Parents who can't be parents are becoming parents through the creation of an extremely life like new born baby. The 'doll', for want of a better name, is called Reborn Babies and are made of a soft rubber with skin and hair texture and colour that is almost identical to a real baby.

They are so real and lifelike that people are buying them and treating them like real life babies. They sew clothing, buy cribs, prams and even car seats for their Reborn Babies.

In our local area several weeks ago police broke into a car to 'rescue' a baby left in the hot sun in the car seat - much to their embarrassment it was one of the Reborn Babies - that is how life like it was.

I don't know if this is a worrying problem for the future or a blessing in disguise for those women who cannot conceive. Where society may have a problem is if women who are perfectly capable of conceiving choose not too and use one of these Reborn Babies as a form of replacement.

Where I can see a positive use for Reborn Babiesis in our schooling systems to teach girls and boys how to handle, carry, change and generally look after a baby.

Check out this video on Reborn Babies and tell me if it's a little worrying or perhaps a positive? I can see both sides of the issue.

As a parent there is one guarantee in life. Your child is going to catch a cold at some stage in their life. For new parents, a babies first cough, cold or runny nose can be a worrying experience. It needn't be. Follow these simple tips and life for you and baby will so much easier.

Most children, particularly when they hit school age, suffer around 10 coughs or colds each year. The effects remain for two to fourteen days depending on what type of cold they have.

Coughs, colds and some runny noses are generally result of a common cold virus. These viruses cannot be treated by anti biotics, in fact there is little that medicine can do to 'cure' a cough, cold or runny nose in a baby.

Classic signs of the common cold in babies

There are several signs that your baby may be coming down with a cough, cold or runny nose. The first is frequent sneezing although this may also be due to allergens. So to the watery red eyes. However, if the nasal congestion thickens then you know it's a cold.

Other symptoms include a low grade fever and eventually coughing. If the cold has settled in the chest first then you may find the cold starts with coughing rather than the runny nose.

Treating a babies cough, cold and runny nose

For babies less than three months, consult your doctor particularly if the temperature is high or there are any breathing difficulties. For older babies, the best you can do is alleviate the symptoms and make life a little more comfortable for them.

Plenty of fluids is rule number one. There is no such thing as too much in the way of fluids. If possible, plain water (boiled and cooled) in between feeds is best.

Avoid any medication for under two year olds including pain or fever relief medication. The mild fever is the bodies way of dealing with the virus. Cough medications can prove fatal for under two year olds so do not self medicate. Seek doctors advice first.

You can moisten the air using a humidifier. If you don't have a humidifier then place baby in the bathroom filled with steam for short periods (be sure the bathroom is mold free first).

For babies with runny noses that are quite thick, you can purchase prepared saline drops. A couple of drops in each nostril may help to flush out any of the mucous. You can also use an eye-dropper to suck out the mucous.

Preventing coughs, colds and runny noses in babies

Prevention is always better than the cure. However, it is almost impossible to prevent babies from catching a cold all the time. Some prevention strategies include keeping baby away from those that do have a cold. Washing your hands before handling a baby, and teaching everyone to sneeze or cough into a tissue rather their hands or the air.

If your feel the symptoms are getting worse or you becomes worried, seek medical advice. Common coughs, colds and runny noses in babies are rarely serious, however medical advice can help alleviate your fears which will help you to control the situation. Staying calm and following these guidelines will make life much easier for everyone.

Sometimes you read stories that make you sad, angry and little thankful all at the same time. The latest story to catch my attention involved a family, consisting of a single dad with nine kids, who finally had to give them up.

His story is sad in itself. He is single dad due to the death of his wife of 17 years. She died shortly after the birth of their youngest.

It seems that Nebraska is one of those forward thinking states that has made their hospital an official place for parents to surrender their children without fear of prosecution for abandonment. I really don't like the word abandon in this case, surely they are voluntarily surrendering their children?

Why does it make me angry? In a society like our surely we have reached a level of maturity (society that is) where we can put our hand up and say help? Rather than looking down on anyone in this situation - and let's face it, raising nine kids aged 1 to 17 is not going to be easy, we should doing everything possible to maintain that family unit.

I can only imagine what he must be going through. I am sure there is a mixture of relief, grief and guilt constantly running through his mind. Hopefully, friends and relatives can help maintain some type of family unit for those children, particularly the younger ones who will struggle to even understand the situation.

One other aspect of this case concerns me. Apparently the legislation behind this 'safe haven for abandoned children' was only meant to cover babies and toddlers. What rot. It should cover all children from birth to 18.

View the story: Overwhelmed US dad abandons nine kids here.

If your a breast feeding mum then you may want to watch your back, or at least, your milk supply. PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants ice cream manufacturers to replace milk meant for calves with - you guessed it, breast milk.

The request comes on the back of an "innovative" move by a Swiss restaurant owner who will "begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," according to a PETA statement."

PETA is urging ice cream giants Ben & Jerry's to do cows a "big favour" and switch to human breast milk in their products.

In a statement, Ben and Jerry's said: "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child."

Source: Breast Is Best For PETA

Are you a Halloween person? Do you get into it, dressing up and having a real party. Cartoon Network have a full range of costumes to help you wow the party atmosphere.

Their Ben 10 costumes are back along with DVDs, figurines, games, watches and apparel. Their current promotion is Free Shipping with orders of $50 or more.

Ben 10 is not the only range of course, Cartoon Network has a huge range including Camp Lazlo, the Powderpuff Girls and Dexter's Laboratory. Pay them and visit and check out the low prices.

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This is the third part in my best of series highlighting the best post from the last 12 months as we head towards our first birthday at the end of this month.

In the parenting section, I got a little controversial with some of my posts, covering topics that irritated me at the time. This included topics such as What Is Wrong With The Dads Of This World. Unfortunately, some fathers just aren't fathers when they need to be.

Another set of posts had a dig at society and the media with What Is Wrong With Our Society, which followed a previous post . Just a little controversial, however many parents agreed with me.

With our society so intent on hygiene, I had to cover a topic which is I feel very strongly about. I finished up with two posts, Are We Too Clean and one that was fairly similar, it certainly covered the same topic, Cleanliness vs Sterilize.

A news story that struck me was Couple Beheaded, beheaded for cruelty to their daughter - you have to read it.

Finally, being old enough to be a grandad yet being a father of 5 under 6 - all girls at that, I had to write a reflection on Mature Aged Parenting.

I hope you enjoy my year in review posts. It is interesting going back and looking at what I wrote many months ago. It is also interesting to see how my writing has changed since I first started. Enjoy and feel free to criticize.

As I move closer to this blogs first birthday I am putting together a series of 'best of' posts. The previous 'best of' post was the "baby' series. Today's post is the best of 'toddlers'.

It is difficult finding the best of posts particularly when I have done so many. This is part one and contains a real mixed bunch.

You don't have to have a speech or hearing impairment to use sign language. Many parents find they can communicate with their toddlers from much earlier age and my reprint of an article by Jackie Durnin on Using Sign Language With Toddlers was very popular.

Sign language may help in teaching your toddler to use the potty, if not, my post on Is Painless Potty Training Possible For A Toddler may help ease the trauma.

Toddlers and potty training often leads to temper tantrums, particularly the two year old tantrums. My post on How To Deal With Toddler Temper Tantrums will be of great benefit to those experiencing tantrums - toddler tantrums that is.

One of my favorite posts was How Do You Discipline Toddlers - toddlers can be so trying - but they are only toddlers.

Discipline is one thing, Teaching Your Toddler Manners is quite another. Where have all the manners gone these days?

My final review post is one from only a little while ago. Toddlers are so innocent. Why Do Toddlers Have To Lose Their Innocence was the title of that post - a personal reflection.

As September rushes upon us I realized today that this site, Just4Families is about to have its first birthday. The year has certainly flown by.

Over the last 12 months I have published a lot of posts that have proved to be popular so I am going to review them by category for those who may have missed them. I am going to start with the articles related to babies, for obvious reasons, our is about to turn three weeks old. With a total of five girl five years and under, I am surprised I can five minutes to even write a post these days. Here are my best baby articles from the last 12 months.

One of my favourite articles when it comes to research was the Cord Blood Banking article. Why more hospitals don't utilize this service I don't know. It can help to save so many young lives.

Have you wondered about the The First Moments Of Your Baby's Life? I did so I did a little research. Read the outcome of that research.

Of course, the time comes to take baby home from hospital. An exciting time for many, for others it can be hard to handle. Learn how to deal with Baby's First Days At Home.

One of the reasons many families become stressed is because of a crying baby. I covered this topic in my post Why Babies Cry

The follow up article on How To Get Your Baby To Settle may have helped to answer some of those problems.

With all babies, you are going to have those times when bubs runs a temperature. Getting their first teeth can be a trying time, however there is nothing more stressful than a baby's first cold. I discussed Handling A Newborn Babies First Cough And Cold in this article.

The final article for this review was a reprint (with permission) from Dalene Joubert and discussed the topic Baby Crawl Tips and contained some useful information and tips on how to get your baby to start crawling.

If you feeling like linking to any of these articles, let me know and I will happily reciprocate. Link using the article title for best results.