Encouraging your baby to try different types of food is really a great way to get them to enjoy healthy food, which is important.  The best way to do this if you are ready for jar food is to use a food grinder, this way your baby can eat whatever you are eating.  This is something I have talked about in previous posts, because I think it is important.

Babies like to eat what the people around them are eating, toddlers are the same way.  If your baby is used to eating fruits and veggies, fish and grilled chicken (just an example) they develop a taste for this.

In my case, Alex actually makes requests for asparagus, peppers and squash when we are grocery shopping.  He is allowed sweets, as I think it is important not to cut it out completely because it can cause them to only want them.  Overall Alex would choose fruit over candy, and eats veggies as a snack!

It is something to try to start out with when they are babies so they develop a taste for it, and it really can be worth it!

If at all possible I would get some type of food processor, the bullet is a good example.  This way your baby can eat the same foods you are and they are also getting more of the nutrition.  Not only is it better for your baby but it is also cheaper.

You will be making food anyway, and if you making food for your baby chances are that you will start to eat healthier.  In most of the processors you can put meat in them as well.  Give it a try, and if you like it save those jars of food for other times!

There are so many flavored beverages out there that water is getting less appealing to children. Try to stay away from soda as long as you can, just for a little extra advice

As far as getting your child to drink water there are a couple of different options that I would suggest trying:

*Dilute the 100% juice with water. Do about half of each, or less of the juice if you can get by with it, this way the child gets the flavor but also gets the water.

*Go to the store and let your child pick out there very own insulated water bottle that way the water will stay cold and the child gets to have a "cool" cup!

*If you aren't for adding juice to water you could just put some drops of lemon juice in with the water to give it just a hint of flavor.

Make sure that you have the water very cool though, who wants to drink warm water on a hot day?

If your child is still not wanting to stay hydrated offer fruit snacks that have a lot of water in them, such as melons or grapes.

There was a report on the news this morning saying that childhood obesity has tripled in the last 10 years.  This is very scary, and there are little things that us as parents can do to help bring that down.

For starters we can help our children eat right.  The meals we prepare at home and also when we eat out.  We need to help our children make smart choices when it comes to food selection.  If you have to do fast food, choose the fruit rather than fries and milk or juice instead of soda.

Also a big factor is the one that kids are much less active these days because they are playing video games and doing more indoor things.  Try to do as much activity as you can, because children are very active by nature!

Try to encourage your children to experience different foods. With a wide variety of foods to choose from you are also helping to have the learn to try new things.

There are so many things that you can get a toddler to eat that a young child will not (if they have never tried them before) such as beats, or even olives.

I think it is wonderful to try to give new foods to your children, don't always expect that it will stay that way. I think every child goes through the faze of chicken fingers, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Give them what they like, just try to through in some new things too!

This is really important, especially with bottle fed babies.  If you are just propping your baby up with the bottle in their mouth this will increase the possibility of them choking.

Also if you are putting your baby to bed with a bottle, this could increase the chances of ear infections later on in their life.

The best reason that I can think of to hold your baby while have their bottle, is the bonding time that you get.  As your baby looks into your eyes, you know that they are thanking you just by the way the look at you.  They are priceless times that you can't get back, so why not hold them a little bit longer!

It can be hard for the father to feel like they are getting the bonding time with your new baby that you are getting. He may even feel a little left out. I'm going to give you some tips to help with this.

The first and most obvious one is to pump when you have extra milk. This way you can bottle it and this will allow the daddy to do some of the feedings too!

Another way is to let your husband do the burping. This way the feeding is more of a team effort. You do the feeding and he does the burping. He will be able to rub your baby's back for about 5 minutes or so to try and get a burp, but it will also be a great bonding time for them. This will also allow you to get some rest.

The last one is when you start your baby on solids, involve dad. It could just be that you are so used to doing all of the feedings that you don't think about having that extra help.

Some dads really do want to be involved, but just don't know how to going about asking. They may feel like you are the only one that can do the feedings since you supply the milk, so it may be up to you to get that ball rolling, and in the end everyone will be happier!

This is an interesting question. I don't think it could be the difference in a life threating diseases, but it is better for you baby.

The reason that I say this is because when you have organic products, there aren't all of those chemicals that are going into them. When you have organic products they are generally grown with none of those pesticides or other toxins that tend to stay on the product, weather it be food or clothing.

Buying organic is a great way to keep the toxins away from your family, but also help protect our environment. What a great deal!

Just as it is unhealthy for you to smoke while you are pregnant it is also unhealthy to smoke while breastfeeding.  It isn't something that we hear about all of the time, but some of the harms of this would be:

• increased chest problems
• increased allergies
• increased asthma
• increased respiratory disease
• increased risk that they are going to hook their child
• the child will be predetermined to be addicted to cigarettes and smoking

Another factor that needs to be considered are things like the patch, these things can actually put just as much nicotine into your baby's system.

If you have quit smoking while you were pregnant, try to not to go back to it.  I know this is easier said than done, but why not give it a try?

If you feel like you just can't quit, then when you smoke do it away try to stay outside while smoking, try to smoke as few cigarettes as possible, and wait until after you feed your baby to smoke.

This is a pretty common concern, because of seafood allergies and the mercury that is in seafood.

If there are no seafood allergies in the family you are probably safe to let your child eat some seafood at one-year of age.  If there are some allergies in the family your should probably wait until your child is 3-years-old.

Try not to discourage seafood altogether because it is very good for you, with a lot of nutrition. Eating seafood low in mercury twice a week is a good way to get the nutrition without worrying.

Shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish are among 5 of  the more commonly eaten and contain less mercury.