Please Wait...
M
Momsup Editor published in General, Parenting

Bonding Time With Your Newborn

Bonding is the attachment that develops between you and your newborn. It is the feeling that compels you to shower them with lots of affection, care, and love! To some parents, bonding time may start immediately after birth or within the first few days. For some other parents, it may take a while for the bonding to happen. Nevertheless, you should take your time to enjoy your parenthood journey with your little one.

Researchers in the past thought that it was important to establish a bond right away. In recent years, it has been discovered that bonding can take place over time. So parents who adopt kids later in their childhood or those who get separated from their newborns immediately after birth are also capable of developing a close, affectionate and loving relationship.

Ways of bonding
The parent-child bond continues to grow each day through caregiving. Your baby might be cuddly and cute, but they are still a new person that you have to bond with in order to get to know them. There is no known formula with magic that works. We, however, know of a few things that are helpful in the bonding process.
• Play with your baby every day. They may not be able to play with toys at this age, however, the cuddling, smiling and cooing will go a long way!
• Breastfeed. It lets out some hormones in the body that encourage feelings of love and attachment between you and your little one. Breastfeeding will also relax you.
• Have a lot of close-up face time. Give them a smile every now and then; smile back when they smile first. Soon, this will turn into some special kind of conversation with them. When you coo, they might also coo back!
• Initiate and carry along some kind of conversation with them throughout the day. Talk or sing to them while looking into their eyes. Explain what you are doing, feeling and thinking.
• Have some cuddle time with lot of contact. Such human touch will soothe both your baby and you, so hold and stroke them gently.
• Read a colorful book to them while cuddling.
• Carry them in a front carrier or even a sling. Looking down at them to make eye contact, inhaling their scent and feeling their warmth will help the two of you to bond.
• If it happens that your baby has to stay in intensive care, request help to hold and touch them once in a while.

Tread easy with yourself as becoming a new parent can prove to be exhausting. During a period known as baby blues, moms may feel overwhelmed, stressed and unhappy. If you went through a tough delivery, take some recovery time then concentrate on bonding later on. There should be no rush in your parenting journey.

0
M
Momsup Editor published in General, Parenting

Surprise Your Kid With Creative Meal

Most parents have become so health conscious that they try to give their kids the most nutritive and healthy meals. Of course, healthy eating is very important to stay healthy and to live long. However, in as much as every parent wants the best for their kids, it isn’t exactly easy to cultivate this healthy lifestyle in children. For instance, it’s not an easy task to keep kids away from junks, unhealthy snacks or to oblige them to finish their vegetables. Well, this is quite understandable because food represents much more than minerals and vitamins. The truth is that keeping nourishment aside, food can also be fun, a treat or even a learning opportunity. That said, here are a few tricks to surprising your kids with healthy and creative meals.

• Serve dinner for breakfast
Sometimes, you can surprise your kids with a healthy meal by swapping breakfast with dinner. This is highly advisable in a situation where you have leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. Of course, the dinner needs to be healthy and balanced. Moreover, you can always also make fresh breakfast with items that are ideally recommended for dinner. For instance, if your kids love pizza a lot, you could inculcate it into their breakfast, while making sure that you add lots of healthy vegetables or fruits to it.

• Involve the kids in cooking
Once in a while, you can as well involve your kids in cooking. The rational here is that most kids will likely eat what is made by them. This idea is however highly applicable to kids who are picky eaters. The best way to do this is to give the kids an opportunity, maybe once in a week, to plan and make a meal. Even though this could be tedious, you can be rest assured that your kids will learn to eat some of the healthiest foods made by them.

• Allow junk food once in a while
Another way of encouraging your kids to eat healthy meals is to say yes to junk once in a while. We all can’t argue the fact that chocolates are yummy and that chips complement sandwich nicely. After all, even parents eat junk sometimes, so what more of kids? Therefore, even though it is good to offer your kids healthy choices regularly, it won’t hurt anyone if you relax once in a while. The truth is that forbidding your kids from certain foods only makes them to be more interested in those foods.

• Learn to play with food
Playing with food is also another great way of surprising your kids with healthy meals. The best way to achieve this is by not taking meal times too seriously. There are actually many ways of playing with meals, but you just need to keep exploring the different options that interest your kids. For example, you could arrange your food in unique shapes to keep the kids interested in them. Besides, you could as well come up with creative names for meals that will intrigue your kids and make them develop an interest in meals they would ordinarily not enjoy.

0
M
Momsup Editor published in Health (0-12 mo), Parenting

G6PD And Foods To Avoid

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, mostly known as the G6PD enzyme, is component of a cycle that helps in the metabolism of glucose. Serum G6PD levels are monitored with the help of a G6PD test which helps in the determination of deficiency of this enzyme in the body.

G6PD deficiency is actually a genetically transmitted disease which is carried through the X chromosome and is therefore most dominantly found in the male population of the society. Deficiency of this enzyme affects the RBC membrane and its stability, which ultimately leads the RBC’s to be destroyed by oxidizing agents.

G6PD deficiency is usually characterized by an abnormality in the pulse rate, darker colored urine, fatigue, fast breathing. These symptoms can also exaggerate due to the consumption or utilization of a number of food or other medications such as antibiotic, antimalarial drugs etc.

Due to the deficiency of the G6PD enzyme there are a number of factors that should be kept in mind in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle in a G6PD deficient patient. Special attention should be given to the diet.

The food given to a G6PD deficient patient should be such that it should not result in the formation of free radicals that ultimately damage the red blood cells or hemolysis. The diet given to these patients should contain antioxidants, consumption of whole grains need to be increased and a variety of vitamins should be consumed from diet instead of the supplements.

Usually, G6PD deficient patients are provided a list of foods to avoid. Vitamin K in excessive amount can result in the damage to red blood cells in such patients, and similarly Vitamin C in large amounts can also cause trouble.Th erefore, patients should consult their doctors before consumption of any additional vitamin supplements.

Additionally, patients should not consume fava or broad beans at any cost. Mothers of G6PD deficient babies are also restricted from consuming these beans during breast feeding.Othe r herbs such as chuan lian and san tze chze are prohibited to be consumed in G6PD deficient patients. Ginger has also been suspected to trigger jaundice in such patients and therefore it is recommended to not consume it.

There are certain chemical that have also been reported to cause hemolysis in G6PD deficient patients, these chemicals include naphthalene and aniline dyes, other food colors that consisted of a reddish orange food coloring agents.

0
M
Momsup Editor published in Education, Parenting

Preparing Your Child For Preschool

Most parents find it hard to contain their joy when their kids are about to start entering playgroups / nurseries / kindergartens. Most of them consider it a milestone as they will clearly miss their babies. Well, as exciting and interesting as this may sound, many toddlers face a challenging time adapting to the lifestyle. Hence, it is the duty of parents to prepare their kids for this great journey. Here are a few tips to preparing your kids:

  1. Let your child have an experience away from you
    A great way of preparing your child for preschool is to let him have an experience away from you. This can be achieved by enrolling your child in other preschool activities such as cognitive development classes, swimming lessons or even story time at the library. Such preschool activities prepare kids to learn to take instructions from someone else other than their parents. Moreover, they also learn to stay away from their parents for a few hours.
  2. Encourage self-care and independence
    Preschool life could be challenging as kids are often assigned to complete a number of tasks by their teachers. However, when you teach children to be independent and be able to take care of themselves, it helps them to master the ability to handle many tasks in school.
  3. Start teaching your kids at home
    It is your duty as a parent to make your children interested in learning. However, you need to make it fun and relaxing for them. For instance, you can point out letters and signs while reading to your toddler instead of just drilling him with the ABCs. Bear in mind that once a child cultivates the habit of learning at home, he or she is more likely to adapt easily in the preschool.
  4. Figure out the logistics before time
    Above all, it is imperative to figure out the logistics ahead of time. For example, before your child starts preschool, you should find out about things like bell times, pick up procedures, parking procedures as well as a unique code for when your child will be picked up by someone else. That said, remember to tell your child how much you love him whenever you drop him off at the preschool. Moreover, you should also remind him that you will be right back to pick him up later in the day. Each child is different, and while some children adapt pretty quickly to life in school, others need more time. Be sure to provide patience and assurance to your child so that he/she can build confidence, learn to be independent and handle preschool times well!
0
M
Momsup Editor published in Parenting, Parenting

Dealing With Child’s Behaviour

The child’s negative behavior in ages 3-4 years can occur due to several reasons. Most of the time, the reason for challenging behavior is frustration, boredom, hunger, overexcitement or tiredness.

How parents can deal with child’s challenging behavior?
Dealing with your child’s behavior is extremely important if it’s affecting you or your child.
• Start practicing things which are right for your child and the entire family. Children are great observers, if you practice things which you know are wrong, it won’t work for your child as well.
• Avoid giving up in finding solutions for challenging behavior. Ask for extra assistance and support from other parents, your friends, partner, counselor or others.
• Be consistent in your behavior as it gets confusing for your child if you change your behavior randomly. Everyone in close association with your child should behave in the same way.
• Avoid overreacting to your child’s annoying behavior. Staying calm makes your child more comfortable. It will allow your child to enjoy other things with you. Try talking to a counselor, partner or friend on how to cope up.
• Start having conversations with your child as it allows them to understand what you want and why you want them to behave as such. Encouraging your child to talk about their feelings, makes them feel less frustrated and more attached to the parents.
• Appreciating your child makes them feel good. It boosts up their confidence and self-esteem. Show your appreciation by giving them attention, smile, and hugs.
• You can praise your child for good behavior by spending some extra time with them or making their favorite meals. You can also take them to the places they love.
• Avoid hitting your child as your behavior will make them aggressive and they will assume that smacking someone is part of one’s behavior.
• Lower your voice instead of shouting at them as this will make them more frustrated and aggressive.

Which things can result in your child’s challenging behaviour?
• Sudden Lifestyle changes
• If parents are going through the difficult phase, children are the first one to notice
• Avoid blaming your child for your own problems
• Your child might show tantrums in order to seek attention from the parents. Try showing them affection when they behave appropriately
• Hormonal mood swings
• Bullying or some problematic situations at school

Learn to diffuse such situations where a child starts behaving mischievously. Try talking to your child and listening to their issues which helps them to stay calm. You can encourage your child on how to cope up with issues around them at school or at home. Showing affection towards your child makes them a positive person with good behavior.

0
M
Momsup Editor published in Growth (3-6 yr), Parenting

Your Child At 3 Years 1 Month

It is essential to be aware of your child’s growth and development, especially during the first years. It is during this time your baby experiences vital growth physically, emotionally and mentally.
Here’s what to know about the development of your 3 years, 1 month old baby:

0
M
Momsup Editor published in Expecting, Pregnancy Weekly

Week 40

At 40 weeks you are about to reach the end of your pregnancy journey. The baby is ready to reach to the world anytime soon. At forty weeks you are done with offering nourishment and holding your baby for the nine months.

0
M
Momsup Editor published in Expecting, Pregnancy Weekly

Week 39

This week is one of the last stretches of your entire pregnancy journey. The baby is known as a full term at this stage as the baby is fully developed. The baby is just waiting for the perfect moment to make an entry into this world. Many changes are still occurring within the baby and the mother’s body. When you are at week 39, you have completed the three weeks of the ninth month.

0
M
Momsup Editor published in Expecting, Pregnancy Weekly

Week 38

After reaching the 38th week of pregnancy, you are about to reach the full-term phase where the baby is fully grown. You feel ready to give birth to a child. It is the third trimester of pregnancy i.e. 8 months and 2 weeks.

0
M
Momsup Editor published in Expecting, Pregnancy Weekly

Week 37

With the beginning of the 37th week, you have definitely endured an accomplishment by reaching near the due date. With every passing day, you are getting closer to the due date. The baby at 37th week is considered as at-term so be ready to deliver the baby anytime now. You and your baby will experience many changes during this week in order to get ready for the delivery and labor.

0
M
Momsup Editor published in Expecting, Pregnancy Weekly

Week 36

When you reach week 36, you have officially entered the last phase of your pregnancy journey. You are just one month away from delivering the baby. The baby is almost ready to enter the world, it turns chubby and pink within the belly. They only have a few things remaining in order to finish up with the development.

0
M
Momsup Editor published in Expecting, Pregnancy Weekly

Week 35

While you reach week 35, you feel exhausted as the baby bump feels quite heavy making you feel uncomfortable during sleep and while performing other activities. You’ll feel anxious and excited at the same time during this stage. You are in eight months of gestation and you are just one month away from delivering the bundle of joy.

0