Did you know that August is the busiest travel month of the year?  With the August long weekend almost here, we want to share our 5 best tips for traveling with a baby.  A lot of people think traveling with a baby is tough.  It is different from when you traveled without kids, but it is totally doable.  And a postpartum trip can be wonderful to give the whole family a change of scene (as much as we love our city of Toronto, sometimes you just have to get out there!)  Visiting grandparents, extended family, or just taking some R&R, don’t let your new addition put yo ..read more

Have you seen the video for the Squatty Potty?  It features a unicorn pooping rainbow ice cream and a lot of talk about your sphincter. My 7-year-old daughter LOVES this video (Poops + unicorns = hilarity).  Shout out to my dad for sending it to us.  I've now had to listen to my daughter talking about unicorn poops for a week. Did you know that our bodies were designed to squat?  And not just for pooping. My 94-year-old grandmother squats when gardening and sometimes just to hang out.  She was born in Indonesia, and like many other Asian countries, squatting is conside ..read more

I was 35 when I found out I was pregnant for the first time.  I had been married for 2 years and had no intentions of starting a family for most of those 2 years.  At my annual physical, my doctor asked me about when I planned to have children.  I said, "oh you know, maybe at 40?"  I mean, there were lots of celebrities who were having babies over 40, and I was not feeling ready yet.  I sometimes wondered if I even wanted kids.  I grew up surrounded by kids - being the youngest child of much older siblings, I became an aunt at the ripe old age of 6.  (I have ..read more

It finally feels like the weather is warming up!  You can toss this easy, tasty salad together in 10 minutes for a healthy, fresh meal or snack.  The best part is, it can even sit out at room temperature for a few hours and will still taste delicious.  Perfect for potlucks or as a side to any bbq meat!  Enjoy! Refreshing Melon Salad Ingredients: Salad: 4 cups cantaloupe, cubed (you can use honeydew or seedless watermelon too - or a mix) 2 cups cucumber, sliced into half moons 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, washed and ..read more

Sleep is perhaps one of the hottest topics surrounding babies.  The one question new parents will always hear is "Is your baby sleeping through the night?" At Doula Care Journey, we are thrilled that author Elizabeth Pantley has shared her guide to newborn sleep with us.  And we're sharing it with you! Her book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution, is a recommended read from our postpartum doula team.  Even better, try to read it before your baby arrives!  It teaches you what is normal and expected of newborn sleep, so you can be prepared for the postpartum period.  It teaches w ..read more

The other day I was cleaning out a drawer and found my old iPod mini.  It was a fun trip down memory lane to plug it in and see what I was listening to at the time.  On it, I found a playlist titled “Labour”.  If you’ve been preparing for birth, you may have read or been told by someone to create a playlist for your birth experience.  For me, this was a no-brainer, since I love music.  Some people want their favorite pillow with them in the hospital; I wanted my iPod.  Why is music important for labour? Familiarity:  Like your favorite pair of fuzzy socks, f ..read more

With Father's Day coming up June 18th, I've started thinking about what it really means.  With families coming in so many flavours and combinations (LGBT families, surrogacy, single parents, adoptive parents) are these labels of Father’s Day (and Mother’s Day) outdated? What does it really mean? You can read all about the interesting history of the holiday here, but, like Mother’s Day, it's an attempt to select a day to honour parents and all the work they do.  I remember when I was about 5 proudly giving my dad a construction paper necktie I made in school.  He was perplexed. H ..read more

Parallels are often drawn between birth and other life experiences – usually not pleasant ones. Why is the bringing into the world of your baby – the arrival of the love of your life, the most joyous moment you will experience – painted in such bleak colours? Let’s for a moment equate birth to another physical feat we may choose to undertake... say a marathon. You sign up months in advance, you anticipate the day. In the months leading up to it, you try to eat well, maybe even do a few stretches here and there and take a Marathon Preparation class where you and other runners get together, perh ..read more

This post is about feeding a newborn baby, in a way that works for your family. Breast or bottle?  It doesn't need to be either/or.  (But it can be).  What matters is this: 1)  Is your baby getting the nourishment he/she needs to grow and thrive? 2)  Are the parents feeding the baby in such a way that physically, emotionally and financially works for them? That's it. There is SO much pressure for new parents (and especially moms!) surrounding feeding.  Like many things that parents do, this is a hot-button topic that will draw ire and judgement from all around you ..read more

Looking for a quick meal you can throw together before baby wakes from a nap?  BONUS:  it's freezable, so you can make it ahead of time. I love lasagna.  Growing up it was a special occasion meal because it took my sister (the world's best lasagna maker) all day to make it.  But I'm a working mom who's short on time.  So when I'm craving homemade lasagna taste I put this together.  And it tastes even better the next day! Lazy Lasagna Serves 6 (or 4 really hungry people). Ingredients: 450 g pasta (any short kind will do - rotini, penne, shells, macaroni) 1 jar toma ..read more