Baby Care

Archive for November, 2009

Once babies are prepared to take solid foods, parents often become worried about food allergies. Food allergy is an allergic reaction to some specific food. Today’s all parents are concerned about food allergies of their children. In recent year we have seen an increase in the susceptibility of allergies. About 4 out of 100 children have a food allergy. Statistic reports that, approximately 6%t of young children and 3 to 4% of adults in the United States have a food allergy.

How to detect it?
The development of any allergic reaction occurs when the body mistakes something like a food or pollen as a harmful and dangerous attacker. If your kids appears upset for no obvious cause or has unexplained areas of itchiness to the skin, then possibly the baby has a food allergy. A true baby food allergy can only be diagnosed by a medical professional, such as your child’s doctor or specialists. This is done by performing a skin test or blood test.

What foods are responsible for baby allergic reaction?
It’s possible to be allergic to any food, but there are some specific foods which have high priority to occur allergic reaction to baby’s skin.

Most common food allergens:

• Cow’s milk
• Egg whites
• Fish (such as tuna, cod, and salmon)
• Shellfish (such as shrimp, lobster and crab)
• Citrus Fruits
• Wheat
• Tree nuts
• Chocolate
• Tomatoes

Least common allergenic foods

• Yeast
• Barley
• Carrots
• Berries
• Plums
• Squash
• Apricots
• Apples

What Are the Symptoms?
So from home how do you know if your baby is having a food allergy or intolerance after starting a new baby food? Skin reactions are the most common signs of a food allergy. Here are also some common signs of an allergic reaction of baby bay food:

• Diarrhea
• Hives (itchy, red bumps on the skin)
• Vomiting
• Swelling of the face or arms
• Stomach cramps
• Possible blood in stools
• Itchy skin
• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Trouble breathing
• Stuffy or runny nose
• Pain in the belly
• Nausea or vomiting
• Watery or red eyes

Danger Signs:
Sometimes baby with food allergies develop long-term disease such as Asthma. Others, for the baby food allergy anaphylaxis comes on and can be life threatening.

How to treat baby food allergies?
You can easily safe your child from baby food allergies. Here are some valuable suggestions to avoid baby food allergy:

• Try to delay giving solids until your baby is 6 months old. Breast-feed your infant for at least one year.
• Start with less allergenic foods when starting solid foods.
• Try to find the foods which develop allergic reaction to your baby. And avoid the food that causes the allergic reaction.
• If your child has a severe food allergy, his health care provider may give you special pens. If your child has an anaphylactic reaction, you can use a pen to quickly give him medicine.
• When children have food allergies, try to confer with your baby doctor. Health care providers will recommend some certain medicines such as inhalers or liquids or pills. But with the doctors prescribe follow the above rules.
• Others one most important suggestion to the mom that, avoid certain foods in pregnancy which may be the cause of food allergies of children.

Medical research is continuing about food allergies. They are trying to find particular permanent solution for it. And we hope, with in a very near time we will be able to see that types of solution.

As parents, we’re living in a paradoxical time. On one hand, the variety of developmentally friendly infant toys available on the market is greater than ever before. On the other hand, this fact can make a visit to the nearby Toys ‘R Us a depressing experience, since we somehow end up feeling like we’re doing something wrong if we don’t exit the store with every book, video and interactive game well-intentioned people have produced for our benefit.

But take heart. Even if you don’t own every toy in existence, your baby is going to be just fine. I promise. In fact, you need not look beyond your own four walls to find plenty of items that will occupy his interest and stimulate his brain. Here’s a list of 10!

1. Paper
Give your infant a single sheet of paper, and he might amuse himself for minutes on end waving it around, laughing at the funny flapping sound it makes or trying to tear it into a hundred tiny pieces. The activity can help him both practice his dexterity and become familiar with an everyday object. Infants’ movements aren’t smooth enough for them to get paper cuts, but you do have to watch out that they don’t try to eat a torn-off sample. They’ll probably be more interested in waving it around anyway. (Note: While regular paper makes for a fun toy, avoid letting your baby play with newspaper, since the chemicals in printer’s ink can be hazardous.)

2. Stainless Steel Mixing Bowls
These offer several fun advantages. One: They’re shiny and reflective. Two: They’re fun to bang on. Three: They make an interesting noise when rattling against the ground. And four: They’re fun to bang on!

3. Computer Keyboard
Most of us have an obsolete keyboard collecting dust somewhere just because we never bothered to get rid of it. Now is your chance to make it useful again. Babies love rapping (OK, pounding) on the keys and enjoying the clacking sounds they make. Your first step is to secure the loose cable to the back of the keyboard with duct tape. Then you’re ready to hand over the keyboard to your infant and watch him pound away to his heart’s content!

4. Piano
If your baby enjoys banging on a computer keyboard, he’s going to positively love banging on something that produces music as a result! From the age of 5 months or so, he’ll probably be thrilled by being placed on the bench – with you holding him for support, of course – and given free reign to compose whatever piece he wants. Benefits of this great activity include practice with hand-eye coordination, learning about cause and effect (he learns that by hitting the keys, he’s the one making those sounds), and, best of all, a developing ear for, and appreciation of, music.

5. Balls
Plastic balls, rubber balls, ping pong balls – any ball large enough not to be swallowed is a good, engaging toy for an infant. Plastic and rubber balls are best, since they aren’t dangerous to chew on. Tennis balls are OK, too, since your infant will probably discover fairly quickly that chewing on fuzz is less fun than playing with the thing instead. By the time your baby is 5 or 6 months old, you’ll start to derive a whole new level of joy from teaching him to play “catch” – passing the ball back and forth with you (even though you’ll probably have to take the ball from him when he passes it to you, since infants learn to grasp objects before learning to release them).

6. Television Remote
While watching TV is a passive activity and therefore not ideal for infant development, the remote itself can be a useful toy. Babies love pressing buttons wherever they see them, and this provides them with a self-contained panel of lots of different buttons to press. If you have a remote with an LED (red light) that goes on whenever a button is pressed, the toy becomes even more fun and educational – your infant will be spellbound by the relationship between his effort and the light appearing.

7. Empty Plastic Bottles
One of the few good things about our society’s obsessive consumption of soft drinks is the enjoyment infants get from the bottles they come in, once emptied. The smaller the bottle, the better for little hands to manipulate. The larger ones can provide lots of fun, too, by being rolled back and forth or knocked ahead only to rotate back. Empty shampoo bottles also work well.

8. Used Toilet Roll Tubes
Part of me thinks the toilet roll tube came first – as a wonderful infant toy – followed by the invention of toilet paper rolls to place around them. These tubes have lots going for them as baby toys. They’re an interesting cylindrical shape, but open at the ends and thus easy for little hands to grasp. They’re stiff, so your baby won’t destroy them in five minutes. They don’t look like something that would be interesting to eat, even to an infant. And they can be banged against other objects without harmful consequences.

9. Watches
The faces of most watches, combined with the texture of their bands and their silver or gold buckles, make them fascinating objects for infants. They may serve you particularly well at the changing table when your baby reaches the age at which he prefers to flip over instead of waiting for you to finish the job. Dangling the watch above his eyes for a moment or two and then allowing him to grab it might keep him interested just long enough for you to complete the crucial task at hand.

10. You
No matter how many pilgrimages you make to the local toy store, your baby’s favorite toy is you. And why not? Just think how exciting a thing you are, with so many interesting parts for a baby to enjoy, including fingers that move around in captivating ways, a nose that sticks out from the rest of your facial plane, features capable of endless amusing expressions and feet that are fun to shuffle after when they walk away. When you think you’re at a loss trying to keep your infant entertained, turn to yourself as the toy most likely to get results. Do an elevator walk, clap your hands under your knees, play peek-a-boo, play a hambone tune on your thighs, do a pratfall or just jump around and sing. Your baby will appreciate the effort you’re making for him, and he may just reward you with a few of those giggles that you’ve come to live for.

Many traditional cultures believe that massaging the new born baby is an absolute must, and even modern child rearing practices now highlight the several reasons why infants can benefit from massage:

1. Bonding with your new baby:

The new baby’s senses are not very finely attuned; but they do love being touched.

A mother’s soothing hands and familiar voice are a source of delight for a small baby who is bewildered to be out of the embrace of his mother’s safe and warm womb and out into a world of light, noise and all manner of unfamiliar sights.

Massage is one way for a new child and mother to bond in the most basic way that there is; by touch. Looking into your baby’s eyes as you massage his lovely new skin the baby recognizes and learns to love the most important face in his tiny world.

He finds comfort in the beloved voice of his mother that he has known from before his birth and in the firm touch of her warm hands as they massage him.

2.It will Ease baby’s Discomfort.

If a new born suffers from colic or distention of the abdomen, massage will greatly relieve his discomfort and perhaps cause him to pass gas so that his fretfulness will be eased. A restless, wakeful baby will likely be tired out by a massage and this will help him sleep better.

As the mother massages the baby she engages with him by murmuring to him, singing to him or laughing with him; thereby keeping him amused and entertained and diverting his mind from any discomfort he may be in.

3.Good for Baby’s soft skin and Circulation.

While it is not a good idea to use aromatherapy oils that an adult would typically use, most pediatricians recommend the use of an unscented olive oil for use on a baby’s skin that will keep the baby’s skin soft and moisturized.

Olive oil is also unlikely to cause any kind of allergic reaction or rash to develop on the baby’s sensitive skin.  Massage typically aids and improves circulation even among adults and using the proper technique to massage your baby will have just such a beneficial effect on your baby’s circulation.

4.Improves Growth and Development.

According to some studies, premature babies who are regularly massaged, have been seen to gain weight at a faster rate. They also showed better growth and development.  They also seemed more alert and active and were able to leave hospital earlier than other premature babies.

Cell phone is a very important thing in our daily life. It is one of the best inventions in modern era. It makes our communication easier and faster than previous. All of us know how much important it is and how many advantages we take from it. But besides it advantages it has some drawback such as it may cause cancer and some other diseases.

The fact is that our children are much affected by it as their body is under developing. To consider the demerit of it France Government already has ban cell phone for kids. Not only physical problem but also cell phone makes some other problems. Many children who get mobile phone most of the time they play games with it. As a result, they cannot give attention in their lesson. Some of them habituated to unnecessary talk with their friends. Many of them fall in love in their immature age. For this, they become excited and frustrated. A good number of them accustomed to dirty talk with opposite gender in night. So, in the morning they cannot go to school. So, this is very dangerous thing for our next generation. Sometimes, they steal money from home to load balance in their mobile account. Most of the time, they misuse the multimedia option of their cell. They capture unexpected image from hidden place. They watch pornographic film and image in their cell. Thus, they become used to immoral activities.

But why parents give cell phone to their younger children? Is it necessary for them? Almost every parents give cell to their child without any reason. They give it just as fashion or show to others their richness. Sometimes parents make a competition which children get more expensive handset. A few parents give 2 or 3 handset to show their affluence. But I want to ask the parents can they even think that why they give cell phone to their child? What is the purpose? Can a cell improve your child intelligence? Can it help to develop your kids’ education? So, why you give to the cell to the kids? To think about anything of your child, at first, you should consider about your child future. Cell phone is necessary for the people who really need but don’t for the kids.

Your child may not have much hair yet but the hair he or she has, need to be taken care of. Children usually don’t like having their hair washed, rinsed, and combed. But if you don’t take care of your little one’s hair, it can get dry, messy, or full of loops. Hair care is a significant part of looking after your baby appropriately. Baby hair care is a very simple process to perform. Here are some common and important tips for the care of your baby’s hair:

* Your baby’s hair needs special care, though it doesn’t take so much time. For the caring of your baby’s hair you need to know the type of your baby’s hair. Some babies are born with thick hair while others have little or no hair. Others, most of the infants are born with soft hair. So every type of hair needs specialcare.
* If your baby has curly hair or excess hair then you only need wash your baby’s hair frequently.
* When taking care of newborn hair it is very important to be awfully gentle. Try to avoid putting pressure onto the soft spot that is situated at the top of the baby’s head.
* Comb your baby’s hair to get rid of the tangles just before you shampoo the hair.
* For the shampooing don’t use the normal shampoo that is used by adult. In the market there are lots of special shampoos for babies, you can choose one of them for your baby. Baby shampoo does not contain sulfates or other additives that are found in adult shampoos. Baby shampoos also prevent harsh in the shampoo happens to get in the baby’s eyes. Always take a shampoo with a low ph balance for your baby.
* Keep the scalp of your baby clean for a healthy hair growth. But, do not wash your baby hair daily. You can give them gentle hair washes in few days interval. Try to shampoo baby’s hair as often, as it needed.
* Always remember that the skull of your baby is soft and sensitive. So always be gentle while you combing their hair.
* You must make the shampooing an enjoyable experience as most of the babies don’t like it. Your child will be more likely to practise correct hair and scalp care as he or she gets older.
* Some say that shaving infant’s hair increases hair growth. However, there is no proof till now that shaving hair makes hair grow faster and thicker.
* Trimmed means that when performing baby hair care the hair should be kept out of the child’s eyes and ears. When hair is allowed to grow too long unnecessary tangling can occur. An individual or professional can trim the hair of a baby.
* Kid’s scalp may have red skin. Wash the scalp regularly with a mild shampoo to get rid of the problem. Maybe the pediatrician will recommend some medications for your baby.

On top of part of our article we say that baby hair care doesn’t need much time or much care. And only following by these easy suggestions we can ensure that your baby’s hair is kept clean, stylish and beautiful.

Picking your baby’s name is not always easy. The experience ranges from joyful, to emotional, to sometimes frustrating. This list of baby naming tips should help you to avoid common pitfalls, and to enjoy the process in a positive way.

1. Start looking at baby names early. You are likely to change your mind often, so the more time you allow, the easier it will be.

2. Use the internet. There are lots of great resources online, from baby name lists, to articles about the meanings and origins of names, to forums.

3. Think about your baby’s future.  Don’t pick a name that may be teased on the schoolyard.  Don’t saddle your child with a name that will be an embarrassment.

4. Classic is classic for a reason. Classic means time-tested, well-loved. Classic names always work well.

5. Don’t be too trendy or cool.  Tastes and fashions change.

6. Unique is fine – but not too unique. There’s nothing wrong with choosing a distinctive name. It can convey a positive sense of independence and strength. Naming your daughter Ariana is good. Naming her Drusilla is stretching it.

7. When it comes to placenames, you have to be careful. Dakota is a true native American name, steadily growing in popularity. Milwaukee, on the other hand, really is a city in the Midwest, and best left that way.

8. Naming your baby after a relative is common in many cultures. You may want to think about naming your child after a parent, a grandparent, etc.

9. Using surnames as first names can be risky. People will never know if it’s the child’s first name or last name.

10. Double gender names such as Corey, Brett, Dale, and so forth, while they may be perfectly good names, present risk. The risk is that over time, the name will become more male, or more female, leaving the losing gender with a potentially embarrassing name.

11. Pay attention to what a name may mean, even if the meaning is obscure. The biblical name Helah, for example, actually means “rust.” In this age of the internet, any meanings will be dug up by your child’s middle school friends, so be sure to do a background check on names you are considering.

12. Spelling variants can be a stumbling block. Before you choose a name with alternate spellings, be sure you are willing to accept some confusion. Alicia, Alyssa, Alisha, and Elissa may all sound alike to some.

13. Don’t make it too hard to pronounce.

14. Make sure it works with your surname.

15. You and your partner should love the name you choose. If you can’t agree on one, keep trying. (That’s why starting this process early is good).

16. When it comes to family – inform them what your baby’s name will be, don’t let them pressure you. It’s hard enough to pick a baby name, without opening it up to a committee.

17. Finally, be proud of the name you pick. If you’ve done your research, and agonized over it, you’ve done the best you can. And that’s a special gift for your new baby.

At first you may be nervous about dressing your baby and trying to support him while manipulating the garments. Dressing will become easier with practice, so just be gentle and patient.

You should always dress and undress a young baby on a nonskid flat surface, as this allows you to keep both hands free – a changing pad is ideal. Your baby is very likely to cry as you take off his clothes. This is because young babies hate the feel of the air on their naked bodies; they like to feel snug and secure. It’s not because you’re hurting him, so don’t get flustered by it.

One dilemma new moms face is how are they going to feed their new babies.  There are two types of baby care feeding, breastfeeding and bottle feeding.  It is wise for the mom to decide before the baby is born because nutritionists come to your room the day you are admitted to find out if you are going to breast feed.  If your answer is yes, then they will send a breastfeeding coach to your room.

The breastfeeding coach supplies you with information on how to breast feed your baby so that you are a little prepared when baby is born.  This information shows you different types of positions to hold the baby so that it is more comfortable for you when feeding.

1) The football position – This is when you hold the baby in one arm in the manner that football players hold the football when they are running with the ball.  If you are right handed, then you hold the babies head with the palm of your hand.  Your right arm will be under their back and their feet will be behind your arm.  Your left hand to hold the breast in position so that you can lunge (my choice of words) the baby’s head carefully onto the breast so that the mouth is around the areola.

It is much more comfortable to place a pillow under your arm and the baby resting on the pillow (in newborn stage) before you start breastfeeding to prevent your arm from getting tired.

2)  Cradle Position – This is when you hold the baby with the bend of your arm under their head and their body up against yours.  Their stomachs should be placed up against your stomach with the entire body aligned straight in the same direction to minimize discomfort.  It is easier to do this in a chair so that you can rest your arm (with the baby in it, of course) on it.

3) Cross Cradle Position – This is just like the cradle except you are holding the baby with the other arm.  Instead of holding the baby in the right arm on the right breast, you will be holding the baby with your left arm on the right breast.  This gives you more head control to make sure the mouth is carefully around the areola when feeding.

4) Tailor – This is when you hold the baby across your lap normally (for older kids) with right arm behind head and them feeding on right breast.  Something like cradle but with older kids.

5) Lying down – This is the “lazy” position (again my own words).  You lay on your side, let’s say the right side, and baby is lying right next to you.  This makes it easier to direct your breast into babies mouth correctly.  It also eliminates having to hold the baby during feeding.

Breastfeeding is the recommended baby care feeding because you are giving the sweet baby all the necessary natural nutrients that help fight certain immune diseases.  It also gives them a better IQ.

Taking care of your sweet baby’s health is very important. You should always make sure they get all their shots so that when it comes time to go to school, they can be admitted.

You are probably thinking that I should have said that they should have their shots so they can be healthy, but that reason is debatable.

I believe that most of these shots that are given during the baby health care treatments are really poisonous. They are full of hormones and whatever else. Why would it be considered “healthy” if you are in fact shooting our babies up with the very virus you are protecting them from?

How can that possibly be “healthy”?

Also, what other medicines and viruses are concocted in these shots? We, as parents, really have no idea, yet we are told to do so by the government and our doctors.

My babies’ health care is very important to me and I wish I had the means to teach all of my children at home and therefore, avoiding dosing them up with all this poison.

It is all too easy to spend a lot of money on baby clothes – especially as there is a tendency for manufacturers at the cheaper end of the market to guarantee itself a profit by spending less themselves on making the clothes.  Finding the right material for baby clothes is very important.  Although human beings have made great advances in manufacturing over time, the fact is that synthetic fabrics – though cheaper than cotton – are not as kind to the human skin. If you want to be kind to your baby – who will, it is certain, have softer skin than yours – it is important to buy baby clothes made of cotton, or wool.

Synthetic fabrics are known to be harsh on the skin, and also have a tendency to be more allergenic than natural fabrics due to the chemicals used to make them. The processes used to turn natural ingredients into natural fabrics require a little bit more work, and less chemicals, so they will be more expensive.  But set next to the medical bills which can result from a child’s reaction to cheaper fabrics, it could be said that the more natural fabrics you clothe them in are an investment.

The right mix to go for, then, is clothes in a natural fabric which are dyed in a relatively gentle way to be brightly colored. It is well known that children react well to bright colors as a visual stimulus, and consequently they will be happier in such clothes.

Also, it is proven that synthetic fabric is highly flammable as opposed to cotton.  It is highly recommended by professionals that a child sleeps in cotton material as opposed to any other in case of a fire.  Although all materials burn, it has been proven that materials other than cotton burn faster and therefore can be very harmful to a child.

Who would have thought that choosing the right material for your baby’s clothes could mean a matter of life or death or lesser degree of burns?