Love Your Baby

When it’s just the two of you, and your baby is warm, snuggly and fresh from the bath, nothing relaxes her more than a soothing massage.

Giving her a massage is a fun, relaxing way to bond with your baby. Modern research has concluded that regularly massaging your baby helps promote overall physical and emotional health. Just as a massage provides a relaxing sensation to adults, it also helps foster a sense of security and overall well-being in babies.

Here are some specific benefits of infant massage:

·         Improves sleep patterns

·         Promotes good digestion

·         Reduces the effects of stress

·         Enhance overall health

Tips on massaging your baby:

1. The best time to massage your baby is after a good warm bath.
2. Make sure that the room is warm and that the two of you are in a comfortable position. Lay your baby on her changing table, on the bed, or on your lap.
3. Warm a few drops of natural oils or baby lotion in your hands before giving her a massage.
4. Maintain eye contact with your baby and be gentle!

Follow these simple steps to give your baby a soothing massage:

Step 1: Begin by massaging her head in a gentle circular motion. Start with the forehead, eyebrows, nose, around the mouth and jaw. Then smooth both of your hands down to her ears.

Step 2: Work your way down. Rub across her shoulders and chest in one circular motion and maintain eye contact.

Step 3: Make gentle, light circular motions on her tummy. Then massage one hand after the other, from her right side to the left.

Step 4: Carefully rub each arm between your hands. Open her hand and gently massage each finger.

Step 5: Gently rub each leg between your arms. Massage each foot with your thumb, and rub all her toes.

Step 6: Turn her on her tummy and stroke her back in long, gentle, sweeping lines from shoulders to feet.

Show your love to your bundle of joy and give her a gentle and warm massage!

We at No Slippy Hair Clippy care about your baby’s comfort as much as you care about her.

Cherish more precious moments with your little one with Hair Clippy’s lovely and adorable hair accessories that assure super comfy fit in your baby’s fine hair.

A massive thank you to all our fans and customers for nominating us in Red Tricycle’s Totally Awesome Rewards, we’re very humbled. The journey’s not over yet though, we hope you’ll vote for us as your favorite brand for kids’ accessories! After voting, please head on over to our Facebook page, “like” us and let us know you voted for us on our wall!

Mom, you're stressing me out!

You know it all too well. Motherhood has got to be one of the biggest challenges a women can ever experience! But while you're so used to being the one stressed out by the daily grind of being a mom, did you know that you could be stressing out your children too? (Yeah, me too, when I first read it, I said 'Seriously?!')

In an article at Just the Facts Baby written by Jennifer Kolari, child and parent therapist and founder of Connected Parenting, she discusses the ways by which parents might be working too hard to make things easier for their kids. Not knowing that this might actually cause major stress on them when they grow older!

Read on and let me know what you think:

"Over the last 15 to 20 years, we have moved from a parent-centered culture to a child-centered culture. We are better at understanding our children, better at empathizing and better at supporting and helping children when they are in need. Children are more protected and enjoy more emotional and physical safety than ever before and as a culture we care more about their feelings and their dignity.

There is a downside, though, and things may have swung a little too far. Many well-meaning parents work too hard to smooth the road for their children. Removing obstacles and bumps may make it easier for us to bear our children’s pain and emotional discomfort, but our children don’t seem to be better off for it. According to clinical psychologists Joseph Allen and Claudia Worrell Allen, “We’re seeing high rates of anxiety and depression. The average college student right now is as anxious as the average psychiatric patient was 50 years ago.”

As a child and family therapist, I see far more anxiety amongst the children I work with than I did years ago. I also see children having more difficulties with emotional regulation, anger and impulse control. If you smooth every bump and remove every obstacle in their way, children will not develop the emotional circuitry to manage bumps when they happen. They will fall apart and overreact because they do not have a repertoire of experiences that they can review and say, “Oh yeah, I handled that and I was ok so I can get through this.” If we do not trust them to learn for themselves, make mistakes and experience difficulties, they can’t build that important repertoire. The irony is that the more we try to make life easier for them, the more upset and anxious they seem to become.

It is hard to watch your child cry when you have to say “no” to something, or set a limit. But if you think it’s tough with a two- or four-year-old, think about how it will look when they are 14 or 16 years old. The truth is it will never be easier than it is right now to change and correct behaviors.

Staying neutral, being loving and predictable while setting fair and reasonable limits is the greatest gift you can give your child. It will help them become capable, resilient and secure. Adolescence is around the corner. It may seem like you have a lifetime with your children but they really do grow up quickly. Support them. Guide them. And, love them well. Be empathic and fair, but don’t be afraid to set limits. Let them experience some disappointment and give them messages of competence that help them see that they can, and will, get over it and be okay. Help them to be accountable for their mistakes and behaviors. They will be better prepared for life and a whole lot happier."

You can read the original article here.

PONDER, PONDER, PONDER...
An interesting read, don't you think? What's YOUR take on it? Do you agree that it's because of pampering from parents that a lot more kids have emotional problems nowadays? Have you had this issue with your children? How did you deal with it?

Cheerios!
Rach

20 Tips to Lower Stress

Ahhh stress. Aside from "Twitter" or "Google," I bet "stress" ranks way up there among the most widely used words in the 21st century. I know I have been using it a lot lately!

I'm sure a lot of us have often wished to wake up one day with all our stress magically gone. And I'm sure, over time, we have learned that this is not likely to happen in the real world. But take heart! We may not be able to bid adieu to stress altogether, but we can at least lessen it.

A recent article in Yahoo!'s Shine website gives 20 very easy tips to lower our daily stress level. The writer says that the trick is in disciplining ourselves to do the little things that will keep stress at bay. It's these little things that seem unimportant, but snowball into major stress when neglected.

If you're feeling stressed, here are a 20 easy tips to try:

• Go to bed 30 minutes earlier than usual.
• Get up 20 minutes earlier than usual.
• Before you go to sleep, prepare for the morning.
• Bring a hat and an umbrella.
• Don't wear tight clothes or uncomfortable shoes.
• Make a list.
• Listen to a favorite song.
• Keep extra cash and stamps in the house.
• Be polite and be fair.
• Laugh out loud.
• Have a good book to read.
• Keep an extra set of keys.
• Exercise.
• Always keep your passport in the same place.
• Throw something away.
• Don't say mean things about other people.
• Put a Bandaid in your wallet.
• Keep gas in the car.
• Pay attention to someone else.
• Make your bed.

Try these out and let me know if they work out for you!

You may read the article here.

Image from sxc.hu.

Makin' Over Momma

Motherhood is beautiful. But sometimes, the momma isn't! With so much to do and so little time, a lot of mothers have no more time or motivation to bring out their inner goddess. Oh, come on, you know you have it! It would be quite a shame to keep hiding your best side from the world. What a bleak world we'll all be living in if mothers aren't there to brighten it up. Sometimes, all it takes is one uniquely pretty hair accessory (a lot cuter if it matches your daughter's!) and you instantly brighten up both your mood and your look.

Well, since it is No Slippy Hair Clippy's mission to make the world prettier one girl at a time, we figured, why don't we start with the wonderful ladies that those little girls will aspire to be?

I found this article from parenting.com that is loaded with helpful and easy tips for my dear ladies to get your groove back on. Here's an excerpt of De-stress in 5 Minutes or Less:



Take a (virtual) vacation
"I close my eyes and visualize being on a luxury ocean liner," says Alisha Bush, a mom of one in Madisonville, Tennessee. "I feel the rhythm of the waves and inhale the smell of the ocean." (Try it yourself! See, the beach chair's waiting for ya!)

Crank up some tunes
Play music that brings up good memories. "Many people find they have a visceral reaction to something they heard in their youth," says Suzanne Hanser, chair of the Music Therapy Department at Berklee College of Music, in Boston. Choose anything that triggers a positive image, like your wedding-dance song or the music that played during a first date or at the first rock concert you went to as a teenager.

Laugh it off
Numerous studies show that laughter lowers your levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. So go ahead and giggle out loud at your husband's bad knock-knock jokes-- it'll make you both feel good.

Rub the right way
No, we're not talking about getting a massage; we're talking about giving one--to your baby. Research shows that when women massage infants, their levels of the stress hormone cortisol drop, which in turn calms them down, says Tiffany Field, Ph.D., director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Here's a little more from me:

Glam up! You don't have to channel those Hollywood A-listers to feel like a million bucks. As I said, sometimes, all it takes is that one little detail that makes you stand-out. It could be that heirloom necklace that your grandma gave you, it could be adding a little shimmer on your lips, it could be a unique hair accessory, it could be getting a gorgeous new manicure.

Be bold! Prettify yourself and don't be shy about it! I've noticed that ladies are a little more daring with their choices these days. Headbands with large floral designs and bold colors a la Leighton Meester are all the rage now. Ultra-feminine styles are becoming trendy once again. But be careful not to get too carried away!

So moms, go ahead and get started to beautiful, hopefully stress-free days ahead!