Although you are likely well aware of the fact that newborns and infants are fragile, you may need to refresh your memory when it comes to feeding, burping, bathing, dressing, and changing your new grandchild’s diapers. When your new grandchild comes home, you will want to keep a close eye on your son or daughter to examine their actions. In all honesty, once you see your new grandchild getting a bath or having their diaper changed, it should all come back to you. Just remember to proceed with caution.

Grandparents often spend large amounts of time with their new grandchildren, especially in the first years. Whether you stop by for a visit or take on the role of a babysitter, it is important to know your grandchild’s feeding schedule and habits. This is particularly important if you will be watching your grandchild in your own home. While many parents will send a supply of diapers and baby formula, you may also wish to purchase your own supply. This is okay, as long as you receive the proper information first. Constantly changing diapers and baby formula can unintentionally cause problems for newborns and infants.

One of the many tasks that you will likely complete, when assisting your son or daughter with your new grandchild, involves dressing. When dressing your new grandchild, especially newborns and infants, it is important to double check everything. Newborns and infants are at an increased risk of suffocation from wearing the wrong clothes or from clothes that weren’t properly put on. Make sure that there are no dangerous or loose buttons on your grandchild’s clothing, as well as strings that may pose chocking hazards. If anything looks out of the ordinarily, it may be best to choose a new outfit. You are also advised to keep these safety points in mind when shopping for baby clothes.

The above mentioned tips are just a few of the many that can help you adjust to your new role as a grandparent. There is nothing wrong with purchasing a baby book for yourself or doing additional research online. In fact, the more knowledgeable you are about newborns and infants, the more helpful support you will be able to provide your family with.

The effects of pesticides on the health of a young child are not fully known at this time, but the brain of the developing child is probably at risk. It certainly seems prudent to reduce the amount our children are exposed to. One way is by using organic fruits and veggies.

Organic produce is getting easier to find in regular supermarkets as the demand and production increases. Still, it’s often two or three times as expensive, and the choices are likely to be limited. One way to bring organic into the reach of your budget is to take up organic gardening. Even just a few cherry tomato plants can make a big difference in the overall amount of toxins you ingest.

It might be impossible to buy all organic fruits and vegetables. If you can’t, try to go organic for at least those fruits and veggies that tend to be loaded with pesticides. The top offenders among fruits are peaches, apples, strawberries, nectarines, cherries, pears, and imported grapes.

Among veggies, watch out for bell peppers, celery, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes. The twelve foods just mentioned are called by some the “Dirty Dozen.” Buying these foods as organics can eliminate the bulk of pesticides from your diet. The next most contaminated vegetables after the top dozen are carrots. Since we tend to use carrots frequently, you might want to opt for organic ones, especially if you use them in juicing.

Safest selections among non-organic produce include onions, frozen corn and peas, broccoli, cabbage, kiwis, bananas and pineapple. (Data was determined by the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit agency.)

What about washing produce to remove pesticides? Washing helps to remove substances like bacteria, but don’t trust washing and peeling to get rid of the pesticides. Studies have shown that the residues work their way into the very cells of the fruit or vegetable.

Don’t forget about your non-diet exposure to pesticides. Use simple natural insect repellents in your home. If you have a serious insect infestation, there are bait-type insecticides that are much safer to use than sprays that go everywhere. And just forget about those bombs. They leave residue on everything in your house

Start your vacation with a plan of what you are going to do and when you are going to do it. This isn’t a plan that you have to stick to strictly, but having an idea of when you are going to be where and when you will be able to break and feed with or play with your baby is a nice help. Plan the times you will eat meals so that you can keep to a regular schedule and the times when you are going to be done for the day so that you can put your baby to bed without them getting too overtired or fussy.

A vacation with your baby can be lots of fun. Taking him to meet relatives will have everyone cooing over your little bundle of joy, while giving your arms a break from holding him all of the time. Let your family members play with him and let your baby get to know them, but always watch and listen for your baby’s cues that he has had enough or that he needs a little bit of one on one time with you or alone time to regroup. Babies can quickly become overwhelmed with too many people and with meeting new people. If this happens to your baby it may be hard to calm them down, so try to catch the signs early on in an effort to not let your baby get too worked up.

In order to remember your vacation, be sure to take lots of pictures. You will never be able to go to these places and do these things with your baby again at this age. Since your baby won’t remember it, you can use these pictures when he is older to tell him about the first vacation he took to meet his grandparents. Video is also a good way to capture the moments of the vacation with your baby. Being able to hear his relatives and see them interacting with him between visits, will help your baby feel more comfortable with these would be strangers the next time you go on a trip.

Over all, just remember to have fun with your baby on vacation. Keep it relaxed, and keep your own stress levels down since your baby can feel this stress and will react to it. Whether it is your first vacation with your baby or your fifth, it is bound to be a time that you will remember and look back on with smiles and fond memories. If you manage to make it go smoothly, chances are it won’t be your last.

Whether you are expecting your first child or you are a veteran parent with years of experience raising kids you have probably asked yourself the question “how will I go about keeping my baby as happy and smiling as possible?”

Well, I can’t give you a definite answer to that question because there are probably as many different answers as there are babies in the world. Every single human is unique but we do still have some things in common that you can benefit from. 

Firstly, you will have to provide your baby with the basic human needs. This includes the right amount and the right type of food, enough sleep, shelter etc. Without these basics you will have a hard time keeping your baby happy and you will probably experience more crying and screaming than you will see smiles and hear giggles.

Secondly, you will have to spend your time. Time is unfortunately on of the things that most people will never have enough of and the one thing that every human will certainly run out of at some point.

By “time” I mean that you will have to spend your time with your baby. After all you are the parent and I trust that this is in your own interest as well. One thing that is extremely important is that you do not you spend time because you “need to” but that you actually “want to”.

A baby or a child is a very sensitive being and they will see right through you if you don’t want to be with them. They are extremely good at reading “between the lines” because they still have their intuition.

When you provide you baby or child with genuine love and care you can be sure that it will come back to you ten-fold. If it doesn’t then you might want to take a look in the mirror and ask yourself the question “have I really given my unconditional love and care to my baby”?

If you feel that you have then you are on the right path. Surely there can be situations where other aspects kick in. The child can become sick, have slept poorly, have had to little to eat etc. Some of these things are just “life” and we all have to live with them.

The point is that love and care goes a long way and if you haven’t already tried it then I suggest that you give it a try. You might be surprised.

About the Author
Dr. Caron B. Goode is the founder of the Academy for Coaching Parents International, a training and certification program for parent coaches. In addition to duties with the academy, Goode is the founder of the website InspiredParenting.net, and the author of ten books, the most recent of which is Nurture Your Child’s Gift: Inspired Parenting and Help Kids Cope with Stress & Trauma. For more information on The Academy for Coaching Parents International or to sign up for academy announcements, visit www.acpi.biz.

Chances are, if you introduce the sippy cup to your baby with anything but juice, or another sweet drink in it, he will not be in a hurry to drink from it. Nipples are much easier for the baby to get formula or breast milk from, than a sippy cup. Most pediatricians will tell you NOT to give the baby sweet drinks in a sippy as a way to get them to drink from it because it can lead to the baby ONLY wanting to drink juice from that sippy cup, making the switch to formula or breast milk that much harder.

One way to break your baby from their bottle is gradually. Cutting down the number of bottles you give during the day and only offering sippies. This works well for some mothers, if you have the patience and time to do it. Most will start by cutting out a bottle at a time for a week, normally starting with the morning bottle and offering just a sippy cup. Every few days or week cut out one more feeding till you only offer a bottle before nap and bedtime as a way to help their baby relax and fall asleep. Eventually cut out that nap time bottle, teaching your baby to fall asleep without the comfort of the bottle, hopefully making it easier to remove the bedtime bottle as well. Some mothers believe this it he kinder, easier way to wean from the nipple to the sippy cup.

The other way to break your baby’s habit is cold turkey. Cold turkey however requires a lot of patience and willpower on the part of the mother. When my daughter was 9 months old I decided to wean her off the bottle cold turkey. At that point she had no interest in the sippy cup. To avoid confusion I took away the pacifier at the same time.

If you are going to wean your baby cold turkey, you have to be prepared. Stock up on your baby’s favorite food and snacks. However, don’t be surprised if your baby doesn’t want them at first. Have a sippy of formula or milk waiting for your baby and available to your baby at all times throughout the day. Offer him the sippy, and food, but do not give in when he cries for the bottle. Don’t be surprised if the first and even if through the second day your baby refuses the sippy cup and all most of the food you are offering him. Remember, if your baby gets hungry enough he will eat. At this point it is a battle of wills between you and your baby. The first day will probably be very hard for both of you. There will be a lot of crying and screaming from your baby. By the end of the day you will be exhausted if not screaming to yourself as well.

The second day will go about the same, hopefully by the evening though your baby will have started to give in a bit and be willing to drink some from the sippy, and eat the other foods you offer. By the time the third day comes to a close, the worst is over and your baby has probably completely given in. The sippy is as welcome to them the morning of the forth day, as a bottle would have been, and they are back to eating and drinking as normal. This cold turkey method works well for most, if the mother has the willpower to stick to it.

There is no “right” way to wean your baby off of the bottle. It is best to make the decision based on your family and on their needs, planning appropriately ahead of time.