New Baby: Co-Sleeping or Crib-Sleeping?
In child care, there are few issues more contentious than where a baby should sleep. It is the kind of thing that can arouse arguments between friends and drive wedges between spouses. Everyone seems to have strong feelings about it, and there are no sleeping conditions that all doctors categorically recommend for everyone. This makes it an extra thorny issue, but it does not have to be so complicated. Ultimately, the main goal is to sleep in a way that is most beneficial for both the baby and the parents. And while sleeping habits are a matter of personal choice, there are things that doctors do and do not recommend.
How to Put Your Baby to Bed Safely
It can be an emotional mix of relief and anxiety when you put your newborn to bed. Relief for the well earned break you are about to enjoy and anxiety as you listen to every breath and look for every movement your baby makes. You need to know you are putting your baby to bed in the safest possible way. Remember that cot death or sudden infant death syndrome is very rare and you can reduce the risk even further by following the sleeping advice from the experts detailed below.
Posted in Babysitter, Care, Dads, Moms, Nanny, Newborns, Preemies, Sleep, Sleep Care | 
Leave a commentImportant ‘Tummy Time’ With Your Baby
Parents are now very aware of the importance of laying their babies on their backs to sleep as lying them on their tummies can increase the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). In fact, cot deaths have decreased by 40% since the recommendation was put into effect in 1994.
Posted in Activities, Babysitter, Colic, Dads, Development, Feeding, Health, Moms, Motor Skills, Nanny, Newborns, Nutrition, SIDS, Sleep, Sleep Care, Solids | Leave a commentSoothing a Fussy Baby
If you are the parent of an infant, it is pretty much inevitable that you will have to deal with a fussy baby at least from time to time. For many parents, dealing with a fussy baby is a regular occurrence that quickly leads to frustration, loss of energy, and a lack of sleep.
Posted in Activities, Care, Dads, Development, Moms, Music, Newborns, Sleep, Sleep Care | Leave a commentTreatments for Positional Plagiocephaly
Re-positional therapy
This means regularly varying the position your baby settles and sleeps in. Babies tend to find the same position they find comfortable and you need to alter it to avoid the same pressure being applied to the same part of their head. During the day you can do the following to strengthen your baby’s neck muscles:
Posted in Development, General Health, Health, Motor Skills, Newborns, Physical, Sleep Care | 3 CommentsNewborn Sleep Patterns
If you are a new parent, you have probably already realized that your baby needs to sleep a lot. Parents of infants tend to complain quite a bit that they are sleep deprived because they are up all night long with their babies. While this is certainly a normal pattern for parents of newborns, there are some steps you can take to help your child sleep for longer periods of time without waking up constantly.
Is Co-Sleeping With a Baby a Good Idea?
By Lisa Pecos
Co-sleeping is one of the most controversial issues in contemporary parenting, with some parents advocating it as a beneficial way to encourage parent-child bonding, and others arguing that it is not only unnecessary but dangerous. While there are no easy answers to this question, and both the benefits and the risks of co-sleeping are certainly real in many respects, most experts ultimately recommend moderation. Let us look more deeply at this issue and consider some of the main issues involved.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Causes and Prevention
By Lisa Pecos
Sudden infant death syndrome, also known as SIDS, is one of the most tragic and mysterious causes of death among young children. Although the syndrome has been around for thousands of years, we have yet to figure out exactly what causes it. In all likelihood, it results from a variety of factors that may differ from case to case. The good news, however, is that modern research has at least provided us with a set of practices that we can use to dramatically reduce the risk of SIDS in our children.
Helping Baby Sleep: Strategies and Safety
By Lisa Pecos
For new parents, getting the baby into a regular sleeping pattern can be a challenge. Newborns simply do not seem to be on the same schedule as the rest of us. They fall asleep whenever they get tired, which can be at unpredictable times, and they wake up at seemingly random intervals. This is part of what makes the first several months such a difficult stage for many parents; in accommodating the baby’s irregular patterns, it is hard to get enough sleep for yourself. When you combine this with all the other things new parents have to think about, these first few months can be exhausting.
Keeping Baby Warm – and Cool
When you first bring your new baby home from the hospital it is important to keep him warm. The hospital may have had really warm heating turned on and so baby was quite comfortable in a vest and nappy, with just a light cotton wrap over him. But most homes are not so warm. Continue reading