Kids

The first few weeks with your baby will seem nothing more than chaotic and emotionally volatile. It will take about a month for both the mother and the baby to find and fit into a comfortable routine. By this time you would have learnt how many naps he has during the day and their approximate duration. You will know how often the baby needs a feed and at what intervals. You will have an idea of how many times they wake up at night. The baby will learn that you are the chief caregiver, and that you will feed him, clean him and comfort him when he cries. Depending on the way you interact and react to the baby, they will expect you to be talkative, quite, upset, clam or irritated.
Babies will also be developing their own personalities and will be learning things from you. If your behavior is not what the baby expected in a particular situation he will get upset and cry because there is a sudden unexpected change in behavior. Babies measure their worth by the response of their caregivers. So make sure you explicitly demonstrate to your baby that he is very special. As you feed, change, bath, clean and talk to your baby, they will look attentively at your face, observing all the changes in your expression as you speak. During our socialization process we have learnt that, we should speak to babies in an exaggerated manner so that, they can understand what we are saying and learn from it.As a result, they will concentrate on your face as it is mobile, expressive and changes as you speak. It is from this interaction with you that the baby will learn to emote, speak and smile. This will form the basis for this interaction with the rest of society. Interact honestly with your baby. If you are getting angry, upset or irritated with your baby, it is better to express it than sending them confusing signals of being happy one minute and upset the next. If you think this is becoming a serious problem and you cannot seem to handle it alone, then seek help from your family or your doctor. Physical contact is essential for the baby to feel safe and secure. Physical contact encourages trust, which is basis to form other social relationships.

As the baby learns that if he smiles, you will pay more attention to him, he will do so more often. During the first month they only have a sense of time, they know that is they smile you will respond. When they are about six weeks old they will smile because they recognize you as an individual. At about the same time they learn that they can make noises and the sound that they hear from outside can be looked at. Once they discover this they will begin to turn towards external sound regularly. At the end of the second month, your baby will begin ‘cooing’ in response to your interaction with them. When you talk, they will ‘coo’. Once they realize that they can coo, they will coo about everything that is happening around them, irrespective of your presence.

Babies will slowly but surely learn to control their movements from the time they are a month old. Even at this age they will try to support their head for a very short time, if held upright. When awake they keep moving their tiny hands and legs continuously trying to reach for things they can see. This is a good form of exercise as well. At this stage you can provide them with bright colored toys or toys that make pleasant noises or move. They try to look at these toys and reach for them and doing this will improve their eye-hand coordination. While doing this they realize that they can see and play with their hands as they lie on their back. So they will consciously bring their hand in their line of vision and move them about. The control over movement will increase as muscular development progresses. Your baby’s development will normally follow this path in the initial months of your life together.

Holding babies can be a puzzle for their dads who dread hurting their soft cuddly bodies and crushing them with their loving embraces. Mom’s hugs and dad’s embraces are the right of every child that enters this world and makes a new baby feel loved and cared for. The reassurance communicated by the firm and secure arms of a father and soothing touches of a mother is irreplaceable by anything else and plays an important role in the development of a child’s reactions to the world. Similarly, swaddling the baby is also an ancient way to soothe a child when mothers cannot afford to hold or hug the child and have to leave it alone for sometime while finishing other household work. Here are some useful tips for you:
The head of the infants need a firm support, as the muscles of their neck are still not strong enough to hold the head in position.
Pick the baby very gently and keep your movements slow and smooth.
Be confident and do not pick the baby when your hands are shaking for you may drop the child accidentally.
If the baby is sleepy, hold them upright against your shoulder. Rest their head against the shoulder; place one hand on their upper back and other on their bottom.
To rock the baby or talk to them, cradle them in arms while resting their little heads just above the crook of the arm and let the lower arm support the rest of their body. Use the other hand to rest their bottom and make sure that their head is a slightly raised position than the bottom.
See, if your baby really gets soothed when being swaddled or becomes more frantic. However, most babies do calm down by swaddling as they feel as if they are being held securely.
To swaddle the baby, lay them on a cotton blanket or sheet spread on a flat surface. The neck of the baby should be in line with the long edge. One side of the sheet should be passed diagonally across the baby’s shoulder and tucked under the body snugly. The arms of the baby should be free to move and sheet should not be very tight. Bring the other side across the other shoulder of the baby and tuck it under the other side of their body safely. The bottom of the baby may also be tucked under baby’s feet.
If you have tightly swaddled the baby and the little one falls asleep, keep an eye on the temperature and breathing pattern of the baby for overheating may cause a problem

The first week with the newborn baby can be quite taxing for new moms who are still weak and recuperating from the tiring and painful labor experience and are burdened with the chores of the newborn. The constant stream of friends and relatives who come in to see the new child and congratulate the parents and the need to feel dressed while entertaining them and the shyness in feeding the baby in front of them can only lead to baby blues for many couples. In such a scenario, support from partner or spouse and other friends and family can relieve the stress on the mother to a great extent and leave her free to enjoy her new delightful angel and watch their curious reactions.
Experienced moms advise to new moms that staying in a fashionable button-down gown for first two weeks and have lots of people around to help you with your chores can be a great relief. Neighbors who will help you wash and iron dirty laundry and traditions such as those prevalent in Asian counties, where mother has to do nothing for 40 days in the household, except for looking after her baby and herself, feeding the baby and having a good, healthy and nutritious diet are actually quite useful for new mothers and allow them to rest and recover well. Spouses and partners that take good care for you and are prepared to share parenting responsibilities are real gems.

For the first week, husbands should try to take as much leave from their work as possible and encourage and motivate the mum by praising her and telling her how well she is managing everything. Don’t feel jealous of your child steering attention of your wife away from you and see it as a family-bonding phase. Dad and child bonding is as important as mom-child relationship, so be ready to do your share of work for the newborn including changing diapers and bottle feeding the baby. You may help with chores such as cleaning, cooking, attending visitors and telephone calls and be supportive of your wife’s feelings. Know that she may be susceptible to mood swings temporarily and be ready to face criticizing family and friends with a ready answer to ask for their support instead of advice

Infant communications is mostly limited to crying and it is the only way that babies can attract the express attention of their parents and let them know that they need something. The art of interpreting their wails and moans and figure out why the baby is crying depends on the skills of parents. Here are some problems of cranky babies and their possible solutions:

Hunger is the most common reason for crying babies and easiest to solve too. Feeding the babies may soothe them almost instantly.
Baby wailing just after the feed may indeed be asking you to help him pass the wind. Hold him in the upright position against your shoulder for the purpose.
Babies try to attract your attention after wetting their nappies for a diaper change. Do not delay it long for it may cause nappy rash.
Babies may cry if they are feeling too hot or too cold. So, use an appropriate blanket and monitor the room temperature according to the baby’s needs.
Some mischievous naughty infant may just feel neglected, if you leave them alone for long and cry to be held. Carry them in a sling or baby carrier so that you can move about with your baby and yet get the work done.
If the babies are very tired, they might cry themselves to sleep. Massaging them can help them soothe too, in such cases. They are usually their happy self after the restful nap.
It has been observed that cranial osteopaths can gently massage baby’s head and neck to soothe them after a difficult birth experience.
Very high-pitched tones or frantic crying may mean that your baby is really ill and needs professional medical help. Go and see the doctor immediately.
Some babies do not like to come out of womb and cry incessantly because of new experiences, lights, noises and stimulations or may be precocious enough to try to do things they are still not capable of physically and cry in frustration. Such crankiness of babies usually disappears with age, maturity and development.
If the crying baby is getting on your nerves, you may need to vent out your feeling by punching a pillow, have a warm bath, talk to someone who would listen patiently to you, ask somebody to take care for the baby for a few hours and take a short break and ask advice from the doctor

The babies are born explorers and are curious to every new thing that they see, hear, taste or touch and it is a wonderful experience to study their eager eyes and ever-ending curiosity to things that have become almost a second habit with us. Many-a-times we wonder how come we don’t even acknowledge the existence of many of these things while these small eyes and hands get so excited about them that they almost burst with happiness and apprehension about every thing that crosses their path for the first time. The arrival of a train or noises of the airplanes flying above our homes are enough to fill our little boys and girls with wonder. Here are some interesting things and reactions that newborn babies and infants do and give from the very first week of their lives that you are likely to witness:
In early learning phases, the reflexes and innate survival mechanisms of the baby are the most dominant ones that you will witness.
Even a newborn baby blinks the eyes, when you flash light on them. Do not overdo it or you may hurt the little eyes.
Stroking the cheeks of newborn babies make them seek your finger that they try to suck as if to feed on it.
If you hold the baby from under their arms in upright positions and there is no hard, solid ground for them to rest their legs, they often move their legs frantically to look for the support that will eventually develop as walking skills.
Babies tend to hold everything tightly that is put in their hands from your fingers to carrots and to coins. When they become a little older, they will try to clutch on everything and put it in their mouth to taste it. One needs to pay attention that there are no small or sharp-edged things near the babies in this phase so that they won’t choke on them or hurt themselves.
A sudden noise that startles the baby will get them to shoot out their arms and legs to grasp the mom’s dress to feel secure and if unable to find it, would curl himself or herself like a ball in a fetal position.
Tracking moving things and sounds with eyes are some other reactions that kids give that indicate early learning phases of more complex and advanced skills.
Imitating your facial expression such as sticking out tongue and raising eyebrows are the favorite kid actions enjoyed by parents. Smiles and loving expressions and rude and angry expressions are all learnt from parents, so be careful how you act and react in front of your babies and toddlers