Baby Articles

Does My Baby Have Colic?

Bob — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:00:06 +0000

Colic can be one of the most frustrating things for a parent. Experts aren’t entirely certain what it is that causes colic, and there is no guaranteed cure for colic. In fact, it is thought that colic may actually be caused by different things for different babies. There are, however, some ways that you can ease your baby’s colic. Recognizing that your baby has colic is the very first step in trying to help your baby with colic, and to reduce the frequency and duration of crying that your baby will experience.

Colic is defined as crying for three or more hours, three or more days each week. The most obvious way, then, to know that your baby has colic is if he or she is crying that long and that frequently. Continuous crying for long durations is the defining characteristic of colic. Often, the crying that accompanies colic will be worse in the evening, although a baby with colic may experience crying at any time during the day. When your baby is crying continuously for long durations, and you have ruled out all of the other possible causes for your baby’s crying such as tiredness, pain, illness, or overstimulation, then you can know that your baby has colic.

Your health care provider can help you to know if your baby has colic. In addition, your health care provider may be able to help you identify ways that you can help your baby with colic. The good news, medically speaking, is that colic does not seem to be harmful to a baby. Also, the fact of the matter is that colic will generally pass by the time your baby is four months old or so.

The real challenge of having a baby with colic is the anxiety and the stressful atmosphere that having a constantly crying baby can cause in a home. It is important, then, that each family member have some sort of a break from time to time to help them cope with the constant crying.

Basic Crib Safety

Bob — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:00:35 +0000

Much of your baby’s first two years of life are going to be spent in her crib. Like any parent, you want to make sure that this important piece of baby furniture is a cozy, secure, and comforting place for your baby to be. Most important of all, you want to make sure that it’s a safe place for your baby to be. Most cribs being manufactured currently follow these safety guidelines, but check them anyway, just to be sure.

Make especially sure to check them if you are considering buying a used crib:

Make sure there are no cut outs on the side panels. These can snag clothing or limbs as baby gets old enough to reach them.
If the crib has corner posts, there should be level with the height of the end panels. The exception is canopy style cribs, in which case they are high enough that baby’s clothing will not get tangled on them.
Slats should be no wider than 2 3/8 inches apart. If the openings between slats are wider than that, baby could get his head stuck.
Ensure that the mattress fits snugly into the crib. You should not be able to fit 2 fingers between the mattress and the crib walls.
Make sure children cannot drop the drop sides. There should be a locking mechanism.
Ensure that the height of the crib sides is at least 26 inches above the mattress when the sides are at their full height, and at least 9 inches above the mattress when the sides are lowered.

In addition, here are some things you should check periodically regardless of what kind of crib you use:

Make sure baby’s mattress is firm. Never use soft mattresses for babies.
Check your baby’s crib frequently for chips, splinters, peeling paint, and loose parts. Fix problems immediately.
Make sure that your baby’s crib is away from window dressings, blind strings and other objects that baby could pull into the crib with him.
Make sure that the crib is at the right height for your baby’s development. Most cribs have 3 height settings. The highest is fine until baby can sit up. When baby starts trying to sit, move to the middle setting. When baby starts trying to stand, move to the lowest setting.

When Your Baby’s Breathing Pauses During Sleep

Bob — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:00:25 +0000

One of the most frightening things for a parent is to be listening to your baby sleeping blissfully via the baby monitor, and then hear it just stop altogether.

You expect the breathing to pick back up right away, but it doesn’t. In fact, it can take as much as 15 seconds before your baby starts breathing again. In parent years, that seems like an eternity. Those can be the 15 scariest seconds of your parenthood.

The good news is that your baby’s little pause is fairly common. In fact, doctors have even come up with a name for this phenomenon: “Periodic Breathing.” Periodic breathing is just something that happens up until about 6 months of age. (After 6 months of age, it’s not especially common and you should talk to your baby’s doctor if she’s still doing it.)

According to experts, a baby’s breathing can follow this kind of a patter as much as five percent of the time during sleep. These kinds of breathing pauses are more common in babies that were born prematurely, and they may experience it as much as ten percent of the time during sleep.

If you’re worried that your baby has stopped breathing, you can touch her to see whether or not she responds. If she doesn’t respond, she may be experiencing apnea, and you should immediately respond.

If your baby isn’t breathing and you have someone else nearby, perform infant CPR immediately while the other personal calls 911. If no one else is around, perform infant CPR for two minutes and then call for help. Pick back up with CPR until help arrives.

Most of the time, irregular breathing isn’t a life-threatening event. Still, you need to make sure you’re paying attention to whether your baby is experiencing periodic breathing or whether he’s in distress. If you’re concerned about his breathing patterns, talk to your doctor.

Easing Your Baby to Sleep

Bob — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:00:10 +0000

When you have a baby, you accept the fact that you’re going to lose some sleep. It’s just part of the deal. Newborn babies in particular can only sleep two to four hours between feedings. At times, frustrated parents may feel helpless when it comes to getting their little one to sleep. While there is no single sure fire way to guarantee that baby will pass out and stay out, there are some things you can do to help ease your baby into sleep and keep her there.

In most cases, the best thing parents can do for their baby’s sleep (and their own, by extension) is to establish familiar routines before bed time. What you do, exactly, is not nearly as important as the doing the same thing night after night.

Here are some examples of routines that will help ease your baby to sleep:

Read a story. There are countless baby books, and many of them, curiously enough, are bedtime themed. We wonder if they may have been written by sleepy parents. Good Night, Moon and The Going to Bed Book are excellent examples of good bed time reading for baby.
Give baby a bath. A nice, warm bath is often the best thing for fussy babies, and babies, like anyone else, are better able to relax when they feel nice and clean. Of course, some babies are stimulated by baths, so judge for yourself whether baths are part of a good bed time routine for you, or whether they’re better earlier in the day.
Massage. There are several good books and web sites dedicated to baby massage techniques. The long and short of it, though, is that even if you don’t have the technique down, a gentle rub down is relaxing for anyone, and babies in particular.
Rock your baby. A good glider or rocking chair quickly becomes indispensable for baby parents. Rocking babies to sleep has worked for farther back than anyone can remember.
Sing a song to baby. Of course, the songs you sing at bedtime should be soothing, and it helps if you keep the bedtime tune selection down to 1-3 songs. This helps baby associate those songs with going to sleep.

Remember, when it comes to bed time routines, it’s not as important what you do as that you do the same things consistently. It’s best to choose two or three things, which you will do every night before bed time. While this won’t guarantee that baby will sleep through the night yet, it will lay a foundation for baby, and help her to associate bed time with relaxing and sleeping.

Nap Time Tips

Bob — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 12:00:39 +0000

New parents quickly learn to look forward to nap time. Depending on your baby’s temperament, it might seem like the only quiet time you have all day. Even if you have a generally calm baby, chances are you are ready for a break by the time baby nods off to catch a light snooze.

Of course, naps are very important for babies, largely because they aren’t yet able to sleep for eight hour stretches like adults can. They need to eat every 2-3 hours, to be changed as needed, and can easily get too cold or too hot. You baby is dependent on you to meet all of her needs for the first few months of her life, and most of them for years to come.

Recent studies have shown that babies actually learn while they are sleeping. It is likely that baby’s brain development is dependent on sleeping most of the day, making naps that much more important.

So, what are the best ways to go about helping your baby to nap? There’s no shortage on good advice on this subject, but here are some of the best tips we’ve found:

Help you baby to nap by laying her down when she first shows signs of being tired. Sometimes when we wait, baby catches a second wind and could miss a nap.
Different babies will nap differently. But, whether your baby naps two or three times per day, try to be consistent about nap times and procedures. Whether you lay him down and allow him to self soothe, nurse him to sleep, rock him to sleep, or whatever, it’s best if you can do it the same way every day. This helps establish routine.
For younger babies, let them wake up from the naps when they are ready. As baby gets older, you can put naps on a schedule, but in general, younger babies should be allowed to nap as long as they will sleep.
Place baby in a dark place during nap times. Not only will this help her get to sleep, but it may also help her to differentiate between day and night, moving her towards sleeping better at night.
Swaddle your baby for nap time. Newborns and infants love the feeling of being swaddled snuggly in a blanket, as this replicates the secure feeling of the womb.