REMEMBER Clocks go back 2am this Sunday! CLICK HERE!

Just a reminder that clocks go back by one hour at 2am on Sunday 31st October. Click this link for some tips on how to handle it with your kids!

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Managing Your Baby's Sleep When The Clocks Go Back

This month the clocks go back by an hour and if you’ve got a baby who’s already an early waker, the thought of them getting up at 6am instead of 7am [or worse] could already be worrying you.

You might have worked very hard to get your baby sleeping through the night but the fact is that many babies are naturally early risers and for this group, the time change can be a little bit of a challenge.

Rest assured that any disruption caused by the clocks going back will be just temporary and even if you do nothing at all to change your baby’s sleep routine, they will naturally over a few days adapt to the new time.
If you do want to take some steps towards minimising the disruption to your baby’s sleep, here are some tips:

Babies:

• Two weeks before the time change, start to put your baby to bed 10 minutes later than usual, increasing by 10 minutes every other night until they are going to sleep about an hour later than their normal bed time.
• Don’t worry if at first they still wake at the same time in the morning; it often takes a few days for a new sleep pattern to establish itself.
• Keep to the same napping frequency but not necessarily the same times. i.e if your child usually wakes at 7am and naps at 10am and 2pm, put them down again around 3 hours after having woken up in the morning and after waking from the naps.
• The clocks go back in the early hours of Sunday morning. During the day before, allow your baby to have an energetic day which includes lots of fresh air and exercise.
• Parents should go to bed early and one of you be prepared to get up if your child is ready to start the day at 6am.
• Don’t force your baby to remain in the cot if they have had their usual amount of sleep and are looking wide awake.
• If in the run up to the time change, you’ve been putting your baby to bed towards 8pm, you will be able to easily put them to bed at 7pm new time. 

Toddlers: and older:

• With toddlers and nursery aged children, it may be possible to explain the time change. If they have a Gro clock, this will make things much easier for them to understand.
• Put them to bed a little later than usual the night of the time change and set the sun on the clock to come up for half an hour later than they would normally wake up. i.e. if they usually wake at 7am, set the clock to “wake up” at 6.30am new time.
• If they wake up at their usual time [which will be 6am] you should encourage them to remain in bed until the sun comes up. Don’t be too ambitious here; any longer than half an hour to wait could become a bit demoralising for your child.
• When they remain in their bed or cot until the sun appears, they should be warmly praised.
• The following day [Sunday] have another active day and then put them to bed at the new earlier bed time.
• This time set the clock for 7am new time.

Don’t allow the clocks going back to let you slip into “bad” habits. Bringing your baby into bed with you or giving a dawn milk feed to encourage your baby back to sleep may work in the short term but long term may lead to sleeping problems.

On the whole, winter time is good for babies’ sleep. The difference in light levels between day and night encourage the production of sleep hormones, as well as offering clear visual sleep clues.
Being outside during the day, even when it’s cold, is really beneficial for babies’ sleep, so do get outside and enjoy the beautiful autumn colours. And as the nights draw in, it is a lovely time for you and your baby to snuggle up and get cosy.

Clocks go back 2am on Sunday 30^th October.

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Tips on Child Proofing Your Home

Once your baby becomes mobile, your home suddenly becomes filled with potential hazards. While some safety measures are common sense, others aren't so obvious, so almost every parent has a near-miss story. Hear some of those here. Rest assured, accidents can be avoided if you know the danger areas to look for.

The stair

Falls down the stairs are one of the most common accidents toddlers have, as Carla, 32, mum to Scarlett, 3, discovered. "I hadn't fitted stair gates because Scarlett had only just started bum-shuffling," she explains. "But one day, as I was cleaning up after a messy nappy change, she shuffled along to the top of the stairs and fell down them! Fortunately she was okay, but it was a terrible shock. I learned the hard way that, when it comes to safety, you must always be one step ahead of your child's development."

Toxic substances

Keeping cleaning products and medicines securely out of your toddler's reach or under lock and key is a must. Mum Sheila had a near miss when she returned from answering the doorbell one day to find her son, Luke, 18 months, sitting with a bottle of drain unblocker. "Like most people, I kept cleaning products under the sink, not even thinking how easy it is for a toddler to get to. Thank goodness he hadn't managed to open the top, but it was definitely a reality check. Now all nasty stuff is kept higher up."

Everyday items can also be hazards, as Emma, 36, mum to Millie, 4, and Josh, 16 months, recently found out. "Josh got hold of a bottle of vitamin pills from my bedside table and managed to unscrew them. Thinking they were sweets, he started to eat a few. Luckily, they didn't contain iron, which could have been serious, and I caught him before he had too many. Now I lock such things away - you just can't be too careful."

Fire

Matches and lighters are a real danger for pre-school children, as they have the dexterity to work them but are often unaware of the dangers. Steve, 44, dad to Molly, 5, was fortunate with his daughter. "We had a barbecue, and the next day Molly brought me a box of matches she'd found. She told me they were dangerous and children shouldn't play with them. I found out later she'd learned about it when the local fire brigade visited her nursery -thank goodness they did!"

Water

One ever-present hazard is water. Scalds from bath water, kettles, irons or hot drinks are common, especially when you consider a drink made with boiling water can burn a child's skin up to 15 minutes after it's made.

Every year children die in garden ponds and pools. Sarah's daughter, Jessica, 3, nearly drowned in her pool, after Sarah went to answer the phone. "I was gone around 20 seconds but in that time, Jessica had slipped under the water. I can't describe the panic - I grabbed her. Thankfully she was okay - I don't like to think about what could have happened."

Stay aware

When it comes to child safety, you can't be too careful and it's vital to stay vigilant. Katharine, 37, mum to Flora, 3, and Holly, 6, agrees that prevention is always better than cure. "You just can't be too vigilant - I once found a Stanley knife with its blade fully extended lying on a bookshelf in the children's bedroom after my husband had been doing some DIY. When I told him, he was absolutely horrified that he could have been so careless, but anybody can make a mistake. Now I find that whenever I walk into a room, I automatically look around to check for anything that might be dangerous."

Trapped fingers

Playing with doors may seem like fun but it can lead to tiny fingers getting trapped. Kylie, mum to Connor, 2, and, Sara, 3, has taken precautions to prevent accidents. "My mum always used to say rough games end in tears, and it's true. Connor and Sara love to chase each other around the house, slamming doors to slow the other down. I can't always get there in time to stop them, so I've fitted doorstops - at least I know no one can get their fingers or toes trapped."

Learn for these mums and child proof your home as soon as baby is mobile!

For more parenting tips see our main website

POSITIVE PARENTING

Develop a Handwashing Routine

Make it easy for your little one to develop a hand washing routine!

Try these creative parenting strategies to motivate your child:

• Forget boring clear soaps or everyday soap bars - use fun, foamy or colourful soaps
• Fill the sink with bubbles when you lather up with soap.
• To make sure your child spends enough time soaping up, try counting to 20 together or singing your child's favourite song. Or, make up your own song and sing along.
• Join in on the fun - wash your hands with your child! Instead of saying, "Did you wash your hands?" try "Let's wash our hands together."
•  Kids love to "be the parent." So ask your child to show a doll or toy animal how to wash its hands and to explain why this is important.
• Coach your child through positive reinforcement. Instead of correcting or nagging, you might say, "Great job turning on the water and rinsing. Let's try it again with soap."

Don't expect your child to remember all the hand washing steps at once. Praise your child for what is done well, instead of focusing on what is done wrong. This will help to boost your child's confidence.

 

For more parenting tips click here ===> Positive Parenting

Managing Your Baby's Sleep When The Clocks Go Back

This month the clocks go back by an hour and if you’ve got a baby who’s already an early waker, the thought of them getting up at 6am instead of 7am [or worse] could already be worrying you.

You might have worked very hard to get your baby sleeping through the night but the fact is that many babies are naturally early risers and for this group, the time change can be a little bit of a challenge.

Rest assured that any disruption caused by the clocks going back will be just temporary and even if you do nothing at all to change your baby’s sleep routine, they will naturally over a few days adapt to the new time.
If you do want to take some steps towards minimising the disruption to your baby’s sleep, here are some tips:

Babies:

• Two weeks before the time change, start to put your baby to bed 10 minutes later than usual, increasing by 10 minutes every other night until they are going to sleep about an hour later than their normal bed time.
• Don’t worry if at first they still wake at the same time in the morning; it often takes a few days for a new sleep pattern to establish itself.
• Keep to the same napping frequency but not necessarily the same times. i.e if your child usually wakes at 7am and naps at 10am and 2pm, put them down again around 3 hours after having woken up in the morning and after waking from the naps.
• The clocks go back in the early hours of Sunday morning. During the day before, allow your baby to have an energetic day which includes lots of fresh air and exercise.
• Parents should go to bed early and one of you be prepared to get up if your child is ready to start the day at 6am.
• Don’t force your baby to remain in the cot if they have had their usual amount of sleep and are looking wide awake.
• If in the run up to the time change, you’ve been putting your baby to bed towards 8pm, you will be able to easily put them to bed at 7pm new time. 

Toddlers: and older:

• With toddlers and nursery aged children, it may be possible to explain the time change. If they have a Gro clock, this will make things much easier for them to understand.
• Put them to bed a little later than usual the night of the time change and set the sun on the clock to come up for half an hour later than they would normally wake up. i.e. if they usually wake at 7am, set the clock to “wake up” at 6.30am new time.
• If they wake up at their usual time [which will be 6am] you should encourage them to remain in bed until the sun comes up. Don’t be too ambitious here; any longer than half an hour to wait could become a bit demoralising for your child.
• When they remain in their bed or cot until the sun appears, they should be warmly praised.
• The following day [Sunday] have another active day and then put them to bed at the new earlier bed time.
• This time set the clock for 7am new time.

Don’t allow the clocks going back to let you slip into “bad” habits. Bringing your baby into bed with you or giving a dawn milk feed to encourage your baby back to sleep may work in the short term but long term may lead to sleeping problems.

On the whole, winter time is good for babies’ sleep. The difference in light levels between day and night encourage the production of sleep hormones, as well as offering clear visual sleep clues.
Being outside during the day, even when it’s cold, is really beneficial for babies’ sleep, so do get outside and enjoy the beautiful autumn colours. And as the nights draw in, it is a lovely time for you and your baby to snuggle up and get cosy.

Clocks go back 2am on Sunday 30^th October.

For more Positive Parenting Tips, sign up for our Newsletter
Click here ====> Positive Parenting Webiste

Or follow us on TWITTER or FACEBOOK

Thumbs and Pacifiers

Most toddlers naturally give up their thumb-sucking or pacifier habit by the time they're 2 years old. If your toddler hasn't, then you'll want to encourage him to do so as soon as possible in order to prevent orthodontic problems. A recent study at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and the Tokyo Dental College found that sucking a thumb, finger, or pacifier beyond age two increases the likelihood that a child will develop protruding front teeth or a crossbite (a narrowing of the upper jaw relative to the lower jaw).

To discourage your toddler from sucking his thumb, try to come up with creative ways of keeping his hands busy at those times of day when his thumb tends to find its way into his mouth. If, for example, your toddler is in the habit of sucking his thumb while you read him a bedtime story, give him two small toys to hold onto-one for each hand. This approach tends to be more effective than putting a bandage or a bitter substance on your child's thumb or constantly nagging him about his behaviour-strategies that can actually backfire by reinforcing the thumbsucking behaviour.

To discourage your toddler from turning to his pacifier each time he's upset (which, by the way, prevents him from learning other methods of managing his emotions), make an effort to keep the pacifier out of sight and your toddler's mind on other things. Some parents keep the pacifier in their toddler's room so that he has to go and retrieve it if he wants it. Others limit pacifier use to nighttime only.

You'll probably find that your toddler's pacifier use will decrease as he starts to develop other ways of comforting himself when he's upset, when he's able to communicate more effectively, and when he notices that other children his age no longer have pacifiers.

A gradual process of weaning a child off his pacifier generally works best. Forcing a child to give up his pacifier before he's ready can actually cause him to become more dependent on it than ever.

Here's another other important point to consider: excessive pacifier use can interfere with your toddler's speech. Not only will he have fewer opportunities to practise his speech, but overuse of a pacifier can also interfere with his articulation skills. He may tend to replace his "t" and "d" sounds (which require that the front of the tongue brush up against the back of the front teeth) with "k" and "g" sounds (sounds produced at the back of the throat). The solution? Let your toddler know that you can't understand what he's saying when he tries talking with his pacifier in his mouth. Over time, he'll learn to take the pacifier out of his mouth while he's speaking.

For more Parenting Tips sign up for our FREE newsletter!
Click here ====> Positive Parenting Website

How Old is Too Old for Nappies?

There are numerous theories on how old a child should be potty trained, or have given up their dummy, but as parents, we tend to do what feels right for our child. But is there a point we shouldn’t cross?

A poll by the UK’s leading discount and voucher code website has revealed that 1 in 5 parents kept their child in nappies until they were 3 and a half. A further 17% give their 4 year olds dummies at bed time and 14% allowed their children to use bottles until they were 3 years old.

New research by the UK’s leading discount and voucher code website has revealed that 1 in 5 parents allow their children to wear nappies up until they were 3 years and 6 months old. A further 17% still give their 4 year old children dummies at bed time.

The poll by My Voucher Codes asked 1,196 parents of 3 to 10 year olds across the UK a variety of questions relating to different stages of their child’s lives and their transitional phases.
According to the results, 14% of the parents polled allowed their child to drink from a bottle until they were three years old.

The parents were asked why they held off teaching their child certain development skills until a later age, the majority, 53%, said it was because of the ‘stress’ caused when trying to wean their child out of their habits, a further 1 in 10, 9%, admitted to simply being ‘lazy’.

27% of those asked admitted that they would like to keep their child’s ‘baby qualities’ for as long as possible. Just 31% said that they encouraged their child to progress at the earliest opportunity.
The study found that 12% of the parents asked had their child sleeping in their bedroom until they were 2. A further 1 in 3 of the respondents, 32%, admitted to still allowing their child to sleep in the same bed as them when they had a ‘bad dream’.

What do you think? Do you think we should encourage our children to progress their development at the earliest opportunity or do you think we should allow our children to develop in their own time? Tell us your views by leaving a comment in the box below…
For more tips about Potty Training click here ======> Positive Parenting

Baby Sleep Aids - So Everyone Can Sleep Well

How many times in the last few weeks have you tried to get your baby to sleep but to no avail?  Millions of families go through this every night and when all else fails, baby sleep aids can help you to get some of the sleep you deserve and crave for. 

The problem is that there are many baby sleep aids available, so which one do you choose?    Here are a few examples of baby sleep aids that are commonly used and that you may wish to try to see if they'll help to solve your baby's sleeping problem.

Firstly, how can you go wrong with the good old blanket?  At some point, every single one of us has us clung on to a blanket as babies.  The comfort, security, and warmth will leave a baby feeling cozy and allow him to relax if he's having trouble sleeping.  It's one of the best and most used baby sleep aids ever.

As a variation of this, you could use some other transitional object such as a teddy bear, or possibly mom's t-shirt, so that your baby can settle down with a smell that he or she is comfortable with.

Unfortunately though, there are times when a blanket or other transitional object just won't be enough, so you may wish to consider utilizing another baby sleep aid or baby sleep technique.
Night lights are also common baby sleep aids and can help make your child feel a little more comfortable in their dark surroundings. Although we may not know it, babies may often wake up and cry because they aren't used to being alone and they don't recognise their surroundings. A night light will give them security when they open their eyes. Being in familiar surroundings and being able to see the baby toys above the bed or stars on the ceiling will put them at ease.

Music or sounds are also great types of baby sleep aids you might want to try if you haven't already. Soft, carefree music such as classical music at low volumes is very soothing for a baby's ears which can help get them to sleep.  You could even leave this music playing through the entire night if it helped. Alternatively, white noise, which can sound horrible to adults, can be extremely soothing for a baby. A fan, having the television on, or even the sounds of nature .... birds, rain or whale sounds are very common. There are also white noise CD's you can buy with the sound of a vacuum cleaner or washing machine etc. Again, these sound rather strange but really can help.

Although all of these are all capable baby sleep aids and many parents will testify to their effectiveness, it is also possible that none of them may work for your child.  No two children are the same and so there is unfortunately no single cure-all for baby sleeping problems.  However, with some tried and tested baby sleep techniques, a good sleep routine and the odd baby sleep aid thrown in for good measure, you and your baby can soon be getting the full nights sleep that you richly deserve.

Jenny

For more details of Baby Sleep Aids and for an easy solution to your baby's sleeping problems, visit http://bit.ly/getbabytosleep. Or visit Positive Parenting for other tips!