Meet Greenwich Moms in Our Q&A

We’re introducing Greenwich Moms and their awesome website that serves as a one-stop-source for all things parenting and kid-friendly.

We had the opportunity to chat with Layla, a mom who knows it all about Greenwich. Take a read at our Q&A and learn all about GreenwichMoms.com.

Q: What inspired and led you to create the site, Greenwich Moms?

I grew up in Greenwich and I knew from the moment I left, that I wanted to come back and raise my family here. Even for me, being a long time resident, I found that I really needed to re-discover the town from the point of view of a mom. So why not make it easier by having everything mom-related at your fingertips! (It is equally as much for me as everyone else!)

The success of GreenwichMoms.com has caught on quickly. We have partnered with moms in nearby towns to make this valuable resource available…hyper-local… 24/7.

We applaud our partners for successful launches of New Canaan Moms and Darien Moms with more to come!

Q: What kind of information can someone find on your site? What makes it unique?

GreenwichMoms.com was founded with the simple goal of giving moms the gift of time! We provide a comprehensive collection of resources about the local community, and opportunities to connect and engage with families nearby, to learn from… and support one another! We also create and maintain strong partnerships with businesses that help our readers navigate their town and their role as a parent.

The website includes a calendar of events in the area, a place for sharing your own experiences and connecting to other families, a guide to neighborhood stores and restaurants, an introduction to the local school system—and also general information helpful to all families including tips for healthy and happy living, local insights, new product reviews, and articles and posts highlighting the joyous confusion that comes along with being a parent.

GreenwichMoms.com offers two blogs—one of which spotlights a kid friendly event every day, and the other which covers everything else having to do with parenting in Greenwich (and beyond). We have made supporting local moms and inspiring, strong, mom entrepreneurs. a major part of our role as a community-building website.

Finally, we feature a local mom every other week. What better way to create a sense of community than to introduce ourselves to one another?

Q: Being a long-time resident of Greenwich, CT yourself, what are some of your favorite things to do around the city (town) with your little ones?

My favorite family friendly event of the year, Go Wild!, is coming up soon! A number of our friends in NYC bring their families to Greenwich for the day to join the fun. I’m a kid at heart and pulling up to an event with three giant hot air balloons makes me just as excited as the kids. It is the perfect way to end a fun filled summer.

GreenwichMoms.com also hosts a number of events. Our event at JCrew is one that stands out as we continue to bring families together and offer opportunities for moms to enjoy a cup of coffee and shop for themselves while storytellers and creative workshops keep the kids entertained. Our next event is coming up on September 17th!

I love being outdoors with the kids. From an afternoon at Tod’s Point beach to apple picking in the Fall, I can only hope that our kids will one day realize how lucky they are to have the town of Greenwich as their playground.

Follow all of Greenwich Mom’s adventures through their Instagram and Facebook pages. Just search for @Greenwich_Moms!

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Written by our Marketing & Social Media Coordinator, Taylor Bell

The Four Month Sleep Regression

My just then turned four month old was ‘the man’ when it came to sleeping through the night. Since he reached three months old he was sleeping 7-8 hours at a time. Then, it was time for him to move to his big boy bedroom and transition from rock n’ play to the crib.

He took to the crib after a few days, but then suddenly he started waking up every 2-3 hours. WHAT?!?!

Apparently, this is what experts call the “four month sleep regression.” This article from Alpha Mom is spot on with my experience!

The four month sleep regression can start as early as three months or as late as five (or even six) months. It happens for a bunch of reasons:

1) A simultaneous growth and developmental spurt.

2) Changes in sleep patterns — around four months a baby’s sleep gets more like ours.

3) Changes in sleep needs — as if there wasn’t enough going on, the baby is probably in the middle of a nap transition, too. This means they are close to eliminating one.

My son is now five months old and worked his way out of the regression – it lasted about a week. Heads up to all of those new moms out there!

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Written by our Founder & CEO, Lindsay Bell

Learn to Be a Diapering Master

There are always questions that linger about the proper way to diaper an infant or toddler. We put together some basic rules to keep in mind so the next time it’s time to change, you’ll be taking care of business like a pro!

1. Remove the used diaper and clean between the folds of baby’s skin. Use gentle diaper wipes if the baby has very sensitive skin, or if he/she seems allergic use a wet cloth (with luke warm water).
IMPORTANT: Remember to always wipe front to back.

2. Raise baby carefully by the ankles and slide a clean diaper underneath. The colorful markings should be on the front, facing you. The stretchy tabs are in the back and get wrapped to the front.

3. Close the diaper and adjust the stretchy tabs. Make sure it isn’t too tight or too loose. You should be able to fit two fingers snuggly between the diaper and their stomach.

Top Tips:

Remember it’s important to check the baby’s diaper frequently. Change after every poop, and after every nap or feed (on average this is every three hours).

Cover the baby boy’s penis with a diaper or burp cloth while changing him to prevent getting a surprise shower yourself.

If you start to experience frequent leaks, it might be time to move up to the next diaper size.

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Written by our Marketing & Social Media Coordinator, Taylor Bell

Get to Know Rockets of Awesome

Rockets of Awesome is the latest and greatest when it comes to shopping with the little ones. No more chasing kids down aisles, packing up the stroller, or dealing with a public tantrum. Rockets of Awesome brings stress-free and stylish shopping right to your doorstep through their website.

Now who’s excited to go back to school shopping?

Take a read through our Q&A with Rachel Blumenthal, Founder of Rockets of Awesome, to learn more about the new way to shop!

Q: What was your biggest inspiration to create a business like Rockets of Awesome?

As a mom, I’ve always been frustrated at having to choose between style and value when it came to my kids clothes. I also can’t keep up with the demand of how quickly they grow. The minute I had unpacked the boxes of e-comm orders, my son was telling me his pants were too short, and my daughter’s belly was hanging out of her tops (#momfail). Through my own experiences and hearing the same from the Cricket’s Circle community, I knew I could come up with a smart solution. I set out to create a highly personalized, thoughtful experience to replace the disjointed, time-consuming process we have been forced to endure for so long. Rockets of Awesome delivers stylish, high-quality kids clothing at an incredible value – and takes an errand off every parent’s to-do list.

For kids that are particular with their outfits, are they able to select specific items? What about those that have no idea what they want to wear – how do you select clothes for them?

As the shopping solution for parents, our truly personalized experience simplifies the process of shopping for awesome kids clothing – from end to end. When a customer takes the style quiz on our site, they can indicate their kids’ preferences from style to color to fit and more. If their child doesn’t like red, they’ll never see a red item in their box! After receiving their first box, keeping what they want and sending back what they don’t, they’ll be able to shop a la carte in their own personalized shop, curated based on their kids’ preferences. Unlike any other brand, we’re really here to simplify and personalize the shopping experience to deliver high-quality, stylish pieces that parents and their kids will love – all at an incredible value.

While kids and parents aren’t able to select pieces for their box, we’re able to quickly cater to our customers’ wants and needs using data from their preferences and purchases to inform future collections. Combining customer driven curation with insights from our team of talented in-house designers, we’re able to continuously deliver a thoughtful assortment of outfits parents and their kids will love. And of course, if you see something you love on the playground that isn’t in your box or shop, we’ll do our best to get it to you.

What’s inside a shipment from Rockets of Awesome and what will the customer be charged for?

Each box includes 12 items. There’s no commitment – keep what you want, send back what you don’t. There is no fee to join (and no styling fee or any other fee for that matter), you only pay for what you keep. There’s literally no catch, everything we do is to simplify the lives of parents and deliver our customers the type of experience we want ourselves.

If a customer decides not to keep the clothes, how does your return policy work?

Customers have 10 days to return the Rockets of Awesome items that weren’t a fit. Returns are tracked, and once received, Rockets of Awesome will charge the customer only for the pieces they decided to keep.

What makes Rockets of Awesome different from other online clothing companies?

Rockets of Awesome not only makes shopping much easier for parents end-to- end, but also designs stylish, high quality-kids clothing at an incredible value. We give parents the best of all worlds – personalization, membership cadence, and on demand e-commerce all through a vertical brand. Producing our own product enables us to quickly tweak design according to customer feedback, and selling it direct to consumer allows us to price pieces at an exceptional value. We truly want to simplify the lives of parents and do the work for them.

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Written by our Marketing & Social Media Coordinator, Taylor Bell

The Nursing While Walking Mom

Spotted! It’s a mom who’s nursing while walking.

Have you ever done this?

I was headed to the mall with my mom when my lil’ guy got hungry. I did not want to spend my special time with my mom sitting in a fitting room nursing for the next hour. So, I got my son situated on my breast and wrapped a light scarf over us and continued shopping. I got some looks, but I also had moms come up to me saying that was them a few days ago.

Phew, I’m not alone!

I think mothers can agree, we just do what we can to make it work and still have a life. Otherwise, we feel like we’re at the mercy of our nursing child.

I don’t ever feel annoyed by how much he feeds, and he feeds often. I just try to find ways to make it work for both of us. I do like nursing, and still do our chair feedings, but it’s also nice to be able to move around!

Just be careful if you need to walk and nurse. Wear flat comfortable shoes and have a buddy with you so you are not alone.

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Written by our CEO & Founder, Lindsay Bell

Nap Schedules and Bedtimes for All Ages

Are you uncertain if your baby or toddler is on track with the number of hours he/she sleeps each day? Is your baby’s bedtime normal?  When will your child sleep through the night?

Checkout these age-by-age charts that are helpful to see where you are now, and where you need to be next. It also includes a printable PDF and resources to get you help!

And if you are looking to compare, here is a sleep chart from Parents Magazine, which offers a quick and to the point guide.

Once you have the norms from these two sources, read up on Parents Magazine’s, “10 Steps to Sleep Training Success.”

Happy sleeping!

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Written by our Social Media & Marketing Coordinator, Taylor Bell

Know Your Nanny Reference Is Real

We all have a go-to list of questions that we ask on reference calls. It gets really impressive (or sad, not sure) once you’ve reached a point where you don’t even have to look down at the paper for what question to ask next. Then you think, if you can go on autopilot asking these questions, can your reference go on autopilot answering them?

This begs the question, how can you determine if a nanny reference is real? It’s easy for friends to team up, give a false name, and rave about him/her to their potential employer. Today, parents are lucky that there are a variety of ways that they can make sure the references they receive are real. In a recent article published by  Nanny Interview Questions, they discuss how to recognize if the nanny is right for the family, as well as if the family is right for the nanny.

We outlined a handful of the asking questions from the article below:

1. What’s the worst discipline experience you’ve had?
2.
How many nannies have you had?
3. 
How do you plan to support me when I discipline your children?
4.
Do you offer healthcare?
5.
What’s the one thing you’re really looking for in a nanny?

For the full article, “How to Verify a Nanny Reference is Real?” click here.

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Written by our Social Media & Marketing Coordinator, Taylor Bell

New York Post Feat. Baby Nurses

Many entrepreneur working moms are finding it near impossible to juggle motherhood and business. Both require you 24/7. The only answer is to outsource to make life manageable. One of the many things moms juggle is sleep at night. Sleep is necessary for mom and baby to thrive, yet it is not easy, especially in the first few months.

One solution is for moms to hire a baby nurse or night nurse. A Baby Nurse is a non-medical professional who comes into the home when the baby comes home from the hospital. They generally assist parents with the day-to-day care of their new baby for a few weeks up to several months. They can provide overnight (10-12 hours), daytime hours, and 24-hour care. A Baby Nurse is experienced, trained, and/or has a certification. Many Baby Nurses will have additional certifications like: HHAs, CNAs or LPNs. Most Baby Nurses also have their CPR certification.

A Night Nurse is an infant expert and only stays at night with the baby. The Night Nurse helps with feedings at night by either bringing the baby to mom, or feeding the baby formula or breast milk through a bottle. Typically, night nurses stat over night from 9-10 p.m. to 6-7 a.m.

Check out this great NY Post article featuring Bell Family Company, and why they agree Baby Nurses are a must have for working moms.

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Written by our Founder & CEO, Lindsay Bell

Classic Kids Photo Shoot

When my baby was born I wanted the hospital photos to be perfect. I knew by the second day of recovery a photographer would come by and snap mommy and daddy with their new bundle. I came prepared with my make-up, hair supplies, and a cute new dress. But it soon turned out as you would expect… it’s difficult for a mom (aka me) to look good after having major abdominal surgery. Then there’s the baby who just wants to sleep and be cuddled – no flashes please.

Nearing the second month, I was feeling like myself again and was approached by a boutique photography company that’s in all the same cities as my company (UWS, UES, Greenwich CT, Chicago, and Los Angeles).

Meet Classic Kids. Their motto is about the family experience, curated, helpful, and guiding to the best memories possible. They pride themselves on nurturing and making their customer feel comfortable to unveil their most relaxed, easy smile.

Bedside manner is so important when it comes to family. They make you feel loved and important during your shoot. They bring you a freshly made latte to make you feel at home, while they prep for the photos. Our photographer, Ashley, was fantastic with my son as was her assistant (a former nanny of course).The shoot was about 90 minutes. They provided us with a sentimental slide show to review all the shots about a week after the shoot. It was perfect to forward to the family to enjoy from out of state.

Classic Kids is a class act. If you have any questions about my experience let me know, or feel free to contact them directly to get your shoot scheduled.

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Written by our Founder & CEO, Lindsay Bell