Bowel Training

Often the most difficult part of toilet training a child is getting them to use a potty or toilet for the elimination of solid waste (poo!) Here are some helpful hints to consider when trying to potty train a child.

Ensure that you have chosen the right size of potty or toilet seat insert for your child. This needs to be a comfortable experience if it is to become an accepted behaviour.
Warm drinks, a warm bath a soothing tummy massage can be especially helpful if your child has been constipated or reluctant to pass poo for a couple of days.
A child who has a good position on the toilet with a support for his/her feet will find this easier.
Teach your child how to wipe themselves.
It is particularly important for girls to wipe from front to back, as this will avoid bringing bacteria from the bowel towards the bladder.
Use a soft toilet paper and praise your child when they manage to wipe themselves. Encourage hand washing after every toileting so that this becomes a natural habit.

Having a healthy regular bowel movement is better for your child and developing this habit needs time and training. A healthy bowel needs a regular fiber intake, regular exercise, like walking and swimming, and the ingestion of plenty of fluids including water. Setting aside a regular time for toileting without rushing, will improve the habit. Access to clean and pleasant facilities makes this a nicer experience. 

Fiber containing foods include;-
Wheatabix, bran flakes and shredded wheat
Wholemeal bread
Wholemeal pasta and brown rice
Fruit and vegetables (dried, fresh, or frozen), washed but with skin on where possible.
Pulses like peas, baked beans, kidney beans etc

Things you should know about baby's teeth.

Red cheeks and dribbles are often the first signs of teething. Gentle massaging of the gums with a toothbrush or teething ring can be soothing for babies at this stage.

Babies first teeth usually appear at about 6 months although some children will have teeth before then. As soon as the first teeth appear tooth brushing should become part of routine child care. At first baby may not like it but, as you do it more often it becomes quite soothing.

Pick a time which is convenient for you. Consider your child's normal daily routine, playtime or bath time may work best at first, and then you can move this to morning and bed time.
Baby's teeth can be brushed anywhere that is safe for baby. Sitting on your knee, on a changing mat, in the bath, in a high chair or sitting in the pram or stroller.

Stroke each tooth using a small soft toothbrush with a smear of toothpaste and imagine you are painting this onto the tooth. Flouride toothpaste on a dry brush works best. Eventually you can encourage baby to spit out the excess toothpaste but, if you avoid rinsing the mouth with fresh water you will be strengthening baby's teeth.

The toothbrush should be replaced every three months, or when the bristles start to splay out and away from the neat brush shape. Rinse the toothbrush between use and store it in a clean dry area.
Always supervise tooth brushing and never leave a child alone with a toothbrush.

Register your baby with a dentist and once your child is a year old, book a first appointment. Regular dental visits before anything needs to be done to repair or treat the teeth will make visits less concerning for the child.

Avoid sugary drinks and snacks between meals. Erosion is becoming a more common problem for both adults and children. Baby teeth have thinner dentine and enamel, and are worn away more quickly by contact with acid.
The foods that can affect children's teeth in this way include;-

1. Fizzy drinks like cola and lemonade, even some fizzy waters,
2. orange, lemon, lime and grapefruit drinks even when diluted.
3. Sour fruits, oranges and plums
4. Yoghurt
5. Herbal tea and vitamin C supplements.

Erosion can also be seen in children with gastric reflux and the teeth may become smaller and have saucer shaped depressions.
Fruit juices and squashes should not be given to babies or children in bottles as a comfort and children under the age of 2 years should not be given tea to drink. Limiting acidic foods to special times only and following their consumption with a bit of cheese or a milky drink will neutralize the acid more quickly.

If you are concerned about your child's teeth see your dentist.

6 Tips for dealing with Temper Tantrums

Temper Tantrums are most common in the 2 to 3 year old age group. Children of this age regularly experience overwhelming emotions and, if they manage to stay on an even keel all day long they are copping very well indeed. They do not have the language skills, or the vocabulary to tell their parents what they are feeling,  this can make life overwhelming at times.

When your child has a melt down they are demonstrating to you what it feels like when they can no longer cope. This can happen because they are exhausted or overwhelmed. It is not an attempt just to get attention. They are probably frightened as well as angry. Their anger has become so powerful that they can no longer see mummy and daddy as friendly and helpful. Coming up with a solution, or buying them off with treats is not helpful. (although most parents have done this at some time!)

Coping with your child's temper tantrum does not mean trying to stop the child from being angry. It is about coping with how angry this makes you feel. During a meltdown it is easy to become as angry as your child and to scream back at them. No parent can be perfectly calm throughout these events, but you need to be able to control your own emotions, particularly when your child's emotions are outwith control.
Firmness, understanding and tolerance are all very important. Simply telling a child to behave does not empower them to cope with  their overwhelming feelings. This is something they learn, but it takes time. Learning that it is possible to be distressed or angry without throwing a tantrum, comes from the demonstration of their parents who can be seen struggling to cope with their own frustration and worry.

Tips

1. Unless your child is likely to hurt themselves, or they are doing something dangerous, count to ten before you do anything at all.
2. In this state the child is beyond reasoning with so don't get drawn into an argument.
3. Don't ask more of your child than you know they can manage.
4. Try to remember that they are learning important lessons about themselves and both of you are practicing for the teenage years!
5. You may not mean what you say if you are angry and upset in the heat of the moment, so try to remember NOT to say things to hurt them back. Threats like leaving them or having them taken away are not appropriate or helpful.
6. Don't assume that the child you see in meltdown will grow up to be a monster. These temper tantrums will fade, sometimes quite slowly, but they will reduce over a couple of years.

If you have real concerns that your child has never really started talking, or does not enjoy being with others, has become restless and destructive, and takes no pleasure in anything,  do ask for specialist advice. Parents in this situation may feel that there is a real barrier between them and their child. It is not a good idea to just leave things as they are and hope for improvement. See a health professional and have an assessment and get some practical advice and support.

Feeding a new born baby

Many new mums do not realise how much time will be spent simply feeding their baby. Newborns have very small tummies. At first the baby's full tummy is about the size of a ping pong ball. It cannot hold a large volume of food, consequently baby needs fed very regularly. This can be as often as every one or two hours to begin with. Breast feeding takes time to establish and frequently putting baby to breast encourages the creation of more milk to feed baby. The movement of baby's hand against the breast encourages "let down", and as this occurs baby and mum relax into the act of feeding and being fed.

After a few days baby's full tummy is about the size of a large egg and baby takes more food at each feeding. As a result there is a more time between feeds. As baby grows his tummy also grows, and soon he is looking for feeds at between 3-4 hourly. Every baby is different. Adults don't have a three course meal every meal time and baby's requirements also vary throughout the day so, naturally, some feeds take longer than others.

Formula is man's best adaptation of cows milk for babies. A great deal of research has gone into learning how to make a cows milk into a milk which will be a "good" substitute for breast milk. Not every woman can, and not every woman wants to breast feed. Choosing a formula feeding regime is just that, personal choice. With the best will in the world, even following a recipe, batches of formula feed are not exact copies of the previous batch, although that is the aim. Consequently mums may occasionally find that a variety of formula feed which worked well for baby before, is not working quite so well now.

Breast milk is also continually changing to reflect the environment and the calorific requirements of the baby. It is amazing that mum and baby can be in a public space, the supermarket for example, someone can sneeze near them and by the next feed mum has made antibodies to that sneeze! Kissing baby brings the "bugs" that baby has met, into mum and again allows breast milk to modify them to provide protection against these nasties.

Formula milk may appear to be more satisfying because babies may appear more settled on formula milks, but they are more difficult to digest. Breast milk was designed for babies and is easily digested, more easily than modified cows milk.

To begin with baby can see best at about 10 inches, roughly the distance between mum's breast and mum's face. Feeding encourages an intimate moment when eye contact is sought as a communication and as a reassurance. It is in baby's best interest to please mum. A parent who gets pleasure from their child is more likely to interact with them on a regular basis and to provide a nurturing environment.

It doesn't matter if baby is breast or formula fed, this moment of feeding, direct eye contact and being held close, is what baby needs to form an attachment to mum/dad/carer and to being the process of pre verbal communication. If baby is fussy at this stage, there is something wrong. Baby is trying to tell you that they are uncomfortable for some reason. The difficulty for the parent may be identifying the reason for baby's fussiness.

It can take some time before you feel that you have a definite feeding routine for your baby. Babies feed from a desire to refuel, and not always as a comfort, although being held closely can be comforting. Mums who opt to feed their baby on a formula milk should still be aiming for a feeding position which mimics breast feeding because this offers the closest, most natural, intimate time for pre verbal communication.

If you have difficulty with a fussy baby talk to a health professional. Most babies will be fine, the most common causes of fussing are simple to deal with. 

Sleep problems and starting school.

Sleep disorders in children starting school are associated with impaired performance and behavioural difficulties. This is not at all unusual. It is already recognised that the symptoms of these disorders are very variable and can be demonstrated among children of any given age. Even in an individually affected child, they need an appropriate diagnostic evaluation so that the many environmental and background factors that may be relevant, can be assessed.

In order to look more closely at this, extensive data was obtained on approximately 1400 children who were tested before beginning school in 2005. This data was obtained using a special sleep questionnaire and another screening instrument that is used to assess behavioral strengths and difficulties (the SDQ, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire).

Five percent of the children were found to have difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, or nocturnal awakening. Less frequent problems included sleepwalking (0.1%), and frequent nightmares (1.7%).

This study showed that sleep disorders increase the risk of daytime fatigue, poorer concentration, poor learning and of psychological problems in general. Sleep deficit can result in both hyperactivity and excessive emotional stress.

These results imply that sleep problems and emotional disturbances are intimately connected. They also underscore the importance of diagnosing sleep problems in young children.

               If you have concerns about your child's sleep contact us;-   Info@dream-angus.com

 

 

Temper Tantrums and avoiding them.

Temper tantrums usually start when a child is about 1 year old. The child is becoming more independent and may appear to be demanding, stubborn and uncooperative. Tantrums are common in two year olds but if managed well, are less common at ages three and four years.
Part of a parents’ responsibility is to teach the child to manage frustration and express anger in appropriate ways.

Tantrums may include ;-

• Crying (without being hurt)
• Screaming and yelling
• Stamping feet
• Breath holding
• Rolling around on the floor
• Vomiting (usually only in severe tantrums)

These tantrums occur when children are angry or frustrated. They may be the result of being told No! Things may not be going as the child expects, the task they have been asked to do may be too difficult, they may lack the vocabulary to express how they are feeling, they may be overwhelmed with an emotion that they cannot express, they may be overtired, or there may be absolutely no obvious reason.

Every child is different. Some are quiet and easy going and seldom have tantrums. Others have quick tempers and tantrums are frequent. Children quickly learn that a tantrum may bring them the outcome they want and learn to escalate their behaviour until they achieve their goals. Managing these events so that they are not escalated and become less frequent is a challenge for many parents. How best to react to a child who is "bringing the house down" and get it right so that there is no reward for this behaviour is an important question.

The key steps to managing this behaviour are ;-

• Plan ahead to prevent the tantrums
• Give your child praise and attention when they are behaving well.
• If a tantrum occurs use planned ignoring (for younger toddlers.)
• For older children, tell them what to do and use "time out" if the tantrum continues.
• Praise your child as soon as they are quiet or behaving well.
• Return your child to an activity once the tantrum has resolved and praise them for good behaviour.

To help prevent tantrums it is necessary to have a few realistic rules.

• Decide if your child's requests are reasonable before you say "yes" or "no", and having made your decision stick to it.
•  Keep your child busy with activities especially in situations where they may easily become bored and disruptive. 
• Throughout the day let your child know what you are doing, and what is going to happen so that they know what to expect. 
• Watch your child and praise them for behaving well. 
• Give visual or audible cues before changing an activity. Telling a child that “in five minutes we need to do…” ,means nothing. Set a timer and tell them when the bell goes or the hand reaches a set visible point, we need to do something else makes it easier for the child to cope and to plan. Children under the age of 6 to 8 years old don’t always understand the concept of time.