Archive for April, 2008

Toddlers are easily affected by quite common things like fever, cold, sniffle and cough.

You can do nothing to avoid the growing mild illnesses and cold in your children.

The rest, comfort and fluids are the best remedies of these illnesses for your toddler health.

If your are worried about your toddler health, you can take the advise of your doctor.

Some of the common health issues in a toddler are:

Asthma:

In Australia, one out of five children is suffering from asthma.

When your child breaths out, a whistling sound called wheeze is observed. This can be distressing to both your child and you. You can ask your doctor for management plan, if your child has asthma [Asthma in toddlers].

Chicken-pox:

When your child has chicken pox, the red blisters occur by varicella zoster virus. The symptom is itchy and children cannot stop from scratching. This virus stays as a dormant, once it has run its course. It returns as shingles after many years.

You have to keep your child away from other children till the last blister is healed, as it is contagious. Immunization is the only way to avoid this.

It will be exciting for you to get ready for your baby.

You have to prepare the nursery for your baby.

The new born nursery is the special place for your baby.

You need to find out the nursery which will be loved by you and your child.

You can welcome the baby into your home with the beautifully designed nursery.

For your baby, the nursery will be the centre of the world.

The newborn nursery is the place where the infants are nurtured, parents can rest in their comfortable chairs and the family members can enjoy with the child.

Are you waiting to know the gender of your baby to design the nursery? Based on the gender of the expected child, the nursery is designed by some parents. Therefore, some parents wait till the birth of the baby.

It will be challenging to decorate the nursery without knowing the child, whether it is a girl or boy. You can have great fun in designing a unisex nursery.

You need to find the starting place before beginning to renovate or design the nursery for your baby. To create the special space, most of the parents choose the intriguing fabric or color palette that is unique.

Most of the infants are allergic to the proteins of cow milk.

The infant allergy to milk is very common.

The infants those have milk allergy are approximately 2-3% and they outgrow it typically.

Infant allergy due to milk:

The milk allergy in infants occurs due to the mistake of the immune system that identifies the milk protein as danger and fight against it. Allergic reactions makes the infant irritable and fussy.

Infant allergy to milk is more in case of formula fed infants than the breast fed infants. The researchers cannot understand the reasons for this infant allergy and they believed that it is genetic.

The symptoms of milk allergy to cow’s protein appear in few months of your child’s life. The symptoms can appear after feeding very quickly (rapid onset) or after consuming the cow’s milk for 7 to 10 days. This is very common.

The symptoms include: Refusing food, loose stools (possibly containing blood), skin rashes, vomiting, colic or irritability and gagging.

These symptoms cannot be diagnosed as they occur with other health conditions. This can outgrow by 2 years in most of the children.

The care givers provide the home child care in their home.

You can find the home for child care consisting of infants, pre-school toddlers and the school-aged children in it.

The care givers who use their home for child care get the contract from the licensed agencies.

The care givers who work for the home care agency are screened, monitored and approved by the home visitors.

These agencies and home child care are inspected by the Ministry of Children And Youth Services. This is done in order to make sure whether the Day Nurseries Act is met with their requirements or not.

The home visitors will have the training in family studies, child development and child education. They verify whether the caregivers are following the procedures and the policies of the agencies. The home visitors also help caregivers, including:

• Giving the advice for the nutritional planning for your child’s meal.
• Planning the activities for the different developmental stages of your children who are at different stages.
• Checking whether the home is safe for your child or not.
• Making sure whether the provincial requirements are met or not.

Infant thrush or baby thrush is an overgrowth that can be seen in mouth of your baby.

This infection is due to the yeast called Candida Albicans.

This even occurs due to diaper rash. It can be found in genital areas, intestine and mouth.

It is common in infants up to 5 to 6 months of age.

Recognisition of baby thrush:

The characteristic milky or whitish patches or spots inside the tongue, lips, cheeks or gums are recognized as the thrush. It appears on the tongue as a white thick coating.

Do not scrap the baby thrush, as they bleed in doing so. This infection is not dangerous but it makes your baby’s mouth sore. You can face the problem while feeding your baby.

There is no definite cause for the thrush in your baby. It is not a contagious disease. It is an over growth of the yeast in your child’s mouth. The yeast can grow even when the antibiotics are taken.

There is no harm with this problem. It just irritates your baby’s mouth and leads to some problem while feeding. It will be painful when it becomes severe.

You have to give balanced and nutritious diet so that your baby can be healthy.

You have to prepare the food with the baby food recipes that are rich in carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins and minerals.

The solid baby food should be introduced at 4 or 6 months of age.

Some parents introduce the solid food at 4 months of age. But it is better to introduce the solid food to your baby at 6 months of age.

The baby food recipe should contain the fruits and vegetables. You have to introduce only one food first. After the introduction of first food, you have to wait for some days to introduce the other food.

By this process you can know whether your childsl is allergic to any food. In case of food allergy, you can change that food and introduce the other food.

The baby foods that are given to your baby should be highly strained or pureed. You can begin feeding your baby with the vegetables like sweet potato or butternut squash and fruits like avocado.

Baby food recipes:

Mashed fruit baby food recipe is the best and first weaning food for your baby. This can be digested easily by your child.

Have you seen about the toxic chemicals used in the baby equipment, toys and baby bottles in the news?

There is an evidence that these chemicals disrupt the endocrine system of the body (that controls the growth and hormones) and can cause the dreadful diseases like cancer.

So, these chemicals should be substituted with chemicals that are safe to use and these chemicals have to be banned.

Generally, for manufacturing baby equipments like the plastic toys, plastic (polycarbonate) feeding bottles and cot mattress, these chemicals are used.

Your children can ingest these toys made of harmful chemicals, which can build harmful levels in the bodies of your baby. But, some manufacturers are ignoring it and still they are manufacturing the equipments that contain the toxic chemicals. [Selecting the right baby toys].

Here are four groups of chemicals that are used for manufacturing house hold goods. The concern about these chemicals has been expressed by the campaigner of the environment.

Organotin compounds

To stabilize the PVC, these chemicals are used. These can be found in baby equipment with harder PVC and vinyl flooring. In animals, some hormonal changes are caused due to these chemicals.

The newborn sleep apnea occurs when the normal breathing in your child is stopped during night.

It can be fatal to infants. There is high risk for the premature babies. The possible causes for sleep apnea are:

• Bleeding in the brain caused during delivery
• Breathe not controlled by the brain of immature baby
• Exposure to poison or drugs
• Defect in the birth of the babies
• Blocked airway
• Low blood sugar

The newborn sleep apnea is associated with hypoglycemia, gastro esophageal reflux disease and anemia. The other causes include the history of seizures and intracranial hemorrhage.

The apnea in newborns is classified as obstructive, central and mixed. When the “breathing orders” are not passed to the respiratory muscles by the central nervous system of your infant, then the central apnea occurs.

The obstructive apnea occurs due to the obstruction of anatomical airway. This is the reason why your child cannot breathe. This occurs due to the enlarged adenoids and tonsils in older children and toddlers.

But in newborns it is due to the obstruction of the airway musculature. Thus, it is a form of neurologic immaturity. The combination of obstructive and central apnea is mixed apnea.