The things you should expose your baby to, from horseplay with Dad to spicier food

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By Deborah Skolnik

Even the most devoted moms and dads often overlook some of these — or feel that they're the opposite of what a loving parent should do. But each is important in its own way. Here's why you should give your baby...

...more sleep
Quick: How much shut-eye does the average baby need? Many parents guess it's 8 to 12 hours per day, but it's actually more like 14 to 16, including naps, for infants up to age 1, says Juan Martinez, M.D., director of the sleep lab at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, in Hollywood, Florida. This misunderstanding can lead to babies who are as sleep-deprived as the rest of us.

Sure, it's tempting to try to keep that dozing cutie awake for his aunt's visit. But helping your child to snooze without interruption as often as possible is worth it. Jennifer Winn of Spring Lake, New Jersey, sometimes has to cancel her 2-year-old's playdate if her 10-month-old is overtired. "It's not easy, but I think it's really important that he have his rest," she says.

She's right. A child must be well rested to be receptive to new experiences. So know the signs that your baby needs more shut-eye. "Instead of acting drowsy, he may be irritable and hyper," Dr. Martinez says.

Setting a sleep schedule, especially once your child is at least 6 months old, is a good way to make sure he's getting enough rest. Make naptimes and bedtimes as consistent as possible, and build in a cushion of time beforehand to help him unwind you can try showing him a book, rocking him, or giving him a warm bath before bed.

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You can learn to live in the moment -- but first be prepared to spend 7 minutes eating a raisin

By Shelley Levitt - womenshealthmag.com

I've been perched atop a stool in a Beverly Hills beauty salon for more than 3 hours — my punishment for using the cheap drugstore stuff to touch up my roots. The result is an inky 2-inch band across my hairline, a sulky I-told-you-so colorist, and this seemingly endless $275 rescue treatment. Bored beyond tears, I'm completely unable to focus on the book that's in my lap. Instead I'm wondering, Is there time to defrost the mahimahi for dinner tonight? Should I splurge on that Marc Jacobs hobo or search for a knockoff on eBags? When the assistant finally summons me to the shampoo station, I mutter, "Huh?" — I've been daydreaming about a vacation in Belize — and, forgetting that my legs are wrapped around the stool's upper rung, I hit the faux cement floor with my shins, then knees, then elbows, the stool clattering to join me among the soggy clumps of shorn hair.

I wish I could say this sort of thing rarely happens to me, but the reality is that I'm the type who often finds herself standing in front of the microwave, holding the soy milk that is clearly meant for the fridge. I search frantically for the car keys that I just tucked into my back pocket 2 minutes before. More troubling are the stretches of hours — sometimes days — when I'm on autopilot, going from work to workout to dinner with friends, not quite tuning into conversations, looking at my watch a dozen times during a single Pilates class. My body is present and accounted for, but the feeling, thinking, observing parts of myself are vaguely…someplace else.

Because of births, deaths, good news, bad news, good movies, bad movies...Here's the scoop on what gets our tears flowing

By Sandy Hingston - womenshealthmag.com

The editor who asked me to write this story did so because he knows I'm a crier. He's seen me cry at appropriate times (on 9/11), at inappropriate times (in editorial meetings), and at just plain weird times (when my pen runs out of ink). Like most men, he's scared when I cry. I can see it in his eyes as he edges back from my desk: What's the matter with her? Is she coming unhinged? How can she get so upset over a lousy pen?

Tom, you moron, it's got nothing to do with the pen. Any woman could tell you that.

But what it does have to do with is something I never really gave any thought to. I cry becausewell, because. Because I feel bad. Because it feels good. Because I have unresolved attachment issues and am regressing to a preverbal state to reforge a symbolic internal connection to my mother.

Or maybe it's because I'm getting my freaking period, okay?

Cry, Baby
I first cried on the day I was born. Like most babies, I cried at a pitch between C and C-sharp. Yet my mom could pick me out by the sound. I cried because it was all I could do, the only tool I had to summon food and comfort. I cried more and more for the first 6 weeks of my life, then at a steady rate — mostly in the evening — until I was 12 weeks old, when I began to cry less. That was also when I started to cry tears you could see.

 

and baby.

The position of parent and baby during a diaper change is perfect for creating a bonding experience between you. You are leaning over your baby, and your face is at the perfect arms-length distance for engaging eye contact and communication. What's more, this golden opportunity presents itself many times during each day; no matter how busy you both get, you have a few moments of quiet connection. It's too valuable a ritual to treat it as simply maintenance.

Learning about your baby

Diapering offers a perfect opportunity for you to truly absorb your baby's cues and signals. You'll learn how his little body works, what tickles him, what causes those tiny goose bumps. As you lift, move, and touch your baby, your hands will learn the map of his body and what's normal for him. This is important because it will enable you to easily decipher any physical changes that need attention.

Pregnancy

The onset and degree of pregnancy symptoms will vary within women. Many women experience them within days of conception, others take a few weeks before pregnancy symptoms kick in and a lucky few feel no discomfort at all. The early pregnancy symptoms listed on this page generally can be felt once implantation occurs (8 - 10 days from ovulation) and will lessen after the first trimester.

From Marcy Zitz,

Your Guide to Family Internet.

about.com

Acronyms are an abbreviation that is formed with the first letter of each word in a phrase. They have made their way into the English language as common language that becomes a new word. For instance the word "laser" is commonly used to describe an intense beam of light but it is actually an acronym that stands for lightwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. Acronyms are used extensively in online chat conversations and Instant Messaging (IM) as a short cut to typing an entire expression. Not only is this done to save time, children use them to "secretly" communicate even when a parent is standing in the room (for instance POS (Parent Over Shoulder) is typed by a teen to let their chat partner know that their parent just walked in the room).

 

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 08, 2006 06:40PM EST

people.com

Brad Pitt says that he and Angelina Jolie will get married – when all couples can legally wed.

"Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able," the actor tells Esquire magazine for its October issue.

Of course, the couple are already living in domestic bliss with their three children, Shiloh, who was born in May, Maddox, 5, and Zahara, 1.

Of the older two children, whom Jolie adopted and Pitt is in the process of legally adopting, the 42-year-old actor says the fact that they aren't his biological children doesn't set them apart from their sister, Shiloh.

"They're as much of my blood as any natural born, and I'm theirs," Pitt tells the magazine, which hits newsstands Sept. 19. "That's all I can say about it. I can't live without them. So: Anyone considering (adoption), that's my vote."

And Pitt says he's a pretty laid back dad.

"I try not to stifle them in any way," he says. "If it's not hurting anyone, I want them to be able to explore. Sometimes that means they're quite rambunctious."

Still, Pitt, whose next film is the drama Babel, says communication is the key with kids: "I feel it's really important to have that time to sit and talk to them," he continues. "I really like that last minute before they fade off. And always give them a heads-up before you jerk them out of something. You need to tell them, like, 'You have three more minutes.'"

September 05, 2006

TUESDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- The risk of developing autism is significantly higher among children born to men who are 40 and older than it is among children with fathers under 30, researchers report.

The reason appears to be genetic, researchers suggest.

Autism is a growing problem, affecting 50 children in every 10,000, compared with just five in 10,000 only 20 years ago. This increase appears to be partially due to more awareness of the condition and changes in the definition of classic autism to include autism spectrum disorders. However, it could also be that there is an increase in the incidence of autism, experts say.

The condition is marked by social and language problems and repetitive patterns of behavior. Autism spectrum disorder includes pervasive developmental disorder; Rett's syndrome, Asperger syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder.

September 05, 2006

TUESDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- The American Academy of Pediatrics has a new attitude about consumption of milk and milk products by children with lactose intolerance: Hey, give it a try.

New guidelines say the academy "supports use of dairy foods as an important source of calcium for bone mineral health and of other nutrients that facilitate growth in children and adolescents." Specifically, it does not recommend eliminating dairy products to treat lactose intolerance.

In practical terms, said Dr. Melvin B. Heyman, a member of the committee that wrote the guidelines, the new advice is for parents of children with lactose intolerance, in collaboration with pediatricians, to "test the system and see how much milk, cheese and ice cream they can tolerate."

One reason for the new advice, said Heyman, who is a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, is that "we have more information about what people will tolerate. We know that children who have lactose intolerance have a tendency to tolerate some dairy products."