My son is starting to discover different parts of his body - whenever he’s shirtless he’ll pat his stomach whenever we say “Where’s your belly?.”

I’m starting to notice he’s learning about faces too. He knows eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc. But we’re running into a slight problem. Instead of just pointing to the body part, he’ll jam his finger right into eye sockets, nostrils and mouth.

So how do you fix it?

Here’s an idea. When you’re showing your baby body parts, always lay your hand over the body part. Rather than teach them to point, teach them to cover up their eyes, nose or mouths.

Then, when they go show off to other babies, you or your pets, hopefully they’ll just cover up stuff on the face. They won’t be hurting anyone and you’re teaching them to be sensitive in certain situations.

How do you deal with a baby that always pokes and prods at sensitive body parts?

Our son couldn’t keep any kind of solid food down and had diarrhea. We had no idea what to do, so we called the doctor.

The diagnosis was a stomach virus. According to the pediatrician, it has to run its course naturally while feeding our son a special diet over 72 hours. We were a bit skeptical, since he wasn’t keeping anything down.

But the menu she gave us has worked pretty well and our son was feeling great today.

Here’s a suggested diet for a infant with a stomach virus - assuming they’ve been fully introduced to solid foods and are off breastmilk and formula and on to whole milk.

If your baby is still vomiting in the 24 - 48 hour stage, call your pediatrician and get some more advice.

0 - 24 hours - Pedialyte or Gatorade, exclusively. They’re geared specifically to replace fluids lost from vomiting or diarrhea, and your baby will probably be able to keep them down better.

24 - 48 hours - A diet of bananas, rice, applesauce and wheat toast or bread. These bland foods will sit better in your baby’s stomach.

48 - 72 hours - Back to the normal diet, but no dairy just yet. What you can give them that’s dairy is Activia yogurt by Danon because of its bifidobacteria. The active culture bacteria is meant to augment the body’s natural mechanisms for regulating the digestive system.

At this stage, our son was feeling a lot better and he was ready to chow down. We gave him green beans, which he usually picks at. Instead, he wolfed them down. Then he ate a whole container of the Activia yogurt with a gusto. He was probably just glad to get some real food in his belly.

72 hours + - Introduce dairy back into their diet. The diarrhea can take up to two weeks to finally go away, so keep lots of spare clothes on hand.

When you wean your baby off the bottle and onto cups, they might stop drinking their milk. If your baby is going through a stage where he doesn’t want to drink the white stuff, how do you make sure he’s getting the calcium he needs?

There are plenty of other sources of calcium, some you might not expect. If you do prepare special foods loaded with calcium, don’t make a big deal out of your toddler eating them. The more pressure they feel from you trying to get them to eat and drink, the less likely they are to do it.

Without further adieu, here are the greatest sources of calcium money can buy:

• Milk
• Yogurt
• Cheese
• Beans
• Tofu
• Orange Juice (you can buy this calcium fortified)
• Beans
• Bok Choy
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Sweet Potatoes
• TurnipGreens
• Tortillas

Use these foods in your prepared meals and you’re on your way to success. Some ideas for meals and snacks loaded with calcium are:

• Fruit smoothies made with milk
• Use milk instead of water in cooked cereal, soups and gravy
• Powdered milk has more calcium than regular milk
  • Use two tablespoons or every cup of flour when you bake to calcium fortify your own cooking.
  • Use 1/2 cup and water in every pound of ground beef
  • Use two tablespoons in a cup of casserole
  • Make a cream sauce for vegetables
  • Add 1/3 cup to 2 cups of regular milk to increase calcium by 50%
• Add cheese to everything
  • Mac and cheese
  • Lasagna
  • Tacos
  • Grilled Cheese
  • Vegetables
  • Burgers
• Use leafy green vegetables like spinach in salad, soup and casserole

Make your family’s diet calcium heavy if your baby won’t drink milk. He’ll need every mg he can get.

What secret calcium rich recipes do you make for your family?

Source:  American Academy of Pediatrics