Baby Original offers free advice for expecting parents and supporting family and friends. Main topical sections include pediatrician care, parenting, grandparenting, motherhood fitness and health, and social issues including pets, siblings, and schooling.
Pregnancy to Newborm
From moments of considering to have a baby to the first moments of life your little angel plays their part. Their little red face is all scrunched up, and the sounds that voice from her puckered little mouth are the most precious notes you could ever hope for. You ache any time the nurses take her for tests, and you deny offers from well meaning friends and family who offer to hold her while you get some sleep. All you want to do is be with your new baby, and you’ll forego food, water and sleep to do just that!
Parenting to Grandparenting
Parenting is often a thankless job. It is a difficult job, and a job that keeps parents up at night. From crying babies to whining toddlers, defiant teenagers to aloof young adults, parents constantly struggle to understand and positively affect the lives entrusted them. But in the end, it is a job every parent will say is the most amazing and wonderful adventure imaginable. It is the smiles, first steps, first homeruns, family trips, hugs and kisses that outshine the less appealing aspects of parenthood, and it is for these moments parents gladly lump the rest.
Day Care and Schooling
For many, it starts with the first day of kindergarten. For others, it begins a year or two earlier, with preschool. For all, it is a momentous occasion that marks the beginning of a learner’s journey that will never end. It's late summer, and it school is about to begin!
Eager little kids follow anxious parents through stores, buying back-to-school clothes, backpacks and sneakers. They get fresh haircuts, take extra bubbly baths the night before and are sent to bed extra early to ensure a good night's sleep. The next morning they're off to school. Be it kindergarten, middle school or college, the routine is mostly the same. May be by the time they’re in high school, the bubble bath is out of the question, and they can borrow the car and do their own shopping, and by college, parents can only wonder about that good night’s sleep, but these details are only minor. The first day of school is a blend of excitement, anxiety and curiosity for all students and parents as well.
Filed under: Examinations — Baby Original @ 3:51 am
Your doctor’s well-baby examination consists of many different parts, each designed to help her find certain information. You may have to watch closely to see her do each part of the exam because she probably has developed her own tricks and techniques. Some doctors like to have the baby on the examination table; others prefer that the parents hold the baby. Sometimes the doctor will be talking to you while examining your baby.
Here are some of the major areas your doctor will consider and what she looks for in each category:
General Appearance: cleanliness, nutrition, alertness
Skin: color, rashes. Bruises, swelling, condition of hair and nails
Head: Shape, softness of the anterior fontanel [soft spot]
Eyes: redness, good movement, light reflexes [checked with an instrument called an ophthalmoscope, looking for problems with the retina]
Ears: irritation or infection of the ear canals or ear drums
Nose: congestion, discharge
Mouth: gums, tongue, throat, tonsils
Neck: swelling of the thyroid or lymph nodes, mobility
Heart: rate and rhythm, murmurs
Lungs: breathing rate, abnormal noises, air exchange
Abdomen: bowel sounds [normal stomach gurglings], enlarged organs or tenderness
Genitals: In girls-normal appearance of external genitals, redness. In boys-penis [if circumcised, check that it has healed well; if not, check that foreskin is normal], both testicles are in scrotum
Arms and Legs: normal movement and color, absence of swelling and discoloration
Pulses: equal femoral pulse [same on both sides]
Neurologic: tone, muscle movement and coordination, strength
Your doctor’s well-baby examination consists of many different parts, each designed to help her find certain information. You may have to watch closely to see her do each part of the exam because she probably has developed her own tricks and techniques. Some doctors like to have the baby on the examination table; others prefer that the parents hold the baby. Sometimes the doctor will be talking to you while examining your baby.