Speech in the First Year
A child needs enough (but not too much) of quality stimuli for a proper healthy development. The most important factors for the development of proper speech are our voice, our speech, a warm approach, positive feedback, a calm environment and a feeling of security.
Every healthy child wants to talk. We lead by example and he will try to imitate us. That’s why we should talk to our children as much as possible. Our voice should be calm, warm and distinctive; with a natural intonation. An infant doesn’t care what we are saying, but how we are saying. He perceives [...] Continue Reading…
Speaking is Hard Work
Speaking is hard work – motivate your child! Child starts to speak about the 12th month of life. At first it uses one word or often one syllable expression that is relevant to current situation (bye bye, wee) or particular person (mo mo, da da, na na) or animal sounds (like woof, meow…) or thing (neee nooh, brrrum).
These expressions are not just names they can also represent full sentences or they are relevant to situation in context where the meaning isn’t certain. When a child says “ brrum” it can mean “look I have a car” or “ I [...] Continue Reading…
Sleep, Baby, Sleep…
The first four months of a baby’s life are also called the „fourth trimester“, since the baby is adapting to the world outside of his mothers womb in which he had everything he needed. Now he has to learn to satisfy his needs through adults. That’s why a baby’s sleep patterns are not getting stabilized and there is no „wrong“ or „right“ at this point yet.
Parents usually have a crib ready before the birth of their child (later in the article you’ll find out which one is the best). But parents cannot know ahead of time how their little [...] Continue Reading…
Upbringing of Your Child
With authority or democratically? A never ending question. Upbringing is a complicated and difficult process and it’s almost impossible to choose one way over the other.
A child whose parent tell him constantly off or give him always orders without any explanation; a child that have no spontaneous attachment to anyone (especially to its mother) or has no security… That kind of child will definitely lack self confidence and will only act his life out. The world around it will seem cold, strange or hostile and it will have no understanding why!
Upbringing with authority
When constantly applying authority a child will [...] Continue Reading…
What Temper Does Your Child Have?
Is your child „full of beans“or could your little one be livelier? How come that even siblings have such a different character? Child’s temper is affected by many factors his genetic inheritance, influence of the environment and also self-discipline.
Sangvinistic child’s temper
Sangvinistic child is happy, lively and always on the go. It is not able to concentrate, is very superficial. It takes its strength and energy from anything rhythmical. From its heart beat, its blood flow even form breathing. These children need this regularity for their games and even life. They are usually agile. They change their interests very quickly; they [...] Continue Reading…
First Words
A child starts talking around his first birthday. The development of speech is influenced by innate dispositions, environment, but also by whether or not the child uses a pacifier.
At first, a child uses one word or one-syllable expressions about certain situations or people.
Interjections are replaced with verbs. When a child says: „toot“, it can mean: „look, I have a car“, or „I see a car“, etc. He learns to use „mine“ or „my“, understands the difference between „me“ and „you“, and reacts appropriately to „yes“ and „no“.
Tips for Parents
We should always articulate and not use „baby talk“.
We should talk [...] Continue Reading…
Fish Should Be Included in Your Child’s Diet
It’s well known that in coastal countries parents include fish in their child’s diet from an early age, basically as one of the first solid foods introduced at around their sixth of seventh month.
Until recently, people were very careful in including fish into a child’s diet, even freshwater fish, which has been a popular ingredient in many cookbooks for hundreds of years.
Fish, just like cow milk and nuts, is one of the most common allergens. This is the reason why many parents were reluctant in including fish in the diet of the smallest children. Studies have shown however, that [...] Continue Reading…
Independence – How to Lead a Child into It
Is your toddler in a stage that it wants to do many thing by itself? Its “I do it” is a daily routine? Believe that is absolutely natural.
Child is becoming aware if its own personality, his own self. It only means one thing for parents – to armor themselves with patience and encourage their offspring, anyway they can, in their independence. Of course it is not an easy task….
Most parent find this period rather difficult to deal with because they have a feeling that their little one is still too little. They think that their child cannot be able [...] Continue Reading…
Weaning Your Breastfed Baby
It’s often a hard decision to terminate nursing. Especially if a mother has enough milk and would like to make time for other activities, but her child demands breast milk even when he’s close to his second birthday.
It’s not true that breastfeeding after the first year is unnecessary and that the milk is weak and less nutritious. Breast milk can cover up to 30% of the child’s protein and energy needs even after his first birthday.
If a mother still decides to wean her baby off earlier, its her decision and should be respected.
Weaning
Weaning demands time and patience. Fast weaning [...] Continue Reading…
Introducing Solid Foods
When a child reaches its first half a year, he is becoming more skillful. He can now openly show what he likes and what he doesn’t like. A child that is breastfed benefits from breast milk and long-term breastfeeding (up to two years or longer) is always recommended.
Starting with solid foods
Whether your baby is breastfed or not, we should usually start adding solid foods or additional liquids after his sixth month of age. We can start earlier if he is hungry, but never do so before his 17th week of age. Waiting to add other liquids or solid foods [...] Continue Reading…