Parents Part in baby care – Part I

Soon you are going to have a baby or may be you have him already. You are happy and excited, but if you have not had much experience, you wonder whether you are going to know how to do a good job. Lately you have been listening more carefully to your friends and relatives when they talk about bringing up a child. You have begun to read articles by experts in the magazines and newspapers.

After the baby is born, the doctor and nurses will be to give you instructions too. Some times it sounds like a very complicated business. You find out all the vitamins a baby needs and all the inoculations. One mother tells you that egg should be given early because of its iron, and another says that egg should be delayed to avoid allergy. You hear that a baby is easily spoiled by being picked up too much but also that a baby must be cuddled plenty; that fairy tales make children nervous and that fairy tales are a wholesome out let.

Sleeping babies

I have been saying that if the baby who generally can go 4 hours wakes after 3 or 3 1/2 hours and seems really hungry, t is all right to feed him then. But suppose he wakes an hour or so after his last feeding. If he finished his usual bottle at his last feeding, the chances are against this being hungry again so soon. It is more likely that he has been waked by indigestion or colic.

You can try burping him again, or see whether he will be comforted by a couple of ounces of water or a pacifier. I would not be in a rush to feed him again, though you may decide to try it in a little while if nothing else works. You cannot be sure it is hunger just because a baby tries to eat his hand or starts to takes the bottle eagerly. Often a baby who is having colic will do both these things. It seems the baby himself cannot distinguish between colic pains and hunger pains. In other words, you don't always feed a baby when he cries. If he is crying at the wrong times, you have to study that the situation and perhaps discuss it with you doctor.

Parents duties and work for growing babies

There is an enormous amount of hard work in child care - preparing the proper diet, washing diapers and clothes, cleaning up messes that an infant makes with his food and that an older child makes with his play, stopping fights and drying tears, listening to stories that are hard to understand, joining in games and reading stories that are not very exciting to an adult, trudging around zoos and museums and carnivals, responding to pleas for held with homework, being slowed down in house work, yard work, and cellar work by eager helpers, going to Parent-Teacher Association meetings on tired evenings.

Childcare's needs account for a good part of the family budget, from the high rent or mortgage on a large enough house to the shoes that were out or are outgrown in no time at all. This is sure that there is lot of hard work and patience is necessary for child care.

Sleeping bay on back or stomach ?

A majority of babies seem from the beginning to be a little more comfortable going to sleep on their stomach. This is particularly true of the baby who develop colic; the pressure on the abdomen seems to partly relieve the gas pains.

Others either don't care at first or prefer sleeping on their back. There are two disadvantages to a baby sleeping on his back. If he vomits, he's more likely to choke on the vomits. Also he tends to keep his head turned toward the same side-usually toward the center of the room. This may flatten that side of his head. It won't hurt his brain and the head will gradually straighten out, but it may take a couple of years.

Baby diapers - doubts

For babies there are diaper liners, made of paper, to put in the diaper at the time of day when bowl movements are expected, to keep the diaper from becoming soiled. There are liners, made of treated cloth that dries rapidly, that are meant to keep the baby's skin from staying too wet.

Waterproof pants or " soakers " (the latter are knitted wool pants), over the diapers, area special help when you are going places with the baby. You may want to use the soakers at home, too, if washing them is not a burden. Whether you use waterproof pants at home depends on how well the baby's skin stands up. When the baby has no waterproof pants on, a lot of the urine in the diaper is absorbed into the surrounding clothing or evaporated. With waterproof pants the diapers stay much wetter and warmer, and bacteria accumulate in them. This favours the formation of ammonia and diaper rash. As long as your baby's skin is clear in the diaper region, you can use pants as much as is convenient. When there is diaper rash,leave them off. It probably helps to wash the pants with soap and water each day and hang them in the sum tokill the germs that make ammonia.

Father's Part - new born baby

The father is apt to feel particularly left out during the hospital period with his first baby. He helps to get his wife safely to the hospital, where there are dozens of people o take care of her. Then he's really alone, with nothing to do outside of working hours. He can sit in the waiting room with some old magazines and worry about how the labor is going, or he can go to his unbelievably lonely home.

A father should not be surprised if he finds that he has mixed feelings at times toward his wife and toward his baby during all the commotion of the hospital stage and after they are all home again. Most women need a great deal of support and comfort from their husbands at this time. To be able to give a lot to the baby they must receive more than usual. Partly it is practical help - with the care of the baby, with the housework. Even more it is moral support; patience, understanding, appreciation, affection. The father's job may be complicated by the fact that if his wife is tired and upset she won't have the spirit to be charming and appreciative of his efforts. In fact, she may be complaining. But if he realizes how much she needs his help and love, it will encourage him to give it any way.

Doubts about new born

Most women find that they are more anxious than usual the first few weeks at home. They worry about the baby's crying and fretful spells, suspecting that something is seriously wrong. They worry about every sneeze and every spot of rash. They tiptoe into the baby's room to see whether he is still breathing. It is probably instinctive for mothers to be overly protective at this period. I suppose it is Nature's way of being sure that the millions of new mothers throughout the world, some of whom may be immature and careless. take their new responsibility seriously. A little worrisome might be a good thing for some irresponsible types. But of course it hits hardest the very conscientious ones who need it least. Fortunately it wears off.

Get the guidance from your grand mother. A grandmother can help the mother do a good job by showing her confidence in her and fitting in with her methods as far as posible. This puts the mother in a mood to ask advice when she is in doubt.