baby care tips

2013-08-06T11:30:00.001-07:00

Baby little pasta soup

2013-08-06T11:29:00.001-07:00

11/2 cups (355 ml) low-sodium chicken broth
2 (22 g) tablespoons uncooked pastina

Stovetop Method: Bring broth to a gentle boil and add pastina. Cook, stirring frequently, 7 or 8 minutes, or until pastina is cooked. Serve warm.

This recipe, covered tightly, will last for 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator. To reheat, just add a bit of water.

Yield: 4 baby servings, 1/4 cup (60 g) each

Each serving contains: 50.8 calories; 0.2 g total fat; 0.1 grams saturated fat; 1.9 mg cholesterol; 225.6 mg sodium; 9.6 g carbohydrates; 0.4 g dietary fiber; 2.4 g protein; 2.2 mg calcium; 0.4 mg iron; 0.5 IU vitamin A; and 0.0 mg vitamin C.

From The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet

Baby Care

Secrets of baby care

2013-07-31T13:37:00.003-07:00

Crying doesn't mean colic — necessarily

Experts once thought that uncontrollable crying automatically meant colic. These days, though, we are well-educated on another culprit: Acid re flux, which can be a painful (but totally treatable) condition for kids.

"My mom talked a lot about my twin sister and me having colic as babies. When my son was born, she called his crying 'colic,' as well," says mom Hilary Hamblin. "After three months of nearly constant screaming, back arching, not sleeping and excessive spitting up, a friend mentioned these as symptoms of acid re flux. After some research online and a visit to our pediatrician, we started my son on Axid for acid re flux. Within 24 hours, he was a different, happier child."

Holding a baby is good

For decades, it seems, moms have been made to feel guilty about holding their babies too much. Ignore the critics and repeat after us: You cannot spoil a baby by holding her. Really. It's true. "Babies who are held often and have their needs met right away are more likely to have higher self-images and learn they are respected and worthy," says Linda C. Donovan, RN, MHA, IBCLC. So, even if you keep hearing people tell you not to do it, rest assured that holding your baby is a good and natural thing.

Skip the baby wipes

Baby wipes are expensive and, for some sensitive bums, they can hurt. The good news? You really don't need to buy 'em.

"I know people will not believe this, but a 100 percent breastfed baby doesn't need baby wipes. Not at all. Breastfed baby feces are low in acid and bacteria, watery and wipe off easily; breastfed baby urine is dilute and noncorrosive," says Wendie A. Howland RN MN CRRN CCM CNLCP and the editor of theAANLCP Journal of Nurse Life Care Planning. "Wipe that baby butt with the damp cloth diaper you're taking off, re-wrap in a new clean cloth diaper, and you're both good to go. I did this for both of my babies, and neither of them ever had a rash once."

Formula feeding? You can still skip the commercial wipes in favor of a wash cloth and mild soap.

Protect from long-sleep leakage

We love double-duty things, and this tip falls firmly into that category. "If you have a baby who sleeps long and hard, a maxi pad in the diaper is a great solution to soaked sheets and jammies," says Annie Ory, a certified life coach.

Not comfortable with that approach? That's OK. There are also lots of highly absorbant nighttime diapers now available from Huggies, Pampers, Seventh Generation and more.

Sterilizing is easier than you think

Sterilizing all the baby doodads (you know: Bottles, pacis and more) can be time-consuming if you do it the old-fashioned way in a pot with water. But guess what? It can be so much easier — and you don't need a pricey home sterilizer. Instead, toss everything in your dishwasher (sans soap) and run it on a short, hot cycle.

Universal love

New Parents

2013-07-31T13:23:00.003-07:00

You've survived 9 months of pregnancy. You've made it through the excitement of labor and delivery, and now you're ready to head home and begin life with your baby. Once home, though, you frantically realize you have no idea what you're doing!

Brushing up on these tips can help first-time parents feel confident about caring for a newborn in no time.

Getting Help After the Birth

Consider recruiting help from friends and family to get through this time, which can be very hectic and overwhelming. While in the hospital, use the expertise around you. Many hospitals have feeding specialists or lactation consultants who can help you get started nursing or bottle-feeding. In addition, nurses are a great resource to show you how to hold, burp, change, and care for your baby.

For in-home help, you might want to hire a baby nurse or a responsible neighborhood teenager to help you for a short time after the birth. Your doctor or the hospital can be good resources for finding information about in-home help, and might even be able to make a referral to home health agencies.

In addition, relatives and friends often want to help. Even if you disagree on certain things, don't dismiss their experience. But if you don't feel up to having guests or you have other concerns, don't feel guilty about placing restrictions on visitors.

Handling a Newborn

If you haven't spent a lot of time around newborns, their fragility may be intimidating. Here are a few basics to remember:

Wash your hands (or use a hand sanitizer) before handling your newborn. Young babies have not built up a strong immune system yet, so they are susceptible to infection. Make sure that everyone who handles your baby also has clean hands.
Be careful to support your baby's head and neck. Cradle the head when carrying your baby and support the head when carrying the baby upright or when you lay him or her down.
Be careful not to shake your newborn, whether in play or in frustration. Shaking that is vigorous can cause bleeding in the brain and even death. If you need to wake your infant, don't do it by shaking — instead, tickle your baby's feet or blow gently on a cheek.
Make sure your baby is securely fastened into the carrier, stroller, or car seat. Limit any activity that could be too rough or bouncy.
Remember that your newborn is not ready for rough play, such as being jiggled on the knee or thrown in the air.

Child health care tips

2013-07-31T13:20:00.001-07:00

Child Health Care Tips

Body Care

Instead of soap you can sometimes use a mixture of gram flour (besan) and milk to bathe the baby.

To massage the baby you could use

A mixture of gram flour (basen) and cream with a pinch of turmeric. Apply the mixture on the baby's body and gently rub it off.
Take a small ball of wheat dough. Apply some massage oil on it. Massage the baby with this ball by rubbing it over the baby's body. The strokes should be against the hair growth. This is an excellent remedy for removing body hair from a newborn.

A rich moisturizer can be made by melting 2 tbsp unsalted butter, 1 tbsp lanolin, 2 tsp glycerine and 3 tbsp olive or almond oil, over a double boiler. Beat well.

Boil a handful of neem leaves and basil leaves and wash your hair regularly with it to get rid of lice.

To get rid of Band-aid or ugly gray plaster marks apply some lukewarm coconut oil to the area and leave it for 15 minutes. Wash off with soap water.

To remove paint or fast colour from your skin, apply curd on the effected part. After few minutes rub and wash it off.

Dandruff Control

A mixture of 2 tbsp of curd and a few drops of honey is an excellent anti-dandruff agent when rubbed on the scalp.

Lemon juice mixed with mustard oil is an excellent cure for dandruff.

For lustrous and dandruff free hair, apply a paste of cooked channa dal and fenugreek leaves and rinse off.

To get rid of dandruff, apply a mixture of 10 gm pepper powder, 1 tsp lime juice and ½ cup milk on the scalp.

Leave it one overnight and wash off next morning.

Onion juice, when massaged on the scalp acts as a wonderful anti-dandruff agent.

Chewing gum Menace

To remove chewing gum from clothes -

Place the garment in a plastic bag and freeze it. You can then flick off the hardened gum easily.
Soak the garment in white vinegar and then wash off.
Rub the area with egg white before washing it off.

To remove the chewing gum stuck to the floor ,clean it with a little kerosene.

To remove chewing gum stuck to your hair, rub a little honey over the hair and the chewing gum will come off.

Clothes Care

To prevent colours from running, soak the garment in salt water for 10 minutes before washing it.

Nappy washing

Stains disappear if you dry the nappies on the lawn or even on a plant, perhaps the extra oxygen exhaled by the plant helps.
Half an hour of sunshine is enough to disinfect the nappies.
Ironing takes care of any further fear of germs.
If washing in a machine the temperature setting can be raised to effectively disinfect the nappies.

Stain Removers

To remove ice cream stains clean with a sponge dipped in borax solution.
Curry stains on clothes can be removed by applying white toothpaste to it and washing after two hours.
Ink stains can be removed with a slice of tomato.
Sprinkle talcum powder on ink stains before washing off with soap and water.
Ball pen ink marks can be removed easily with nail polish remover.
To remove ironing stains from garments apply a little salt over the area and wash.
Cuffs and collars, if turned inside out before being put in a washing machine, get cleaned very well.

Household Care

Pest Control

Burn dried orange peel in a corner of the house. The smoke will drive away the mosquitoes.
Turmeric powder is a good repellent for ants. Just sprinkle a line of turmeric powder to cordon off the ants.
When boiling water, boil some extra water. Pour this down your sink. This will kill cockroaches and remove their eggs.
To eliminate cockroaches, knead some wheat flour with boric acid powder and make small balls. Place them near drains and damp corners of your house.
To keep flies at bay, add a little salt and a few drops of kerosene to the water for mopping the floor.
Betel nuts kept in the corner of a cupboard will help ward off cockroaches.
Sprinkle borax powder under the paper covering book shelves and kitchen shelves to keep off silverfish.

Before placing a photograph in a frame, lightly dust it with a little talcum powder to prevent it from sticking to the frame.

Stick posters on walls with the help of toothpaste. The toothpaste can be scraped off later and does not damage the wall.

Some castor oil mixed into coconut oil prevents the latter from freezing in the winters.

Add a few drops of olive oil to the dried shoe polish and keep it overnight the polish will be as good as new the next morning.

To clean the soiled edges of books, rub with very fine sand paper.

Craft Tips

If the end of the cello tape is lost, keep it in the freezer. After few minutes take it out and you will easily be able to find the end.

A handy colour palette can be made from an old ice tray.

A little vinegar added to hardened gum makes it spread evenly

If the cap of gum bottle has become tight and cannot be removed, immerse it in a little glycerin to open it.

To ensure that the chalk doesn't rub off the slate, just spray it with some hair spray.

Chalk dipped in milk and used on brown paper gives a fantastic sheen.

When using the cutting blade make sure you have kept a wad of old newspapers below the design to give it support.

Always remember to close lids of varnish and enamel tins tightly.

In the long run small tins of varnish or enamel paints are more economical than bigger packaging.

Once a varnish tin is opened a wasteful skin begins to form on top, because of which always store the tins upside down as this makes sure that the skin forms at the bottom of the tin and therefore doesn't cause problem in usage.

The golden rule for brushes for varnishing is always to buy the best quality brushes. You don't want to waste time and effort of having to stop constantly to fish out stray bristles.

Keep a separate set of brushes for use in varnish as once used in varnish they are not good for use in any other medium.

Never use damp brushes for varnishing. Always dry the brushes properly after having washed them.

Sharpen scissors against the neck of a glass bottle.

Sharpen a sewing machine needle by running the machine on sandpaper.

Before painting terracotta pieces, soak them overnight. Once dry they will absorb paint better and the paint will not chip off easily.

New born 2

2013-07-30T09:06:00.002-07:00

Pay attention at your hospital or birthing center when the nurses teach you how to wrap

your baby up in a tight blanket burrito, otherwise known asswaddling. Swaddling soothes

cranky newborns because it reminds them of being back inside your womb.

New born 2

baby care - new born 1

2013-07-30T08:41:00.002-07:00

The alien, squawky cries, the bizarre umbilical stump, the bright orange poop—it's amazing

how intimidating a few pounds of newborn baby can be. And since babies don't come with

manuals, we've put together some tried-and-true baby-care tips from Parents Connect

members who have "been there, stressed out about that"!

New born baby care 1