Pria’s Parenting Page

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Parenting Tips, Thoughts, and Resources for Various Ages

Ideas I’ve gained that I try to remember and use…

Newborn – 6 Months

What I learned or wish I was told:

  • The phase truly is temporary.
  • When the crying feels too much, plugging your ears can help as you care for your child.
  • Holding and slow dancing to soothing music can help a lot when baby seems inconsolable.  Sometimes you don’t have to do this for very long before baby falls asleep.
  • Find a good book to lose yourself in when nursing seems like forever.  You get a break at the same time.
  • Try to quickly move past concerns, there are plenty of opportunities to continue to care for baby and keep her safe.  I worried a lot about various situations – did she get soapy water in her mouth, did she nurse enough, what the changing contents of her diaper meant, etc.  Then when she got mobile, there was so much else to worry about constantly while struggling to keep her safe.
  • Don’t buy any clothes for the newborn age – start with 3 months and up.  Your baby may not wear the newborn clothes for more than a week or never.  It’s ok to for her to wear slightly larger clothes and receiving blankets can help for warmth.  Onesies in the summer are a God-send.
  • Try to buy things used whenever possible and practical.  Set aside the savings for her 529 college fund.  Spend on a nice crib mattress and new car seat – they expire every 5 years and the standards keep getting updated.
  • Spend plenty of time touching and get in infant massages whenever possible.  It gets more challenging as baby gets older and gets squirmy while trying to explore her environment.  She won’t lie still as much.  Eye contact is important to development.

Resources:

On Becoming Babywise

6 Months – One Year

  • You’ll miss the non-mobile phase, as now your life seems bound by keeping baby safe as she moves about discovering the world without any sense of consequences.
  • Child-proof as much as possible.
  • Babies are redirected, not disciplined.

One Year – 18 Months

  • Kids are walking now – more child-prooofing!

18 Months – Two Years

  • Can start time-outs according to age, normally one minute for each year of age – 90 seconds.  Kids decide when to start the timer, which can be a sand timer.  During time-out, they can be asked to do something like draw circles to ground them and focus on something.  This is like redirection.
  • If the child is out of control, try asking:  “Can you control yourself or do you need help?”