Baby Care

Posts Tagged ‘mothers’

In anticipation of the child, prospective parents do not often realize what problems they may encounter in the first months of baby’s life.
Therefore, when there are any signs of illness mothers and fathers often get lost and do not know what to do. One of these pitfalls, delivering a lot of anxiety to kids and their parents, is intestinal colic. The overwhelming majority of kids have such a problem and, nevertheless, it becomes a matter of excitement. What do you need to know about colic?
First of all, parents need to understand what infantile colic really is. For the entire period of prenatal development the stomach and the intestines of the child do not work, because the baby receives its food through the umbilical cord. Now the gastrointestinal tract needs to master difficult job. Setting and synchronization of the digestive process usually takes several weeks.
During this time, the processes of fermentation and gas formation in the gastrointestinal tract cause painful for the child intestinal spasms. There is no need to be afraid of this – in most cases, colic passes together with the growth and development of the baby. However, this does not mean that you have to sit without taking any steps: colic delivers child serious suffering and he/she always needs help. You can help him/her in the following way:
- First, mothers and fathers should calm down, because it was proved that the excitement of adults passes to kids and worsen their condition.
- It is necessary to try solving the problems of breastfeeding: for the first time baby should be fed on demand, but it is desirable to observe the intervals between feedings at least two hours. Whilw breast-feeding you need to ensure that he/she tightly clenches lips around the nipple and does not swallow “portions of air”, which aggravate the painful spasms of colic. In that case, when child restlessly catches nipple with a mouth, you should help him/her holding the breast.
- If a child is on artificial feeding, it is necessary to seize the nipple away from the end. Also, to secure the child from the “excess air” during feeding keep a bottle at an angle of 30-45 ° – in this situation the air accumulates at the top and does not enter into his/her body. Another option – you can use special “shrinking” bottles or fitted with a valve (the so-called anti-colic). They also prevent the uptake of “excess air” and reduce the risk of colic.
- After eating, the child (both on breast-feeding, and on artificial feeding) should be held straight that he/she could “take out” extra air from body.
- It is important to regularly to put the child on the tummy (7-10 minutes); it contributes to a discharge of gases and strengthens the muscles of the anterior abdominal wall, which favorably affects the intestinal peristalsis.
- Do not neglect the massage. It should become a mandatory part of everyday life of your baby. Daily do massage light strokes in a clockwise direction (about 10 turns)
- Nursing mother should pay particular attention to her menu, because everything she eats gets into her breast milk and the baby’s intestines. If a child has colic, you should carefully avoid foods rich in fiber (cabbage, whole-grain bread, apples, eggplant), and food, reinforcing the processes of fermentation (buns, beans, grapes).
- To cope with painful cramps helps a warm diaper, applied to the tummy. The heat allows the baby to relax, so the colic after some time diminishes and ceases to disturb the baby.
Using the whole set of measures you can successfully cope with intestinal colic. Your child will be happy, will develop, learn about the world and grow to the delight of his/her mother and father.

Is it better to give birth in the presence of my husband? Before giving birth to their children many future mothers ask this question.
On the one hand, of course, it’s good, when the closest person will support you in this crucial moment. And on the other –it’s bad, because man, seeing the whole process of childbirth, with all its details, sometimes loses sexual interest in his wife. What to do? Moreover, the viewpoints of doctors and friends on this subject are different.

Neighbors’ experience
In the West, the presence of a husband during childbirth is very common. Men play more active role in the upbringing of children there. Obviously, feminism, which struggles against gender equality in all matters, played its role here.
In the translated books on pregnancy and childcare, the illustrations of men are almost as much as of women. Here they go along with their wives on training courses where they learn appropriate behavior during childbirth, giving birth and then taking the maximum participation in everything that concerns the lives of the their wife and child.
However, practical foreigners include this situation in their marriage contract. Yes and medical care is something expensive there. So it should not be a miss if the father controls the situation: if obstetric services are shown to his wife on the entire sum. It is worth paying attention to the fact that the joint childbirth abroad having a very long history became a norm.

The choice
In Russia, the birth of the child is always considered to be purely feminine. Fathers toil and worry for their wives behind closed doors. In Soviet times, fathers were also not allowed to enter the maternity houses. And the first time they could look at son or daughter, only after discharge, receiving a squeak bag with ribbons. And only recently in our maternity hospitals the joint childbirth has started to develop. Should fathers take this opportunity?
If so, you should be prepared for the fact that relatives and friends would react to your decision ambiguously. Mothers and grandmothers, who passed Soviet maternity houses and are accustomed to endure the difficulties alone, may perceive this as a whim of a pregnant woman. Grandfather and uncles, trying not to interfere in the “women’s” affairs, will not also be happy.
Every couple should consider this question for several times. To agree to such a serious step, following the new fashion or advice of friends which can fundamentally change the entire life, isn’t worth it.
Only a qualified doctor can help future parents in making the correct decision. By the way, it is preferable, to consult a psychologist even before planning pregnancy. After all, family life undergoes significant changes, family roles areredistributed, as well as the question of responsibility for the new family member. In short, there is something to work.
Specialists’ advice
Much depends on the relationship in the family. One case is when the couple acts as partners who are accustomed to do everything together. After such an event couples become closer. Another case is when family relations are based on the type of mother-child relationship. Wife is concerned about the morals. To overcome this stereotype is hardly possible. If a woman insists on “man-child” contact in the delivery room, that will be enough. The vast majority of fathers, who participated in the joint delivery, will be proud of themselves. Incidentally, in psychology there is such a thing as imprinting – that is the first impression, obtained immediately after birth. So it’s great, if the first parent to see the baby is a father.

Why is it important to be engaged in sports during pregnancy? What is recommended and what should be avoided? What do you need to eat and in what quantity?

During pregnancy, various changes occur in the body. Sports and nutrition should be given an important place in maintaining the health of the expectant mother and her child.

What happens to the body during pregnancy?
Pregnancy requires huge strength. During this period the body has to deal with increased metabolism and with increasing needs for nutrients. Fortunately, the body has several mechanisms that help to save energy in favor of the developing fetus. One of the mechanisms is a change in appetite and taste. Typically, a woman eats more and selects certain foods. The second mechanism is an increasing absorption of food in the intestinal wall.
Additional mechanisms are the decreased rate of accumulation of fat and reduced physical activity. The physiological mechanism gives a woman signals to reduce the load. If you do not listen to it, the intense stress can harm the health of a mother and the developing fetus.

What is important to change in the diet during pregnancy?
The most common problem among pregnant women is the number of calories eaten per day. The answer variesdepending on the duration of pregnancy. From 1 st to 15 th week, there is no need to change the usual amount. From 15 th to 28 th week it is recommended to consume 25-30 calories for every 1 kg of your weight. From 29 th to 42 th week it is recommended to consume 30-35 calories per 1 kg of your weight. These recommendations are perfectly suited to women who do moderate exercise at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes. But if training is given more attention, you need to add the missing calories.

Why is it important to be engaged in sports during pregnancy?
Sport during pregnancy has several positive aspects. For example, it controls weight, reduces the risk of high blood pressure, controls blood sugar and reduces the risk of diabetes, maintaining strength in the muscles and ligaments, improving the general well-being. Some studies has shown that sport during pregnancy shortens labor, reduces the risk of caesarean section and shortens post-partum recovery. However, this is very important that women do not use sports as a means to reduce weight, because at this stage of their life this is not a priority.

What load should future mothers take?
Modern medicine recommends continuing fitness activities before pregnancy, but in accordance with the terms they exclude certain exercises. Women, who do not have certain medical problems, can start with moderate intensity 30 minutes a day 3-4 times a week. You can do walking at a moderate pace, to participate in yoga class. Women with experience in the classroom in the gym may continue but reduce the load in accordance with the changes in the body.

Can we start doing it during pregnancy?
Moderate and regular load will only be beneficial. It is important not to begin with an intensive workload, and work smoothly.

What load should be avoided?
Expectant mothers should avoid sport activities, in which there is full contact – kick boxing and various forms of struggle. So it is necessary to give up extreme sports – rock climbing, scuba diving, etc. After the first trimester, it is important to avoid stress, which occurs in the supine position or stomach.

Can I use weight training?
Yes. This helps to maintain good muscle tone. You can perform one approach every 2-3 times a week. Between workouts there should always be a holiday in at least 24 hours.
Using weight during exercise will strengthen joints and ligaments, which will help to protect them from injury. But a dumbbell weight of 1-3 kg should be fine for exercising the muscles of the hands.

Why is it important to use vitamins and minerals?
Pregnant woman involved in fitness should be sufficient to monitor the use of vitamins and minerals. For example, calcium is needed to prevent the appearance of convulsions. Iron will keep the normal hemoglobin level, which in turn will ensure the delivery of oxygen to the muscles. It is recommended to eat foods rich in vitamins and minerals.

What should pregnant women do before classes?
Any woman sports must consume enough carbohydrates (whole wheat bread, buckwheat, rice, oatmeal, etc.) 2-2,5 hours before. Immediately before beginning you need to eat another small portion of carbohydrates – fruit, a slice of whole meal bread, energy bars, etc. If during the trainings you feel reduction in blood glucose levels, you can use sweet drinks. These quickly raise the level of glucose.

Fluid intake during exercise
The temperature in the cavity of the uterus is one degree above the temperature of mother’s body. During exercise the body temperature rises. In this connection it is necessary to strictly ensure that the temperature does not greatly exceed (maximum allowed – 38 º). The water helps to cool and prevent the emergence of fluid loss in the body. General recommendation on the use of the liquid: 1-2 glasses of water just before the start of the training and 2-3 glasses of water for every hour.

How many calories should be added in case of daily training?
Despite the fact that at the later stages of pregnancy the intensity of training decreases, the number of burnt calories during exercise increases due to body weight and changes in metabolism. Studies has shown that pedestrian walk at a moderate pace during pregnancy burns 20% more calories than the same trip before pregnancy. A walk up the stairs burns 22-25% more. From this it follows that even if the intensity of training does not increase, you will still need enough to compensate for the loss of calories. Approximate calculations suggest additional 350-400 calories per training day for each hour of exercises during pregnancy. More accurate calculations are made by a specialist in accordance with the load, weight, duration of training of the woman.

It is a duty of every young parent to take the child (or children) to walk every day, even in terrible weather as children waste their energy on the street.

Who are your allies on the playground?

A skinny mother on heels

Distinctive features of such a mother – light weight, skinny ass and heels. In especially severe cases she wears boots made of suede, and she goes to the sandbox to make a pancake in them.

Other mothers often wonder: can the skinny woman on heels quickly run up to her son/ daughter, if he/she, say, is falling from slides.
Apparently, it all depends on the stability of the heel and limber of the woman.

Mothers with phone

She comes to the ground, pushing a pram with one hand and holding the phone with another. If she needs to roll pram with both hands – she presses phone on shoulder or uses a headset.

By releasing her child to sandbox, she sits on the bench and continues to talk, looking somewhere without noticing that her child takes someone else’s toys, throws sand. When a mother with a phone, finally, notices that her baby dropped a couple of strangers in order to take their cars, she approaches, without leaving the phone aside and without interrupting the conversation.

Mother with beer

She comes with a bag of toys and pours them into the sandbox, and considers her mission in relation to the child is over. She takes beer and starts enjoying it just in the playground.
Periodically, she lights a cigarette, deftly identifying the wind direction, so that the smoke does not bear on her child, but on you and your children. Usually, she communicates with her girlfriend and loudly uses obscene words. You can make a remark, but it is just useless.

Women with twins

The one who has characteristic circles under the eyes is definitely a mother. The one who is older is grandmother. They always walk in pair and are mostly catching twins in different corners of the playground, so their system is completely closed and does not require the flow of information from the outside.

Mother of a glamorous girl

There is always a glamorous girl in the playground, and usually more than one. Pretty Princess comes to the walk in a smart dress; her shoes are equipped with red flashing lights, and clothes carefully combining shades of lilac and pink. Miss Piggi nervously smokes in the corner because of jealousy.

Mother of such a girl looks as if she has come just from the office between meetings with business partners.

Ideal Mother

She walks more with the child starting from early ages of his/her development. She always wears comfortable clothes. Her chils is child is too advanced, absorbs too much fresh air, she/he is far too patient, she has the perfect order of the house … She is never irritable and does not use violence.

Gentle woman with a baby

It is unclear why she comes to a playground with her baby in the pram-cot? It is clear that she wants to communicate. But the gentle woman always crinkles when older children shout or are running around, being afraid that they will wake her baby up.

Babysitter

Nurse is distinguished by comfortable dress – she first put a cap, her comfortable shoes and warm jacket. After all, she has to spend 3 hours outside so that the child could normally sleep, rather than read, draw, play games at home.

As the nurse is not full of maternal love, she clearly has time to look at surrounding mothers, who just don’t behave pedagogically.

Teaching a child to use a potty is a difficult task, requiring huge patience. Be careful and mellowness, bring in the child’s sense of self-confidence. It is essential that the child himself/herself will take the initiative. Education should be free of coercion, pressure or threats. If the baby is not ready for such an important step yet – stop trying, but after some time, please try again.
Willingness to teach to the potty on the physiological and intellectual level, the majority of children occurs at the age of 18 months (for girls a bit earlier). However, only at the age of 3, children can consciously control the bladder rectal and muscles (acts of defecation and urination).
There is an idea that the early teaching to the potty does not always leave good effect on the child’s psyche, the child may become caught and self-doubt.

The main grounds on which it is possible to understand the degree of readiness to teach the child to the potty:
Baby understands simple requests, can share his/her feelings:
for example, frustration over the wet and dirty diapers;

child can walk, sit;

can take off and wear shorts and pants;

the child’s chair has become a regular, soft, decorated;

child alone removes dirty or wet diapers;

can imitate the behavior;

wakes up dry after sleep or remain dry for at least 3-4 hours during the day;

shows interest in toilet bowls and potties, tries to sit on potty, or goes to the toilet.
Perhaps the baby can’t do anything listed above, but if your child makes even a few signs – begin to teach him/her to potty.

Starting training, remember that the success of every child should be encouraged.

How to help the kid?
Dress the child with cloths which can be easily removed.

You’d better have on hand sufficient number of spare pants, diapers, toilet paper and wet wipes for babies.
The potty should be convenient, stable and not cold. Place it in a conspicuous accessible place.

If your child remain drye at least 3-4 hours during the day, replace the usual diapers with special panties Huggies Pull-Ups ® for teaching to the potty.
Pull-Ups ® have special indicators that tell mothers that a little surprise has occurred. If the baby wakes up and comes back from a walk and images still have not disappeared – it’s time to put him/her on a potty. Mothers can quickly remove them when noticing that the kid wants to potty. Pull-Ups ® are easy and convenient; they do not limit the movements of the Child, and are especially comfortable for usage during the warm season. Panties look like real underwear.

Usually, the act of defecation occurs among babies almost at the same time. Put the child on the potty after breakfast – this time is the best. Remember that everything will be very difficult, but do not leave him/her on the potty more than 5-10 minutes.
Before making pants dirty, children usually are dissatisfied, distracted from their studies, focus, strain – suggest the potty to this point. Be patient and soon you and your child will succeed. Remember that your main task is to build a proper relationship to the child in the process of the toilet.

Everybody knows that in order to maintain teeth healthy, you need to clean your teeth after each meal with the exception of suckling babies. Breast milk contains enzymes which contribute to splitting of dental plaque, increasing the immunity of the mouth cavity and protecting the child’s body. As soon as the kid starts eating the “human” food, “cleaning teeth after each meal” becomes mandatory for him!

Another important remark: remember that bacteria contribute to the development of caries! It is very important not to lick the child’s objects (for example, trying porridge). And please try not to kiss the baby’s lips – you will save him/her from the risk of caries.

But these rules, of course, are not limited. Mothers have a lot of questions, and we have the answers.

1. Do I need to take care of the baby’s mouth cavity before cutting teeth?

Nowadays there are many different means of care of mouth cavity for kids. Pay attention to the special teas containing herbs in order to prevent early caries. You can also use traditional methods of cleaning teeth. The child will get used to the hygiene from his/her early childhood. In the beginning, use a latex brush. It is soft and safe for baby and convenient for parents.
Pay special attention to the choice of toothpaste for toddlers. It should be natural without strong and harmful flavorings. We recommend SPLAT Junior Toothpaste. Organic Aloe Vera Gel strengthens the gums. Active Calcium helps in the formation of solid enamel of children’s teeth.
Omega-3 fat acids are a source of Vitamin D3 which is helpful for better assimilation of calcium and minerals. The paste has a delicate taste of yogurt. Together with the tooth paste you can find latex brush as a gift.

2. How should the first toothbrush look?
It must have a very small head and a large handle. You can use nylon bristle. The main thing is that the bristles have rounded tips so they do not hurt gums.

3. To what pay attention when choosing children toothpaste?

Follow three simple rules.

Rule № 1: the active ingredients. They must have not only cleaning but also protective functions. Children’s toothpaste SPLAT junior contains calcium derived of the eggshell. It is perfectly assimilated, and helps in the formation of solid enamel.

Rule № 2: efficiency. The tooth paste should remove plaque from your child’s teeth, even if the child can’t clean his/her teeth thoroughly. Toothpaste SPLAT junior contains dairy enzymes that penetrate even into remote places.

Rule № 3: security. Make sure that the tooth paste doesn’t contain sugar. The use of lauryl sulphate in the tooth paste is also very harmful to child’s teeth, so try to find tooth paste without it. Tooth paste SPLAT junior is totally deprived of these ingredients, which means that they are not just good for teeth, but also safe for all children.

4. How to make child regularly clean his/her teeth? The older he becomes, the more reluctant to the bathroom.

Try to turn this process into a game. Take a “speaking” toothbrush. The package of the toothpaste should be too bright and so it can “talk” to the child.

A good example: toothpaste SPLAT Junior for children.

First, it immediately attracts the attention with the unusual packaging – a triangular box. For children from 3 to 8 years, four types of toothpaste have been developed: “North” with a taste of blueberries, “South” with a taste of citrus, “West” with a taste of peach and “East” with appetizing raspberry flavor.

On the packaging of toothpastes are painted bright pictures of animals from different continents – penguins, tortoises, koalas, and lemurs.
So do not be surprised if after these the child himself/herself will run to the bathroom to clean teeth. After all, he/she puts a part of his/her soul in the toothpaste.

5. I heard that there is special foam to clean teeth? Are they harmful to the baby?

Along with children’s toothpaste now is available children’s foam which takes care of the baby teeth more hygienically, conveniently and simply. This is a kind of alternative of tooth paste or rinse. Now you can find only foam SPLAT Junior. It does not require rinsing and splits plaque in contact with teeth.

The main active components of the SPLAT Junior series is brought from Japan as well as the main active ingredients in the paste and foam are dairy enzymes, calcium from the eggshell and the organic form of fluoride – OLAFLUR. This is the only tooth paste which takes into account the needs of the child age.

Sucking milk out is a useful invention that solves many problems faced by young nursing mothers.
Sucking milk out is indispensable when the kid for some reason does not take the breast. In the case where the child is not taking the breast, usage of milk suckers is practically the only way to support breastfeeding.

If mother, has too much milk, during incomplete squeezing she may have problem with swelling and pains in breasts. In such cases some women use milk suckers to remove excess milk. Mostly breast-feeding is difficult due to cracking nipples. In this case milk suckers provide gentle squeezing without breaking the child from breast milk.
Working women can not do without milk suckers who wish to preserve lactation. By the way, in such cases, there are accessories that will make the process of squeezing more comfortable. For example, Philips AVENT produces a special set, which, in addition to milk suckers include bottles, cooling packs and containers for storage of milk.
So, if you’re one of those mothers who are concerned about these inconveniences, milk sucker will help to solve your problem. It is necessary to ask: what kind of milk sucker should you choose?

The cheapest variant is milk suckers with hand pump, or the so-called “pear”. However, pump milk suckers contain no tanks, so you constantly must transfuse squeezed milk in the bottle which, of course, is unhygienic. In addition, the performance of such devices is very low: slightly better than the manual squeezing.

But the hand model is much more perfect. They are based on stimulation of the breast, which together with massage leads to a natural lactation. The most widely known and accepted milk suckers are Philips

AVENT ISIS. The secret of their success is in the design. This soft silicone cushion with five leaves delicately massages area around the nipple; painlessly stimulating the milk ejection reflex. Philips AVENT ISIS took into account almost everything: it is easy to disassemble, clean and sterilize, and it works silently and is very easy to use. But the main thing is that it decants the milk quickly and completely, without residue, so that Philips AVENT ISIS helps to cope with problems such as “overfilled” breast and cracks on the nipple.

Philips AVENT also suggests similar milk suckers ISIS with the system storage of breast milk VIA. Its key element is sterilely packaged containers. Container joins to milk sucker, and decant the milk directly into it. You can also feed the baby directly from the container, attaching the nipple to it. In addition, the containers are ideal for storing breast milk in the refrigerator or freezer within three months.

However, many women still prefer the electronic models, considering them more “productive”, than the hand ones. Here it’s worth telling you about a new generation of electronic milk suckers from Philips AVENT – ISIS iQ, combining in itself all the advantages of ISIS with microprocessor control. As with the existing electrical milk suckers, ISIS iQ works from the network or from the batteries, but the similarity with its predecessors ends. The main and unique AVENT ISIS iQ is a technology that “remembers” the individual rhythm of squeezing. The required pace can give the woman, because she knows how her child sucks the breast.

Effectiveness of milk suckers Philips AVENT is regularly confirmed by independent clinical studies. Thus, the leading British pediatricians and specialists in child nutrition compared manual milk suckers Philips AVENT ISIS with electrical milk suckers used in maternity hospitals. In this study, 145 women filled in a questionnaire after every use of milk sucker. As a result, it was found that mothers, who use manual Philips AVENT ISIS, decanted the same amount of milk as the women who used the electric milk suckers. The feedback on the Philips AVENT was much better.

In order to select milk sucker, it is important to determine for yourself how often you are going to use it. If you plan to use it every day, then it is logical to buy an electronic milk sucker, because then you do not have to strain your hands. If, however, there is no need to use it regularly, you can choose another variant. You can use a manual piston milk sucker.

Clothes and toys

According to some women it is rarely possible to find two suits in the store that would look good to mother and have suitable size, price, style and purpose. So it is very difficult and even almost impossible to dress twins in different ways. Usually twins ask to be dressed just like each other. Other mothers, however, emphasize that it is almost impossible to buy just two suits, so they have to dress their twins differently. On the other hand some people state that twins often have to wear second-hand clothes, and they have to dress differently from the very beginning of the life, thus getting to like the clothes each of them wears.

Some mothers are buying two identical toys, as they think that otherwise the children would quarrel. Other mothers say that they prefer buying different toys (except for items that have particular value for children, such as bicycles, dolls, etc.), and that the twins are getting used to share what they have with pleasure.

In fact, parents play a great role in solving this problem. If parents believe that the twins should always dress in different ways and they have to share their toys from the very start then most of the time twins learn to do so.

If parents encourage children when they insist on wearing the same clothes and having the same toys and, especially, if they yield to children every time, children become even more demanding. Of course, the same principle defines the relationship of parents with only one child: if the parents are strong, the children usually give up, but when the parents vary, the children argue.

Parents will be able to develop the consciousness of identity in twins and their own taste, if each of them will have his/her own box for clothes. It is also a good idea if the same clothing will have labels with the name of the owner or some kind of sign. The advantage of similar clothing with different colors is that it is quite different and can help to distinguish the twins and to emphasize their individuality. If one of the twins had always worn the green and the other – yellow, it helps others to distinguish them.

Individuality

This finally led us to the question of how to emphasize the similarities in the twins and how much should parents encourage twins to develop their identity, especially if they are very similar. All admire twins, pay attention to them, especially when twins are dressed alike and look alike. Parents of twins are often asked an absurd questions: “Who is smarter?”, “Who do you love more?”. Parents are hard to resist and not to satisfy the tastes of sentimental or unhealthy people. How can they avoid this? The most important problem is that twins sometimes think that others like them just because they are similar that people think about them just as identical babies wearing the same clothes. This is indeed a charming spectacle when they are 3 years old. However sometimes twins are still trying to draw attention to their similarities and they wear the same clothes even when they are 30 years old. In some cases they dependent on each other so much that they are not able to love or to have their own families. The result is no longer charming. More over, it is very sad .

This does not mean that parents should be wary when they dress their twins alike, or that they should be ashamed, when the surrounding pay attention to their children. The similarity of the twins is a pleasure for them and their parents.

Twins are usually strong personalities: the sense of independence from the parents develops very soon, they are adapted to actively participating in team games more than other children, they are distinguished by a deep commitment and generosity towards each other.

But it is reasonable on the part of parents not to give them similar names to avoid unnecessary underscores of the fact that they are twins (especially if they are very similar). Call each of them by name, rather than simply: “Children”, dress them similarly only in early childhood, put them in a circle of other children as early as possible so that they are not used exclusively to each other. Parents should encourage twins to have friends, if they want to. Also, encourage friends and neighbors not to hesitate to invite one of the twins to play or to visit (while the other will be able to fully seize attention of parents).

Sometimes one of the twins is fully dependent on the other in carrying out household tasks. In this case it is more reasonable to separate them. But on the other hand it is foolish and cruel to separate the twins, if it is not necessary and is done as a manifestation of despotic authority of their parents.

If you like one of the twins more than the other

Conscientious parents are too worried if one of the children gets more attention than the other, or if one of them is always served first (for example, because he/she is smaller and weaker, or for any other reason).

There is no need in such an absolute justice: indeed, the desire to such justice will make the attention and love to children somehow artificial. Each child requires a sincere love of parents for those qualities that are worth to love. He/she is satisfied if he/she has the feeling that he has a strong place in the hearts of parents. This is when your child won’t be worried by the signs of attention and love that his brothers and sisters get. But in the end, he will always notice if there is any tension in relation to the parents. The desire for absolute equality in the treatment of children will attract the attention of each of them to their rights and force the child to insist on them with the tenacity of counsel. Avoid phrases such as “Mother will put on John’s shirt first, but put on Nock’s trousers first” or “Today it’s John’s turn to sit next to dad.”

The language of twins

Often twins invent their own system of communication: the views, grunting, unintelligible words. This may delay the development of the normal language and even lead to a temporary backlog in school. Sometimes parents have to try not to comply with the requests of the twins until they are express themselves in normal language.