Find info on your childrens health

These are two topics that strike fear in the hearts of all parents: what will happen when my baby starts teething? How will he respond when its time to wean him (from the breast)?

Teething

Teething is not a disease, but a condition of growth. It shouldnt be dreaded, but simply seen as an accomplishment of a healthy, growing child. Most babies begin teething between 6-8 months of age, but as in all children, it may vary wildly. Some babies are known to teethe as early as 2 months or as late as 14 months. Pediatric dentists agree that the longer it takes a baby to teethe, the stronger and healthier the teeth are. Additionally, the later the teeth take to arrive, the later they will fall out and be replaced by permanent teeth.

Teething should not affect nursing in any way, unless your baby begins chomping down on your nipple. While this is painful and ones natural response would be to yelp, if you can stay calm and remove him from your breast while saying, No, no! you will have a much better response and less biting later on.

Some babies will experience fussiness, irritability, increased salivation, and a slightly raised temperature as they teethe. A proactive dose of infant Tylenol will help greatly, especially before bedtime.

Weaning

Weaning is defined by the process in which parents offer food supplements in place of or in addition to mothers milk. This process begins the moment parents offer a bottle of formula or when their baby first tastes cereal. It is a gradual process.

When weaning from breastfeeding, its typically easier to drop the late-afternoon feeding first. Replace each feeding dropped with six to eight ounces of formula or milk, depending on the babys age.

Weaning from the bottle typically begins with your babys arrival at his first birthday. Again, it is a gradual process. Most moms wean straight to a sippy cup with great success. As you replace each bottle (one at a time, though) with a sippy full of milk, be patient. It will take time for your child to catch on to drinking from one of these cups, and you dont want to unduly frustrate him in the process.

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As a new parent, one of your priorities will be to establish good sleeping habits with your newborn. Your baby needs to learn to sleep on his own; the transition from sleeping with his mother to sleeping by himself takes some time. Of course, as add added bonus, if you get your baby to learn to sleep on his own you will also get some much needed rest yourself. To instill good sleeping habits in your baby, research and try to employ different baby sleep tips: try a lot of things and see what works for you, and don’t be afraid to trust your instincts.

Many baby sleep tips center on the idea of establishing routines and associations for your child between nighttime and sleep. The sooner you child begins to associate bedtime with sleep, the more likely he is to be able to go to sleep without a fuss. A period that is often overlooked, however, in establishing day vs. night associations, is the period of “transition” – that is, the one between being awake and falling asleep. Here are some transitioning techniques to try:

Try what is sometimes called “fathering down.” Just before placing the baby into bed, the father should cradle the baby in such a way that the baby’s head rests on the father neck. The father should then talk gently to the child. Because the male’s voice is much deeper than the female’s, babies are often more soothed by it, and will fall asleep more easily after being exposed to it for some time.

You can also try what is sometimes referred to as “wearing down.” This is effective if your baby has been active throughout the day and is too excited to go to bed easily. All you have to do is place your baby in a sling or carrier – “wear him” in other words – for about half an hour before his bedtime. Simply go about your regular household activities: being close to a parent and slowly rocked about before bedtime will provide your child with an easier transition from being awake to being asleep.

Finally, if you’ve exhausted other options, you can go for the tried and true method of “driving down.” Most parents are probably familiar with this as a last resort: place your baby in the car and drive around for awhile until he falls asleep. This one, while inconvenient, usually works every time, and if you desperately need some sleep it can be a godsend.

Obviously, you don’t want to do things like drive around every night to get your child to sleep. Nor do you want to have to carry him around in a sling. The idea, though, is to start with these more drastic techniques and then slowly ease out of them. Keep in mind what a major transition your baby is going through when he is tiny: he’s never slept on his own before. He simply doesn’t know how to transition himself from being awake to being asleep. By employing these transition techniques you will be slowly teaching him how to do so, and as they are gradually removed your baby will learn good sleeping habits, which will ensure that both you and your child get a good night’s rest.

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Often, it seems fairly random whether or not babies sleep well. New parents will often discuss how they were simply “lucky” with one child as opposed to another. While it is true that in many cases how your child sleeps is largely out of your control, there remains many baby sleep tips you can employ to encourage better sleeping habits. One of the most important is to ensure that your baby is comfortable when he goes to sleep.

Bedtime is a transitional period for your child, and your efforts to make him sleep better should revolve around getting him to learn to sleep on his own. One of the most important elements of achieving this is to create an environment where your baby is as comfortable as possible. For this reason, the before-bed routine should always consist of changing and feedings – the worst thing for a baby, in terms of sleeping well, is to be in want of something when he is put to bed.

You should also be trying to make your baby as physically comfortable as possible when putting him to sleep. One of the most commonly overlooked aspects of this is allowing your baby to breathe easily through the nose. Most people, but especially babies, depend on clear nasal passages for a good night’s sleep. It’s important to remove all airborne allergens in the baby’s nursery: everything should be well dusted, and you should keep dust collecting items – like fuzzy blankets and stuffed animals – to a minimum. When your baby is very young it takes time for him to learn to breathe through his mouth, so you must carefully pay attention to his nasal breathing when putting him to sleep. If you notice the problem is persistent, you may benefit from installing an air filter in the room that is designed to remove dust particles and allergens – this also has the added bonus of creating a soothing hum that will help many babies sleep better.

You should also pay particular attention to your baby’s clothing. All babies are different in terms of their preferences, and you have to watch them closely. In many cases, things that look comfortable to you – very snug outfits, for example – may not be comfortable for your particular baby. Try both tight and loose fitting clothes and see which ones your baby seems to prefer.

Finally, consider how well your baby sleeps with wet diapers. Most babies will sleep well through the night with a wet diaper, but some will not. If this is the case, you can often solve your baby’s sleeping difficulties by giving him a change in the night.

The main thing to keep in mind in terms of your babies comfort is to pay close attention, and to trust your instincts. Although it is tempting to follow guides and stick to hard and fast rules, remember that the adage “mother knows best” is generally true. So if your baby seems uncomfortable in his clothes, don’t hesitate to change him into something that doesn’t “look” as comfortable. If you trust your own judgments over those of guides in terms of your baby’s comfort, it’s likely that he will sleep much better.

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Everyone who has had the experience of being a parent knows all too well the difficulties of getting your baby to sleep soundly throughout the night. The dark circles around the eyes of new parents are usually familiar to all those that have been around them. In terms of baby sleep tips, one of the most important things you must try and establish as a parent is getting your baby to learn to fall asleep on his own. The process by which your child begins to fall asleep on his own is one that involves a natural transition from falling asleep with the mother to falling asleep in an independent fashion. One of the best ways in which you can speed up this transition is to encourage your child to develop sleep associations that he or she can recreate independently.

Naturally, everyone – and babies in particular – will develop sleep associations. These are the things that you associate with bedtime, and allow you to create an environment in which it is easy to fall asleep. When your baby is at an extremely young age, he will naturally develop sleep associations involving the mother, as he will often fall asleep in her arms. As you attempt to get your baby to sleep in his own, however, it is crucial that you work to change these associations.

If you always put your child to sleep by holding him, or allowing him to use a pacifier, you create a sleep association with these things. Then, when your child wakes up in the middle of then night, he can’t go back to sleep on his own because he is unable to recreate his sleeping environment without you: he needs you to feed him or rock him in order to sleep.

As you begin to try and get your child to sleep on his own, you should introduce items into his sleeping routine that he can sleep with, such as a particular blanket or a stuffed animal. What this will do is create associations for your child with these items for sleep. Then, when he awakes in the middle of the night, he will be able to recreate a sleeping environment without your assistance by grabbing his stuffed animal, etc. It can also be beneficial to introduce “transitional items” into your baby’s bedtime routine: Allow him to have his stuffed animal or blanket with him during a final feeding and before-bedtime activities, and allow him to take these things with him to bed.

No matter what you do, your child is going to be creating his or her own sleep associations. Your job is to try and create associations with items that are under his or her control. By giving your child as much control over his sleeping environment as possible, you allow him to begin to achieve sleep independently. The most difficult transition in early parenting is the one towards independent sleep for your child, and if you introduce new items into your child’s sleeping place, you will hasten this transition, which will soon allow both you and your child to get a good night’s rest.

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Although many everyone has their own different styles of parenting, there are 4 main styles of parenting. These four different styles are authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and than uninvolved.

Uninvolved parenting is really just a lack of parenting. It is hard on children and should not be the way of parenting. Kids suffer issues such as feelings of rejection, lack of self esteem, and issues with trust. In the long run the children are harmed emotionally.

Authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive styles describe a range of styles. Authoritarian parents are at one end of the spectrum. This kind of parenting tends to be high in structure and low in responsiveness. Permissive parents are then located at the opposite side of the scale. This parenting style tends to be low in structure and high in responsiveness. Authoritative parenting tends to be located in the middle of the scale, and is a balanced parenting style. There are many different parenting styles out there; these three represent a very wide range scale.

Structure is important to authoritative parenting. There are clear rules and limits and children know that there are consequences for their actions. Routines and schedules help provide a sense of stability for children. For example, a child knows when bedtime is, and a teen knows when curfew is, and both know what will happen if he or she is late. Stability in this sense allows children to feel secure, and that, it turn, allows for an all around better atmosphere. There is flexibility in authoritative parenting that allows the parent to bend the rules on occasion. Like if a child would like to stay up late to watch a favorite TV show.

Authoritative parents also are responsive. Children have a voice in the family and the input is value. Mom and dad respond to their children’s needs and problems and are sensitive to their children’s emotions and feelings.

In authoritative parenting, decisions are made collaboratively. Children have a choice, but only up to a certain point. Parents should listen to their input, and take into consideration what the child is saying, and feeling, but the final decision lies with the parents. These types of families function as a team, and different needs are accommodated for. This results in less conflict and more balance.

Authoritative parenting is a balanced parenting style. Structure and responsive are both high. The parents are involved with their child’s life, and are flexible, but they still are parents. There are structures, limits, rules and boundaries, but they are not rigid. Children with this kind of parenting tend to do well socially and functionally in life. They tend to not get into problems and not to have serious emotional problems. This type of parenting is balanced, and produces balanced children.

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Helpful Tips to Get Your ADD/ADHD (Indigo) Child To Sleep Naturally

As a single mom of four children myself I know how difficult it is to get any child to bed on time! It is even more difficult if a child has been diagnosed as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or more commonly referred to as ADD/ADHD. The Angel Lady, Doreen Virtue, calls this: Attention Dialed into a Higher Dimension. Brilliant!

My eldest son, since the day he arrived into this world has been a go-go-goer! The first year of his life, I tripled my own age! I was sleep deprived and literally exhausted, a walking zombie! He barely slept and the times he did sleep, he was very restless, constantly moving and frequently waking up. Routines and schedules did not work for him at that time. Taking one five minute nap during the day would give this child enough of an energy boost to keep him ticking until well past midnight and he would still be up by 6AM! He by passed crawling and was literally running at eight and half months! He was definitely my little energizer bunny! In this article I will share with you natural methods that I have learnt over the past 10 and half years to help him at least fall asleep.

No one suggestion below will work for everyone, but continue trying new things until you find what does work for your situation. Do not give up! It eventually pays off in the long run for both of you! Unless of course you have more kids like I do. Im so used to not sleeping now I wonder what it would feel like to actually have one whole undisturbed night of sleep to myself! At least I am only getting up for two out of four kids now, but as with all things, this too shall pass.

Stick to a bedtime schedule for both going to bed and getting out of bed. This should not be a fight. Your child should already be relaxed and ready for bed. On school days the routine for my son to awaken is 7:15AM. On weekends, he still goes to bed at 9PM, but I allow him to wake up whenever he wants to get up.
Get them to use the bathroom before going to bed. This should help them to not wake up during the night needing to use the toilet.
A warm sea salt bath right before bed helps to relax the body and mind.
A foot massage. This can be with a foot massage bath spa, an actual hand massage or both! If you are going to use oils, be sure to pick pure oils, not synthetic ones and that they are relaxing, calming oils! You do not want to use oil that is meant for stimulation. Find a good aromatherapist to help you as you need to use a carrier oil along with the essential oil for massage.
A back massage. Again this can be done with oils or without remembering to use relaxing, calming oils over stimulating ones.
An energy healing treatment releases tension and stress and can have a calming effect.
Soft, non-vocal, slow instrumental music. This relaxes the body and mind whereas using vocals and fast tempo will increase the energy and keep the mind in thought.
Nature Sounds: My son likes the sound of rain, dolphins, oceans and rivers. He didnt care for the bird, cricket, frog sounds nor the thunder storms as this frightened him more than soothed him.
Using the bedroom for sleep only. I created a play area in our house that equips the television, the kids games, PS2, music, their toys and books etc.
Avoid daytime naps especially if you have a child that can take a five minute nap that revives them until late in the evening! By pass the nap and put them to bed earlier. My youngest children (4 and 2) get up at 6AM and go to bed by 6PM, no naps.
Reading stories either to the child or letting them read themselves. Pick stories that are calming and non-violent.
No television of a violent or stimulating nature before bed.
No stimulating energetic games such as running, jumping, tickling, wrestling etc. Pick quiet activities such as drawing, reading or writing.
The bedding style may make a difference. My son likes it semi-snug. If the bedding is too tight, he squirms around a lot until he is able to loosen it up some. You may have try tight, semi-snug or loose.
Diet is very important and if you want your child to fall asleep easily and rest well stay away from sugar and products with artificial food colouring. That means pretty much all processed foods! It is time to go back to the basics and eat as natural and clean as possible. This truly makes a huge difference!

Trying some of these tools may just bring back the peace and balance you and your child need! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at Lisa@infinitylighthealing.com

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Babies must eventually learn how to sleep away from their mothers. This transition takes some time, and new parents can help by establishing good sleeping habits for their newborns. The added benefit of creating good sleep habits for the baby is that parents also get more rest!

Most recommendations focus on developing routines and habits for babies that encourage them to associate sleeping with nighttime. The sooner parents can get their children to associate bedtime with sleeping, the more likely the children will be able to go to sleep without making a fuss.

However, the transition period, the time that exists between being awake and going to sleep, is often overlooked in these recommendations. Several techniques can be applied during this period.

One technique is known as fathering down. Just before putting the baby into the bed, the father should cradle his baby so that the babys head lies on the fathers neck. The father should talk to his child gently. Babies are often soothed by a male voice because it is deeper than the female voice, and they may fall asleep more easily after hearing the fathers voice for a time.

Another technique is called wearing down. This can be especially effective if a baby has been active all day and is too excited to be put to bed easily. Put the baby in a sling or carrier and wear him or her for approximately 30 minutes before bedtime. Perform your usual tasks. The baby will experience an easier transition from wakefulness to sleep because of being close to you and being slowly rocked by your general movements before bedtime.

If these techniques fail, you may want to try driving down. This is a method of last resort and involves putting the baby in the car and driving around for a period of time until the baby falls asleep. While this method is somewhat inconvenient, it is usually effective. If you need some well-deserved rest, driving down is an attractive option.

Of course, you dont want to get into the habit of driving the baby around in the car every night! And you dont want to always carry the baby in sling before bed to encourage sleep. The idea is to use these techniques and slowly ease away from them. You should only use them during the major transition that your new baby experiences when he or she has never slept alone before. The baby does not know how to handle the transition, so you must teach him or her how to go from being awake to being asleep. These transition techniques can gradually be eliminated as the baby learns good bedtime habits, and both you and the baby can then have a good nights sleep!

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First-time parents and even parents with several kids, regularly find that their young child isn’t sleeping as well as he or she should.

Many parents try to find the underlying cause of the problem, hoping to find a simple answer. This also leaves countless parents questioning if feeding might have something to do with the issue.

The aim of this article is to burrow deeper into the different aspects of feeding your small child and examine the effects that feeding could possibly have on a babys sleeping schedule and habits.

Initially, we should list the different feeding areas that we will be considering. These are:
Mixing Breast-feeding and Bottle Feedings
Feeding your child to sleep
What are YOU eating and will it affect your babys sleeping pattern?
Will solids help your baby sleep?

Mixing Breast-feeding and Bottle Feedings

It is believed that the mixture of bottle and breast in feedings could potentially sleeping problems. There are a number of different reasons for this when you are breast-feeding your young child. With each feeding, the breast is signaling to the brain that more milk needs to be produced for the coming feeding. When a bottle is incorporated into feedings, this process could be affected. The breast will start to produce less milk due to the less frequent breast feedings.

Furthermore, during the times when you do breast-feed your baby, he or she will not get as full with the breast-feeding because of the lessening of milk supply. This effectively means that your baby will need feeding more often, which will mean his or her sleep patterns will be interrupted by the need for feeding.

Feeding your baby to sleep

Feeding your child to sleep may be creating a problem with their sleep patterns. Your baby will soon begin to recognize that you feed him or her at bedtime. This will become something they depend on and expect. Generally, this will be the situation with each waking throughout the night as well.

There are of course, techniques you can use to avoid your baby from depending on feedings to fall asleep.

Initially, change the time or the length of time you feed your baby when nearing his or her bedtime. Doing so will gradually disconnect the association of bedtime with feeding.

Another option is feed your child earlier in the night instead of as a bedtime routine. When you do these things your child will not associate eating with bedtime. This will help your baby learn to fall asleep on his own accord.

What are YOU eating and will it affect your babys sleeping pattern?

The one word answer is yes. As a breast-feeding mom*, everything that you put into your body affects your breast milk. If you are not eating the appropriate amount of foods and calories each day, your breast milk is greatly affected. It is important that you eat the recommended three meals each day and perhaps a few snacks in between. Your milk needs to have enough calories in it in order for your baby to feel pleasantly full and satisfied. If it does not, he or she will continue to feed longer until he or she is full.

You need to eat healthier foods and try to eat them more often, as well as drinking fluids throughout the day. This will benefit your
milk supply, therefore helping your baby and his or her sleep patterns. The fuller your baby feels, the better he or she will sleep.

Will solids help your baby?

Many parents believe this will help, but numerous studies haven’t associated any change in those who were fed by the breast and / or bottle and those who are fed solids. This has not been proven to help the sleep patterns in babies at all. Doctors recommend not adding solid foods prior to six months of age.

Chris Towland

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Audio books are dearly loved by parents for understandable reasons: time constraints such as work, household duties and the like, tend to overwhelm parents when they would much rather be tucking their kids in at bedtime and telling them a story; well, children can enjoy audio books like Roald Dahls Fantastic Mr. Fox without the parents being present.

Audio books are also a helpmeet at times when there are no harsh job demands and circumstances allow parents to spend more time at home with the family. But children can get rowdy at any time of the day or night; this is where audio books will help to calm them downtheres just something hypnotic to a child about hearing certain books presented audibly, especially when the narrator happens to be really good. Oftentimes the narrator is a professional actor or actress, like Tim Curry, for example, but not necessarily. Audio books are also a cunningly good excuse to turn off the television.

As if that wasnt enough, ladies and gentleman, here are listed a few more good reasons to acquaint your children with audio books:

I.You know audio books would come in handy during that family trip youve been planning for some time now? Perhaps it hasnt crossed your mind yet, but theres always the chance that the kids will make things slightly difficultthey may scream and fight, or they may slowly wither away from boredom. In this case its a smart and fun idea to bring along at least a couple of books on tape or compact discdoing so can make the journey far more enjoyable for everyone involved. Far less stressful, too.

II.The same goes for the daily commute: audio books are great when driving your child or children to work–you have an ideal opportunity to put them in the mindset for their entire school day. Of course, this method works best when the kids hear a title they really do enjoy.

III.Speaking of school, audio books have their uses here, too! The chances are great that at least one of your children are currently taking a foreign language class, or perhaps will be in the near future. Particular titles of audio books in this genre need not be mentionedthere are so many of them! And audio books certainly help in this department by accelerating the learning process considerablyespecially if they are accompanied by a book or pamphlet.

IV.Why not utilize audio books to help your child learn how to readespecially if he or she happens to be struggling in this area. One bit of advice would be to select an audio book title that includes a paperbound book to be read alongside the audio presentation; in this way children can and do often learn to associate the printed word with its corresponding vocalization.

V.Use audio books to develop your childs listening skills! The earlier the better, because if kids dont listen very well, they are in a fatal position (as far as education is concerned) and will most likely fall far behind in their studies. Just remember that slightly less than 9/10, or in other words 85%, of what people learn in this world is learned via the ears.

Besides all this, audio books are simply fun; its because of this, then, that you ought not to be surprised when they instill in your child a new love for reading. Be warned, though: parents themselves are far from being immune to the effects of audio booksand you might just find yourself listening to them just as much, if not more, than your children do!

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You’ve just spent a good part of the evening preparing your baby for bed. As she falls asleep in your arms you tenderly place her in her cot; her eyes flash open and she screams the house down. So you lift her and start all over again!

One of the most frustrating things about having a baby who refuses to sleep in her cot is that you know she is exhausted – because you are also exhausted.

So is there a panacea for this timeless problem?

Routine is a great teacher. But getting into one is not so easy. It takes time and perseverance on your part. But at the end of the day it makes for a happy family.

Try to have a set bedtime. As it approaches, watch for signs that your baby is getting tired. She may cry for a prolonged period and only settle when you lift her. Or she may rub her eyes or pull at her ears. Try to notice such signs, because if she gets over-tired it will become more difficult to settle her.

A warm bath can be a wonderful way to prepare baby for sleep. You may like to try adding a few drops of essential lavender oil as it is renowned for its relaxing properties. Or add some specially formulated sleepy baby bubble bath.

Avoid playing with the baby during her bedtime bath. You do not want to get her excited as this will have the opposite effect to that intended! Simply trickle some warm bath water over her as she lies in the bath.

After bathing, many babies are very receptive to a baby massage. Play some soft music as you massage her.

You can give a dry massage, without oil, or an oily massage using extra virgin olive oil. If you do intend using any oil place a small amount of it on her inside arm and leave for about ten minutes. Check to ensure there has been no reaction before massaging her.

If she is fine, rub a small amount of oil, about the size of a ten pence coin, into your hands. This will warm the oil and not shock the baby! Do not rush the massage. Keep it slow. She will let you know if she is not happy. If this is the case, end the session. Try again the following night.

There are lots of good baby massage books available which show you a variety of massage techniques. And many organisations run free courses. Ask your health visitor to keep you informed.

After her massage, give baby a cuddle and dress her for bed. Keep your movements slow. This will ensure she stays calm.
Some babies enjoy a feed before sleeping, so you may like to feed her after her bath. If she is breastfed she may fall asleep on the breast. It is best to waken her before placing her in her cot as babies can get frightened if they awaken in different surroundings to those in which they fell asleep.

New parents, and even experienced parents, can often be indecisive about what is required for the baby to settle in her cot. Should baby go to sleep in the dark? Or should you leave a light on? Should you play music? Or is silence better?

For many parents the solution is to leave a small, dim, night-light on so that baby will not be frightened if she awakens later on. It is also a good idea to play a soothing lullaby CD and leave it playing quietly on repeat. Play the same CD every night and baby will begin to look forward to bedtime! Babies love repetition. It makes them feel secure.

Babies are never too young for a bedtime story or a lullaby. And many babies have a favourite bedtime story that they like to hear every night before sleeping.

If your baby gets upset when you place her in the cot, stay with her for a few moments. Tell her firmly that it is bedtime and say goodnight. Leave the room, but stay nearby. Allow her to cry for around thirty seconds. Return to the room and again say goodnight. Do not chat! If she is standing up, lie her down. She will probably scramble straight back onto her feet! Leave the room again.

Each time wait slightly longer before returning. It can be a good idea to move around nearby, but not in the same room, and allow baby to hear that you are nearby. You may like to hum a tune or chat to your partner. Avoid keeping the whole house silent. Babies need to learn to sleep through some noise.

If baby gets very distressed, simply return to her and comfort her with a little hug. And then lie her down. It can be incredibly difficult to refrain from lifting her. But be assured that eventually she will fall asleep.

Within two or three nights most babies stop protesting and have learnt what bedtime means. Many happily lie down and fall straight to sleep once the routine is established. As a result your baby will be happier and so too will your family!

Goodnight!

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