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.
Q
My husband's brother has hunting rifles in his attic, and it worries me to have my child around firearms. Do I talk to him about it?
A
There's no need for you to be delicate or squeamish. Folks who are uncomfortable with guns tend to be uncomfortable talking about them as well. But gun owners are usually perfectly happy to chat about their gear. Your brother-in-law bought his guns, hunts with them, and is likely proud to own them. He also doesn't want your child (or his own!) to be at risk, and therefore he should be perfectly willing to talk about what he's done to make his equipment inaccessible to children, something the National Rifle Association, which supports gun ownership, encourages on its website and in its brochures.
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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).
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."
I was getting out of the shower recently and did something I normally don't dare do. I took a glance at my body in the mirror. The glance turned into a stare.
My body, once so lithe and lean, looked shockingly like the lumpy, droopy bodies of older women I used to pity smugly in locker rooms. What happened? I thought.
Kids are what happened. Ever since my body endured two pregnancies, childbirth, and nursing, it's never been quite the same, even now, eight years later. "Creating a baby and giving birth, your body has gone through some remarkable changes," says Iffath Hoskins, M.D., an obstetrician in Savannah. "Many parts of your body will revert back to normal, but not everything. After kids, your body redefines what normal is."
Ask Dr. Sears: Nighttime Bottles and Tooth Decay
From parenting.com
Q My husband and I recently adopted a baby, and he's been exclusively bottle-fed. He always feeds at night from a bottle, and I've been hearing that he will develop cavities from this. He doesn't take the bottle to bed; rather he has his bedtime bottle and we put him down to sleep right afterwards. Is this indeed dangerous for his teeth?
A Indeed, it is, as the milk sugars in formula can cause tooth decay. Even natural milk sugars present in breast milk can occasionally cause tooth decay from night nursing. The reason for the night feeding-tooth decay correlation is that when you fall asleep, saliva production drastically slows and you lose the natural rinsing action that saliva provides. This allows the milk sugars to settle on the teeth and stay there throughout the night, possibly causing decay. It's a true dilemma, because one of the time-tested ways of putting babies to sleep is feeding them. Instead, try these tricks:
The Disadvantages of Time-Out by Aletha Solter, Ph.D.
As concerned parents and educators have become aware of the dangers of physical punishment, time-out has emerged as a popular disciplinary tool. Misbehaving children are told to sit quietly on a chair or go to their rooms to calm down and think about what they did. After a period of time, they are allowed to come back to the group or join the family, provided that they act "appropriately." The designated period of time is usually one minute per year of age, and children who leave the chair or room before their time is up are told to return for the full allotment once again. Some books recommend an added rule of silence, and suggest that the timing be repeated if the silence is broken. In either case, parents who use this method are promised quick and easy results. Time-out stems from the behaviorist movement based on the work of psychologist B.F. Skinner. His theory of operant conditioning asserts that children will behave in certain ways if they receive rewards for doing so ("positive reinforcement"), and that undesirable behavior can be diminished by withholding the rewards or by invoking pain (both of which are termed "punishment"). Skinner himself believed that all forms of punishment were unsuitable means of controlling children's behavior.1 Even so, while spanking is on the wane in the United States, the withholding of love and attention has persisted as an acceptable means of control.
Time-out is a discipline technique that involves placing children in a very boring place for several minutes following unacceptable behaviors. Time-out really means time out from any attention. Many parents have found time-out to be more effective in improving their children's behavior than hitting, yelling, and threatening. It has been shown to be effective in decreasing various problem behaviors (e.g., temper tantrums, not minding, hitting, etc.). Some parents say they have tried time-out before, and it did not work. In most cases, the reason it failed was because time-out was not used correctly. It is critical that the time-out procedure be followed exactly as stated. It can take only one slight change in the procedure to turn it from being very effective to being ineffective. Consistency in using the time-out procedure is critical. Parents should make sure that all other adults who discipline their children use the same technique.
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