Ignoration

Posted on April 16, 2012 by James

Yes, I know there is no such word.

It’s the term we use to describe the process whereby you ignore your child when they require attention but are supposed to be asleep. For example, a nappy change in the middle of the night.

We have found that by not making eye contact or talking to our child (or each other) during these periods she gets to know that it is sleep time and not time to wake up and play. It is important to be very quiet and very calm and gentle during these times.

It is advantageous if you can start this method as soon as is practical as it takes a bit of time to get them used to it. You can still comfort your child with touch if necessary but definitely don’t talk to them or look them in the eye.

It is equally important to be more interactive and noisy every time it is time to get up. A big “good morning, how did you sleep? What a lovely day” etc. is a good way to let them know that sleep time is over.

We discovered this when our child had very bad nappy rash and we were reluctant to let her sleep all night in one nappy. Unfortunately we had to wake her up to change her and initially we had trouble getting her to settle again.

After a couple of nights she realized that we were not going to engage her or get her up so she just went back to sleep. We now do this every time we have to disturb her during the night.

This technique really came into its own recently when our daughter started waking up an hour early in the morning. I went into her room to find her standing up in her cot. Without saying a word or making eye contact I walked up to her and put my hand on her head.

I then adjusted her blanket, patted her pillow and eased her back down into bed and tucked her in. She tried to engage me by saying “Daddy, daddy, up, up” but when she received no response at all she just settled back down again.

We did not hear from her again until her regular wake up time of 6.45am. This will hopefully prove very useful during daylight saving time changes.

Good luck..!

Posted in Parenting | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

How To Survive Vaccination Day

Posted on April 16, 2012 by James

Little ones seem to receive more needles in the first couple of years than they probably will in the rest of their lives (hopefully).  At an age when they are the least able to understand what is going on it helps to have a trick or two up your sleeve to help facilitate this prickly time.

If you can keep your baby from actually seeing what is going on then you are halfway there. I can think of nothing scarier than a strange person approaching holding a pointy and dangerous looking object so don’t let them see that needle at all!

Here is a little trick we developed only the other day.

1. Put your baby on your knee facing away from the doctor while they are preparing the    needle.

2. Start a game of “Peek -a- boo” using your hand to cover your babies eyes.

3. When you cover their eyes and say “where is baby?” you gently rub the place on the arm or leg where the needle is going to go.

4. You then uncover their eyes and say “there she is!” and both have a good laugh.

5. Do this at least 5 – 10 times.

6. When the doctor is ready you then repeat the procedure but instead of you rubbing the arm or leg, the doctor actually inserts the needle. By the time you say “there she is!” the needle is out and the injection is finished.

I don’t think she realized that she had even had a needle. There was no crying or screaming and she was calm through the rest of the doctors appointment. It certainly turned out to be a simple and excellent method for us to help take the stress out of vaccination day.

Where is baby..?

Posted in Health | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Toddler Feeding Techniques – Independence

Posted on April 10, 2012 by James

As an struggling parent trying to improve on my own toddler feeding I cannot help but watch the interaction between other parents and kids when it comes to feeding time. I have seen many techniques adopted by parents to get their toddlers to eat and some are more effective than others.

The one thing that does seem to be universal (and universally overlooked) is the toddlers’ desire for independence and this was demonstrated as I was watching a Mum trying to feed her two year old in the local shopping center food court .

The child was quite well behaved and sitting in her pram next to her Mum. Some kind of pasta was on the menu and the child had happily eaten a couple of spoonfuls of the stuff before suddenly refusing anymore.

Mum tried in vain to get her to eat some more but the kid flatly refused until Mum gave up and put the spoon in the bowl and turned to talk to the friend she was sitting with.

While Mum was not watching the toddler carefully reached up into the bowl to grab the spoon and with great concentration tried to get some pasta into her mouth.

She managed to get a couple of mouthfuls in before Mum turned around to see what she was doing. “Oh, so you are hungry after all” she said and took the spoon, filled it with pasta and attempted once again to feed the child. Again the child refused.

Mum sighs the ‘I don’t know what to do with you child’ sigh, drops the spoon back in the bowl and continues her conversation whereby the child picks up the spoon and again attempts to feed herself.

I wish I could tell you that it all ended happily with the industrious toddler feeding herself and the Mum praising her for being such a big and clever girl but unfortunately that was not the case.

As the bowl was not really placed conveniently for a toddler to feed she invariably knocked it off the table and onto the floor in her attempts to feed herself.

An exasperated Mum then scolded the child for throwing food on the floor and embarrassing her in a restaurant and they all left with the child looking confused and probably feeling slightly hungry. She definitely wanted to eat she just didn’t want to be fed.

When you watch these little ones closely you realize that all they want to be is independent like us. We can make it easier for them (and us) in the feeding department if we give them things that they can eat on their own.

This helps them to practice and it gives them confidence in using kitchen utensils. For example our child loves spaghetti bolognaise but it is almost impossible for her to eat it by herself and subsequently she will not touch it.

When we changed the spaghetti to penne (little tubes) she would happily sit in her chair and stab pieces of penne with her own fork. It may take a little longer and be a little messier but more food gets eaten and that should make everyone happier.

No help required….

Posted in Toddler Feeding | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment