I had to peel myself out of bed this morning in order to make it to Christopher’s Restaurant for breakfast. I sat with Amy from Mom Advice, Jamie of Blonde Mom Blog and Heather from About.com. Breakfast was good, I tried to load up on the proteins for energy purposes. The coffee was scarce. May have to sneak out to Starbucks in a bit…

9:00 am – Dr. Jodi Mindell, author of Sleep Deprived No More is speaking. She’s discussing the statistics of the total number of hours of sleep our children get (or don’t get). We’re on the topic of toddler sleep. Toddler’s sleep on average of 12-14 hours per day and generally shift to one nap by 18 months. That sounds about right for us…Hailey was a constant napper for the longest time. Now we’re lucky if she’ll take a two hour nap a day.

She’s talking about how to establish good sleep routines and how bedtime routines do work. Love it, she just said that “You can’t spoil a newborn” How true!!! Mama’s, hold your babies! Dr. Mindell, along with Johnson and Johnson has developed a customized online sleep tool where you can go in and create a customized sleep profile for your child(ren). I’m making one for Hailey right now.

9:30 am – Dr. Ellen Kurtz, Director, Scientific Affairs, Baby Care Franchise, Johnson & Johnson is now speaking about baby’s skin and some of the Johnson & Johnson practices. Johnson’s was the first company to establish high standards for products with eye mildness (I think I typed that wrong…will fix it later). She’s educating us on how the JnJ researchers test baby’s skin in order to further understand their delicate skin’s moisturizing needs. Really focusing on the bonding between mama and baby while providing their daily care and how Johnson’s is an advocate of that.

9:40 am – Susan Nettesheim, VP, Product Stewardship speaking now about sustainability and adding value for people, the planet and the business. Johnson & Johnson is the largest corporate user of on-site solar energy in the US. I copied that from the slideshow. I’m lost right now. I need to focus again. NEED. MORE. COFFEE!

Question and answer session.

Some very good information is being discussed here that I should be retaining. So I’m going to do my best to cease all Twittering right now and pay close attention.

Go to cosmeticsinfo.org for info on ingredients in products.

A small amount of animal testing is performed when it’s a new product that doesn’t have in depth documentation.

We’re being told that it is not harmful for toddlers to drink their bathwater and/or eat the bubbles. Most that would happen, they would get terrible diarrhea. This is good for me to know because the bug ALWAYS drinks her bathwater. We ask her not to but since when does a two and a half year old listen to her wise parents? Right, that’s what I thought.

10:30 am – Dr. Scott Jens is speaking about vision care for your child(ren). He suggested bookmarking the APHA website and referring to it regularly. He’s discussing The Vision Care Institute of J&J Vision Care, Inc. Dr. Jens is introducing us to The InfantSEE Program, which is a program that would offer FREE (no strings attached) vision care for infants. Statistics show that 1 in nine infants show an overall need for care.

Fact: Babies eyes are 75% the size of their adult eyes.

A video is being shown of a mother who’s baby ended up having a tumor behind her retina. The importance of having your baby’s vision tested is HIGHLY stressed. More and more doctors will be approached about participating in the InfantSEE program. (Laura, do this for Lennon!)

Ok, Dr. Scott gets my vote as best speaker at Camp Baby. He really spoke about an important subject that is quite overlooked by many of us. Mom’s, we need to take full and complete charge of our babies health; from skin to immunizations to eye care.

11:05 am – Time for germ talk with Dr. Charles Gerba, Professor of Environmental Microbiology, Univ. of AZ. This chat is going to scar me for life probably! I was a pretty big germaphobe and thought that I would go crazy after having a baby. I am pretty cautious with the bug because she likes to “bite her nails” and she does suck her thumb. I often times think about what she’s putting into her body. I realize she needs the exposure to build immunities but man, it’s hard to stomach. My issues go way back to the time she ended up with that nasty case of rotavirus and ended up having seizures.

What is a “Fomite”: Any type of inanimate object which serves as a vehicle for transmitting organisms.

Germiest area in the home is the kitchen. More fecal bacteria there than in the bathroom! YUCK!

Hand washing can reduce illness 30-50%.

Talkin’ bout Purell. We use the Purell. Stings like a you-know-what on that cut that I got on my finger the other day.

Hand Hygiene tips – wash hands before preparing or eating food (duh), after going to the bathroom, changing diapers, helping on the potty, before and after tending to a sick child, during or after visits to public places, blowing nose, coughing, sneezing, handling anything animal-related, handling garbage, treating a cut or wound.

I just shared Hailey’s rotovirus story. Good times.

Bottom line: human beings are disgusting. : )

Christine and Jane – they should be paying attention but they’re smiling for a picture instead.

11:45 am – Tina Sharkey is speaking now about trends for moms and word-of-mouth marketing for moms. Tina is sharing some parenting survey results with us conducted by BabyCenter.com. “Green” is popping up all over. More and more people are concerned about our environment and the safety of our children and their future.

1:30 pm – Lunch is over, back to business.

Lisa Tartamella Kimmel, a registered Dietitian, Yale-New Haven Hospital, is speaking about “Bringing Back the Family Meal”. Growing up, my mom always had a meal on the table for us. I’ve sort of felt like I was out of the loop and that everyone else was doing still this but I hear more often than not now that most families do NOT eat meals together. It’s pretty sad that our lifestyles have changed that much, that we can not make time to stay healthy together.