the “I’m bored” winter blahs, it’s sure to win rave reviews.

Base units

Seal two matching shipping boxes (ours are 18 inches square) with tape. Use a craft knife and straight edge to cut out rectangles (our cabinet opening is 14 inches square; the oven opening is 10 by 12...

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Racing the Christmas marathon

By Marla Jo Fisher, The Orange County Register

How is your Christmas season coming along? So far, I’ve done about one nanosecond of all the things I need to get done.

If this were a marathon, I would have finished the first 10 feet, before stopping to pant and look around for cookies.

The biggest unfinished project or chore, depending on your outlook, is the ritual purchase of the tree.

I have grudgingly decided to get a real tree this year, after a comment from a faithful reader that was too true: That my kids soon will be grown and won’t care a whit what I do, because they’ll be lying on the beach in Hawaii with their spouses for Christmas while I’ll be sitting at home with the dog, watching the Pope give midnight mass in...

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