You are currently browsing the archives for January 2008.
Sick of being stuck indoors with your child?
Here are a few ideas:
If you’re looking to spend a little more:
hey who said going out had to be expensive?
Having a baby can put strain on your relationship; the key to maintaining your relationship is communication, but also taking time out to do something together, even if it’s just watching a dvd or having noisy monkey sex.
Tired of the tantrums at bedtime?
Well the secret to avoiding these is a good bedtime routine:
Aim to do this sequence at around the same time every night, although I wouldn’t have fixed times for these as if something happens it throws the whole routine out.
When I put my child to bed they always cry what should I do?
Leave the child to cry they will soon settle down; my daughter sometimes cries I leave her and within 20mins she has gone quiet, I know it sounds cruel but it works.
If your child gets out of bed crying trying to follow you back downstairs put them back into bed and leave the room; keep repeating this until the child stays in bed.
Avoid having your child sleeping in your bed at night as none of you get a particularly good night’s sleep, plus it disturbs any intimate moments you have with your partner.
For older children reward charts are sometimes helpful as it gives the child an incentive to behave.
Has anyone noticed that when it comes to eating when you’re pregnant the advice gets really confusing? Some say you can eat certain things and others say definately not.
Ok here’s what you should avoid:
WEANING
The guidelines say weaning should be done around 6 months old; however this means that it has to be done very quickly.
I started weaning my daughter at 16 weeks which meant that I could go at a slower pace, however some children are not ready at 16 weeks so basically let your child tell you when they are ready. I started with fruit and veg but not citrus fruit, then added meat and fish, then a 6 months my daughter could have everything within reason, she can’t have the things I couldn’t eat when I was pregnant but she can when she is 1.
Finger food: these can be anything from pieces of fruit or vegetable to pieces of toast, usually introduced at around 6 months.
Here are some to try:
Drinking from a cup
It is a good idea to allow your child to play with a cup for a few weeks before putting a drink in it this gets the child used to the cup. Also it is now recommended that children have cups without the valves in (basically the non-spill ones) this is because research shows that the muscles used for sipping and swallowing are the same as those used for speech.
Every child goes through this unfortunately it’s usually uncomfortable for them. You can usually tell if you’re child is teething as their cheeks are red, they’re grumpy, they tend to dribble more and put things in their mouth; although this is a tricky one as babies do this anyway, as a way of exploring.
Here are some handy hints:
Here are some ideas for messy time activities:
Most parents avoid messy play in the home, due to the mess. Although messy play doesn’t have to be too bad if you contain it to one room; I started messy play with my daughter when she was 8 months; she loves it I put the activity in a washing up bowl on a bath towel, with the exception of play dough which went straight on the floor, obviously you can’t do this on a carpeted area. The clean up time is literally 2-5 minutes.
The Benefits:
You can vary the activities by putting cars, spoons and other cooking utensils or whatever you want in, changing the colour, you can vary the texture by adding things like uncooked rice to them.
We all know that during pregnancy our boobs get bigger, but why is it that most women find out they’re pregnant then go out and buy maternity and nursing bras in the 1st trimester when 3 months later they probably won’t fit?
Here’s some advice that will save you a lot of money; maternity and nursing bras are not the cheapest things to buy at £15-£25:
So what’s the difference between nursing and maternity bras?
Maternity bras are designed to be worn when you are pregnant
Nursing bras are designed for breast feeding they have the usuall fastening at the back and drop cups
It’s a given that having children is expensive however; there are a few ways to save money:
Ok here’s why
Buying in bulk – not sure if anyone is familiar with economies of scale but basically it means that the price per unit is cheaper.
You can either buy multipacks of items such as wet wipes (£5 for 4 packs), Nappies (£11.99 for 88) or buy things when on offer like buy one get one free.
Shopping in sales – basically it’s a well known fact that sales are cheap and you can usually grab a bargain, so given that children grow so quick their clothes never fit for very long; why spend lots on clothes if you don’t have to? I cheat I wait for the sales then buy the next size up and sometimes several sizes too big.
Accept second hand – I’m not suggesting accept everything second hand; but if money is tight second hand stuff, toys,clothes bedding etc can be a lifesaver, as long as it’s in good condition.
Here are a few things I wouldn’t recommend getting second hand:
Cot mattress
Breast Pump
Dummies
Teats
Underwear
I don’t know why but for some reason when you’re pregnant people seem to think it’s helpful to tell you about all the horrible experiences, for example if they had complications, or in some cases just exaggeration. When will they learn that this is really not helpful all it does is turn the pregnant woman into a nervous wreck? Yes sometimes things do go wrong but these cases are very few and there are trained professionals around who are there to help if things do go wrong, so please no more scaremongering ’cause it’s not helpful!!!
My advice would be just ignore these people; I listened to the “horror stories” and given that this was the first time I was pregnant I had no idea what to expect so when I went into labour I panicked as I kept picturing all the things people had told me happening so with that combined with the whole deal of giving birth it wasn’t good, things got easier (well as easy as they can in labour) when I relaxed and let nature take its course.
Also another piece of advice I picked up when I was in hospital is don’t take the “manuals” which dictate what happens when literally, the woman in the bed next to mine had done this and got in a state because things were not going as it said in the “manual” she had read while pregnant
Every parent wants a well behaved child, well I’ve yet to meet someone who doesn’t. Anyway I’ve found that introducing a punishment and reward system from an early age (we started at 6 months) helps; although some feel that this system is too harsh and feel that this shouldn’t be introduced until the child is older and then they should be in time out for a minute for each year of their life; so if your child is 2 then its 2 minutes. This is my system, you can make up your own mind:
1. You say no
2. If they carry on, you say no again, and tell them that they will go in/on their time out zone
3. If they still continue, put them in/on their time out zone for between 5 and 10 mins.
Now for the tricky part tantrums, they are usually caused by one or both of the following:
1. Boredom
2. Tiredness
If its safe to do so walk away and ignore it.
But if it isn’t safe, for example in the middle of town:
1. Distract the child- don’t give them what they want as this encourages them to have a tantrum to get what they want, but you could play games such as i spy.
2. Get out of the situation as soon as you can.
ALWAYS PUNISH AT TIME RATHER THAN DELAYING AS THE PUNISHMENT WILL NOT BE EFFECTIVE AS THE CHILD WON’T MAKE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THEIR BAD BEHAVIOUR AND THE PUNISHMENT!
As my mum is forever telling me prevention is better than cure so here are some handy hints to avoid shopping hell:
1. Involve the child in what you are doing, for example when food shopping give the child their own list and let them get those items when you get to them. In the case of babies make sure you have toys for them.
2. Avoid times when your child is tired
3. Keep trips as short as possible to activities that are not child orientated, like shopping.
4. If you can avoid busy periods
One of the things most people seem to forget is the good behaviour it’s important to acknowledge it, as in psychology its known as positive reinforcement, basically if you reward good behaviour either through praise or a physical reward (e.g. a sweet) the child repeats the behaviour. For older children sometimes reward charts can help, for younger children praise and the occasional physical reward is enough.