How to Soothe Your Crying Baby

When baby cries, everything can seem to stand still for mom and dad. The detective work starts – is the baby hungry? Are they hurt? Have they wet themselves? Sometimes babies cry just because they enjoy hearing themselves.

How can we know when something is truly wrong with our baby? I hate to say it, but as parents sometimes we just know. Often, however, we don’t. However, there are a number of things we can do to try to determine the severity of our children’s condition without the need for outside help.

1. Change the Baby’s Diaper
Very often children complain of even the slightest wetness. We certainly don’t want to sit around in wet clothes and they don’t either. Some children love to urinate shortly after being changed – so even if the baby has just been put in a new diaper, check to make sure they are still dry.

2. Offer Food
Has time elapsed since the last feeding? It is very important to measure time intervals between feedings to ensure baby gets enough needed nutrients to grow.

Not yet feeding time? Children who are experiencing growth spurts came feed as frequently as every 1-2 hours. If this is the case the child will certainly get hungry and fussy.

3. Sooth the Baby
Most babies react well to a soothing womb-like environment. Take the baby in your arms and make ‘shh-shh’ noises. This could be enough to pacify them.

4. Bundle Up Baby
Much like elderly adults, babies require more layers in order to keep warm. Our rule of thumb is baby wears 1 more layer of clothing than mom and dad. The crying baby may be cold in an otherwise warm room.

5. Try Putting Baby to Sleep
Babies set their sleeping routine and can generally be trusted to sleep (or to not sleep) at specific times. If there have been a lot of car rides or other disruptions in routine, the baby may be feeling over-tired. 3-5 minutes in the crib or bassinet should determine this – a tired baby will usually soothe themselves to sleep in this amount of time. Be careful not to let them “cry it out” – if it takes longer than a few minutes the baby may not be tired enough to sleep, or they may have an entirely different problem.

6. Our Condolences for Parents of Colicky Babies
Some babies suffer from colic – a condition that results from excessive gas causing severe abdominal pain in otherwise healthy infants. About 20% of babies are reported to be colicky; this is torture for both parent and baby. There are many folk remedies such as peppermint, placing the baby in a swing, feeding only warm milk, etc; however, colicky babies eventually grow out of this phase, normally by the 20th week. Hang in there!

7. Check for Rashes or Skin Irritations
Sometimes the crying baby is having an allergic reaction to something in her environment. Check your baby for any tell-tale skin rashes or marks that could be indicative of a deeper problem.

8. Take the Baby for a Car Ride
The vibration in the back seat of the car can put the baby to sleep. The rising cost of gas gives some parents pause to try this – putting the baby in their car seat on top of a washing machine can have a similar effect, just make sure to keep a hand on the seat at all times to prevent the baby from falling to the floor.

9. Take a Break
A baby that won’t stop crying can be frustrating – but it is critically important that parents keep their cool and never shake their crying baby. If someone feels like they are being pushed to the breaking point by baby’s crying, have them put down the baby and go to another room or just outside for a few minutes. The baby may not stop crying, but the adult will be better able to handle the situation.

10. Let Them Cry
Sometimes there is nothing wrong and babies just want to cry. There are many reasons for this – for example the baby may be comforted by the sound of their voice. Especially in newborns, crying clears and exercises the lungs and is essential to normal development. Remember that the goal is not to stop the baby’s crying (although we might wish they did!), but rather to provide for the baby’s needs.

11. Ask for Help
If you are fortunate enough to have relatives nearby or public resources, ask them for suggestions. They may have more ideas that are not on the list, or someone may have encountered the same situation before and will know what to do. If totally unsure, seek medical advice – it doesn’t hurt to be too careful with baby’s health and safety.

The Family Holiday Photograph

As the year-end festivities start to kick into gear my wife and I find ourselves pondering the changes of the last twelve months, the growth of our loved ones, and the new year to come. Part of our tradition is the holiday photograph – that yearly snapshot of our ever-expanding immediate family. In our household photographs and videos are as much a part of the holidays as are turkeys and treats. I have scoured the net to bring together a list of tips for getting the most out of holiday photos.

Have a Good Camera
Obviously the average household is not going to have a professional camera setup on hand. However, there are huge variances between the quality of photographs produced by different camera models, even among similar price points. In the case of digital cameras, a 12 mega pixel camera does not guarantee a better photograph than a 6 mega pixel camera.

In our case we felt it was worth the extra money to get a decent digital SLR. After much research we chose the Nikon D40 and have been very pleased with the results. With an SLR, the photo you see in the viewfinder is exactly the final photo that will appear. The D40 is a little pricier than the more common fixed-lens digital cameras, but considering its construction and the fact you can swap lenses as your skills improved, this camera will be in the family for a long time. The auto-focus is quite solid – we have had this camera for a year now and have yet to take a bad picture.

Soft Light
The sun provides its softest (best) light early in the morning and in the evening. Your family will look their best if you are able to shoot during these times. If not, try to arrange for shade to prevent the harsh light of the sun from glaring off skin in the final photo. Of course if you are in the harsher northern climate this time of year, you may not be taking too many photos outside to begin with!

Talk to Each Other
Don’t have people say “Cheese” or count down – you’ll end up with photos of kids sticking out their tongues at the camera. Instead, keep everyone talking about upcoming activities, new toys, anything of interest. This will lighten the mood and give you a more relaxed photo as your family won’t be thinking of it as posing – they will be less intimidated by the camera and will look more natural.

Heads Together
Arrange it so your loved ones heads are close together. This will cause the final photo to appear warmer, your subjects will look happier. This is an easily overlooked yet simple way to get great family photographs on any occasion.

Clear Up the Background Clutter
Any object in the background will come out in the photo. We are used to perceiving the world around us in three dimensions, but photography is a two-dimensional art. If you don’t want your subject to look like they have a tree growing out of their head, make sure to place them in front of a neutral or solid background.

Wear Bright Colours
This is supposed to be a happy time! Have everyone wear bright, lively colours when taking photographs. This will add a great deal of visual interest to your picture and will make the subjects look more energetic and happy.

Take Lots of Shots
The great hockey player Wayne Gretzky said “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take“. This sentiment applies to photography as well. When you are at your family gathering, take as many photos as you can – don’t always wait for people to pose. The result will be candid, relaxed shots that more accurately portray the character of your family; these are the photos you will most cherish.

Many digital cameras have a “cool-off” period between photos while they save your picture to their internal memory or card. During this time, you cannot take another photo. My advice is to look for a camera that has a large cache memory. A child may only smile for a split second – if you are able to rapid-fire press the shutter button you will be able to capture that smile.

Have Fun
Many people are intimidated by cameras – they may feel they don’t look good in pictures or they may just not want to have their picture taken. Respect your family’s wishes in this regard, but do try have fun with it and encourage everyone to get involved and take part in the photography. The holidays don’t last forever and the time have together won’t come again. Enjoy the gathering and take photographs that can be shared and cherished for years to come.

Avoiding Parental Tunnel Vision

Remember that kid back in grade school whose parents made them bring their little sister every time they came out to play?  The big kids would have to accommodate the sister who wasn’t able to ride her bike as quickly or play the same sports.  What happened to that kid?  Eventually we stopped playing with them.  Yes, looking back we can see how cruel it was, but when you are in the thick of it you don’t want to carry around someone else’s baggage.

The so call “parental tunnel vision” is the grown up equivalent of the tag-along sibling.  As parents there is a tendency to focus our entire world onto our children, so when we talk to other people all we can think to discuss is our child’s recent dinner table disaster, their successes and failures in the walking arena, and their babbling sounds.  For our grown-up friends, especially those without children, child’s developmental milestones are not as much of a paradigm shift as they are for us.  If we dominate most of the conversation talking about baby stuff, our friends will end up bored, guaranteed.  If they start to see us as nothing more but an extension of our children (which we are, in a lot of ways) we will start to find ourselves excluded from “grown-up” activities – whether our kids come along or not!

So how do you function as a social adult when your world has been taken over by your children?  First, put yourself in your friends’ shoes.  If you were in their position would you want to be hearing about children all the time?  I don’t mean status updates and major milestones – would you want to spent hours talking about teething developments?  Or would you be thinking “Ok, your kid is normal.  Why are we talking about this?”

Naturally all bets are off when you’re talking to other parents, especially ones whose children are roughly the same age as yours.  Be careful! All those stories and comparisons can turn into a competition, so always be supportive and keep the conversation affirming and friendly.

Infant Constipation Tips #2

We tried using apple juice for a time, but did not feel very comfortable with this.  He isn’t even on pudding yet, I don’t want to risk messing up his stomach by giving it all that acid.

In our case, switching from powder to formula concentrate seems to have done the trick, in a very big and smelly way.  Today his bowel movements are regular and pain-free.