How to get grandmother not to smoke around baby?

Dear Nanny,

My mother-in-law is a darling woman and I feel so fortunate that my baby has such a caring, loving grandmother to dote on him. My problem is that my mother-in-law smokes and I hate to expose my little one to second hand smoke. Any suggestions?

--Anti-smoking mom

Dear Anti,

Good for you in recognizing what a special gift a grandmother’s love is for a child. May yours enjoy his grandmother’s love and care for many, many years to come! As to the smoking, a gentle comment that the pediatrician has advised you not to take the little one into an environment with smoking may elicit an offer by his doting grandmother not to smoke when her darling baby boy is around. If your gentle sharing of medical advice doesn’t do the trick, a sweetly worded request, wrapped in admiration for her many positive traits, may. After all, if your little one’s Nanny is as adoring as I am of all of my wonderful grandchildren, she most certainly does not want to endanger his little lungs! Just remember, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar and a gentle approach is more likely to achieve your desired result.

--Nanny

How do I launder a hand knit baby sweater?

Dear Nanny,

My sister gave me a delightful Nannygram (the knit sweater) for my baby girl and I absolutely love it.
The only problem—the baby spit up and I am afraid it will stain!
What should I do?

--Emma’s Mom

Dear Emma’s Mom,

Not to worry. First, the yarn used in our Nannygram sweaters is completely washable. But as I have learned over the years, the primary rule in stain removal is stain prevention. So, try to rinse out the spit-up, dribble, baby spup, or what have you, as soon as it happens. If, however, that is impossible (for whatever reason: sleep deprivation, feeding crisis, crying jag----yes, these things happen when a new little one comes to town), the following has always worked for me. Take about a ¼ of a cup of Snowy Bleach (the flakes) and dissolve it in a basin of luke warm water. Submerge the sweater in the water. Gently rub the stain. Leave the sweater soaking for anywhere from 1 to 24 hours, depending on how set the stain is. I generally check it after about an hour and then leave it soaking, if needed.

Good luck with the stain removal and Emma!

--Nanny

p.s. Feel free to send in a photo of little Emma in her stain-free Nannygram! We’d love to add her to our photo gallery!