Stain Remover Addendum

I had previously posted about two stain-removing concoctions made up of common household items, which I referred to as Berry-Be-Banished and Grease-Go-Gone. As you can probably surmise, the first one removes berry stains and the second, grease stains. The details of these ingredients and instructions can be found at the original post, 'Tis the Season for Stains.

Since then, I have discovered two things—hence the addendum.

1. Berry-Be-Banished removes blood stains
I had a hunch that this would do the job on blood since it contains Hydrogen Peroxide. I've been told in the past that Hydrogen Peroxide is good for cleaning blood stains. I prefer the Berry-Be-Banished mix (again, found on 'Tis the Season for Stains) since it contains soap and baking soda in addition to the Hydrogen Peroxide and gives the stain little to no chance of survival.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When dealing with blood stains, use cold water. Hot water can actually bind the blood to the fabric, which is the opposite of what we want.

Side Note: No, my daughter did not get into an adorable baby knife fight. A few droplets of blood escaped the bandage from her vaccination shot.

I think it is worth noting that this blood stain had dried on the pants the day before I tried cleaning it, and it still came out almost immediately after I applied the Berry-Be-Gone mixture. Even so, I threw it in a load of laundry (with cold water) afterwards to get that real good clean.


2. Grease-Go-Gone works on cotton fabrics as well as denim
In the previous stain-removing post ('Tis the Season for Stains) I had successfully used the lighter fluid trick on a pair of jeans. Since then, my husband battled some devious french fries and greased up a cotton t-shirt, giving me an opportunity to test another fabric.

Psst... I think my grease-staining husband might be Batman

IMPORTANT NOTE: On lighter (both in color and weight) fabrics than denim, I recommend following the instructions from 'Tis the Season for Stains but reducing the lighter fluid soaking time from 20 minutes to 10 minutes.

On my first try with the t-shirt, the grease stain disappeared, but a very faint mark was left behind—so faint that I thought it was just shadows from the light. It seemed that the lighter fluid was making this small mark. This is why I recommend reducing the lighter fluid soaking time by half.

I actually lightly covered that area with lighter fluid again, soaked for only 10 minutes, rinsed the area out thoroughly with cold water and used the Berry-Be-Gone treatment, including throwing it in the washing machine, for good measure. This seemed to do the trick as you can see from the above image.

Henry doesn't mind sporting his sister's floral shirt on laundry day, January 2016

Cranberry Apple Oatmeal Recipe

My husband makes a mean cranberry sauce every holiday season. This year, he bought more frozen cranberries than we needed, so I've been using them for baby food.

Gerber Oatmeal Cereal

It's very simple and only involves three ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup cranberries (frozen is what I use)*
• 3 Gala apples
• baby oatmeal cereal

*IMPORTANT NOTE: Cranberries contain good stuff like Vitamin C and antioxidants, but since they are also acidic, it is not recommended that they be fed to a baby younger than eight months. And as always, introduce new foods one at a time to determine if baby has any allergies.


INSTRUCTIONS

Rinse your apples. Then core and cut them into small pieces (roughly half inch cubes). You can peel the skins if you want. I find that Gala apple skins get plenty soft and baby-eatable after being cooked and puréed, so I don't bother removing them.

Put the apples and cranberries in a large sauté pan. Fill pan with water until it about halfway covers the fruit. Then set the stove to medium-low heat and let simmer until most or all of the liquid has evaporated.

apples and cranberries in sauté pan

Drain the remaining water, if any, and throw softened apples and cranberries into a food processor. Blend until smooth. You can add whole milk, formula or breast milk while blending if needed—just make sure not to use whole milk until baby is at least one-year-old.

When ready to serve up to baby, mix desired amount of purée to baby oatmeal cereal. I use the Gerber Oatmeal Cereal and mix as much milk (or whatever nutritious liquid your baby is consuming) as needed for desired consistency. You can make the purée to oatmeal ratio whatever you want. I typically do about half and half so that the sweetness and tartness of the fruits are not too strong.

Cranberry apple oatmeal, soon to be on my children's faces

Henry (left) and Winry (right), aka My Messy Faces, December 2015

Storage tip from a previous post, Pumpkin Apple Purée Recipe:
I like to make a fairly large amount of baby food and freeze the rest in ice cube trays.

It's convenient since each cube is one ounce of food. You just take out however much you need the night before and let it thaw in the refrigerator until it's yum-yum time.

Ice cube tray tip: If you're having trouble getting the frozen cubes out of the tray, run warm water along the back for a few seconds. Then they'll pop right out.


Side Note for Turkey Season
While checking to see if cranberries were safe for babies to eat, I came upon a web article from Parents Magazine, Holiday Foods Babies Can Eat Too. It had some great food recommendations as well as a few recipes for babies.

Holiday Foods Babies Can Eat Too, Parents Magazine

Tips to Soothe That Newborn Baby

I have a co-worker who was due this month with her first little baby. As this wonderful lady had been getting bigger and bigger with baby over the past few months, I tried to pass along any tips or product recommendations that I could think of since my first-time baby experience was relatively fresh in my mind.

Of all of the subjects that we discussed, the best tip I could possibly offer a new parent is how to soothe a fussy baby.

Why You Should Love Dr. Harvey Karp
Soothing a fussy baby is something every first-time mother and father are going to want to learn quickly. I definitely recommend listening to the expert on the subject, Dr. Harvey Karp.

Dr. Harvey Karp, your new best friend
image from wikipedia

To me, his look is a bit stuck in the 90s, but his advice and methods are current and the best ones I've ever used.

I haven't read the book of the same name, but I watched the DVD called The Happiest Baby on the Block, and it is genius. Spread the word to every expecting mother you know. She'll thank you for it. In fact, if you're wondering what to get for a baby shower that's not too pricey but super useful, then I highly recommend the DVD.

A great baby shower gift idea

GET THE INFO. FOR FREE: Even without the book or DVD, you could get away with the points I've outlined here. There is also a short video from WebMD of Dr. Karp highlighting these same points. And a description of why these methods work from babycenter.com.

Velcro swaddle
image from Amazon

The Five S's:

1. Swaddling
• You can wrap baby in a swaddling blanket (see how-to video here)
• Some swaddles come with zippers or velcro to make it a little easier; I recommend the velcro (this was one we had and liked) since it is easy to snuggly adjust based on baby's size as he or she grows
2. Side/stomach position
• This is for soothing, not for sleeping—sleeping should always be done on back
3. Shushing
• This is basically any loud white noise, so you could shush in baby's ear or use a white noise machine of your choice
• Relax Melodies is a free app available for Android and iPhone that has many white noise sounds and a customizable timer to shut itself off at the end of the countdown (I love to use it myself too when I have a little trouble getting to sleep)
4. Swinging
• Any rhythmic motion can be good whether it's your arms, a rocker or an automatic swing

• 

  Fisher-Price swing, image from Amazon

  My husband and I were super grateful to have an automatic swing like the Fisher-Price Snugabunny Cradle 'N Swing. The product description from the link will give you all the information you need, but I'll say that my favorite features were the multiple swing speeds, the mirror in the center of the mobile above baby, the option to swing side-to-side or head-to-toe and that the music/sounds and swinging will shut off automatically after a while
5. Sucking
• A pacifier or your own clean finger can help in a pinch

My daughter tried to help Mommy out by offering her fussy brother a finger after pacifier fell out of his mouth,
from November 2014 when they were only a few weeks old