Today’s first time parenting tip - Give your baby his favorite, healthy foods and encourage him to try new ones

It may take up to ten tries for a baby to learn to like a food, so when you get success with one it’s tempting to serve that up every time. It’s always good to have some old, reliable comfort food you can count on him to eat, but it’s also good to introduce new foods to give him a wide, varied palate.

The eating habits you set up in the first two years are the one’s they’ll have for the rest of their lives. So my son will probably enjoy these 5 foods well into his adult years. They’re all pretty safe, but if your infant hasn’t tried them yet, give it a whirl.

• Bananas
• Cheerios and Goldfish
• Eggs with and without vegetables
• Spaghetti
• Yogurt

Honorable Mention - Wheat Bread

Parenting, Favorite, Food

Today’s first time parenting tip - Bring out your baby’s favorite toy as part of play time

Is there a toy in the toy chest that your baby goes for every single time? You should have some time scheduled every day for active and quiet play, and toys can definitely be a pert of that. While there are lots of great ones out there, they’re no substitute for the imagination and the fun games the two of you can come up with together.

As part of the 1st year round-up, here are my son’s 5 favorite toys. Try them and see if your baby loves them as much as mine did.

• Lamaze Chime Garden
• Baby Einstein Discover & Play Color Blocks
• Playskool Busy Ball Popper
• Colorama Blue Ball 7in
• LeapFrog Phonics Radio

Honorable Mention - Giant stuffed grinch (this wasn’t in the top-five only because he sees it so rarely at Grandpa & Grandma’s house)

Parenting, Favorite, Toy

Today’s first time parenting tip - Read your baby’s favorite stories to him every day.

When it comes to developing memory and learning to associate words with objects, there’s no better tool than books. Every time you read them, the words and images are the same. If your baby loves a certain book, he could read it at least 15 times. And that’s a good thing, because he’ll be committing all the words in the book to memory.

As part of the 1st year round-up, here are my son’s 5 favorite books. They’re all great stories and a lot of fun to read with your baby.

• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• The Zebra’s Stripes by Gabby Goldsack
• Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
• Millie Moo Touch and Feel Picture Book (Touch and Feel) by Roger Priddy

Parenting, Favorite, Book

Today’s first time parenting tip - At 12 months, your baby “should” be drinking about 2 cups of milk or formula

As part of the first year round up, I’m going to look at taking stock of where your baby is at. Keep in mind that these are averages, and they could fall above or below these ranges and be perfectly fine. The numbers are meant to give you a general idea of what your baby should be doing.

Even though they may be eating a hearty share of fruits and vegetables (how much is enough?), your baby still needs a good portion of his diet to be good old breastmilk or formula.

About 2 cups a day will do the trick, and you can add in yogurt and cheese as some additional dairy foods in their diet. If your baby drinks more or less milk from day-to-day, don’t sweat it too much. You should be looking at your baby’s diet from a week-long perspective at this stage to make sure they’re getting the right amounts and a good variety.

Parenting, Formula, Average, Milk

Today’s first time parenting tip - Serving sizes for a twelve month old are different than adults

As part of the first year round up, I’m going to look at taking stock of where your baby is at. Keep in mind that these are averages, and they could fall above or below these ranges and be perfectly fine. The numbers are meant to give you a general idea of what your baby should be doing.

Your baby’s eating patterns have probably changed quite a bit over the last year. They went from all breast milk to fruits, veggies and crackers in no time. So how much is too much? At this age, your baby is still probably too young to eat just for the sake of eating.

If he’s hungry, he’ll eat. If he’s not, he’ll stop. If you think your child has a weight problem, first take stock of what you’re giving him. Is it unhealthy foods with lots of fat and sugar? Or is it healthy fare, like veggies and fruits.

If that’s not the problem, your baby could just be naturally bigger. You should never underfeed your baby or try to put them on a diet. At this age, they still need a high-fat diet for brain development, so consult your pediatrician before making any diet changes.

Here’s how much your baby should be getting from each food group:

• 3 oz. of grains (1 slice of wheat bread = 1 oz, and 1/2 cup of cereal or pasta = 1 oz)
• 1 cup of raw or cooked vegetables
• 1 cup of fruits or fruit juice
• 2 oz of meat/beans (2 tablespoons of lean meat is 1oz, and one egg is an ounce

Parenting, Food, Average, Vegetable, Fruit, Diet

Today’s first time parenting tip - At 12 months, your baby “should” be sleeping 11-13 hours at night, with one or two naps during the day

As part of the first year round up, I’m going to look at taking stock of where your baby is at. Keep in mind that these are averages, and they could fall above or below these ranges and be perfectly fine. The numbers are meant to give you a general idea of what your baby should be doing.

Sleep is a tricky thing. Too much, and your baby might seem lethargic or inactive. Too little, and they’ll be cranky. If your baby falls outside this range or sleeps irregularly and they chronically seem unhappy or lethargic, they might have sleep problems.

My son sleeps 10-11 hours at night and takes two, hour-and-a-half long naps during the day. So he’s on the low side, but he seems to be happy and he’s pretty regular, so I’m not worried.

Your baby’s sleep patterns could also change based on any new stress they might be experiencing, or they may sleep more if they’re sick or going through a growth spurt. The important thing is to keep an eye on patterns and consult your pediatrician if you see anything irregular.

Parenting, Sleep, Average, Rest

Today’s first time parenting tip - Use your own body heat or water a few degrees warmer than body temperature to treat frostbite

We just escaped a bitter cold spell here in Chicago, but it’s still February and I’m not holding my breath. Even though your infant probably isn’t outside that much if its bitter cold, if temps are chilly and they’re outside for what seems like a short time, their fingers and toes can get frostbit.

Frostbit skin looks white to yellowish-gray, and is often cold to the touch. If you think your infant has frostbite, you should get them to the hospital as soon as you can. Until you can get there, you can start the gradual warming process.

First off, get your baby out of the cold and into a warm room. Don’t place them next to an oven or another heat source, it can actually burn the skin and cause more damage.

The best way to gradually warm them up is by using your own body heat. Hold their skin against your skin, or cup the frostbit fingers or toes in your hands. If you want to submerse the affected area in water, make sure it’s a few degrees above body temperature and no more. Heat the water back up as it cools down past 98 degrees.

Day, Frostbite, Cold, Cool, Damage

Today’s first time parenting tip - Sign up for preschool around your baby’s first birthday

I know it sounds crazy, and it is, but around Chicago, if you don’t sign up for daycare or preschool early, you’re sunk. We called at least 60 day cares and only found 1 that was taking infants. Guess who were sending him too.

Supposedly it’s just as bad for preschool. Waiting lists for all the “good” ones fill up fast. What makes a school “good” isn’t how expensive a building they have or if they have an Xbox 360 for the kids or even how much they charge. A good preschool is only as good as the teacher, and you can find some great ones that don’t teach at the popular preschools.

Even so, you should lock up your spot as early as possible. If you don’t send your baby to daycare, preschool becomes even more important as it teaches kids how to learn and play with others before they get into a more academic grade school setting.

Of course, if you don’t know where you’re going to be living in the next few years and there’s a chance you could leave the area, you’ve got another factor to add to the mix. We’re definitely in temporary housing, so we’re going to hold off a little longer. If it comes down to it, we might just have to plunk down a deposit and maybe lose it if we have to move farther away.

Parenting, Preschool, Sign, Up, Day, Care

Today’s first time parenting tip - Look back on the past year’s expenses to figure out your new budget

If you’re the budgeting type, chances are you made one to account for the new expenses you knew would be associated with having a baby. Chances are, you were way off. Now that the year is up, it’s a good time to go back, look at your expenses, and figure out a budget for the second year.

There will always be things you can’t account for, but if you set aside money for medical expenses and Christmas, knowing that you will have to spend money on them, it can make December a whole lot easier to get through.

To help you out, here’s what we spent last year on baby expenses. Take them for what it’s worth.

Formula, food and Diapers - $100 a month
Day Care - $3000, this was for about 6 months of part-time care. Yipes!
Health Care - An extra $145 a month for health insurance, and about $500 in out-of-pocket costs
Christmas - $50, we went light
Misc - About $500. This is all the baby gear and miscellaneous stuff you need
Clothes - We got a lot of clothes for the baby shower, and then when he grew out of those it was Christmas time, and we got a bunch more, so we really didn’t spend much this year. Next year I’m guessing we’ll spend around $500, but we’ll see.

If you get paid by the hour, you might have to account for lost wages since I missed work 4 times because my son was sick, and my wife missed work twice. Add in time off for 4 well-visits to the pediatrician as well.

Parenting, Budget, Yearly, Money, Spend

Today’s first time parenting tip - Be sure to have some family traditions, they’re the things memories are made of

If you asked me what I remember most about growing up, I’d tell you I remember the yearly family vacations. I remember the way the excitement I felt every year when we’d go up north to Sleeping Bear Dunes Lakeshore for a day every year. I remember walking to the ice cream store down the street with my grandma and grandpa and getting peanut butter cup flurries.

A co-worker remembers the snack of cheeses and caviar his parents would have out so well, he named his blog after it. Think back on your childhood traditions. You probably remember them fondly, and they’re probably some of your best memories.

Now that you’re a parent, it’s time to create you own traditions. It’s the routine and familiarity that being with family provides that makes traditions so memorable. Come up with a couple that are unique to you, and your child will look back on his childhood and smile.

Some ideas for traditions are:

• Pizza night
• Game Night (every week one family member gets to pick the game)
• Big birthday or Sunday breakfast
• Pajama Day
• Family outing day (zoo, museum, etc.)
• Story time
• Camping trips out of town or in the backyard
• Water balloon wars for Father’s Day
• Beach trips
• Smores night

As you can see, you can turn just about anything into a family tradition.

What traditions does your family have?

Parenting, Family, Tradition, Memory