WeBaby

Toddler & Kitty Cat

Teach Your Child to “Play Nice”

There is much debate whether to have a pet and a baby in the house simultaneously. If your pet is good with kids and can tolerate the sometimes less-then-gentle handling of a toddler, than having a pet would work for you and your family. Some pets are more agreeable and loving than other pets. Cats and dogs are the usual pets, but other animals have also been known to be kid-friendly. Billy goats and other farm animals can also be good candidates for household pets.

Selecting a dog or cat for your baby or toddler can be complicated. Certain breeds of dogs are known to be better than others. Golden retrievers and border collies are routinely ranked as top breeds for being kid-friendly. Some cats love kids. Some do not. It helps if you acquire a kitten and train it to tolerate young children and their rough behaviors.

In addition to training your pet to respond calmly to young children, you need to also provide guidance to your child on how to safely and respectfully treat the family pet. Healthy play habits between pets and the children of the family do not always occur naturally on their own. Establishing a healthy relationship with your child and the family pet can be a challenge.

Teaching your child to “play nice” with your kitty or doggie can be achieved through play dates between your child and Fido or Fluffy. These play dates must be closely supervised by you. These play dates are just like the play dates you would schedule with another child to help build social skills.

Some activities include the following:

• Have your child lie on the floor allowing your cat or dog jump over them.
• Play hide and seek. Have your child hide and tell them to call the pet’s name. If your child does not talk yet, hide with your child and call your dog or cat’s name so they can find you both.
• Place peanut butter or ketchup on your child’s fingers and have your pet lick it off.
• If your baby or toddler can sit in a high chair, have them drop food down to the your pet and watch your child smile and giggle when the pet eats the food.
• Practice “pet nice” with your young child and your cat or dog. Take your child’s hand and pet your dog or cat saying words like “pet nice” and “love the kitty” so your toddler will learn to be respectful and kind to your pet.

Kids are fast and there will undoubtedly be times when while your back is turned, your toddler will pick up the cat by his neck and walk around the house carrying the poor strangling kitty like that. This is where having a patient, tolerant and calm pet is very important. Don’t try and kid yourself by saying that will never happen, because if you are parent of a toddler, you know how quick they move. If you have a dangerous and easily agitated pet, then please find another home for the animal. It is imperative for the well-being and safety of your child that you do.

Breast is best. If you are pregnant and wondering what to do regarding baby’s first six months or so before he or she starting solids. Should you breastfeed or bottle feed? Breastfeeding is the absolute best form of liquid nutrition for your food. Breast milk is free, contains colostrum, does not require heating or mixing and is always available. It is the simplest and most convenient food source available for your baby.

Each species of mammal makes a very unique kind of milk that is perfectly suited to meet all the nutritional needs of their offspring and early development. Each species produces special milk that ensures the survival of their young. The qualities and ingredients in breast milk are precisely what your baby needs during his early months of growth. This concept is known as biological specificity of milk. Breast milk of any mammal has all the absolute necessary qualities with all the right amounts for their growing babies. Whatever qualities that particular baby species needs, it will be contained in the breast milk of the mother. For example, baby seals need lots of body fat to survive in the cold water, so breast milk from a mother seal has a very high content of fat in it, giving the baby seal the body fat they need for those cold winters. In humans, our offspring require tools for brain and intellectual development. Our babies need brain development to survive. Therefore, the human mother makes breast milk that contains qualities for rapid brain growth.

As the mother’s hormone levels change following the birth of her new baby, so does her breast milk. The mother’s breast and body begin to make more plentiful milk as the baby and his appetite grow. The colostrum made for a newborn while gradually transform into mature milk – the stuff that babies have been thriving on for hundreds of years. Breast milks has the basic ingredients of fat, vitamins, lactose, protein, minerals and water. This is true of milk of all types of animal species. However, the proportions are different from one animal milk to another depending on what the offspring’s survival requirements are. This is why cow’s milk-based formula is not the best food for a human baby. Cow’s milk is designed for baby calves. Human milk is designed for human babies.

There are, of course, sometimes when mother and baby are separated due to medical or other reasons and a baby has to be given bottled formula, but if a mother is able to and willing, breast milk is best.

Breastfed Baby

If you want to serve your baby natural organic food instead of store bought baby food, there are some very simple and healthy ways to prepare healthy all natural organic food for your baby.

Babies are ready to eat solid food at around six months of age. At around nine months of age, babies are ready to eat meat. There are some very simple things that you probably have around your kitchen that you can use to make tasty and healthy baby food.

Happy Healthy Baby

When you start introducing your baby to solid foods, start with a vegetable such as peas because they are easier to digest than other vegetables. Shop at Whole Food Stores or Trader Joe’s or any other wholesome grocery store for your fruits and vegetables. Once you return home from the store, wash your peas and steam them in boiling water, cooking them longer than you would if you were preparing food for yourself or your spouse/partner. Once the peas have been steamed, put them in a blender and pour some breast milk or formula in with the peas. Then pour the mixture into an ice cube tray. If you are going to feed your baby immediately after preparing the baby food, set aside one small serving equal to that of a ice cube. After filling the ice cube tray with the peas, place a plastic wrap over top and freeze the food. It will last about two months in the freezer. Each cube serving is equal to one serving of that particular vegetable for your baby.

Other vegetables can be prepared the same way as the peas. For example, you can cut sweet potatoes up, boil them in the pot on your stove, mix in some cubed organic chicken, poach the chicken, making sure to cook the food longer than you would for the adults and older children in the family. Babies delicate digestive systems require food to be cooked thoroughly without any risk of under cooking. Once the food is cooked, blend the sweet potatoes and cubed chicken in a blender, adding some breast milk or baby formula. Pour the contents into an ice cube tray and freeze your baby’s dinner or lunch.

You now have ready-made organic homemade baby food without any of the preservatives or other chemicals found in store bought baby food. It is also less expensive to prepare home-made baby food than buying the jars off the shelf. Plus, even though, your baby will not yet be able to say it, they are thinking that nothing tastes better than Mom’s homemade cooking.

With obesity and weight problems being on the rise, it is important to teach your child healthy eating habits from early on. By teaching them early when they are toddlers and pre-schoolers, they will be better prepared to make healthy choices when they are older. Too many children are eating junk food, candy, unhealthy snacks like cookies and chocolate, fried foods, and other nasty food choices. From the moment your baby starts eating solid foods, make sure you are offering healthy choices. If your child does not like the taste of a certain type of fruit or vegetable, that is fine. But find something that they do like that is good for them. When your baby is sitting in his high chair, instead of giving him a crumbled up cookie, hand him a couple cut up green beans, peas, finely chopped apple or pear, mashed banana or something similar.

Ask your child’s pediatrician for advice and let the doctor know your goal is teach and re-enforce healthy eating habits. Your child’s pediatrician will be very supportive of your efforts and will give you lots of advice and recommend some literature you can acquire at the local library or book store. Your pediatrician’s office may even have some brochures and pamphlets on healthy eating choices.

Eating Healthy Begins Early

A full proof way of teaching healthy eating habits is through modeling. Take a close look at what you and your partner or spouse are eating. Do you or your partner reach for the potato chips instead of the carrot sticks? If you do not want to change your own eating habits for yourself, do it for your child. If you know you are a big eater and are heavy set yourself and do not wish the same for your child, now is the perfect time to make some life style changes of your own. Do it now while your child is young and looking to you as a role model.

If you wait until after your child has started regular K-12 school, it could prove to be too late. Once your child goes off to school and begins making their own choices as far as what to eat at the school cafeteria, if you have not instilled healthy eating habits by then, your child will choose the tastiest and often unhealthiest food choices. Instead of vegetables, they will eat french fries. Instead of white milk, they will choose chocolate milk. Instead of a salad, they will reach for the fried chicken nuggets.

You get the idea!