How Do You Introduce Solid Baby Food?

Introducing a baby to solid foods is a slow process. For the child, their natural curiosity kicks in. For the parent there is the expected tendency to want complete control. This struggle will create conflict and parents will need to draw on all their patience.

The first step is selecting a baby cereal. Single grains are a best first choice as they are easier to digest. Rice is usually recommended initially as it is the least likely to produce an allergic reaction. After success with rice, the baby can move on to barley and oats.

After a child has mastered the softness of cereal and is easting 2-3 tablespoon a couple times a day, it is a good time to introduce vegetables. Try each new food, five days apart to check for allergies. Offer a large variety to expose a child to an assortment of tastes. Squash, sweet potato, peas, green beans, zucchini, avocado and store bought carrots are all great choices.

Wait until vegetables are well established before starting fruits. Most children have a natural sweet tooth and will tend to prefer only fruits if started first. Bananas is an excellent opening, both for texture and providing a slightly less sweet taste. Avoid citrus fruits and serve applesauce, peaches or pears instead.

Protein foods will come next, with great choices being yogurt, tofu, and meat. Avoid seafood and eggs until after 1 year old or check with your doctor.

Once a child has mastered the softer texture of these baby foods and is able to pick up small objects, they are ready for cereals like cheerios, breads, noodles, fruit slices, cheese chunks and other finger foods.

Remember to be flexible; the procedure above is only a guideline. Many children dislike cereal and love the vegetables or only eat the baby foods until they are one year old. Try to stick to a schedule, but keep in mind your child’s individuality.

Helpful Potty Training Tips!

So you need some potty training advice… well lets take a tour. While it lasts, potty training can be one of the most demanding situations in parenting. Whether you have a boy or girl, it is your first child or fourth, the process is time consuming and stressful. For this help post, we will assume that your child is ready and so are the parents. The following help tips will provide a simple checklist for creating the best setting for successful potty training of your child.

• Find the best type of potty or toilet seat for your child. Second children will many times prefer the type that sits on top of the actual toilet to be like their older siblings. While the toddler or first born would prefer the small portable plastic potty. Invest in both styles, as the mobile potty is great for those first few weeks when the run to the bathroom can be a bit too long. Then they can transition into the seat on the real toilet for easier cleaning and maintenance.

• Start the potty training process as fun and casual as possible. Show a potty training video, you can check out many at the library. Have your child sit on their potty while they watch the video. Play games with the potty and avoid any pressure to perform. If brave, let your child play bottomless with the potty nearby or run around outside unclothed if the weather is nice.

• Keep your child in diapers until she or he are peeing and pooping more in the potty than the diaper during the day.

• Use real cotton training pants instead of disposables. If necessary buy some plastic covers for outings. The cotton training pants may seem messy at first, but the whole potty training process is over much quicker than with the disposables.

• Start a potty training chart. Give rewards such as stickers they can put right on the chart themselves. Hang the potty training chart in the bathroom. Let your child make the chart himself and give her ownership over the process.

The best method to quick successful potty training is to downplay the importance. Even if you have a looming deadline such as preschool enrollment, try to not let your child know. Avoid any battle, as this can quickly elevate to a power struggle. Let them take the lead and show you the way to dry days!

How to get your baby to sleep?

As a parent of a young child, sleep is always a hot commodity. I remember when my daughter was only six months old and everyone wanted to know what I wanted for my birthday. My consistent answer was SLEEP. It was worth its weight in gold.

Trying to help your child sleep better so you can sleep is a never-ending struggle. Any parent who says their child falls asleep with no problems is in the minority. Most babies and some older children have trouble falling asleep. Unfortunately there is no magic solution, but that doesn’t mean we all have to suffer. The best advice is to research what works best for your family. Everyone has a child with a different temperament and different expectations of how sleep should happen. Try and work with the two conflicting demands to find a happy compromise, one that ensures everyone sleeps as that is the priority.

The best thing to remember is most sleep issues are temporary. Any story you hear of the 16 year old who still sleeps with their parents is completely exaggerated. Sleep is the most complicated in the early years as the young child is growing and has a different timetable for sleep than most adults. Therefore, find a solution that enables everyone to sleep well, without worrying about the future. The following are a list of possible ways to help a baby fall asleep. Find the one or a couple combined that you can live with and try it.

• Comfort your child until they fall asleep. Depending on the child, this can be time consuming or not. Some children just need a parent’s presence to fall asleep and once they are out… the parent is free to go back to their bed. Remember if you chose this method; make your comfort as simple as possible. Be there, but do not interact with your child in any way that keeps them awake. Rubbing their back, singing, holding hands are all soothing ways to comfort. Do not play or talk.

• Provide a soothing comfort object other than yourself. You can combine this with step one or try it alone. Lullabies, the recorded sound of your voice, a white noise like a fan, the sound of a heart beat or nature sounds are all options. If they have a favorite stuffed animal, blanket or toy… let them sleep with it. If the baby is young, give them the shirt you are wearing, as it smells like you. Make the room as dark as possible, but if there are some fears provide a small light.

• Sleep with your baby. Bring them into your bed, obviously checking all safety concerns. Or sleep with them in their room. Some parents I know place an extra bed or futon into their kids room. While I know there is controversy about the family bed concept, most parents I know have tried it for at least part of their child’s life. It can help everyone sleep in many cases.

• Make sure they are relaxed and comfortable before bed. You want them to have a full tummy, but not too full. Have gone potty or have a fresh diaper. Make sure they have a relaxing ritual before bed…rocking, reading books, and baths. Make sure they are warm enough, but not too warm. That the room is quiet… but not too quiet. Take a good look around the area the baby sleeps, is there any things that can distract from a good nights sleep? Change those things.

• Let them self soothe. While I don’t recommend ever letting a baby cry itself to sleep, some babies can find other ways to soothe themselves if given the chance. Let them play or look at books quietly, let them “fuss” for a little bit before you go to them. If they wake up in the middle of the night and are not screaming bloody murder. Wait a couple of minutes to see if they will fall back to sleep on their own. When you do have to go into the room to comfort them. Enter quietly and never turn on the light. Try not to even talk. Basically make yourself as boring as possible to induce sleep.

Hopefully one or all of these suggestions you can try. Remember to be patient as the art of sleeping completely independently is not normal for a young child. They have a biological survival need to be close to their parents day and night. Just like you have to parent them during the day, that responsibility does not disappear at night.

How do you deal with a tantrum?

The terrible twos are certainly a myth. Tantrums can start as early as one year and last until a child is school age. Armed with this information, a parent can resist the battle to solve the tantrum problem. Tantrums are a normal progression in childhood, but they can be difficult for a family to understand.

Make no mistake; I never accept a tantrum in my children. I simply relax and ignore, not fighting or giving into the display of emotion. All children possess different personalities and therefore will handle stress individually. A parent’s reaction can certainly affect the frequency and power of a tantrum. As long as a child is in a safe environment, a tantrum must be ignored. Wait for a child to calm down, before you engage them in a discussion. Try to avoid serious explosions by keeping your child well fed and rested. If a child has trouble calming down, an appropriate reaction would be to hug or sooth the child through calm words or songs.

If you maintain a consistent approach to discipline and tantrum behavior, the intensity will definitely subside over time.

How do you cure a picky eater?

A picky eater is not born, but created. Children are naturally interested in trying a variety of foods at a young age. Be sure to start early, feeding your 9-month – 18 month old a large assortment of toddler friendly foods. These months are crucial in developing your child’s tastes and setting a baseline for later. Once children enter the third year of life, they tend to be resistant to trying new foods. Some biologists theorize this is when mom would typically have her second child (without the help of birth control). Therefore, the older independent sibling would only choose food that was familiar in order to avoid poisonous berries and plants.

Of course we no longer have to worry about this today, but the instincts still survive. If your preschooler does start to fall into a picky eating pattern, there are modern ways to fight it. The first is to continue to supply your child a variety of food, even if they refuse to eat it. To avoid wasting groceries, simply serve small portions of the less desirable foods. Lighten up the picky eating phase and do not turn it into a battle. The preschool years are about testing their limits and independence; avoid making food a part of this struggle.

The second important rule is to remember that your child will not starve. Hold your ground. If they refuse to eat one meal, that’s okay. Don’t become a short order cook, unless you want to do that indefinitely. Patience is key and if you are already falling into these traps, there will be a harder road as your child learns to adjust to the new routine.

Start by creating a plan of how you would envision a child who eats normally. What do you expect? Then take that approach and with patience you will be able to guide them to a more reasonable diet.