Archive for the ‘parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies’ Category
Friday, November 13th, 2009
If there is one problem that every new parent is sure to have sooner or later, it is gas. Well, that is to say that your baby will have gas. Gas pains are one of the most common reasons that babies cry. It can be very frustrating for a parent to watch their little angel cry when there is so little that you can do to help. Everyone seems to think that burping a baby is easy, but there are many different ways to do it. My favorite burp-inducing trick is:
Get your baby dancing.
Well, not literally. What you want to do is, hold your baby in a sitting position on your lap with one hand on his chest, and one on his back ( Make sure your thumb and forefinger are able to steady his head from the front and back). Then, gently lean his top half left to right. When done correctly it will look like your little hunny bunny is doing a silly dance. Because of the effort involved I usually try the “propped up on my shoulder” position, but when that doesn’t work, dancing usually does.
Happy parenting!
Tags: babies, baby, baby's, bubble, burping, gas, infant, little one, newborn, styles
Posted in parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
“A Bad Case Of Stripes” by David Shannon is a fun and whimsical story about individuality and accepting yourself. Of course it is beautifully illustrated in David Shannon’s signature style (although much more refined than in his “David” books) which adds to the appeal, but the most enchanting thing about this book for me is the message: be true to yourself. While the subtleties of the story line may be above your child’s head until the age of four or five, the colorful and dynamic illustration designs can keep the attention of children as young as two or three. This is a classic book that will grow with your child, I glowingly recommend it.
Tags: book, child, David Shannon, illustrations, kid, Review, toddler, Write A Review Wednesday
Posted in parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies | No Comments »
Monday, October 19th, 2009
As your baby grows and becomes stronger, one of the impulses many parents have is to stand their baby on their lap. A baby’s instinct is to push against any solid barrier that touches their feet, and so to many parents this looks like their baby is trying to stand up. They are not completely mistaken either. The instinct to push against things with both arms and legs is an instinct that helps babies strengthen their muscles, and prepares them for crawling and eventually walking. However, a baby will push with not just his feet, but with his toes. This can lead to muscle memory that causes the development of the very bad habit of toe-walking. Toe-walking has many serious consequences over time, including bone fractures and malformation. One way you can help prevent this bad habit from forming is:
Always put the pressure on your baby’s heels.
When your baby is laying on your chest, you can cup his heels in your hands, or if he is laying up against your thighs while you recline, you can put a thumb under each heel and apply gentle resistance pressure. When you hold your baby up and let him put weight on his feet, observe whether he tends to push all the way up onto his toes. If he does, remove the pressure from his feet right away. Don’t worry if it happens here and there, simply try to encourage him to associate his heels with bearing weight as often as you reasonably can. Habits are formed by always doing things one way, so if you reinforce heel pressure from time to time, it should be enough to interrupt the development of toe-walking.
Happy parenting!
Tags: babies, baby, baby's, exercises, heel walking, infant, little one, newborn, pressure, steps, toe
Posted in parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
When introducing solid foods to your baby you will probably experience a certain amount of rejection. It’s nothing personal though, when a baby tries to eat solid food the first few times the food will probably come right back out because the sucking motion actually shoves solid food forward. But sometimes, even when your baby has figured out how to get solid food from the spoon to the tummy, solid food will just not be accepted. Here is a good trick to try when you are trying to introduce solid food to your baby.
Experiment with texture.
Some foods when pureed will be fairly thick, like mashed potatoes, and some will be quite watery, like pears. That is why when you are first offering your baby cereal, you should experiment with the texture to find the consistency your baby seems to like best. Many babies find a slightly thicker consistency (like the consistency of toothpaste) easier to manage, while some prefer a more soupy style that they can practically drink. The reason you’ll want to know your baby’s preferred consistency is so you can thicken up those pears with some rice cereal, or you can add some breast milk or formula to the mashed potatoes if he rejects them the first time. Sometimes a new flavor can be quite overwhelming on its own, if you can adjust the texture so that it is more familiar you increase your chances that your sweet little goober-cluster will chow down with enthusiasm.
Tags: babies, baby, baby's, foods, infant, introducing, little one, new, newborn, resistance, solids, spitting out
Posted in parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies | 2 Comments »
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
Last day at the pool for the summer.
Tags: passed out, pool, sleeping, tired, toddler
Posted in parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies | No Comments »
Friday, September 18th, 2009
Breastfeeding is the most natural first choice for most families. However for a lot of mothers this isn’t the way things worked out. No matter the reason, many parents find themselves faced with the task of using a bottle to feed their baby. Though there are some benefits, there are also many drawbacks to using the bottle mostly in the form of gas and upset stomach. Whether you are using breast milk or formula in the bottle here is something you can do to make it a lot less likely to bother your baby’s tummy.
Make sure your baby’s milk and/or formula is fresh.
Fresh pumped breast milk can stay out in a bottle at room temperature for about 10-12 hours before it begins to have a risk of growing bacteria. Fresh mixed formula can only be out for about 1-2 hours before it begins to develop a bacterial risk.
Fresh pumped breast milk can be refrigerated for up to a week (though sometimes as little as 2 or 3 days. A sterile container helps retain freshness in refrigerated breast milk.) with no significant bacterial growth risk, and fresh mixed formula can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.
Breast milk can be frozen for 3 months in a soft-freeze, 6 months in a hard freeze and 1 year in a deep freeze. Thawed breast milk (and sometimes even refrigerated breast milk) is nearly as susceptible to bacteria as fresh mixed formula is, and should be held to a minimum of the same standards.
If you pre-mix a large amount of formula, refrigerate the bulk of it for no longer than 2 days. If you have thawed breast milk, it should be served within 48 hours as well.
For night feedings, you can pre-mix or thaw your formula or milk and keep prepared bottles in the refrigerator. Leave out the first bottle for up to an hour before it is used for the first feeding, then take out a bottle for the next feeding to warm over 2-3 hours. By the time it reaches room temperature, it will probably be within an hour of your baby’s next feeding time. If you prefer to mix your baby’s formula by the bottle rather than all at once, keep sterile bottles of pre-measured water with pre-measured formula to mix just before each feeding (the only drawback to this is the bubbles that are caused by shaking formula can cause severe gas in some babies).
It is very important to keep in mind that once your baby’s mouth has touched the bottles nipple, that formula or breast milk will only be safe for 1 hour, TOPS. I know it is hard to throw out breast milk, and formula can be expensive, but if your baby only eats half a bottle and refuses to finish it, throw the rest away. Also, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the smell of fresh formula and breast milk, as well as the smell of breast milk and formula that has “turned”, because if you are in a pinch and need to offer your baby some milk that you are unsure of, you will be able to use your nose to warn you of bacteria growth.
Keep to these guidelines, and your baby’s tummy will thank you for it!
Happy parenting!
Tags: babies, baby, baby's, bottle, feeding, formula, gas, infant, little one, milk, newborn, safety
Posted in parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies | 7 Comments »
Saturday, September 12th, 2009
“How often should a new baby nap?”, “When and why do napping schedules change?” and “How can I get my baby to sleep better during the day?” Are all questions that most new parents will have at some point during their baby’s development. Napping is such an inconsistent habit, always changing and developing along with your baby. It is hard to know if your baby’s day-time sleep is normal for her age, and encouraging a healthy sleeping pattern isn’t exactly something they teach you in pregnancy school.
Keep in mind how often your baby “should” be napping at different ages.
Keeping this general schedule in mind will help you understand why your baby’s naps are suddenly changing in frequency or why your baby suddenly refuses to nap at all at certain times.
Birth to 1 month: Napping should be on-demand, and very frequent during the day.
From 1 month to 6 months: Your baby will begin to gravitate toward four predictable naps a day, early morning, noon, afternoon, and evening.
6 months to 1 year: The evening nap will be dropped, or turn into the start of night-time sleep, but the other three naps will stay about the same. One of the naps, usually the noon nap, will be longer than the other two.
1 year to 2 years: One more nap will be dropped, either the early morning one or the afternoon one. The bulk of day-sleep will probably take place during the noon nap.
From 2 years on: Only the noon nap is commonly kept after this point, and by 2.5 years or 3 years, your baby could drop their nap all together.
This schedule is just a basic framework, if your baby keeps an extra nap a bit longer, or drops a nap a bit earlier than I’ve described, don’t worry, it is natural for babies to refuse to conform to blanket statements about what they should or should not be doing at any given time. Only if your baby is consistently getting a significantly smaller amount of sleep than described for longer than a week should you begin to be concerned. If you have any nagging worry about your baby’s lack of naps, or if you think your baby is sleeping too much, ask your pediatrician for a more focused assessment.
Tags: babies, baby, baby's, changes, day, daytime, differences, infant, little one, naping, newborn, schedule, sleep
Posted in parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies | No Comments »
Friday, September 4th, 2009
Colic. The dreaded, the mythical, the bane of parental existence… colic. It’s such a cute little word when you look at it, yet the meaning it carries is ugly indeed: crying. Your baby crying and there seems to be nothing you can do to help. The definition of colic is basically a baby who cries at predictable times during the day (usually early evening) for around three hours at a time. There is no known cause or cure. Helpful huh? Of course colic has existed since babies have, and mothers over the years have learned a few things to try that might help you and your little screamer through the rough patches. This is one of the lesser known tips.
A vibrating back massager on the tummy.
When all else seems to be failing, a technique that has worked for me a few times is to get a vibrating back massage device, wrap it in a towel to mute the strength of the vibrations, and apply it gently to your baby’s belly. Be careful not to keep the massage device in any one place for too long (over 2 minutes), and try to keep the entire massage under 10 minutes. If you sometimes go as long as 15 it should be okay, but shoot for short sessions. If your baby responds well and falls asleep, stop the massage device and put it away. You might also try my tips for gas and reflux to help remedy colic.
Happy parenting!
Tags: babies, baby, baby's, colic, crying, gas, help, home, infant, little one, newborn, remedies, solutions, tips
Posted in parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies | 1 Comment »
Friday, September 4th, 2009
One of the scariest things for a parent to encounter is kissing your baby only to find that they are burning up with a fever. If your baby has a fever of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit or 38 degrees Celsius you should consult your pediatrician right away. Only after your doctor has sent you home with instructions to wait and see should this tip be used. Most pediatricians will recommend infant Tylenol to help bring down your baby’s fever, but there is a growing feeling among many parents that they would rather take a more natural approach. While there is nothing quite as natural as letting a fever run it’s course without interference, this can be very uncomfortable for your baby. Here is a good tip to help you naturally reduce your baby’s fever.
Cucumber pacifier.
The cucumber is often used by spas as a way to reduce tissue inflammation and swelling around peoples eyes. It can have a similarly soothing effect on your baby’s throat and temperature when used as a pacifier. I recommend that parents take a whole young cucumber (young cucumbers have fewer seeds) and peel one end, then use a paring knife to whittle it into the shape of a thick finger tip, thicker at the base, and slimming near the rounded tip. Remember not to expose any seeds, if the seeds are exposed, they must be trimmed away before the cucumber is offered to your baby. Hold the unpeeled body of the cucumber like a bottle, and offer the cool peeled tip for your baby to suck on. Keep a close eye on the cucumber to make sure that it is not starting to come apart. The cooling effect of the cucumber should start to reduce your baby’s fever right away. Keep in mind that you should take your baby’s temperature under the arm once they begin to suck on the cucumber.
Happy parenting!
Tags: babies, baby, baby's, cucumber, fever, infant, little one, natural, newborn, reduce, temperature
Posted in parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 31st, 2009
Not too long after you bring your baby home, you will be confronted with one of the basic aspects of having a baby, the smell. I’m not talking about the sweet fresh skin smell, or the baby-lotion and scented wipe smell, I’m talking about the sour-milk in skin folds, waste particles that you can’t find, pungent crib-cap build up and a combination of sweat and dead skin cells that leaves an unmistakeably “ripe” smell behind. Most babies are not able to be bathed for the first few weeks that they are home because of the healing belly-button and some babies have sensitive skin issues that effectively restrict how often they can be bathed, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing you can do to help your little one stay fresh. The issue of baby hygiene is a sensitive one, since no one wants to think that they are the one with the stinky baby, but if you follow this tip you should be able to be sure that your little love blossom actually smells like one.
Use a squirt-bottle solution and a cloth to refresh your baby’s neck after naps.
In a squirt bottle combine 2.5 cups of sterile water, 1 teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide, 2-3 drops of lavender oil (other oils can be substituted) and 1 tablespoon of chamomile tea. This solution is gentle and effective at neutralizing odor-causing bacteria, and soothing for your baby. If you’d like to go completely natural, you could just use water as well, but the odor-fighting properties are greatly reduced. A trick for getting your baby to let you wipe their ticklish neck is to drape the cloth around their neck from the back like a shawl, then hold onto the two corners in front and rotate the cloth around so that it is hanging in the front like a bib. If that isn’t enough, you can also gently “floss” the cloth back and forth to try and clean out the folds completely. Hopefully this will solve the majority of your stinky baby problem, but if you still struggle with crib cap, dap a little mineral oil mixed with a couple drops of a scented oil onto your baby;s scalp. Be extra gentle and try to avoid the soft spot in the center of your baby’s head.
Happy parenting!
Tags: babies, baby, baby's, clean, crib cap, fresh, infant, little one, neck, newborn, smell, stinky
Posted in parenting, new parents, baby tips, babies | 2 Comments »
