Tips for New Parents

Tips for New Parents - Few changes in life are more profound than becoming a new parent. This advice can help you feel more confident as you care for your newborn baby.

When you become a new parent, your focus switches almost entirely to your newborn baby. As you delight in having a baby and watching your newborn change from day to day, you may also find the transition to mom or dad incredibly stressful. Many new parents don’t feel like they have the skills or resources to care for a baby and to adjust to many life changes all at once.

And make no mistake — your life will change. “Your life is turned upside down,” says Hannah Chow-Johnson, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago. The first month in particular can be a new experience for you on many levels.

However, you can sail through this new phase of life with greater ease by preparing properly to care for a baby.

Getting Ready for Your Newborn Baby

Before the baby is born, it’s helpful to take baby care classes to educate yourself about what it’s like to have and care for a baby. Your doctor should also review with you everything you need to know — from feeding and bathing an infant to soothing a fussy little one. Books on newborn care can be helpful resources too, but be sure to double-check any advice you get from books with your doctor and ask any questions you have along the way.

Gaining Confidence as a Parent

It may seem overwhelming at first, but you can definitely handle the transition to caring for a newborn. Even if you’re brand-new to parenting, have confidence in your instincts — most of the time they’ll be right, Dr. Chow-Johnson says. “Most parents are very attuned to their infants and are able to tell if something is wrong,” she explains.

If you’re still unsure or afraid of doing the wrong thing, just call your doctor’s office or ask an experienced parent. “But remember, most of the time the ‘wrong thing’ doesn't cause harm,” Chow-Johnson says. “Babies are tougher than they look. They’re small, need a lot of care, and need help, but their bodies are strong.”

It’s also important for new parents not to try to take on more than they can realistically handle. “Don't try to do it all,” Chow-Johnson says. “Don't try to keep the house perfect, and don't be afraid to say ‘no’ to visitors who want to see your newborn — it takes time to adjust.” Concentrate first on taking care of the baby and your family.

When you can, it’s critical to rely on the help of others as well. “If you have supportive family around, they can be very beneficial,” says Cindy Cooke, a certified family nurse practicioner and region director for the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. “If you live far from family, build a support system of neighbors, church friends, co-workers, or others.”

By being a loving parent, following your instincts, and asking for help when you need it, you’ll do just fine. “As time goes on, you’ll become more confident with experience,” Chow-Johnson says.

Finding Time to Focus on You

It’s also very important for new parents to focus on themselves as a couple whenever the opportunity arises. After all, you’re a team now, and it’s a lot easier to take care of a baby with two parents working in sync.

“Be open to even small moments together,” Cooke says. “A walk around the neighborhood, a swing on the back porch, or a shared cup of coffee or tea at the end of the day together can be so beneficial.” Remember to have adult conversations, which is especially important for stay-at-home parents to feel connected to the outside world. “Enjoy each other and remember to continue to court each other like you did when you first met,” Cooke adds. “This will build your relationship as a couple and as parents on this new journey.”

Taking time for yourselves also means getting your rest. “New parents put a great deal of pressure on themselves to do everything right, but baby’s needs at first are very basic,” says Cooke. “New parents can handle things much better if they’re rested and sharing responsibilities.” Taking care of yourself and getting enough sleep are some of the most important things you can do to be a better parent. With time and practice, everything else will just fall into place, too. ( everydayhealth.com )

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More than 1 in 10 parents skip, delay kids' shots

More than 1 in 10 parents skip, delay kids' shots — By age 6, children should have vaccinations against 14 diseases, in at least two dozen separate doses, the U.S. government advises. More than 1 in 10 parents reject that, refusing some shots or delaying others mainly because of safety concerns, a national survey found.

Worries about vaccine safety were common even among parents whose kids were fully vaccinated: 1 in 5 among that group said they think delaying shots is safer than the recommended schedule. The results suggest that more than 2 million infants and young children may not be fully protected against preventable diseases, including some that can be deadly or disabling.

The nationally representative online survey of roughly 750 parents of kids age 6 and younger was done last year and results were released online Monday in the journal Pediatrics. They are in line with a larger federal survey released last month, showing that at least 1 in 10 toddlers and preschoolers lagged on vaccines that included chickenpox and the measles-mumps-rubella combination shots. That survey, also for 2010, included more than 17,000 households.

In this Sept. 29, 2011 photo, Kandace O'Neill poses with her 7-month-old daughter, in Lakeville, Minn. O'Neill's views on child vaccinations are shared by many parents who don't follow federal vaccine advice. Her 5-year-old son has had no vaccinations since he turned 1 and the baby girl has received none of the recommended shots. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

The Pediatrics survey follows other recent news raising concerns among infectious disease specialists, including a study showing the whooping cough vaccine seems to lose much of its effectiveness after just three years — faster than doctors have thought — perhaps contributing to recent major outbreaks, most notably in California. Also, data reported in September show that a record number of kindergartners' parents in California last year used a personal belief exemption to avoid vaccination requirements.

Kandace O'Neill is a Lakeville, Minn., mom whose views are shared by many parents who don't follow federal vaccine advice. Her 5-year-old son has had no vaccinations since he turned 1, and her 7-month-old daughter has received none of the recommended shots.

"I have to make sure that my child is healthy, and I do not want to put medications in my child that I think are going to harm them," said O'Neill, who was not involved in the survey appearing in Pediatrics.

O'Neill said she's not an extreme anti-vaccine zealot. She just thinks that parents — not doctors or schools — should make medical decisions for their children.

Study author Dr. Amanda Dempsey, a pediatrician and researcher at the University of Michigan, said vaccine skepticism is fueled by erroneous information online and media reports that sensationalize misconceptions. These include the persistent belief among some parents about an autism-vaccine link despite scientific evidence to the contrary and the debunking of one of the most publicized studies that first fueled vaccine fears years ago.

Some parents also dismiss the severity of vaccine-preventable diseases because they've never seen a child seriously ill with those illnesses.

But vaccine-preventable diseases including flu and whooping cough can be deadly, especially in infants, said Dr. Buddy Creech, associate director of Vanderbilt University's Vaccine Research Program. Creech has two school-aged children who are fully vaccinated and a newborn he said will be given all the recommended vaccinations.

"From being someone in the trenches seeing children die every year from influenza and its complications ... I would not do a single thing to risk the health of my kids," he said. Creech has served on advisory boards for vaccine makers and has accepted their research money.

Dempsey, the survey's lead author, has been a paid adviser to Merck on issues regarding a vaccine for older children but said that company made no contributions to the survey research.

Knowledge Networks conducted the survey, which had an error margin of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Dr. Larry Pickering, an infectious disease specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the new survey is important and well done, and indicates that doctors need to do a better job of communicating vaccine information to patients.

Pickering said he supports the idea of parents being actively involved in medical care for their children, but cautioned: "If they're going to do that, they need to be fully informed about the risks and benefits of vaccines and need to obtain the information from a valid source."

The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians are among groups that provide online vaccine information based on medical research. ( Associated Press )

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Children need a firm parent before they need a friend

Children need a firm parent before they need a friend - We all know where a "laissez-faire attitude" to parenting leads, writes Michael Deacon.

Frank Field, the Coalition's poverty adviser, wants school pupils to be given classes in parenting. A needless scheme, you may argue, given that most girls today are already seasoned mothers by the age of 13, but for the few with no experience of raising children, I think it sounds a great idea.

The main problem, Mr Field says, is that parents today have no grasp of "tough love". They fail to "set boundaries for [their] children". I once interviewed a psychologist about this subject – Dr Aric Sigman, author of The Spoilt Generation – and he said much the same. "There seems to be a confusion between being a parent and being a friend," he said. "People want to endear themselves to their children. In our liberal age, it's thought to be much better to have a laissez-faire attitude to children doing what they want than to be authoritarian. But this is a highly destructive trend."

I imagine most of us have witnessed examples of what this "laissez-faire attitude" leads to. I'll list a few of mine. Take the children flinging Frisbees around a National Trust garden, too busy decapitating flowers and trampling beds to notice the signs saying it isn't a play area. "Yes," murmured one of their parents fondly, looking on, "it's so good for them to let off steam."

Frank Field wants school pupils to be given classes in parenting

Then there was the mother who politely tried to coax her five-year-old son off his seat and on to her lap because the bus they were travelling on was crowded, and several elderly passengers were having to stand. The boy said no, so that was that.

Tame stuff, of course, next to the boys who broke a window of a woman's house by throwing stones at it. The woman shouted at them and they fled. The next day the police called on her. Not to ask her to describe the vandals, but because the parents had reported her for intimidating their children.

It isn't just parents who are lenient with unruly children, though. One woman I know saw a boy hurling eggs at a neighbour's house, so she went to the police. After looking into it, the officer said he couldn't do anything because the boy "has social deprivation in his background". The woman was puzzled. "He doesn't know his father," explained the officer.

...

Among the most popular Christmas stocking-fillers these days is the humorous anthology of dim things people say: Dumb Britain, Colemanballs and so on. This year there's one called Universally Challenged: Quiz Contestants Say the Funniest Things. Here's an example from it. Q: "The Ashmolean in Oxford was England's first what?" A: "Indian restaurant."

I enjoy these books but really I'm in no position to laugh at other people's unworldliness. When I was a teenager, I saw a newspaper advert in which a zoo invited the public to adopt an animal. Immediately, I rang up. "Excuse me," I said, "but is it true you want people to adopt your animals?"

"That's right, sir," said the voice at the other end.

"But how on earth," I said indignantly, "can you expect an ordinary, untrained member of the public to raise a baby baboon or armadillo or zebra in their own home?"

...

Today is my 30th birthday, but I should probably lay off the cake and champagne. Last week I had a health assessment. It revealed that my body is 20 per cent fat. For a man my age and height (6ft), the figure should be 12 per cent, or 18 at most.

Human beings are 70 per cent water. Which means, I suppose, that my body is 90 per cent a mixture of fat and water, plus 10 per cent other, unspecified matter.

I'm basically a supermarket own-brand sausage with eyes. ( telegraph.co.uk )

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Half of parents will take children out of school for holiday

Half of parents will take children out of school for holiday - More than half of parents say they intend to take out their children from school in order to go on holiday, according to a survey.

The survey of 1,000 parents underlined how many felt that the large premium charged by travel companies for flights and hotels during holidays has forced them to take their children away during term time.

As many as 52 per cent of the parents asked said they were thinking of taking their children out of school this summer to save money on a holiday, and 15 per cent of parents had already done so. The survey was undertaken on behalf of gurgle.com, a parenting website.

The survey comes a few months after a separate piece of research suggested that package holidays to sunny locations during the Easter half-term were considerably more expensive than the week before and after.

Parents who take their children on holiday during school term risk a fine from their local authority

One holiday was 269 per cent more expensive, and on average a family of four was paying £1,132 more for their break away during half term, than if they took their children out of school and went two weeks later.

Travel companies say the reason why holidays are less expensive during term time is a simple case of supply and demand, with fewer people wanting or able to travel at these times they are able to lower the price. During the summer holiday demand shoots up, enabling them to put up their prices.

Nifa McLaughlin, editor of gurgle.com, said: “Taking children on holiday can be stressful at the best of times, but when that’s coupled with tighter budgets, it’s no wonder that parents are contemplating taking their kids out of school to save a few pennies and avoid the crowds.

“Holidays abroad are now more of a luxury than ever before, and getting out of the country is going to continue to be expensive for families."

Local authorities brought in a fines system in 2004 ago in an attempt to stop this practice. They can now issue offending parents with a £100 penalty, and some have been known to report the child to social services for truancy, even when the parents have warned the school about what they intend to do.

Nearly 21,000 penalty notices for unauthorised absences were issued in England in the school year 2009-10, a 17 per cent increase from two years previously. ( telegraph.co.uk )

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Inactive Parents Equals Inactive Kids

Inactive Parents Equals Inactive Kids - Parents are the key to alleviating obesity among Latino kids, according to a study.

The research, published in this month’s journal Pediatrics, measured core muscle activity in 80 Hispanic parents and 85 of their preschool-aged children. For one week, the participants who were mostly mothers and first-generation Mexican immigrants wore a small device that registered muscle movement every 10 seconds.

Sitting at a desk with your legs crossed and one foot wiggling would constitute mild physical activity. Leisurely walking would be considered moderate activity. Reclining and doing little more than breathing is sedentary.

Parents spent about 80 percent of their day being sedentary, and their children who were between 3 and 5 years old spent nearly 70 percent of their day that way.

Parents spent about 80 percent of their day being sedentary, and their children who were between 3 and 5 years old spent nearly 70 percent of their day that way, a study says.

“We were shocked,” said Shari Barkin, principal researcher from Vanderbilt University Kennedy Center, and a mother of three. “We expected children in this age group to be constantly moving but they were almost as sedentary as their parents.”

The children spent about four hours each day around media, said Barkin.

But she and her team are working on a more detailed, seven-year study that would account for how families spent their time during the day.

Children of immigrants tend to be more sedentary than children born in the U.S. Among Hispanics, 22 percent were physically inactive compared to 9 percent of non-Hispanic white children, according to other research.

Parents are the key to alleviating obesity among Latino kids

That inactivity may help explain why obesity among U.S. preschool age children has doubled in nearly 30 years with a high prevalence among Latinos, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey administered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The problem is so extreme in the Hispanic population, the U.S. Dept of Agriculture recently gave a five-year, $3.75 million grant to the research arm of a community group at Cal State University Long Beach to find ways to combat the epidemic.

Approximately 30 percent of children are considered overweight and about 15 percent obese. Among Mexican-Americans, 39 percent are overweight and 24 percent are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Low-income, preschool Hispanic children had the second highest obesity rates (18 percent) in the nation, after American Indian/Alaska Native preschoolers (21 percent).

The result is that related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure are showing up in children.

Changing what the kids eat is only part of the obesity puzzle. Instead, parents need to take kids out to playgrounds or for walks, said Barkin.

“Parents really matter … that has huge implications,” said Barkin. ( foxnews.com )

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