Natural Pregnancy and Parenting: Our Innate Desire to Create Healthy and Happy Babies is a free 49-page e-book packed with information from a large variety of sources, all of which support a natural lifestyle.

The focus of the book is on proper nutrition, with sections covering nutrition from pre-pregnancy though lactation, nutrient deficiency, specialty foods, food to avoid, food synergy combinations and much more. Other topics discussed include morning sickness, miscarriage, child raising birth to 1 year, breast feeding, premature babies, schooling, disease and the role of fathers.

If you’re interested in having and raising your children in a natural way, you’ll want to read Natural Pregnancy and Parenting. You can read it on the web site or download the PDF version. Since links to the sources are included, you can use this book as the start of your own research into finding the lifestyle best for you and your family.

Here’s another product recall from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

About 2,800 pieces of Juicy Couture Children’s Jewelry have been recalled because they contain high lead levels. There have been no reports of injuries, but lead is toxic and can cause health problems if ingested by young children. (It amazes me how companies keep making stuff with too much lead in them. The toxicity of this substance is a known fact, what in the blankety-blank are they thinking?)

According to CPSC, the recalled bracelets and necklaces are gold or silver with charms. The charms include a yellow painted metal shirt with “Viva La Juicy” printed on the front, a cheerleader’s megaphone with the word “Juicy,” a green heart with “Juicy Couture,” a black dog, the letter “J,” and a purple flower.

The jewelry was sold in a pink box with “Juicy Couture” and “Made with Love G&P” printed on the top. The recall includes style numbers YJRU0722, YJRU0723, YJR0724 and YJRU0538. The style number is printed on a white sticker on the bottom of the pink box.

If your child has this jewelry, take it away from her and return it to the store where you bought it for a full refund. For more information, contact Liz Claiborne toll-free at (866) 879-7877 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, seven days a week, or visit their Web site at www.juicycouture.com/recall

Visit the CPSC web site for more information about the Juicy Couture children’s jewelry recall, including a picture.

Signs of Hearing Loss in Children

If your child has hearing loss, the sooner this is discovered, the sooner something can be done about it, and the better the chances of successful treatment. Also, early identification of hearing loss is very important because most language learning takes place during birth to five years; if your child is having trouble hearing during that critical period, he won’t be able to learn to speak as quickly nor as well.

Some signs that could indicate hearing loss:

• Loud noises do not wake up your child.
• Your child older than a few months does not turn to the source of a sound.
• Your child does not look at the person talking to her.
• Your child has delayed speech and language development.
• Your child does not seem to pay attention, has difficulty following directions, or has problems in school.
• Your child tends to daydream or withdraw in social situations.

{There could be other reasons for any of these; for example, withdrawing in social situations could be a sign of shyness rather than hearing loss. But it is a good idea to have hearing loss ruled out, so you can deal with the actual problem.) Read the rest of this entry »