With cold and flu season around the corner, it is especially important to wash your hands often.  Change a diaper? Wash your hands.  About to cook?  Wash your hands.  But is there someone you have forgotten?  Your baby!

As you know, there is nothing more sweet smelling than a freshly bathed baby.  Most are bathed once a day, sometimes twice… but their hands?  They normally aren’t something you think to wash separately, other than at bath time.

But as your baby gets older, he or she will be grabbing more objects, touching more floors and playing with favorite toys, pacifiers and play gyms.  So during the day, take a moment to wipe your baby’s hands with a gentle soap and water mixture.  It may be enough to keep the sneezes away!

Although pregnancies are all different, there is always one common thread. We gain weight!  But what part is baby, and what part is not?  Here are some interesting statistics from the March of Dimes on the average weight gain during pregnancy.

For starters, the average total weight gain during pregnancy is between 25 to 35 pounds.  By the end of your pregnancy, the average distributions of these pounds are:

Your Beautiful Baby - 7.5 pounds

Protein, Fat and other Nutrients in Mom - 7 pounds

Fluid - 4 pounds

Breast Enlargement - 2 pounds

Uterus - 2 pounds

Amniotic Fluid - 2 pounds

Placenta - 1.5 pounds

If my ob/gyn were to map this out during my first pregnancy, you would also see about four pounds added for Taco Bell, and an additional three for chocolate peanut butter yogurt shakes!