Daycare Deals

I received this information in an email from my local office. This information concerns parents and caregivers of premature infants.

KDHE has been notified by the FDA to advise parents, caregivers and health care providers not to feed SimplyThick, a thickening product, to premature infants.

This product may be associated with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening condition.

Since May 13, 2011 FDA has been notified of 15 cases of NEC, including two deaths, involving premature infants who were given SimplyThick for varying amounts of time. The product was mixed with mothers’ breast milk or infant formula products. In Kansas, two cases of NEC have been reported in premature infants that were given this product.

NEC most often occurs in premature infants while still hospitalized. The current situation is unusual because some of the infants had been discharged from the hospital on a feeding regimen that included SimplyThick and then developed symptoms of NEC while at home.

NEC is a life-threatening condition characterized by inflammation and death of intestinal tiss ue. Signs and symptoms of NEC include appearance of a bloated abdominal area, feeding intolerance, greenish-tinged (bile) vomiting and bloody stools.

SimplyThick is one brand of thickening agent available to medical centers and consumers. The product is sold in packets of individual servings and in 64-ounce dispenser bottles. The product can be purchased from distributors and local pharmacies throughout the United States. Images of the SimplyThick label and packaging can be viewed at: www.flickr.com/photos/fdaphotos/sets/72157626641899297/.

Health care professionals and patients are encouraged to report adverse events or side effects related to the use of this product to the FDA's MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program by:
• Completing and submitting the adverse report online: www.fda.gov/MedWatch/report.htm
• Downloading the pre-addressed, postage-paid FDA Form 35003 at: www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/HowToReport/DownloadForms /default.htm (or calling 1-800-332-1088 to request the form), completing it and faxing it to 1-800-FDA-0178; or Mailing the completed form to MedWatch 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857.

For additional information on this investigation please call the FDA at 888-INFO-FDA or the KDHE Epidemiology Hotline at 877-427-7317.

Today's Groupon is an amazaing deal! $10 for $20 Worth of Make-Your-Own-Bears or $25 for $50 Toward Any Build-A-Party Celebration at Build-A-Bear Workshop.

The $20 option expires 12-31-10, so this would make for perfect Chrismas presents.
The party option expires 3-31-10.

This Groupon can be purchased all weekend!

Sedgwick County Zoo is doing Night of the Living Zoo on October 22, 23 & 24 from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Bring your ghouls and goblins for a night of not-too-scary Halloween fun at the Sedgwick County Zoo! Several ghoulish activities, like pumpkin bowling and beanbag tosses, can be found throughout the Zoo. Take a stroll down jack-o-lantern lane, creep up to candy stations and let your spirit come alive!

Advanced tickets:

$6 at area QuikTrip stores, starting Oct. 1

Tickets purchased at gate:

$6 for Zoo members

$8 for nonmembers

Children 2 and under do not need a ticket.

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Winter Wednesdays


Every Wednesday November 2010 through February 2011: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Grab your coats, throw on your mittens and head over to the Sedgwick County Zoo for Winter Wednesdays! Spend the day in the refreshing outdoors for a discounted admission price every Wednesday in November through February.

You can sign up here for a ticket for free admission to a museum of your choice on September 25, 2010. I love this day because I can take my daughter to Exploration Place for free! (She's still free, but my husband and I don't have to shell out $20 to take her on this day.) Last year, we went with my sister-in-law and her kids, so it was a good family day! I've listed the participating museums in Kansas (the cities are listed under the museum's name).

Allen County History Museum


Iola

Augusta Historical Museum

Augusta

Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery

Lindsborg

Botanica, The Wichita Gardens

Wichita

Clearwater Historical Society

Wichita

Derby Historical Museum

Derby

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum

Abilene

Exploration Place

Wichita

Gardner Museum and Historical Society

Gardner

Great Plains Transportation Museum

Wichita

Harvey County Historical Museum & Archives

Newton

Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center

Hutchinson

Kansas Firefighters Museum

Wichita

Kansas Museum of History

Topeka

Kansas Sports Museum

Newton

Kauffman Museum

North Newton

Lake Afton Public Observatory

Goddard

Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology

Wichita

Mid-America All-Indian Center

Wichita

Museum of World Treasures

Wichita

Old Cowtown Museum

Wichita

Old Depot Museum

Ottawa

Old Jail Museum of Allen County

Iola

OZ Museum

Wamego

Territorial Capital Museum

Lecompton

The Kansas African American Museum

Wichita

Ulrich Museum of Art

Wichita

Wichita Art Museum

Wichita

Wichita Center for the Arts

Wichita

Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum

Wichita

Wonderscope Children's Museum of Kansas City

Shawnee

Get a free sample of IdeaPaint here. This paint turns any surface into a dry erase board. Think of how fun this would be for daycares/homes!!!

On Sunday, August 29th, 2010, Sedgwick County Zoo is offering $2 admission if you recycle your old phone books. *One $2 admission per book. Hours are 8:30am-5pm.

*My daughter has never been to the zoo, so this might be the day that I decide to take her for the first time!!!

There is a great deal going on with Johnson & Johnson Red Cross brand items. This week, Target is offering a free First Aid case with select purchases of Bandaid and Red Cross items. Use this deal to get gauze pads and a free First Aid case for only .03!

Buy 4 First Aid small gauze pads $1.52 each
Use 2 $3/2 Johnson & Johnson Red Cross products
Bring your own bag for .05 off
Pay .03 for 4 small gauze pads and get a free First Aid case!

Thanks,
Common Sense with Money!

I was working before I had my daughter, so I had to make the decision about whether or not to stay at home with her or go to work and find her a daycare. I did choose to stay home with her, and it was a great decision for me. I also chose to start an in-home daycare so that she could have friends. These are some advantages to home daycares:

1. Individualized Attention: Groups in home daycares are usually smaller than groups of children in center daycares. So, children in home daycares will likely get more one-on-one attention. (I only have 6 kids at the most, so I can spend more time with each child.)

2. Stable Environment: Children in home daycares will likely stay with the same provider throughout infancy, toddler stages, and preschool ages. They might even stay through some of their school years. This allows children in home daycares to develop deep, meaningful relationships with their caregivers and the other children. (It is hard when one of my daycare kids leaves due to job changes or moves to another state because I truly develop a relationship with my daycare kids. I know what foods he/she likes, when he/she naps, the coloring book he/she prefers, etc)

3. Flexibility: Daycare homes are more flexible with drop off and pick up times than center daycares. (I'm really flexible on the times with my parents.)

4. Cost: Daycare homes are generally cheaper than centers. Daycare homes don't have to worry about paying for buildings or employees, so caregivers can charge less. (My rates are less than centers in Wichita)

5. Development: Watching other children move and play causes younger children to want to emulate them.

*I know that my daughter is happy in a home daycare environment. As she has grown from an infant, she's watched the older kids walk, run, jump, and climb. She's now emulating them because she wants to do what she has seen them do. This also happened with my youngest in care (10 months). Before starting care at my house, she wasn't even scooting. After the first day, she was starting to pull herself around my carpet. Now, she crawls everywhere. My home daycare also allows my daughter to have friends. She loves when her friends are over here; she shrieks with glee when I carry her out of her room every morning!

The information in this post is based on "Advantages of Placing Kids in Home Daycare: Benefits of Family Childcare Programs for Kids" by Charlina Stewart. Obviously, I did throw in my own comments and thoughts as well.

Check out my newest featured daycare, Little Pumpkin Daycare.

I enjoyed attending Vacation Bible School at my grandparents' chuch when I was a kid, so I thought I'd post about a Vacation Bible School opportunity.

Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church is offering a Vacation Bible School from July 12th-16th. The time is 9am-12:30pm.  You can register for this opportunity here. The church is located at 25th and Amidon. *I'm not sure if there is a charge for this or not because I'm a member of a different church.  I do know the pastor of this church though; he is the dad of a former daycare child.

If you know of any other kid activities, please comment or email me at daycaredeals@gmail.com so that I can post about them.

ADT is offering a free Child Safety ID kit. This contains fingerprinting tools and games for teaching child safety. You may request 1 kit for each child in your home under 14.

Get a FREE Child Safety ID Kit from Gerber Life

My daycare children love to play with sidewalk chalk. I have one who will write and draw for most of the time we're outside. So, I was happy to come acrosss this sidewalk paint recipe. I think my daycare children would love to help make their own.

Sidewalk Paint Recipe:


Mix the cornstarch with enough cold water to make a paintable consistency.

Separate into smaller batches

Add a couple of teaspoons of tempera paint to reach desired color.

Mix the paint into your batch.

Let children have fun painting the sidewalk, patio, or driveway.

Make this cool Mr. Egghead for Dad for Father's Day or one of the other 101 Father's Day craft ideas found here. Sign up for the newsletter to get access to over 1000 craft ideas. Bonus: Free 95-page "Creative Crafting All Year Round Holiday" eBookClick Here

Helping preschoolers learn about social skills just got a little bit easier and a lot more fun. Noodleboro games let you nurture kids' social skills naturally through multi-sensory play that leaves everyone laughing!

Learn about Manners in this Picnic basket preschool game where good fun makes great kids! Its hard to have a perfect picnic party when the ants keep trying to steal your food! Just say "please" and "thank you" to send those pesky ants packing and collect

Rachel refuses to use manners at the picnic with her friends. Read the book to see what happens when her big wish comes true and ends up making her feel "small"

Three ways to reinforce social skills! Play the CD to get kids laughing, singing and sharing with a story and silly songs from Noodleboro's all-kid radio station!

See my first post on this topic here.

I received some comments about this bill, so I wanted to pass along the information that I have received after contacting Brenda Landwehr and KDHE in Topeka. I'll list it in the question form.

Comment #1: Why would they have two types of homes and cap Family Daycare homes at 6?

--All Registered homes will now converted to Licensed homes. However, current Registered homes will only be allowed to have 6 children as their maximum until the provider receives a temporary or permanent license.

Comment #4: Do we have to be in the same room with the kids all the time?

--No, this law creates regulations that providers need to be within seeing OR hearing distance of their daycare children. Sleeping children will need to be checked on periodically (not every 15 minutes).

Comment #8: KDHE will start July 1st.

--If this bill is signed into law, inspections will begin July 1, 2010. The county/KDHE will have until June 30, 2011 to get all current Registered homes converted to licensed homes. Landwehr said that it is up to the local counties/KDHE to inspect the homes and decide the order. *I am still waiting for Nancy Jensen to contact me about if providers of Registered homes would be able to call and request to be first inspected so that they can start taking on more kids.

Comment #9: Will providers be notified of what is happening due to this law? Will Registered providers be able to know when they are being inspected?

--After contacting KDHE, I was told that they are working on putting information together for the Health departments and providers. They also kept telling me that this bill has not yet been signed into law. *I do not know if registered providers will know when the inspection is happening. I'll let you know if Nancy Jensen can answer that question for me.

Other information:

• Lexie's Law will bring about additional training over Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) as mandated by the Rules and Regulations committee.
• Areas with few surveyors/inspectors might have to put converting Registered homes above inspecting current Licensed homes. This means that current licensed homes might have to wait around 15 months for their inspections.

Again, please let me know if you have comments/questions/concerns. See my first post about the changes here.

Huggies has been quite generous with the promotions the last few months! In addition to the coupon in the previous post, you'll find many more Huggies coupons from various sites.


$2/2 packages Huggies wipes (64ct or larger)

$2/1 Huggies wipes refill (184ct+) and 1 Huggies wipes tub (64ct+)

$3/1 Huggies Sung & Dry, Little Snugglers,Little Movers

$1.50/1 Huggies Little Swimmers

$4/2 Huggies