Education

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I stared in the full-length mirror. It was one week following the birth of my first child and I did not recognize the body staring back at me. What happened? It was like my beautiful baby bump was now a deflated balloon of excess skin. I did my best to talk myself off the critical voice cliff, “Look at what your body has been through.” “You gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby boy.” “It is going to take time for your body to get back to normal.” “What a load of crap,” I thought to myself as I continued to stare at the body before me. How do those women get those ‘pre-baby bodies’ back...

Disclaimer: This is the first guest post from Dr. Leanne Redman, associate professor of women's health studies at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. You can get to know her more here. Her facts and opinions are based on her personal research.  Red Stick Moms Blog was not paid to promote any specific medical viewpoints or studies. Always consult your physician with any medical questions.  One of the most accepted wives tales for pregnant women is that pregnancy is a time to let go of any inhibitions related to nutrition, and to over-indulge in every food craving since we are now ‘eating for two’. While this dogma was probably true back in the 1950’s when only 1 in 10 women were dealing...

  We are happy to announce a new, educational series here on Red Stick Moms Blog with local mom and women's health expert, Dr. Leanne Redman: Chatting About Women's Health We love being able to share our own opinions and insights mom-to-mom here on the blog, but we also love the idea of growing our understanding of important health issues such as pregnancy, breast cancer, and nutrition.  There is always new research coming out through news and media sources regarding women's health, and sometimes the information can be overwhelming.  We are hoping that with the guidance of Dr. Redman, we can gain a better understanding of the medical research and empower our decision-making through education. Now, let's get to know Dr. Redman...

May is "Better Speech & Hearing Month," and as moms we know how valuable the gift of speech and hearing are.  For the next few weeks, I will be sharing methods and tools to help foster good speech and language development in your child as they develop from baby to early childhood years. As a Speech and Language Pathologist, I will provide you with a series of posts that address developmental milestones, activities to enhance your child's speech and what to expect if you feel like your child might not be reaching their milestones. Speech and language milestones are a set of skills that are achieved within a specific time frame. These skills are divided into receptive and expressive language skills. Receptive skills refer to...

Traveling is one thing that brings joy to my life. We live in an amazing country that has everything from beautiful beaches to stupendous mountains to grassy plains to chaotic metropolises.  So far our family has traveled to Disney World, the Gulf Coast beaches and St. Louis, but I am determined to expose my children (and myself for that matter) to as much of our country as possible.  I have compiled a thematic list of vacations so that I have plenty of options to choose from when I feel that my children are at the age where they can experience and appreciate different vacations. Adventure Gatlinburg/ Smokey Mountains: A trip for any season. White water rafting during the Summer. Hiking and watching the leaves change in...