Yes, even a Complicated Mama like myself who generally considers herself pretty laid back,  is allowed once in a while to have those moments of sounding like “That Mom”. You know the Mom I’m talking about- the one who is a worry wart- the one who walks around Purel-ing their kids hands every minute they touch an object- or worse-  walks around condeming those who use Purel because the chemicals in it are “actually worse than the germs”… true story, I heard this once.

“That Mom” means well- she just is a lot more reactive (sometimes over reactive) than I typically am. The truth is, there are are so many contradictory theories to live by these days, even if I wanted to be “that Mom”- I would fail because surly there is a counteracting theroy.

For example- with my son I was totally out of the loop on the MMR controversy and was serving him up some peanut butter and jelly goodness at 1 year. He was fine. Then my daughter was born 3 years later, and I was scared by new information emerging, making me question if perhaps my son just “got lucky” none of my laid back parenting methods didn’t affect him. I found myself considering things I never had before- splitting up shots for various new health reasons,  strictly no peanuts til’ 2 years to steer clear of  peanut allergies … and then I hear how holding back peanuts all together may actually cause the allergy!

AACK! Can a Mom catch a break these days? Try as we may, I think the answer is inevitably a big fat NO!

But today, my “That Mom” PSA isn’t about germs or vaccines- but about the crazy heat many of us are experiencing.

A moment when being THAT MOM is never “too much”.

Yesterday, here in the NY/NJ area temperatures were reaching towards 100 degrees. We had been inside most of the day and thought it might be a good idea to take the kids for a dip in the pool. We might have been outside for an hour- perhaps (probably) shorter.  My son and husband stayed out and me and the baby (22 months) went inside to cool off with some water and clean clothes. We were inside for 15 minutes, the baby seemed to be getting cranky, I picked her up to put her up for a nap and no sooner did I have her on my hip and her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she passed out…. Not fell asleep… PASSED OUT.  It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.  My husband and I got her to wake up, but it didn’t happen right away… and when it did she let out a loud scream, and then seconds later passed out again.

It scared us. We didn’t know if it was her being tired or from the sun, but what we did know is our child- and she had NEVER passed out like that before, even at her most tired moments. So we took her to the emergency room. I knew that we were going to sound crazy, like “that mom”… but we had to do it, because I was now scared to let her sleep.

When we got there, the nurse looked at us like we were crazy- just as I suspected he would.  The scenario, unless seen for yourself sounded crazy to explain. The nurse told us that in this heat kids even at 5 years old, should not be outside in the sun for an hour. He said the safest time to be in the sun on these hot days is between the hours of 8am and 10am. He said it could have very well have been from the sun, but over all just recommended we bring her home and let her rest, which we did. Miraculously- when we got home she found this renewed energy. No napping at all- so I am now pretty sure it was the heat.

Of course I’ve always used sunscreen on the kids when they are in the sun. I also  try to keep them well hydrated on these scorching days as well- but I have to admit, I don’t think I ever became fanatical about it- and perhaps I should have been. I’m now doubling up on water and keeping her inside- because  I don’t know what that was yesterday, but I certainly don’t want it to ever happen again.

So my “That Mom” PSA today, is just a simple reminder of sun-safety tips probably already know and practice:

HYDRATE TO THE POINT IT SEEMS CRAZY

SUNBLOCK- APPLY IT MORE THAN ONCE A DAY– EVEN IF IT SAYS “WATER PROOF”

SUN HATS- THOUGH NOT ALWAYS FASHIONABLE ARE A MUST- and if you are a fashionista they have some super cute sun hats on Etsy.

and STAY IN DOORS as much as possible with these little ones.

This heat and sun are no joke! Stay cool!