Tips to Help You Overcome 6 Common Co-sleeping Hurdles

by , 01/24/12


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Get a Good Night’s Sleep Naturally: Tips for Overtired Parents

by , 11/30/11

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Spunge Organic Cotton Nature Blankets are Perfect for Cool Fall Nights

by , 10/01/11

green kids, eco kids, green baby, eco baby, green design for kids, green design, sustainable living, jennie lyon

Spunge Design Studio has the sweetest, super soft organic comfort blankets. These high-quality, cozy blankets come in fun, bright, modern designs with three-dimensional stitching that makes each nature inspired blanket engaging, stylish and super comfy. Not only does your child get a super-soft, organic blanket from Spunge, but each blanket inspires your little one to feel, touch and play with the dimensional leaves. Wouldn’t these be perfect to snuggle up your little bunny on the upcoming cool autumn nights?

+ Spunge Large Comfort Blanket (Nature) $48

+ Spunge Design Studio

ErgoPouch Keeps Babies and Toddlers Cozy, Comfy, and Safe

by , 09/12/11

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Study Finds Co-sleeping Won’t Harm Child Development or Social Skills

Study Finds Co-sleeping Won’t Harm Child Development or Social Skills

Co-sleeping offers many perks, such as easier nighttime breastfeeding, bonding benefits and often even more sleep for parents (you’re not popping in and out of bed all night). We also know that co-sleeping may help reduce stress. But what about the child development aspects of co-sleeping? If you co-sleep are you harming your child in some deep dark psychological way? Nope – not according to new research from researchers at Stony Brook University School of Medicine in New York. Researchers obtained data on almost 1,000 U.S. mothers, who reported whether or not they co-slept with their children at ages one, two and three years. The researchers then tested the behavior and intellectual development of these children at age five, and the end result was that kids develop properly no matter if they co-sleep or not.

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Bedtime Rituals and Routines to Help Kids Sleep Easily

Bedtime Rituals and Routines to Help Kids Sleep Easily

Some kids tire themselves out so much that they are ready to fall into bed at the end of the day. Other babies, toddlers, and even big kids -- not so much. For those that need a gentle nudge in the direction of Snoozeville, here are a few green-minded suggestions for creating consistent bedtime rituals and routines that will help your mini-party animal wind down and chill out.

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NEW: Oeuf Perch Bunk Bed is Eco-Friendly and Versatile

NEW: Oeuf Perch Bunk Bed is Eco-Friendly and Versatile

Ouef is known for their eco-friendly, modern children’s furniture and their new Perch Bunk Bed offers versatility and elegance all wrapped up with an eco-friendly bow. The Perch Bunk bed is the perfect centerpiece for your child’s bedroom, offering multiply configuration options with a sleek design. It’s low profile makes it the perfect height for smaller children, while it’s elegance and compact size make it functional and pleasing to the eye, while leaving plenty of floor space for stretching out or playing. It comes in your choice of light birch or dark walnut, allowing it to seamlessly fit into the current decor of your child’s bedroom. Read on to learn more about this beautiful, sustainable bunk bed.

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76,000 Arm’s Reach Co-sleepers Recalled

76,000 Arm’s Reach Co-sleepers Recalled

This week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Arm’s Reach Concepts announced a voluntary recall of Infant Bed-Side Sleepers. The CPSC and Arm’s Reach have received 10 reports of infants falling from the raised mattress into the bottom of the sleeper or becoming entrapped between the edge of the mattress and the side of the co-sleeper. Additionally, if the fabric liner in not used or not securely attached, a baby could fall from the mattress into the loose fabric at the bottom of the side-sleeper. While there haven’t been any injuries reported as of yet, the product does pose a risk for potential falls, entrapment or suffocation.

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Co-sleeping is Safer Than Cribs Says SIDS Researcher James McKenna

Co-sleeping is Safer Than Cribs Says SIDS Researcher James McKenna

Image © Flickr user tamakisono

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Co-sleeping may be a controversial topic among the general population, but according to a recent Inhabitots co-sleeping poll, the vast majority of our readers feel that co-sleeping is safe and healthy. Dr. James McKenna, a well-known Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) researcher agrees that co-sleeping is safer than crib sleeping. McKenna has spent 30 years researching babies and sleep, along with correlated issues, such as breastfeeding and SIDS. McKenna notes that co-sleeping (the act of sleeping in the same room as a child) and bed-sharing (the act of sharing a bed with a child) do hold some major benefits for both mother and child, including a possible reduced risk of SIDS.

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Help Kids Calm Down With At-Home Massage

Help Kids Calm Down With At-Home Massage

Five-year-olds don’t know their Vedas from their Asanas, yet it is believed that if you put them in a room full of adults doing cobras and downward dogs in yoga class, you will be amazed at how quickly most fall in line… most. Practitioners tout the positive effects of teaching kids relaxation techniques, but many parents of sprightly students, battling with the problem of helping them find their own place of stillness, know that introducing busybody kids to the peaceful sanctity of a yoga studio can be like setting a bull loose in a china shop. So how can you help active kids slow down? Eventually we realized the parental touch of massage can do wonders.

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Sleepin’ Smart Organic Crib Sheet Topper Saves Sheets

Sleepin’ Smart Organic Crib Sheet Topper Saves Sheets

Moms and dads, your life just got a little bit easier! The Sleepin’ Smart crib sheet topper from Innobaby is a simple, yet ingenious addition to every parent’s repertoire. The savvy design enables you to use this certified organic cotton sheet with a built-in waterproof mattress pad  in a variety …

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Honeyami Organic Cotton Infant & Toddler Bedding

Honeyami Organic Cotton Infant & Toddler Bedding

Sweet dreams are made of this: Honeyami‘s elegant collection of eco-friendly bedding for infants and kids. Honeyami offers 100% organic cotton, Oeko-Tex certified crib and twin bedding, blankets and pillows — all free of harmful chemicals and dyes, and full of style and …

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REVIEW: Natural ‘Merino Kids’ Baby Sleep Sacks

REVIEW: Natural ‘Merino Kids’ Baby Sleep Sacks

Sleep is one of the biggest issues new parents face upon welcoming a new baby into the family — and sleep takes on an identity of its own in households with children, often eluding and confounding moms and dads well into their child’s toddler years. We’ve written a great deal about sleep (or lack thereof) here on Inhabitots, and it’s a topic that maintains our constant interest because it permeates all of our lives as parents on a daily basis. Add to this, concerns about SIDS, and anxiety levels peak. In a previous article on SIDS we highlighted the tragic statistic that, “Every year in the United States, more than 2,300 otherwise healthy babies die suddenly and unexpectedly from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).” Additionally, “a recent international study published in the medical journal Pediatrics concluded that 25 percent of SIDS babies were found with their head covered.” As if we weren’t worried and sleep deprived enough…

With regard to my baby, I check regularly to make sure he is breathing throughout all of his sleeping sessions, morning noon and night, and I also make certain his crib bumper doesn’t pose a suffocation hazard, and that stuffed toys, pillows and blankets are not in his sleeping vicinity. These are standard rules most parents already know and abide. But I had not given a great deal of thought about the safety of the garment he actually wore to sleep — (aside from it fitting well, being cozy, appropriately warm and easy to remove for midnight diaper changes). So when I was introduced to Merino Kids Baby Sleep Sacks, I was thrilled to know such a safe and suitable option existed for keeping babies safe while sleeping.

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Survey Finds New Parents Lose 6 Months of Sleep

Survey Finds New Parents Lose 6 Months of Sleep

A recent sleep survey in the UK found that parents lose an average of six months’ sleep during the first 24 months of their child’s life. According to the Silentnight survey, about 10 percent of parents only managed to get 2.5 hours of continuous sleep each night and over 60 percent of parents with kids under age 2 get less than 3.75 hours of sleep each night! Sleep deprivation is an inevitable part of bringing home baby, but how can parents minimize the long-term impact? We asked Dr. Christine Wood, a practicing pediatrician and certified lactation educator to offer tips for getting more Zs.

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Genius Transformer Baby Gear: The Koo Transforms From Bassinet to Rocker

Genius Transformer Baby Gear: The Koo Transforms From Bassinet to Rocker

Any one who has ever lived with a newborn knows that the first few weeks of round-the-clock feedings are mind-numbingly exhausting for new parents.  The Koo, a new transformer bassinet/rocking chair and late-night feeding system, hopes to make the new parent burden a little easier by smoothing out the edges on the late-night feeding routine, by providing everything a new mom (or dad) needs all in one convenient package.   We spotted the Koo at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair this past week, and we could see all the moms in the vicinity fawning over this multitasking superhero of baby furniture.. Built by Lunar, the Koo is a bassinet that turns into a rocker and back again, a genius maneuver that not only eases baby’s transition from feeding to sleeping, but also minimizes both the product’s carbon footprint and its physical one.

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“To the Moon” Rocket-Ship LED Nightlight by OXO

“To the Moon” Rocket-Ship LED Nightlight by OXO

What better way to send your favorite astronaut-in-training blasting off to Dreamland than with a rocket-shaped nightlight? This bright red spacecraft by OXO includes an LED bulb that never requires changing. You don’t have to keep your nightlight tethered to its charging base, either. Because the rocket stays lit for up to eight hours per charge, the rechargeable battery …

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7 Eco-friendly, Modern Cribs for Green Babies

7 Eco-friendly, Modern Cribs for Green Babies

Babies spend countless hours asleep. We know -- it sure doesn't seem like it right? But it's true. According to the Mayo Clinic newborns may sleep as many as 16 hours per day while older babies to toddlers log about 8-12 hours of sleep per day. Disbelief aside, unless you co-sleep, your baby will be spending a lot of time in her crib snoozing, so a safe and healthy sleeping space is vital. Luckily, there are plenty of amazing safe and green crib options available. Following are seven of our favorite eco-friendly cribs for green babies.

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Smart Kid: A Multifunctional Bedroom Set That Grows With Your Child

Smart Kid: A Multifunctional Bedroom Set That Grows With Your Child

Think of Andensen Furniture’s “Smart Kid” as a child’s bedroom-in-a-box, except that in this instance, the box also happens to be the crib. Made from solid birch and plywood, the multifunctional kit starts out as a crib/changing table/dresser combo, but it can easily be taken apart and reassembled as a playpen, a desk, a chalkboard and book rack, or a junior bed for tykes up to 10 years of age.

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Bednest MK2 Co-Sleeping Crib & Travel Cot Keeps Baby Close at Hand

Bednest MK2 Co-Sleeping Crib & Travel Cot Keeps Baby Close at Hand

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to catch up on more ZZZs, come hell or colicky baby, you’re in luck. Bednest has unveiled the latest iteration of its co-sleeping crib for 2010. Available on February 19, the MK2 is a sleek, modern co-sleeper for parents who prefer a little personal wriggle room in the family bed but still want their bambino at arm’s reach.

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Eco-friendly ‘Oops’ Crib by Structured Green

Eco-friendly ‘Oops’ Crib by Structured Green

The Oops Crib by Structured Green features a bold new aesthetic in baby furniture. The “Drop” detailing of the crib, comprised of variegated strips of reclaimed woods, results in a wonderfully unique and modern nursery look. Structured Green‘s mission is to use quality materials that are sustainably produced, certified or reclaimed, recycled or recyclable, to create …

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LOTS MORE GREAT GREEN DESIGN STORIES HERE... KEEP READING!