How Long Should My Baby Be Sleeping?

Your baby’s sleep patters definitely don’t match up with yours. Because of this, many new parents wonder exactly how much sleep their baby should be getting.

In the early weeks after birth, your baby will seem to sleep any time that you’re not sleeping, waking up just as you drift off to sleep. Fortunately, that doesn’t last forever. As your baby grows and changes, she needs less and less sleep. For many children, by the time they are 6 or 7 weeks old, they will be sleeping through the night. For other babies, they may not sleep through the night until they are 3 or 4 months old. Here is how their sleep needs generally progress:


- birth to 6 or 7 weeks. Newborns sleep between 16 and 20 hours a day.

- 1 month to 3 months. Babies at this stage will need to sleep around 8 hours at night, and another 8 hours during the day, for a total of around 16 hours.

- 3 months to 6 months. During this stage, nighttime sleep increases and daytime sleep decreases. Your baby will probably sleep for about 10 hours at night, and need between 3 and 5 hours during the day.

- 6 months to 9 months. Babies at this age will sleep even more at night. Nighttime sleep will be around 11 hours. Daytime sleep will drop down to between 2 and 3 1/2 hours.

- 9 months to 1 year. Nighttime sleep stays steady at 11 hours. Daytime sleep may drop off slightly, from 2 to 3 hours.

- 1 year to 18 months. Here, they may add a little time sleeping at night, around 11 1/2 hours total. Daytime sleep drops to between 1 and 2 hours, where it will stay until after they are around 4 years old (or whenever they stop taking naps).

- 18 months to 3 years. Nighttime sleep will drop around half an hour every six months, so that at 3 years your baby will be sleeping around 10 1/2 hours a night. Daytime sleep will stay around the same.

If your baby seems to be getting too much sleep (more than an hour or more beyond the guide above) it could be indicative of another problem. If your baby refuses to sleep, this too can be indicative of a problem. If you have any concerns, you should speak with your pediatric health care provider.

How to be a working Mom without Stress

How to be a working Mom without Stress
It is not easy to be both a mother and a working woman. The goal to find the work and life balance can be elusive as
it means how to carry on working without feeling a nervous, guilt-consumed wreck who feels she is both failing as a mom
and as an employee. Jackie Newhall, a branch manager of Allied Mortgage Groub. Juggled between work from 5.30 am to 11.30pm.
She has one child and most of the time feels stressed and worn out. She later applied for the Balance Makeover Contest and finished
off as a winner. Here are some tips from the real life example of Jackie Newhall.
1. Stop criticizing yourself -Mai Vu of More Please! Life Coaching said that a mother in a globalization age does not need to be home at alltime.
Being a good mother means to be a good role model and help your child make a good, righteous judgment.
So, stop blaming yourself if sometimes you are late for work or get home late.
2.Create order- Make your home a comfortable environment. Ann Bingley Gallops of Organized Life suggested Jackie to organize her kitche,put
a few more cabinets for toys storage,post a to-do list on the refrigerator and build a shoe cabinet near the garage so she would not trip over
her stilettos in the living room.
3.Help at Home - Asking for help is not a weakening sign of being an efficient mother. instead , it helps you to delegate
work efficiently with out spreading yourself too thin. Ask your family members to help for a special occasion like your
child's birthday.
4.Eat Right - Jackie always makes sure your husband and her child would have a balance diet and neglects what she
eats. She ends up eating high carb-food without fruits or vegetables during work. If frozen food is inevitable, go for low
fat food with vegetables as main ingregient. Keep your sodium intake as low as possible. Never miss out calcium too.
5.Ask for Help - Some people cannot bring themselves to ask for help as they don't trust anybody. Jackie never delegates
work to any of her employee. The result is she has to do everthing by herself and feel spent at the end of the time.
This is not the right attitude.
6.Less Stress - A working woman is prone to stress especially when she is overwhelmed with work and personal life. Jackie
finally asks her boss to hire a secretary for her to help out so she could feel less stress.

Teach your Child to Love Nature

We have withnessed many indications of global climate change during the past decade.
Environmental problems have become a pressing issue for every sector in society. The most effective educational tool for environmental conservation should start at early age. By implanting the right attitude toward nature and environment in the young minds, we will have responsible,conscience-ridden adults in the future and the best place to start is the family.
Parents can train their child to treat nature with care by teaching them to appeciate the wildeness and the green. For example, you might make a comment about the weather:" The weather is so good today!" or "How good it is we have birds singing for us every morning." You can also teach them by action i.e. ask them to help you grow plants and take care of trees and flowers, read them a book about nature,plants and animals to make them see the significance of these natural beings,take them for an outing in nature. If you see your child having an inappropriate behavior like picking out flowers in a park, You should talk to them and let them know that this is not a right thing to do.
In addition ,parents should teach the child about energy saving and smart consumption on natural resource. Teach them to use energy efficiently (water,electricity,recycle,reduction on the use of plastic bags).
With the help of parents , we can plant a seed of environmental awareness and responsibility in our future generation. In 20 years time, we can start hoping to see the greener and better world.

Dealing with stubborn children

stubbornness in children,mostly found in toddlers and teenagers, is a part of their development and learning process.Stubbornness gives children a feeling that they can have control over a situation
and exhibit their self confidence which is sometimes in conflict with parents. When dealing with children's rebellious behaviors,parents should state their stand,the reasons and the consequence of disobedience.
Some stubborn behaviors may be a sign of deep resistance and inclination to destructiveness. Parents then should consider two following facts:the relationship between you and your children
and discipline training for your children,
Children who have a healthy relationship with their parents are normally obedient because they want to please their parents. If a child is very stubborn and difficult,you should take time to build
a trusting relationship,spend more time together at least 20-30 minutes a day and never forget to praise them when deserved.
Once a good relationship is formed,the next step is to keep them well-disciplined. Children will cooperate when they see the significance of following the rules. Parents should have and agreement
or some kind of rules for them to follow i.e. have them keep the schedule and follow certain family's rules. The instructions should be clear and concise. You may want to remind them beforehand about the
schedule. Sometimes you can let children be part of decision-making i.e. allow them to choose if they want to brush their teeth after meal or take a shower with a parent. When children succeed in following the rules,
always praise them for their effort. if they still stubborn and show the follow signs such as short concentration, stress or emotional fluctuation,consultation with a psychiatrist is advisable.

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I don't need younger brother or sister

It is unavoidable for the family that has more than one child to have kid fight. Often times parents have to be the judges. It’s getting more complicated as the situation goes bye. In some families, children may think that they are treated unfairly by favoring one over the other. This is the beginning of brother-sister’s jealousy. Let see an example.
Thon, 7, is the oldest child in the family, any is in second grade. He has a younger sister, 2, is going to be in kindergarten. Their parents are worried of him being quiet, protesting, and like to fight with his sister. They observed that this has happened for over 3 years, at exactly his sister’s age. They believe that the cause could be hime being jealous over his younger sister.
When Thon was born, he was raised by his grandmother. He used to get sick often and cry a lot. He had never let anyone hold him except his grandma. Often times, his grandma held him and fall asleep together. His mother could not bear this problem and worried but nothing she could do because she had to carry outside work. She came home late as the father stayed late at work. Therefore, his grandmother always let him do whatever his wanted.
When his sister was born, his mother decided to take a year of maturity leave to look after her children herself. She wished to get closer to the kids. At the time, Thon was in the first year of kindergarten. Their relatives took turns coming by to visit her new born baby, Theoy. Everybody seemed to be excited about the little girl, but Thon rather ignored. He often protested against is mother but sometimes listened to his father.
When the little girl learned how to walk, if Thon was playing with toys, Thoey liked to grab those toys from her brother. And for that, Thon liked to yell at his little sister and grab the toys back. Sometimes he hit his sister, and she cried. When their mother asked what was going on, he gave and excuse that he was playing with the toys first.
This issue continued and drove the mother crazy especially when Thon liked to talked back. This ended up with her being in bad mood and told him to get out of sight.
Thon told me that he was bored of studying and worried about his grandma who is now really old and may get sick. He added that he did not like his mother blaming on him and was not sure if his mom loves him but he assured that she loves his younger sister more than him. He sometimes looks at his old pictures taken when he was young. He notices that mom never smiled when holding him unlike how she treats Thoey with laugh and smile. Thoey usually likes to annoy him and tell mother on him. He confessed that he doesn’t want to have a young sister.
His being jealous occurs from many reasons. One incidence arises from fragile relationship between and his mother. He is not assured of his mother’s love. When he has a younger sister, he could compare the attention given by his mother with his sister. Besides, brother-sister fight also put more loads on the matter. Thon doesn’t realize his mother’s love because he is too young to think about it logically. His mother wishes to make it up to what she has missed in the situation. She realizes that Thon opposes against her because of his being so jealous to his sister and thrives for his mother’s love.

What the parents should do ?
They ought to manage what they have missed in their duty at the first place. They must start revising their love upon Thon and begin new relationship with him. They may need to take turns to participate in activities with Thon and share him some fun and give him advice whenever he needs it. Don’ t expect much sacrifice out of him at first. When the undesirable incidence occurs, listen to his explanation first before making judgments. If both of them cannot get along, separate them at play. If there is a use of force, there shall be penalty for it. Time out fits perfectly with this situation. Kids tend to obey this rule if they have been told before.
Three months later, Thon still works against his parents slightly. Even though he sometimes yells at his younger sister, and hardly persuades her to play with him. However, his relationship with his mother is better. One day, when he rode a bike near the house, Thoey accidentally fell on the ground and cried, he took off the bike and ran to help his sister. His mother then became realized in tears that deeply inside he loves his sister too.

Thumb sucking habit

Thumb sucking habit is normally found in younger children, and it usually stops at 5 -7 years old. If this continues until 6-8 years old, thumb sucking habit affects tooth growth or mouth shape, we should consult pediatrician or a dentist.
Pacifier
Many parents misunderstand that using a pacifier could be harmful to baby. In fact, it is somewhat useful in case of the baby prefers sucking something else rather than a milk bottle. This idea is not suggested when the baby is hungry or waiting for food because it may aggravate him. The best way is to allow him to make his own choice of when to use it. Pacifier sometimes helps the baby to sleep comfortably, but the baby will wake up every time it falls off and will cry until it is put back in his mouth. Do not solve the case by tiding it around the baby’s wrist or hanging around his neck; it could be fatal. Thus, thumb sucking is better for the baby in this case.
Choice of pacifier and practice tips.
Pacifier must be soft and at least an inch big to prevent chocking. It must be steamed for sanitation purpose. We should carry a spare one in case the one using is dropped of lost. Do not tide it around the baby’s wrist, or hang around his neck, or even tide it around the bed because it could be harmful to the baby. Avoid using the kind that used for the milk bottle because it may slip into the baby’s throat. Check on the color and tearing occasionally. The first tip to counter thumb sucking habit or a pacifier is not to pay much attention to him when he does so; he may quit afterwards. Avoid using verbal abuse, making fun of, or punishment. It may cause more stress to him. Kid over 3 years of age likes to suck his thumb during leisure time. Try finding him other things to do and reward him for good behave and not sucking his thumb. Complement and star awarding chart methods are recommended.
If the problem persists and he refuses to quit it., try wrapping his thumb with plastic adhesive tape. If the habit affect tooth growth or the habit continues, consult a dentist. The dentist will place a tongue guard in his mouth to prevent the thumb from pressing against the upper gum and teeth. The device will annoy the kid when he sucks his thumb and eventually quits the habit.
In general, stress could cause the baby to suck his thumb or a pacifier but when he get into school age, he will quit himself to avoid friends making fun of him. Some kids may do it during bedtime as it causes less harm to him than forcing him to quit.

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Encourage Babysitter to Pay Game with Children

Playing is very important in the first year of childhood. Parents should spend time playing wit the little one. If not possible, parents should instead encourage the babysitter to play with children to stimulate child learning development systematically.
1. Pee-a-boo : Starting with smile and face closer to the baby and play peek-a-boo. The baby will laugh and give a big smile. Though the baby cannot move skillfully, the child could use eye movements and capture moving gestures.
2. Playing while bathing : at 4 – 6 month old the baby can move around more skillfully and begins to notice things and able to use hands to grab things. Spend time during bathing time to play by using appropriate items such as empty bottle to float in the tub. This idea will capture the baby attention because the baby can grab it and play with it. This helps the baby to exercise his bundle muscles.
3. Playing prince and princess’s castle : When the time come to the point that the baby start to crawl. We may need to encourage the child to exercise his bundle muscles and learn to cooperate between sighting and hand movements. Find a baby a big empty box, and decorate it creatively in the interior part by attaching colorful paper of make slit windows on the sides. Then, ask the prince or princess to get in there and survey or the nanny can play hide-and-seek for this matter. Don’ t forget to give them big applause when they could find the nanny.
4. Treasure Hunt : Prepare household items preferably the ones that are not fragile or small plates. Lay them different directions to the right and left. Be sure that the floor and the items are clean and safe for the kid to play. Encourage the baby to walk and collect those items. It could be fun and good exercise.
One more thing, mother should advise the nanny to observe and write down the baby’s playing behaviors, i.e. favorite toys, and funny stories.

Helping tips to tackle biters

If mommy are facing biting problem of the little one, i.e. bite mom and dad, or brother-sister, or friends and those people are afraid to be nearby, don’ t be so stressed about it because this habit can develop during the toddler ages arising from many causes. Let’s see what are in the list to tackle the biting habit.
1. Cause is unknown : Like mentioned earlier that this habit could develop from many causes, i.e. their teeth are growing, or they try to call your attention, or they are not in the mood or worried. Mommy should notice the cause of biting in order to solve the problem the right way. If they bite because their teeth are growing, try to find soft rubber toys for them to play to reduce their gum irritation. After their teeth are fully grown, this habit will stop. If the habit persists, mommy should carefully find the cause to prevent the habit from beyond control.
2. Do not pay much attention as they draw your interest : Sometimes kid draw parents’ attention aggressively including biting. Therefore, if you see them bite to draw your attention. You should consider if you have shared them enough care and love. You should also explain them that biting habit is not acceptable because it could harm others. Avoid harsh punishment because the kids may become more opposing. When the kids bite you or other people, try to separate them from the group and avoid yelling because the kids may be misrepresented that their behavior works perfectly to draw your attention.
3. Don’t bite back : Some parents want their kids to learn how hurt to be bitten by biting them back. This method is not recommended and it will encourage them to do even more.
4. Be good model : If you don’t want your kids to start biting habit, you must avoid doing so to others. This method should apply to all the family members, including comic books because they will intimate that habit from what they usually see.
5. don’ t overlook the problem : Some parents regard this habit as normal issue and hesitate to solve until later. In fact, you let this habit generates without doing anything to stop it, it could be too late. Thus, you must act now to stop this unacceptable habit.
Please take the mentioned advice for your own benefit.

Breast Feeding : Help generating baby’s cleverness.

In the first 6 months after birth, the brain will rapidly develop itself. It is a great opportunity for mommy to nourish the baby’s brain. During this period, the nerve cells inside the brain will multiply themselves into network to develop brain system. Sense stimulation and nourishment are essential for children of this age.
The minutes after birth, the child feels warm in mother’s arms with his face close to mother’s breasts. This will automatically allow the child to acknowledge the touch and responses by drinking breast milk from mother. It is the way to generate the first sense of taste to the baby and the beginning of brain development after the birth. It also stimulates breast milk producing believed to be the best nutrition for brain growth development.
There are more than 200 kinds of nutrition which help generating nerve cells and brain cells, particularly nerve growth factors, contained only in breast milk and they are essential to human child and its brain.
Phospholipids, essential fatty acids or EFA, DHA and AA fatty acids contained in breast milk will be important generating factors to generate myelin sheath that helps sending – receiving learning ability systematically, completely, and rapidly for brain functioning.
Based on a long-run research in Denmark on 3,000 sampling cases, children who were breast-fed for 9 months or longer gained the average I.Q level at 104 while the children who were less than a month of breast feeding had the average I.Q level at 99.4.
Besides essential nutrition, breast feeding stimulates the rest of baby’s sensing nerves. It helps brain nerves to multiply themselves. The more mother hold her child, the more stimulation will be. If breast feeding in mother’s warm arms can be done at least 8 – 10 times daily, it would repeat brain recognition cycle. If not, the brain nerves will lose their multiplication and become pruning and will soon be eliminated.
Not only higher I.Q. levels can be obtained through breast feeding, but also does the mother ‘s body will yield out happy hormone “ endorphin “ providing desirable mood for mother herself, and pass it to the baby through warm hug, eye contact, smile, and talking. Warm relationship between mother and the baby helps inner pleasure and good emotional development.

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Encourage Babysitter to Pay Game with Children

Playing is very important in the first year of childhood. Parents should spend time playing wit the little one. If not possible, parents should instead encourage the babysitter to play with children to stimulate child learning development systematically.
1. Pee-a-boo : Starting with smile and face closer to the baby and play peek-a-boo. The baby will laugh and give a big smile. Though the baby cannot move skillfully, the child could use eye movements and capture moving gestures.
2. Playing while bathing : at 4 – 6 month old the baby can move around more skillfully and begins to notice things and able to use hands to grab things. Spend time during bathing time to play by using appropriate items such as empty bottle to float in the tub. This idea will capture the baby attention because the baby can grab it and play with it. This helps the baby to exercise his bundle muscles.
3. Playing prince and princess’s castle : When the time come to the point that the baby start to crawl. We may need to encourage the child to exercise his bundle muscles and learn to cooperate between sighting and hand movements. Find a baby a big empty box, and decorate it creatively in the interior part by attaching colorful paper of make slit windows on the sides. Then, ask the prince or princess to get in there and survey or the nanny can play hide-and-seek for this matter. Don’ t forget to give them big applause when they could find the nanny.
4. Treasure Hunt : Prepare household items preferably the ones that are not fragile or small plates. Lay them different directions to the right and left. Be sure that the floor and the items are clean and safe for the kid to play. Encourage the baby to walk and collect those items. It could be fun and good exercise.
One more thing, mother should advise the nanny to observe and write down the baby’s playing behaviors, i.e. favorite toys, and funny stories.

Hanging Mobile Helps Freshening the Baby’s Brain

Hanging Mobile moving in motion supports learning development and good learning ability for baby. Based on a research regarding limpid system, the brain part that controls emotion and thinking responses positively to the results of the research that the healthy brain works smoothly and grows rapidly as it is closely related to personal happiness, fun, and relaxation.

Towards the Nature
Leaves, trees, and other green nature help stimulating the learning ability, relaxing the baby’s brain and generating the rapid learning development.

T.V. is harmful to baby
It is recommended by both Thai and foreign experts that the proper ways to stimulate language ability for the baby is to frequently talk to him, story telling, finding the activities that encourage the verbal ability. T.V. is not good for younger baby. Do not allow the baby to spend much time with T.V. Not only does it affect learning development negatively, but it also harms the baby’s health. A number of parents think that T.V. could keep your baby companionship. In fact, many researches found that many parents leave T.V. on with the baby, particularly the child under 2 years old. This idea is strictly prohibited for the baby.

Boosting Your Baby’s Brain

Good surrounding atmosphere helps baby’s brain development. Brain cells are great wonders in human body. Surrounding atmosphere plays vital role in baby’s brain development.
Baby’s brain starts to learn.
Let’s learn about nature of the brain. Every sensing organism helps the baby to learn through his physical, brain, visibility, hearing, touching, and smelling. Surrounding atmosphere also helps stimulating learning ability. Let’s organize surrounding atmosphere appropriate for the baby’s brain. First remember that :
• The baby’s brain is healthy in relaxing environment.
• The surrounding environment must be relaxing.
• Create variety of choices for learning.

Natural light
Fluorescent light is not good for the baby’s brain. Turn it on only if necessary. If possible, we should take advantage of natural light. Fluorescent light may irritate your baby’s brain.

Desirable voice
Disordered or loud surrounding living place could harm the baby’s brain and affects his hearing ability. It also generates stress and retards the learning ability.

Fresh air around the baby.
Air conditioner, that mother always think it provides comforts to baby, could harm the baby’s brain as well. Try to open windows for fresh air. Often move the baby around, so he could breath clean air into his lungs, and his brain could receive more oxygen.