The Dark Side of Breastfeeding
May 17 2007

Jennifer, also known as The Lactivist, posted on The Dark Side of Breastfeeding on May 15, 2007 and “WOW” the response has been huge and the moms who are breastfeeding or have breastfed are still chiming in.  I agree with her thoughts on breastfeeding….it’s not always as easy, fun, and rosy as some people make it out to be.  It is a full time 24×7 job.  Check out her post and share your thoughts.  I’m glad people can be honest about this topic.  We need to educate new moms who want to breastfeed about the challenges as well as the joys of breastfeeding.  It is a wonderful experience but as Jennifer suggests there is also a darkside.

Jennifer is also a huge advocate for the Mother’s Milk Bank.  She is in Ohio.  I am in Texas (Austin) and fortunately both of our cities have Milk Banks in them!  For more information on milk banking please refer to my last post on the Mother’s Milk Bank of Austin.

Have you been Mommy Track’d?
May 16 2007

Are you on the mommy track?  If so, you should check out Mommy Track’d: The working mother’s guide to managed chaos.  Their mission is to provide a helpful and entertaining resource for all the time-crunched moms managing the daily tug of war between work and family.  I know we can all use some entertainment to get us through the day sometimes!  If you are a multi-tasker like I tend to be (or sometimes have no choice but to be) this site is for you. 

My 4 1/2 year old son has been sick the last couple of days so I’m trying to get as much done while he takes a nap and watches the TV shows he never gets to see during the day such as Go Diego Go, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, and the Backyardigans.  Yesterday he felt pretty bad so he mostly wanted me to sit with him while he watched the shows.  So I, too, got my Playhouse Disney and Nick Jr. fix!  He is much better today and has been bouncing off of the walls most of the time.  He’s taking a nap right now so I have a chance to work on this blog post without being interrupted every 30 seconds.  Earlier today he told me his head hurt when he talks so I told him not to talk.  He laughed and then said ‘not really, I’m kidding.’ For him ‘not talking’ is equivalent to ‘not breathing.’ 😀

I recently signed up for Mommy Track’d’s email newsletter and am looking forward to getting some entertaining ideas on what to do when one of our kids is home sick in the future.  It’s free to sign up for the email newsletter, you get valuable information, and if you are so overextended that you can’t even read straight you can unsubscribe easily and re-subscribe when it works for you.  At any rate, you should at least check out thier Hot Topics page and browse through their Message Boards.

The reason for the birth of Mommy Track’d : “While there are countless general parenting resources available today, we think working moms need a place to call their own. These juggling, struggling women have careers, families and friends. Some might even say they have a version of “it all.” What they didn’t have until now is an informative, fun website that speaks just to them. Now they do.”  Oh so true!  As they say, ‘it takes a village’ and us moms (whether working for pay or not – all moms work hard!) should always try to support each other so we can help make the world a better place!

Project Cuddle on Oprah
May 14 2007

I’ve decided that I need to start watching more Oprah.   I usually don’t have the opportunity to watch her show often, but on many occasions I hear about a show that I wished I had seen.  So now I’m recording them.  On Friday night I was able to watch two shows from last week.  One was called A Mother’s Day Special where Maria Shriver interviewed Demi Moore and Vanessa Williams on their motherhood experiences.  The other was a show Oprah called Cheers to You where she visited people at their place of work and then brought them on the show to experience the applause that she experiences almost every day.  On that show, she brought in a woman, Debbe Magnusen, who founded a program called Project Cuddle.  What an amazing program!!  Debbe helps pregnant women either become better equipped to mother their own kids or helps them find an adoptive family for her baby.  So far she has helped 570 babies and their families.  Pregnant women call her and she helps arrange prenatal care for them immediately.  She then helps identify the ‘perfect’ adoptive family.

Debbe happens to be friends with John Stamos’ mother and John has used his celebrity status to help promote Project Cuddle.  What a great thing to do!  I definitely agree with Oprah:  Cheers to YOU Debbe!

 Aruni

Happy Mother’s Day!
May 13 2007

Happy Mother’s Day from Babble Soft!  Our Mother’s Day special is still available through the end of May 2007.   I hope every mother is being treated like royalty this weekend.  On Saturday I took my son to his swim class, we went to a birthday party, I took a nap, then went to the mall (by myself!), and then my husband planned a date night for us.  It was nice going to the mall and having time to think about the things I wanted to buy, instead of having to make decisions in 5 seconds because one of the kids wants to be carried or is about to run off somewhere. 🙂  I went to Victoria’s Secret and bought some of my usual items (some on sale), bought some sunglasses from the $10/first pair, $5/second pair sunglass kiosk, and got some things for the kids at The Disney Store.  The Disney Store had beach towels (Nemo and Micky Mouse) for $9.99 each , and flip flops for $4 a pair!  I was feeling so good about my accomplishments, that I didn’t realize what time it was.  I had arrived at the mall around 5:00 pm and thought I had plenty of time…until my husband called to ask where I was.  I said “I’ll be home by 6:00 pm” and he said “it is 6:00 pm!”  I was surprised because I thought it was only 5:30 pm.  The girl at the Disney Store checkout laughed with me and helped me get out the door in a hurry!

After dinner at a nice local restaurant called Shoreline Grill, my husband got out his Blackberry and looked for jazz clubs.   We don’t get out much so we aren’t up to speed on the downtown club scene.  The place we went to is called The Elephant Room and it had a nice ambiance.  We got there around 9:00 pm, they said the band, Gnappy, would start at 9:30 pm, but they didn’t start until around 9:50 pm.  We had to leave at 10:00 so our baby sitters could go home.  We liked what we heard the 10 or so minutes we were there!  Maybe next time.

Today, we went with some friends for a nice brunch at Chez Zee.  They had balloon animals and face painting for the kids.  We came home and my husband took the kids across the street to play with the grand kids of one of our neighbors, and I was able to call my mom and have a nice mother’s day chat with her.  Both kids are napping now so I thought I’d take the opportunity to blog a little.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

Aruni

Motorola Q Smartphone
May 8 2007

Not only is the Motorola Q phone running Microsoft’s WM 5.0 compatible with Baby Manager Mobile, it also has a few other nice features.  It’s sleek, it fits nicely in dad’s pants pocket, a purse, or a diaper bag, and I believe it also serves as a good “here look at this” distraction toy for those ‘rare’ occasions that your baby might be fussy.  Although I’m sure parents have given it to their baby to use as a teether, I don’t think Motorola recommends that particular use.  You can also use it to try to keep up with your hectic life once baby arrives by having your schedule and emails at your fingertips.  You can easily text message your spouse with “I need help…where are you??” statements throughout the day with one hand while holding baby up and away from a diaper disaster.

For those interested in the new MotoQ 9H phone running WM 6.0 (unveiled at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona in February 2007) due out later this year with apparently even neater baby distracting features, we are working like crazy to make sure Baby Manager Mobile is compatible.  Every time Microsoft releases a new OS, us little mobile application developers invariably have to make some ‘tweaks’ to make sure our app works as designed.  We can never figure out why they keep making changes….maybe to see how many hoops we can jump through! 😀

Mother’s Milk – The Gift of Life
May 3 2007

When people ask me why I donated to the Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin, the first thought that comes to my mind is “For hope.  The hope that a fragile new baby has for survival.  The hope that his/her family hangs on to that they will bring them home soon.” 

When my first child was born over 4 1/2 years ago my life changed drastically.  Although our son was a healthy, full-term baby, I felt overwhelmed and had challenges establishing breast feeding.  I couldn’t even imagine what parents of sick, premature, and fragile infants had to deal with emotionally and physically.  When my daughter was born just over 2 years ago, breastfeeding was easier and I pumped a substantial amount of excess milk.  I didn’t want to throw away what is often referred to as ‘liquid gold,’ so I got in touch with the milk bank to learn more. 

After a quick phone screen, written approvals from my OB and our daughter’s pediatrician, and a blood test, I was approved.  I collected the milk in the containers provided by the milk bank, froze them, transported them in a cooler and dropped them off at a nearby hospital.  It was really easy.  My daughter often came with me to make the drops, and I was able to transport cooler, stroller, and baby with ease.  She would often slap the cooler and laugh/smile as we strolled up to the nurses station. 🙂 The milk bank also coordinates pick up days/times for those who do not have easy access to a drop off location.

Before I knew it, I had donated just over 500 oz which I later learned put me in a high volume donor category!  After I finished donating, MMBA sent me a wonderful certificate (now in her yet-to-be-completed baby book) made out to my daughter thanking her for sharing her milk with other babies.  I know she’ll feel good about being able to help other babies.  I know it’s strange but I looked at the certificate and looked at her and felt proud that we were able to help, together as mother and daughter, bring hope to people who were relying on hope to get them through each day.

During one visit to the milk bank, I took a tour and was fascinated to see how they collected, pasteurized, mixed, and stored the milk to specifications ideal for premature and sick babies.  It was amazing to see how my and other women’s milk could be used to help potentially save the life of a baby and make those fragile infants first days of life a little more comfortable.  Mother’s milk is less likely to upset their little tummies and more likely to give them energy to grow faster and get better sooner.  If you are interested in donating, there are milk banks located in the US and around the world who can give you more information on how best to share your ‘liquid gold.’  It’s a great thing to do and feels great doing it!

Aruni

The Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin (MMBA) is a nonprofit organization that accepts donations of breastmilk from healthy breastfeeding women, pasteurizes the milk, and dispenses it by prescription to premature and sick infants, primarily those in the hospital. MMBA is one of several milk banks in North America that is a member, and therefore follows the standards and guidelines, of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. Medical research clearly shows that premature infants are 6 to 10 times more likely to develop life-threatening intestinal diseases if fed formula instead of human breastmilk. If their own mothers are unable to provide milk for them, pasteurized donor milk is the next best choice.

Motherhood doesn’t have to get in the way of a high tech career
Apr 30 2007

On April 27, 2007 the Austin Business Journal printed an article written by Aruni, co-founder of Babble Soft.  If you have a subscription to the ABJ, you can read a version of the article here.  If not, following is the complete version:

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As a Tech Mompreneur running Babble Soft™, a company geared toward new parents, I get to combine my love for my kids with my love for running a business.  Every mom loves talking about their kids, and I get to do that every day!  And I don’t have to worry about whether people think I’m too “into” my family and not enough “into” my career.  Unfortunately, many women have to be careful of how often they discuss their kids at work and how often they take off time to spend with them.

Before having kids, I felt like I had something to prove and was on a mission to make a difference in this world.  I was the founding President/CEO of Isochron® (a Web and wireless company creating solutions for the bottling industry).  We raised $15 million in equity financing, grew the company to 35 people, and closed accounts with large, reputable companies like Coca-Cola.  Isochron survived the dot-com crash and was sold in 2002. After leaving in 2001, I taught entrepreneurship at the UT McCombs School of Business, consulted, and wrote.  I thought I knew what tired meant at this stage in my career, but didn’t truly know the meaning of the word until after my son was born in August 2002.

We left the hospital happy that we had a healthy baby, but emotionally and physically drained.  Our son decided he didn’t want to come out, so we induced six days after his due date and I ended up having an emergency C-section. 

When my husband went back to work, I started to panic, asking myself, “How will I remember everything I need to do now that my normal brain function is compromised by lack of sleep?”  I kept wondering out loud, “When did I last feed him?  And on what side?  How many times had I already pumped and how much had I pumped that day? When will this horrible pain (from the breast infection I’d contracted) go away?” Because I’m a “need-to-know” person, coming up with a system for tracking our son’s care became crucial to my coping with the topsy-turvy world of new parenthood.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that we weren’t the only ones using pen and paper to track the progress of their babies. We sympathized with friends and acquaintances over their frustrations about keeping months of notes on their newborns organized.  So we thought, “Why don’t we create something?” And, out of this need to know, Babble Soft and Baby Manager™ were born.  Now, I still want make a difference, but my desire to prove something to someone else has been tempered with my desire to be a great mother.

In 2005, Baby Manager was ready for our newborn daughter to be the first test case. Having a way to easily record her activities on a PDA was liberating.  Being able to take it everywhere, and having the information at my fingertips to reassure me my daughter was progressing normally, made the whole experience of taking care of a newborn much easier than the first time. Things went so well that I donated to the Mother’s Milk Bank at Austin (MMBA), a nonprofit organization that collects, pasteurizes, and dispenses donor milk for premature and sick infants.

During this time, we spoke with pediatricians and other birth specialists and realized that parents of premature babies would be particularly well-served by Baby Manager so we added features to better meet those parents’ needs.  We launched the new Web and mobile application in March 2007.

For me, starting Babble Soft has felt like a crusade to help new parents. Some people have questioned the need for Baby Manager, wondering if it was too much to know the time of every feeding and every diaper change, but for those with sick, premature, or multiple babies it’s a lifesaver.  And for those like me who “need to know,” it can bring a little sanity into an often very chaotic time.  I believe that informed parents are often more secure parents, and my goal is to continue creating products to help parents feel more secure.

So do moms and technology mix?  Yes, they do — now more than ever!  Women tend to have more education, make higher incomes, and have easier access to technology than their mothers did.  There are websites and community sites popping up everywhere, catering to this new type of mom who wants to stay connected to the world while spending more time with her kids.  I helped co-found the Tech Moms group within the Association for Women in Technology – Austin organization the year after my son was born to give moms who work in the technology field a forum for sharing their experiences.

Moms are using technology to run home-based businesses and to contribute on a part-time or full-time basis to other companies.  The availability of technology enables mothers to continue using their years of institutional education and work experience and stay connected to both the adult world and their kids.

Obviously, there’s no degree on how to raise your child correctly.  There’s a lot of learning on the fly. But it’s a great time to be a mom, whether today’s technology is a critical part of your professional career, your career as a parent, or – for people like me – both.

Happy Mother’s Day from Babble Soft
Apr 19 2007

To help celebrate Mother’s Day, Babble Soft is offering 20% off on purchases of any Baby Manager subscription during the month of May 2007.  Baby Manager is a wonderful and unique gift that is especially helpful for first-time parents, parents of premature/sick babies, or parents of multiples.  Gift cards and Email gifts available!  Please enter coupon code MOTHER#1 on the Purchase Form.

DadLabs – Building Better Dads
Apr 19 2007

Baby Proofing Your Marriage
Apr 15 2007

I just finished reading a new book called Baby Proofing your Marriage. I also recently met one of the authors, Stacie Cockrell.  She is a fellow MBA grad from The University of Texas at Austin and happens to be married to a venture capitalist that interestingly my husband and I had met briefly almost 10 years ago!  What a small world…or at least small town (Austin, TX).

This is a really great book! Funny, entertaining, and quick/easy to read.  It’s been a top seller at Amazon.com soon after its release in January 2007.

Several of the situations described in the book brought back memories of when my husband and I had some of the same “heated discussions” when our kids were babies. I’m now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and I think this book is a must-read for those still in the “trenches.”

The men will particularly appreciate Chapter 4, The “Sex Life” of New Parents: Coitus Non-Existus.

So if you are in Baby World or know anyone who is, this book will provide something interesting to talk about … and could save at least one trip to the marriage counselor. 🙂

A Critic Becomes a Friend
Apr 11 2007

Last month we issued a press release announcing the new version of Baby Manager. Naturally, we were excited because it represented the culmination of months of hard work. So imagine our dismay when a Google search to see if any news outlets had picked up the release found that we had been mentioned by a prominent blogger — whose initial reaction was negative.

The good news is that the blog post generated a lot of comments. And the even greater news is that breastfeeding activist Jennifer Laylock softened her stance when Aruni Gunasegaram, co-founder of Babble Soft, posted a comment explaining how she came to create the Baby Manager program and the purpose the software is intended to serve. She and Aruni exchanged friendly e-mails and the original negative comment actually turned into something positive.

We’re happy to recommend Jennifer’s blog, The Lactivist, as a great resource for breastfeeding moms and especially for those interested in donating to milk banks. Check out our Blogroll in the right-hand column for links to online resources worth checking out.

And to find out if Baby Manager is right for you, click on the links to take a tour or sign up for a free trial.

— Connie Reece

Babble Soft Introduces Web and Mobile Software to Ensure the Health of New Babies
Mar 6 2007

Babble Soft has announced the launch of its Baby Manager Web and Mobile software. Helping parents keep up with breastfeeding, pumping, bottle feeding, medicine doses, and diaper changes, Baby Manager keeps families connected and focused on the health and well-being of their newborns. Family members, caregivers, friends, or health care professionals anywhere in the world can log on to watch the growth and development of baby. Users can even share pictures and exchange notes.

When babies are born they become the true managers of our lives . . . especially the first several months after they enter our hearts and homes! Baby Manager is a software application, with Web and mobile options, designed to help parents figure out their baby’s patterns and cues to ensure his health and happiness. No more wondering: “When did baby last eat?” “When did mom last pump or breastfeed?” or “When did baby have his last dose of medicine?” Caregivers can quickly look up the last time baby ate, took medicine, or had her diaper changed to determine whether she might be hungry, tired, need another dose of medicine, or just wants to be held.

What’s more, for busy breastfeeding moms, keeping track of pumping and medicine intake helps with the management of stored breast milk. Also, when asked, “What did you do all day?” breastfeeding moms can proudly and confidently show a report online, on a mobile device, or on paper the time they spent feeding their baby which can range from 3 to 6 hours per day (i.e., 20 to 40 hours per week!) depending on the baby and the mom. The application summarizes the data in easy-to-read graphs and reports that can be printed out to show friends, family members, or health care professionals.

Babble Soft’s president, Aruni Gunasegaram, a serial entrepreneur and mother of two, explains, “What’s advantageous about Baby Manager Web is not only its ability to help parents easily keep up with the basic information required by most pediatricians in the first months of a baby’s life, but also its ability to keep families connected.”

“The Windows Mobile platform allows people to customize their devices to meet their individual needs,” said John Dietz, group product manager for Mobile and
Embedded Devices, Microsoft Corp. “Applications like Baby Manager Mobile continue to expand the ways people can manage both their workstyle and lifestyle all on one device.”