How to boost your baby's intelligence

Hi friends!!! Today we will speak on an interesting topic of how to boost your baby’s intellect.

·       ·        "There is a correlation between the number of words a child hears as a baby and his verbal IQ," says Lise Eliot, Ph.D., author of What's Going On in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life. The more you talk to him, the richer a vocabulary he'll develop. Keep your subjects simple, because he thinks in concrete terms. Like don’t talk of abstract things but visible things like toy, towel, blanket, etc.

·      ·        Reading stories together helps you forge an emotional bond with your child and helps her learn too. "Your baby begins to grasp the basics of literacy from your reading sessions -- that there are letters and words on the pages and that you read from left to right," says Linda Acredolo, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis. And the pictures will allow your child to see things she otherwise might not be able to visualize. I would advise to get picture alphabet books and read them during the day time. Keep separate fairy tale story books for naptime.

·        Use sign language to communicate with your baby before he ever speaks. You'll be lending his intelligence a helping hand too: "Scientific data show that sign language has a positive effect on IQ and language development," Dr. Acredolo says. According to a study conducted at the University of California, Davis, babies who learned about 20 signs talked earlier and had higher IQs than those who didn't.

·        Kids who were breastfed as babies outperform their formula-fed peers on mental-development tests, Dr. Eliot says. And the longer babies breastfeed during the first year, the higher their IQ tends to be. Still, if you choose formula, don't fret. Studies have found that the ultimate IQ difference is just a few points, on average.

·        There is a philosophy that kids need entertainment around the clock, but they need some downtime to amuse themselves, play with toys, or crawl.

Its really an exhaustive job to be a constant 24 hour mother round the clock. But the more, you entertain and innovate in educating your baby, the more beneficial will your child be in the long run.

You can google and get good educational activity books, blocks or toys for your baby on internet sites like firstcry.com, snapdeal.com, amazon.in, fisher-price.com, littleones.com and many others.

Enjoy parenting and have a great time!!!!

When to send your child to playgroup???

Hi friends! Hope you are doing very well, learning new art of parenting every day. Today, we will talk of an interesting topic on whether or not to send child to a play group. While there is a hot debate in India, regarding the government new resolution to raise the age limit to nursery and having uniform age during admissions, still as a parent let’s today understand the advantages of playgroup.

While there are many schools that take kids as early as 1.5 years old in playgroup, I would suggest please don’t send children at this tender age to school. They won’t understand or enjoy the socializing at school. They need your protective environment. Once the kid reaches the milestone of 2 years old, you can definitely think of sending your child to playgroup.

Advantages of Playgroup

·        This is first step of your child to survive without you being around at school. Although, initially it would be an emotional drain for you as well as your child, but steadily the child will understand and learn to do without you.

·        This is a valuable learning experience for your child to learn adjusting himself into a new environment and learn new things everyday.

·        At a playgroup or nursery school your child will have a much wider variety of play equipment than you can provide at home. She will have to learn how to share toys and take turns which is all character building.

·        As well as increasing your child’s independence and confidence and having the companionship of other children and learning to play properly with others, your child will have the chance to make relationships with other adults. This will help her learn that other people as well as her parents can be trusted and liked.

·        This will help mothers to get some quality time for themselves.

·        Child learns to open up and improve upon his communication skills at playgroup.

·        Exposure to school will help your child to get trained using the loo for urine and potty

·        Friendly atmosphere starts building into the child’s system and slowly he starts getting adjusting to his new found environment.

·        Parents of nuclear family fail to inculcate social skills in their children. Playgroup helps to bridge the gap and help in overall development of your child.

Signs of Potty training in children

Hi friends! Hope you all are doing well. Today we will talk of an interesting topic on signs that show child is ready to get potty trained.  Before, we start off the discussion; please note that every child is different. So no two children can achieve the milestone in the same way. Stop comparing them.

What are the signs that suggest your child is ready to get potty trained.

Physical signs

·        Child is well coordinated enough to walk, and even run, steadily.

·        Urinates a fair amount at one time.

·        Has regular, well-formed uniform bowel movements at relatively predictable times.

·        Has "dry" periods of at least two hours or during naps, which shows that his bladder muscles are developed enough to hold urine.

Behavioral signs

·        Can sit down quietly in one position for two to five minutes.

·        Can pull his pants up and down.

·        Dislikes the feeling of wearing a wet or dirty diaper.

·        Shows interest in others' bathroom habits (wants to watch you go to the bathroom or wear underwear).

·        Gives a physical or verbal sign when he's having a bowel movement such as grunting, squatting, or telling you.

·        Demonstrates a desire for independence.

·        Takes pride in his accomplishments.

·        Isn't resistant to learning to use the toilet.

·        Is in a generally cooperative stage, not a negative or contrary one.

Cognitive signs

·        Understands the physical signals that mean he has to go and can tell you before it happens or even hold it until he has time to get to the potty.

·        Can follow simple instructions, such as "go get the toy."

·        Understands the value of putting things where they belong.

·        Reciprocates for words like potty and urine.

Remember that each kid will achieve this physical, behaviorial and cognitive development at various time frames. Be patient with your child. Rome was not built in a day. Allow him to use diapers, if he shows signs of not being yet ready for potty training. Don’t worry, your loved little one will not go to his college in diapers. (Pun intended). Chillax. My grandmom used to stay everything has its own set time. So, keep trying. Don’t force or scold your child if he isn’t showing keen interest to potty trained. Allow him to be his own way, till he himself feels now it’s time for him to learn the new art of using the potty.

Constipation in toddlers

Hi friends! Hope my blog is helping you in some way or the other to handle your little sweethearts better. Today we will talk on an important topic, constipation in toddlers.

Constipation is very tricky and needs to be handled with utmost care. As you all know toddlers are in their own fantasy world. So always be calm and composed to deal with any problem.

Constipation in a toddler can be caused by:

·         not having enough fiber intake

·         not drinking enough fluids

·         drinking too much milk and not enough water

·         lack of exercise and activity

·         being anxious about potty training that can make your child "hold in" her poo, which can make constipation worse. If your toddler is constipated, it will be painful for her to do a poo. This pain means that she might hold back even more and a vicious circle begins.

Remedies

·        Boosting your child’s fibre intake will make her bowel movements easier. Offer foods such as wholemeal bread and cereal, and fruits and vegetables such as prunes, figs, apricots, plums, peas, broccoli, sweetcorn, potatoes and baked beans. However, don’t overload your toddler with high-fibre foods – they shouldn’t form the bulk of her diet until she is at least five. Too much fibre for a toddler could give her diarrhoea.

·        Add fruit juices in their diet. I would advise to make fresh juices at home than offer canned ones.Give your child plenty of fluids to help moisten her poo. Keep offering water at regular intervals.

·        Constipation may make your toddler sluggish and low in energy. But encouraging her to be active and lively will help her ease a little. Play with her or you can even dance with her.

·        If your child is constipated while you are potty training her, stop potty training her for a while. Remember, may be your child is not ready to get potty trained. So chill and go easy. If you push too hard, your child can pick up on this and refuse to go to the toilet, making the problem much worse.

·        If your child’s constipation still doesn’t improve, your doctor may prescribe a mild laxative, probably lactulose, to soften her poo.

Enjoy Parenting and have a great time!!!

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ENJOY!!!! AND HAVE FUN!!!!

Weaning food recipes for babies

Today, we will talk of an interesting topic on weaning food recipes for babies. But, before that let’s first try to understand the difference between gagging and choking.

Gagging is noisy. Scary, but the best thing you can do is watch carefully, encourage your child not to panic, and to simply gag the offending food back up - and give smaller/smoother food next time. It's a learning experience for her and you. Choking, on the other hand, is when the airway is *completely* blocked. It's silent, and a choking person may well lose consciousness. This is an emergency. Take home message: if your child is still making noise, it's the time to stay calm and teach, not the time to call an ambulance.

Keep in mind that just 'cause a child's teeth haven't broken through yet, doesn't mean they're not there. If you doubt it, stick your finger in there. If and when your child chomps down on it, you'll know the teeth are there! They're just below the gum surface, and can be used to chew.  Every baby develops on their own timetable.  Always start with smoother solids to babies. It’s only once they start getting settled, you can introduce coarse solids in due course of time. Don’t be in a hurry, things will all fall in place. Every baby’s development skills are different than the others, so go with the flow. Don’t keep comparing milestones of one baby with the other. My daughter took time to start eating rice and dal, unlike others.

Recipes - weaning food that can be prepared at home.

1)  Sago Kanji

Sago-25g

Roasted Bengal gram-25g

Jaggery-25 g

Water (cups)- 2

Method

Roast sago and powder Bengal gram. Add sago to 11/2 cups of boiling water and cook. Prepare a batter of Bengal gram powder in ½ cup of water and pour it into the cooked sago, stirring continuously. Cook for 10 minutes. Add jiggery and cook for five minutes again.

2)  Porridge of wheat dalia

Wheat dalia- 50g

Sugar-15g

Milk-50g

Method- Roast wheat dalia and add to the boiling water, cook until it is soft, then add sugar and boiled milk.

3)  Bajra Infant Food

Bajra-50g

Green Gram dal-3 teaspoons

Ground nuts-2 teaspoons

Til seeds-1 teaspoon

Sugar or salt to taste

Method-Clean and dehusk bajra roast ad powder bajra, dal, ground nut and til seeds. Mix, all the powders together with skim milk powder and store in an air tight container. Whenever required mix the powder with boiling water or milk to desired thickness. Add salt or sugar.

4)  Rice Kheer

Rice- 50g

Sugar-10g

Milk-250ml

Method- Clean, pick and wash rice. Boil milk add rice and cook till semi-solid. Add sugar.

5)  Porridge of ragi (red millets)

Clean ragi and soak in clean water for 4-5 hrs. Tie it in clean cloth for 24 hours. Dry it in hot sun for 4-6 hrs. Roast and powder it and store it in air-tight container. Whenever required, take 1 tsp of podwer and 11/2 cupof water and cook till it becomes soft. Add milk to get desired thickness and add sugar for taste.

6)  Khichdi of rice, dal and vegetables

Rice-50g

Dal (lentil)- 25g

Vegetables small pieces as desired

Oil- 3 tsp

Salt to taste

Method- Clean and wash rice and lentil separately and cut vegetables small. To boiling water add a piece of onion, ginger, bay leaf, cardamom and rice and cook until half cooked. Then add lentil and vegetables and add salt, cook until soft. You can even pressure cook and make khichdi.

7)  Rice Kanjee

Rice- 100g

Water- 400 to 500 m

Salt- 1.5 to 2 gm

Method- Clean and pick and wash rice. Add rice to water and cook till soft, adding salt.

8)  Rava Kanjee

Rava-25g

Milk-250 ml

Water-1/2 cup

Method- Roast rava and keep it aside. You can even roast it in 1 tsp of ghee. Then add water and cook it a bit. Then pour milk and allow it to cook. Once cooked, add sugar as desired. You can add elaichi (cardamom) powder to give a great flavor.

Enjoy parenting and have a great time!!!!

Speech and Language milestones in babies

Today, we will talk about an interesting topic of language and speech development in babies. As a new parent, you’re probably paying close attention to important milestones in your child’s life: the first tooth, the first time your baby grasps an object, the first time he or she rolls over, sits up, crawls and walks.  But do you know when your child should start speaking and developing language skills?  You can make sure your child is on track by watching out for some basic communication milestones, too.

Early signs of communication occur during the first few days of life, when an infant learns that crying will bring food, comfort and companionship.  The newborn also begins to recognize important sounds in his or her environment, such as a parent’s voice.

As they grow, infants start to sort out the speech sounds that compose the words of their language.  An infant is able to make more controlled sounds as the jaw, lips, tongue and voice mature.  This begins in the first few months of life when infants start “cooing,” a quiet, pleasant, repetitive vocalization.

By 6 months of age, an infant usually babbles or produces repetitive syllables such as “ba-ba-ba” or “da-da-da.”  Babbling soon turns into a type of nonsense speech that often has the tone and rhythm of human speech but does not contain real words.  By the end of their first year, most children are able to say a few simple words.  Children quickly learn the power of those words as others respond to them.

By 18 months of age, most children can say 8 to 10 words.  By age 2, most are putting words together into short phrases or sentences, such as “more milk.”  Children continue to learn that words symbolize or represent objects, actions and thoughts.  They also engage in representational or pretend play.  Between ages 3 and 5, a child’s vocabulary increases, and he or she begins to master the rules of language, or grammar.

Birth to 5 Months

·         Reacts to loud sounds.

·         Turns head toward a sound source.

·         Watches your face when you speak.

6 to 11 Months

·         Understands “no-no.”

·         Babbles (says “ba-ba-ba” or “ma-ma-ma”).

·         Tries to communicate by actions or gestures.

12 to 17 Months

·         Uses several words meaningfully.

·         Attends to a book or toy for about 2 minutes.

·         Follows simple directions accompanied by gestures.

·         Answers simple questions nonverbally.

18 to 23 Months

·         Enjoys being read to.

·         Points to simple body parts such as “nose.”

·         Says 8 to 10 words (pronunciation may still be unclear).

It’s important as parents, to keep communicating with your babies. Remember, the more you show interest and babble with your babies, faster the baby can speed up the process of language development.

Enjoy Parenting and have a great time!!!