July 16th, 2008 | Parenting | 1 Comment
It’s your right to be picky. Your baby or toddler may spend up to half a day in it so as responsible and caring parents, you have to make sure you’re leaving them in a safe, caring and fun environment.
Choosing a day-care centre, like many things in life involving your baby or toddler, is never easy. Heck, I’ve been through numerous paeditricians for several months before settling for the best one I could find. Which brings about the question, what makes a childcare centre good? What sort of criteria must it possess to quality as the childcare centre of choice? Of course, there’s no such thing as perfect. What appears to be the perfect childcare centre to you may not suit another parent. So word-of-mouth should be taken with a grain of salt. Try your best, be patient and draw up a list of criterias on what you look for in a childcare centre. Think about what is important and your expectations in a childcare centre. As a start, here’s a few things to consider:
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April 26th, 2008 | Babies, Children, Parenting, Personal | 2 Comments
Due to my baby Clarisse’s constant demand for breastmilk, I have never left her to be cared by someone else throughout her first 10 months. Even during the day, baby Clarisse needs to be nursed to sleep. I bring her along wherever I go.
Now that she’ll be turning one next month, I’m glad to be able to devote all my time and energy to care for her throughout her entire first year but this has to stop somehow. I have decided it’s time for me to get a job and return to the workforce.
Before seriously looking for jobs, there are a few things I need to take care of. First, I have to wean baby Clarisse from breastfeeding. Secondly, my mother has agreed to take care of baby Clarisse and we have to make sure baby Clarisse get used to spending long hours at her grandma’s house gradually.
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April 21st, 2008 | Babies, Baby Equipment, Parenting | No comments
Some things just make sense. Take for instance, baby nail clippers from Baby Light & Clip. It addresses the problem of clipping your infant’s nails in dim lighting. Even with the lights on, it is barely enough brightness when your face is a few inches away from your baby’s finger.
So the novelty of Baby Light & Clip is to put the light in the nail clipper itself to illuminate your baby’s fingertip while you trim away her nails. Simply brilliant, functional and practical.
Most moms tend to prefer clipping when their babies are asleep. I used to do it that way with my baby Clarisse. She tends to move about and can’t stay still when she’s awake. I can’t keep her fingers steady for more than a few seconds. So I had to trim her nails at night. It’s a hassle holding a small torchlight, nail clipper and her fingers at the same time.
Search for ‘babylightandclip’.
April 15th, 2008 | Children, Parenting | 1 Comment
The consensus among experts confirm that one of the reasons for violence in society is agression towards children in their early years. More so when children are physically abused. Luckily, most parents are not towards such extremism but many do not realise that harmless spanking is a silent catalyst that teaches children the use of aggression and violence to solve problems in life.
A child’s irrational temper and tantrum, especially when it’s accompanied by loud crying and wailing, drive parents up the wall. I should know better because I’ve been guilty of spanking her twice before. I remember I first smacked her, although so very softly, at around 7 months. It was way past bedtime that night but baby Clarisse was in a really cranky mood and refuses to sleep. Frustration came over me. My gentle-approach mom came into the bedroom, gave me a piece of her mind and cared for baby Clarrisse while I took some time off. Some really needed time off I’d say. The second incident was more or less the same.
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April 11th, 2008 | Babies, Children, Health, Parenting | No comments
Travelling with a baby tagging along is always a challenge. More so when it’s the first trip for you and your baby.
With a little careful planning, even air travel can be organised into a manageable logistical mess. The word is manageable at the very best because frankly, you’d never know what to expect.
Before embarking on your overseas trip, have your baby checked for vaccinations that might be needed in the country you’re visiting, particularly third world and developing countries. A visit to the doctor a few weeks beforehand is advised as some vaccinations require separate doses over several weeks.
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March 28th, 2008 | Parenting | No comments
While having a chat with my girlfriends last night, we touched on the topic of child safety. Specifically, how to prevent children from getting lost in public places. You know how kids are and their tendency to run about despite numerous warning and advice.
One of the first precautions that pop up was to harness your child. Putting a leash on your kid, like walking your dog, literally. Child safety harness is a bit of an extreme if you ask me but according to my friends, they have no problem with it even if it attracts unwanted stares. Better safe than sorry as they say. The world is not getting any safer is it, particularly Malaysia.
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March 17th, 2008 | Babies, Parenting | No comments
About two or three weeks ago, my baby Clarisse showed me she was capable and strong enough to grab hold of my hand and pull herself up to standing position. And a week later, she could even release one hand and balance herself with just one hand holding onto mine. That’s when I thought I should help her stand up independently.
Is your baby ready to stand?
Eventhough the signs are obvious that she’s ready to stand up, I’m still having doubts. At 8 months plus, are her legs and bones strong enough to support her weight? Is she ready to stand up at 8 and a half months?
From the day baby Clarisse discovered she could stand, which is around 5 months, my mom often warned me not to place her in a standing position for too long. This is to prevent any stress to her soft and immature bones which could lead to risks of getting bow-legged and spinal problems. On the other hand, there are disputes saying that it’s totally not true that a baby who stands early in age will risk getting bow-legged later. These are people who believes that if your baby initiates and willingly stands up, she’s ready to stand irrespective of how old she is. As simple as that.
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February 16th, 2008 | Babies, Parenting, Personal | No comments
For the past few days, feeding my baby Clarisse turned into such an ordeal. Not that feeding sessions in the past is smooth sailing but lately, with all her might, she would twist, turn, yank, mouth tightly shut, blocking the spoon with her tougue and scream her lungs out with every spoonful of oats cereal. On a good day, it would normally take just 15-20 mins for me to feed her. But now, it’s taking longer than 45 mins. Talk about taking my levels of patience and tolerance to the limit.
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February 15th, 2008 | Babies, Breast Feeding, Parenting | 1 Comment
Three weeks ago, some rashes started to show on my baby Clarisse’s cheeks and around the mouth. I took her to see her paediatrician. She told me it is milk rash and prescribed a mild steroid cream hydrocortisone for baby Clarisse. However, I declined the prescription as I do not wish to apply anything that has steroids on her skin especially near her mouth. Wouldn’t want her accidently swallow some steroids, no matter how miniscule the amount. Therefore, we went home without any prescription medicine.
A few days earlier, my neighbour suggested Hazeline snow (the original one). She applied it to her baby’s face milk rash and found it to be an effective remedy. I don’t know how effective is it because I haven’t try it out.
What I did try is this. It’s an advice from a good friend of mine. I regularly wiped my baby’s face with chinese tea and within days, my baby’s milk rash/salive rash subsided. Much better than using steroids if you ask me.
I’d brew a cup of chinese tea every moring and use it to wipe her face after feeding session or when there’s saliva around her mouth. It might take several days for the rashes to fade away.
February 13th, 2008 | Parenting | 2 Comments
Do you search your child’s schoolbag? Run through his drawers? Or monitor his computer usage trails?
One of the more difficult stages of parent/child relationships occur during the teenage period. Boundaries as to where your teenager’s privacy should be respected is such a tough thing to do. As children grows, they’ll start to assert independence. They’ll want more time privately by themselves. They’ll want to make decisions independently.
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