How To Wean Baby Off The Bottle! And Nuby Sippy Cup Review!

Babies (and parents) have a steep learning curve in the first few years in nearly every category, drinking included. Breastfeeding is best, no doubt, but even being the most 'natural' way of feeding your baby, that, too, requires a process of learning, practicing, and getting used to before it actually feels 'natural'.

The funny thing about the learning curve, it seems, like with drinking, once the child gets used to one means or method— ie. the routine is mastered— it's time to move onto the next... challenge. Good news is, the more times the child overcome a 'challenge', or stage of development, the quicker they learn and are able to adjust next time around.

Like most (if not all) topics in parenting, there is no one or right way of transitioning your child off the bottle and onto a sippy cup. The process starts around 12 to 16 months old.

To transition, some parents might just do it cold turkey. One day, they'll just take the bottle away and only offer a sippy cup. The child might refuse for a day or two but will quickly take to the sippy cup because, really, there is no other choice. It'll be a rough few days for both parties but, once passed, the tides will calm again.

Alternatively, some parents might do it gradually— perhaps provide the sippy cup only at a certain mealtime(s) and not the bottle; or perhaps offer the sippy cup at every meal and resort to the bottle if needed.

A few things to remember in either case is...

• Look for signs that the child is ready. Biting through the nipple is one example. Seeing like-age kids use sippy cups is another.
• Keep offering the sippy cup even if you 'know' your baby will likely refuse. Like introducing new foods, which sometimes might take 15-20 times (or more!) of offerings before the child will eat and maybe even like the new food, it might take a while and definitely requires repetition and persistence, not to mention patience.
• Remember: There is no right or wrong time/way to transition your child off the bottle. Weaning your baby off the bottle is the same as weaning him/her off the breast— it should depend on both you and your child.

Below is piecesofm's second episode of the mini-series From Baby Bottles To Sippy Cups, where she reviews the very first sippy cup she tried post-baby-bottle— the Nuby Sippy Cup. Have you tried it? What did you think? Or, will you try it? Share your thoughts and experiences below, we'd love to hear! :>

Enjoy and thanks for watching!



Happy Healthy Juicy Transitioning To Sippy Cups!

From Bottles To Sippy Cups! Avent Baby Bottle Review!

There is a lot of baby gear out there and it can be quite overwhelming when it comes to figuring what to buy and what's best for both baby and you. Drinkware for the kiddies is no exception.

Choosing a bottle can be a task in and of itself when baby is kicking around in the womb and you have a million of other things to do research on and purchase. Nonetheless, though, they're pretty standard knowledge. Most, at least, know what bottles are and what they vaguely look like, right? But just wait til you get to the store and there's a wall full of them in all shapes, colors, textures, materials, sizes, and prices.

And, as if that weren't enough, after you choose a bottle, a year later, where do you go from there? Welcome to the land of sippy cups, straw cups, lidded cups, so on and so forth.

In this new mini-series, piecesofm shows you her journey From Baby Bottles To Sippy Cups, reviews the drinkware she tried, what to look for, what she learned and how she helped her daughter transition her way through the land of drinkware to the bowl/cup.

In this first episode, piecesofm starts from the beginning, reviewing the Phillips Avent baby bottle.



Have baby bottle opinions of your own? Share below, we'd love to hear! :> Happy Healthy Juicy Baby's First Drinkware! :>

How To Buy HealthyButJuicy Kid's Yogurt!

What is essentially bacterial fermented milk— yogurt— has come a long way within the last five decades or so, not surprisingly along with America's tech-savvy of playing with food and its expanding waistline.

Remember Colombo Yogurt? Remember its minimal Ingredients List? Supposedly, it was one of the pioneers to introducing Americans to yogurt in the late 1920s and then was later bought out by General Mills, only to be discontinued because of Yoplait.

Yoplait! You know, the brand with that commercial where the woman is telling her friend on the phone all the delicious 'food' she's been eating while losing weight, while her husband is eaves-dropping and frantically looking in the fridge for her goodies. He missed the stacks of light yogurt right in front of him with flavor names such as: Thick & Creamy Cinnamon Roll, Black Forest Cake, Apple Turnover, Red Velvet Cake, Boston Creme Pie, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Thick & Creamy Cherry Cobbler... Pretty much every decadent baked good you can think of in the form of yogurt.

Sigh.

According to Wikipedia:

Yogurt's popularity in the United States was enhanced in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was presented as a health food.

Sigh again. And there began the demise of yogurt. Deem anything healthy and you can count on Americans to bastardize it. (No offense, America... love you.) But now, yogurt doesn't just take a slither of an aisle but spans an entire one. So many options! Lions and tigers and flavors and sizes and prices and consistencies and packaging and nutritional profiles, o my!

But still, we'd like our kids to eat yogurt because of those originally-known benefits— live cultures, or 'good bacteria'— as well as source of calcium and protein. But how and/or which to choose??

Run down the whole yogurt aisle and watch and learn which are HealthyButJuicy's top picks and why!



Agree or disagree with what you saw? Comment below your thoughts, opinions, and tastes! We'd love to hear! :>

Trader Joe's Bacon & Spinach Salad Review!

There's a lot of food out there. With so much to choose from, it's hard to tell what's healthy and what isn't. So HealthyButJuicy is starting a new series of food/product reviews! Want something tested and reviewed? Comment below your requests and we might just try it! :>

Salad = Healthy, right? An olio of fresh produce and unsaturated fat for dressing usually is but 'salad' has come a long way in how we classify the dish. Depending on what's in it and how much you eat, salad can actually be more unhealthy than a value meal at McDonalds! Seriously.

In this episode of HealthyButJuicy Reviews, we taste and rate Trader Joe's Bacon & Spinach Salad. We love Trader Joe's but just like Whole Foods, their products aren't always necessarily good for you. By law, ingredients are listed by weight; this product's name (unfortunately) is not much different and, well, the name says it all.

We love salads and getting pre-made ones like this is a great means of 'fast food' when grabbing a quick bite for lunch. But how does this salad rate in terms of nutrition, value, and taste? Watch and find out!



What kind of salad have you eaten lately? Comment below and tell us about it, we'd love to hear! :>

What A Nutritionist's Daughter Eats

If you ever wonder what a nutritionist's daughter eats, this is something along the lines of what it looks like: From left to right: Noodles, No-Salt-Added Stew [Pork, Tomatoes, Edamame, Carrots], Baby Bok Choy— all on an alphabet plate! :>— accompanied by Whole Milk.

You've got your carbs, protein, vegetables, fiber, rainbow, fat, calcium, and explosion of taste. It's a win-all situation— good and good for you!

So what are you feeding yourself and/or your kids these days? Comment below, we'd love to hear! :>

Happy Healthy Juicy Feeding Our Future Right! :>

The Final Outcome Of Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong confesses. Finally. What a relief! To everybody. Believers, non-believers, those sued, the integrity of the Tour de France, the 'second place' runner-ups, himself!, his family, and, most importantly, his five children!

Credit: ABCNews


While there is obvious reason to be upset at Lance— he lied, he cheated, he attacked, he stole— there are also lessons to gain and perhaps things to be thankful for, including these...

Public Figures Are Human Too. Putting too much faith in public figures can be dangerous if you uphold them to a higher level, seemingly beyond human, which many fall prey to. Perhaps, yes, they can be classified in a different category than the 'average human', given income level and media attention, but nonetheless, however much fame and fortune, they are still human, have their flaws, and will make mistakes just like the rest of us. The scale in which they do might just be exacerbated by the aforementioned 'un-averageness'.

If It's Too Good To Be True, It Is. We all love a fairy tale story, a story of heroism and greatness, and want so much to believe in them, perhaps, because they give us hope and inspiration. If the story does that— motivates and makes us a better version of who we are— then the story has done its job and take it for just that.

Media Literacy! It needs to be an ongoing requirement in our educational system. And so does psychology and understanding mental illness for that matter. Perhaps, then, maybe so many wouldn't be so shocked and outraged. For children, it's different and they are excused as they are still heavily in the process of basic learning and don't know any better. But by the time we reach adulthood, we should be decently able to distinguish between fantastical and reality. Winning the Tour de France seven times? Sounds pretty fantastical. Reference to previous point.

As for psychology and mental illness? The extremist nature of this whole story seems like it could only have been crafted by a man (or inkling of?, whichever) who has a serious mental disorder, including extreme narcissism and hero syndrome. Does everyone get that or does everyone just choose to be angry. Granted, it's 'easy' to blame fault on the intangible, so-called illness of the mind, but the mind is a very powerful and still highly enigmatic portion of our anatomy.

Focus On The Good And The Future. Thankfully, no one was hurt, at least not physically in this whole mess. Cancer patients and their families, amongst others, at least, however, found comfort, hope, and strength in Lance's story, whether or not it was true, in the times they really needed it. Livestrong has helped thousands, if not millions, in the fight against cancer. Just see what they've done.

None of us are perfect. That doesn't excuse what Lance did but do you believe in forgiveness? Comment below and share your thoughts, we'd love to hear what you have to say!

Happy LiveHealthy LiveJuicy LiveIntegrity!

New Year's Resolutions and Goals!

Some of you might be reading the title of this post and be thinking: New Year's Resolutions?? That was two weeks ago, that's so old news! Tis the season to post about... Valentines Day! :>

While it may seem late, though, I think this is actually the perfect time to talk about resolutions and goals. People are too busy with family, traveling, shopping, and the holiday hubbub to seriously think about the new year and reflect on the past one. Or at least I am. So, as about 50% maybe? lop off and completely forget about their resolutions, I set out to both start and share mine, as I'm in it for the long haul, the whole year, the whole life, in fact.

I approached my new year's resolutions/goals via various categories of my life— health, social, recreational, career etc. This is not the only way to do it, it's just how I did.

I used to be against new year's resolutions but have changed my mindset and approach about it. You should continually be trying to improve yourself (and there's always need for improvement! always!) but really take the time to reflect on both the good and not-so-good of the past and how you can make the future even better.



So what are your HealthyButJuicy resolutions and goals this year? Comment below! We're always curious to hear what people are working on and thinking. Perhaps it might be something we have to add to our list! :>

Cheers! And thanks for watching, visiting, and reading!

Happy Healthy Juicy New Year! Wishing you lots of laughs and accomplishments in this new year!