Baby Care

Posts Tagged ‘parents’

The first months of baby’s life are not only very happy but also very tense time for its parents. They have an important task: to understand the child, to look after him/her and assist him/her in overcoming the inevitable challenges of growth.

One of the first challenges which have the vast majority of children and parents is infantile intestinal colic. As a rule, they start during the first three weeks and continue up to the first three months of the child’s life, delivering a lot of suffering to the baby as well as its surrounding adults.

Why does it arise?

Intestinal colic is not considered to be a disease. This is a so-called functional disorder, which is a natural stage of maturing baby’s digestive system and the adaptation of the gastrointestinal tract for digestion of food. However, these processes are accompanied by a rather unpleasant and painful effects such as intestinal spasm, excess gas, a violation of intestinal peristalsis.

Over time, the digestion comes right and colic passes without a trace. But this does not mean that the kid can do without the help of adults – they need to understand him/her when he/she has colic and alleviate the child’s sufferings.

How you can understand it?

As a rule, colic torment baby during the evening hours. During the attack of pain the child is crying, fidgets legs and makes “vermiform” movements. It doesn’t stop even during lactation – while sucking the intestine changes its sizes (spasm), increasing the pain. Because of this, the kid is a little more nervous during feeding.

What should you do?

If the child is breastfed, the mother will have to adjust the diet, removing from it products that are fermented (black bread, sauerkraut, grape, radish, beans, etc.). While feeding the baby should tightly capture the teat in order not to swallow excess air.

For children who already use artificial feeding, it is desirable to feed with special anti-colic bottles that prevent swallowing excess air.

After feeding hold the kid so that he/she could take out the swallowed air. It is important that the intervals between feedings are not less than two hours, otherwise the milk will not fully digest, which can increase the baby’s discomfort.

Remember also that after feeding the child should be put on the side – this will prevent the diversion of milk into the respiratory tract. In addition, this position facilitates the evacuation of milk from the stomach into the gut. It is also good to often put the kid on the stomach after feeding. This position helps to strengthen muscles of the front abdominal wall, which favorably affects the peristalsis of the bowel and helps to reduce colic.

To facilitate the child’s condition you can use herbs, such as chamomile, fennel, dill and anise. They have proved themselves as effective ways to combat colic. For example you can give your child medicinal herbal preparations, such as Planteks based on the fruit and fennel essential oil. It comes in the form of soluble beverage, which is very easy to brew, while respecting the required dosage. The drug has mild antispasmodic effect, regulates the processes of digestion, reduces gas and helps reduce the frequency and severity of colic.
Light massage can also help the child. It includes clockwise massage of tummy, bending legs, stroking the back with the sides in the direction of the stomach to the waist.

And try to remain calm even when the baby cries bitterly, – it has been proven that the anxiety of parents is transmitted to children and makes them to feel uncomfortable.

The main desire of all parents is a strong and healthy child. But, unfortunately, young children are particularly susceptible to various diseases because their immune system is still evolving. However, there are a number of ailments, which the child can avoid, if the parents in time will take care of their prevention. Indeed, to prevent illness is always easier than curing it and then deal with complications.

Catching a cold

This term is often called infectious viral disease. It is clear that you can’t fully protect your child from development of many of these ailments, but there are simple rules, the compliance with which sometimes gives surprising results.

First of all, from birth it is necessary to strengthen the child protective forces of body. And the best assistance in this is providing basic tempering – contrasting pouring. You need gradually to teach your child to this procedure: first, water body after bathing with water of room temperature and again with hot water, and then the warm portion can be rotated with cool water and increase the number of approaches to the 5-7 pair of pouring.

And, of course, there are some basic precautions. Avoid overcrowded places during epidemics of influenza and other ARI. If you need to take your child to the doctor, put on a gauze bandage. In the case when someone in the family is sick, put a plate with hot water in the child’s room, in which you should add a few drops of geranium oil or fir – which kill bacteria and prevent them from causing harm to child.

Rickets

One of the reasons of this disease is a violation of the metabolism of vitamin D in your baby’s body. It requires competent and timely prophylaxis.
What do the parents need to know? You must worry about it even before the child’s birth. Future mother must eat properly; take vitamins complexes and spend more time in the open air.

To avoid it you must walk with the baby and let him/her stay in the sun, of course, within reasonable limits, it is recommended to conduct the child courses (15-20 treatments) of UV exposure twice a year.

Colic

This disease has been long known to mankind – the vast majority of affected are babies. The painful intestinal cramps cause serious sufferings to baby. But there are tools that can protect the child from this problem. For example, if during the first weeks of life you give the child fennel – plants, beneficial for digestion – colic is quite possible to be avoided or alleviated. For example, natural product Plantex contains essential oil and extract of fennel fruit, which normalizes digestion, improves bowel, reducing gas and the frequency and severity of colic, and serves as a prevention of its appearance.
In addition, you can prevent the development of colic with the help of massage. Many mothers and fathers underestimate the importance of this procedure, but the simple stroking of baby’s tummy clockwise in the intervals between feeding, and alternating flexion-extension legs several times a day – it’s easy to massage, which stimulates the digestive processes well and prevent the disease.

Diathesis

This is a very common ailment which belongs to the category of allergic reactions. Of course, children can have allergy to any substances, enzymes, etc. But it mainly arises while using “human” food instead of Mother’s milk. Therefore, you need to carefully monitor the slightest reaction to the new baby food, and if there is the slightest suspicion of diathesis, for some time abandon the introduction of complementary foods.

The best way is to start with the least allergenic foods such as zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, and green apples, pears, etc. Later on, try small gourmet carrots, whole cow’s milk, eggs, fish, etc.

It seems that babies are very fragile and can easily be broken. Everything is not like this. If you hold the child tightly and safely, you will not harm him/her. On the contrary, it will be useful for him/her. Child’s head should be maintained until the neck muscles are strong and he/she can keep it himself/herself. If the child’s head is slightly hanging, it will not harm him/her, but he/she will think that he/she falls, and this will make him/her nervous.
When you take your baby on your hands, do it as slowly as possible. The first time you can feel a small loss of coordination. But soon you will have more confidence, and you can take the child on your hands, not thinking about how to do it better.
If your child has woken up talk to him/her before you take him/her on hands in order not to frighten him/her. Continue to talk to him/her, raising him/her. Make sure your movements are smooth and bold.
• Put one hand under the head of the child, supporting his/her neck with your palm and the head with your fingers, so that the upper part of the back was on the wrist. Put other hand under the lower part of the body of the child, or between the legs, or sides, so that the lower part of the torso was in the palms of your hands and fingers support your lower back. Begin to raise the child, encouraging him/her with both hands.
• Tilt over the child and lift him/her toward you. Now you can keep the child in your arms.
• On Shoulder:
Many parents think that they can keep the child in this way when he cries, is capricious, or sleeping.
Place the child on your shoulder so that his/her body is in an upright position and the head is on your shoulder. Your hand, which had supported the head of a baby, can stay in the same place or support the upper back. Keep the lower part of the child’s body with the other hand. Keep it strong for him/her to feel safe.
There are several ways to keep the child in arms. Put the head of the child on your shoulder; you can change the location of the hands: the hand that supports the head will be located at the bottom of the trunk, and vice versa. Gaining confidence you will see that the baby can also hold with the help of one hand.
While keeping the baby in your arms, you can look at him/her, talk to him/her and sing him/her a song.

With more experience you will find out that your child can hold with one hand, while supporting the lower part of the torso. Thus, the second hand will be free.

Disputes concerning the advantages and disadvantages of computer games are conducted at all social levels.

Scientists are conducting studies on the impact of computer games in person, children argue with parents, parents – with teachers, and so on.

We hope that the following facts will help you make the right choice.

Advantages
Computer games develop:

• fast reaction
• visual perception of objects
• memory and attention
• logical thinking
• visual-motor coordination

Computer games teach children to:

• classify and summarize
• analytical thinking in a non-standard situations
• achieve goals
• improve intellectual skills

The child, who relies on a computer from childhood, feels more confident because he is open to the world of modern technology.
Games on the computer develop the same skills, but the child is always easier attracted by the game than learning the alphabet, or numbers.
Playing computer games, the child gets into a magical fairy tale, where he gets his own world. This world is so similar to a real one.! When the heroes of the computer games offer the child to repair the wall of the house, or to arrange numbers in order to get to the treasure, the children feel important. And if at the end of the job he said “Well done, you have done excellent”, the child is delighted.
Well-drawn, funny and good children computer games are very interesting, smart, funny and focused so that the kids develop and improve their skills.

Disadvantages

The bad news is that with no schedule the computer turns from friend to enemy. Good games, that are so useful for children may become harmful to them.
Parents should remember that for every child there is a limitation on time: 3-4 years – the child may be at the computer for 25 minutes, in 5-6 years – 35 minutes, 7-8 – 40 minutes.
Sitting in front of a computer for too long may lead to poor vision, as well as the psychological dependence of a child from the virtual world.

80% of hard-core smokers grow up in families where there are one or two smoking parents. A kid from this family from the very first days of life is accustomed to tobacco smoke. He/she sees tobacco smoke as a signal that the parents are somewhere nearby. In the future bright cigarette packs, lighters, ashtrays become favorite toys of children.

According to statistics, every third 13-14 years old teenager has already tried smoking cigarettes. Over the past century, cigarettes have claimed the lives of more than 60 million people, that is, as long as all wars combined. In humans, there is no inherent requirement of smoking. What makes the young smoker cope with a natural aversion to tobacco and cigarette again and again?

Approximately 10-12 year-old child develops a positive attitude to smoking, if parents from a young age “code” him/her to smoking. Today, few people think that the tobacco companies fund cartoons with steep smokers and thus coding children to smoking in the first years of life. And child tries to smoke a cigarette himself/herself, considering it just an interesting game. Even if parents try to convince children not to smoke, because it is harmful, he/she does not believe, because the parents are smokers themselves – encoding was still in the cradle when smoking Dad (or Mom) took the baby in his/her hands. Tobacco smoke was a signal that parents were near.

Smoking parents, especially, do harm to their child. Milk of smoking nursing mother gets an unpleasant taste, and children sometimes refuse it, these moms often do not have enough breast milk. The child of such parent becomes a potential smoker. Children whose mothers smoke during pregnancy often suffer from epilepsy, are behind their peers in cognitive development and prone to allergic and cardiovascular diseases.

Smoking of pupils slows their physical and mental development.
Obviously, it is important to understand the full power of the devastating impact of tobacco on health and do not touch cigarettes.

“Your child does not eat sweets? But in this way you are depriving him (her) from childhood!”, – exclaims a friend, and even a stranger learning that you exclude from the diet of the child artificial sweets. Here, under the artificial sweets we mean those that are made on basis of natural products, but with the addition of various sugars. For example, chocolate – children’s favorite delicacy, prepared on the basis of cocoa beans and sugar, which in turn is extracted from either sugar cane or from beets.

When saying natural sweets, we will mean those which have a sweet taste from nature, without additional sweetening. For example, fruits and berries, and honey. So what is childhood, without sugar, wrapped in colored paper? This is a fantastic performance, shown by mother or the child to a grateful audience – relatives and friends. Childhood is a Dad’s strong hand on which the child hangs like a small monkey, holding with hands and feet.

So, what is candy? Candy is a common joy, and when the child does not know its taste, a piece of sugar in wrappers for him/her is absolutely nothing. Chocolate, candies, pasta, marshmallows are all artificial sweets, their taste reinforced repeatedly, in contrast to the natural sweetness, such as fruit.

When child grows enough to reach a table or to sit around it with parents, he/she is certainly interested in, what is in color wrappers. But here is an example: adults use alcohol at table; however, they don’t even think that they can “treat” the child with it. The same happens with candy – you can simply explain child that it’s “adult food”. Kid is constantly faced with different restrictions in life, and life will not become a tragedy adding one more ban in his/her list.

Another thing is when the child begins to get acquainted with the “image” of chocolates. Advertising, “good” relatives and acquaintances, socializing with peers who brag in front of each other about eaten supplies of chocolate and marmalade this is when it would be difficult to simply ignore the existence of “pieces of sugar in the colored wrappers”. But by this time the child will already be old enough, and a bit of candy will not harm him/her.

Sixteen months old child clearly understands almost everything that you say, even if his/her own speech still resembles “mumbo jumbo”. The ability to understand spoken language is an important step toward the own speech activity.

Stages of Speech Development

As with other skills, there is no clearly defined age and mastering the mechanism of speech. There are 16 months old children who hardly pronounce a few words and the other 16 months old include up to twenty words in vocabulary. Articulator skills of the child are not developed yet, and often the pronunciation of the kid is understandable only to his/her parents.

First words

The child’s first words are a kind of labels – nouns to describe people, animals and all other items affecting the baby. At first, he/she learns to speak the simple one or two words, and then move on to phrases. During this period, on average, a child learns two or three words each month. Then, suddenly – as a rule, in eighteen months(plus-minus two months) the kid is going through a so-called “voice breakthrough”, after which learns ten words every day and improve the skills of perception of speech with even greater intensity.

When a child learns well a few words, he/she will try to express his/her thoughts more precisely. Initially, he/she will use the intonation. For example, when he/she learns to pronounce the word “cat”, he will shout “cat!”, when the cat will be digging in a flower pot – because earlier he/she had heard that you criticize your pet for it.

Sentence Formation

Finally, the child will understand how to put string small beads of his/her growing vocabulary to short strings of sentences. At first he/she is not concerned with “unnecessary” words like prepositions and conjunctions – these official words are meaningless for him/her.

But he/she is pleased with the combination of the words that have meaning for him/her. For example, if a kid “catches” cat again for eating his/her favorite geraniums, he/she won’t say “You are a bad cat!”, but he/she will say “Bad cat!”

Experts call these initial inexpert sentences “telegraphic speech”. They usually consist of two words. These sentences indicate a new level of communication between the child and the world. For example, a child may rush to the window and cry “Dad home!”, seeing the approaching of his/her father, or shout “Swing!”, being on the playground.

Everyone knows that kids learn through games. Therefore, parents try to buy not only beautiful and high quality toys, but also developing. One of the most common “Smart” games is a constructor. With the appearance of new, modern toys on the market the favorite constructor is always on the first place.

When can parents buy the first constructer for their child? Of course it is not easy to give precise answer to this question. Kids are very different: in character, temperament, and even in their physical abilities. Therefore, remember, buying a constructor for kids you should first take into account his/her needs and opportunities. When child already sits well, that is, at the age of 6 – 8 months, he/she is most likely ready to be engaged in new activities: connect, collect and arrange.

Of course, first he/she does it with difficulty, but the more he/she plays the constructor and trains, the better and more confident become his/her movements. At this time the child needs constructor with fewer and smaller details, for him/her to hold them easily. This may be block cubes that kids like to add one to the other, building towers. And no need to get upset if, immediately after construction, your kid breaks the hard-built house.

First, you need to familiarize your child with a new toy. Let him handle one piece, and the remaining parts arrange around him/her. Tell your child what material it is made from, what color is his/her piece, and what color are pieces on the floor. Then show the child that placing one cube on another or connecting one to another he/she can build something. But don’t expect that your child will begin to build and skillfully use the toy at once. The period between introduction and when he/she starts to consciously build something, can last even several months.

Another option of constructor toys may be special kits for kids which consist of two magnetic blocks that need to be connected with each other. But in such a constructor, the child would make little effort to separate the details. This toy can also be difficult for some children who are under the age of one year.

Generally, you should choose the simplest construction for children up to three years. Having more complex and dense constructor child can quickly lose interest in the obscure and complicated toy. Remember, it’s very important not to buy toys taking into consideration only the age of the child. No matter how controversial it may sound, but this is a statement. It is better to give preference to those games, which your kid will be able to learn using right now.

As a rule, manufacturers specify a minimum age at which this toy may interest and attract the child. Besides, the constructors for older children may contain small parts, which are dangerous for the health and life of your child. Such a story occurred in my family.

We bought our 3,5 years son a magnetic constructer, which consisted of sticks and balls. It was written on the box that the toy was for children older than 6 years. “This constructor does not seem that difficult for my 3 year old boy. He will play with it easily” – I thought and bought it. Indeed, nothing complicated was in the constructor. On the contrary, everything is very simple and very entertaining. But a week after beneficial purchase, I ran out from the kitchen, as I heard that my son was throttling. It turned out that he had played, and swallowed the ball of the new magnetic constructor. Fortunately, now everything is alright. But I gathered the constructor and hid it away. That’s why it was written on the box that it was for 6 year old children.

There are two types of constructors for kids: wooden and plastic. For older children there are wooden, plastic, metal, polystyrene, glass constructors and this is not a complete list of materials that are used in the production of constructors.

Constructor is a universal game, which is entertaining and useful for children of any age. They can never be annoying. Do not forget that constructor is not only an exciting game but it is also very useful! After all, they contribute to the development of intellectual and creative abilities of the child. Your child will learn to focus, train small motility, memory, plodding, dexterity and ability to coordinate their movements. Do not deprive your child of the pleasure, and get for him/her such a wonderful toy, as a constructor as soon as possible.

The first week after child’s birth seems to be very difficult for many young parents. Child’s room must be prepared in advance. It should be bright, with no drafts, but easy to ventilate. The temperature in the room should be between 22-25 degrees. Child’s mattress should be comfortable covered with waterproof cloth and wrapped in a sheet, which is convenient to remove and wash. It is desirable to ventilate the mattress every day. A child does not need a pillow and it even may harm him/her by bending the spine. Choose a warm, soft blanket, so that it fits snugly to the child’s body. Cotton quilts aren’t suitable as they do not keep your child warm. Children’s clothing is very important. Choose clothing made only of natural fabrics. Child must be dressed in several layers. First, a thin shirt fastened on its back, then diaper. Nappies greatly facilitate parents’ life. However, there is no single answer to the question about their harm. Approximately from four weeks child can wear sliders, so that your child will have some freedom in his movements.

Parents need to monitor their personal hygiene carefully. They must avoid large crowds of people and communicating with patients. If you have any suspicions about any communicable disease, you should put on gauze bandage after ironing it thoroughly. Always wash your hands with soap and water, before approaching and touching a child. You should limit the communication with relatives and friends while you are with your child. The kid, at that time, is extremely susceptible to any disease.

Every morning you should start with washing the child, using warm, boiled water. Nose and ears should be cleaned with cotton flagellum as required. In the first month of life it is recommended to bathe a baby only with boiled water. After each bathing the navel should be treated with alcohol and green antiseptic A newborn sleeps almost all day and night, and wakes up only to eat. You should feed the baby every 2-3 hours. Modern doctors recommend feeding the child on short notice. During the first year, children’s items are washed separately with special cleaners for babies. By the end of the first month, normally the child gains 500-900 grams weight, grows 3 cm. In addition, a pediatrician in the clinic measures circumference of head, chest, and abdomen. This will help to identify possible violations of development. By the end of the first month you should also visit neurologist.

Play is natural, both for children and for adults. We never stop having a need to play; we just have other things to think about. And life tells us that, since these other things are serious, that therefore they are not games.

Suggest your child to «welcome to the sun» in the morning. Turn on a light and pleasant music. Lie down on the floor together with the baby. Then close your eyes. Ask your child to imagine the sky with white clouds and bright warm sun. Then try to imagine other beautiful and kind things, for example animals, or kids playing with the animals. This is such kind of a game that makes you closer with your kid.

Children learn to play primarily from their parents or other adults. Play often provides a training ground from which a child learns to develop skills that will be useful later in life. Although modern sports tend to have fixed rules, children generally prefer games that require less-specialized equipment, preparation, and playing area. Hopscotch, leapfrog, and marbles are particularly popular games, as are the various improvised games that involve running, chasing, and catching. Many games—primarily guessing games, quizzes, and games that test physical coordination—are played by children and adults together.

Share time together with your child; recognize what is most important; see the big picture. All of those other things you do, you do to spend time with your children; maybe you forgot that. Play helps a young mind grow. Every minute of play is a minute of rapt attention at learning something; if it’s not a new task or new information, it is learning that closeness and laughter are possible in this world.

Children crave time with parents.  It makes them feel special.  Parents are encouraged to find time to spend playing with their kids on a regular basis.  This should include one to one with each child and group time with all of the adults and kids in the home.  If you are a single parent or have an only child, occasionally invite family or friends over to play.

In pretend play, let the child develop the theme.  Get into their world.  Let them go with it.  Ask questions.  Play along.  Be silly along with them and have fun.  Avoid over-stimulation.  Know when it is time to stop.

Possible games:

• Play outdoors.  Throw balls.  Push kids on swings.  Make mud pies.  Go on a hike around the neighborhood.  Take a nature walk in your backyard.
• Play games – card games – board games – silly and wacky kids games.  Help them learn to take turns, how to win and how to lose.  Praise them.  Encourage them.  Laugh with them.
• Get involved in a craft project together.  Build a jigsaw puzzle as a family.  Bake cookies.  Paint a picture.
• Listen to music together.  Sing along.  Play rhythm instruments along with music.   Get out the guitar or keyboard and make music.
• Read a book together.  Ask questions.  Ask them to change the story or make up a new one.
• Watch a movie together.  Find out what they liked – how they felt.  Discover the child’s interests.  Comment on and discuss any bothersome content either words or actions.
• Play kid games like:  Follow the Leader – Guess What I Am? – Hide and Seek