I went for a baby check up last week with my little one and I was handed a consent form for an online immunization registry from the receptionist. I signed it without discussing it with my husband because I thought having the record would be a good thing, since I plan on giving her most of the shots according to a modified schedule. When I spoke to my husband he felt that her medical records should not be online because insurance company could always use it against her. His argument made me extremely worried about my decision.

If you haven’t been to the pediatrician’s office in a couple months your doctor’s receptionist might hand you a consent form on your next doctor’s appointment. Visit CAIR to learn more, so you can accept or reject that form without feeling pressured to make a decision right away.

In my on going concern of protecting my bean from all possible harm, I realized that even with all my planning and provisioning, I would not be able to cover every inevitable harmful scenario. The result of this mental exercise, I need to learn infant CPR.

RED CROSS

I start my search with The American Red Cross. The American Red Cross offers an online course

Child/Infant CPR

Time allowed for course: 14 days

This web-based course teaches American Red Cross CPR for children (ages 1-12) and infants (under age 1). Students will learn how to recognize and respond to breathing and cardiac emergencies. This course may take up to 3 hours. To earn CPR certification, students must pass the online test and then attend a skill session to perform and review skills.

CPR certification is valid for 1 year.

Course fee: $40.00 USD

They also offer standard courses

CPR Training Course

This 4 hour course provides individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to recognize and provide basic care for breathing and cardiac emergencies for adults.

Learning Objectives:

• Explain the three emergency action steps to follow in an emergency.CPR Class
• Learn the four life-threatening conditions for which you should check
• Recognize the signals of a heart attack.
• Learn the cardiac chain of survival for a victim of cardiac arrest.
• Learn the precautions for using and AED.
• Demonstrate how to use basic precautions when caring for victims of breathing and cardiac emergencies.
• Demonstrate how to check an unconscious adult.
• Demonstrate how to care for a conscious and an unconscious choking adult.
• Demonstrate how to give CPR to an adult.
• Demonstrate how to use an AED for an adult in cardiac arrest.

Length: Approximately 4 hours

Certificate Validity: 1 year

If you would like to schedule CPR training for a group of people of 10 or more at your site, please call (310) 445-2688 or see more information at Workplace Safety

If you need to take a CPR class for yourself, American Red Cross has community classes available. Please call 1-800-627-7000 to get course schedules and to register.

Here’s a map of all the Red Cross locations:

Okay, I lied, those locations above are not all. There is a Santa Monica Red Cross office as well. They offer CPR classes for free. Here is a list of their offerings:

32411: Adult CPR with AED

32410: Adult CPR with First Aid

32407: Adult, Infant, & Child CPR with First Aid

32415: Adult/AED, Infant, & Child CPR

32800: CPR for the Professional Rescuer

First Aid

3210: Infant & Child CPR

32302: Infant and Child CPR with First Aid

Waterpark Lifeguarding Instructor

YMCA

The Los Angeles YMCA offers a ton of courses in a variety of subjects. They also offer a variety of CPR classes. My local YMCA, the Westside Family YMCA offers the following courses:

Community CPR with AED and First-Aid Classes

Sign up and be CPR and First-Aid certified, for you never know when the world might call upon you to be a hero! CPR and First-Aid Certification classes are offered on the following Saturdays from 10:00am – 2:00pm: March 28, 2009 May 30, 2009 June 27, 2009 July 25, 2009 August 29, 2009 September 19, 2009 CPR w/ AED & First Aid Class Fees Facility Members: $55.00 General Public: $70.00

In addition, the Santa Monica CPR Training Center also looks like a great resource.

They offer the following:

We offer the following CPR classes:

BLS for Healthcare Providers $60.00

Heartsaver AED (includes CPR) $55.00

Heartsaver CPR $50.00

Family and Friends CPR $40.00

BLS Skills Test (call for appointment) $65.00

Please call about First Aid classes.

I also found some other online resources:

The University of Washington has some online help, illustrations of proper application of infant CPR and a video.

UCLA also offers some CPR courses, however I didn’t see anything specific on Infant CPR.

onlinebabycpr.com also offers a free course

We now, in our presence and in our home- ever present, have a child. A small crying bundle of wanting love. It is up to us to decide upon a vaccination schedule for this fleshy conglomerate. As a couple of artists we aren’t very good at listening to people, and we like to think of ourselves as rebellious- even in our old age. With our anarchy symbols on we decided to do some research…

The book that we were told to read is called The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child (Sears Parenting Library) (go figure) written by Robert W. Sears- soon to be a major motion picture. Dr. Sears has information and opinions, and boy does he share them with you. The book is great don’t get me wrong- a wee bit on the dull side, but great. My husband used it as a sleep aid but found that it put him into such a deep sleep that he would have a hard time waking up in the morning.

Dr. Sears lays out all the diseases that are currently on the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended vaccine schedule one by one, and tells you about the disease, and about the various vaccines that are made to treat the disease. He even goes into detail of the composition of each vaccine used. I found this book to be the all inclusive bible of vaccinations.

Towards the end of the book there are two suggested vaccination schedules. The first is selective vaccination schedule, and the second is alternative vaccine schedule.

The selective vaccine schedule delivers the most crucial shots for your child and delays or skips the most less critical shots. The alternative vaccination schedule spreads out the pediatrician recommended schedule over time so that only two shots are given at once.

We were leaning towards the selective vaccination schedule but have now decided that we will do the alternative vaccine schedule because we would like to travel with our precious gemstone of a child.

If you are planning to breast feed, I think breast pump is something you should consider. There are so many choices available for the new mom. Some are manual others run on electricity. Some models attach to only one breast and others let you express from both breasts at once.

To decide which type of breast pump the right one for you, you should ask yourself these questions.

1. How often do you plan to use the breast pump?

If you are only planning on being away from time to time then a hand pump will do you just fine. However, if you need lots of milk for those long cruises to Alaska then you may want to upgrade to some good ole motorized action.

2. How long will it take to pump each breast?

If you are after speed then there is no substitute for electric. Electric if always going to pump more than manual unless you are Flash. One thing to think about is if you need milk in a hurry then get a double pump electric. You’ll have more milk than your baby can handle.

3. Is the pump easy to assemble?

Most manual pumps are pretty easy to assemble. The one we got has three pieces and is real easy to assemble. Electric pumps should not be that much more difficult. One thing to thing about is cleanliness. You will want to be able to clean any area that moisture touches. Pay attention to cleaning it makes a huge difference.

4. Is the suction adjustable?

This is especially pertinent to the electric pump, and for your breasts sake don’t let your husband “improve” the performance of your electric. Love your breasts don’t torture them. Look for adjustable speeds- that’s how you will adjust your suction.

5. Is the pump heavy?

This is something you’ll want to consider if you are mobile. If you just cant sit home with the baby you are going to want to look at the weight of the pump. Remember that even a pound gets heavy after you carry or hold it for an hour or two. Check the weight and make sure its right for you.

6. How noisy is the pump?

Hand pumps are pretty much quiet, except for the soft squishy noises it makes. However, the electrics have motors so get used to some noise. If you need to be quiet while pumping take this into consideration.

7. Are the breast shields the correct size?

Every pump has a shield to place over your breast. Make sure that the one you get is going to fit your breasts.

8. If you’re considering an electric pump, does it have backup power options?

Most electric pumps need to be plugged in. Make sure you check out all the options. The usual power supplies are gong to be , 1. a standard outlet, 2. a battery, 3. a car electric outlet. Get the one that is appropriate for you.

9. Is cost a concern?

Manual pumps are cheap under $50 electric pumps are not some go over $200. Make sure you do an appropriate cost to benefit analysis- see above.

10. What if you’re just not sure?

Call your insurance company and ask what they cover. Talk to your doctor about lactation consultants.

Locally you can purchase your pump at:

TOYS”R”US/BABIES”R”US
1833 La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310)558-1831

The Pump Station Santa Monica
2415 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 998-1981

Baby Style
1324 Montana Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90403
310.434.9590

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