Parent Hacks

Nursing pads make good glass and granite cleaners

Jodi found a use for her extra nursing pads: After finishing breastfeeding – and having that last ½ box of Johnson's nursing pads left – I decided to use them to clean my glass and granite countertops. They are AWESOME!!! I will vouch for Johnson's nursing pads myself -- they...

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Bulk quesadillas

Maggie's got lunchtime covered with her recipe for bulk quesadillas. Reminds me of the streamlined peanut butter sandwich hack that appeared here last summer. Tags: Lunch, Quesadillas

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What to do when matzo ball soup lacks balls

I'm vegetarian, so my "Jewish penicillin" isn't chicken soup. It's Manischewitz matzo ball soup, straight out of the box. Problem is, the matzo balls are gone long before the soup.

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Nesquik chocolate syrup gets hypoallergenic formula down the hatch

Michael offers this "whatever works" hack for making hypoallergenic formula palatable: Our son, Curious Boy, has Bovine Protein Intolerance and so could not consume anything with any beef, dairy or soy products. My wife breastfed him exclusively until he was about 10 months old. This was tough on her because...

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Leaving your kids with the neighborhood babysitter: a primer

Sandy shares her tips for working with the neighborhood babysitter: I was the family- and neighborhood-sitter through my tween/teen years. These tips come from both my experience having been a sitter as well as being a parent looking to make sure we have a life! :) Our son is just...

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Use your dishwasher as a dish-drying rack

I can't imagine how hand washing dishes could be a time saver, but AJ's friend disagrees: A friend with several kids told me her dishes get dirty so fast it's not effective time-wise to have the dishwasher running nonstop. Her solution is to handwash dishes and use the dishwasher as...

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Juice keeps longer when frozen into cubes

Ice cube trays can be a parent's best friend. From Gladys: My baby never finished up a jar of juice in a reasonable time, so I found myself throwing out a lot of it -- and it was organic and pricey! I started freezing the juice into ice cube trays,...

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Amazon's Huggies deal ends Wednesday

You still have a few days to get in on Amazon's Huggies diaper promotion: get $30 off $99 worth of Huggies diapers till January 31. Baby Cheapskate says this is a good deal, AND SHE KNOWS THESE THINGS. Tags: Baby, Diapers, Huggies, Parenting, Saving money

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How parenthood changes marriage: Gottman's "And Baby Makes Three"

Michael's opinion: "What separates Gottman from all the other parenting advice crap is research."

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Fruit slime as baby hair gel

If that title didn't grab you, you're a stronger parent than I. Erin's hack requires no preamble: My 11 month-old daughter's hair is just long enough to get in her eyes, but not long enough to tuck behind an ear. I don't really want to start cutting her hair, so...

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No-chemical head lice treatment

We've talked before about using Cetaphil as a non-toxic lice treatment, but Suzanne takes it a step further: she uses a nit comb and plain water. The details are on her blog.

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Put shoes and socks on kids AFTER strapping them into the stroller

From Kittenpie: Before I attempt to wrestle shoes, socks, and a coat onto my girl in the morning, I put her in her stroller and do up the belt. Now she can't escape and I am not running after a moving toddler target. I sit on the bottom step in...

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Use extreme caution when giving cough- or cold medicine to children under 2

My father in-law, a well-respected family doctor and extremely conscientious grandparent, passed along this article based on a Medwatch alert from the FDA. According to the alert, the risk of overdosing infants and toddlers with over-the-counter cold and/or cough medicine is real and dangerous. Tragically, the three infants cited in...

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How to like someone more (or dislike someone less)

My son and I had a troubling chat about one of his teachers the other day, and I see an awkward parent-teacher meeting in my future. I wonder if Gretchen's hack coming up in my queue now is a bit of synchronicity? I thought you might be interested in my...

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Curly no-tie shoelaces for toddlers' sneakers

Here's how Kittenpie dealt with the toddler shoe-tying problem: Recently I had to buy my daughter new shoes and it was right between seasons. There was so little available, I grabbed a pair of sneakers, only to realize when I got home that they had laces - and my daughter...

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