Give Healthy Snacks to your Baby
Your older baby or toddler may seem constantly hungry—how do you satisfy a never-ending need to eat? Remember their stomachs are only the size of their fist, and they can stretch to fit more food. Snacks are important, but it is especially important to make them healthy since they will have at least as many snacks as meals. Here are 15 ideas.
- Cheese. Give the older baby grated cheese and the toddler cheese sticks or cubes.
- Whole Wheat Bread. Cut a slice of bread into four pieces. For each snack tear one piece into bite-size bits. Occasionally put a thin layer of butter, jam or other spreads on the bread.
- Whole-grain Cheerios.
- Cut grapes. Cut the grape in half, and then slice each half in the opposite direction so you have very thin half-moon-shaped pieces. Expect the peels to come out in the baby’s diaper.
- Yogurt.
- Whole-grain crackers.
- Diluted Juice. Mix equal parts of grape juice (or orange or apple juice) and water for your baby over 12 months old. Un-diluted juice has too much sugar.
- Dried peaches (or any other fruit). Remember to give your baby lots of water with dried foods.
- Freeze-dried strawberries. These are often available at Wal-marts or online. Again remember to give your baby water.
- Unsweetened applesauce.
- Whole-wheat tortilla pieces. Break the tortilla into four pieces. For each snack tear one piece into bite-size bits.
- Apple slices.
- Orange slices. Cut each orange slice in 3-5 pieces.
- Milk. Give your baby whole milk if he or she is over 12 months old, and formula if not.
- Jello. Use fruit juice to flavor your jello.
Whenever possible let your baby feed him or herself. Do not force your baby to eat if he or she doesn’t want to. Most importantly, always make sure that what you are feeding your baby is safe—if it is a choking hazard (like grapes) you can cut it small enough to be safe. Let snack time be a fun and healthy time for you and your baby!
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Babyproofing Parenting Tips
When people talk about baby-proofing a home, they really mean toddler-proofing it! No newborn is going to stick their finger in a plug outlet or swallow toxic cleaning supplies, but as soon as your baby starts crawling, make sure your home is a safe place to explore! Here are a few major points to keep in mind:
- Use plug outlet covers. Fingers are not the only things that fit in those little holes in the wall–forks, coins, and food are all problems too!
- Use cupboard locks. These make getting into drawers and cupboards much more difficult (though not impossible!).
- Move all cleaning supplies, perfumes, and other chemicals out of the bottom cupboards and drawers.
- Keep your toilet lids and bathroom doors closed.
- Keep coins and other small objects out of reach.
- Make sure all magnets on fridge and freezer doors are large enough to NOT be swallowed.
- Finally, if there is anything you absolutely don’t want your baby pulling out of the drawer or cupboard, move it out of reach!
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Are you A Licensed Parent?
As far as parenting is concerned, it is the next step after tying the knot in marriage. Ordinarily, raising children is a given and the issue on whether you are fit to be a parent or not will only be known once you have them.
But the thing is, should parents apply for a license to be one? We all know that there are a lot of issues surrounding fit and right parents but can laws intervene and specify who should be parents? How can they control them? In short, can anyone enforce laws and penalize people for bringing life in this world?
As far as governing laws are concerned, this is something that should really be approached methodically. To most people, it seems crazy to issue licenses to parents to have children. It is something like going a bit too far as far as family and parenting is concerned.
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Childhood Diseases: Roseola
A moderate fever followed followed by a rash and a cranky baby who won’t eat much: these are typical signs of Roseola, a childhood disease most people experience and forget about.
The fever is usually the first sign of infection and can get above 103 degrees. Most doctors will recommend Infant Tylenol to treat it. A few days after the fever your baby will usually get a rash that first shows up on the tummy/chest/back and then spreads out farther the second day. The rash can take 3-7 days to go completely away. Occasionally, a baby will have the disease without the rash–this is much less common, though.
Most babies will get Roseola sometime before they are two years old. It is caused by a virus, but does not usually cause any serious problems. The most dangerous part of the disease is the fever.
If your baby has Roseola, keep him or her at home, well-rested, and well-hydrated. Remember it is contagious, so keep other babies away from the sick one until the rash is gone. Wash your hands frequently.
For more information, visit the Mayo Clinic’s page on Roseola
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Teen Pregnancy Growing in Numbers
Gone are the days when pregnancy was limited to the people who can be more than able to raise a child. Marriage was normally the first step towards becoming full-pledged parents but to some, this is something that they have foregone.
The rate of teenage pregnancies in the world today has significantly increased. Some say it was done on purpose while others claim it was accidental. Of the two, the former seems to be the lamest excuse for getting pregnant.
One thing that is for sure, it is the babies who should not be made to suffer. The gift of life, a child, is something sacred and seeing so-called grown-ups take that for granted is something that is unforgivable.
“At the very least these men should be held responsible for financial support, if not put in jail for statutory rape as the mayor has suggested,” Greg Verga, chairman of the Gloucester School Committee, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Nationwide, teen pregnancies are showing signs of rising after steadily declining from 1991 to 2005. This trend was highlighted on Thursday when Britney Spears’ 17-year-old sister Jamie Lynn, star of Nickelodeon’s popular TV show “Zoey 101,” gave birth to a baby girl, according to People magazine.
“The data seem to be indicating that the declines that we had seen through the 1990s are coming to a close,” said David Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based non-profit group focusing on reproductive issues.
Birth rates for teenagers aged 15 to 17 rose by 3 percent in 2006, the first increase since 1991, according to preliminary data released in December by the National Centre for Health Statistics.
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