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Category archive: feeding/nursing
Pistachios: yummy AND good for kids' fine motor skills
09 May 08 | Comments: 2
Rachel's found a new favorite snack: I have just discovered the greatest fine-motor food work and added variety to my four year old's diet! I bought pistachios for a cake I was baking and my son was intrigued. I showed...
Perfect gift for new moms: The Rookie Mom's Handbook
06 May 08 | Comments: 61
Heather and Whitney (aka the Rookie Moms) are true blog friends. I think these are two of the warmest, smartest women around. We've bonded over the business of blogging and parenting and life. They've sent in bunches of great hacks....
Cut solid food for new eaters with an egg slicer
02 May 08 | Comments: 7
Here's how Margaret speeds up getting "first solid food" meals ready for her baby: The trickiest - and the most important - thing when having an infant who just started having solids is to cut the food "to size" -...
Label breastmilk bottles with electrical tape
29 Apr 08 | Comments: 10
Heather's handy tip for pumpers: I use white electrical tape to label my bottles of pumped breast milk with the time and date. It's economical, and the tape comes off very easily. I recommend writing in a ballpoint pen because...
"Colorful" milk rewards kids for pre-mealtime cleanup
28 Apr 08 | Comments: 11
Mari's colorful solution for getting the kids to the table: My daughter's preschool teacher came up with a fun way to encourage the children to clean up promptly for lunch. It made such an impression on our 3-year-old that we...
Pants drawstring gives toddler something to handle while nursing
27 Apr 08 | Comments: 4
Melissa found a way to keep her toddler's hands busy while nursing: My nursing toddler has always been a very "handsy" nurser - pulling my hair, yanking my shirt completely off, whatever. And I never really understood the idea of...
Keep that bib on with a clothespin
23 Apr 08 | Comments: 2
From Melody: My 12-month-old is becoming an expert at ripping off her bib about 3 seconds after we put it on at the beginning of a meal. Yesterday I used a clothespin to clip the bib together, and she couldn't...
Amazon Home & Garden one-day sale today
21 Apr 08 | Comments: 0
FYI, Amazon's having a one-day Home & Garden sale today, and I see several slow cookers represented (but alas, not that All-Clad one Hedra recommended).
Easy supper: Chicken Taco Mac and Cheese
20 Apr 08 | Comments: 5
Amyaus sent this in as a busy weekday recipe, but I think it's perfect for a lazy weekend supper, too. Good for the crockpot! It's that time of day when your child is clingy, crying, all around too much for...
"Toddler Cafe" Contest: What's your best toddler feeding tip?
18 Apr 08 | Comments: 0
Just received this from Jennifer Carden, author of The Toddler Café: Fast, Healthy and Fun Ways to Feed Even the Pickiest Eater -- and since we ALL know who the best tipsters on the Web are, I thought you might...
KABOOST: Boost the chair instead of the kid
16 Apr 08 | Comments: 16
Several Parenthackers have mentioned the KABOOST as a great hack, but for some reason I don't see a post about it in the archives! No longer! From Sharon: I recently purchased a KABOOST from Amazon. KABOOST is a amazing invention...
No-cook "tortilla chips" are a great toddler snack
16 Apr 08 | Comments: 2
Rachel's come up with a way to turn those singleton tortillas into a relatively mess-free, portable toddler snack: I'm always having trouble coming up with enticing snacks for my 16 mo. old that aren't sugary and/or a choking hazard. A...
Mix medicine into Jell-O Smoothie Snacks to get it down the hatch
15 Apr 08 | Comments: 15
Steve's get-the-medicine-in-the-toddler hack: My 18 month-old had an ear infection and like most toddlers she was prescribed amoxicillin. She has had ear infections when she was younger and we would either give her the medication via syringe or add a...
When the table's set for a dinner party, serve your kids a fancy meal before the guests arrive
14 Apr 08 | Comments: 5
I'm so impressed with Suzy and her husband's ability to model calm in the face of a dinner party! What fun, and what lovely learning opportunities and memories for their kids: My husband and I were having a dinner party...
Cut plastic "tube" popsicles in half for toddlers
12 Apr 08 | Comments: 3
Regina's found a way to make popsicles slightly less messy: My toddler likes to eat those popsicles that come in the long tubes that you put into the freezer and eat straight out of the plastic. However, the tubes are...
Thank you for the Crock Pot inspiration bonanza!
11 Apr 08 | Comments: 0
Parenthackers are the best (as if that weren't already obvious). In response to my plea for Crock Pot help, so many of you offered advice, book suggestions, recipes...wonderful! Let me share the highlights: Check your crock pot's temperature. Apparently many...
Amazon Friday Sale 4/11/08: Lots of good stuff!
11 Apr 08 | Comments: 1
Lots of good stuff showed up in today's Amazon Friday sale ! (Sale prices last through today only.) Remember manual carpet sweepers? Little rotary brushes inside pick up debris just by getting pushed back and forth over the floor. I...
Use sheet holder "suspenders" as makeshift bib clips
10 Apr 08 | Comments: 7
What a great idea! From Tiffany: Have you seen those cute "bib clips" that are out on the market now? Really cute, and handy to be able to use any towel (or even restaurant napkin) as a bib. But they're...
A slightly healthier "fruit snack"
09 Apr 08 | Comments: 7
Rednexmama read the labels on so-called "fruit snacks" -- those little packages of gummy fruit candies -- and found quite a difference between brands: I actually found super-yummy fruit snacks that aren't just sugar under the guise of "made with...
Drape an old sweatshirt over wooden chairs to protect them from booster scratches
08 Apr 08 | Comments: 4
Sarah's tip for protecting wooden chairs from strap-on booster seats: My son uses the Fisher Price Healthy Care Booster Seat (recommended by parenthacks). We love the chair, but have two problems: (1) the back of the booster seat cuts into...
I want to love my Crock Pot. Talk amongst yourselves.
07 Apr 08 | Comments: 68
I recently came across A Year of Crockpotting, one woman's chronicle of her New Year's resolution: to use the slow cooker every day. It brought on a wave of envy and regret. I have a Crock Pot. I know it...
Meal planning hack: Cook from a single cookbook all week (or all month)
02 Apr 08 | Comments: 13
In my quest to automate the domestic routine, I've fallen into a casual rhythm of meal planning. Every Sunday evening I look ahead to the coming week's activities and map out the meals. I try to work in at least...
Clean sippy cup straws with pipe cleaners
01 Apr 08 | Comments: 9
Pipe cleaners have showed up in so many craft projects in my life that I forget they actually can ...clean pipes. Hence Vicki's hack: My 2 year-old likes to use these drink bottles designed for babies that have a pop-up...
Cookie sheets keep the countertop clean during bulk sandwich-making
31 Mar 08 | Comments: 11
KS found a clever way to further streamline lunch prep: I am learning to love mass production of packed lunches. One thing particularly pesky is the crumbs left on the counter after sandwich assembly. Enter the cookie sheet! Ahh –...
Wean kids off sugary breakfast cereal by mixing it with the unsweetened version
27 Mar 08 | Comments: 30
Daphne's hack struck a nerve, because sugar cereal happens to be one of my hot-button issues. I like to think I'm pretty moderate and open-minded about most things -- including junk food -- but sugar cereal sends me straight to...
Use a funnel to fill baby bottles (duh)
25 Mar 08 | Comments: 2
Zulima's hack made me laugh -- I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I use a funnel to fill up my baby's bottle. "What," you say! Yes, I am a butterfingers and when the milk gallon is...
Let new eaters sample foods from the salad bar
24 Mar 08 | Comments: 6
Jill's found a great place to introduce her baby to new foods: the salad bar. If you have a picky eater, or even just a new eater, and you're sick of throwing away food because you don't know which fruits...
Too Tarts SmartChoice spray candy masks bitter medicine flavor
20 Mar 08 | Comments: 4
Before you scoff at this hack (as I did when I heard the words "spray candy"), read on. Jessica's onto something: The last two times my five year-old son has been prescribed cough medicine the taste has been completely awful....
Keep a quick-grab snack bag packed
19 Mar 08 | Comments: 6
From Debbie: We keep a reusable lunch-type bag in our cupboard stocked with various nonperishable snacks (one of each type per child) so that we can grab it at a moments' notice; say for that trip to the ER after...
Organize pumped breastmilk in a six-pack carton
14 Mar 08 | Comments: 10
A smart way to keep those tiny bottles of pumped breastmilk organized in the fridge! From Robin: I pump milk several times a day trying to keep up my supply for a baby who is, shall we say, not the...
Reduce mess by putting ketchup under the hot dog
12 Mar 08 | Comments: 8
Marjorie! Hallelujah! Thank you for sending this in -- parents everywhere will be singing your praises this summer! My friend Adrienne had such an obvious hack, but i'd never thought of it. [Me neither. -- Ed.] She put ketchup on...
Instant oatmeal makes a portable, filling in-flight meal (with gummy bears for the descent)
06 Mar 08 | Comments: 11
Lewellen solved the problem of kid food on the airplane like this: Is this even a hack? It worked well for us and I was pleased with myself for thinking of it... On recent cross-country flights, I had to provide...
Attune Wellness bars: Chocolate + probiotics = mmmm
04 Mar 08 | Comments: 8
In what may be the most delicious PR pitch ever, I recently received a box full of Attune Wellness bars and an accompanying email that suggested them as a good on-the-go snack hack. In my experience, energy bars (or protein...
Torani syrup helps the water go down
01 Mar 08 | Comments: 8
Here's how Darienne makes water more palatable to her preschooler: My 3 year-old has always been a big milk drinker. We tried to get him to drink more water by giving him water with a bit of unsweetened fruit juice....
Underbed box under the clip-on highchair catches dropped food
29 Feb 08 | Comments: 9
Debbie's hack is sure to make us all slap our foreheads and wonder why we never came up with this ourselves: Our one year-old daughter eats in a clip-on chair attached to our kitchen island. We put a large plastic...
Baby washcloths as "green" mealtime napkins
27 Feb 08 | Comments: 14
Susan's come up with yet another use for baby washcloths (they are surprisingly versatile): One of my New Year’s resolutions is to reduce our household waste, including paper products. We’ve started using our old baby washcloths as napkins for the...
Toothbrush holder keeps used spoons contained in the diaper bag
23 Feb 08 | Comments: 8
Megan's answer to sticky spoons: This may be obvious but I have found it the most brilliant of any of my parenting ideas! Whenever we feed the little man when we are out and about, I find myself grossed out...
Amazon Friday Sale: Brita Filters, Pull-Ups
22 Feb 08 | Comments: 0
Another Friday, another Friday Sale ! I found a couple deals Parenthackers might appreciate: Brita Pitcher Replacement Filters: Oh, how I love my Brita. I have found that keeping a full pitcher of water on the counter makes it so...
Use the coffeemaker to heat water for quick oats
19 Feb 08 | Comments: 3
Stephanie's found a safer way for her son to cook his own breakfast: My 9 1/2 year-old son loves oatmeal for breakfast every morning. He's old enough to want to do things on his own but not old enough to...
Old socks as arm dribble-catchers
19 Feb 08 | Comments: 5
Beth has solved a problem I was NEVER able to solve myself! I had just resigned myself to sticky elbows for years! I have a 2.5yo who loves fruit -- watery, dribbly, messy fruit. It used to roll down his...
Valentine hack: How to make heart-shaped cupcakes without a special pan
12 Feb 08 | Comments: 4

Valentine hack: Pancakes with powdered sugar hearts
10 Feb 08 | Comments: 2
Pamela's sweet Valentine's breakfast is a treat for the whole family: I like to do something special for my family first thing in the morning, so I make pancakes and then put a heart template on top of one before...
Valentine hack: Heart-shaped cookie cutters are useful for more than cookies
05 Feb 08 | Comments: 1
Zed's shares the versatility of the humble cookie cutter: Nothing is a better investment for Valentine's Day than heart-shaped cookie cutters in various sizes. Aside from the many craft possibilities, they instantly make boring food seem like Fancy Valentine's Food,...
Bake a personal mini-cake for your kid's first birthday
03 Feb 08 | Comments: 14
Kristen's first birthday tip: Don't give the kid the whole cake to destroy, or even an entire one of his very own. Bake a mini-cake in a foil pot pie tin. Less mess and less wasted food. I think this...
Amazon Friday Sale: Pinzon Stainless Steel Mandoline
01 Feb 08 | Comments: 4
Have you ever used a mandoline? It's a slicing, grating and shredding powerhouse -- makes fast work of these tasks without the cleanup hassle of a food processor. Plus, I have found that my kids prefer to eat the thinly-sliced...
Wash and store velcro bibs in a mesh lingerie bag
30 Jan 08 | Comments: 10
Who among us hasn't had an article of clothing destroyed in the wash by the velcro from a bib? Misha has an answer: We use bibs for our baby that have velcro closures and darn it if that velcro doesn't...
Toddler-friendly tofu
26 Jan 08 | Comments: 25
People forget that tofu is fantastic toddler food. It's white, bland, nutritious, and can "hide" in all sorts of other foods. Here's Kristen's suggestion: Trying to get your baby to eat tofu? Stick it in miso soup! You can buy...
Keep bedside Pedialyte chilled in an ice bucket
25 Jan 08 | Comments: 3
From the very resourceful Jess: Our 10 month-old daughter has a nasty bug ... a cough, accompanied by some flu symptoms. So we're giving her Pedialyte. But when she wakes up coughing in the middle of the night, she wants...
Instant s'mores
20 Jan 08 | Comments: 7
Thanks a lot, Debi. Now I feel the irresistible urge to run to the grocery store for fixin's. My 4 yr old daughter wanted a "marshmallow sandwich" for dessert and had her own crazy ideas of how she'd make that...
How to tell if a clementine section is seedless or not
18 Jan 08 | Comments: 6
Thank you for this, Elana -- I've mangled hundreds of clementine sections looking for seeds! With mandarins and clementines (the perfect sized citrus fruit for kids) in season, we're going through tons of them in our house. I want our...
Best of Parent Hacks: Keeping warm during the winter
17 Jan 08 | Comments: 2
The weather outside is still frightful, so I thought it might be nice to dig through the archives for some of our best cold weather tips: Polar fleece makes crib extra cozy Shoe organizer in the coat closet keeps gloves...
Pack preschoolers' lunches in waxed paper bags
17 Jan 08 | Comments: 16
While we're on the topic of school lunches...a little story for you. My daughter goes to the most wonderful preschool in the world. It's the same preschool my son went to, Waldorf-inspired, totally magical, very simple. The teachers there often...
Make a week's worth of school lunches
17 Jan 08 | Comments: 8
Cynthia's batch lunch prep makes so much sense, it's a wonder we aren't all doing this. We have to bring lunch to daycare 3 days a week. I used to struggle with getting lunches ready in the morning, and with...
Bedtime sore throat soother: Warm milk and honey
14 Jan 08 | Comments: 17
Coughs abound this time of year. Here's Melissa's soothing remedy: Here's a great way to soothe a sore throat without having to resort to medicines.... Microwave a mug of milk as you would to make hot chocolate. But instead of...
Clementine crates as toy storage
13 Jan 08 | Comments: 6
Reuse those clementine crates! From Mason: In the winter, my family of three goes through a crate of clementines about every two weeks. Instead of just throwing away the little crates, I have started using them for storing my two-year...
Easy diluted juice: freeze juice into cubes first
11 Jan 08 | Comments: 7
Emily's "juice cube" tip is a slight variation on a hack we published about a year ago, but I thought it was worth revisiting as Emily adds the dilution twist: My daughter is only 9 months-old and doesn't drink that...
Shot glass as baby food dish
09 Jan 08 | Comments: 10
Get some use out of that old drinking paraphernalia! From Rebecca: My husband hit on a great way to serve food to our 6 month-old - we use shot glasses. [Pictured here: a measuring shot glass, so you can also...
Serve yogurt to-go with a straw
08 Jan 08 | Comments: 9
Here's how Abra keeps the yogurt from spilling in the car: The only clever thing I have come up with as a parent is serving my daughter's [soy] yogurt to her with a straw. She's somewhat of a picky eater...
The original recipe from the movie Ratatouille (from an insider)
21 Dec 07 | Comments: 2
This may be the only gourmet recipe I ever publish on Parent Hacks, but who could resist? A wonderful followup to Rosemary's hack from Candy: My husband works for Pixar. This is the recipe we received when we asked how...
Super Woobee winner!
12 Dec 07 | Comments: 1
Congratulations, Jessie! You win the Super Woobee! I guess the rest of us are going to have to return a few gifts so we can buy our own. Because who can resist a product that can do all these things?...
Topless undershirt makes a great nursing coverup
07 Dec 07 | Comments: 122
Nursing coverup? Bah! Who needs 'em? At least that's what I thought while nursing my first child during the temperate Northern California fall. But there's nothing like a blast of Northwest winter air while you're nursing outside to open your...
How to encourage family conversation around the table
06 Dec 07 | Comments: 4
Suzy's got a great hack for holiday mealtimes and beyond: During the holiday season there are many occasions to gather around the table. Consider this game that encourages children and adults alike to share about their day as well as...
Amazon Friday sale: Kitchen gadgets galore
30 Nov 07 | Comments: 2
If you've got cooks on your holiday gift list, check out the Amazon's Friday sale . I noticed a bunch of great deals on kitchen stuff today, including my favorite gadget, the KitchenAid hand mixer. I use my hand mixer...
Amazon formula rebate ends this Friday
27 Nov 07 | Comments: 5
Just a reminder that Amazon's deal on Similac, Isomil and PediaSure products ends Friday, 11/30. The deal: spend $119 on selected products, enter the code SIMNOV07 at checkout, and get an instant $20 rebate (and free shipping).
Still got Halloween candy lying around? Give it to the "goblins."
27 Nov 07 | Comments: 14
In case you're still trying to clear out the odd Almond Joy leftover from Halloween, Judi's tip may help, even at this late date: Believe it or not, I am *still* hearing parents complain about what to do with all...
Bar cookies save trips to the oven (and burned cookies)
26 Nov 07 | Comments: 3
Jill from Atlanta shares the practical realities of baking cookies with little kids in the house -- worth keeping in mind given that holiday cookie-baking season is right around the corner: I love baking cookies with my kids. But the...
"Bachelor chow" egg muffin makes a fine daddy breakfast
23 Nov 07 | Comments: 2
Surprise a tired-out Thanksgiving hostess or host with breakfast, "bachelor style." From the very clever Steve: Want an Egg McMuffin without the greasy overpriced “Mc” part? Here’s my method - bachelor style. 1 english Muffin or Bagel 1 egg 1-2...
Travel tip: Have diapers delivered to your destination
19 Nov 07 | Comments: 12
Here's how Michael avoids jamming his suitcase with baby care supplies: My wife and I are planning a trip, but rather than buy and pack all of the supplies that we need for our 5 1/2 month old, we just...
Parent Hacks Store Featured Find: Yellow pages-shaped booster seat! Hilarious!
13 Nov 07 | Comments: 5
Rael and I found ourselves with three kid-free hours at Powell's City of Books over the weekend. Pure heaven. Besides all the lovely reading I got done, I stumbled onto this clever phonebook-shaped booster seat in the kid section. It's...
Easy "fruity nutty" oatmeal
13 Nov 07 | Comments: 3
Megan's hack may inspire our breakfast this week... My well-meaning partner bought a huge bag of dried fruit and nut mix thinking that it would provide a handy snack for our 14-month-old son. Of course our son hated it and...
DadLabs: Nothing this funny has ever been so useful
12 Nov 07 | Comments: 2
You've seen the hilarious videos at DadLabs, right? Of course you have. These are the guys who tested breast pumps ON THEMSELVES and dramatized the disaster that is poop in the tub (you may never eat canned chili again). They...
Deceptively Delicious: A Parenthacker sneaks and tells
12 Nov 07 | Comments: 25
We recently talked about all the controversy surrounding the release of Deceptively Delicious, the cookbook that advocates hiding vegetables in kid-friendly food. When I asked for Parenthackers' first-hand tales, JT wrote this gem of a sum-up: My guess is, if...
"Build your own" dinners simplify meals for folks with allergies
12 Nov 07 | Comments: 4
Shauna's DIY dinner hack: My son and I have several food allergies while my husband and daughter do not, so to avoid making three different dinners every night, we've implemented one or two "Create Your Own" nights. We use pita...
Parent Hacks Store Featured Find: Woobee water resistant blanket/cover/soft thingie
08 Nov 07 | Comments: 400
In lieu of confetti, fireworks and a grand parade down Main Street, I decided the best way to celebrate the grand opening of the Parent Hacks Store is to shower you, my dear Parenthackers, with gifts! Today's Featured Find is...
Use excess Halloween candy as cookie ingredients
08 Nov 07 | Comments: 8
Excess Halloween candy. Is there any other kind? Jeff's hack won't exactly reduce the sugar consumption in your house, but perhaps you can bake up a few batches and freeze them for the holidays? Or foist them on your coworkers?...
Baby Daze helps you track the details during those hazy newborn months
06 Nov 07 | Comments: 96
Oy, I get tired just thinking of those newborn months the first time around. There seemed to be so much to remember -- when did he last nurse? when did I give him the Tylenol? who bought him this hideous...
Serve hot chocolate with a straw
06 Nov 07 | Comments: 10
Here's how Kirsten cuts down on the cocoa mess: I used to hate giving my kids hot chocolate because they'd make such a mess with it. Then, I figured out that it was the spoons (which they always want to...
Amazon deal: $20 instant rebate on formula
04 Nov 07 | Comments: 3
Amazon's got a new deal on for Similac, Isomil and PediaSure products : spend $119 on selected products, enter the code SIMNOV07 at checkout, and get an instant $20 rebate (and free shipping). As someone who used to buy PediaSure...
Quick, homey warmed apple slices
03 Nov 07 | Comments: 9
My son and I had an hour at the bookstore the other day, and I found myself thumbing through the recipes in Kids Cook 1-2-3. It's a lovely cookbook full of three-ingredient recipes kids can make themselves...pretty inspiring for time-challenged...
Red popsicles help reduce the trauma and drama of a bloody lip
02 Nov 07 | Comments: 6
Dave has discovered a perfectly good reason to keep the freezer consistently stocked with Haagen-Dazs bars: Hersch did a face plant and bit his inner lip pretty badly. There was a lot of blood and he wasn't up for letting...
$10 instant rebate on health bars ends today
31 Oct 07 | Comments: 10
In case you're looking to offset the candy consumption (or are a bulk buyer of health bars), Amazon's offering a $10 instant rebate on selected Clif, Luna, Odwalla, Larabar, and Probar bars The deal ends today: buy $39 worth, and...
Creative ways to present unfamiliar foods
29 Oct 07 | Comments: 6
Dren of DrenNotes offers her take on the creative presentation of food: I've been reading a lot of buzz on the interweb about Deceptively Delicious, mostly dealing with the ethics of "sneaking" in fruits and veggies into a child's diet....
Is hiding vegetables in food deceptive?
29 Oct 07 | Comments: 41
I've been mildly amused by the debate swirling around Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, which is built on the premise of getting vegetables into kids by hiding them in kid-friendly foods. The book is a popular hit (no doubt...
Breastmilk in a medicine-dispensing pacifier helps regulate baby's ear pressure
26 Oct 07 | Comments: 5
Amy's hack may come in handy for road trips, or for babies who simply scream while in cars (I had one of those): Recently I drove through the mountains with my exclusively-breastfed 5 month-old. She has never taken a pacifier,...
No-spill car breakfast: oatmeal in an insulated mug
24 Oct 07 | Comments: 5
I discovered this while camping, and then again while rushing out the door to get my late-risers to school: oatmeal is the ideal on-the-go breakfast, especially when served up in an insulated travel mug. Oatmeal stays hot, can be eaten...
Halloween hack: Give toys instead of candy
23 Oct 07 | Comments: 27
One way to avoid leftover candy is to avoid candy altogether. Says Judi: No candy at our house. Stickers or doodads from Oriental Trading instead! Anything leftover goes into the arts and crafts bin for use throughout the year. Bonnie...
How to have an allergy-free Halloween
22 Oct 07 | Comments: 9
Several of you commented on the difficulty of managing the Halloween treats when your kid has a peanut allergy (or any other type of food sensitivity for that matter). Here's another place to look for good ideas: How to have...
Halloween hack (redux): Save leftover candy for holiday gingerbread houses
21 Oct 07 | Comments: 4
Maribel reminded me of a past hack we used with great success a couple years ago: use leftover Halloween candy for holiday gingerbread houses. Tags: Halloween
Glue down collars on baby outfits to keep them clean
15 Oct 07 | Comments: 11
Hilary, you are brilliant. Anything that reduces the amount of laundry is GOOD. All those baby outfits with collars people gave us were cute, but not helpful at feeding time. The collars inevitably flip up and cover baby's mouth, or...
Chinese soup spoons help toddlers feed themselves
09 Oct 07 | Comments: 3
Anything that helps toddlers feed themselves -- and not their laps or the floor -- is a good thing. From Laura: Tis the season for soup! While recently eating soup at a japanese restaurant with our toddler, we discovered that...
Mesh tops hide nursing leaks
08 Oct 07 | Comments: 15
Shannon's practical fashion tip for nursing moms: As the (leaky) nursing mother of a 2 1/2 month old, I've resigned myself to changing myself to pretty much only wearing black in public and always packing an extra t-shirt so that...
Cookie sheets rescue food dropped from the high chair
04 Oct 07 | Comments: 17
Rob's good-sense feeding hack: Our little guy is just starting to self-feed things like peas, etc. that we spread before him at meal time. However, most of his food ends up on the floor. So to reduce this waste we...
Rubber bracelets as sippy cup ID label
30 Sep 07 | Comments: 9
Meghan's found yet another use for those stretchy rubber/silicone bracelets: I stumbled upon this hack last year while visiting Disney World. The hotel we stayed at had a deal where you could buy a cup for a set price, and...
Automotive microfiber cleaning towels as cheap spitup rags
28 Sep 07 | Comments: 9
Joshua discovered ideal burp cloths in the automotive section: Our son, now two months old, goes through an inordinate number of small towels. Between burping and spitting up, breast milk misfires, and daddy knocking things over at 2AM, it seems...
Malt vinegar as vegetable "dip"
28 Sep 07 | Comments: 6
Kids surprise you in their food preferences. My kids (aka Finicky 1 and Finicky 2) reject entire categories of food, and yet will eat almost anything from a Chinese, Japanese or Thai restaurant (something about soy sauce). For that reason,...
Keeping delicate fruits unbruised in lunchboxes
22 Sep 07 | Comments: 2
We're making the most of late summer fruit with a peach or nectarine going to school in someone's lunch almost every day. Problem: ripe fruit often gets mushy and bruised from the inevitable roll around the lunch box. Solution: place...
Arrange groceries in the cart so cold and frozen items get bagged together
21 Sep 07 | Comments: 20
Teri's good-thinking grocery hack: When I go grocery shopping with my toddler, I keep the cold or frozen items together in the cart and at checkout. That way, I end up with nicely sorted "cold" bags. (The items keep each...
Another way to stir natural peanut butter
20 Sep 07 | Comments: 10
We've discussed how best to stir natural peanut butter before, but Nathan's got another idea: If you are into buying all-natural peanut butter (ingredients: peanuts, salt) you know that there is a half inch or more of oil at the...
Crust-haters will eat "inside out" sandwiches made with bread heels
18 Sep 07 | Comments: 9
Geoff passed along this brilliant bread crust hack, no doubt spurred by my story of my mom's little white lie about the relative nutrition of the crust vs. the soft inside bits: for my entire childhood, my dad was constantly...
Frozen raspberries cool down hot oatmeal
17 Sep 07 | Comments: 12
Alisa's hack will put a dent in your frozen berry stash: My 16-month-old daughter loves oatmeal for breakfast. But she's really impatient - I make the real deal, which takes a whole ... what, five minutes to prepare? Add 'cooling...
Mashed beans disappear into chili
16 Sep 07 | Comments: 10
Adrienne's mom understood the power of a diversion: I don't have any children of my own (soon!) but checked out your website after reading about it in Maclean's. Had to share this little tidbit from my own childhood. When my...
Keeping sliced apples from browning
14 Sep 07 | Comments: 12
Andrea's hack would work as well for lunchbox-toting schoolkids: My 17 month old, always a good eater, finally showed an interest in eating fresh apples, peel and all. Since it's much easier for her to hold a slice, I've been...
Simplify toddler's food choices with magnetized pictures
12 Sep 07 | Comments: 5
I so admire Fautina's willingness to adjust her communication with her son (a post in and of itself!): My two year old son is a little behind in his speech. Someone suggested I take photos of his favorite foods and...
Meal orders reduce the morning madness
11 Sep 07 | Comments: 13
I hope Laura's triplet daughters know how good they have it! In the mornings before school, there are so many decisions to make. What to eat for breakfast, what snack to take to school, what to have for lunch. These...
Real Simple Family: full of good hacks
04 Sep 07 | Comments: 11
I couldn't resist -- Real Simple Family -- a special issue of the lifestyle mag Real Simple -- found its way into my shopping cart this afternoon. It's full of good hacks, including taping a few unused board games together...
DIY Learning Tower to encourage pint-sized kitchen help? Talk amongst yourselves.
26 Aug 07 | Comments: 32
In the comments of the kid-friendly kitchens post, Marta asked: Anyone have a hack for improvising one of those Learning Tower things? They cost a lot. I agree -- a lovely product, but the price is prohibitive. When I was...
Serve food to new self-feeders in a measuring cup
25 Aug 07 | Comments: 8
Liz said, "I am not sure if this is a hack or just a lightbulb moment..." Isn't it funny how some Parent Hacks come on like a flash, and others are just the unconventional way we've always done things? My...
Ice cubes help keep a sick kid hydrated
20 Aug 07 | Comments: 8
Here's Kip's novel method for keeping the liquids going into his ailing daughter: Sarah (now 5) was having a sore throat. Quick strep test came back negative, so a virus was suspected, and the doctor said to keep liquids going...
Kid-friendly kitchens help even the youngest pitch in
19 Aug 07 | Comments: 17
Heather wrote up a fantastic post on her blog, Oh My Stinkin Heck, about encouraging kids to help in the kitchen by making it more accessible to them. Really, the topic is much bigger than that -- it's about honoring...
Pureed vegetables disappear into more easily-accepted foods
12 Aug 07 | Comments: 9
Liz is doing what she must to get the vegies in: My one-year-old is going through some sort of regression that only permits him to eat macaroni & cheese (with homemade cheese sauce I learned from Parent Hacks, thanks!), yogurt,...
Coffee sleeve makes frozen drinks easier to handle
07 Aug 07 | Comments: 3
Art's hack should be posted at all quick-mart checkout counters: With warm weather upon us the requests by my children for the {insert brand name}ee frozen drink of choice at the local convenience store has risen with the temperature. Along...
Martha Stewart (and staff): Parenthackers?
04 Aug 07 | Comments: 7
There's a fine line between the hacker-ish DIYers and the stylish crafters. Case in point: the Martha Stewart Omnimedia folks got in touch to tell me about Good Things For Kids, a new special issue of on newsstands now. It's...
Tricks for keeping toddlers hydrated
31 Jul 07 | Comments: 6
Beat the heat with some kid hydration hacks, from Sara: We're traveling in the very hot and dry country of Turkey this summer with a two year old, and have found the following to be helpful in keeping her hydrated:...
Easy cooking project: Homemade tortillas
27 Jul 07 | Comments: 8
My kids both have an attraction to anything squishy. They love all of those stretchy, gel-like trinkets flooding the market, and all manner of playdough. When I can muster the patience, I pull out the flour, water, salt, baking soda,...
Coffee stirrers make good juice box straws
25 Jul 07 | Comments: 2
Why do the juice box straws always end up at the bottom of the bag? Winnie's solution: I had a ton of coffee stirrers left over from a party and figured I'd just use them for craft projects. However, I've...
Frozen yogurt tubes stand in for ice cream treats
24 Jul 07 | Comments: 15
From Sara: I wouldn't normally buy yogurt in tubes, but I picked some up the other day and noticed a suggestion to freeze them. Sold! I now keep "frozen yogurt" tubes in the freezer for a healthier treat than ice...
Socks stop cold water bottles from dripping
23 Jul 07 | Comments: 6
Try Ana's smart hack on your next summer outing: At the zoo, it was extremely hot and humid so I pulled out the water bottles we brought to keep hydrated. Within seconds, the cold bottles, of course, started dripping condensation...
Egg coddler as baby food storage
19 Jul 07 | Comments: 2
Erin's stylish and practical kitchen hack: We found our clear glass egg coddlers work well to store, heat and serve tiny portions of homemade baby food. Just pop them in a pan of hot water with mashed veggies instead of...
Getting your toddler to drink water
17 Jul 07 | Comments: 18
Abel's found a clever way to encourage his son to drink water: My wife and I always have problems getting our 1.5 year-old son to drink water, especially from a sipper. But I have a method that has never failed...
Give 'em Popsicles that match their shirts
16 Jul 07 | Comments: 2
Nothing says summer like a kid with a purple Popsicle mustache and tongue...and, most likely, corresponding purple stains on her shirt. Here's Maura's suggestion: Most young children will drip their Popsicle on their clothes while eating it, especially on a...
Cut grapes into mini-bunches
08 Jul 07 | Comments: 17
Discovered while preparing for my daughter's 4th birthday party (which I'm doing RIGHT NOW): When serving a bunch of grapes to a group of kids, cut it into "mini-bunches" of 5-8 grapes each, then pile them in a bowl. The...
Kid reluctant to eat? Add sprinkles!
29 Jun 07 | Comments: 26
Jenny Blackburn, author of the Adventures in Parenting blog at the Seattle P-I website, shares her picky kid secret: We've finally happened onto the perfect solution to get our 3 year old son to eat... I keep a bottle of...
Uses for clothespins
28 Jun 07 | Comments: 13
Paul says: Use spring clothespins to close up any bag you like (chips, cereal, etc.) Right! Why do we spend money on big plastic "chip clips" than never stay closed? We've used wooden clothespins for some cute craft projects. Amber...
Order a mug of hot water for impromptu silverware "cleaning"
27 Jun 07 | Comments: 8
Rookie Mom Heather's hack reminds me of toddler restaurant visits gone by: Last weekend, when I got tired of Holden (21 months) dropping his silverware on the floor of the restaurant, I asked the waitress to bring me a mug...
Removing a reward instead of threatening a consequence
21 Jun 07 | Comments: 8
Interesting twist on behavior modification, from Jill: I read this on another blog in the comments, so it isn't my idea BUT I plan to use it quite soon! Removing the carrot instead of threatening the stick... To successfully grocery...
Make your own spill-proof cup
20 Jun 07 | Comments: 3
Jessica's quick thinking has probably saved her serious car and clothing cleanup: If you buy those single serving plastic drink bottles (Odwalla, for example), use a pocket knife to punch a hole in the lid, insert a straw, and you...
Ideas for reusing mini yogurt cups
16 Jun 07 | Comments: 4
Reuse ideas from Amy (who must be a very busy mom with 1, 2, and 3 year-old kids!): I used to buy countless small paper cups to hold my kids' dry snacks since the portion size was perfect for their...
Divided formula dispenser as snack cup
14 Jun 07 | Comments: 6
Jen found a great way to reuse her formula dispenser: Formula dispensers are great for single servings of formula on the go, but once my daughter started drinking regular milk, I found myself with another baby gadget that didn't really...
Video iPod turns "pumping time" into "Mom time"
11 Jun 07 | Comments: 8
Video iPod to the rescue once again! This time, Ruth uses it to make her sessions with the breast pump more enjoyable: The most helpful thing I found was to make pumping "my" time, so I didn't resent the huge...
Pacifier clip as bagel holder
04 Jun 07 | Comments: 8
A Parent Hack if I ever saw one, from Melanie: Our daughter never took to the idea of pacifiers but we tried all sorts of them and also acquired an assortment of clips for them. She is 9 months old...
Scented lip balm as personal air freshener
22 May 07 | Comments: 2
Marie's hack made me smile because both my kids are very sensitive to smells. We often choose restaurants based on our kids' first sniff once inside the door. I read Parent Hacks almost daily but didn’t think I had anything...
Goldfish crackers make vegie soup toddler-friendly
22 May 07 | Comments: 0
nducho's son likes his vegies with a little fish: My super picky son's vegetable consumption starts and ends with oven-baked potatoes and spinach. [Spinach? That's pretty good! -- Ed.] Last week, I made a soup (cooked split peas, carrots, potatoes...
Improbable dessert: Apple Pie a la Mode drink
21 May 07 | Comments: 4
Fun dessert the kids and I shared tonight. Because I had a bit of leftover cream: APPLE PIE A LA MODE DRINK From Moosewood Restaurant New Classics 3/4 cup apple juice 1/4 cup cream 1 teaspoon sugar dash of cinnamon...
Gas drops dissipate bubbles in formula
19 May 07 | Comments: 5
From Laura -- a mother of triplets, who can use every extra minute she can find: If you're mixing large batches of formula you are well aware of the foam that appears and takes forever to dissipate! Another triplet mom...
Kid-friendly chilled water dispenser
19 May 07 | Comments: 7
Loraine's helping her daughter help herself to a drink of water: Our fridge doesn't have a water dispenser built in. As our baby grew into a preschooler, I soon realized our folly when I saw how easy it was for...
Pre-portion ice cream into paper muffin cups
09 May 07 | Comments: 7
Atlanta Jill made quick work of the ice cream service at a recent birthday party: We had a birthday party, and I remembered my neighbor's ice cream hack.  She scoops it out into muffin cups the day before the party. ...
Cookie Crisp cereal stands in for toddler snack cookies
08 May 07 | Comments: 7
Here's how Heidi adjusted the serving size of her son's snack cookie: My 2.5 year old has suddenly become a cookie fiend. I don't mind letting him have one once in a while as a special treat, but his opinion...
No highchair? Belt 'em in!
02 May 07 | Comments: 1
Here's Jodi's makeshift highchair stand-in: We were at a childless friend's for dinner and we needed a way to keep him in one spot while we ate (without the blitz-eating-parent-tradeoff). We didn't have our pack 'n' play, or his booster...
Probiotic cure for colic?
02 May 07 | Comments: 7
Hedra uncovered research that points to a probiotic as a promising treatment for infant colic: Okay, so my kids are too old now to benefit much from this (at least in this form). But having learned (the hard way, with...
Simplify general cleanup with bulk bar towels
30 Apr 07 | Comments: 10
Elizabeth's cleanup tip: Kids of all ages are messy and the best thing I have found to help with the battle is a bulk package of white terry cloth towels, sometimes called bar towels. I usually get them at Costco...
Handy postpartum gadget: a reacher
30 Apr 07 | Comments: 2
Here's how Jennifer got the "third hand" we all wish for while nursing: when i was still pregnant, i had bad hip pain which made it difficult for me to bend down and climb stairs (let alone a ladder to...
Mealtime hacks for new eaters
29 Apr 07 | Comments: 7
Amberlynn shares her tips for mealtimes with babies who are just starting to eat solid food: My little boy still loves nursing, so eating is still an entertaining novelty to him. However, so far (six months of solid foods, and...
How to cook hard boiled eggs perfectly every time
29 Apr 07 | Comments: 11
Sunday breakfast, courtesy of Duane: I love it when the kids want boiled eggs in the morning. Much more nutritious than a Pop Tart. But not exactly the speediest thing to cook on a school day. Here are my tricks...
CleanWell: All-natural hand sanitizer
22 Apr 07 | Comments: 6
I'm a well-documented lover of hand sanitizer, but I can't say I'm fond of the alcohol smell or the sting that comes along with it (if you have a little scrape on your hand, and what kid doesn't). The folks...
Plastic shower tote as wet washcloth "hamper"
20 Apr 07 | Comments: 11
In his post about the Baby FreshFace Drying Caddy, AJ of Thingamababy reminded me just how I hate the wet baby washcloths we use for post-meal face-wiping. They're too damp to throw directly into the hamper (I do it anyway),...
Today is Ben and Jerry's Free Cone Day!
17 Apr 07 | Comments: 2
Your taxes are wending their way to the IRS, and you deserve a reward. Scoop up the kids and take them to the local Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop for a free cone between noon and 8pm. You've earned...
Cooking for a family during a kitchen remodel? Talk amongst yourselves.
16 Apr 07 | Comments: 16
Lisa asks: Any ideas for cooking for a family of five during a kitchen remodel? We've never undergone a kitchen remodel, but friends who have set up a card table in the basement and relied on a Crock Pot, a...
Submit your favorite recipes to the MothersClick cookbook
12 Apr 07 | Comments: 1
I've always loved home-grown cookbooks -- the photocopied, construction-paper-covered ones put together by schools and community groups. I love to see what other families actually eat night after night. Social networking site MothersClick is organizing just such a cookbook online:...
Wash breast pump parts in the dishwasher
11 Apr 07 | Comments: 19
I've mentioned before the calm that comes with starting the day with an empty dishwasher. What I didn't mention was that I grew up in a conservationist household, where we only ran the dishwasher every 2-3 nights or so. I...
What to do with empty plastic Easter eggs
08 Apr 07 | Comments: 22
Don't throw away those plastic Easter eggs! Save up a couple of egg cartons and store them for refilling next year. Or use them as part of your kid's play kitchen, grocery store or farm. I'm sure you've got more...
Teach babies to drink out of a Dixie cup
31 Mar 07 | Comments: 8
SourPatch's cup-learning hack: I’ve been teaching my 14 month-old to drink with a cup all by himself (crazy me, didn’t think to introduce him to a cup until he was past one year old). He’s adept at drinking without spilling...
Athletes: Chocolate milk is as effective as sports drinks
27 Mar 07 | Comments: 10
Bill passed along some good news for the little sports fans: A "Healthy Living" article in the March/April 2007 issue of Midwest Living cites a 2006 study from Indiana University that found chocolate milk equal to or better than sports...
Formula dispenser simplifies feeding baby on the road
23 Mar 07 | Comments: 9
Randa found a way to take some of the guesswork out of formula feeding: There are times when you are out and about, or have your baby with a sitter that you just never know how much formula you're going...
DIY cookbook for families with food allergies
22 Mar 07 | Comments: 7
Here's how Amber's keeping track of the recipes that fit her family's dietary needs: My family has a lot of food sensitivities, so I work really hard at trying to find as many varied (but not too strange) recipes that...
Quickly reheat cold noodles with hot water
21 Mar 07 | Comments: 8
Pour hot water over refrigerated noodles to quickly de-stick them and warm them up to kid temperature. Works better and faster than the microwave. Also works well to "de-sauce" pasta for picky eaters. Related: Cool down hot pasta with cold...
Does your babysitter do your grocery shopping? Use gift cards instead of cash.
09 Mar 07 | Comments: 2
Danielle (Foodmomiac) illustrates once again that what's obvious to one isn't to the rest of us (I never would have thought of this, but then, I don't have someone else doing the shopping): I came up with a hack. One...
BabySport turns any water bottle into a baby bottle
07 Mar 07 | Comments: 9
Short and sweet, from Tim: Water bottle nipple adapter. Why has no one done this before?
Get your kids excited about new foods by serving them "samples"
06 Mar 07 | Comments: 7
Kirsten documents the Costco Effect -- that alternate reality where kids eat anything skewered on a toothpick: When my daughter was younger she wouldn't try new foods. But I realized that she would try pretty much anything with a toothpick...
Use baby cereal as a thickener to assist new self-feeders
05 Mar 07 | Comments: 9
From Whitney, one of the beloved Rookie Moms: We had a 22-year old college grad as a substitute nanny for 6 weeks this summer. To my surprise, she taught me a few tricks. The most useful was: Mix infant cereal...
OXO Good Grips hacks the mango
27 Feb 07 | Comments: 20
We're mango lovers around here, but I often end up wasting half the fruit trying to properly cut it into slabs for my kids to eat. I discovered this clever gadget at the grocery store yesterday: the Oxo Good Grips...
Water houseplants with leftover bottled water
24 Feb 07 | Comments: 19
From the So Obvious I Can't Believe I'm Writing This Down file: I'm fine with tap water (especially with the help of my beloved Brita filter pitcher), but my husband is a devoted bottled water drinker. The kids, too, like...
Bottle nipple as medicine dispenser
21 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
Cathy came up with an ingenious medication dosage hack: So they sell those nifty baby medication pacifiers where you crack the thing opened, put in the medicine, and in somebody’s dream world, the baby peacefully sucks the medicine down no...
What are your "secret ingredients" for a quick, home-cooked dinner? Talk amongst yourselves.
20 Feb 07 | Comments: 31
Sara's meat soup recipe caused her to wonder what other people's "secret ingredients" are. Hers are: Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes, bagged fresh spinach, frozen half-baked bread (La Brea makes some, but I've started seeing generic brands in the grocery...
Turn leftover meat and pantry items into an easy, hearty soup
19 Feb 07 | Comments: 4
Sara's soup recipe takes minutes to throw together, is made up of pantry items, and can cook all day in a slow cooker. Mmmm. One of my default ways to use leftovers is to turn it into soup. Here's my...
Lead in vinyl lunchboxes: A bigger problem than we first thought
19 Feb 07 | Comments: 13
Some time ago, we talked about the presence of lead in some soft vinyl lunchboxes. The topic came up again for me based on this GNM Parents post -- apparently the Consumer Product Safety Commission statement I cited in my...
Trying new foods often begins at the grocery store
19 Feb 07 | Comments: 8
Andrea's daughters are more open to trying foods they get to choose at the grocery store: I'm sure the majority of parents out there have trouble getting their kids to try new foods. I've discovered that "trying" often begins at...
Getting kids cooking
17 Feb 07 | Comments: 2
We've got the kids' cookbooks covered...what next? Dori Young of Kids Cooking offers this advice if you're not sure where to begin: I feel that your kitchen is the ideal setting to teach and learn. Kids respond to learning through...
Mrs. Meyer's Dish Soap: all natural and prevents "dishpan hands"
15 Feb 07 | Comments: 1
Rebecca's hack reminded me of an old commercial for dishwashing liquid that fascinated me as a kid. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what "dishpan hands" might look like. As parents of a 4 month-old who is...
Your picks for the best cookbooks for kids
14 Feb 07 | Comments: 1
I never knew there was such an array of kids' cookbooks out there! Thank you for sharing your favorites, along with some great stories and memories of your own childhood cooking experiences. I also appreciated that several of you forgo...
Baby food jars as hardware containers
14 Feb 07 | Comments: 15
Speaking of reusing food containers...Ted's hack reminded me of the million-odd bottles of random hardware bits scattered across my dad's garage. My dad is well-known for NEVER throwing anything away. He's even got a few baby food jars in there,...
Breastmilk as cure for an eye infection
11 Feb 07 | Comments: 10
My pal at urbanMamas cured her son's eye infection with a well-aimed squirt. Her pediatrician and pharmacist later confirmed that, yes, breastmilk is indeed a well-accepted cure for eye infections. Will the wonders of breastmilk never cease? Tags: Breastfeeding, Breastmilk,...
Single-serve Danino yogurt cups as toddler bowls
09 Feb 07 | Comments: 17
From what I can tell, Danino yogurt is only available in Canada. If so, Canadian readers: this one's for you! (But I've got a universal "Talk amongst yourselves: at the end of this post.) From Jeff: My hack is a...
Easy cheese "crackers"
07 Feb 07 | Comments: 13
For the toddlers and the low-carbers, from my very smart cousin Leslee: Cheese chips with all the taste, none of the guilt! Place 4 slices of Kraft American Cheese (I use 2% milk) on a piece of parchment paper. Microwave...
Homemade macaroni and cheese -- easy as boxed (redux)
01 Feb 07 | Comments: 18
Now that Annie's Homegrown macaroni and cheese has been outed by Salon as just as bad for you as its blue-box nemesis, I thought the time was right to resurrect a post that appeared here some time ago: my "recipe"...
Nursing pads make good glass and granite cleaners
31 Jan 07 | Comments: 13
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!!!...
Bulk quesadillas
31 Jan 07 | Comments: 2
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
What to do when matzo ball soup lacks balls
31 Jan 07 | Comments: 11
I'm vegetarian, so my "Jewish penicillin" isn't chicken soup. It's Manischewitz matzo ball soup, straight out of the box. Ahhhh, warm comfort for sick kids. Problem is, the matzo balls are gone long before the soup. In my best thrifty-housewife...
Nesquik chocolate syrup gets hypoallergenic formula down the hatch
31 Jan 07 | Comments: 10
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...
Juice keeps longer when frozen into cubes
30 Jan 07 | Comments: 3
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...
Fruit slime as baby hair gel
29 Jan 07 | Comments: 12
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....
Camelbak hydration backpack solves nursing moms' nighttime thirst
24 Jan 07 | Comments: 6
This hack brought back the memory of just how thirsty I was while nursing. Here's how Jerry and Sara solved the riddle of getting a drink while nursing a co-sleeping infant: My wife and I co-sleep with our 6 week-old...
Funny straw encourages kids to drink...anything
23 Jan 07 | Comments: 5
Mamaloo wields the tried-and-true curly straw: Getting my 3 1/2 year old son to drink milk is like pulling teeth. When he was smaller, we encouraged milk consumption with a little chocolate in the mix, but he certainly doesn't need...
Schedule when to use your freezer leftovers
20 Jan 07 | Comments: 6
I have an allergy to cooking on the weekend. We scrounge and manage just fine as long as "cooking" is limited to "heating." Hence why I love Chris's hack: Here's a hack to help you remember to use all those...
Introducing babies to food and cooking: the "rules" vary by culture
19 Jan 07 | Comments: 15
Piove shared an amazing story about including his baby-now-toddler in food prep. It's a long post, but worth the read if you'd like to see an incredible example of how culture shapes our parenting, in this case, with respect to...
Pudding as finger paint
19 Jan 07 | Comments: 7
Here's how Linda takes the pain out of finger paint: Instead of finger paints, I make a couple batches of instant vanilla pudding (sugar and fat free is fine). I divide it into a muffin tin and then my kids...
Daddy Types wants your best pre-Dadhood advice
17 Jan 07 | Comments: 1
Greg at Daddy Types is asking for readers' "one best piece of pre-Dadhood advice." I'm enjoying reading the responses -- they are spot-on while at the same time different than what I'd expect his readers' "best pre-Momhood advice" would be....
Parent Hack-worthy links: Strollerderby, O'Reilly Hacks blog, Argus Leader, Z Recommends, Haughey's family travel tips, Expat Expert
17 Jan 07 | Comments: 3
Some linky goodness: Strollerderby: I've been reading the Strollerderby feed with glee ever since it launched. Multi-author blog of Nerve's new parenting site, Babble, it's got a fresh, gender-neutral take on the ups and downs of urban parenting. A lineup...
20 minute dinner: Clear-the-pantry chili
14 Jan 07 | Comments: 1
My last 20 minute dinner post (Pasta with creamy marinara sauce) prompted Shannon to send in her recipe for kid-friendly chili, which has the benefit of coming together in minutes from items almost exclusively found in your pantry. It takes...
Wrap-n-Mat: reusable sandwich wrapper and placemat
12 Jan 07 | Comments: 7
I was loitering in the offices of Values of n the other day when friend and code wizard David produced from his backpack, with great pomp and flourish, a tidy little fabric packet. He was obviously excited about it, although...
Fruit's more appetizing when served on a stick
11 Jan 07 | Comments: 12
Dennis proves yet again that food on a stick is infinitely more delicious than regular food. Our son would not eat much fruit. Apple slices usually would end up thrown across the room. So, we decided to peel an apple,...
Random epiphany about finicky kids
11 Jan 07 | Comments: 15
Last night I made a salad of romaine lettuce and grapefruit segments for Rael and me to have with our dinner. Thing is, I've never liked grapefruit. Hated it, in fact. Until now. For some reason, while I was grocery...
How to organize a pantry? Talk amongst yourselves.
09 Jan 07 | Comments: 16
Barb of Great Family Gadgets wonders: How do you organize a pantry? We've just moved to a new house with a pantry closet. It's not extremely large, but I plan for it to hold all my dry- and canned-goods. It...
DIY Easy-Bake Oven cake
05 Jan 07 | Comments: 5
I'm sure my household is not the only that acquired an Easy-Bake Oven over the holidays. For those of you who have fond memories of the oven, it now comes with an actual heating element inside instead of the famous...
Noodle soup = easy pasta for new eaters
19 Dec 06 | Comments: 2
Beth's pasta-in-a-pinch hack: When my daughter was branching out to solid food, I found a quick and easy way to fix pasta. I buy Campbell's Kids Shapes soups (Dora, Jimmy Neutron, Batman & Goldfish shapes are available) or regular chicken...
DIY microwave popcorn
14 Dec 06 | Comments: 6
I've always wondered if it's possible, but never Googled for the answer. Now I don't have to -- J. D. (Get Rich Slowly) to the rescue with Alton Brown's homemade microwave popcorn recipe. My only question: aren't metal staples a...
Truck stops make for fun breaks while road-tripping
14 Dec 06 | Comments: 5
As a road-trip baby myself, I can vouch for Mike's travel hack: Traveling over the Thanksgiving weekend, I was reminded of why it can be really nice to stop at truck stops while traveling with the family: 1) The food's...
20 minute dinner: Pasta with creamy marinara sauce
13 Dec 06 | Comments: 5
In fact, I whipped this up in 15. I loved it. My son loved it. My daughter refused to taste it. PASTA WITH CREAMY MARINARA SAUCE Finely chop 1/2 an onion and 1/2 a carrot. Saute in olive oil till...
Clementines: the ultimate in kid-friendly citrus
13 Dec 06 | Comments: 11
'Tis the season for clementines -- those adorable (some might even say darling) seedless mandarin oranges that often come in five-pound boxes. Grab yourself some: not only are they delicious, full of germ-fighting Vitamin C, and festive when piled in...
Puree tomatoes in the can
10 Dec 06 | Comments: 5
Random cooking hack I stumbled onto last night: one can use an immersion blender to puree tomatoes directly in the can. Very carefully. Saved me a little dishwashing time. Tags: Cooking, Immersion blenders
MyGroceryDeals.com lets you search weekly grocery flyers online
10 Dec 06 | Comments: 6
Ed of MyGroceryDeals.com recently got in touch to let me (and you) know about his new money-and-time-saving service. From Ed's note to me: Mygrocerydeals.com is a free service that allows consumers to go online, do their grocery "pre-shopping" based on...
Homemade instant oatmeal packets
08 Dec 06 | Comments: 4
Instructables illustrates how to make your own instant oatmeal packets. Less expensive, better for you, and tastier than the prepackaged stuff. With a little tutoring on hot water safety, this is a wonderful way to encourage older kids to make...
Hacks for moms who use breast pumps
06 Dec 06 | Comments: 13
Some mothers aren't able to nurse their babies directly, and instead use a pump to express breastmilk into bottles. Jess wrote up her tips, gained from ten months of exclusively pumping, in the hopes they will help other moms in...
Snack-packing for road trips
01 Dec 06 | Comments: 3
Sandy's snack pack hack: Car trips with an always-hungry 2 yo with food intolerances can get stressful. With food pickiness setting in, when we traveled last month, we certainly had to find hacks to match up. For snacks, I grabbed...
Quick meals with microwave-ready rice
27 Nov 06 | Comments: 4
From Stefania, who knows her food: GoGo organic rice makes my life easier. You can buy it from Amazon Grocery in a variety of flavors (I like plain and brown) and from Asian markets. It cooks in 90 seconds in...
20 minute dinner: My favorite stir-fry
21 Nov 06 | Comments: 0
Strangely enough, my finicky kids love almost any kind of Asian food. Chinese, Japanese, Thai...it's all good. As a result, I cook a lot of stir-fry. Here's my favorite stir-fry sauce (and I've tried a million), from Mollie Katzen's Still...
Use a light timer with your slow cooker
20 Nov 06 | Comments: 11
Kristi adds to the labor-saving loveliness of the slow cooker: This may not be an original trick and probably not necessary with some of the new crock pots out there, but I’m proud of thinking this up without having read...
Timestrips tell you how long food has been in the fridge
16 Nov 06 | Comments: 3
Whitney passed along an interesting find, which I was about to balk at ("bah! Masking tape and a Sharpie is good enough for me!"), but then I took another look and thought it might actually be useful in some situations:...
Illustrator Bob Staake takes on Big Cereal with Freebies
15 Nov 06 | Comments: 2
Jaime pointed me to an interesting underdog project: the creation of an independent breakfast cereal. Bob Staake, illustrator of The Red Lemon, Hello, Robots! among other things, wants his new cereal, Freebies, to "harken back to the glory days of...
Puffed Butternut Squash
14 Nov 06 | Comments: 4
We're always on the lookout for quick, kid-friendly recipes that whet the grownup appetites as well. Here's one, from the Food Network, for Puffed Butternut Squash. Perfect for holiday gatherings or weeknights. Goes even quicker if you make it using...
How to reheat leftover rice so it's fluffy
13 Nov 06 | Comments: 16
Anything that involves takeout Chinese food is a Parent Hack in my book (or blog, as the case may be). Thanks, Mary. I don't know if this counts as a "parent" hack, per se, but I'm a parent, and I...
Hand wipes as dashboard cleaners
08 Nov 06 | Comments: 5
AJ of Thingamababy on the ever-handy wipe: Here's a tip I wish I realized a year ago. I'm big on using handy wipes or hand sanitizer in the car when food is involved. After a wipe is used by a...
Label sippy cups with electrical tape
05 Nov 06 | Comments: 9
Charlene of Crazed Parent sez: Here's my hack for labeling sippy cups so you can find them at the park, playdates...i never thought of it as a problem until i posted something about a magazine article showing off high-end (read:...
Thin cloth diapers make ideal nursing covers
03 Nov 06 | Comments: 7
Tory's tip for breathable nursing covers: When my first daughter was a baby and I was still thinking I could manage cloth diapers, I accidentally bought a package of the kind that are really thin and flat (unfolded) with no...
Buy your kid's halloween candy
02 Nov 06 | Comments: 4
Our sly neighbor Mary offered her three boys cold, hard cash in exchange for the remainder of their Halloween stashes (the stuff left after all the Reese's and other primo candies were eaten). They jumped at the chance to pad...
Lead in vinyl lunchboxes?
02 Nov 06 | Comments: 5
LaReen passed this along: I found this today and thought that it was interesting. It says that vinyl lunch boxes could contain small amounts of lead. I thought that it would be good to let other parents know. Lead! In...
More ideas for using up the Halloween candy
01 Nov 06 | Comments: 13
If your kid's Halloween haul looks like ours, you'll be well-supplied with sugar till the candy canes start arriving in December. A few suggestions to help you disperse your little pirate's booty: Chop it up and mix it into ice...
Bake your own energy bars
26 Oct 06 | Comments: 8
It's not often that a hack comes out of getting to know a Parent Hacks advertiser, but that's exactly what happened here. A small button ad from Matisse and Jack's, makers of TrailBlaze Homemade Energy Bar mix, came through recently,...
Social networking site for parents: Maya's Mom launches today
25 Oct 06 | Comments: 6
Social networking sites for parents are hot, hot, hot! New entrant Maya's Mom launched today, and it looks great. It shares some features with MothersClick, namely, that you can create private discussion spaces for your offline groups, and you can...
How do you dole out the Halloween candy?
24 Oct 06 | Comments: 12
Moxie guest-starred on Kristen Chase's ClubMom blog, The Mom Trap, last week, and shared her suggestions on distributing the Halloween haul of sweets. I generally let my kids (7 and 3) have a piece after lunch (or after school) and...
Halloween Fairy swaps candy for toys
24 Oct 06 | Comments: 3
Jackie Weissman of Rock Mama Films invites the Halloween Fairy to swap her son's candy for a new toy every year. Her son is thrilled with the trade, and the candy parade is over before it starts. (In some families,...
Make healthy snacks easiest to grab
22 Oct 06 | Comments: 5
This barely counts as a hack given how simple and obvious it is...or perhaps that best qualifies it as a hack, come to think of it. I find that my kids and I are most likely to snack on the...
A trick for figuring out which plate and glass are yours at a crowded table
20 Oct 06 | Comments: 4
From Sara: Politeness and good manners are highly valued in our house; I've been known to dance across the kitchen when my 15 month old uses both "please" and "thank you" in a transaction without a prompt. [15 months and...
Join a CSA and have fresh produce to delivered to you each week
18 Oct 06 | Comments: 4
Kris shared her experience belonging to a CSA: We belong to a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and receive fresh produce every week during the growing season (May to November in Utah) that was hand-picked that morning. It's pesticide free...
MothersClick: new networking site for parents
17 Oct 06 | Comments: 5
Launched today: MothersClick, a new site for sharing ideas, creating private discussion groups, and generally hanging out together online. Cool Mom Picks has already done such a good job describing MothersClick I'll send you there for the lowdown. Founder Andra...
Reducing the SpaghettiO mess factor
12 Oct 06 | Comments: 3
Here's how Andrea, homeschooling mom of 4 and prolific blogger, simplifies post-SpaghettiO cleanup: With small picky toddlers, sometimes one of the few things they will eat is those canned noodles in tomato sauce, often in special character shapes. But they...
Happy hydration hour
12 Oct 06 | Comments: 9
SJ (who isn't living up to the URL given the excellent hack) keeps the kid in fluids: Happy hydration hour: I used to worry excessively about hydration with my oldest when she was throwing up or otherwise ill, and I...
20 minute dinner: Instant Enchiladas
09 Oct 06 | Comments: 5
I'm the only one in my family who likes enchiladas, so I'm not liable to cook this traditionally time-consuming dish for dinner. BUT I am a fiend for using up leftovers, and I love to eat something warm and nourishing...
Coozies keep sippy cups cool
07 Oct 06 | Comments: 0
Next time you see a kid swigging 2% out of a cup marked "Keep on Truckin'," you'll know Sara's nearby: It turns out that Coozies -- those insulated sleeves most often found around beer cans on boats or while tubin'...
Tastingmenu.com on combining toddlers and restaurants
07 Oct 06 | Comments: 2
From James: Here's an awesome post from Tastingmenu.com on how to eat out at decent restaurants -- and bring your toddlers. As a parent of an 11-month-old, I'm looking forward to putting these ideas in action (and I'm hoping they...
Inexpensive melamine dishes look grownup but don't break
06 Oct 06 | Comments: 3
Sara, on dishes: If, like me, you like to give your children "real" dishes to eat off of, but don't want to have to worry about the dishes being broken when they are inevitably tossed off the tabletop or dropped...
Kids on a Plane! (More tips on flying with kids.)
05 Oct 06 | Comments: 1
Here are Laura's tips for airplane travel with kids -- a favorite topic here at Parent Hacks. Tags: Family travel, Parenting
More on hiding, er, integrating vegetables into kid-friendly food
05 Oct 06 | Comments: 0
Which is not to say veggies aren't kid-friendly. But still. From Momcast: Inspired by the crudite post, I've written about my favourite way of getting veg into my 3 yo: hiding them in the food! [Note bagged spinach alert. --...
Making kid-friendly restaurant straws
05 Oct 06 | Comments: 3
In the "duh, why didn't I think of that?" category. Thanks, Mike! When we go out with our toddler (which is frequently) we often get milk in a paper cup with a straw. If the restaurant doesn't have bendy straws...
Crunchy, dehydrated peas are a great kid snack
28 Sep 06 | Comments: 4
Whitney of Rookie Moms wrote to me about an ideal toddler snack food I had been planning to write about myself: I can't promise this will work for everyone, but I have been giving my toddler "Just Peas" as a...
Another (smart) mom's take on how to deal with picky eaters
27 Sep 06 | Comments: 8
I love Chris's practical parenting blog In the Trenches of Motherhood. One of her commenters described her as "the big sister who knows all the answers." Now she's talking about what to do with the picky eater (which I can't...
Pimento jar as toddler drinking glass
23 Sep 06 | Comments: 6
Back in July (she says sheepishly, revealing the length of her queue...), AJ of Thingamababy pointed out the utility of a Kraft Pimento Spread jar as a toddler drinking glass. What he didn't reveal was whether he actually ate the...
Improving upon the Horizon milk box
20 Sep 06 | Comments: 2
Another beverage box hack! Heather's Horizon milk box best-practices: My sons love the expensive-yet-satisfying Horizon milk boxes at Starbucks. But we always had problems with the straw: it collapsed, broke or fell into the abyss, never to be seen or...
Juice box "wings" prevent spills
20 Sep 06 | Comments: 2
Jonathan shares his juice box hack: Someone just introduced me to the concept of "wings" on a juice box. Just fold up the little cardboard tabs on the top, and have the kids hold the juice box by the "wings"...
The "Eat What We Eat" Rule? Talk amongst yourselves.
19 Sep 06 | Comments: 31
I'm 1/2 Indian and 1/2 Jewish. If that's not a genetic setup for food appreciation, I don't know what is. I grew up eating and liking almost everything my parents put in front of me, whether it was my Dad's...
A guide to nursing twins, from a mom who's done it
17 Sep 06 | Comments: 3
Laura has written up her tips for nursing twins. Here's a glimpse: Breastfeeding is a challange and a huge number of twin moms are scared to try it. I've posted a guide to doing it successfully. The nurses will tell...
Healthier chicken noodle soup
15 Sep 06 | Comments: 3
Shannon dresses up vegies and leftovers with chicken soup: My children love Campbell's soups, specifically the chicken variety: chicken noodle, chicken & rice, chicken & stars. But they are high in sodium and fairly low in nutritional value. I add...
Quick Serve Kids: Helping parents navigate the world of fast food
14 Sep 06 | Comments: 4
By this point, many of us have seen Super Size Me and read Fast Food Nation. I can safely assume that none of us prefers to serve our kids fast food. And yet we do it anyway. Sometimes the drive-thru...
More good lunchbox ideas from Foodmomiac
14 Sep 06 | Comments: 0
Continuing the lunchbox idea thread, here's Danielle's wonderful post on the topic at Foodmomiac. Tags: Feeding kids, Lunch, Lunchboxes, Parenting
Crudite platter encourages kids to eat their vegies
13 Sep 06 | Comments: 4
Laura finds that her kids love snacking from a huge, colorful platter of cut, raw vegetables with dip (also known as crudite). Check out the enviable photo of her little boy considering the celery. Tags: Feeding kids, Parenting, Vegetables
Put spinach in fruit smoothies
12 Sep 06 | Comments: 9
At the risk of reproducing Ask Moxie item for item here on Parent Hacks, I just had to share today's post -- Moxie confirms that you can't taste spinach when it's blended in a smoothie (she includes some nice looking...
What to do with the bread crusts your kids won't eat
11 Sep 06 | Comments: 4
A while back we chatted about the problem of uneaten sandwich crusts. Krista chooses not to fight that battle with her kids, and, instead, puts the crusts to good use elsewhere: I cut off and save the crusts BEFORE I...
Kid-sized ice cream sandwiches
10 Sep 06 | Comments: 3
Summer's not over yet -- there's still time for ice cream! Laura cuts packaged ice cream sandwiches into smaller portions with a cookie cutter. Less messy and a more reasonable size for her little boy. A money-saver, too. Tags: Feeding...
Favorite easy, healthy lunchbox ideas? Talk amongst yourselves.
07 Sep 06 | Comments: 25
Melissa Summers (Suburban Bliss) has a new gig at AlphaMom: Melissa's Buzz Off. Last week she talked about lunchboxes and, indirectly, about the difficult job of creatively filling them. I'm all perky and fresh-faced now, with my little yogurts all...
Five Trader Joe's convenience foods I've convinced myself are economically worthwhile or are healthy for my kids
04 Sep 06 | Comments: 14
A tribute to Merlin Mann's 5ives. 1. Peanut butter-filled pretzels 2. Fresh herbs, minced and frozen into mini-dice-sized portions 3. Jars of stir fry-ready garlic/ginger puree 4. Pirate's Booty 5. Breaded chickenless nuggets Tags: Feeding kids, 5ives, Trader Joe's
Recipe sharing 2.0
03 Sep 06 | Comments: 2
New recipe tracking and sharing app RecipeThing looks promising. I signed up for an account, and I like how simple and friendly it is. Recipes are only the beginning; one can browse the collection by tag or user, schedule recipes...
The Modern Girl's Guide to Motherhood
01 Sep 06 | Comments: 31
An embarrassingly long time ago, the publisher of The Modern Girl's Guide to Motherhood sent me a review copy, asking if it might be of interest to Parent Hacks readers. "Absolutely," I said with good intention, and then proceeded to...
Gmail as recipe organizer
30 Aug 06 | Comments: 13
Gmail to the rescue again! This time, as Ashley's recipe organizer: I use the Internet to find almost all of my recipes [Fridge Googling! -- Ed.] . Now, I email myself the recipes to my Gmail account and I have...
Bagel hacking