The Best Guide for the S35 Area

Useful child & baby tips

Useful child & baby tips

• Suggest you sterilize and make up bottles of boiled water and refrigerate. Then you can choose - try your baby with water (it maybe comfort and not hunger) and add powder once its established the crying is for food.
  Also it means you can heat the WATER in the microwave (shaking to avoid hot spots) you are NOT supposed to warm baby milk in the microwave.
• Additionally get your baby used to drinking milk at room temperature - then you don't need to faff heating bottles when you are out - just add the powder and shake well!
• If you like to use products such as Infacol or Gripe juice and find it difficult to get your baby to take this - just add it to the bottle before serving - it works just as well.
• Cradlecap is helped by smearing olive oil over the scalp and leaving (put a cotton hat on to prevent it rubbing off) and then washing off with shampoo
• Tiny fingernails can be filed with the fine side of an emery board - it feels less 'nerve-noggling' than trying clippers or scissors and prevents snagging too.
• Some children these days seem to have a lot of toys, some of which never see the light of day. To keep children interested and to get the best out of their toys divide them into two different toy boxes and rotate them every two or three weeks.
• Hand painting is a great way to amuse children as they love to get messy. The finished articles can be used as pictures, borders etc,.
• To encourage finicky eaters put a variety of food in a dish to make it interesting for them. For instance you could use an ice cube tray and put things such as nuts, raisins, currents, cheese etc. into each compartment.
• Pieces of bread soaked in milk and baked in the oven until crisp, make ideal rusks especially for babies that are teething. As well as being cheap they have the added bonus of no added sugar.
• Use role play with children, this encourages their imagination and can help with difficult situations such as pending hospital visits etc.
• 
  Place an old washing liquid "ball" over the bath taps to prevent children burning themselves.
• For babies suffering with acute nappy rash put a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda into a bowl of warm water and sit baby in until the water cools. This is both soothing and healing.
• Use a visor to prevent soap in childrens' eyes when washing hair.
• To make tidying up toys etc. fun use a kitchen timer and make it into a game to see if they can "beat the clock". A small reward at the end makes is extra fun.
• The noise made by domestic appliances (washing machines etc.) can be very soothing to babies.
• To make home made baby wipes put some hot water into a bowl, add a squirt of baby oil and then lay in some cotton wool squares. Hey presto, home made wipes.
• To bring up babies' wind, walk upstairs with baby resting over your shoulder as this movement encourages "burping".
• Muslin squares are very useful as they can be used for mopping chins, changing mats, burping and much, much more.
• If you use a dummy for your baby wrap in cling film after sterilising and it is always ready for use.
• Record an audio tape for your children to hear when they are going to sleep. Nursery rhymes, favourite stories etc. together with a familiar voice can work wonders. These are also useful when travelling.

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