Before becoming pregnant, I had no clue what the best baby products were. Ok, let’s be honest, I had very little clue about babies in general. Besides my niece born last year, I really haven’t been around kids since I was a kid. Thankfully, I didn’t have to look far for some great expert advice.  I work for The Go-To Mom after all!

Kimberley introduced me to Lansinoh products early on in my pregnancy. She claimed they were the best, and I didn’t have reason to doubt her. But it wasn’t until my daughter was born that I quickly learned she was right!  First, their Diaper Rash Ointment is amazing, and I’m not using that word lightly.  I noticed her little bottom getting red a few days after bringing her home from the hospital, so I used just a pea-sized amount of ointment during diaper changes over the next day or so, and the redness went away immediately. It rubs in clear and isn’t greasy. Used in conjunction with the Clean & Condition Baby Wipes, my baby’s skin stays soft and my mind is at peace knowing she is clean and comfortable.

For myself, the Disposable Nursing Pads were perfect.  They were completely invisible under my clothes and the adhesive backing kept them in place all day and night.  It’s no wonder they are the #1 selling disposable nursing pads. I absolutely love Lansinoh and have already been bragging about them to all of my pregnant friends!

For more information on these items and to learn about Lansinoh’s full line of products, visit their website at www.lansinoh.com.

1) What was the focus of this most recent trip to Cambodia? It was a follow up trip to my October 2011 trip wherin I began to understand in a tangible way what I was a part of supporting. The focus of this most recent trip was to introduce Rania Batrice from my team who is heading up our Freedom Project.  We went to identify ways to increase our support of these people who are making real changes in an ever growing number of lives.

2) What is new or upcoming with the Freedom Project? We just launched our first Freedom Project line, Sak Saum for Abi Ferrin. The thing that is truly special about this, is that the people are empowered through the success of this line  because they have built it themselves from the ground up and are now benefiting as successful entrepreneurs, not just factory workers. It is transformational to see a person who had no hope as a victim of trafficking become a proud and dignified land owner and leader in their community. There are no handouts or aid given, merely support of their hard work and guidance in their efforts. We also try to help support with supplies, training, design direction and equipment which encourages their success. I am in constant communication with them through Skype and email regarding design direction, but there talents drive this brand.

3) From watching your video we are so impressed, What inspired you to create such a project? I was a victim of abuse myself for over two years, and it was the first time in my otherwise privileged life that I realized intimately what it was like to live without freedom.  For me the best way to heal was to direct my energy towards helping others who were less fortunate then I was.  That was when I met Ginny and Eric Hanson who have dedicated their lives to helping the people of Cambodia as they recover from genocide and the intellectual destruction created by Pol Pot as he killed the majority of the countries leaders and intellects in the late 70′s and early 80′s. This is only the beginning of our project, but Cambodia has been largely forgotten or ignored by the western world so we really can see the immediate need and impact of the efforts on the ground.  Rania Batrice and I connected over similar abusive pasts and a common desire to help others.  Expect big things from us!

4) What can we do to help spread the word about The Freedom Project? We know many women here in the US would love to help your mission.

There are many ways to get involved. We would love people to watch the video, forward it to all their friends and begin to be further educated on their responsibility and power as a consumer. Where people spend their money really matters! When you are making a purchase, if the deal seems to good to be true, most likely someone is being enslaved in order to create that bargain. Most importantly for the people we work with, please spread the word on The Freedom Project page of the Abi Ferrin site (www.abiferrin.com/freedomproject). This is the next level above fair trade, and the more product we can sell, the more people will be employed, empowered and freed from slavery. I’d love to see The Freedom Project page become a “go-to” site for women, moms, sisters, aunts, cousins to give and receive gifts from. The product is amazing enough to stand on it’s own, but when you add the element of freedom to it, it’s priceless!

Follow Abi Ferrin on Twitter @AbiFerrin

I am a woman, a daughter, a wife and a mommy.  I am a former preschool teacher gone shrink. I have two young children and middle-aged (Hot Texan) husband. I am simply obsessed with cats, but only have two. Before I go to bed at night I always wash my feet.  I am a good friend to about six women.  I am great acquaintance to many.

I love video production and see life through a camera lens.  If I wasn’t a shrink I would of loved to have been a country singer.  I have a bad singing voice but children really like to listen.

I have been working with infants, toddlers, preschoolers and families since I was 18 years old – I have done nothing but that.  I am a mom vlogger, an online mommy personality, author and licensed child and family therapist.  Before I officially went ‘online’ as the Go-To Mom, I was a therapist with a specialty in working with victims of abuse and an employee for local and national government grantees.

I fell into the blogosphere three months after my second child was born in December 2006.  And here is my story….

There are roughly over 400 million web surfing moms and I am one.  I know why I am online – it’s my business.  The Go-To Mom.TV is an effective venue to carry out my positive parenting campaign.  I am now a small corporation in 2012. However in 2006 I didn’t spend a drop of money on advertising.  I created the Go-To Mom campaign to help American parents become more confidence about the way they raise their children.  However, I did find a way to generate revenue online.  After a year of trial and error and signing some really crazy contracts, I learned that as an expert video content provider, I rightfully deserve compensation.  I just needed to figure out the best model.

My goal was to engage parents, magazines and web publishers to let them know that I was on the virtual map. They must of have thought, who is this chick in her kitchen making playdoh on video?  Back in 2006, there were only a small handful other grassroots mommy shows when I launched.  Now there are tons and if you count ‘vlogging’ (blogging on camera) then the numbers are endless.

The Go-To Mom.TV site generates revenue through video sponsorship and licensing.  I license particular shows out to web publishers for a set amount of time.  I generally do not conduct product reviews unless it is an item that I truly love and use in my home on a regular basis.  Back in 2007 I wrote and shot and edited the shows.  Today I have a few cameramen/crews and editors.  My shows are syndicated on over thirty parenting/family websites for optimal exposure.  If you combine the visitor statistics of all the twenty sites it roughly comes out to over 2 million. My site URL gets roughly 50,000 page views and 12,000 unique visitors per month.

The moms I met online over the last few years have changed my life. Some are now very close friends, which I refer to as the ‘circle of moms’  - I have bumped into them on Twitter, Facebook, from Google Alerts, by being a fan of their blogs, or by directly contacting them for potential projects.  No hard work goes unseen.  As a producer of women and family online content, I regularly make a habit of watching how moms conduct their lives online.

There are many amazing moms doing impressive things online – so much that I must admit, at times I find myself green with envy.  Instead of stalking these fabulous women or secretly reading their blogs, I send them a direct email complimenting their business.  Many of the women in in this circle have visitor statistics of well over 500,000 per month, make good money, have high caliber advertisers, large publisher book deals or are highly regarded for their advocacy efforts around motherhood.  All the more reason to bring them into the ‘circle of moms.’  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that in order to run successful business or social marketing campaign, it is a good idea to surround yourself with brighter, smarter, and more successful people. Plus, moms rock!

What is ‘circle of moms’ you are asking?  They are the women who have a successful online web presence.  There are few moms I collaborate with who don’t generate big revenue from their online endeavor (yet!), but who clearly impact many families with what they offer. Each mom I’ve met online has freely and wholeheartedly shared information with me to help jump start and scale my platform. A few of the moms who have leaned over the cliff to give me a hand up  and who still offer unconditional support are:

Michelle Lamar – www.MichelleLamar.com

Beth Blecherman – www.Techmamas.com

Susan Kay Wyatt – www.SusanKayWyatt.com

Jennifer James – www.MomBloggersClub.com

Jeanne Moeschler – www.Yahoo.com

Sheila Dowd –  www.CleverGirlsCollective.com

Megan Calhoun   – www.SocialMoms.com

Sarah Auerswald – www.MomsLa.com

Britt Michaelian – www.Socialmediagirlfreinds.com

Leah Segedie – www.Mamavation.com

Erica Diamond – www.WomenOnTheFence.com

Audrey McClelland – www.Momgenerations.com

Tania Reuben – www.PurenNaturalDiva.com

Janice Croze – www.5minutesformom.com

Elisa All – www.30secondmom.com

Jyl Pattee – www.MomitForward.com

Colleen Padilla – www.ClassyMommy.com

Katie Dillon – www.LaJollaMom.com

There are so many other social media moms that should be mentioned in this post, but being brain-dead from my travels, I can’t list them all! If you are one of those moms who should have been mentioned, please feel free to email a video or a raging text at how incompetent I am!   I plan on producing video segments and online shows about moms who work and play online for the rest of my life. Feel free to tweet me @TheGoToMom. I would love to hear from you.

Kimberley Clayton Blaine, MA, MFT  — -The Go-Tom

One of the things I love about Kimberley Blaine, aka The Go-To Mom, is that she brings kick-ass mommy power to the world of business. She has that roll up your sleeves/get it done/quadruple-tasking energy that most mothers have (have to have!) along with a friendly, generous, open spirit.

I met Kimberley online when she emailed me with compliments on my book and radio show and an invitation to exchange radio interviews. Her approach was so casual and straightforward – kind of like a mom on the playground striking up a conversation. So different than a more formal corporate inquiry. It was a mutual admiration moment  – just two women interested in each other’s business and open to finding how we might best support and benefit from each other. Business – mommy style.

Women are amazing, savvy, creative business people. The problem is once you become a mom the game changes. There is a different set of parameters. The ambition is still there, the drive is still there, but it’s tempered, it’s molded now to a larger purpose. It’s not just you or you and your husband/partner anymore. It’s US now.  It’s a family. There is more to serve.

So, what’s a mother to do? Some still thrive in the traditional business world, holding their own and juggling like mad. Other women are happy to hold their mommy role full time and leave the outside work world behind.  And then there are the growing ranks of mompreneurs – the new wave of trailblazers creating mommy centric businesses from home.

This is mommy power unleashed! The Internet has created a giant playground for moms to create a staggering array of businesses. A great many are products and services driven by real mom needs and desires. From hotmomsclub.com (a different twist on social networking) to Boogie Wipes (‘snot your average wipe’) to The Sneaky Chef (how to get your kids to eat healthy) to Petunia Pickle Bottom (gorgeous diaper bags and more). There is a long list of truly clever ideas from truly clever women.

But what is really cool, is that it’s not only the products or services that are innovative; moms are also creating a new way of doing business. Women are not just thinking out of the box, we are creating our own box. Businesses fueled by mommy power often have a distinct character – creative, collaborative, flexible and focused.

As mothers, women are used to juggling, solving problems on the go and generally making things work. We are bringing the same everyday creativity we bring to motherhood to our own businesses. Can’t find a supplier for a product? Moms keep looking or persuade someone to modify their manufacturing. Need to find a way to market effectively on a shoestring? We invent our own grassroots network. Mommy power tends to cut through problems one way or another.

A collaborative mentality is also a hallmark of mommy power in business. Most mothers are collaborative by nature – we learned that we can’t do it alone. From playgroups to school committees to online mommy chat groups – mothers are adept at joining forces.  Not surprisingly, it is common to see a partnership or a team of women heading up a mommy driven company as well as a network of mommy fans fueling its growth. Building through community comes naturally!

Mommy business power is definitely flexible power.  As mothers, we are used to constant change – handling ever shifting needs and schedules is a given. This ability to flex is built in with mommy owned businesses.  Planning can take place on a park bench, at Starbucks or in the shower. Conference calls are scheduled around naptime or school pick up. The business works WITH kids, not against them. Flexibility extends beyond logistics into the capacity to experiment with strategy and adjust to changing markets and demands.

Focus is another common mompreneur characteristic. Moms are used to endless task lists. We know that we can’t do it all and have learned to prioritize on the must haves.  Mommy driven businesses tend to be lean organizations focused on doing what counts. Any other approach quickly becomes unsustainable. Mommy power brings a certain ruthless edge to business – a mother’s time is too precious to waste!

To some extent, I might be idealizing mommy driven businesses. Certainly there are mommy-owned organizations that are unfocused, inflexible, non collaborative and decidedly not creative.  However, I believe that most mompreneurs are defining a new path to business success that honors the very values and talents inherent in motherhood. We are proving daily that mothers have an extra set of skills, honed by motherhood, that are invaluable in business.

Every woman who generates success with mommy business power makes it possible for more women to follow. As we blend ambition and achievement with compassion and generosity, drive and intensity with flexibility and cooperation – we create endless possibilities for our families and our future.

Amy Kovarick is an executive and leadership coach as well as author of Babyon Board, Becoming A Mother Without Losing Yourself. She has helped hundredsof individuals reach their full potential across the US and Canada.  She can be found at www.empoweredmotherhood.com

*header photo is the lovely Laura Mayes, co-founder of Mom 2.0 Summit

For more great parenting tips check out Kimberley’s book, www.TheGoToMomsGuide.com.

I’ve been a supporter of Biophilia (which is the love of the outdoors) for years, and I make efforts to provide natural play areas in my own back yard. My older son is a Mud King and my younger child is the Mud Prince.  Everyday, all year round, you can find my boys sloshing, digging and creating in their custom mud pit.  Ah, the life of a child…

Adventures in nature peak enthusiasms and joy  — so let kids get down and dirty where they learn, live and play.

For more great parenting tips, check out Kimberely’s book, The Go-To Mom’s Guide.

Children may wet the bed because:

• - Their bladders have not fully matured. This lack of muscle strength is causing them to wet the bed.

• - Stresses in children’s lives can cause bedwetting. The stress could come from the presence of a new baby, divorce, moving, transition into a new school or getting a new teacher, death, family crisis, or physical changes such as diabetes.

• - Severe discipline, abuse, threats, inconsistent care-giving can be an emotional cause for bedwetting. Parental yelling and fighting, sudden emotional instability can cause serious psychological strain.

• - The kidneys of some children produce more urine than a normal sized bladder can hold.

• - There is a hormone that is not yet developed in children, which causes the kidneys to slow their production of urine during the sleeping hours. Studies have shown that children who wet the bed simply cannot wake up in time to go to the bathroom.

Here are some helpful steps to deal with bedwetting:

• - Never punish, bribe, use rewards/sticker charts or demand that your child stay dry during the night.

• - Listen to the concerns of your child. Children rarely wet the bed on purpose. Take the time to listen to their fears and concerns.

• - Assure your child that you are there to help and support him. Always be matter of fact so that he doesn’t feel embarrassed or ashamed.

• - To avoid putting your child in a pull-up, wake him up in the middle of the night before you go to bed for one last bathroom visit.  It took us 6 months of waking our son up before his own body was ready to wake on its own  –and it was right before he turned 7 years old.

See a doctor if your child has had long periods of dryness and then suddenly begins to wet the bed again. A lot of patience and a little knowledge can help you and your child understand and deal with bedwetting.

For more parenting tips, check out Kimberley’s book, The Go-To Mom’s Guide.

For more great parenting tips, check out Kimberley’s book, www.TheGoToMomsGuide.com.

Skiing is one of my passions. As you can see, there are many MommyToMommy episodes on the snow-capped mountains. We will be back for sure as my children are geared up to be hot dog skiers or snowboarders. This mama truly is a snow bunny and I’m proud to be a Snowmama, thanks to Park City and all they had to offer!

Follow Tania: @PureNaturalDiva
Follow Krista: @KristaParry