Taking your baby on his first long or overnight trip can seem daunting, but there are a few simple rules to follow which can guarantee a relaxing and enjoyable trip for everyone.

• Pack light, but effectively. Take what you need, but don’t go crazy with it. Everyone gets frustrated when there is too much luggage or too many baby related contraptions. If you haven’t used it in the last few days at home, you won’t need it for your few days away.
• Bring plenty of food and water for you and baby. There is nothing worse than being stuck on a runway or in a traffic jam with a hungry, thirsty baby. He probably doesn’t think you’re very pleasant when you’re hungry either so make so you’re prepared to take care of you both.
• Bring a variety of small toys and books. He will most likely be confined to a relatively small space for several hours at a time so make sure he doesn’t run out of things to do with his hands.
• Bring something from home that he can keep with him on the drive or flight. A small pillow from home, a small blanket or stuffed animal. Something familiar to ease any anxiety he may have about being in such a new setting.
• If you are flying, either nurse your baby or offer a bottle on takeoff and landing. The change in cabin pressure can be very upsetting to young children and babies. The sucking motion keeps the pressure from building in his ears. If your child is old enough to chew gum, the same result can be gained.
• Stay calm and don’t get stressed. The surest way to end up with a cranky baby on a trip is when you or others you are traveling with are in poor spirits.
• Try to keep him on his schedule. If he generally naps at 10am, offer him the chance to sleep on your vacation at the same time.
• Remember, he doesn’t understand what a vacation is. He doesn’t know that you’re trying to take a break. He just knows that he’s in a new place. So be patient.
• Keep your bedtime routine the same. If you don’t rock him to sleep at home, don’t try to rock him to sleep at the hotel or relative’s house.

• As you plan your first big trip with your child, try to see it from his perspective. Look at the places you are visiting as if you’ve never been there before. If it is loud, or could come across as frightening, talk to your baby and tell him what is going on. Even if he is very young, he can understand your calm and the tone of your voice. Be conscious of the fact that he this is all brand new to him, so take care to make him feel secure. You don’t want to make it an unpleasant experience. You can always take another trip, but you can’t undo a bad first impression of travel.

Most people know someone whose child sleeps with them. Sometimes it is something the parents chose to do before the baby was even born. There have been a plethora of books written on what is now called “cosleeping”, there are even family beds designed specifically with a child sharing the bed in mind. Most often though, it isn’t an actual decision but more something that just becomes assumed and accepted. Your child had nightmares one night and wanted to crawl in bed with you for comfort, everyone fell back to sleep and she woke up all cuddled in with Mom and Dad. The next night, she asked if she could crawl in again because it was so cozy and you think it is sweet, so you agree. As time passes it becomes more and more difficult to tell her to go back to her own bed. She might cry or beg, or pitch a fit… and who wants that at bedtime? Sometimes, it starts much earlier with a newborn who will sleep through the night if he is tucked safely between mom and dad. Feeding is easy, and you are getting much more sleep than your friends with a newborn that are getting up five times a night and rocking baby back to sleep. Sometimes, it seems like a really great idea at the time.
For families who did not set out to have a family bed, the realization that your child now sleeps solely with you and your partner can be a frustrating one. A sort of head-scratching, “how did we get here?” moment. What began as two loving parents curled around their little baby has somehow evolved into a child who kicks and flails all night, putting as much distance as possible between mom and dad before waking up with her head on mom’s stomach and her feet in dad’s face. Mom and Dad wake each morning feeling as if they’ve wrestled a windmill all night. And sex? What’s that? Eventually dad moves to the couch so that he can sleep without feet in his face.

There is nothing wrong with your child needing comfort in the middle of the night. But once you’ve dried her tears and told her you love her, it is okay to send her back to her bed for the remainder of the night. If you’ve already passed the “avoidance” phase and moved on to damage control, it is not impossible to take your bed (and your husband and wife time) back.
• Tell her why you are making changes. Help her get excited about getting HER bed back!
• Set a timeline for your transition.
• The first few nights, allow her to sleep on a pallet on the floor next to your bed.
• Move her into her own bed, in the time frame you talked about.
• Be resilient! You may lose sleep for a week straight but each time she gets up take her to her own bed. You may have to do it several times a night.
• Maintain your new sleeping arrangement.

Raising kids can be very confusing. You talk to one doctor or read recommendations from one expert and they tell you to do something. Talk to another, and they tell you to do something else. This is the main reason that it is very important that you develop your own ideas of what is the right and wrong way to raise your child. While it is good to research and hear other points of view – it is essential to develop your own.

When it comes to fluoride, you will get a mixed bag of responses. Some say, yes absolutely that it is essential for healthy dental development. Others warn you of the dangers. Following is the watered down version according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children do not need to be given fluoride supplements or products until they reach 6 months of age. Fluoride helps to aid the healthy development of both the adult teeth that have not erupted and the baby teeth preventing them from getting cavities. For most children, they receive adequate amounts of fluoride in drinking water, fluoride and other forms of fluid and food intake. The exception of course is children who have well water in their homes. If too much fluoride is given or consumed during the first year of life, a condition called dental fluorosis can occur, which is a cosmetic condition that affects the teeth. Some pediatricians and dental experts, may recommend that your child be given fluoride tablets only if you are drinking non-fluoridated water. However, an easier and safer solution would be to simply purchase fluoridated water and make sure that your baby and toddler drinks it in place of tap water. Fluorosis is not reversible and affects the adult teeth that have not erupted. It can be treated cosmetically.

Other reasons not to give fluoride pills or products in the first year of life is because the National Research Council has indicated that fluoride is an endocrine disrupter that can affect the thyroid. It has even been linked to bone cancer.

Some parents and experts have even gone so far as to recommend that parents never give fluoride to an infant under 12 months of age. However, the Pediatric Dental Council disagrees and maintains that fluoride is important for healthy and strong teeth. SO what is a parent to do?

Your best bet is to take over brushing your child’s teeth and make sure that you don’t use fluoridated products until you are certain your child won’t swallow them. This includes mouthwashes and toothpastes. Even then, you should use only a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste and encourage spitting. You can actually make a game of it that most toddlers will thoroughly enjoy.

The bottom line is that a health professional, after assessing your child’s teeth should be the deciding factor in whether you give your child fluoride treatments or not. If your child is having problems with their teeth that are due to a lack of fluoride, chances are you will need to take some sort of action to prevent future problems.

You work up and your baby had a fever. You knew it was coming because she barely ate any of her dinner the night before. Now here you are, on a Friday afternoon (because that is when they ALWAYS get sick) sitting in the waiting room, imagining an army of germs marching your way. Your toddler, well she is red faced and obviously ill – with a trickle of a runny nose just starting. Maternal worry sets in and all you want is something, anything, to make her well again. Next up is a visit with the doctor. You secretly wish that the room smelled like Lysol rather than vomit and dirty diapers and wonder if it is even safe to put your baby on the bed. In comes the doctor, with a quick check into the nose, throat, and ears to make sure the illness is nothing obvious. If you’re really lucky, you may even get a strep or flu test, which would at least get you a prescription. Then the doctor says the three little words that you don’t want to hear. “It’s a virus!” Cringe.

You were already pretty sure that whatever it was, was viral because they had the typical strawberry tongue with red little patches speckled all over it. So as you are sent on your way with a few photocopies of how to care for your baby when he or she is sick, you pay your co-pay and head home empty handed. Except for a pinch from the pocket book and the fear of more illnesses to come, you can do nothing but wait it out.

For new parents, this can be shocking. You automatically assume that if your child has a fever and a runny nose that they have a cold. You also assume that they will given an antibiotic. A decade ago, this may have been the case. However today, under strict guidelines from the CDC fewer pediatricians are handing our antibiotics for things like colds or other viruses. The reason your doctor diligently checked the obvious ears, nose, and throat is because they would be able to spot an infection right away. When those three areas of your child’s anatomy don’t appear to be infected, doctors assume that it is something viral.

The truth is that antibiotics don’t work on a virus. They also don’t work on the flu. They will not prevent your child from getting sicker and are only useful if infection is present in the body. The overuse of antibiotics years ago had a residual affect on pediatric healthcare and led to antibiotic misuse that caused many to be ineffective against infectious bacteria.

Viral illnesses can mimic bacterial infections. And it is true that a viral infection that doesn’t receive adequate home care or doesn’t seem to dissipate quickly can lead to a secondary infection that may involve the ears, sinuses, chest, throat, or lungs. This is one reason that you should go back to the doctor if the fever lasts more than 7 days. In this case, your doctor will prescribe antibiotics.

While it is frustrating to leave the doctors office with nothing more than, “it’s a virus,” it is important to understand that giving your child antibiotics when they don’t need them is a dangerous thing. This can cause them to become immune when they really need it to fight off a bacterial infection. It also compromises their immunity. Sure, it may make you feel better to have the antibiotic on hand in the hopes of getting your child well faster. Yet the truth remains that allowing the virus to run its course, and providing great home care to help prevent secondary infections – will actually be in the best interest of your child.

Many parents worry about their toddlers speech and language development. After all, how can you not. However around the age of 2, parents often expect their child to fit neatly into a category that has them doing the exact same thing as classmates or siblings without taking into account that this child may be different. Toddlers develop in their own way, and often not adhering to the time table that we think they should.

Signs of speech problems can include aggressive behaviors like biting or hitting. Biting often manifests itself in children who have a difficult time expressing their feelings. Since they cannot find the words to describe they react physcially. As a parent, you should always try to empower your child with words. When they seem stuck, frustrated or aggressive towards others – remove them from the area and try to talk to them about what they feel. Give them words like angry, mad, frustrated or sad so that they can learn to label them correctly.

Also, if your child does seem to have some delays in their speech, refrain from finishing their sentences for them. And if you dont understand what they are saying or someone else doesnt understand what they are saying – try to teach them how to articulate words correctly. In many cases parents facilitate speech delays by trying to complete things for their child. Additionally, if a pacifier is constantly in their mouth and they try to speak through it, tell them that you cannot understand them unless they take it out of their mouth.

Speech delays are normal. Every child blossoms in their own time and your child may have compensated for this delay in other areas of their development. Still, if you are concerend, you should have your pediatrician check them out and visit a speech therapist. Not only will they give you millions of proactive measures to take at home, but they will also ensure that your child doesnt develop self confidence issues related to their speech impairment.

As a last note, realize that a speech delay often can indicate a problem with hearing. If your child tries to talk but seems to say their words wrong, they may have an inner ear problem. Think about whether or not your toddler has had issues with their ears and have them checked out to rule out the fact that hearing issues may be to blame for your toddlers delays.

One thing is for sure, once your toddler talks and talks well there will be days that you wished they didnt! It is normal as a parent to worry about whether or not your child is developing normally, however you shoudlnt be so focused on what a book or pediatrician says that you begin worrying excessively or putting unintentional pressure on your toddler.

At some point as a parent, it will cross your mind that your child is irresponsible. At 2 or 3 years old, most parents hope that their child has some sense of being able to do a few things for themselves. They may not be able to dress themselves right, pour themselves a drink or fix their own breakfast – but they should be able to have a few responsibilities and be expected to handle them.
Once your child can follow a few simple directions, it is time to start giving them responsibilities. It is not too much to ask your toddler to throw things in the trashcan, help sort out the laundry or put their dirty clothes in the hamper. In fact, child development experts say that giving children at a young age responsibilities of their own can actually speed up their development. In addition to that, it makes them feel good about themselves and helps to develop self-confidence and a can-do attitude. One mistake that many a parents make is doing too much for their toddler, too much of the time. Often this is done because parents can do it faster and better – but it really sends a disheartening message to your child that they aren’t ‘good enough.’
Instead of doing everything for your toddler, start giving them responsibilities of their own. You can develop a chore chart consisting of simple step chores around the house that they should do every day. If you want them to clean up their room at the end of the day – then make that a chore and try to avoid meddling in their administration of the task. Instead, show them how to do it and then set them loose to do it for themselves. They should be able to understand that toys have a place, that their dirty clothes go in the hamper and may even be able to vacuum on their own. If they don’t do the chore to your standard, make sure that you don’t correct it in front of them – which will only take away from their sense of accomplishment.

You can also start instilling self-responsibility at a young age. Teaching them to put their plate in the sink after dinner, to not leave their sippy cups around the house and to turn lights off after they are done are simple, routine actions that can give them a sense of responsibility around the house.
Another great way to for you to teach responsibility and help them to correlate the direct consequence of their actions is to give your child a plant. Start from a seed and have some fun gathering dirt and finding an acceptable planting receptacle. Then, give your child very simple and specific directions about what they need to do to make the plant grow. They should water it once a day – every day, until they see sprouts. As the seed sprouts – your child can continue to care for the plant. At first, you should use gentle reminders to get them to water the plant. But after a few weeks, allow children to remember on their own. If they don’t and the plant withers or dies – then they will see how their lack of responsibility can have a direct affect on life. Of course, your toddler will get bored watching the plant grow – just as you get bored in the routine of your responsibilities. This lesson though, will help your child learn to prioritize that work comes before play and that some things must be done whether they want to do them or not.
Responsibility is essential to life success. It definitely should start at a young age and parents should try to give their child whatever it is they feel they can handle. When they master simple things, empower them by letting them be in charge of bigger things around the house. This will help your child to grow up knowing first hand the benefits of being responsible and make it a natural part of their personality.

Frazzled car pooling moms should not be made to feel guilty over their children’s nutrition. Life is full; there is not a soccer mom on earth who has not succumbed to the call of the drive thru window. For a brief moment, behind the wheel, mom is everyone’s hero. She is heralded from the back seat. Apparently, ‘she rocks!’ Hungry kids swallow down French fries, burgers and slurp down milkshakes. No one in the car is pointing a ketchup stained finger at her, insisting she re-evaluate her priorities. Everyone is happy; everyone but mom. She knows that while the drive thru window is magnetically inviting, what passes through is not nutritiously sound. Visions of hot, nutritious dinners dance in her head, as she resolves to do better.

With careful planning it is entirely possible to do better. We all know what is not good for you, but are we armed with what is good? Fruits and vegetables are on every mom’s short list as an offering of good nutrition to their kids. This is an excellent place to start, but transferring our thoughts on good nutrition into three squares a day can be a challenge and time consuming. The USDA has the perfect solution; The Food Pyramid is the answer to your nutritional questions. It is an educational tool which uses color to represent five necessary food groups for your child’s healthy nutrition. A familiarization of the Food Pyramid will aid you in providing nutritious meals for your family.

The five food groups are;

1. Bread and cereal
2. Fruits and Vegetables
3. Meat
4. Milk
5. Fats and oils

Within each group are sub groups. For example; within the milk group is yogurt and cheese, the meat group; poultry, fish, eggs and nuts. The pyramid is downloadable from the USDA website and provides daily portion suggestions. It is very easy to follow, and takes away the guesswork as to what to feed your hungry family.
Serve your kids several servings a day from the food pyramid and forget about it. Follow the colorful chart and your children will not miss out on daily nutritional requirements.

What will be more impressive to your kids than the food pyramid, is your commitment to good nutrition. If you want your children to practice what you preach, you must lead the way. Take nutrition seriously, eat healthy snacks, and drink less sugary drinks. Don’t forget to drink lots of water daily. Obesity and Type II diabetes (commonly found in adults) is on the rise, in children. If for this reason alone, it is more important than ever, that parents lead by example. With a little perseverance moms can instill in their children the importance of balanced healthy nutrition.

A mother of two young girls was convinced that children could be prevented from sucking their thumbs. She was sure of it. Her girls did not suck their thumbs, having been introduced to a pacifier as newborns. Now they were four and two and had totally given up the pacifier. It was easy. Parents who were unable to get their toddler off the thumb and pacifier were just not trying hard enough.

This mamma believed this to be fact; that is, until the arrival of her third child. The baby girl arrived in the world with a thumb sucking ‘monkey on her back’. Baby number three was bent on proving mom’s hypothesis wrong. In fact, before daughter number three was born, mom viewed, via the miracle of sonogram, her baby sucking her tiny thumb in the womb.

Even before she was developmentally able to maneuver her thumb to her mouth, she would not take the pacifier. Mom tried for months. Baby number three, began sucking her thumb and the attentive mom would carefully remove it from her mouth and insert the pacifier. It was to no avail, out it would come. Mom gave it up at ten months. She would have to deal with breaking the thumb sucking habit down the road sometime. The humbled mother found this proved to be no easy task.

With the help of their parents, children who suck their thumbs, must break the habit; but how? Before we discuss how, let me assure you, if you have a thumb sucker, he will give it up at some point. Most children stop between three and six years of age. Your child will not learn to drive with one hand while sucking the thumb on the other. So, relax. With persistence and patience you will help him drop the thumb sucking habit.

Children suck their thumbs for a couple of reasons; neither have anything to do with hunger. Children suck their thumbs for comfort, and because it is natural to them. Healthy babies have a natural suck reflux. It allows a baby to be fed without swallowing too much at one time. It keeps them from choking. You can imagine how difficult it would be to cease doing what comes natural. You will help your child do just that.

• Explain to your child the importance of dropping this bad habit.

1. Tell your child that sucking his thumb will harm his teeth. If he is to have handsome permanent teeth he must stop sucking his thumb, since doing so will eventually effect the formation and shape of his mouth and future teeth.

2. Talk to your child about germs on his hands. Everything that has been on his hands subsequently enters his mouth when he sucks his thumb.

3. Tell your child that if he is feeling stressed, instead of sucking his thumb he is to come to you for comfort.

• Establish rules for thumb sucking.
1. Limit times when your child can suck his thumb. Give him permission to suck his thumb, for instance, only when he is in his room or only at night and not in the presence of others.

2. Do not allow the child to perform certain tasks when he sucks his thumb; No cooking or baking with mom.

3. Take your child’s thumb, gently from his mouth when he is sucking his thumb. The child is sucks his thumb without even thinking about it. Removing it from his mouth will help him realize what he is doing, so that he can begin to break the habit.

• Encourage your child profusely.1. Catch your child when he is not sucking his thumb and praise him. Remind him that he is ‘such a big boy’. Tell him how proud you are that he is working hard at not sucking his thumb.

2. Encourage your child to stop by discouraging others to tease him about his habit. Cheer him on, and help him through his setbacks.

3. Reward him for significant progress; Perhaps a night out to a favored kid hot spot, or gifting him with an item for which he has an attraction.

Don’t give up. Your child may have started sucking his thumb overnight, but stopping will not come as quickly. You are your child’s greatest influence. Your persuasion and persistence will make a difference.

Finally, your baby is sleeping through the night. Or so you thought. Suddenly without warning a perfectly peaceful and blissful night of sleep is interrupted by terrified shrieks coming from the nursery. The shrieks which emanate from your baby’s room are so frightening, that springing from your bed, you find you are no longer sleepy and not the least bit groggy. You’ve just had the sleep scared out of you. While your heart is beating out of your chest, you snatch up your baby only to find she is still asleep. She is also still screaming, clearly frightened, by what you can not tell.

You have just experienced what is commonly known as ‘Night Terrors’. Though disconcerting, night terrors are not abnormal. They commonly occur in children between two and six years of age. However, children of any age may experience night terrors. The frightening occurrences usually subside by adolescence.

Night terrors are called by this name for good reason. As described above the event can be quite unsettling. Children often appear to be awake during the episode. Their eyes are often open though they are clearly not awake. They are panicky, sweaty, and most often screaming. The nightmare like symptoms may last anywhere from five to thirty minutes. Because it is enough to scare the parents to death, moms and dads, if ill prepared, react poorly. Shaking the child, and screaming for him to wake up, does not help. If anything it complicates the situation.

An understanding of night terrors will assist the parents in preparing for the scary event. First, understand that your child is safe. He is not having a seizure. What he is experiencing is normal for children his age. The only explanation is a simple one. Children who are overly tired experience night terrors, and are affected often within the first ninety minutes of sleep. There is no treatment except to do your best to establish good sleep habits/routines for your child.
Comfort your child as best you can. You may find that your child is inconsolable and you will just have to wait it out. Do not allow your child to wander, as it is possible that a child may sleep walk during the episode. Keep your child safe, staying with him until he is comfortably resting again. As quickly as it appeared, it will vanish. The child will return to deep sleep, having no remembrance of what took place in the morning. He will suffer no ill affects, except for possibly being a bit sleep deprived if the episode lasted for a long time.

If you fear your frightened child is experiencing something more than night terrors, ask his pediatrician to make an evaluation.

Don’t worry; you are not alone as a parent teetering between moments of sheer pride and love to extreme frustration and disbelief with your child’s behavior.  There is a fine line that separates babies from toddlers and as soon as it hits, you will no doubt realize that your child is defiant.  Saying “no”, pointing their finger, refusing to wear shoes, having meltdowns because of the car seat, throwing food off of their high chair and demanding things at the grocery store by rolling around on the filthy floor embarrassing you to death.  Bedtime, morning, lunch time, bath time, play time and everything in between becomes a constant struggle and when things are good, you are simply holding your breath waiting for the bottom to drop out!  And then it does…

There are parts of raising children that few people tell you about.  Maybe they don’t say anything because they worry that their child is the only “crazy” one on the block or because they want to make sure that others continue to have children of their own.  The truth is that your child has and will develop a strong mind of their own at a younger age than expected and they won’t spend their lives saying “yes mama” or immediately doing exactly what they are told.  They may be perfect angels at school, but at home they are defiant!

Dealing with a defiant child is difficult

For most parents it is the sheer disbelief that their cute as a button 3 year old is questioning the rules or talking back at all that throws them off course.  This causes mom and dad to become angry and punitive which only leads to a child becoming more frustrated.  As your child grows they need to have freedom of thought and be given an opportunity to take responsibility for their decisions.  IF you notice that your child balks at new ideas or has a tantrum when it is time to stop playing or get in the car, it may just be that you need to change your approach.  Talking to children about the day ahead of them, encouraging them to make a choice in their day and involving them in family priorities can definitely curb traits of being defiant.  For instance, if you have a busy day planned, make a list and ask your toddler what activity they would like to do.  This gives them something to look forward to and offers you leverage.

The other thing to remember with defiant children of any age is that often it isn’t what they are saying, but how they are going about saying it.  Remember that they are young and dealing with their emotions from a practical sense is not their forte.  In fact, that is where they are learning.  A great way to approach them is to offer them a quiet place to settle down and tell them that you want to hear what they have to say, but that you won’t listen to them while they are behaving this way.  Then point out the behavior that is bothering you and offer them a chance to regain control.  When they do, praise them for their composure and methodically sit down at their level to listen to what they are feeling.  Try to guide them through identifying their feelings and recognize triggers.  This way in the future you can change your approach which will have a ripple effect on their reaction.

When a child is defiant, the worst thing that any parent can do is to become angry or volatile.

Barking back, engaging in the event at their level or punishing them immediately will not solve the defiancy and will only reinforce their frustrations and fears.  Realize that being defiant whether it is your child or any one else is really about maintaining a sense of control over things and it may be that your child feels unequipped and disallowed from participating fully in the family dynamic.

The older your child gets the more they will be able to rein in their defiancy.  Teaching them ways to deal with feelings and empowering them with sensible choices and rational behavior of your own are the keys to helping your child learn how to play by the rules of life.