Category Archives: Child Care

Newborn Baby Care Tips

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Giving birth is a beautiful experience as well as the beginning of a new era in a mother’s life. Motherhood certainly has it’s rewards but often first-time mothers need a bit of advice regarding the proper care of their newborn baby.

Sleep

Newborn babies sleep on average, sixteen hours in a day. The newborn sleeps in blocks of time of about two hours at a time. The newborn’s nervous system is developing after birth and you can rest assured that by the age of three months or so, he or she will begin to sleep for longer periods at a time and will by that age, be sleeping a good six hours straight at night. Be sure to allow your newborn to sleep when he or she wants to sleep.

Exercise

Your newborn baby can benefit from you doing some ‘baby exercises’ with him or her as well as gently massaging the baby’s muscles. Exercising a newborn baby can help the development of muscle coordination and control and can assist in developing muscle strength. Lay your baby on his back and simply move his limbs gently. You can bend his legs at the knees and gently bend his arms at the elbows. This provides a wonderful bonding experience for you both in addition to the benefits to the baby’s muscular development.

Feeding

It is vital that your newborn receive the proper diet during the first few months of life and beyond. Newborn babies can either be breast fed or fed a baby formula from a bottle. The choice is up to each new mother. A newborn baby should be fed every few hours throughout the day. Your baby will certainly let you know when he or she is hungry by being fussy or crying.

Bathing

Newborn babies should not be bathed every day as it can dry their tender skin. A sponge bath is really the best option in the very beginning as it is more gentle and is less likely to upset your baby. Be sure to clean the creases in the baby’s skin and the diaper area well. Keep your baby wrapped in a soft towel and clean one part of the baby’s body at a time so that the baby does not get chilled.

Caring for your newborn should be a pleasure. Do not hesitate to ask other mothers for advice. An experienced mother is a great resource for new parents. Also, if you are a new mother and could use some tips of how to care for your new child there is much information through your family doctor.

Child Car Seat ID – Information First Responders and Emergency Room Personnel Need

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What are the chances that your child will be injured or killed in a vehicle accident? According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, roughly 2.9 million people are injured each year in auto accidents, and of that number, 63,000 were children age 4 or under. This does not seem like a high percentage unless the child is yours.

Consider, however, the other people that you will trust your child to in a vehicle. It might be your car pool, teenage driver, babysitter, or even an elderly relative? While they may be safe drivers, think about the following questions.

What happens if they (or you) are in an accident and rendered unconscious?
What information about your child will be available to First Responders when they arrive at the scene?

Unfortunately in all too many cases, Responders or Emergency Room personnel will have no information on an injured child until they can locate a relative. That means they will lose critical treatment time in caring for your child.

What could have been done in advance to eliminate this problem? One answer would have been to have a form of Child ID on the car or booster seat. Here are some ways to create an ID:

Write all the information down about your child on a piece of paper and put it into your glove box. The risk of course is that if the child is in an accident, the information will never be found.

Many local police or fire departments will provide a sticker that can be placed on a car seat giving such information as the child’s name, address, and closest relative. The problem with a sticker is that over time it will lose its adhesive quality, particularly in Southern climates where heat inside a car can be a factor, and fall off the car seat. Also, a big drawback to stickers is the limited amount of space they offer for such critical information regarding medical conditions allergies, medicine, or emergency and doctor contacts. They are, however, better than no information at all.

One of the best systems, called WHALE (What We Have Is A Little Emergency), is endorsed by the National Highway Transportation Administration. This system incorporates window decals, car seat decals, and a large information form to write down information on your child that is then inserted into a plastic sleeve and attached to the seat. If the child is ever in an accident, the information travels with the child. This unique system of letting responders know there’s an ID on the car seat through the use of window and seat decals is the only one we have found that gives such help. Additionally, the form is not a sticker, but a separate information sheet (which can also hold a medical release card, parents business card, etc.) placed in the holder that can be taken out and updated as the child gets older.

It is always necessary to update the ID form when any information on the child changes.

No matter what system you use, it is critical that some type of information is provided and made accessible to First Responders or Emergency Room personnel so precious time can be saved in the treatment of your child.