I am the author of numerous books about pregnancy and parenting, including The Mother of All Pregnancy Books, The Mother of All Baby Books, The Mother of All Toddler Books, The Mother of All Parenting Books, The Mother of All Pregnancy Organizers, Sleep Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler: The Ultimate No-Worry Approach for Each Age and Stage and Mealtime Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler: The Ultimate No-Worry Approach for Each Age and Stage; and more. ... http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/anndouglas Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:34:02 -0600 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.squidoo.com/babysleepquestions There's nothing like being chronically sleep deprived to turn an exhausted parent into a sleep research junkie. You comb the Internet, desperately seeking answers to your biggest baby sleep questions. But sometimes those answers can be surprisingly elusive -- and the information you turn up can be contradictory or guilt-inducing. (Why does the subject of sleep have to push so many "guilt buttons" anyway?) To help sleep-deprived parents find the information they're seeking, I have created this guide to parents' top seven baby sleep questions. kids Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:16:16 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/babysleepbooks There are entire bookstore sections devoted to the topic of babies and sleep. So how can you figure out which baby sleep books are most likely to be right for your family, given your parenting style, your baby's age and stage, and your family's unique circumstances? That's the aim of this lens -- to provide you with mini-reviews of the major sleep books on the market today, so you can make an informed choice. I've also included information about my own sleep book, Sleep Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler, a book which expands on the material provided in this lens by explaining the science and parenting philosophies behind each of the major sleep training schools of thought; interviewing parents about their experiences with the various sleep training methods; and providing a no-guilt approach to making peace with the issue of sleep as a family. kids Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:13:18 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/happyandsuccessfulauthor   I've been writing books since 1997. During that time, I've written 28 books. A few have tanked. Some have sold extremely well. And a couple have become bestsellers. I've learned a lot during about the publishing business over the past nine years. Here's the lowdown on some of the most important things I've learned -- tips that may help you to become a happier and more successful author. arts Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:21:41 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/marchofdimes..getreadytogetpregnant A generation or two ago, pregnancy care started about two months into pregnancy -- around the time of the second missed menstrual period. At that point, the doctor advised the mom-to-be that it would probably be a good idea to start eating properly, to cut back on her smoking and drinking, and to otherwise start taking better care of herself for the sake of her baby-to-be. Times certainly have changed. Not only has our knowledge of what's healthy for mom and baby done a 180 degree shift. Today, we know that it's best to start planning for a healthy pregnancy prior to conception. This is because one of the key periods of development for the baby occurs during the first few weeks of pregnancy -- before a woman even knows that she is pregnant. Leading infant and maternal health advocacy organizations such as The March of Dimes now encourage parents-to-be to plan for a healthy conception and a healthy pregnancy. There's greater emphasis than ever before on starting preconception health planning early before and involving both the mom-to-be and her partner. This lens highlights some tools and articles on the The March of Dimes website that I have found particularly useful in my work as a pregnancy author and as a columnist for Conceive Magazine, and other pregnancy and parenting publications and health websites. - Ann Douglas P.S. Check out these preconception and pregnancy tools at PregnancyLibrary.com. health Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:00:08 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/backtoschoolguide Hey, moms and dads, it’s back to school time again -- that crazy time of year when you might as well just camp out in the mall parking lot rather than driving back and forth across town in some unending quest for all the back-to-school essentials. (Of course, if you've got a kid in that delightful "I have to visit all the malls in town before I purchase a single item of clothing" stage, you'll have to rethink your strategy a little to allow for multiple treks to multiple mall parking lots.) Just remember to pace yourself, folks: we've got the entire month of September ahead of us. (Forget what T.S. Eliot said: it's not April that’s the cruelest month -- it's September!) Here are some tips on surviving the Mother of All Challenges -- back to school time! kids Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:02:52 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/bestthingsaboutbeingpregnant If you've spent most of the past few weeks holed up in the bathroom battling morning sickness, you may have lost sight of all the perks that go along with being pregnant. After all, there's nothing like waves of nausea to dampen one's enthusiasm for this whole pregnancy thing! So just in case you're feeling more queasy than celebratory about your new-found maternal status, allow me to take you on a guided tour of the top ten pregnancy perks. kids Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:02:27 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/babysleep It can be difficult to track down answers to baby sleep questions when you're sleep-deprived and trying to rock a baby in your arms. That's where this lens fits in. You'll find links to baby sleep articles and the best sleep research resources on the web (especially those that focus on baby sleep) and help in finding the answers to some of your toughest baby sleep questions. I hope this information will be helpful to you and your wide-eyed little one. - Ann Douglas Related: Baby sleep articles 8 summer sleep strategies Shedding some light on the issue of sleep kids Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:58:20 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/mealtimesolutions WHETHER it's a toddler who forces you to rethink the whole concept of "leisurely dining," a preschooler who redefines pickiness, or the day-to-day challenge of getting dinner on the table, this lens offers some parent-proven solutions for dealing with your family’s toughest mealtime problems -- all inspired by the research for my most recent book Mealtime Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler.     kids Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:38:53 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/parentingbooks There's never been a shortage of advice for new moms -- particularly really bad advice. In this lens, I pay tribute to some of the most crazy-making baby-care advice moms have received over the years. kids Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:55:23 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/sleeplinks The purpose of this lens is to give you some important information about sleep (or, rather sleep deprivation) -- information that can dramatically improve the quality of your life whether you're pregnant, a new mom, or a mom who hasn't had a decent night's sleep since you welcomed your first child. Once you see the types of topics we'll be discussing in this lens -- sleep deprivation and postpartum depression; how sleep deprivation can impact on your relationship with your partner; how sleep deprivation can impact on your enjoyment of motherhood -- you'll see that sleep has a critical role to play in your physical and emotional health as well as your ability to be the type of parent you want to be. The majority of this lens is devoted to sharing strategies for helping you to maximize your opportunities for sleep -- and the quality of your sleep -- while you're waiting for baby's sleep cycles to mature and your baby to start sleeping for longer than two-and-a-half hours at a time. Much of the material in this lens is drawn from one of the chapters on mothers and sleep in my book Sleep Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler. (Yes, the book is mainly about babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, but I start out by giving mothers the tools to take care of their own most urgent sleep needs first so that they will have the patience, creativity, and problem-solving skills needed to solve their babies' sleep problems. (Research has shown that sleep deprivation takes a toll on your ability to think creatively, solve problems, and make good decisions.) - Ann Douglas, Author of Sleep Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler; mother of four health Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:56:08 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/baby-food Making your own baby food not only allows you to make great-tasting food from the freshest and most wholesome foods available: it also allows you to create foods of different textures. This is important because learning to handle foods of increasingly complex textures is every bit as important for your child as developing a taste for a variety of different foods. Start introducing thin purées at age six months (or whenever you and your healthcare provider think your baby is ready) and continue to introduce increasingly complex textures on an ongoing basis, as your baby proves she is capable of handling them. Note: You can find some basic instructions for making your own baby food at Wholesomebabyfoods.com. You might also enjoy these recipes recommended by the parents who served on the advisory panel for my book Mealtime Solutions for Your Baby, Toddler, and Preschooler. (Click on the "recipe" category.) kids Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:45:52 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/kidslearning Being creative is good for the soul at any age, and it's a great stress-reliever when you're raising kids. So if you're having one of those extra-challenging days with your toddler or preschooler, why not pull out the art supplies and watch the mood go from terrible to, well, a little less terrible. (We're talking glue-sticks, people, not magic wands.) Then, when you get some time to yourself at some point in your day, journal, blog, paint, or otherwise nurture your own creativity. It's a great way to ease the stress that goes along with being a parent and to do something nice for yourself at the same time. diy Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:46:59 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/summerparenting It's summertime and the living is easy -- if you know how to tackle some of the parenting challenges that go along with the season of relaxed routines. Here's a quick guide to sidestepping potential summer snafus so you can focus on enjoying the fun of the season and the many joys of being a parent. Ann Douglas, mom of four, pregnancy and parenting author, Yahoo! Parenting blogger Need more summer parenting ideas? Visit my pregnancy and parenting article archives @ Yahoo! Canada. kids Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:42:07 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/pregnancybooks Think pregnant women are on the receiving end of a lot of bad advice today? That's nothing new. Moms-to-be have always been magnets for wacky advice from friends, relatives, doctors, nurses, and well-meaning and not-so-well-meaning strangers. Here's a quick snapshot of some of the advice moms have received in pregnancy and parenting advice books over the past 50 years. kids Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:52:49 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/motherofall Pregnancy and parenting are my "day job." (I write pregnancy and parenting books for a living.) And I recently launched a blog @ Yahoo! Parenting in Canada. (You can access a number of my pregnancy, parenting, and baby articles on the site, too.) Pregnancy and parenting have also been my passion, obsession, or whatever you want to call it for the past 19 years -- ever since I found out I was pregnant with my first child. So it only made sense to devote my first lens to these two topics. I've since "spun off" a fair number of lenses as this lens has continually outgrown its space -- and I imagine I'll continue to do so. So don't be surprised if the lens looks different each time you visit. I'm always renovating around here! - Ann kids Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:24:22 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/anndouglas WELCOME I'm Ann Douglas -- author, mother of four, Squidoo-er. This lens provides a few basic facts about me as well as some links to my favorite online resources about writing. people Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:45:37 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/pregnancyandparenting It's here. And it's free. I know: it was poor planning on the part of Mother Nature: giving you a complex piece of equipment like a baby without so much as a pamphlet full of operating instructions. So here you are, frantically searching the Internet for baby care information (or possibly tips on getting the baby out in the first place). Lucky for you, you've stumbled upon this page at Squidoo because I've created a quick guide to some of the fabulous parenting lenses that can be found at Squidoo. The result is this lens. Because you and your baby will be going through all kinds of exciting changes during the months and years ahead this lens is organized into the following modules, which follow each age and stage as well as a couple of key themes: 1. Maybe a Baby.... (conceiving of becoming parents) 2. Positively Pregnant (pregnancy) 3. The Gear Guide (shopping for baby) 4. Oh, Baby! (baby's first year) 5. Toddler Mania (ages one and two) 6. Parent Zone (parenting info) 7. Activity Guide (activities for kids and parents to do together) 8. Family Travel Guide (family travel info) 9. Projects and Causes (charity walks and other family projects) 10. When Life Has Other Plans (unexpected circumstances) Note: This lens was compiled in the days before Squidoo Groups. I try to keep it current by adding newer lenses. I always welcome your suggestions for additions. Thanks. kids Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:31:16 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/tvdeadlikeme I caught an episode of Dead Like Me by chance -- and was hooked instantly. I mean, what's not to love about a comedy about death? The show points out that life is random and unpredictable and unfair -- and yet you're still expected to abide by a certain set of rules regardless. It features a teenaged heroine with a ruthlessly dark sense of humor. And it dares to laugh at life and death and all the crazy rituals we humans engage in -- like the office going away party for someone no one particularly knew or liked. moviesandtv Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:44:33 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/groups..authors AUTHORS @ SQUIDOO This group is for authors and those who love them (or who put up with them despite their occasionally crazy-making ways). If you've created a lens that focuses on books or book publishing or what it takes to have a happy and successful career as an author, this is the group for you. Author bio lenses are also welcome -- either those created by individual authors themselves or by others who enjoy that author's work. people Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:59:00 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/groups..pregnancy PREGNANCY AND PARENTING GROUP Welcome to the pregnancy and parenting group @ Squidoo -- the place for lenses on everything pregnancy and parenting-related, including adoption, sleep solutions, breastfeeding, family mealtimes, shopping for baby, baby and toddler discipline, fun activities for parents and kids to enjoy together, traveling as a family, parenting a school-aged child -- and so much more. arts Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:30:46 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/groups..memorabilia-and-ephemera Memorabilia and Ephemera If your lens talks about old books, catalogs, postcards, stamps, and other treasures from days gone by, this is the place for you. Here are some Wikipedia definitions of memorabilia and ephemera (from Wikipedia), just in case you're wondering where one begins and the other ends. Ephemera is "transitory written and printed matter, not intended to be retained or preserved." Memorabilia are items that are "valued for a connection to a historical event, culture or entertainment. Such items include cigarette cards, air sickness bags, publicity photographs, posters, entertainment-related merchandise, movie memorabilia, and other, often-licensed, items." diy Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:53:10 -0600