Favorite seller:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/gingersnappz
Etsy feedback rating:  819, 100% positive
What she sells:  Nursing covers, burp cloths, key fobs, mini key fobs, checkbook covers, nursing pads
Custom requests:  YES

I hope you are all having a FANTASTIC Friday!!  I am going to wrap up my “Mommy-Must-Haves” blog series with one of my MOST USED nursing accessories.  I found a FABULOUS seller on Etsy who makes the most adorable nursing covers…EVER!  (If you have spent $45-$50 for a Hooter Hider or Bebe Au Lait…you may want to stop reading now…because the price of these beauties may give you a serious case of buyer’s remorse, lol!)

Brenda, the owner of Gingersnappz, makes professionally sewn nursing covers in just about any color and print imaginable.  They are VERY well made—made of high quality fabrics—and priced at $21.88 before shipping!  (Shipping is only $2.99 for the first item and $1.50 for each additional item.)  The covers are a generous 25” L X 38” W.  They come equipped with a special flexible boning material that allows you to see your baby while nursing, as well as a terry cloth corner for wiping up small messes or storing breast pads!   These covers make AWESOME shower gifts, stocking stuffers…or just a special treat for a mommy-to-be!  I bet you can’t guess which fabric I picked for MY new cover!!

As a special bonus to our already amazing giveaway, The Mom Squad is adding one of these gorgeous covers to the prize package in coordinating purple fabric! 

We will be using Random.org to select a winner for this FABULOUS prize package THIS SUNDAY!  If you haven’t already, by sure to stop by Wednesday’s blog and comment to win!  (There are several entry options, so be sure to get those additional entries in to increase your odds of winning.) 

Good luck!!
~Gina
The Mom Squad

Tags: bfing, Breastfeeding, diaper bag, etsy, handmade, nursing cover, nursing in public, nursing mothers, nursing room locator, travel nursing pillow

Hey everyone!  Just wanted to restate the rules for voting!   You are allowed to comment (though it DOES NOT COUNT as a vote) – Please keep this a friendly competition!  The kiddo with the most votes will get an amazon giftcard (okay, so their parents will get the amazon gift card…) — the next FIVE runners-up will win Target giftcards!!  Goodluck to all of you!: Voting will begin first thing Monday morning (literally, 12AM central) August 30, 2010 and is open to any Facebook fan of Bye Bye with Baby.  There is no limit on fans or votes; asking your family and friends to vote for your child is acceptable and encouraged.  Voting is open from Monday through Sunday, September 5, 2010, coming to a close at 12 MIDNIGHT (central).

VOTING TIMELINE

To vote for your favorite, simply “like” the photo of the child you choose in the labeled contest album.  Voters are allowed like as many photos as they want.

To share our Fan page with others, simply click “Suggest to Friends” underneath our default photo.  You can choose who you’d like to send an invitation to, however you cannot add a personal message this way.  If you would like to share our page with your friends but also mention for them to vote for your child, we suggest you post a status message with a link to our fan page by typing @bye-bye with baby (right after you type @b it should list friends/pages that start with b, continue typing until you find bye-bye with baby or select us right away from the list) and YOU MUST CLICK IT FROM THE DROP DOWN LIST to add our page in the message.  This will “tag” our page and directly link to it.

To directly see the facebook photo album where all photos are located, click here.

Tags: byebyewithbaby.com, contest, family friendly search engine, giveaway, nursing room locator

          In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, I wanted to dig around our old blogs for this particular topic and re-post it.  For many women, breastfeeding can be a touchy subect.  One end of the spectrum are the avid pro-breastfeeders who throw stones at those choosing “unnatural milk”; the other end having women who’ve never thought once about breastfeeding and made the (not always educated) decision to never even try.  Luckily for me and most of the gals I run with, we all stand together somewhere in the middle and work DAILY to not pass judgement on any mother who falls in between.  (Please note: I have no intentions of sitting around a campfire holding hands and singing Kumbaya so if- for whatever reason- this post offends you, I’ll preface by saying this is how I felt and feel about the subject with no goals of trying to “make everyone happy!”)

          Since I started working on research and development for this website, I have started to sit up and take notice more often of the things people say and their reactions to various situations…namely breastfeeding!  While I understand there are MANY views on breastfeeding – and I’m okay with everyone having their own opinion, a large part of my heart is hoping that what I’m doing, in some small way, will help bring everyone to somewhat of a commonplace.

          I had my daughter when I was 23 years old – I didn’t go into my pregnancy, delivery, or first year with her with any sort of plan… As crazy as that may sound, I’m the type of person who lives by the phrase “go with the flow.”  I didn’t have my heart set on nursing, but I thought I’d give it a try since it seemed like the natural thing to do.  (And by natural, I mean by breasts produced milk to feed my offspring… since I had no say in that bodily preparation, I felt like I should at least try and do what my body was working so hard for!)  It was nothing at all like I thought it would be – it was awkward in the beginning and I never knew how much milk I was making, it was very confusing.  On top of everything else, I felt like I could never leave the house because I wasn’t ABOUT to walk my fat, after-baby lumpiness around a mall with a baby hanging out of my bra!!

         Luckily for me, the baby bug had bitten about 5 of my friends at the same time, so between all of us I learned a few tricks and things to help me along the way!  I found out REALLY early that there really wasn’t a comfortable nursing bra for me, (sorry nursing bra makers but it’s the TRUTH!  I tried about 15 before I gave up!!) so I started wearing nursing camisoles under my shirts.  Sure, layering isn’t the coolest option for July in Texas, but it made me feel SO comfortable because: 1) I didn’t have underwire!  YES!, & 2) I could sneak a baby under my shirt and get her latched on in about 15 seconds flat without showing any skin what-so-ever!

          I’m the girl who has nursed while eating lunch in a restaurant, the lady pushing the empty stroller and cradling a nursing baby, I’ve walked through almost every single retail store you can think of holding my child in my arms or a sling and nursing them and have never even heard a complaint.  I know that I’m one of the lucky ones, as most nursing moms have had one sort of confrontation or another from not-so-breastfeeding-friendly people.  Here lies another reason for my creation of this website… if moms have a list of places that are nursing-friendly or better yet, have private nursing rooms – they’ll be a lot less likely to have scrutinizing eyes question their motives for feeding their babies in public places.  What if a mother doesn’t want to try nursing because she is too modest to nurse in public and she doesn’t want to be confined to her home?  Well, now I have answer for her (and it includes our web address!).  If, in some small way, we help ANYONE who is uncomfortable nursing in public, has a loud GULPING eater (like BOTH of mine!), or has a curious baby with a tendency to tear down the tent of a nursing cover…. I’ll feel like I’ve done something worthwhile.

          Don’t misunderstand my position on breastfeeding, I’m okay with whatever works best for everyone, as I said earlier – “go with the flow…”  I never really thought about when I’d start weaning, I just waited until the day I decided we weren’t going to nurse anymore… for my daughter, that was when she was 6 months old – and my son, it was when he was 9 months old.  I got so tired of tangling with a distracted baby and had so many things going on - but I must say I have never thought twice about my decision.  I have friends who have nursed past 18 months old as well as friends who tried (and HATED) breastfeeding – and I try to make sure a little of my easy-going nature gets passed on to them…

          You should never feel guilt for stopping breastfeeding, ever… especially if it was an unpleasant experience for you.  All children are different, as we all know, and though medical and psychological studies show various facts supporting both breastfed and formula-fed babies, I really think the best way to take care of yourself and your child is do what YOU are comfortable with.  If you’re unsure about breastfeeding at all, talk to a lactation consultant or browse through helpful breastfeeding websites like www.kellymom.com to get the answers you need.  The more you know, the easier it is to make an educated decision on wether or not to breastfeed and how long…

          So, yes… I like to think of myself as a breastfeeding guru; I happened to love breastfeeding both of my kids and I still want to learn about everything I can to try and help other nursing mothers when they come across a problem!  I also REALLY enjoyed getting my body back to myself after having my son and feel like you don’t have to be a “Nursing Nazi” to fully support breastfeeding!  My hope is that a mother will come across this website and feel a little more comfort knowing if she wants to nurse in a private room with a locked door, in the backseat of her car, or in the middle of Mardi gras – she can do whatever she wants and we’re here to help!

::: Michelle

The Mom Squad

Tags: baby, Breastfeeding, bye bye with baby, child, formula-feeding, motherhood, nursing, nursing room locator, pro-breastfeeding

Have you played around on www.byebyewithbaby.com to see what listings are near you?  The Mom Squad has spent the past few months researching places, talking to focus groups and moms groups – trying to compile a great “base list” of locations to start from.  Since we can’t be everywhere at once – we’re hoping that YOU (the parents, grandparents, and caretakers) will share with everyone else places around you that fit into our categories! 

Since our launch about two weeks ago, we have gotten quite a few suggestions of places!  We wanted to take this oppourtunity to share with you what each category means so-to-speak and if you can think of any place to add – simply email us the name and the city, state — we’ll try our best to research and add it!

Airports:
                When families are traveling through airports, it’s helpful to know where to find the things they need.  We have contacted every U.S. airport to find the locations of nursing rooms, changing tables, and play areas for children in their facilities.  Many of our airport listings include additional information such as who to contact to set up a private place to nurse should a mother need it, where to find healthy snacks, and further help for traveling parents.     

Nursing Room Locations:
                Nursing room listings include private nursing rooms, Mother’s rooms, stores that are “nursing mother-friendly,” as well as places that are more than happy to let a mother nurse in their dressing room.  Whether it’s a room with a locking door or a couch in a dimly lit room, tell us where you’ve been and we’ll tell you where else you can go!

Urgent Care/Emergency:
                Our emergency listings include urgent care centers, minor medical emergency rooms, and some hospital emergency rooms.  We have found many pediatric after-hour emergency care centers and would like to find as many pediatric-specified locations and emergency room locations as possible.

Diaper changing locations:
                Our changing room listings include diaper changing stations inside stores or markets as well as specialty stores.  If there is a place to change a diaper, it can be listed no matter where it is! 

Family-Friendly Restaurants:
                Family-Friendly Restaurants include either fast food or sit-down restaurants that cater to the needs of parents.  Play areas, kid-menus, days when kids eat free, availability of high chairs – - this is information we’d love to receive and share!  We have all Chick-fil-a locations, as well as McDonalds and Jason’s Deli.

Family-Friendly Gas Stations:
                Our gas station listings include locations with amenities that benefit traveling parents.  Travel Centers of America have a clean atmosphere with additional features such as showers, laundry facilities, and lounge areas.  Bucees gas stations have a reputation for being extremely clean and having well-kept bathrooms.  Both are perfect examples for a great family stopping-point on a road trip!

Retail/Grocery/Pharmacy Locations (for baby needs):
                If you are low on diapers, formula, or lost the binky, our list of stores and pharmacies will lead you in the right direction.  We currently have every Target, HEB, Publix, Whole Foods, CVS, & Walgreens… just to name a few!  This category is a growing list of places that parents can pick up something they may have forgotten or lost while out and about!

Boutiques:
                Our listings include maternity, nursing, and baby boutiques.  We have expanded to include specialty stores that carry lines relating to baby as well!  Boutiques seem to be a Mother’s favorite to share, so list your favorite boutique so other mothers can enjoy it as much as you do!

We are going to be running a contest “in the background” this week – meaning we will most likely be blogging like we usually do (daily) but the contest will go on until Friday.  The contest is really simple – just visit our website (www.byebyewithbaby.com) and search for something near you (ie: nursing rooms, boutiques, etc.).  Once the list is populated underneath the map, click on a listing to pull it up on the map itself.  Follow the link that says “Listing Details” to see their personal page – rate it with a 5-star rating system and leave a comment!  Our comments are created with a program called DISQUS that allows you sign in using accounts you may already have (twitter, yahoo, and so on…) or you can comment as a guest.

Whoever leaves the most comments throughout our website (so think of places you’ve visited to better your odds!) will win a Vera Bradley purse!  All comments are moderated by The Mom Squad and are approved periodically through the day.  Even if you  comment as a guest, we will still be able to sort your entries by your email (so don’t worry… you dont have to sign up for ANYTHING to win!)

As this contest is running all week – if you do a few today, then head out with the kids tomorrow — keep us in mind and visit some places we have listed!  Goodluck

Tags: airport, airport nursing rooms, babies on airplanes, baby, baby boutique, baby gifts, BBwB, bye bye with baby, byebyewithbaby.com, contest, diaper changing locations, family traveling, find nursing rooms, maternity boutique, nursing, nursing boutique, Nursing Room locations, nursing room locator, places to change a diaper, traveling through airports, traveling with children, urgent care centers, www.byebyewithbaby.com

Special thanks to everyone who entered and voted in our cute kid contest!  We had such overwhelming response (and such a great time reading all the comments and votes) we went ahead and decided to take the top 2 in each age group!!   

Our winners for 0-2 year olds:
Katelyn with 123 Votes
Nolan with 105 Votes

In our older category, 2-10 year olds… the winners are
Annabelle with 68 Votes

And Kathryn with 62 Votes

 We’ll be sending our winners their choice of  t-shirt with our logo and owls from our spreadshirt store (find your fave HERE). Parents will then send us some photos of their winning cutie in the Bye Bye with Baby gear and we’ll post them in an ad on our website for the store itself during our introductory launch time!  We’re ELATED to have such sweet kiddos to show off our tees!  Thanks to everyone who entered, voted, and had a great time with this contest!!

If you missed this oppourtunity, don’t worry… we’re already brainstorming the next big contest!

:::Michelle
The Mom Squad

If you are the parent of one of the winning children, email us at themomsquad@byebyewithbaby.com & we’ll send you information on what to do next!!

Tags: bye bye with baby, contest, diaper changing locations, diaper changing station, mommy and baby owl, Nursing Room locations, nursing room locator, owl onesie, owl theme, urgent care center locations

Our photo contest entry will close at 4PM today, Friday April 9, 2010.  Any photo submitted after 4PM will not be eligible for the contest, so please get your entries in on time!  Should your privacy settings or phone upload settings not allow other users to view your photo, this may affect your chances of getting votes or winning the contest in general.  The best option is to upload a photo from your desktop computer to our comment wall, this will ensure its ability to be viewed or commented by everyone (including TheMomSquad)

RULES FOR VOTING:  Facebook Fans of BBwB will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite kids, one 0-2 year old, and one 2-10 year old.  Twins submitted in the same photo count as “one vote” for that particular age group, in the event they get the most votes, they will both be considered the “sole” winner of that age group.

The Mom Squad will go through the photos that have been submitted and clear all current photo comments (excluding comments with the child’s name & age, should the parent have forgotten to add it in the caption).  THIS IS TO PREPARE FOR THE VOTING.

VOTING TIMELINE: Voting will begin first thing Monday morning (literally, 12AM central) April 12, 2010 and is open to any Facebook fan of Bye Bye with Baby.  There is no limit on fans or votes; asking your family and friends to vote for your child is acceptable and encouraged.  Voting is open from Monday through Thursday, April 15, 2009, coming to a close at 12 MIDNIGHT (central).

To vote for your favorite, simply comment under the picture of the child you choose.  Voters are allowed to vote for ONE PHOTO in the 0-2 year age range, and ONE PHOTO in the 2-10 age range.  As we are anticipating many votes, please abide by THE HONOR SYSTEM.

To share our Fan page with others, simply click “Suggest to Friends” underneath our default photo.  You can choose who you’d like to send an invitation to, however you cannot add a personal message this way.  If you would like to share our page with your friends but also mention for them to vote for your child, we suggest you post a status message with a link to our fan page by typing @bye-bye with baby (right after you type @b it should list friends/pages that start with b, continue typing until you find bye-bye with baby or select us right away from the list) and YOU MUST CLICK IT FROM THE DROP DOWN LIST to add our page in the message.  This will “tag” our page and directly link to it.

Best of luck!  We can’t wait to see “whoo” will soon be sporting some seriously cute owl tees!  As always, thanks for your support!!

Facebook Fan Page HERE

Tags: airplane, airport nursing rooms, baby, bye bye with baby, child, children, contest, diaper changing locations, family friendly restaurants, family traveling, find nursing rooms, kids, maternity boutique, mom, Nursing Room locations, nursing room locator, places to change a diaper, toddler, traveling through airports, U.S. Airports, urgent care centers

We’re getting so close to the main launch, we can hardly contain ourselves!  Bear with us as we have gone over lists and lists for SO long now – hopefully there won’t be too many mistakes, but surely a few have slipped through! 

If you happen to see something incorrect in one of our listings, you can email corrections@byebyewithbaby.com and they will fix it asap!

Since you are with us from the start, you may notice that at our main launch most of the pages are in the “basic” display.  If a business upgrades their page – they can add coupons, photos, and etc. to their listing.  No matter WHAT the status of their page is (either upgraded or basic) you can still leave reviews which are KEY to helping out other parents who visit our website!!  I would LOVE to know if a twin stroller can fit in your favorite boutique – or if YOU’VE had a great experience at a restaurant with the family! 

Get the gears turning in your head – make that mental list of places you’ve been that were awesome (or not-so-awesome) and once we’re up, comment away!! 

We’ll keep you posted on all things BBwB – get excited, it’s all happening!

::: Michelle
The Mom Squad

Tags: airport nursing rooms, baby, baby boutique, boutiques, children, clean gas stations, diaper change, diaper changes, family friendly, family friendly restaurants, find nursing rooms, grocery stores listing, grocery stores map, kids, maternity boutique, nursing boutique, nursing room locator, nursing rooms, places to change a diaper, traveling through airports, U.S. Airports, urgent care center locations, urgent care locations

It’s Monday – and we’re starting out AIRPORT WEEK on the BBwB blog to celebrate getting to the end of a VERY long list of airports to research! We’ve gathered SO much information to help parents (like knowing where the diaper changing tables are so you can get Baby changed before your flight)and so much more.  We’ll help you when you’re looking for a private nursing room in the airport OR a private place to plug in your pump!  We’ve even researched where the play areas are so your older children can expend some energy instead of bouncing off the walls mid-flight!

Now, I’ll admit it has taken a while to get all the information together – but the airports were all extremely helpful and willing to share as much information as possible to make traveling easier on parents!  Some airports asked for our input as well, questioning what we thought would be the best amenities for traveling parents.  Often times, we received extraordinary help from the people we talked to and added the amazing services their airports provide. 

Buffalo Niagara International Airport (in Cheektowaga, NY), for example, let us know that the NFTA and TSA can arrange for families with autistic kids to bring the family or child to the airport before the trip in order to try and familiarize the child with the facility to reduce some of the anxiety.  Other airports, like the Akron-Canton Airport in North Canton, OH informed us that they did in fact have a private nursing room with a comfortable chair (picked out by a nursing-mother herself!)  The Eugene Airport (Eugene, OR) let us know that their changing tables are stocked with paper pads and anti-bacterial wipes (which eases the mind of this germophobe!)  And that’s just to start…

There are roughly 300 airports in our database and after four weeks of inquiries – we’re thrilled to be done with phase I!  This week we’ll have some interesting blogs- some tips for travel from a great perspective (a pilot and father of 3 children under 3 years old!), a humorous story about traveling with a small child,  some really helpful travel websites, and of course… a great giveaway with be thrown in the mix!!

This week we did a lot of work to edit and redesign the blog – unfortunately, if you signed up for our RSS feed, you have to sign up again.  If you hadn’t – you should go ahead and do that, you won’t be sorry I promise!  This is all information that will come in handy when you need it… after all, that’s what we’re here for – to make traveling a breeze!!

::: Michelle
The Mom Squad

the title quote is from Al Gore… it’s pretty spot-on, if you ask me!

Tags: airline, airplane, airport, Akron-Canton Airport, baby, Breastfeeding, Buffalo Niagara International Airport, changing station, child, diaper change, Eugene Airport, mom, mother, nursing, nursing room, Nursing Room locations, nursing room locator, parents, terminal, traveling, travels

January 11th, 2010

Hey Moms and Dads!  Welcome to the official Bye-Bye with Baby –Blog!  We hope you will enjoy our thoughts, tips, and tricks that will be shared with you from time to time.  We encourage your feedback or suggestions on any of our various topics.  We decided to kick start our blog with an explanation of what Bye-Bye with Baby is, and what it will be able to offer YOU!  ByeByeWithBaby.com was designed with parents in mind.  Our founder, Michelle, came up with this brilliant idea and has worked tirelessly with her team to design a site that will undoubtedly make ALL of our lives easier while traveling with children!

Getting to the point– what to expect from Bye-Bye with Baby:
Well, we’re a one-stop website that will give you information on the resources parents need most when they are out with their children.  You will be able to map out your trips, rate and review places you have visited, share your favorite locations or secret “hot spots” with other parents, and network with other parents.  This site was designed with YOU in mind – here is what we have to offer:

Nursing Room Locations:
               
Nursing room listings include private nursing rooms, Mother’s rooms, stores that are “nursing mother-friendly,” as well as places that are more than happy to let a mother nurse in their dressing room.  Whether it’s a room with a locking door or a couch in a dimly lit room, tell us where you’ve been and we’ll tell you where else you can go!

Urgent Care/Emergency:
               
Our emergency listings include urgent care centers, minor medical emergency rooms, and some hospital emergency rooms.  We have found many pediatric after-hour emergency care centers and would like to find as many pediatric-specified locations and emergency room locations as possible.

Diaper changing locations:
               
Our changing room listings include diaper changing stations inside stores or markets as well as specialty stores.  If there is a place to change a diaper, it can be listed no matter where it is! 

Family-Friendly Restaurants:
               
Family-Friendly Restaurants include either fast food or sit-down restaurants that cater to the needs of parents.  Play areas, kid-menus, days when kids eat free, availability of high chairs – – this is information we’d love to receive and share!  We have all Chick-fil-a locations as well as McDonalds.

Family-Friendly Gas Stations:
               
Our gas station listings include locations with amenities that benefit traveling parents.  Travel Centers of America have a clean atmosphere with additional features such as showers, laundry facilities, and lounge areas.  Bucees gas stations have a reputation for being extremely clean and having well-kept bathrooms.  Both are perfect examples for a great family stopping-point on a road trip!  We’ll need PLENTY of input on nice, clean gas stations (we know those are typically few and far between)!

Retail/Grocery/Pharmacy Locations (for baby needs):
               
If you are low on diapers, formula, or lost the binky, our list of stores and pharmacies will lead you in the right direction.  We currently have every Target, HEB, Publix, Babies R’ Us, CVS, & Walgreens… just to name a few!  This category is a growing list of places that parents can pick up something they may have forgotten or lost while out and about!

Boutiques:
               
Our listings include maternity, nursing, and baby boutiques.  We have expanded to include specialty stores that carry lines relating to baby as well!  Boutiques seem to be a Mother’s favorite to share, so list your favorite boutique so other mothers can enjoy it as much as you do!  We have every Learning Express Toy store (it’s one of our favorite places to shop!) and can’t wait to hear about places near you!

So, while we work tirelessly to bring you the best locations possible – be on the lookout for places to add & when we’re fully launched, rate and review places near you so we’ll all know what to expect if we’re in your neck of the woods!!  This is a great oppourtunity to network with other parents and share helpful hints… it’s true about us you know; together, we’ll make traveling a breeze!!

~Gina
The Mom Squad

Tags: baby boutique, baby stores, clean gas stations, diaper changing locations, drugstore locations, emergency centers, family dining, family restaurants, find nursing rooms, maternity boutique, nursing boutique, Nursing Room locations, nursing room locator, pharmacy locations, places to change a diaper, trendy baby, trendy mother, urgent care centers