Just a friendly reminder to make time for those you love.  If you feel like you are spending a lot of time doing things away from family, if is work or play, try and take the time to be with family.

Everyone needs quality time with loved ones, especially children.  They need to know how important they are and how much they are loved.  This will help them in the long run.  So even if it isn’t a lot of time, try to set time aside to spend with your family.

It seems like younger and younger children are getting TV’s in their bedrooms.  I have even seen toddlers with them.  It has always been a personal decision that Alex will not have a TV in his room, but after doing a little reading yesterday I am really happy that I made that decision.

By nature toddlers are active.  They want to run, jump, play and just be active.  But it is even more than just playing.  If a child watches a lot of TV that also means they are learning less conversations skills.

There is also a link in childhood obesity and TV/video games.  Children are spending their time inside in front of a screen instead of being active.

I am not saying to never let your child watch TV, but maybe try to limit the amount of time spent in front of it, and keeping it out of the bedroom.

If you are going through a divorce, or are just upset with someone watch what you are saying about this person while you are in front of your child/children.  Especially if this person is someone that your child cares about.

It hurts your child to hear bad things said about someone that they love and it also may put them in an awkward position.  If you are going through a divorce it is even more important to keep your feelings to yourself about it.  It is not the fault of the child, and he/she needs to know that even though the parents are going to be separated, that they are still loved by mommy and daddy.

Divorce is hard as it is, and it is so important that the children don’t view it as their fault.  Children have a way of blaming everything on themselves.  It will help greatly if you and your ex can keep things peaceful.

Don’t nag your child for information, and when you have your child there shouldn’t be any bad talking about your ex.  The fact is that this child still needs love, and that they are already going to be thinking that it is something that they did.

Make sure you are telling your child how much you both love him/her, and that will never change.

Lead paint is very dangerous, and children should be checked at least once a year.  This is esspecailly for children are in the age of putting things or their hands in their mouth.

This is something that you can’t be too cautious about, so check recalls often, and have a good recollection of your children’s toys so you can recognize them.

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!

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.

I have done different things with Alex to get him to brush his teeth.  We started brushing before he even had teeth, just to get him used to the pattern and the feel.

Now I help him brush his teeth after meals (if we are home) but at least in the morning and before bed.   By help him I mean I do it for him enough to sing a song or two just to make sure they are getting cleaned.  After I do that, I let him brush them too, while I am brushing my own teeth.

I like this pattern because he is getting a since of independance, but they are still getting cleaned.  Also, he likes to sing songs and to brush our teeth together.

If you are having a hard time with your toddler wanting to brush their teeth try this out and see how it works for you.

I will start this by saying that you should ask your child’s doctor before giving your child ANY supplement. There is such a thing as too much of certain vitamins.

Giving children too much Vitamin A or Zinc could actually have negative affects, by damaging the immune system. Children should not be getting more than 100% a day.

Good vitamins for your child to have are Calcium and Fiber. A good way to judge this with Fiber is to take your child’s age then add 5 for the amount of Fiber your child should have in a day.

With Calcium your child, ages birth to 3 years should be getting about 500 mg (a cup and a half of milk). Ages 4 to 8 should be getting about 800 (2 and a half cups of milk). Ages 9 to 18 should be getting about 1,300 mg (4 and a half cups of milk).