Baby 411 & Toddler 411 Blog

Expecting 411, Baby 411, Toddler 411 on ELLEN Today!

Ellen's Mother's Day show airs today, with an audience full of moms-to-be. Expecting 411, Baby 411, and Toddler 411 were selected as audience giveaways! Wishing you were in the audience? Well, Ellen has a big surprise for her audience viewing at home. Check out the ELLEN website for details!

 

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Dr Ari Brown on Dr Oz's Autism show today Thursday Feb 17

Set those DVR's for the Dr. Oz show TODAY (Thursday Feb 17). Dr Ari Brown will be one of the panelists speaking about autism—what we know and don't know—for Thursday's show. Also appearing is Alison Singer, President of the Autism Science Foundation, and mom of a child with autism. She shares her experience and wisdom, and why she has made autism advocacy her life's work.

After the show, check back to our blog for an update on Dr. Brown's experiences and take home messages. 

The scoop on baby poop

Admit it. You spend too much of your day staring at baby poop...and thus, you are probably an expert by now.

But when your baby isn't pooping like he's supposed to, or he looks pretty uncomfortable when he's trying to "drop a deuce" (my teenager's new phrase after summer camp), you need some advice.

What's normal and what's not? And what should you do if your baby suffers from constipation? Here's an educational and entertaining video I shot with DadLabs. Enjoy!

Think raising a toddler is hard? Try raising six at once!

One of the most difficult parenting challenges is surviving life with a strong willed, independent minded toddler. (Yes, this is the toddler mission statement and these are positive qualities later in life!) But, can you imagine living and caring for six of them at once?!

I had an opportunity to witness this firsthand recently as I was invited to help the Masche family of the WeTV series, Raising Sextuplets. Jenny and Bryan are a lovely, incredibly caring couple and they have  pretty terrific kids. But having six toddlers in the mix really puts their skills to the test. I gave them some concrete tips on discipline strategies, toilet training, and how to get everyone to sleep through the night.

The show airs on Thursday, August 5 at 10p Eastern/9p Central. Check out the WeTV website for showtimes in your area. Watch the trailer here.Trust me, it will make you appreciate how easy your own life is by comparison!!

Dads: take care of your own health

Pregnancy health isn't just a girl-thing. It's a guy-thing, too. Listen up, guys. You need to take care of your own health—for your family's sake! Here's an article worth reading in Marketwatch.

Parent of the Year? Or maybe not.

Have you ever done anything as a parent that might disqualify you from receiving the Parent of the Year award? Fortunately, most of those infractions are minor and our kids are very forgiving! Here's a great story by Julie Deardorff of the Chicago Tribune that I helped with. Enjoy!

Good Morning America: autism special

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to give you a head's up that I will be appearing on Good Morning America Now on Monday morning. "GMA Now" is the third hour of the show. It airs in some television markets across the country and is online everywhere at http://abcnews.go.com/ABCNewsNow/GMANow/.

It's a special one hour show hosted by Dr Tim Johnson addressing a wide range of topics surrounding autism spectrum disorders. Dr Lou Cooper, past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as three parents of children with ASD's will share their experiences. It should be a both educational and inspirational hour. Hope you can watch!

Yahoo Answers

Hi All,
If you aren't familiar with this already, Yahoo! has an interesting Answers feature that allows people to post and respond to intriguing and thought provoking questions. Go to www.yahoo.com for details and click on "Answers". In honor of Mother's Day, I've been asked to post a thing or two. So, if you're browsing the web, pop over to Yahoo and join the conversation. I'll be reading all the responses!

Have a Happy Mother's Day!
Enjoy~
Dr B.

What happened after the show?

For those of you who saw the Dr. Phil show today, I helped a family with two young girls improve their sleep habits. I advised them to follow the SLEEP plan: Set up a routine, Less intervention=more sleep, Empower the child, Earlier bedtime, and Plan together and stick to it.

Well, the family followed up with me after the show and I am happy to report that they followed the plan and it worked!! The kids are going to bed after 15 minutes and sleeping through the night. A couple of other things that were involved that did not air: the family got a video monitor so mom could feel more comfortable knowing what was going on in the bedroom and they moved the younger child's crib to the guest bedroom so the girls' rooms were not so close to each other to wake each other up.

This is so rewarding!! Hope these tips help your family if you are struggling with sleep issues~

Dr Phil Show

Hi All,
Hope you all have a chance to watch the Dr Phil Show today. Since it hasn't aired yet in several cities, I won't spoil the fun by telling you details of the show content, but stay tuned and I will post a 'what happened with the family' after the show. I think you will enjoy hearing about it.

Anyway, taping the  show was terrific. I've always done media appearances where I am the only medical expert. This time, I got to share the experience with three other doctors who are all very bright and fun to work with. It kind of felt like I was having a conversation in the doctors' lounge at the hospital (if you don't know, that's where we find the free coffee after spending a night on call). I hope that viewers take away some useful medical information and find it entertaining as well. Let me know your thoughts!

And, yes, Dr Phil is a wonderful man. Being a fellow Texan, I'm a little biased, I know. And, he really is 6'4"--I think I am about up to his waistline standing next to him~

Well, enjoy the show, and pop back later for the "what happened?" post.

Dr. B