There are many things you need to know as a new parent. Rearing a new baby is a tasking and you should be ready and prepared for the challenges ahead. In this article, we shall discuss the 10 basic things a new parent should know. 1. Sleep when the baby sleeps You must have heard this on a number of occasions. Don’t cook, clean or worry about your baby whenever the baby is sleeping. The best time for you to sleep is when your baby is sleeping. Although the sleep won’t last, you may regret if you don’t take the advantage. 2. Swaddle your baby Swaddling is an ancient way of wrapping babies in blankets or similar clothes in such a way that their limbs are tightly restricted. Although it is an old technique, it still works in keeping your baby quiet and content. Do this properly and you are sure to have a happy, sleeping baby. 3. Don’t worry about the home noise You don’t need to worry yourself about the noise level of your home. If you live in a noisy environment, your baby will adjust and adapt to it. 4. Don’t overbuy You cannot get everything you want for your new baby. Cloths, Poncho, Carriage, and Diapers etc. are good but you may regret buying everything in the end. Babies are quick to grow and can outgrow those clothes in a matter of months. 5. Wake a sleeping baby to eat This can sound strange but it is an obvious truth. You have to wake a sleeping baby to eat. While enough sleep is important for your baby, enough food is also essential. This will ensure that your baby stays healthy and hydrated always. 6. You cannot over-pamper a new baby Hold your baby close to you as much as possible and do everything to keep them happy. Of course, there are sometimes when you need to let them cry it out but at their early stage, it is more than okay to spoil them rotten! 7. Listen to your baby Every baby is unique and different from the other. The fact that your neighbour’s baby sleep throughout the morning does not mean yours must also do the same. Spend quality time with your baby and pay attention to their behaviour and attitude. You should be able to differentiate between their hunger cry, stress cry, and hold me cry. 8. Relax Don’t overburden yourself. The more relaxed you are, the more relaxed your baby will be. Simple formula! 9. Let Dad take over! Don’t be afraid to let dad takeover of the baby while you rest or do some other things. Dad also needs to be familiar with the baby’s routine as you do. Don’t stress yourself when dad asks to stay with the child for a while. He will come running for you when it’s time for mummy care. 10. Factor your baby in every plan When the time comes that you have to return to work or engage in your daily commitments, remember that you now have a baby. Thus, it is worthwhile to factor your baby into every plan. If you are preparing for work, you need to give yourself twice as much time as you used to. The same principle applies to commitments. Bottom line There is no singular rule for rearing babies. The best way is to understand your baby and follow your instinct. If things seem difficult, do not hesitate to visit your doctor for professional advice. Relax, listen and enjoy!

Going out in the open with your baby brings many benefits. Taking a walk, going to the park or just spending time on a park bench enjoying nature, are activities that every child and parent should enjoy as often as possible. In spring and summer, when the weather is good and the temperatures are warm and inviting. As well as during the autumn and winter months when outdoor activities can prove to be a little more challenging. Do not be discouraged by the weather conditions of the cold season! You can always go out with your baby, just take some precautions. The following, are tips for taking your baby outside in all types of weather.  Tips before taking your baby out for the first time Soon after leaving the hospital, mom and dad can go out with their newborn on a daily basis. However, it is necessary to cover your child’s head, as it is extremely sensitive and you must protect it. It is advisable to access quieter and less congested places. Thus avoiding your baby’s exposure to noise and pollution. Try to go to parks in the middle of the day, as they tend to be quieter places where you will also be able to enjoy the serenity of nature.   Visual, olfactory and auditory stimuli Spending time outdoors is very beneficial for the baby, as exposure to sunlight stimulates their production of vitamin D, which is very important for its growth. In addition, getting out of the house allows for your baby to breathe fresh air and enjoy the sights and sounds offered by nature. It is also good to let the baby discover the world around him. Be careful to always keep an eye out for your baby as at this age, everything can attract their attention. Body temperature of baby The core internal temperature of newborns are not as developed as that of adults. Therefore, your baby will be more sensitive to cold and heat. You will need to take certain precautions during seasons when temperatures are extreme. Thus, in summer, you will avoid going out during the hottest hours of the day; and in winter, only going out during the hours of which the sunshines the brightest. How to dress baby When you go out with your baby, the important thing is to dress appropriately, taking into account the temperature and weather conditions outside. In winter, dress in layers with clothes that allow your baby to perspire easily. Always protect their head by using a hat when it is cold because it is through this part of the body that the baby loses heat. Mittens and boots are also needed as well to protect their extremities for the cold. For those summer days keep an eye out for the UV index, if it’s elevated then there is a high risk of unprotected sun exposure. On those days you will want to keep your baby indoors. However, when the UV index is low make sure your baby wears a hat to protect them from the suns rays. As well, loose comfortable breathable clothing is recommended. Pediatricians recommend that you should apply special baby sunscreen to newborns to ensure that the baby is well protected from the sun. Watch out for sudden changes in temperature Temperature changes are dangerous for the baby’s health as it easily can catch a cold. It is therefore essential to dress according to the immediate temperature of your surroundings, whether you are indoors or outdoors, in direct sunlight or not. Packing along a change of weather appropriate clothing or accessories can help you be ready for whatever weather comes along. In closing taking the necessary precautions to protect your baby’s outdoor experience will ensure a fun and safe experience for both you and the baby. Comment below and let us know! 

Does feeding your baby solid foods earlier help in them sleeping more soundly? Does feeding your baby solid foods earlier help them sleep more soundly? Oh, my, is that ever a loaded question! First, let’s think about a few things. Is the baby breast fed? How early is “earlier”? Earlier than what? Does the child have food allergies? Are food allergies common in the family? Is the infant on special formula? Without knowing the real answer to these questions, the initial one is difficult to answer. Let’s go at this a different way. The Perfect Baby Food Under most circumstances, the milk of a healthy human mom is the best food for a human infant. It is perfectly balanced, calibrated to the child’s heritage and it is chock full of antigens and antibodies that can help keep a baby from catching every passing germ. More than that, it is convenient. It is always on tap, requires no heating, no bottles to wash. With minimal personal hygiene, the mom should not experience any of those horrible things that are described in many books such as chapped nipples, cracked or sore nipples, engorged breasts, etc., etc. That is not to say that these things cannot happen. But in most cases, the solutions are easy – a food grade moisturizer, making sure nipples are dry after a feeding, and similar common sense solutions. For a stay-at-home mom, breast feeding is the easiest, most economical way to feed a baby. Here a some tips on how to properly bottle feed your baby. In today’s economic environment, it is a lucky mom, indeed, who gets to stay at home with baby after the first six weeks. To maintain breastfeeding, she is likely to have to pump during the day, and that isn’t always easy to manage on the job. Being unable to allow the baby to nurse can cause some of the problems described above, and the sheer, unmitigated hassle of trying to deal with breast milk, daycare, breast pumps and the whole rest of it can lead to early weaning to a bottle at the very least.   One Tired Mama Working all day then caring for an infant half the night can lead to high stress and a sincere longing for the little darling to please, please sleep through the night. So by about the time Baby is eight weeks old, or two weeks after mom goes back to work, rice cereal gets mixed into formula or breastmilk at the eight or nine pm feeding in the sincere hope that Baby dearest will have a full tummy and will snooze until the alarm goes off, instead of being the 3:00 am alarm system. Sometimes, it works. But, sometimes, it backfires. Maturation and Digestion Prepared baby foods are, in a very real sense of the word, the result of commerce. The baby food business is big business. That doesn’t make it bad. Having food that is ready for Baby to eat without the extreme labor of cooking, mashing and straining is a true blessing. But here’s the real scoop: your baby has a perfectly sound biological clock that dictates when he or she is ready for solid food. Your best indicator that your infant is ready to taste-test solids is when he or she starts teething. Even then, for at least the first six months of life, your baby’s best nutrition is a healthy mama’s milk or the formula prescribed by your pediatrician. Your little mammal is hardwired to live on milk until he or she has chompers and hands that can hold and manipulate food. This will usually start to occur around age four months. What happens when you feed your baby solids before he or she can properly digest them? Just about what you might expect: a tummy ache. You can bet that you won’t be getting any extra sleep if you are up most of the night with a colicky baby! Taste Testing the World One way your baby signals that he or she is ready to try solids is by watching you eat or perhaps even grabbing at the spoon as you guide it toward your own mouth. This is when you can judiciously start allowing your little one to try a taste of this or that. Most pediatricians will recommend introducing one single food, then waiting a week or two. There are good, solid reasons for this. If your baby develops a reaction to a food, it is easier to track the cause of the problem if there has been only one small change in his or her diet, instead of dozens. Although a lot has been said (often loudly and long) about commercial baby foods, most go through much more stringent testing and care than regular foods. You can be pretty sure they are safe for your youngster to try. But babies have been introduced to gravy, ice cream, bananas, and even food pre-chewed by mom for centuries and often thrive on some pretty weird stuff. It probably doesn’t hurt to err on the side of caution, however. We do know about germs these days. Tiny Tank Needs Filled Often Babies are doing some pretty important stuff in those first weeks when it seems as if all they do is eat, make dirty diapers, sleep, eat and make more diapers. They are working hard at learning about their new world. They are listening to their mom, to people around them and getting a feel for how things are. They are learning to connect. And they are growing, body, brain, mind and soul, they are growing. All that growing takes a lot of fuel, and they don’t have a very big tank (tummy), so it needs filled up often. Breast milk digests quickly and well, so breast fed babies might need to top up a little more often than babies on formula. Don’t worry – they’ll catch up just fine. Levelling Out You don’t have to do anything special to get your baby sleeping on your schedule. Feed your little sweetie when that tummy is empty, cuddle briefly and tuck him or her back into bed. Take some time to talk and play during the daytime. Maturation is a wonderful thing. Soon you will both be able to sleep through the night. Hey, did we miss something? Comment below and let us know!