For new parents, the early stages of pregnancy are all about keeping the mother healthy and preparing for labor. You might be so preoccupied with these concerns that you forget about the years of parenting that will follow the birth. While some tasks can be saved until later, there is one thing that must be taken care of as early as possible: finding a doctor for the baby. Parents should start thinking about this early in the pregnancy, and it is best to have a doctor chosen by the seventh or eight month.
Read MoreCategory: General Health
How Will We Know If Our Newborn Baby Is Ill?
New parents are often worried that they will not be able to tell if their newborn baby is unwell. There are precautions that you can take to help keep your baby strong and well. Washing your hands after each diaper change and staying away from sickly people is a good idea. If you have decided to breastfeed your baby, then try and keep doing this for as long as possible, at least twelve months if possible. Make sure your baby is properly immunized and never let anyone smoke around your baby. Placing your baby on his back to sleep reduces the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
Read MoreThe Pros and Cons of Circumcision
Although circumcision is a long-established tradition and is very common in the United States, it is a perpetual subject of controversy. There is a substantial body of evidence that circumcision might have health benefits, but the procedure also comes with risks. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics does not consider the benefits of circumcision significant enough to outweigh the risks, which is why they do not officially recommend circumcision, saying that it “is not essential to the child’s well-being.”
Read MoreDoes Bump Size Matter?
Baby bumps come in all shapes and sizes. You are more likely to have a neat bump with your first child but with further pregnancies your muscles become more relaxed and your bump can spread out more. The shape of your bump can also depend on how many babies you are expecting, the amount of amniotic fluid you have in there and also what position your baby is lying in.
Read MoreBirth From A Newborn’s Point Of View
From eight weeks into a pregnancy a baby can feel the touch of her umbilical cord and her hands on her face. Over nine months she will develop all her body senses including vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste. At fourteen weeks old a baby can taste the chocolate her mother has just eaten because the flavours of the food ingested enter the amniotic fluid which the baby floats in.
Read MoreWhat Is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder?
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is an umbrella term which describes the various birth defects which can occur in people whose mothers drink alcohol during their pregnancy.
Read MoreStep-By-Step Weaning for a Healthy Baby
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that mothers continue to breastfeed their babies throughout the first year of life. This is a great goal, and mothers who can achieve it should be proud. However, the fact is that a variety of factors tend to get in the way. Work and other responsibilities can be disruptive to the breastfeeding routine, and in many cases babies may voluntarily give up the breast before reaching that one-year point.
Read MoreTreatments 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:
Facts About Eczema in Babies
If your baby is going to suffer from eczema, it usually appears before he is two years old and affects 15 to 20 per cent of children at some stage. It is an itchy and dry skin condition.
Read MorePremature Babies
There have been modern developments in caring for babies who are born prematurely. However, in terms of fixing the problem of premature birth (preterm labour) there has not been very much improvement. It is not fully understood why some women break their waters or go into labour too early.
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