December 23rd, 2007 | Babies, Parenting | 1 Comment
Technology in digital compact cameras have come a long way. More and more features are being put into digital compact cameras but whether it’s useful or not, the manufacturers doesn’t really care as long as it looks good on marketing brochures.
The most important consideration when buying something is figuring how you’re going to use it. Buying a digital compact camera to shoot baby photos? Bear in mind, most babies won’t hold still and say cheese long enough for you to lock focus, compose and shoot. To make matters worst, you won’t be able to use the flash or you’d risk hurting their eyes so you you’ll be constantly dealing with slow shutter speed, and ultimately blurry photographs.
The main problem with slow shutter speed is unwanted movements. Both yours and your baby. You’ll find it challenging to keep your hands steady and your baby still while the photo is being taken.
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December 22nd, 2007 | Babies, Parenting, Personal | 1 Comment
Should my 7-month-old baby be able to sit up independently? Sitting up is a 7-month milestone, but some babies do it better than others. I don’t know if Clarisse, born 2 weeks ahead of schedule, can be considered premature. Premature babies may often lag in milestones compared to other on-term babies of the same age. I wonder if there’s anything I can do to help her sit up on her own faster. Having underestimated the importance of tummy time, which I should have started a lot earlier, I wouldn’t want to make the same mistake here. So I did some searching …
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December 21st, 2007 | Personal | No comments
Tonight marks the first time we took our baby Clarisse on a night outing. I have never brought my baby out at night because I fear that might interrupt her bed time routine and cause some difficulties trying to get her to bed later than usual. I heard from my sister that if a baby routine is mixed up then the baby might stray from her usual routine.
My baby Clarisse is 6 months and 3 weeks now, her usual routine sees her go to bed between 7pm to 8pm since she was 4 months old. She will wake up few times at night just for feedings and then goes back to sleep. I get some time to myself after she sleeps. Two of my sisters came back for a visit so I thought we’d all go out for dinner, with Clarisse along.
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December 19th, 2007 | Babies, Health, Parenting | 2 Comments
As much as I stand by not introducing pacifiers to my baby, I have absolutely no qualms about parents who do so as long as parents are aware of hygiene and safety practices that goes along with pacifier use.
First of all, before you buy pacifiers, head over to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (http://www.cpsc.gov) website and make sure it is not a recalled product. Go with a major brand with an established product safety record.
Ensure the pacifier is clean:
- Soak pacifiers in boiling water or sterilizers regularly.
- When a pacifier meets the floor, give it a good proper washing. I’ve seen mothers who pick pacifiers up from the floor, put it their mouth, clean it with their saliva and tougue and putting it back into their baby’s mouth. Gross ;P
- Bring extra pacifiers along if your baby tends to drop it everywhere.
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December 18th, 2007 | Babies, Health, Parenting, Personal | 1 Comment
Despite my in-laws keep telling me to give my baby Clarisse a pacifier, to keep her quiet at times, I have never resort to pacifiers. I do not plan to introduce pacifiers to my baby in the future either.
And personally, I’m kinda pleased my baby Clarisse doesn’t seem to enjoy a pacifier. Granted, I’ve never put in the effort and time to properly introduce pacifiers to her but I did bought a pair of NUK pacifiers a few months ago. My baby has a habit of sleeping while breastfeeding, latching on to my nipple until she falls asleep. If she is not in a deep sleep, whenever I pull out my nipple, she will become alert and demands to latch on again. So I tried to replace my nipple with a pacifier immediately whenever I pull out. Baby Clarisse would eventually wake up after a few seconds sucking on the pacifier. Realising it’s not my nipple and starts to cry.
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December 17th, 2007 | Babies, Parenting | No comments
My baby Clarisse is 6 months and 3 weeks old now and I guess it’s about time we take language development a notch higher. She has already demonstrate her ability to understand words and phrases we constantly use to describe common activities (changing diapers
, potty
time, eating time, bathing etc.) around her. Now that she is well into her sixth month, language development will slowly start to evolve. Babies will start learning to express themselves around this time.
From what I’ve gathered so far from various sources, experts agree that the way parents speak and react to their babies can make a difference in speech development:
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December 16th, 2007 | Pregnancy, Videos | No comments
Wondering why pregnant women, with all that growing weight up front, easily keep their balance preventing them from tip over?
Research shows how evolution has taken place over time where the lower vertebrae in human females have become reinforced to allow the exaggerated curved position of the spine assumed by pregnant women when they are standing upright. This position allows the trunk’s center mass to remain above the hips. Video clip shows a detailed illustration.
December 15th, 2007 | Babies, Health, Parenting, Toys | 2 Comments
Let’s be realistic. Parents have to accept the fact that we’ll never be able to guarantee safe toys for our children. It’s good to know that politicians are starting to campaign for safe toys as a political agenda. As for now, we can do our best to safeguard our children from unsafe toys through knowledge and common sense.
Sign up for emailing lists to get yourself informed of the latest toy recalls at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Another good site for such information is U.S. PIRG.
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December 14th, 2007 | Babies, Health, Parenting, Personal | 1 Comment
Tummy time is important for babies. I confess, I didn’t realise it until I read about the importance of tummy time from a parenting magazine. A baby’s basic skills such as sitting up, crawling, lifting head and turning over is influenced by tummy time. The more time, and the earlier you encourage tummy time for your baby, the faster your baby will learn to master the skills above.
When I first saw my baby Clarisse struggling to roll over unsuccessfully, I helped push her buttocks a bit to help her to roll over. However, my father-in-law told me not to help baby Clarisse and should just let her do it on her own. It took baby Clarisse a few more weeks to successfully roll over on her own effort. I regret listening to his advice now that I realise flipping my baby over on her tummy helps in so many motor skills. I should have just helped baby Clarisse roll over so that she could have spent more tummy time instead.
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December 13th, 2007 | Babies, Health, Household, Parenting, Toys | 1 Comment
With the amount of Made-in-China toys recalled in the pass several months, I am concerned about the safety of toys I buy for my baby. The anxiety is heightened when baby Clarisse receives toy presents from friends and families. Baby Clarisse puts everything she can grab hold of into her mouth in a split second. Naturally, most of the toys in her crib are teethers. So it is important to make sure the toys she plays with is safe from toxicity.
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