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:

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As you may know, colic is a somewhat mysterious condition that there are no medications or tried and true treatments for it. But, if your baby is suffering colic, so are you and you are desperate to find some relief. You and your baby need to try Gripe Water, as you’ll likely find it the solution to colic that you have been looking for. When you try Gripe Water you’ll likely think you’ve happened upon a miracle, but really, it’s nothing all that special, it just happens to be what you and your baby need most right now!

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When something is not 100% right with our babies, we want to find the cause as quickly as possible. But pointing the finger inappropriately can mean we miss out on the real cause. It’s long been assumed that the iron content in baby formula is responsible for constipation. After all, even we grownups can experience this problem when taking iron supplements. However, a study was done to determine if it were true of baby formulas. Half of the babies were fed with low iron, half with regular, and as it was a blind study, only the professionals conducting the research knew which babies received which formula. Constipation was reported at the same rate in both groups, proving that for most children, the formula didn’t make the difference. What is known for sure is that iron is essential for growing babies, so to blame the constipation on the iron levels in the formula, and to subsequently discontinue formula as the baby’s main source of nutrition would be counterproductive.

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Most parents would love to be able to boast about their children reaching their milestones on time but the reality is, milestone charts are just indicators of what you can expect from your child. A little variation either way does not mean your child isn’t healthy. Some babies skip the crawling stage altogether and practically run before they can walk! Others seem like they’ll never be able to sit up unattended, usually if they’re a bit more ‘roly poly’ than their siblings or other children.

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Time for baby’s manicure. Fortunately, it’s not going to include nail polish or it would be all over the floor in no time. For some babies, the sight of fingernail clippers sends them into a panic, perhaps because it might have hurt the first time. But it needn’t be so. There are several things you can do to avoid any trauma.

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Babies are, by most accounts, cute and cuddly creatures that seem simple to please: feed, clothe and shelter them, allow them sleep and that’s all there is to it. Not so! Even as newborns, babies are very complex and finely tuned individuals who, thanks to nature, come with their own set of gadgetry and no real instruction manual to speak of.

One of the more interesting observations in a newborn is the way they seem to be scared of falling for no apparent reason. It seems there is no justification for a baby to have such a fear, especially considering that they’ve likely not experienced falling in the first place. But Mother Nature equips human beings with an amazing set of reflexes designed to protect us from all manner of possibilities.

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It’s often easy to miss the signs of teething. You may simply think your baby is having “an off day” and is grizzly and grumbly for no apparent reason. This is especially true with first babies as new Moms don’t always know what to look for or expect.

Your baby’s teeth develop in the gums before they are even born. During her early months, whitish spots with a pearl like appearance may show on the gums. These are not teeth, are quite harmless and will vanish.

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It’s difficult trying to come up with unique baby gifts. Short of frankincense and mhyrr, how can you really make an impression? Easy! Just by looking around and by being a little creative.

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There’s nothing like baby’s first gummy smile to brighten up a room. On second thoughts, there’s nothing like the appearance of baby’s first tooth to bring forth applause from parents, siblings and grandparents. Teething is a bittersweet affair; one minute we’re celebrating the arrival of teeth, the next we’re trying to cope with the discomfort and misery of the process.

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Debate continues as to whether teething causes diarrhea or not. What’s clear is, many parents report loose stools while their baby’s teeth are erupting. This could be a) coincidental, due to the fact that the level of immunity they received from being in the mother’s womb drops off and the child’s immune system must take over, at around the same time as teething starts, and b) when teething begins, all manner of things are put into the mouth, germs and all. Whatever the reason, diarrhea is a pain in the butt.

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