Did you realise that the first 6 - 8 weeks of your baby’s life is the most important time to avoid a flattened head area developing in your baby.(Plagiocephalie)
Plagiocephalie can develop after birth from your baby applying constantpressure on one part of their head.
This is due to the bones of a newborn baby’s head being thin and flexible and the head being soft and easy to mould.
Flat areas may happen when:
1. Lying in one position for long periods of time (such as on their back while they sleep)
2. By always turning their head to the same side when lying on their back (favouring looking at a window of light)
3. Always sitting in a propped up position; occurring in babies who suffer from Reflux
4. Birth trauma resulting in neck pain; leaving the baby to favour a pain free position
Some important steps that you can do to facilitate a baby developing muscle balance and decrease the risk of developing a flattened head area.
1. Alternate their head position when putting them down in their sleeping area
2. Alternate putting them at different ends of the cot when putting them to bed.
3. A period of tummy time during every play time.
4. Change the position of their toys when they are on the floor so they move their head to different angles.
5. Vary their holding and carrying positions
6. Changing the side that you wear a baby carry sling on
7. When picking your baby up, approach them from different sides of their body.
8. An appointment with a baby accredited Chiropractor
or Physiotherapist maybe necessary to assess your baby’s head alignment.
It is not unusual for babies to need a gentle adjustment after
a Caesarean birth, forceps assisted birth, breech birth and prolonged 2nd stage.
Babies who do not feed well from a particular side, hate tummy time or have considerable gas may have an alignment issue requiring attention.
Seek professional help EARLY if you see that your baby’s head is becoming flattened in areas. A physiotherapist may need to fit a cranial helmet if the head remains flat past 5-6 months.
Information on ‘Plagiocephalie’ came across my desk
from the Plagiocephalie Clinic at the Mater Children’s Hospital , Brisbane.
“Research is showing that baby’s that remain
with marked plagiocephalie may skip crawling
and have slower milestones with motor skills.
As they get older they may have reduced ability
with mathematics and in particular judging distances”.
When it comes to being a first time parent, we often hear the mother’s perspective. But a revealing new study has given insight into how fathers cope with the change.
TODAY talks to psychologist Ian Wallace about the fears and anxieties men have about becoming dads.
Food can have a significant calming effect on a body or an energizing effect. When you have children who do not sleep well, it is useful to understand what type of food fuels energy and what food fuels the release of sleep inducing hormones serotonin and melatonin.
The effect foods have on the body begins to occur about 30 minutes after they are eaten therefore it is beneficial to give a young child an appropriate snack or drink 30 minutes before you expect them to be asleep. This does not mean holding off their dinner but rather giving them a little something extra as well.
Red meat, sausages, ham, simple carbohydrates such as white rice, potatoes and white bread, butter and sugary foods are best given earlier in the day to avoid the increased energy effect. Brown rice and wholegrain bread are even better choices for helping a child sustain their energy levels.
Foods that contain the amino acid tryptophan are suitable for a child’s evening meal and pre bedtime snack because they promote sleep and control hunger. Here is a list of some dinner or evening snack suggestions for your child.
1. Wholegrain cereal with warm milk
2. Natural yoghurt and sliced apple
3. Wholegrain rice cake spread with avocado
4. Melted hard cheese on wholegrain toast
5. Cashew or peanut butter spread on a dry wholegrain and oat wheat-bix
6. Cottage cheese and tuna with avocado
7. Eggs and wholegrain toast fingers
8. Rice pudding made with brown rice
These foods not only encourage calmness and sleep but they are easily digested allowing the body to be resting rather than digesting a heavier meal overnight. Perhaps this information on food is worth thinking about for your own adult diet and not just that of your children.
A Dad usually plays well with their baby or child but if they are a sole parent or shared parent then they need to work out ways that they can play and spend quality time with their child as well as getting some of the essential jobs done and surviving them self. Below are some ideas that may help.
1. Have your baby laying on your chest as you read or sing aloud to them. They will enjoy hearing the rhythmical sound of your voice, even if you sing off key or you are reading a car, sport or fishing magazine! They won’t care it is the sound and vibration of your voice that they enjoy in the early months.
2. Play with your baby or toddler. Go for a walk outside with them in a sling or a pram. If your baby is under three months old a pram that has your baby facing you is best.
3. Socialisation: be proactive in organising social occasions with other parents, or attending parenting groups. It’s a great way of ‘normalising’ your parenting experience and meeting others with whom you can share your experiences, difficulties and solutions.
4. Have a fun or relaxing bath or shower with them if you feel this is appropriate for you both.
5. Establish suitable routines (such as bath time, bedtime, feeding). Children thrive on the security of knowing what is happening next and routines help to make the experience of parenthood less chaotic and unpredictable. FREE eBooklet of Routines
6. Agree on guidelines and boundaries for child discipline with your partner if you are sharing access and make sure you enforce what you agree on. Mixed disciplines can be very unsettling for young children.
7. Praise your child whenever possible. Even as a tiny baby they will be soothed by the sounds of your encouragement. You can always find something to give them positive reinforcement for, even on the worst of days. Some days you just have to look harder or force a smile!
8. Learn how to cook simple nutritious food. If you have a toddler have them help you prepare food to eat. Perhaps washing the vegetables or mixing ingredients in a bowl.
9. Encourage your toddler to help you in the garden or play with pegs while you hang the washing on the line. Sit them in an empty washing basket next to you with a few colourful or textured objects to play with.
It is important to set our own internal picture of what family life is really about and what we want for our family’s future. This will prevent us from being swept along by society and media bombardment.
Society today can give us a skewed image of parenting. It is planted in our minds through media and advertising.
On one side we are inundated with opportunities and deals to purchase home and baby gadgets, takeaway and prepackaged foods, restaurant dining and lifestyle living with everything big and beautiful while on the other side we see financial pressures, abuse, stress related illness and the incidence of homeless children increasing at an alarming rate.
Work out the type of parenting style you want for your family and then seek out information, mentors and resources that support your focus. Our community’s future depends on the commitment and valuable input that family life can give to our children.
When I take a closer look at society and especially preschool children, I see children that they are often out of control. This I believe is not always the child’s fault but instead parents need to take responsibility.
I want to encourage you with the importance of setting boundaries for your preschoolers who are constantly learning about acceptable and unacceptable behaviours.
They will learn how to behave when they know what is expected of them. What they can eat and when they should go to bed are things that a parent can have control over, even if it causes some heated arguments. You just have to be the one who wins!
Be consistent with enforcing the boundaries you set, otherwise your child knows that they can push you further next time which only creates a more heated argument that you still need to win.
Parents who are tired, find being consistent in reinforcing boundaries and behaviours much harder to do.
Therefore, look after yourself by finding ways to eat well, exercise and minimize your stresses.
Over the years in my own family I have learnt how to listen and take care of babies, toddlers and preschoolers and today I am discovering the complexities of teenagers. As I look back, I can honestly say that the first 7 years of a child’s life is vital for the development of their character in later years.
Enjoy parenting today as tomorrow is not a promise it is only a chance!
A baby has many different sleeping options but how can a parent make a decision about what is the best option for their new baby?
Over the years I have visited many families that were faced with a variety of challenges after their baby was born. From these I have put together some ideas that are worth thinking about before making a decision on your baby’s sleeping area:
1. Do you want them in your bedroom with you? If so, what size bassinette or basket will comfortably fit in your bedroom?
2. How will you teach your child to sleep in a still bed after they have learnt to sleep swinging in a hammock?
3. You have a cot/crib already but it seems too big for a newborn. Consider putting a ‘Snuggle Bed’ inside the cot/crib until they are bigger.
4. You love the thought of your baby sleeping in the parental bed with you but this is unadvisable if either parent is obese, smokes or takes drugs.
5. The baby’s room is a long way from your room and you are afraid that you won’t hear them cry. Consider using a baby monitor or bringing their bassinette/basket closer to your room temporarily.
6. Is the baby’s room going to be cold because it gets little sun and they are due to be born in winter? Consider another room for the first 3 months.
7. Is their sleeping area bright during the day because it has light curtains and direct sunlight? Babies will sleep better after 6 weeks if the lighting is dim.
8. Is the nursery room is upstairs but you will be downstairs most of the day consider setting up two sleeping areas (one upstairs and one downstairs) for the first 3 months. The downstairs option could be a port-a-cot or pram/stroller.
9. You have animals and other children that will open the door and wake them up. Consider a gate on the doorway or a latch high up to secure the door shut.
10. Often a father can be away a lot for work and the mother brings the baby into her bed to sleep. When the father returns home there is minimal privacy as the baby will no longer sleep in their cot/crib. Consider the sleep associations that your baby is learning to go off to sleep with.
Parents are always learning about parenting issues. By considering these challenges that some parents have had could help you establish good sleeping patterns early for your baby.
‘The Middle Wife’ by an Anonymous 2nd grade teacher
A little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.
She holds up a snapshot of an infant. ‘This is Luke, my baby brother, and I’m going to tell you about his birthday.’
‘First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom’s stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.’
‘Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, ‘Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!’ Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. ‘She walked around the house for, like an hour, ‘Oh, oh, oh!’ (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)
‘My Dad called the middle wife.. She delivers babies, but she doesn’t have a sign on the car like the Domino’s man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this.’ (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)
‘And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!’ (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!)
‘Then the middle wife starts saying ‘push, push,’ and ‘breathe, breathe. They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom’s play-center, (placenta) so there must be a lot of toys inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there.’
Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat.
I am sure there are many other funny stories told by young children. We all can do with a laugh so please add them in the comment section below.
A baby becomes a toddler at 12 months old. By this age they will have gained about triple their birth weight and by the end of their toddler stage at 3 years, they will have developed 90% of their adult brain.
In addition to physical growth, toddler-hood is a period during which your child will experience great social, emotional and cognitive development. The speed of growth in these areas may depend on the toddler’s position within the family (only child, older/younger sibling etc) as well as their exposure to experiences and sensory stimulation such as a stressful environment, general involvement in life or travel.
Toddlers are concrete thinkers…
For toddlers to be able to understand and talk about things, they need to physically see, touch and handle them. Just watching it on TV is not enough.
“When children play they approach experiences with interest, ownership, empowerment and possibility. If we remove play from children’s lives we remove a possibility for learning”.
Carla Rinaldi.
Below is a list of games and toys that will enhance a toddler’s social, emotional, physical and cognitive development.
•Simple puzzles
•Link-up such as trains and trucks
•Stacking blocks and cups
•Put in and pull out such as shapes and buckets, pegs and bag
•Picture books with objects, animals, lift up and noises
•Knobs and buttons such as phones, cash register
•Play games that give them the opportunity to say ‘no’ (is dad under the bed?)
•Dress ups such as a box containing bags, hats, shoes and jackets
•Match up games; asking what thing is the same-colours and shapes
•Household activities with their own miniature tools such as sweeping, phone, bath doll, tool box
•Allow them time to play uninterrupted on their own
As I mentioned there is a lot of brain development that happens during these early years which comes about through the connection (synapses) between cells (neurons). These connections require appropriate sensory stimulation for their replication. A lack of brain usage or stimulation leads to fewer synaptic connections and neural pathways being developed.
The ability to learn in the future has a direct relationship to what you are preparing their brain for in these early years.
