Mommy & Baby: Teething & Weaning

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 02:25:35 +0000

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.

Lay the Groundwork for A Lifetime of Reading

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:40:56 +0000

At school, reading is the essential tool for success in every subject, so it is vital that you lay the proper groundwork for your child.

According to Bernabe Feria, an expert in reading sciences who holds a doctorate from Oxford University, children learn to read in three stages. They are as follows:

* Stage 1: This stage typically lasts until children are 5 or 6 years old. Children in this stage learn to recognize and write the letters of the alphabet and to use punctuation, and also begin “sounding out” clusters of written letters that form short words.

* Stage 2: This stage continues until children reach age 6 or 7. They learn to immediately recognize a few hundred words on sight and to read in phrases and even whole sentences.

* Stage 3: Children reach this stage around age 8 and typically no later than 10. At this stage they learn how to read with the facility and fluency with which they use spoken language, and should be able to recognize, appreciate and emulate finely crafted language.

As a parent, you can help your children learn the value of reading at any stage through an innovative program called ReadEnt, developed by SFK Media Specially for Kids Corp.

The program’s Reading Movies seamlessly blend reading with interactive films that teach and improve vocabulary and comprehension. Each of the Reading Movies – “Trojan Horse,” “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and “Tales of Gulliver’s Travels” – exposes students to timeless children’s literature while helping them learn through a patented technology called “Action Captions.” As the movie character speaks, the words simultaneously appear on the screen, one at a time, with no disruption to the flow of the movie.

Reading experts and educators indicate that these “Action Captions” activate the cognitive elements of the brain so that the development of both reading and spoken language skills takes place naturally. The ReadEnt reading programs can be used over a period of years to develop different skill sets as children move from one stage to the next.

The program’s Reading Movies, which are interactive with fun quizzes and games, are available for use on the TV or the computer.

Find info on your childrens health » One At A Time

Mommy & Baby: Teething & Weaning

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