Parenting & New Baby Advice Blog

Archive for the ‘Healthcare for Baby’ Category

After the baby showers, the baby birth, and all the exquisite baby gifts, comes baby health care. The reality of taking care of your newborn strikes quickly and you may be at a loss at how to care for a little one.

It’s often helpful to know your child’s temperature. It is sometimes an indicator of the seriousness if the illness, although this isn’t always true. A normal oral temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. A rectal temperature is one degree higher; an auxiliary [armpit] is one degree lower. "Normal” means average-some people run a slightly higher or lower temperature, and that is “normal” for them. Temperature varies throughout the day; a person’s temperature is usually a little higher in the afternoon and evening.

The most accurate way to take the temperature of a young child is rectally. Any thermometer will do, although one designed for rectal use is shaped a little differently so it will go in more easily. If your child can’t keep a thermometer under her tongue and can’t keep her mouth closed for three minutes, it’s more accurate to use a rectal thermometer.

When you are taking your child’s temperature with a rectal thermometer, it’s easiest if you lay your child on her stomach. Shake down the thermometer to 96 degrees or lower and lubricate it with some petroleum jelly. After separating her buttocks with the thumb and first finger of one hand, gently insert the thermometer to a depth of about one inch. Then pinch closed her buttocks. Hold the thermometer in place for three minutes to be sure you get an accurate reading.

Taking the oral temperature of a young child may be difficult. After shaking down the thermometer, put it under her tongue. She should close her mouth around the thermometer and keep her mouth shut for three minutes. Be sure she hasn’t drank anything cold within fifteen to thirty minutes before you take her temperature [if she has, the reading will be artificially low].

Auxiliary temperatures are not very accurate. The same applies to the strips that are held against a child’s forehead.

The new electronic thermometers are accurate and much easier to use than the older, glass ones. They are quicker and easier to read, and they signal you when they have reached their final reading.

Related Baby Health Articles:

• Baby Teething Timetable
• Baby Diapering 101
• Bathing Baby 101

No, your cat will not suffocate your infant in the crib. The myth that says it will dates back to the days of witchcraft, when infant mortality was high and standards of hygiene were low. Someone always seemed to remember seeing a cat in the crib of a baby who subsequently died. The unfed animal was probably attracted to the crib by the smell of the milk. A cat, or any other animal, for that matter, is incapable of forming a complete seal around a baby’s mouth and nose, and so could not possibly suffocate him or her. However, it is wise to consider the possible reactions of your dog or cat to a new baby.

If you have no other children and have had your pet for some time, it is probably accustomed to being “the baby,” a valued and well loved member of the household, and may very well be jealous of a rival for your attention. The animal will most likely adjust quickly and learn to love the baby as much as it does you. You can ensure this acceptance by preparing the pet for the baby, much as you have prepared an only child. First, consider obedience training for a dog that will not obey your commands to sit, stay, and be quiet, or that cannot be kept from jumping up on people or furniture. If your dog or cat is not accustomed to children, try to arrange for it to spend some time with a baby occasionally. Speed up the process of your pet becoming acquainted with your baby by bringing home from the hospital something the baby has used (such as a baby blanket or baby's first teddy bear) so the dog or cat will get used to the unfamiliar scent.

Some parents put a cloth diaper or a small blanket in the hospital bassinet with the baby to pick up this odor. And when you get home from the hospital with the baby, try to spend a few minutes alone with the pet to assure it of your love, just as you would an older child. Of course, you don’t want even the most loving dogs or cats in your infant’s crib. If you have not been able to train your dog to stay off beds or other furniture, or if your cat shows an interest in leaping into the crib to investigate the new arrival, block the door of the baby’s room with the gate that you will be using later on to keep your baby from tumbling down the stairs or otherwise getting into dangerous trouble. This will allow you to see into the baby’s room, but will keep the pet out. The possibility that your dog or cat will not adjust to having a baby in the house and have to be banished is remote, but the chances that your baby will be allergic to your pet. May not be.

About one child in five develops allergies to one or another substance. Pollen, food, or dust may be responsible-even the bacteria that survives in your water bed-anything that can be touched, eaten, or breathe, or even the tiny particles of dog or cat hair or skin [called dander] that are suspended in the air of your house. A tendency toward allergies is often inherited, but the specific allergies, do not always take the same form in one family member as in another. For example, you yourself may be sensitive to certain foods or a plant that blooms at a certain season of the tear, but not to animals.

Your child may inherit your tendency to allergies, but react, at least in infancy, only to animals. The symptoms of allergy to animal hair are similar to those of hay fever caused by pollens of trees, grass, and other plants. You may at first confuse them with the symptoms of a cold; itchy, runny eyes and nose, a general stuffiness of the head, an ear infection or perhaps even a little wheezing in breathing. If you suspect that an allergy to your pet is causing your baby’s discomfort, see your doctor. Until something is done, the symptoms will increase and can cause sleeplessness, loss of appetite, inflammation of the eyes, ears, sinuses, throat and bronchial tubes, and perhaps even a full blown asthma attack. Unfortunately, your only solution will be to get the animal out of the house. Allergies do change as people grow older, and at some time in the future your child may outgrow this one and be able to enjoy the benefits of having a dog or cat. Do be aware that pests, such as fleas, and even some illnesses can be transmitted from pets to children. Keep your pet clean and insect free. Wash your hands carefully after handling or cleaning up after your pet. Ask your veterinarian’s advice if your dog or cat is sick, or if there are animal illnesses prevalent to your community.

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• Eco-Friendly Baby Tips
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Your Baby Begins to Look More at You

At two to three months, babies look more at their parents than at strangers. This helps you feel that your baby has formed a preference for you, which, in turn, strengthens your affection and love for your baby.

In actuality, of course, babies begin to look more at their parents because they see them the most - they recognize them. Hence, you become one of the first memories your baby constructs. Babies also like to watch things that change a little bit each time they look at them. Because faces change all the time, your face is an ideal stimulus.

Babies at this age are beginning to “understand’ what faces are. Two month olds can differentiate pictures with scrambled faces from those with faces with correctly placed features. By three months, babies may be able to discriminate facial expressions well enough to identify the eyes, nose, and mouth. Also, your baby will start to remember you and recognize you in other ways let alone know you are different from their rocking horse.

The Social Smile

Not only do babies smile more, they begin to smile socially-that is, they smile at people more than at things. These early smiles probably reflect more the fact that faces are familiar objects than that a truly social process is taking place. Nevertheless, when you smile at your baby, your baby can smile in response. There is nothing like those first smiles to make you fall in love with your baby all over again.

Your Baby Becomes a More Active Participant

In “talking” to their infants, parents perform what in adult conversations would be socially inappropriate behaviors just to get their babies to look and smile at them.

We make all sorts of funny exaggerated, funny faces when we look at our babies. The routine parents go through with their babies has been described as a dance. Your baby looks at you, locks his eyes on yours, and then looks away. You then use your routine of funny faces to get your baby to look back at you. It is as if the two of you are taking turns in a finely tuned conversation or dialogue.

By three months, your baby will assume a greater role as the initiator of the sequence of play and interaction. In the first month, your baby followed your lead; at three months, your baby can begin the dance as well.

Your Baby Becomes Adjusted to Your Rhythms

Your two month old is beginning to adjust to your biological rhythms. Most babies will now sleep through the night and feed more regularly and less often. Failure to make these adjustments to your sleeping and waking patterns can be a major source of strain on your relationship with your baby and your spouse. Especially fatigued parents have a hard time enjoying their babies. If your baby continues crying excessively and does not seem to be falling into any sort of routine with you, a call to the pediatrician might be in order.

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• Signs and Symptoms
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Separation Anxiety

Your baby’s protest at your leaving the room-sometimes referred to as separation anxiety-is a healthy reaction. Rest assured, it does not mean your baby will become an overly dependent adult. It is part and parcel of normal development.

Separation anxiety requires both cognitive advances involved in the development of object permanence [you continue to exist in your baby’s mind even when you are out of sight] and a special need for you that cannot be met by someone else. Separation anxiety represents your baby’s fear of losing you. In the earlier months, your baby probably woke up from a nap screaming; a year later, just calling for your baby from another room, may be enough to help her wait for you. This change happens when your baby can remember who you are [even when you are not with her] and is confident that you will come back to take care of her. Before your baby develops object permanence, when you leave the room it is if you no longer exist-it’s little wonder she screams when you are gone.

By twelve to eighteen months, your baby understands that you are a distinct entity. [On one day you may wear a suit and on another day you may wear blue jeans, but you are still the same person.] At the same time, your baby begins to realize that you exist even though you are no longer in the same room. As babies develop greater motor control, they can move away from their parents and can see them from a distance, which helps babies to perceive themselves as separate individuals. This separateness helps babies begin to develop a sense of self.

Peek-a-boo, one of the most delightful games played with babies is supportive of your baby’s beginning differentiation of “self” as separate of you. When you cover up your face, to a young baby, you really have disappeared. To a baby at the beginning of this stage, the absence of your visual presence is cognitively interpreted as your disappearance. When you uncover your face, you magically return. For an infant, the emotions of surprise and the joy of being reunited are very real in these games.

Peek-a-boo continues to hold magical powers for the eighteen month old. Toddlers cover up their faces with their hands so that they no longer can see us. What is so amusing is the toddler’s belief that she cannot see you, you cannot see her either. Although the toddler has begun to recognize her existence as separate from you, she is not yet able to take on another person’s perspective [that is, put herself in someone else’s shoes].

A Secure Attachment to You

By twelve months of age, your baby has formed a meaning relationship to you. [Here we are speaking to mothers, because women have traditionally been the primary caregivers for babies. But much of what is discussed here applies to fathers as well.] Psychologists refer to this as a baby’s “specific attachment.” Not only does your baby clearly prefer you, but he also strives to avoid your absence and can use your presence to give himself security.

People used to talk about this relationship in terms of its intensity-how much and how loudly did a baby cry when his mother left the room. They believed that babies with more intense reactions loved their mothers more. We now realize that the intensity of a child’s response to separation from his mother is less important than the degree of security that he can gain from her presence. In fact, psychologists now classify children in terms of whether their attachment is secure. A secure attachment is shown with babies who seek closeness with their mothers. After a separation, when their mothers return to the room, these securely attached babies approach and look up to their moms.

Having a secure attachment is good for babies’ long-term development. Securely attached babies end up having better peer relationships and emotional stability during the first six years. Of course, the seeds of this relationship begin early in life with the mother’s handling of their babies. Studies find that mothers, who responded sensitively and appropriately to their babies in the first two to six months of life, are more likely to have babies with thee secure relationships. Surprisingly, the baby’s characteristics early on seem to play little role.

Recognition of Self

About this time, babies can also recognize themselves in the mirror. One study examined how babies reacted to their mirror reflections. Lipstick was put on their noses, and observers watched to see if the babies would try to wipe the lipstick off. The babies all learned how to recognize themselves in the mirror and wipe off the lipstick somewhere nine and twenty-four months.

Because babies are becoming more aware of their separateness, they begin to recognize how vulnerable they really are without you there to take care of them. Try to think about how it feels to have your feet pulled out from under you. That’s how your baby feels as she starts to realize that she is not you.

This happens right before your baby takes her first independent steps. Tolerance for frustration and stressful events diminishes. At times your baby seems like an “emotional wreck”-quick to cry and not easily pacifiable. You wonder what happened to your nice calm baby. Some psychiatrists have suggested that the apprehension associated with walking may be ear of loss of support from the parent. All of a sudden, your baby is alone and separate. Independent walking perhaps marks the discovery of the solitary “self.”

Conflicting Feelings

Your baby will experience conflicting emotions as he masters walking. At the same time he is hanging on to you, he is pushing you away. With his first steps, striving towards greater independence, he seems to be saying, “Look at all the things I can do! I can walk and go where I want.” In the next breath, showing his extreme dependency, your baby seems to say, “Stay here, I can’t be without you for a moment.” All of this is healthy and normal.

Development of Attachment to a Transitional Object

By this time your baby may have established a specially loved baby blanket or stuffed animal [a “lovey”] that accompanies her to bed and to scary places. This lovey is called a transitional object because it helps your baby in the transition between extreme dependency on you and the move toward independence.

Your baby’s lovey provides security and comfort, particularly in fearful situations. For your baby, this selected object is said to serve the purpose of keeping a part of you with her even while you are gone. It is important to respect your baby’s desire to have this lovey with her.

Some babies maintain this attachment to a special lovey into the preschool years and beyond. There is no predetermined time for an abandonment of a lovey; your child will put hers aside when she is ready. In most cases the attachment is normal, and will be outgrown naturally.

If you found this article helpful, you might also enjoy reading, Baby Teething Timetable.

Most babies come home from the hospital with remnants of the umbilical cord still attached to the belly button, or the umbilicus. Until this falls off give your baby only sponge baths. Clean the navel area twice a day or so with a cotton swab dipped in antiseptic. Do this gently but thoroughly, making sure to get to the base of the cord stump. Watch for yellow matter, a sort of “weeping” that may develop, and for redness. These are signs of possible infection-notify your doctor if they persist. Keeping the top edges of the baby’s diaper folded down below the navel will help to keep the area dry. When the cord falls off, usually within ten days to two weeks after the baby’s birth, it is not unusual for a few drops of blood to be left on the navel. No bandage, binding, or tape is required. If the umbilicus doesn’t dry up in a few days after the cord comes off, an umbilical granuloma may be present. This is a little nubbin of tissue in the umbilicus at the junction of the old cord and the new skin. Your doctor can remedy the situation easily at the baby’s first checkup. If there is much bleeding or a foul odor coming from the cord, consult your doctor earlier for any special instructions needed.

For a sponge bath, you will need a warm, draft free room, a basin of lukewarm water, and two big towels-one to bathe the baby on, and the other to wrap him in after the bath. If your baby cries when totally undressed, give him a bath in stages, removing only part of the clothing at one time. Many babies love the feeling of being totally naked, though and enjoy waving their arms and legs about freely.

If you received a little baby bath gift basket, you'll likely have been given items such as shampoo or soap. You don’t really need soap for a newborn, some parents don’t use it for several months. If you can’t bring yourself from skipping it altogether, use very little because soap will dry up your baby’s delicate skin. Ordinary scented soap may trigger an allergic reaction, and it will disguise the wonderful “baby smell” that lets everyone in the house know that an infant is present. Infants do not need to be bathed every day. The diaper area is of course, cleaned frequently, and two or three full baths a week are sufficient.

If you enjoyed this article, you'll probably like this post on Bathing Baby 101.