baby – Page 29 – Marisa Meidle's Baby Showers

Some Tips For Feeding Your Baby Up To Three Years Old

As a new parent, you may be confused about when to start feeding your baby solid foods and how it coincides with potty training. How do you know when to start and what foods you should start with? Should you make your own homemade baby food? How do you know how much is enough? To help guide you, let’s have a look at some feeding basics for toddlers and infants. We will also discuss what, when and how much to feed your child up to the age of 3.

In nearly all healthy children, the recommended age to start solid foods is 4 to 6 months. Age is just one criterion for readiness, though. Your baby’s motor skills and stage of development will also help determine when he or she is ready. Are there any sleep problems? Hunger may be the culprit. He should be capable of holding his head up and should no longer have the reflex, which causes them to push anything but liquid out of their mouths.

What is on the menu for baby’s first meal? Rice cereal is a customary and safe first food, but most babies can tolerate a variety of foods like rice cereal, vegetables, fruits and meat. While meat is often reserved for older infants, some experts feel there is no reason to wait.

How do you know how much is enough? The first few weeks of eating solid foods is more about becoming accustomed to spoon-feeding than meeting nutritional needs. Your baby is learning to negotiate food. Don’t expect your child to eat more than one or two teaspoons at a time during the first week or so.

Older infants may try to feed themselves. It means messy meals, but letting your child feed himself encourages the development of his fine motor skills. Around the 1-year mark, give your baby water, breast milk or formula from a cup they can sip from.

As a parent, you need to realize and respect that babies are born knowing how much food they need. Encouraging your child to override their natural urge to eat when hungry and stop when full may promote eventual overeating that leads to an unhealthy weight, sleep and potty learning issues, and possibly poor toddler behavior. To know if you are feeding your baby enough, look for some of these telltale signs, like spitting out every spoonful you manage to get in his mouth, swatting at the spoon or pursing his lips tight when the spoon comes his way.

After he reaches age 2, your child can have the same foods the rest of the family eats; just make sure the food is healthy. Feeding your baby meals that include a great mix of whole grains, lean protein, reduced-fat dairy foods, and fruits and vegetables that are cut up so your child can chew and swallow them safely is a great way to promote lifelong, healthy eating habits.

Crib Bedding Shopping Made Manageable

The supply of baby bedding today is limitless. Crib bedding sets have designs for both boys or girls but there are also gender neutral sets for parents that don’t know the baby’s gender yet! Buying each item separately drives up the cost. Matching pieces are available for infant bedding very similar to adult bed-in-a-bag sets. Pillow cases, comforter, shams, skits, and sheets are all included in bed-in-a-bag sets. Crib sheet, bumper pads, comforter, and a dust ruffle are sets needed for baby bedding. Purchase a set if you want the bedding to match a theme. To help broaden your selection,you may also buy extra crib sheets in mix and match colors. The bedding set you purchase can be used as the central theme of the baby’s room.

Since bedding comes in a great variety of fabrics, colors and styles, you will want to take the time to compare your options. Your own preference for the softness of cotton, flannel or fleece or the shimmer of silk sheets will influence your purchase. Fabrics which are cheaper and less troublesome to keep clean are often preferred over fabrics like silk. In a set, everything will match, which saves you the trouble of doing the matching yourself. When all bedding pieces are in one bag you can redecorate an entire room with just one purchase. But some like to have the flexibility of buying everything individually. Whether you prefer to buy a complete set or separate pieces most stores will be able to accommodate your needs.

Choosing bedding that is gender specific is a significant consideration in your purchase. Though you may use blue for a girl’s room, surrounding your son in a sea of pink may be a bit undesirable. The companies know a lot about the styles of bedding and keep in mind the wants of the parent. Manufacturers and retailers are in touch with the popular trends so finding exactly what you want should not be difficult.

When decorating a boy’s room, you will find airplanes, fire engines, trucks and sports are very popular themes. Often the Boys’ themes include bright colors like red, blue, green, and orange. When shopping for the bedding to decorate a baby girl’s room you will be greeted by fairies, ballerinas, princesses and the like whereas boy’s themes tend to include cars, trucks and dinosaurs. Delicate colors like pink, yellow, mauve, light blue, and teal are some of the more popular colors for girls. And as you can imagine, this is not a full list of boys’ or girls’ themes that are available. Also, there are many designs available that can be used either for a boy or a girl. Some examples of these would be animals, the solar system, Noah’s Ark, popular cartoon characters like Winnie the Pooh, and geometric designs found in Giggles baby bedding. Bedding with their favorite characters will keep the kids happy for a while, but as they get older they will move onto new favorites so you’ll probably in turn end up having to buy new crib bedding.

There is also the probability you may not find the exact design for you and your child. When it comes to acquiring bedding sets for your baby, you have two options. If you can sew, you can make them yourself, and if you don’t then you can have someone make them for you exactly the way you want. With bedding materials available in gold and silver,your child will rest surrounded by opulence.

It might be hard to buy the right bedding for your child, but don’t forget to consider the cost as well as the style.

At What Age Can I Expect A Baby to Begin Teething?

Teething is the procedure by which an infant tooth sequentially appears by contravention through the gum’s. Its common for babies to start teething when they are between four anf seven months old. But, some started getting their first teeth as soon as they were three months old. This seldom happens but it could happen. Most children will stroke their faces, act irritable and have uneven sleeping habits. However, even those that do not experience discomfort could develop a slight rash on their face and bite down on things a lot.

The occasion vary according to body work of art and growth of child as some youngster can have early teething as four moths while others take nine months for teething. However, this can be a tough time for parents as children tend to be irritable when they are teething.

Babies are likely to be irritable and sad when they start teething. The baby will most like bite and chew a lot. Your baby will have a tendency to bite down and gnaw on anything he can get in his mouth. Infants that are teething may not sleep very well. Normal symptoms of baby teething include drooling, ear pulling, runny nose, crying, and a rash on the chin and neck. Other symptoms which are not as common are fever and diarrhea.

Babies have teething at different ages and so, your baby may be teething. Often you can view the gums.. {A tooth is coming in when you can see more white than pink.}. If you use your finger to gently feel along the gums, you will experience some hard spots, and these indicate that teeth are coming in. The baby appears to be teething.

You can obtain a great deal of information if you visit the Grand Baby Talk site on the Internet, although it is intended for educational purposes only. It is always important to see your doctor if you have any questions or concerns about your health or that of your children.

Baby: A safe sleep

Babies spend most of their time sleeping. They can sleep for more than 16 hours in a day, sleeping for about 3 hours during each rest period. Therefore taking into account the huge amount of time infants sleep, it is essential to identify the safety issues when babies go to bed.

First and foremost, co-sleeping with your baby is not safe. Especially adults who are heavy sleepers, they might accidently crush or suffocate the baby. In addition, babies usually co-sleep together on their parents’ bed, there are heavy quilts and blankets that might accidently cover their face and cause the babies to suffocate too.

Looking at all these dangers of co-sleeping, try to let your child sleep in a baby nursery bedding. Sleeping in a crib will have no risks of parents accidently crushing their babies. Furthermore, there won’t be any heavy quilts and blankets that might cause the baby to choke while sleeping. Therefore, parents are encouraged to get a baby nursery bedding for your little one to sleep in as it is safer than co-sleeping with the baby’s parents.

The use of blankets has also been dissuade by many as they are afraid that the blanket may carelessly cover the baby’s head, however some parents are afraid that their baby may catch a cold at night. Actually, there is a safe way of using a blanket that can avoid such incidents from happening during the baby’s rest. Just make sure that when your child is in the baby nursery bedding, his feet touches the end of the crib and the blanket shouldn’t be higher than his chest. In this way, it will not be easy for your baby to be covered by the blanket and there will be less risk of him sleeping at night with the blanket.

Another way of sleeping safely is to always let your baby sleep on her back. Sleeping on your baby’s tummy may have risks of choking when your baby faces down on the mattress. Babies are too weak to roll around and recover from such a dangerous position. Therefore letting your child sleep on her back in the baby nursery bedding will be the safest option.

Some infants sleep better on their tummy because their heart is close to something which makes them feel safe and at ease. However, it is still not advisable to let your baby sleep on her front untill, possibly when she has the ability to be able to roll over in bed by herself.

When your baby goes to bed, try to dress your baby in light sleep clothing to avoid your baby from feeling too warm. It is at best to keep the nursery room at room temperature so that your baby will feel neither too cold nor warm. If the room is flushed with heat, get a fan to gently cool the area so that your baby will feel comfortable when sleeping.

Looking at all these factors and assess your baby’s sleeping area cautiously. Let your baby sleep safely and pleasantly and you will be able to rest well without worries too!

Safe Baby Tips: Graco Strollers and Travel Systems

There are many different strollers and travel systems to choose from. As a new or even an experienced parent, it can be difficult to choose the right one. Graco has a high quality range of travel systems and strollers to choose between.

There are many sizes of the Graco strollers and travel systems. Each option will work with your Graco Snugride car seat. You can choose from among several patterns and colors to reflect your taste and personality. Remember, you will be using your Graco Snugride stroller a lot, so you want it to be something that you enjoy using.

A travel system is ideal for a newborn. This is a combination infant car seat and stroller that fit together. The infant car seat comes with a base to install in your vehicle. The same car seat can be disconnected from the base and snapped onto the stroller, all without removing the baby from the car seat. This is so simple and convenient. For the new parent it’s a life saver. You can transport the baby without waking them up or disturbing them. It is also great because you can get the baby in and out of the car quickly and easily, perfect for inclement weather.

If you have a compact vehicle, a compact travel system is a good choice. It is more lightweight and fits into even small trunks easily. It is also nice for vacations where you want the comfort of your Graco Snugride travel system, but don’t want a lot of bulk. The Graco compact travel systems feature one hand folding, a large storage basket, a reclining, adjustable seat, a peek-a-boo canopy, infant car seat locks, and more. The great features and handy size make a Graco Snugride compact travel system a great choice.

Another option is a full size travel system. These are larger systems which provide more space in the storage basket. Many of the features of the compact system are true of a full size. Added extras include a deluxe self-standing footrest and an automatic storage latch, among other things. Although they are a bit larger, they will still generally fit into a standard or compact car.

There are several options as well if you already own a car seat and are just looking for a stroller. There are compact and full sizes Graco Snugride strollers that you can purchase separately. These strollers all accept your Graco Snugride car seat, so you can make your own travel system if you choose. The stand alone strollers have many of the same features as the strollers in the travel systems, so you will not lose any convenience or style.

As you can see, there are many choices when looking for the perfect Graco Snugride stroller. Consider all of your options, and you will soon have the perfect stroller or travel system for your needs.