Goo Goo Gah Gah

2009-03-05T11:05:00.001+10:00

This is one every mother, step mother and even us part time mothers can relate .. ENJOY!

Raising a stepchild

2009-01-15T21:44:00.003+10:00

Whilst this isn't strictly orientated towards babies - it is a parenting issue none-the-less.

By Raising Children Network

Around a third of Australians getting married have children from previous marriages. Step-parents may be sorting out problems from old relationships and dealing with issues with their own children, as well as coming to terms with their new children and with the many myths about blended families. Read about one stepfamily and about the challenges facing step-parents around the country.

At a glance

31% of men getting married have kids from a previous marriage; for women it's 33%.
For one third of couples in a stepfamily, the marriage is not their first.
Around one third of stepfamily couples are in a de facto relationship.

The challenges

Myths about stepfamilies

Of all parent and family types, none have more stereotypes or myths associated with them than step-parents and stepfamilies. Just think of the sugar-coated bliss of The Brady Bunch or the wicked step mother in Cinderella. Other stepfamily myths include:

A stepfamily is created instantly.
Stepfamilies can function like biological families.
All stepfamily members will, given time, love one another.
Relating to stepchildren is the same as relating to biological children.
All of the children in a stepfamily will automatically get on together.
Part-time stepfamilies where children 'visit' have it easier than full-time stepfamilies where children 'live in'.
The stepfamily is headed by a wicked stepmother or cruel stepfather.
Stepfamilies formed after the death of a partner have fewer problems than those formed after divorce or separation.
If stepchildren are treated kindly by their step-parent they will always respond well.
The couple can love one another so much that problems creating a stepfamily will be easily overcome.

Read the rest of this article @ http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/raising_a_stepchild.html

Car Seats: Rear-facing Infant Seats and Convertible Seats

2008-12-17T14:00:00.003+10:00

Speck, Shane. "How Child Car Seats Work." 04 July 2003. HowStuffWorks.com. 23 November 2008.

Rear-facing infant seats are generally suitable for babies up to 22lbs (about 10 kilograms), roughly from birth to 12 months. Although they can be fitted in the front if absolutely necessary, it is much safer to install all child car seats in the back seat of the car. This is especially important if there is a passenger side air bag in the front seat. Were anything to cause the air bag to deploy, the force of the deployment would be enough to cause serious injury to a child in the front seat. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) all children age 12 and under should ride in the back seat.

The rear-facing design of these seats provides greater protection for the baby's head, neck and spine than forward-facing seats, and it really is best to keep your baby in a rear-facing seat for as long as possible. Of course, once the child has exceeded the maximum weight of the baby seat, it no longer offers adequate protection. The same is true if your child's head has become higher than the top of the seat, when it will no longer be properly cushioned against an impact. At this point, replacement with a seat specifically designed for toddlers is necessary.

Some infant seats come with additional features that may increase safety or simply make using them more convenient. Some models have detachable bases that attach to the car, to remain in place until the seat is no longer necessary. The actual safety seat simply snaps onto the base and locks in place, allowing you to use the seat as a baby carrier. This way your baby can be carried in and out of the car without having to re-install the entire seat each time. In some models, the base may be adjusted for comfort, or to give more room for growing babies.

If you're finding it difficult to locate a seat to fit your child's height and weight then shop around - some manufacturers offer convertible seats with higher weight and height limits. A convertible seat is bigger and heavier than an infant-only seat, and can be used longer and for larger children. Once your child reaches the appropriate weight or height, a convertible seat can be turned around and, by following the manufacturer's instructions, used as a forward-facing child seat.

Infant and convertible seats are fastened into the car using the vehicle's seatbelt and/or LATCH system (discussed later in this article), and the child is secured to the seat with one of the following harness styles:

The three-point harness has straps that cross over the shoulders and fasten to a buckle near the bottom of the seat.
The five-point harness has five straps: two at the shoulders, two at the hips and one at the crotch.
The overhead shield features a padded shield that swings down around the child, similar to the restraints often found on fairground rides.
A t-shield consists of a padded t-shaped or triangular shield attached to shoulder straps. Rather than swinging over the child, this shield is attached to the front of the unit.

If you're thinking about purchasing a convertible seat rather than a dedicated rear-facing model, bear in mind that an overhead shield or t-shield may not be suitable for small children. In fact, the five-point harness is considered to be the best option because it is easily adjusted to perfectly fit your child.

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SuperBabyGuide.com :
Complete & Acclaimed Guide To Early Childhood Parenting
& Baby Care With Great Advise For How To Best Love
& Nuture Your Young Children & Family.

www.buyinfantcarseat.com

Car Seats: Why do I need a child car seat?

2008-12-17T13:55:00.004+10:00

Speck, Shane. "How Child Car Seats Work." 04 July 2003. HowStuffWorks.com. <> 23 November 2008.

When a vehicle collides with another object - a tree, a wall or another moving vehicle, for example - it is stopped suddenly by the impact. However, anything not held down inside the vehicle will keep moving, and that includes the passengers. This happens because of inertia. Inertia is an object's tendency to keep moving until something else works against this motion.

Imagine that you're coasting at a steady 50 miles per hour (80.5 kilometers per hour). Your speed and the car's speed are pretty much equal, so you feel like you and the car are moving as a single unit.

But if the car were to crash into a telephone pole, it would be obvious that your inertia and the car's were absolutely independent. The force of the pole would bring the car to an abrupt stop, but your speed would remain the same. Your face might hit the windshield, the steering wheel or the back of the seat in front of you. Your ribcage might hit the dashboard. You could even be thrown from the vehicle. Your internal organs, too, will keep moving. Your brain would be compressed towards the front of your skull, and your heart, lungs and kidneys could smash into each other or into bone. It sounds horrific, and that's why we wear seatbelts. Seatbelts are designed to hold you into the car and spread the destructive force of the impact over the more resilient parts of your body, increasing your chances of avoiding death or serious injury in a crash by up to 50 percent.

There are three basic types of child car seats, each designed for different ages (and sizes) of children:

Rear-facing infant seats and convertible seats
Forward-facing child seats
Booster seats and backless boosters

*******************************************************************

SuperBabyGuide.com :
Complete & Acclaimed Guide To Early Childhood Parenting
& Baby Care With Great Advise For How To Best Love
& Nuture Your Young Children & Family.

www.buyinfantcarseat.com

Car Seats : How Child Car Seats Work

2008-11-24T16:53:00.002+10:00

Speck, Shane. "How Child Car Seats Work." 04 July 2003. HowStuffWorks.com. <> 23 November 2008.

Most of us wouldn't even think of travelling in a car without fastening our seatbelt, and for good reason. In a crash, at just 30 miles per hour (48.3 kilometers per hour), an unrestrained passenger is thrown forward with a force thirty to sixty times their body weight. What if that unrestrained passenger were a small child? The child would almost certainly be hurled about inside the vehicle, injuring themselves and other passengers. Worse still, they're likely to be thrown from the vehicle through one of the windows.

It's not even safe to hold a child on your lap while driving. In a crash, the child could be crushed between your body and part of the interior of the car. Even if you were held in by a seatbelt the child would be pulled from your arms by the force of the collision. You simply wouldn't be able to hold on to the child, no matter how hard you tried.

The bottom line is that the safest way for children to travel by car is in a child seat that is suitable for their weight and size, and is fitted correctly. In this article, we'll examine the technology at work and find out how to choose the best child seat.

*******************************************************************

SuperBabyGuide.com :
Complete & Acclaimed Guide To Early Childhood Parenting
& Baby Care With Great Advise For How To Best Love
& Nuture Your Young Children & Family.

www.buyinfantcarseat.com

Car Seats: Fast Facts

2008-11-04T14:21:00.004+10:00

Speck, Shane. "Car Seats: Fast Facts." 21 October 2006. HowStuffWorks.com. 03 November 2008.

In a crash at just 30 miles per hour (48.3 kilometers per hour), an unrestrained passenger is thrown forward with a force 30 to 60 times their body weight.
Learn more about crash dynamics.
Seatbelts are designed to hold you into the car and spread the destructive force of the impact over the more resilient parts of your body, increasing your chances of avoiding death or serious injury in a crash by up to 50 percent.
Learn more about seatbelts.
There are three basic types of child car seats, each designed for different ages (and sizes) of children:
- Rear-facing infant seats and convertible seats
- Forward-facing car seats
- Booster seats and backless boosters
Learn more about types of car seats.
Rear-facing infant seats are generally suitable for babies up to 22 pounds (about 10 kilograms), roughly from birth to 12 months.
Learn more about rear-facing car seats.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), all children ages 12 and under should ride in the back seat.
Learn more about car seat safety.
Rear-facing car seats provide greater protection for the baby's head, neck and spine than forward-facing seats.
Learn more about rear-facing car seats.
Types of car seat harness styles:
- The three-point harness has straps that cross over the shoulders and fasten to a buckle near the bottom of the seat.
- The five-point harness has five straps: two at the shoulders, two at the hips and one at the crotch.
- The overhead shield features a padded shield that swings down around the child, similar to the restraints often found on fairground rides.
- A t-shield comprises a padded t-shaped or triangular shield attached to shoulder straps. Rather than swinging over the child, this shield is attached to the front of the unit.
Learn more about car seat harness styles.
For children older than 1 year and heavier than around 20 lbs (9.1 kg), a forward-facing seat becomes suitable.
Learn more about forward-facing car seats.
According to the NHTSA, placing a child in the back seat instead of the front seat reduces the risk of death by 27 percent, whether the car has a passenger-side airbag or not.
Learn more about car seat safety.
When a child is too big for a harnessed car seat, it's time to use a booster seat. A child is to be considered "too big" if he exceeds the manufacturer's weight limit or the top of his head is higher than the top of the seat. Usually a child will need a booster seat between the ages of four or six.
Learn more about booster seats.

Should hearing babies learn sign language?

2008-10-21T16:25:00.004+10:00

Should hearing babies learn sign language? It's a question that's been posed for some years now, and it's unlikely that the debate will be settled anytime soon. However, supporters of the practice say there may be no better way to introduce the concept of vocabulary into the life of an infant.

An Early Start

Some mothers actually begin teaching their children sign language at birth. In fact, one woman was quoted as saying that her son understood the sign for milk at the age of three weeks. While this may sound a bit far-fetched, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that signing can be helpful to babies.

Dr. Joseph Garcia is credited with the popularization of baby sign language. He's the inventor of the "Sign With Your Baby" system. Certified instructors teach the language to parents and babies nationwide.

Sign Language Promotes Other Skills

Dr. Garcia has been quoted as saying, "Signing is different than verbal language in that there's an eye connection. You must look at someone when you're signing to them." The physician believes that the majority of babies can start learning American Sign Language at six to eight months of age. In addition to language skills, ASL helps to teach them the importance of stopping, looking, and listening — habits they can carry with them throughout life.

Through the system, an 18-month-old can learn how to sign more than 150 words — a phenomenal number by any count. Usually, parents start by signing the words for eating and milk. Of course, it takes a great deal of patience for a parent to teach sign language to a baby. In fact, it may be several months after the initial lessons before the baby begins signing on his or her own.

If a sign is paired with a spoken word, chances are the signing child will actually start talking sooner than his or her counterparts. People who answer yes to the question, should hearing babies learn sign language, claim that, rather than retard speech development, ASL actually promotes it.

Should hearing babies learn sign language? It would appear that there is certainly no harm in it, and that, in fact, it can help to improve communication between parent and child. And what could be better than that?

Source: http://www.deafchildrenandsigning.com/should-hearing-babies-learn-sign-language.html

Useful websites

New Baby Nappies Checklist

2008-10-14T15:49:00.000+10:00

Baby Nappies Tips

Always have plenty. Newborns can soil up to 12 nappies a day. In a year you will need over 4000 nappy changes. Change the nappy every time the baby wets. nappy change frequency can help you understand how many nappies you need, how frequently you need to wash the cloth nappies and how much money you need to budget.

You will probably use both disposable and cloth nappies. When you decide, you should consider the cost, the environmental impact and how easy the two options are.

Cloth nappies. Can save you a lot of money, some are as easy as disposables. There are different types: fitted, flat, pre-folder or all-in-one.
Disposable nappies. Save you a lot of time, but they are more expensive, require different sizes (so you'll have problems with starage and disposal). Some disposable nappies are more natural and environmentally-friendly than others.
Wipes. Avoid wipes with fragrance. Warm water may be sufficient in the first days.
Nappy Pail. Choose a nappy pail that minimises the use of nappy bags. Consider a washable environmentally-friendly cloth nappy pail liner.
Nappy Cream. Choose a natural nappy cream that doesn't contain petroleum derivatives.
Nappy changing. Disposable nappies are the easiest to change. Ensure you have all the nappy changing products and clothing at hand before you start.
Nappy rash. It is very common that babies' skin becomes red in the nappying area, caused by bacteria. To reduce rash ensure you change the baby every time the baby wets, avoid detergents and fragrances. Consult your doctor if the rash persists.
Nappy bag. In addition to the products above, you'll need blankets, bibs, tissues, food and drink, a hat, toys and pacifier.