Today’s First Time Parenting Tip - Track your baby’s milestones to make sure they’re developing correctly
Its important to make sure that your infant doesn’t have any developmental problems, but if he or she seems slow in one area, don’t worry about it too much unless they’re way behind or your pediatrician seems concerned. Everyone loves to compare their accomplishments to others, but the fact is some babies are fast in verbal development, but slow in the physical department, or vice versa. If you’re worried about it, ask your pediatrician. At the end of the twelth month, your infant should be able to:
- Pull up to a standing position from sitting
- Drink independently
- Stand alone
- Give a high five or play ball
- Walk for a step or maybe two
- Put objects into a container
Probably will be able to:
- Say a word other than mama or dada
- Stand well by themselves
- Walk for more than a few steps
- Understand and respond to the word no sometimes
- Gesture for an object that they want without crying
Taken from What to Expect the First Year
Parenting, Verbal, Physical, Development, Emotional
Classic Jef on February 19th 2007 in Year 1
Today’s first time parenting tip - Switch your infant from formula to whole milk gradually.
If you’ve got a good natured baby that takes well to change, switching from formula to whole milk for their second year of life cold turkey might be a good approach. But if you’ve got a fussier baby or one that’s more resistant to change, going gradual might be a good strategy.
Here’s how to do it:
- Start with the middle of the day, and work out. Most infants will resist giving up their morning and bedtime bottle the most
- Mix 2 parts formula and 1 part whole milk into a sippy cup for the first few days. If your baby doesn’t want to drink out of the cup, then try just focusing on the whole milk part.
- Add more and more milk in three day increments, until your infant is drinking a whole serving of milk
- Replace another feeding and give it another three days or so. By the time you’re done, your child should be drinking 16-20 oz. of formula
- Serve the milk how you’d drink it yourself. Cold milk might put off some children, but you also don’t want to be warming glasses of milk up for the rest of your life either. Try it both ways and see what happens
- If you’ve successfully made the switch and your baby starts to refuse milk, don’t go back to formula. Try other dairy products like cheese or yogurt.
What’s your success story with making the switch?
Parenting, Milk, Formula, Switch, Whole
Classic Jef on February 18th 2007 in Year 1
Today’s first time parenting tip - Try Crayola Color Wonder Fingerpaints and Coloring Book
if your baby likes to color but you don’t want a mess
Coloring might be your infant’s thing. If you let him mess around with crayons or fingerpaints every once and awhile, you know how much of a mess they can be. Especially fingerpaints. They have a way of getting on and staining everything, no matter how washable they say they are.
Enter Crayola Color Wonder Fingerpaints and Coloring Book. Your baby simply touches their finger to the non-toxic “paint” cups, and then they touch the wonder paper, and they’re off! The color appears right before there eyes.
The great thing is, the special “paint” only leaves a color on wonder paper. So if some does get in the carpet or on the wall, its pretty easy to wipe off. Plus, it’s less messy than fingerpaints.
The only thing I don’t like is that you can’t color outside the lines. I’m big on teaching kids to think non-linearly, and coloring inside the lines (even though you can make a purple sun or a blue lamb) seems kind of restrictive. All in all, a fun toy. I think my wife had a great time with it too.
Parenting, Paint, Color, Crayola, Finger, No, Mess
Classic Jef on February 17th 2007 in Year 1
Today’s first time parenting tip - Track your baby’s growth with yearly pictures and an object
Want to track your baby’s growth, but don’t want to mark up the doors in your house? Try what my wife and I are planning on doing.
Every year, we’ll take a picture. The idea is that he’ll be wearing the same kind of clothes (I think we both like jeans and a plain, red shirt). In the picture we’re also going to have some kind of object that will show how much he’s grown.
I want to do a ball. My wife wants to do an adult sized belt (He’ll wear the belt and it’ll be ridiculously large until he’s 10 or 11).
After you do this you’ll have a great record of how your baby grew and changed his appearance over the years. And they’ll love looking at it in the end to see how far they’ve come.
Parenting, Growth, Track
Classic Jef on February 16th 2007 in Year 1
Today’s first time parenting tip - Let your baby do his favorite things often
Routine and repetition are good for babies, so if he wants to read that story for the 15th time or wants to sing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” for two hours in a row, it’s actually a good thing. It helps them build memory and cognition.
So as part of the yearly round-up, here are my son’s top 5 favorite things to do.
- Go to the aquarium
- Read books
- Watch cars and trucks drive by
- Dance and listen to music
- Play with the cat
Honorable mention - Crawl over Mom and Dad
Parenting, Favorite, Activity
Classic Jef on February 15th 2007 in Year 1
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
Classic Jef on February 14th 2007 in Year 1
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.
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
Classic Jef on February 13th 2007 in Year 1
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.
Parenting, Favorite, Book
Classic Jef on February 12th 2007 in Year 1
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
Classic Jef on February 11th 2007 in Year 1
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
Classic Jef on February 10th 2007 in Year 1
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