Getting To Know Your New Baby
How do we look after our baby’s umbilical cord? How much can our baby see? Why are their genitals swollen?
Newborn babies do not come with an instruction manual, and you’re bound to have lots of questions about their behaviour and appearance to begin with.
You’ll find some of the answers you need in getting to know your newborn.
+ Years Old Toddler Tips
Did you know?Children learn better when they are taught how to behave well instead of being scolded for behaving badly.
- Ask simple questions and listen to the answers. Encourage your child to talk: What is this?, Where is the window?, Which ball is bigger?, Would you like the red cup?. You should see your childs growing interest in interacting with you and responding to your questions.
- Read stories to your child and ask questions about what you see in the book. You should notice your child memorizes and tries to repeat what you read.
- Help your child learn to count by asking how many and counting things together. Your child will make mistakes at first, but learn from repeating things many times.
- Offer your child circles and other shapes cut from coloured paper to compare and sort. She should be happy to try sorting things and will learn how to match and make relationships between different objects, colours and shapes.
* Sources: Steen, The Evolving Brain: The Known and The Unknown, 2007 Dekaban, Annals of Neurology, 1978.
Make The Most Of Your Time Alone
Im an extrovert, so I never thought I would crave alone time, but being cooped up in the house with an infant, my wife and two dogs, time to myself became a rare commodity. I began to recognize how valuable alone time really is, and that I needed to use it efficiently and productively when I got it. Now, I try to complete a task in the time I have, whether its 30 minutes to fit a workout in, an hour to write an article or even 15 minutes to call my parents. At the same time, I realized it was important not to put too much pressure on these blocks of time, eithersometimes the best thing you can do for your mental health is actually to do nothing at all, or to take a power nap if you need a restart, or to read a chapter of your book or watch an episode of your favorite TV show for a mental break. Thats OK, too. Either way, make sure you use your alone time wisely.
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The Guidelines For Raising A Baby Have Changed
Bookstore shelves are crammed with titles purporting to help you make your baby smarter, happier, healthier, stronger, better-behaved and everything else you can imagine, in what I call a shopping-cart approach to infant development.
Bookstore shelves are crammed with titles purporting to help you make your baby smarter, happier, healthier, stronger, better-behaved and everything else you can imagine, in what I call a shopping-cart approach to infant development. But experts are now beginning to look more broadly, in an integrated fashion, at the first few months of a baby’s life. And so should you.
Psychological theorists are moving away from focusing on single areas such as physical development, genetic inheritance, cognitive skills or emotional attachment, which give at best a limited view of how babies develop. Instead, they are attempting to synthesize and integrate all the separate pieces of the infant-development puzzle. The results so far have been enlightening, and are beginning to suggest new ways of parenting.
The most important part of the emerging revelations is that the key to stimulating emotional and intellectual growth in your child is your own behavior what you do, what you don’t do, how you scold, how you reward and how you show affection. If the baby’s brain is the hardware, then you, the parents, provide the software. When you understand the hardware , you will be better able to design the software to promote baby’s well-being.
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Parenting Do’s And Don’ts For A Newborn Baby
Becoming a parent is exciting and overwhelming. After months of waiting, it’s finally time to bring your newborn home from the hospital and care for them unsupervised. Many first-time parents find themselves with questions about caring for a new child, but it will become more natural over time. Here are the parenting do’s and don’ts for a newborn baby.
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Respond To Their Cries
Another powerful step you can take to encourage happiness in your baby is to respond to their cries. Its especially important during the first 6 months of life to answer their call. Crying is the prime communication that babies use and by tending to them, you lay down a positive emotional foundation.
If you were to ignore your babys crying, it could cause them unnecessary anxiety. You cant spoil a newborn with attention so be sure to respond if they cry. Hold them, swaddle them, show them that they can rely on you for comfort, and youll raise an emotionally healthy baby.
Praying Scripture Over Your Childs Life
Jodie Berndt loves to pray for her children. Shes been doing that for the past thirty years. Now she helps other parents to talk to God, asking for the salvation of their kids, and for wisdom, self-discipline, purpose, a future and much more. She offers fun and practical encouragement that moms and dads can put to work immediately in their daily lives as they prepare their children for a life in Christ.
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Raising A Strong Daughter In A Toxic Culture: 11 Steps To Keep Her Happy Healthy And Safe
Meg Meeker has been a pediatrician for more than thirty years, is a mother and a grandmother, and has seen it all. She knows what makes for strong, happy, healthy young womenand what puts our daughters at risk. Combining that experience with her famous common sense, she explains the eleven steps that will help your daughterwhether shes a toddler or a troubled teento achieve her full human potential.
Why Your Kids Misbehave And What To Do About It
Tantrums. Talking back. Throwing toys or food. Meltdowns. Slamming doors. Kids know just how to push your buttons. Youve tried all sorts of methods, but nothing seems to work. In this book, Dr. Kevin Leman reveals exactly why kids misbehave and how you can turn that behavior around with practical, no-nonsense strategies that really work . . . and are a long-term win for both of you.
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Try To Coordinate Naps
Its easier said than done, but coordinating nap time so that both your infant and your toddler are asleep at the same time can go a long way toward saving your sanity during the day. Your toddlers naps are more likely to be stable and predictable, so work to get one of your infants naps to happen at the same time.
You can try putting them both down at the same time. This is particularly effective if they share a room. Or try getting your toddler to sleep first, as they usually will sleep for a longer time. Then, put down your baby. Alternatively, you might put your baby down and then lie down with your toddler. This is a good tactic if you want a short nap, too. It may be trial and error at first, but making the effort to synchronize naps will pay off.
If your efforts misfire, use your infant’s nap time to spend quality time with your toddler and vice versa. Having a few minutes alone with each child can help you all to feel more grounded and connected. It also can give you a chance to check in and be more present with each other.
Love In Every Season: Understanding The Four Stages Of A Healthy Relationship
Every relationship goes through four life-changing seasons: Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter. Each season plays an important role in taking your relationship to the next level. And depending on how you navigate each season, your relationship will either flourish and grow, or it will slowly die. Whether youre single, dating, engaged or married, join licensed professional counselor and relationship expert, Debra Fileta as she takes you on an eye-opening psychological and spiritual journey through the four seasons that she has observed in every healthy relationship.
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How To Raise A Smart Baby
Confused by the sheer number of smart baby toys, books, and videos? Relax. All your baby really needs to boost brainpower is you.
Academic achievement. College scholarship. Presidential aspirations.
These used to be phrases parents tossed around at their kid’s high school graduation.
Today, it’s a new form of “baby talk.” From maternity wards to toddler play groups to mommy chat rooms, how to raise a smart baby is a key focus of conversation and concern.
“Parents have always wanted the best for their babies, but now it seems there really is a much more focused attempt, and more worry and concern about doing the right thing to encourage baby’s growth and development, particularly brain development,” says Nina Sazer O’Donnell, director of National Strategies for Success By 6, a United Way of America learning initiative.
The concerns are not without merit. While a portion of a baby’s 100 billion brain cells are prewired at birth — mostly the ones connected to breathing, heartbeat, and other physiological survival functions — it is during the first five years of life that much of the essential wiring linked to learning is laid down.
While experts say baby brain development is still largely a mystery, what we do know is just how great a role natural parenting instincts can play in putting your baby on the fast track to success.
Tell Your Toddler Stories
If your arms are full with a newborn, picking up a book to read with a toddler or playing a game may not be realistic. Instead of reading a story, tell one. While you can make up a tale about anything, if you’re at a loss, start with whatever your toddler is into at the timefor example, superheroes, trains, princesses, or puppies. You also can tell them stories about what they were like as a baby, just like their new sibling.
Toddlers usually get a kick about hearing about even the most mundane details of what they did when they were babies. You can also try narrating what you are doing to care for the baby and then compare it to how you cared for the toddler. Alternatively, you can sing songs with them or try having your toddler turn the pages if you want to read them some books.
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Tactics 10th Anniversary Edition: A Game Plan For Discussing Your Christian Convictions
In a world increasingly indifferent to Christian truth, followers of Christ need to be equipped to communicate with those who do not speak their language or accept their source of authority. In Tactics, 10th Anniversary Edition, Gregory Koukl demonstrates how to artfully regain control of conversations, keeping them moving forward in constructive ways through thoughtful diplomacy. Youll learn how to stop challengers in their tracks and how to turn the tables on questions or provocative statements. Most important, youll learn how to get people thinking about Jesus.
Out And About With Baby
26. Enlist backup. Make your first journey to a big, public place with a veteran parent. “Having my sister with me for support kept me from becoming flustered the first time I went shopping with my newborn,” says Suzanne Zook, a mom in Denver.
27. If you’re on your own,“stick to places likely to welcome a baby, such as story hour at a library or bookstore,” suggests Christin Gauss, a mom in Fishers, Indiana.
28. “Keep your diaper bag packed,” says Fran Bowen, a mom in Brooklyn. There’s nothing worse than finally getting the baby ready, only to find that you’re not.
29. Stash a spare. Holland Brown, a mom in Long Beach, California, always keeps a change of adult clothes in her diaper bag. “You don’t want to get stuck walking around with an adorable baby but mustard-colored poop all over you.”
30. Finally, embrace the chaos. “Keep your plans simple and be prepared to abandon them at any time,” says Margi Weeks, a mom in Tarrytown, New York.
If nothing else, remember that everyone makes it through, and so will you. Soon enough you’ll be rewarded with your baby’s first smile, and that will help make up for all the initial craziness.
Heather Swain is a mother and writer in Brooklyn, New York. Her novel is Luscious Lemon.
American Baby
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Understanding The Root Of Your Child’s Misbehavior
Often, children act out because they are used to getting attention through bad behavior. Dr. Kevin Leman offers advice to help parents transform their childs behavior. He discusses the benefits of allowing your kids to learn from real-life consequences and describes the importance of understanding your childs temperament based on his birth order.
Tips For Raising A Toddler And A Newborn Baby At The Same Time
Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, therefore I may be compensated if you purchase when clicking through my links. This helps keep the website running.
Although it may sound daunting, it is actually easier to raise a toddler and a newborn than it might seem at first.
An age gap of anything closer than 24 months can actually be easier to deal with in many ways, compared to a larger age gap. For example, its really a positive to have a toddler still young enough to take an afternoon nap when you have a newborn. If you have a wider age gap, you have more of a risk that the older child may have stopped napping by the time baby is born.
Also, its only the first year when their needs seem so very different. After that, they are not too different in terms of the level of things they can understand and the activities they might enjoy, which also makes things easier than you might expect.
My two boys are 19 months apart so Im sharing these tips for raising a toddler and a newborn baby. Ultimately, every family is different so just pick out what works for you. Be prepared to use a little trial and error to develop your routine to a great fit and you will be certain of ultimately having fun!
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