|
Untitled Document
Parenting can sometimes be difficult, so here is some brief information, tips and tricks which we hope may help whilst looking after your child.
Health & Development
It is important to understand your childs needs in every way. Health is the number one priority in any parents book. However, there are sometimes unavoidable processes which they have to go through as part of development. The most common one is having a temperature once in a while, even with no obvious germs or source of infection involved, this is an important stage in your childs immune response.
Here are some symptoms or signs which may catch your attention whilst looking after your child:
- If your child is having a fever or a temperature of between 37 and 38 degree celsius for 2-3 days, then there may be nothing to worry about as this is likely to be a viral upper respiratory tract infection, which is very common in childhood. However if the temperature lasts for more than 3 days, or your child has developed signs of systemic upset, such as listlessness, vomiting, rash or temperatures in excess of 38 degree celsius, then it is best to seek the advice of your Doctor.
- If you child catches a cold or cough, do not panic, just simply make sure they have plenty of sleep, drink lots of water, and control their temperatures with calpol (paracetamol) and/or calprofen (ibuprofen).
- In the winter months, younger babies can be prone to bronchiolitis, which can make their breathing more laboured, an important sign of which is intercostal recessions i.e. the skin between their ribs being noticeably withdrawn on taking breathes. Their windpipe may also begin to tug and, whilst most cases do not require hospital admission, it is important to see your Doctor and get it checked out.
- Older babies can also be susceptible during the winter, a barking cough being a sign of viral croup, which may require treatment if they are experiencing noisy breathing, known as stridor, or difficulty in breathing.
None of these are surprises; every child will go through these stages as part of their development. However, if there is any doubt, always see your Doctor, who will be able to objectively assess the situation and offer reassurance or treatment as necessary.
Development in your baby consists of mainly 4 stages:
0 to 3 Months - Early Days
During this stage, your child is developing very fast; they will develop their eyesight focus, communication, and positioning in this period. With this fast development, they also sleep a lot. In this first 4 weeks, they normally sleep around 15-16 hours in a 24 hours day, with around 4 regularly naps during the day and regular feeding being the main attention from you to your child during this time. During this time, your child should be gaining weight from the end of the first week, it is normal for babies to lose some of their birth weight during the first week of life, although more than 10% should warrant a trip to the Doctor.
Eyesight:
In the first 2 weeks, your child will not be able to see everything properly; their eyesight will develop during these 3 months.
Although your child cannot talk yet, they are using their eye contact to communicate with you. To enhance this development, try wearing or having brightly coloured objects near them.
Their eyesight and focus starts to be clearer and better after these 2 weeks, you will therefore notice they will pay more attention to your face and the objects surrounded by them. By 6 weeks, they will be able to recognise you and smile with you.
Look into your babys eyes from about 20cm to 25cm (8in to 10in) away, this is the best distance for babies to focus.
 Communication:
You will start to notice them crying in different tones, this is their communication tool with you, these cries can be for various reasons, mainly hunger, thirst, tiredness and when they are uncomfortable, e.g. nappies need changing.
As your child is approaching 6 to 8 weeks, they will start to develop some sounds, like chuckles when you play with them, like peek-a-boo.
You should touch your child gently, stroke, smile at, chat or sing to them, all these are great ways to communicate. Talk to your child and watch their reaction and wait for their response. This helps set the pattern for later conversation. Watch their body language closely; every movement of arms or legs waving is part of your babys response to you.
 Positioning:
As your child approaches the 3 months mark, they will begin to position themselves head up and lying on their tummy and they also start to reach colourful toys near to them to play with.
3 to 6 Months
During this period, your child is starting to develop movement, biting, communication and musical awareness skills. During this time, your child should still sleep a lot, around 14-15 hours in a 24 hours day with around 3 naps during the day and regular feeding and playing times are now the attention from you to your child.
Movement:
They will start to roll over, hold their head up when sitting and playing with their colourful toys in their hands.
Biting:
Your child will also like to put toys or things into their mouth, as they develop their teeth. This is an important step in learning what things feel like and taste like!
 Communication & musical awareness:
They will also start to laugh and squeal as they experiment. At this stage, music will soothe your child, so either sing to your child or let them play with musical toys and listen to music to aide sleep.
6 to 9 Months
From 6 months onwards, your child will develop crawling, sitting, standing up skills and proper talking skills. During this time, your child should be sleeping around 14 hours every 24 hours day, with a couple of regular day time naps.
Crawling, Sitting and Standing up:
They will begin crawling, they will be able to sit without support, by the end of 9 months, and they will be able to pull themselves standing up with help from you or furniture.
Communication:
You will start to hear limited sound from your child, such as dadadadadada as they develop their communication skills. These are the building blocks of them learning to speak, which is why you are encouraged to talk to your child to stimulate their vocabulary. However if you are concerned about your child's speech and hearing development, please visit your Doctor, who may arrange for hearing tests (audiometry) if there are concerns.
Nearly 1 Year
As your child approaches their 1st birthday, they may be standing up without support and beginning to walk, starting out by holding on to the furniture: coasting. This development stage normally starts from 10 months and lasts until 18 months. If they are not walking by the time they are 18 months old, then consult your Doctor. During this time, your child should be sleeping around 14 hours every 24 hour day, with a couple of regular but shorter day time naps.
Your child is able to throw an object, wave and say bye-bye. Try and listen out for mama or dada. They will also begin to understand the concept no at around 12 months of age.
They may also start to explore by reaching out to things, maybe further than their toys, for example a remote control. It may be challenging at times, but all they are doing is exploring how things work. Be patient with them at all times, as their memory span is not that long at this stage, so if you told them not to touch an object, they would most probably forget the next day.
At this stage, you can also start to guide them and introduce limits with them. Praise and attention are good and positive encouragements for your child to learn. However when they have done something wrong, you should teach them and explain to them, but do not laugh, otherwise it confuses them and defeats the purpose. For example, if you tell them not to touch the remote control, do not laugh when you say it or even worse give it to them afterwards. This will only confuse your baby and therefore make it harder to teach at a later stage. The important part here is consistency; make them positive and fun at the same time, especially introducing limits and restrictions to them.
However do not expect too much too soon either. They are after all young children who are learning and therefore will be messy and make mistakes. Guide them through with patience and do not let your mood affect the way you talk and teach them. This is very important not to pass on negativity to your child at their early stage when they simply do not understand.
Here are some of the useful links for you to understand your child development more in depth.
BBC
Parenting - the BBC have a comprehensive section on many aspects
of parenting
Childcare Link - a
government website to help you find childcare facilities in your area
Immunisation
- NHS information on childhood immunisations
available in UK
Parents Centre - a UK
Government site to help parents, carers and guardians find out more
about their childrens education, health and welfare.
Raising Kids - a useful
site for parents of children of all ages
UK
Parents - this UK website has detailed child health information
written by doctors and discussion forums
Wired
for Health - this UK Government site provides health information
factsheets for teachers and parents of children at different key
stages of education
Note: All the information above is merely a guide, for any uncertainty or unusual behaviour, please consult your Doctor for advice, diagnosis and treatment.
More tips:
How to comfort your child when they are crying?
Crying is a way that your child is trying to communicate to you their discomfort, sometimes it could simply be needing attention. Your response will be a comfort to them to feel secure.
The main 3 steps to check why your child is crying are as follows:
- Look at the time and see whether its time to feed, either food or drink
- Check their nappies to see if they need changing and have made them uncomfortable
- Check if their position is making them uncomfortable
If none of the above, it could simply be your child wanting some attention from you, so either cuddling them or playing with them should normally do the trick.
Cries vary depending on what their needs are and they are unique to your child, soon you will be able to work out which cry is a hungry cry and which cry is a need a hug cry and so on.
What would be good to encourage or enhance their talking skills?
Although your child cannot talk, they are learning very fast in every way. Most of all they listen, so one of the first important factor is to talk to them regularly. You will be surprised how sensitive they are, they can sense your tone when you speak, so make sure you use positive and kind words when you talk to them.
As your child grows, talk to them about everything, especially describe what you are doing with them, this will help them develop their language and understanding skills. Naming objects is also good for them to learn what things are called. Do not make fun when they get the words wrong, but keep repeating to them, so they can try again and again. This also helps to speed up their learning to speak the word.
Reading is very good for children, at an early age you are encouraged to read to them regularly, either during the day or before bed. This not only helps your child to develop reading skills, enhancing their listening and understanding skills, it also help them to enjoy reading in the future, and that will help them learn on their own subconsciously.
|
