Day 329 - Babyproof Your Toilet

Today's first time parenting tip - Babyproof your toilet. Yes, your toilet.

When our son discovered there was water he could splash around in the toilet bowl, it was over. Whenever the bathroom door is open, he makes a beeline. If my wife or I are taking a shower, he'd crawl over hot coals to play in the water. He just loves water, bottom line.

Now, the toilet isn't the most sanitary thing in our house. Even when he couldn't lift up the seat, we'd throw a towel over it if he was in there so he couldn't come into contact with all the germs living all over it.

But now he's figured out how to get past our defenses and is strong enough to actually lift up the seat. Luckily, there are toilet seat latches out there to keep him from playing in the water.

I wouldn't have thought of this on my own until he proved to me that he can get into anything. Is there something your baby gets into that you never would have thought to worry about?

Parenting, Babyproof, Toilet, Safety, Health

Day 276 - The Flu

Today's first time parenting tip - If your baby is between 6 - 59 months, get them a flu shot

It's the midst of flu season, and you're wondering if it's necessary to have your infant immunized against the flu. The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the CDC say that children 6 - 59 months.

Children with diseases like kidney disease, diabetes, or asthma should get the shot, because influenza could lead to complications in high-risk situations like these. If your infant lives with someone who is over 65, you should also want to give them a flu shot to protect the older family member should your infant come down with it.

The flu shot can reduce the chances of getting the flu by 80%, and if your infant is getting it for the first time, they will get two shots, a month apart, probably in the upper thigh.

If your infant does come down with the flu, here's how you'll know:

• Fever
• Chills
• Headache
• Muscle aches
• Dizziness
• Loss of appetite
• Tiredness
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Weakness
• Ear infection
• Diarrhea
• Infants with the flu may simply seem sick all of a sudden or "just don't look right

If you think your infant does have the flu, take them to the pediatrician, because flu in infants can be serious. At home, you can help the symptoms by:

• Drink lots of fluids to prevent dehydration
• Get plenty of rest
  
• Take baby tylenol to relieve fever and aches (but do not give aspirin unless your doctor instructs you to do so)
• Dress your infant in layers, they can become very hot or very cold quickly. This way you can dress or undress easily

The flu should be gone in a week or two after it runs the course naturally.

Reference link - Kids Health

Parenting, Health, Influenza, Flu, Sick, Vaccine

Day 274 - Say No to Soda

Today's first time parenting tip - Don't give your infant soda for the first two years of their life

This tip seems pretty obvious to me, and hopefully to a lot of other parents. But I saw someone driving with their infant, couldn't have been more than a year old, and they were sucking down a bottle of Faygo orange pop in the rear-facing baby seat of their old Toyota Camry.

Call me a stickler, but I think you should teach a child how to eat right before they learn to eat wrong. And sugary, caffeinated and carbonated drinks don't figure into that mix.

The nutritional value is nil. The effects of being addicted to caffeine are real. And the weight gain throughout their childhood years can be real too.

The best way to make it easy to say no to soda? Lead by example. Don't drink it in front of your kids, and don't keep it in the house. The less access they have to it and the less they see you, the number one person they learn from drinking it, the better.

Providing lots of healthy alternatives like juice, water, milk, etc. is key too. A cold soda every now and again is fine, you don't have to be a warden, but be reasonable. And if their too young to remember kicking back a cold coke with their dad on a hot summer's day, then there's really not point in giving it to them.

Parenting, Soda, Pop, OK, Nutrition, Health