Good morning! I'm Laura I'm with St. Louis Children's Hospital. Hi, I'm Kendra
and I'm also with St. Louis Children's Hospital. Thank you so much for joining
us. We are actually on the eighth floor rooftop garden at Children's so there's
no wind machine this is just natural hair movement that you're seeing. We
wanted to introduce ourselves to you guys. We are going to start a series called
MomTalks. It's going to be a Facebook live series happening every Friday at 11 a.m.
starting today, right now. We just wanted to introduce ourselves. Yeah, we're really
excited about this project. What it basically comes from is we're both moms
and we get it. Parenting is scary. I have a one-year-old and I am always
second-guessing myself. I'm always thinking am I reacting the right way and am
I utilizing my resources the right way. Doesn't it always just feel like
you're kind of just piecing things along and trying to... It's a terrifying guessing
game when you've got tiny humans and you're trying to do what's best for them
and what's best for you as a mom, a dad, an uncle, a guardian, or a babysitter.
Don't let MomTalks fool you. I think this is for anyone who cares about a
tiny person. We're going to be talking about everything A to Z when it comes to
caring for babies, toddlers, school-aged kids, teenagers, and kids going off to college.
I mean I still call my mom and ask her questions and I'd like to think she
hasn't had to parent me for a little while but snotty-noses, crusty eyes,
everything grows really. When you think about it, it could be cause
for concern when you're a mom and you just don't have that reassurance.
That's why we wanted to start this series, just to help piece some of those
things together for everyone. I think one thing
that's really great is that we want to hear from you guys. We want to hear what
topics concern you as moms, dads, uncles, aunts, whatever. Is it that baby's not
sleeping? Does cry it out emotionally scar a baby for life. I'd like
to think not. That's what I did. I waited it out of time. There you go. I
think everyone has their different parenting styles and we're just here to
educate, support, have some fun, and show off our beautiful hospital as a
resource to people. I have three kiddos. My oldest son is six. His name is
Connor and he started kindergarten this year which I'm fine. She cried a little. I'm fine now.
I've coped and I've accepted it. He's doing awesome and loves it.
Then, I have twin, almost three-year-old boys as well. I have tiny little dudes
taking over my house all the time and and being a mom of multiples it's hard
too so hopefully we'll get to talk about that a little bit as well. I welcomed
my beautiful little girl Harper Joy, who if ever meet me I can't stop talking about
her. She's the light of my life. She just turned one and yeah I'm okay. I'm okay.
I am the quintessential working mom. My daughter is in daycare. She's crawling
up a storm. She says mama and dada really really well.
And at any moment now she's going to start walking and I can't wait. But on the
other hand, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Isn't that a funny mom thing you just wait and wait and
wait for your kids to hit these milestones; like oh you cannot wait until
you're off the bottle and and you have cups. Then you're like oh my goodness
cups are everywhere and everything is spilling. Then you're like I can't
wait for you to talk, and now my children will not stop talking. I can't imagine what mine will say. I can't even
I can't even imagine the stories that our kindergarten teacher hears about our home
life. I'm sure calls will be made sometime this year. Isn't that
funny that you just push and you want all these milestones, then they
happen, like walking and you're like oh our house is a deathtrap.
What were we thinking? That's kind of the topics that we're going to hear
about so we really really want to hear from you guys. We want to know what you
guys are nervous about and what plagues your homes that you're thinking
about. You know, we took a stab at making our own baby food. It worked out for the
oldest kid. It didn't work out for the twins. It was just way too much happening,
but we took a stab at it. We tried it. I have never done cloth diapers but I'm
more than happy to have that be a topic and we can find out the pros and the
cons and does it really help make your life a little easier, because isn't that
really what it's about? Our point is to be really approachable and we want you to
see us as a partner because we're right in there with you. I mean, this past
year, I've worried about things I never thought I would worry about. I can't
tell how many times I looked at my
husband and I went, "Harper isn't feeding herself. What's wrong? Why won't she feed
herself." He goes, "Kendra when she's 16 we're not going to be having this
conversation. She will learn to do it." She did. She did of course. You
know, why won't you take a sippy cup or okay now she's got this really weird snot
thing going on. Does she have allergies? What's it coming from? Oh my goodness, is
she allergic to our dog or is she allergic to the outdoors. It's a conversation. I was telling Laura this story this
week, where...This is a good one. So, bad mom left the room and I come back
and there is that ointment cream all over my floor. Here's my daughter playing
with it. Here's my dog next to it and it's all ripped open. so I can only
kind of piece together what I think happened here, so of course we're
first-time parents. My husband and I kind of go through the panic. Do we need to
call a doctor? Do we need to go to the doctor? Did she eat some? Did the dog eat
some? Do we need to call poison control as delicious as it sounds? Right?
We're looking at her hands. Did you eat any? Did you get it on your...did you
put it all over your body? We ended up calling poison control. Dog and
baby are both fine. You know we're laughing about it right now,
but in the moment, it's kind of scary. Absolutely. You know, we all have those
kinds of stories and the great thing about MomTalks is that we're going to
bring in all of these professional resources that we have to offer here at
St. Louis Children's Hospital, in our clinics, and our after
our care. You know it's not just doctors. It's not just doctors. We have a
fantastic nursing staff. We have car seat technicians. We have
practitioners. We have all these resources out there. We also have
resources as far as buildings. It's not always the ER. They have the after hours
clinic and the specialty care clinic, so we want to bring these resources to
you. So you have a better idea about what you can do when these crazy things happen. All the
when, where, how do you get there questions. Absolutely!
So again, MomTalks is going to air every Friday at 11:00 a.m.
Our first one actually takes place on October 12th. I will be the host of that
and we will be down in our emergency department talking to some of the
physicians down there and talking to the nurses down there. Basically, what happens
the first time you feel you have to go to the emergency department? Who are you
going to meet? Where do you park because you're going to be in a really
uncomfortable, very scary place and we want to help prepare you for that as
much as possible. So again we'll be down in our emergency department on October
12th at 11:00 a.m. We're going to do a first time for everything as our theme
throughout October, so emergency department. Then we're going to head over to
our specialty care center and do the first time your child has to have minor
surgery. I had something similar but two of my three boys had to have ear tubes put
in because of chronic ear infections. What does that look like? Where do you go?
How do you check in? I think we have a question. We have two questions. All
right! First question is how can people suggest topics or ask ideas? That's a
great question. Commenting on here would be wonderful.
You can also message us through Facebook at the St. Louis Children's Hospital
Facebook page. Kendra and I are actually the ones fielding those so it's a great
way to submit topics, questions, and any areas you'd like to...
We're here to be a resource, so if you left and you don't feel like
your question was answered, please let us know. We'd love to address it for you.
Next question is how can people watch episodes if they miss it live? Oh that's
a great question! We're going to be live like we said every Friday at 11:00. Then
we're going to publish these so they'll be on the feed for St. Louis Children's
Hospital, but then we're going to also publish them on our YouTube page as well
as our ChildrensMD website which is actually where you can find other
resources on topical information from our mom Doc's. Absolutely the MomDoc's
are another great resource and all of the videos will live there. What a
great opportunity for you to go back, re-listen to something, rewind, pause, and
fast-forward. Yep. Make sure you've got the names correct and everything like that,
so it's always there. It's always going to live there for you. Perfect! Another
question: This is actually a topic suggestion. Can we discuss
difficulties of children transitioning to school. Some are
experiencing behavioral issues. Absolutely!
The bedtime routine and getting a new teacher. Maybe you don't see eye to eye
with your teacher. How do you come to that common ground especially after you
had like such a wonderful experience and then the transition is hard for your
child? It's hard for you too. Getting homework for the first time like I don't
know how we're going to handle that Absolutely, I love it! We should do like a
whole back-to-school... I love that. I mean I feel like we could fill several hours
like that so I think we could break that up and do a whole topic and have several
episodes on it. Even relationship with your peers. You know, I think about that
as the mother of a daughter. You know just relationships with your peers, being kind,
bullying, any of that. You know some stages are just difficult, high school,
junior high, kindergarten. Love it! You know, that's a great idea!
Keep them coming because we're going to be here whether you send us stuff or not. We'll
just talk about what we want to and find out about what we want, but it's really for you
guys, really to be informative, and to meet you where you're at in your
parenting stages, I guess. What else? Are we missing anything? I think what's really
cool is that we're going to be talking about the ages that our kids are at, so Laura
you're going to see school-age and younger kids. You're going to see me on babies and
infants because that's where I'm at. I'm babyproofing my house right now.
Yep. Another topic suggestion already is potty training regression. Preach. So, the
twins are two and a half. They're going be three in January. Dylan has fully
embraced this because he is incentive-based.
I brought a bribe and I am okay with it. So, M&Ms for everywhere.
Alex is kind of like ehh, not so into it. He does not care that he's not getting M&Ms. He does
not care that Dylan is getting M&Ms. I'm sure we should talk to a child
psychologist about how much I'm probably traumatizing my children. They'll pay for
therapy when they get older, but absolutely. Potting training is so difficult and
all I keep hearing is, "It's okay. They're not going to go to college in diapers."
I'm like I don't want to wait that long. Love it! Let's do it! I'll be listening
you know I'll be there in a year or so. Yeah accidents happen but like how many
accidents is too much, making it through night time, or how do you even
get started with that conversation. Right! That's what I've been thinking about. Is it
cold turkey. I've heard some people say oh my gosh do pull-ups,
the nighttime undies, or just straight up cold turkey..ope all the
diapers broke. This is what we do now. I mean there's so many options, so I love
it. I love that! Love it! Keep 'em coming everybody. Yeah seriously, even if the live
video has stopped and you've got more keep adding them in the comments and we
will address them. We'll see them. We're fun and we like to
hang out and hear from you guys. How about controversial questions like
flu shots or other vaccines. Flu season is coming. We were just talking about that. Flu season is upon us. So our first series is going
going to be about a first time for everything, so the first time your child
has a food allergic reaction, the first time you have to go to the emergency
department which will be on October 12. But next, we're going to do one Baby It's
Cold Outside. Baby It's Cold Outside. I think we're gonna touch on flu there
too and the importance of getting flu shots. We'll have one of our amazing
infectious disease doctors because there's so many resources here at
Children's. So, we're going to have one of our awesome infectious disease doctors come
and talk about flu shots, who should get them, how you can get them, susceptible
populations, and why they're really important. So, absolutely those are topics
that we want to touch on because they're important and again they're affecting
everyone's day-to-day life. In that Baby iI's Cold Outside, we're also going
to be talking about those other common winter bugs, maybe that don't
get as much attention as the flu. We've got croup and RSV for little ones. They all kind of come
about and they all share. We'll be talking about preventing those and how to
keep your kiddo safe this winter. We'll always have experts here with us.
This is just our introduction so that's where our opinions come in or our
experience but by all means we're always going to have a certified professional here
from Children's who's going to give you the most insightful information possible.
Screen time. That's another question. Oh oh god yes. A nine year old and a five year old. Oh my mom guilt is everywhere.
Do you want to hear something really funny?
Yes! My daughter Harper, her favorite thing is the cell phone. The other day she started acting like she was scrolling and I was like you don't even
know how to work a phone. It makes me feel so bad because obviously
you see me and your dad doing that. It's almost a parent screen time influences kid screen time. Yeah, absolutely!
I think that's a great one too because you hear about overstimulation
and how much is too much. But, then you also hear about kids who can almost code
at this age and they figure these things out, with STEM, and all
the importance of understanding technology and being comfortable with it.
So, what is that balance? How do you strike a happy medium without being that person.
Those topics have actually have been in the news a lot.
What about...I've heard this a lot, you know, where my mom friends are like I need a break.
Yes. Here's Daniel Tiger. Here's Paw Patrol Just watch this. Oh my goodness, give me 30 minutes
to get dinner done and you don't feel guilty about. They've been
busy and playing all day, but at the same time you're like I need 10 minutes. Right?
Yeah. That actually was a topic that was just suggested is actually talking about
balance for Mom. Preach to the choir right here. You know, I'm a girl that has to take my walk at lunch to just keep my sanity. I've got a
great husband who is very big about mommies need time off. Mommies need time with
friends. They need to exercise. They need to take care of themselves. Absolutely! I
was actually just talking about that today how I would love to address that. Moms, we
have to take care of ourselves. We can only be the best for our
kids when we're being the best versions of ourselves. Absolutely! Is that what they
call the fourth trimester. is that what that is? Absolutely. Doctor Chrisman Robbins
who's one of our OBGYNs here would be happy to discuss fourth
trimester care and watching out for yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally
especially right after having a baby. It doesn't just stop after you leave the hospital as we all
know. That's where the fun begins. Absolutely! Well and then it gets
overwhelming, once you're physically, even if you are both
feeling physically there and able to care for your kids you're ready and
willing, it can get overwhelming. Kids schedules, your schedules, doctor's
appointments. Those obligations that you feel and the anxiety that you feel about
making sure your kids are okay. Hopefully, these topics in this series will help
reassure you in some of these areas when we have these experts on who can give
that advice and and make everyone feel more confident in their parenting
because I would say nine times out of ten you're
probably doing the right thing. It's just nice to hear you're doing the right
thing. We've all had those moments where the phone is ringing, dogs are barking, and the kid is crying.
What do we do? I'm so in over my head Yeah. I think that it's just kind of
a reminder you know that we got this. We're doing the best we can. We're going to
do what's best for our kids. Parenting is hard. They do not tell you that. Parenting is hard.
It's really hard and I I think this is supposed to be a resource for you guys
and for us. I fully anticipate to learn a lot. I always say that I'm kind of being
selfish here because a lot of the topics that I've asked that we look into for
this series are things that I've been wondering and things that I feel
like I need some help on. Honestly a lot of times when you're holding
sessions, I'm going to be watching, taking notes, and maybe asking questions.
Again it's just a resource. We're right here. It's very easy to get
your questions in. We're not an appointment. We were
thinking about and spring sports. My oldest is playing baseball and soccer
right now. He's going to get hurt. He's a hot mess. I'm just waiting for it, so
talking about concussions, ACL, and overuse injuries. I mean these are all things
that we're curious about. If there's anything specific to sports let us know
because that's one we've been tossing around as a good one too. We'd love to
hear it. Any other questions or any other things we
need I know. Doing good? Okay good? Well just reminder October 12th at
11 o'clock. Then we're going to be doing every Friday from then on. We're looking
forward to it and we're looking forward to having you join us every week on
Facebook live. Thanks guys! Thank you!