Good baby care starts with a good solid schedule for your baby. In order to get your baby onto a good baby nap schedule, it starts with a consistent schedule for baby feeding. If you feed your baby regularly around the same time, you will notice that the babies nap time will fall around the same time each day. However, baby naps and naptime can vary for each baby.

Some babies take a long nap in the morning. Newborns sleep all day and eventually they will settle into 2 naps per day, and ultimately just have one nap per day as they get older. For some babies, they will enjoy naps in the same spot that they sleep such as their crib. This will also help them get to sleep at night and become more familiar with sleeping in their crib location. Obviously some days will be different so it’s good to train your baby to sleep on the go, in the car seat or stroller which is usually an easier place to get the baby to nap as a baby will get tired when on the go…

Many babies will sleep for a short period of time during the day and then wake up. Most parents do not want to swaddle their baby during the day and keep the swaddle for the night time only if they are interested in swaddling at all. All babies are different and it’s important to understand their cues and when they are tired. Understanding where your baby enjoys sleep can help get them to sleep for their nap. Naptime can be difficult for parents and their is no easy answer as each baby is different. The best you can do is try your baby to get your baby to nap and create a naptime routine. Sometimes, putting dark blackout shades in the babies room will help the baby nap for a longer period of time during the day.

• Keep to a routine. If your baby wakes up late in the morning to help make up for some of his late nights, begin waking him at an earlier time each day to help encourage him to get the sleep he needs at night — when the rest of the household sleeps.
• Choose a well-lit area for your baby’s naps. This will help encourage shorter naps, which in turn may help your little one sleep better at night.
• Increase daytime feeds. Feeding your baby more often during the day will allow him to meet his nutritional needs at a time more convenient to you.
• Feed your baby in a quiet, darkened room occasionally if your baby is easily distracted during the day.
• If breastfeeding, allow your baby to finish the first breast offered. This will provide him or her with more of your rich hindmilk, which may also help to space out his nighttime feeds.
• Carry your baby — with the aid of a sling or other baby carrier. This will help to keep your baby relaxed, especially during the early evening hours, encouraging an easy transition to sleep.
• Keep the evening calm to avoid over stimulation. If a bath is relaxing for your little one, you can bathe him before bed. If it’s too stimulating, bathe him at another time.
• Feed your baby in a darkened room at night if he or she wakes up hungry. Let him know that night is for sleeping.
• Avoid nighttime diaper changes if at all possible.
• And don’t forget to take care of yourself!

At times, it can be difficult to find a good babysitter or nanny for your baby, especially a baby sitter or nanny that will take great care of your baby It’s important that you don’t take this process lightly, and you always check the references of any babysitter or nanny to make sure they come highly recommended. These best way to find a great baby sitter and nanny is by referral. Simply ask around to all your friends and parents to see how they found their babysitter or nanny to get advice. Many cases, most of the good nannies and sitters will know each other and can recommend another good baby sitter or nanny if they aren’t available. There is nothing more powerful than word of mouth.

We don’t recommend finding someone to care for your baby on a website like Craigslist as you never know what you can find on this type of your site and your goal is to find someone that will take the best care of your little ones, so we wouldn’t steer you in that direction.

However, there are many nanny and babysitter agencies that can help set up meetings for you with prospective nannies and sitters. They will simply set up the meeting and take a percentage or nanny fee, or in most cases they will take a one time fee for their help in finding you a nanny.

There are websites that can be useful to find a part-time sitter to get kids to and pick them up from school, provide assistance with the homework, and even put dinner on the table for the family, such as SitterCity.com. What’s great about this website is that you can view resumes, profiles, and past work experience to make sure the babysitter is a good fit. You can even do a background check to make sure there is nothing on the record, or post a nanny job to all the local sitters in your area.

After talking to a number of parents, the Ferber sleep method is a good way to get your baby over their troublesome sleep habits. While this method is not for everyone and all parents need to use the sleep routine that works best for them, this Ferber method may help your baby soothe his/her self to sleep.

In a nutshell, the Ferber method states that you should let your baby cry a bit in the Crib on their own. After a few minutes of their crying, you stop by and comfort your baby. Do not pick your baby up out of their crib… Simply try to soothe the baby in the Crib and let them know that you are there. Then, leave the baby to go to sleep again. This next time, wait a few more minutes longer (i.e however much you can stand) and go back in and repeat the process. For the first night, it could take you a numerous amount of entries into the baby’s room. However, after a few nights, your baby should be on their way to sleeping on their own.

With our baby, as opposed to running this sleep routine in a matter of one weekend or a few nights, we practiced a method similar to the Ferber method over a month. We invested in a Summer Video monitor, which is definitely a good investment. We would devise an after feeding routine whereby we soothe our baby with books, light music, sounds, etc. After the baby was finally getting tired, we would put our baby in the crib while the baby was awake and take notice of the babies cues on the video monitor. All in all, he learned to soothe himself to sleep, all the while chewing on his hands. However, that seems to be our baby’s way of soothing himself. I would recommend not using a pacifier so you can teach your baby to soothe and fall asleep without it.

Good luck with getting your baby to sleep on their own and creating a great baby care technique and sleep routine to provide your family with peace in the evening!

It can take your baby a few tries to start to enjoy rice cereal, as he/she won’t be eating the cereal as if it’s Frosted Flakes right off the bat. It’s good to stick to it, as it can help in a myriad of ways. For one, as we mentioned it can help with them getting used to solid foods. It can also help make your baby feel a little more satisfied from the food and potentially sleep a bit longer. Some doctors say to give your baby some rice cereal in between his/her last feed of bedtime, which is a great way to care for your baby.

For the first babies rice cereal feed, you can take one tablespoon of rice cereal and roughly 4-5 tablespoons of formula/breast milk to make your rice cereal. You will notice the rice cereal has more of a milky texture and doesn’t look like oatmeal, as this is normal and it’s better this way as it’s easier for your baby to digest.

In the beginning of your babies life, good baby care starts with a transition to rice cereal before introducing your baby to solid foods.

Check out the baby feeding chart at Chart Jungle which is a good start for tracking your babies feeding schedule and times.

If you have an Iphone, here are some cool apps for baby feeding:
• If you are Breast Feeding, try the Breast Feeding Friend
• Good App for tracking all things baby My Baby Log

In Children’s book stores, you’ll find books with sturdy materials that are developed for babies and for children up to and including the preschool and kindergarten age years. Toy books can been made of heavy cloth, fabric, and cardboard which is sometimes padded. They are called Toy Books. These books are to be read but also to be played with by babies or toddlers.

These books are the first intro to written books and are very important for child development and care. Many Toy Books have a familiar story or nursery rhyme theme. Almost always the books have big images or bright colors. You can also find toy books that “pop up” images as you skip from one page to the next.

The can learn to turn the page, an important emergent literacy step, and hear language as it is also read to them. The books are meant to be shared, as an adult or older child can read it to them. The familiarity of this book then often lends itself to a child actually “reading” the book from memory (again, another important step in the reading process). In this way, the child learns language. In addition, many children’s books repeat words. This leads to forming a memory trace within the child of the letters and the sound of the word(s) as it is heard and viewed frequently. This then leads to the book being read by the child and the book becoming the child’s favorite.

The next time, then, you as a parent, friend, or relative of a baby or child pass an aisle containing these colorful, playful books that look indeed enticing for children, don’t pass them up. They make great gifts! It is highly likely that your intended little one will enjoy these books both in play and as a learning tool. The early books will lead a child to a love of shared reading as you or someone reads the book to the child and models the reading process for and with them. The baby or child will love touching or feeling the book, and, again, three of the senses are involved in the process (seeing, hearing, and the kinesthetic experience of touching). The Toy Book will, most importantly, instill in the child a love of books as a pleasurable, fun experience. This will lay the foundation for a lifetime of the enjoyment of reading.

Having a schedule for your baby is very important for not only your baby, but also for your sanity! A baby with a well-balanced schedule will sleep better and also be less fussy during the day. The best practice for a baby care schedule is feed the baby every 3-4 hours around the same time each day. A sample feeding schedule could be at 6am, 9am, 12am, 3pm, 6pm, 11pm. While you don’t have to stick to the same exact schedule time each day, it’s important to stay somewhat close to the schedule so your baby knows what time of day it is, and will an easier time going to bed at night.

Also, if you setup a schedule with your baby and then veer off course, it will be much easier to get back on the schedule if the schedule has been setup and in place for a while. However, if you have no schedule and you just happen to feed your baby whenever the baby is hungry and put the baby to bed whenever you think the baby is tired, you will get thrown off course easily and may be prone to tantrums and trouble with your baby sleeping.

Setting a good schedule from the start will be a great way to manage your life as well as your baby care needs.

We just took a sign language class for our baby and it was very informative. We decided not to enroll in the entire class for a few reasons, but that’s not to say that sign language can’t be a great tool for your hearing baby. Teaching your baby the key fundamental signs for such things as “Want More” which is tapping your hands together, can help your baby sign to you that they want more milk. Reading your babies signs can be a difficult process so knowing when your baby wants more milk can be a very helpful and powerful piece of sign language for your baby to learn.

However, learning the entire alphabet or knowing how to say certain animals in sign language is something that we don’t feel is entirely necessary for a hearing baby. Stick to the basics at first and see how that goes and you will find sign language very enjoyable for you and your baby

Buying

• The first thing to remember when buying children’s clothing is, they must be comfortable to wear, easy to put on and above all else, washable, as the baby clothing from Very.co.uk

• Buy clothes with elasticated waistbands and trousers or skirts with shoulder straps. This makes letting down or adjusting easier.

• Buy socks without shaped heels they can then grow with your child. Try to stick to one or two colors and brands this way you will always have a replacement if you lose one.

• Put extra buttons on dungaree, skirt or dress straps. This way you can lengthen them as your child grows.

• Always try to buy natural fibres, rather than man made .The man made fibres don’t breathe as well as natural fibres and this can cause your child to get too hot, especially in summer.

Maximizing Wear

• Sleep suit getting too short? For comfort cut off the feet and you will get another month’s wear, at least.

• Add another tier to a tiered skirt, by using identical or contrasting material.

• Trousers or jeans that have become too short, or worn at the knees can be cut down and made into shorts for the summer.

• Make summer pajamas by cutting off the arms and legs of a pair of winter pajamas.

• Don’t throw away an expensive jacket if your child has out grown it remove the sleeves and turn it into a smart waistcoat for your child.

• When you’ve let down a pair of jeans or dungarees, you can normally see a white line where the fabric has been creased. Make it less noticeable by blending it into the fabric by running a dark blue crayon along the line. A fountain pen or indelible marker also works.

Care

• One tip that seems obvious but is often ignored: the manufacturers washing instructions that you will find in the garment labels. Manufacturers of fabric spend vast amounts of money to find out what are the best washing conditions for their goods. So always try and wash as instructed, it does help clothes last longer.

• Use a fabric protector to spray collars, cuffs and knees of garments, any spills will form into beads and can be easily wiped clean.

• Get grimy soiled socks clean by soaking them in a water and washing soda solution before washing.

• White cotton socks can be revitalized by boiling them in water with a slice of lemon.

• Instead of bleach add vinegar to the water as an alternative.

• Sneakers can be kept looking new by spraying them with starch before wearing them for the first time , this will stop dirt from getting embedded.

• A soap filled scouring pad is great for sneakers or any fabric shoes.

• Rub white shoes with a raw potato cut in half, or alcohol, before cleaning. Keep them white by spraying with hairspray. This prevents the polish from coming off and keeps them looking new.