For a small child, a small dog is your best choice. Children tend to want dogs with which they can play and that are smaller than they are. The toy and small breeds such as Chihuahuas, Yorkshire Terriers, Boston Terriers, and other similar sized breeds are perfect for children. Chihuahuas are very noisy, but they are also very gentle and lovable with their human families as are Yorkies and Boston Terriers. The small breeds are also better for your child to learn to feed and walk. It would be rather difficult for even a six year old to walk a Collie or German Shepherd no matter how gentle it might be.

Some breeds tend to be one-owner dogs, and since you will be sharing the care of the dog with your child, this is not the breed you want. If it becomes attached to you instead of your child, he or she will become very upset. Some breeds are also very picky about who feeds and bathes them, and though this may not be a problem when your child is young, it may be a potential problem as he or she grows older and wishes to take over care of their dog.

Before choosing a dog for your child, make sure the two of them are going to get along. This may require a trip to the pet store or breeder so that your child can interact with several dogs and choose the one that best suits him. A dog will attach to a person even as a puppy, so you want to choose the one that chooses your child. Never go out and just buy a puppy for your child because just like humans, they have their own personalities and may not be the right match for your child.

Even if you decide to get a dog from the animal shelter, let your child pick the one with the sad eyes looking to go home with him. Instead of saying there is a dog for every child, you must understand there is a child for every dog, and each dog will pick out the child he feels is right for him or her. Allowing it to happen naturally will assure you that dog and child are a perfect match for one another.

Many factors play a part on how long and hard; labor will be. You can influence some of these factors but not others.

Factors Influencing Labor

Factors you cannot control

• Size and shape of your pelvis
• Size and shape of baby’s head and shoulders
• Baby’s station, presentation, and position*
• The condition of your cervix when contractions begin
• The power of your contractions
• The amount of rest you have between contractions
• Some aspects of your general health and your baby’s well-being

Factors you control, to some extent

• Your emotional state and attitude toward birth [anxiety, fear, and tension versus optimism, confidence, and relaxation]
• Presence of helpful, caring partner[s]
• Knowledge of what to expect
• An environment and professional staff that help you feel secure and well cared for
• Good care of yourself [including good nourishment and health habits]

* Station refers to how low the baby is in the pelvis.

Presentation refers to which part of the baby’s body will come first [usually it is the head, but on occasion it may be the buttocks, feet, or even a shoulder]

Position refers to location-on the right or left side of the mother-and the orientation-anterior [towards the mother’s front], posterior [toward the mother’s back], or transverse [lying crosswise]-of a given part of the baby, specifically, the occiput [back of the head], brow, chin, shoulder, or sacrum [the bone at the end of the spinal column]. For example, if the baby’s position is left occipitoanterior, the back of the head is on the left , pointing toward his mother’s front.

If you are a early riser, at your best in the morning, you may enjoy a few minutes of peace and privacy over a cup of coffee before the rest of the family is awake. Your baby’s daytime naps may give you some precious time. Even later, when you may not feel the need to sleep every time your baby does, nap time should be for you, not for housework. Evening is a wonderful time for a leisurely bath, even for a good read in a warm tub.

And evening is probably also the best time for a quiet hour or two for spouses. As important as it is for each to have some solitary time, it is equally necessary for a married couple to spend at least some time together alone.

The kinds of clothing you select for your baby will reflect your own taste and inclinations. Some parents are willing to spend the extra time necessary to iron natural-fiber, woven- fabric because they like the look of a dressed up baby; others opt for simple knit clothing that needs little care. Whichever kind of clothing you prefer, look for garments that will be easy for you to put on and take off the baby-those with few, if any buttons, necklines with large enough openings to fit easily over the baby’s head, and sturdy crotch fasteners that make diaper changing easier.

For a sponge bath, you will need a warm, draft free room, a basin of lukewarm water, and two big towels-one to bathe the baby on, and the other to wrap him in after the bath. If your baby cries when totally undressed, give him a bath in stages, removing only part of the clothing at one time. Many babies love the feeling of being totally naked, though and enjoy waving their arms and legs about freely. You don’t really need soap for a newborn, some parents don’t use it for several months. If you can’t bring yourself from skipping it altogether, use very little because soap will dry up your baby’s delicate skin. Ordinary scented soap may trigger an allergic reaction, and it will disguise the wonderful “baby smell” that lets everyone in the house know that an infant is present.

Infants do not need to be bathed every day. The diaper area is of course, cleaned frequently, and two or three full baths a week are sufficient.

* Hospitals and doctors vary on this. For some it is optional; others believe every woman and baby should have it. You will need to investigate the policies in your area.

Breastfeeding can be a problem of convenience, though for some working women who are adaptable and willing to experiment, it is possible to have the best of both worlds-working and nursing. Your success will depend on your working conditions, your day care arrangements, your milk supply, and other factors. The tiniest of babies can be incredibly flexible, and you may be able to nurse the baby in the evenings and on the weekends when you are at home and have your caregiver feed the baby bottles of formula or your expressed breast milk. Your breast milk can be safely stored by refrigerating it for up to twenty-four hours or freezing it for two weeks. An occasional woman is lucky enough to find as a caregiver a nursing mother who will feed her infant charge as well as her own baby.

First, consider your child’s needs. Some centers may expect your child to play quietly all day, others may provide a pre-school atmosphere with structured activities. Consider how many children will be there during the day, large groups may not work well for a shy, easily “lost” child. The point here is that the “ideal” daycare situation will be different for each child. One one-year old may be ready for a structured pre-school type day care center, while another may be much happier staying with a neighbor.

Consider your needs. What hours will you need care, and what location will be the most convenient? And don’t forget to consider how much you can afford.

The most difficult problem is leaving a baby only a few weeks old is that of finding adequate care for him of her while you are gone. Most new mothers who return to work leave their babies with trusted and competent relatives. If you do not have family members who can provide this care, you my have trouble finding a sitter or day care center that will accept responsibility for such a young baby, and charges will probably be higher than they would for an older baby.

It’s wise to prepare yourself for strong jealousy of your twins among other children, both older and younger. Twins receive a great deal of admiration and attention from outsiders, they take more of their parent’s time, and they are so often so devoted to each other that they shun other children. On the other hand, many twins wish they were singletons. They tire of always having to contend with a sibling of the same age who receives the s me treatment.

That is one reason you will continue to treat your twins as individuals. Provide two birthday cakes. Don’t always dress them alike. Encourage them to have different interests. Don’t use nicknames that marks them as twins [”Pete and Repeat” for example] and try to discourage others from doing so.

Make a point of not worrying about your twins’ development in comparison with other children their age. If they were born prematurely, think of them in terms of their gestational age-their expected birth date-rather than their chronological age. They may be so content with each other’s company that they aren’t in a hurry to move from one stage to another. Twins often develop their own special language, which only they can speak and understand; discourage this by speaking to one twin at a time and waiting for him or her to answer.

A symptom is something a patient complains about. A sign is something the doctor [or you] can see, measure, hear, taste or smell. So, if your child complains of her ear hurting, that’s a symptom; if she’s pulling on her ear, that’s a sign.

Signs and symptoms are indications of illness, but they are not illnesses themselves. When your doctor treats your child, he or she may treat the signs and symptoms of the illness, the illness itself, or both. For example, aspirin or acetaminophen is frequently given to a child with a fever, either may reduce the fever, but neither affects the underlying illness causing the fever. However, an antibiotic given to your child when he has an ear infection, actually helps the body to fight off the infection and, so, is treating the illness. The earache [a symptom] and the fever [a sign] will go away because the infection [the illness] is being treated.

Most of the medicines you can buy in the drugstore without a prescription treat symptoms but doesn’t treat the illness itself. So the “cold” medicine you may buy for your child doesn’t make the cold go away any more quickly, but they may make your child feel a little better.

There’s an ongoing debate about treating signs and symptoms of common illnesses. Some doctors believe that unless the signs and symptoms are severe, you’re better off not treating them. Some of the symptoms of an illness may actually be beneficial and speed recovery. Every medicine has side effects, and sometimes these can be worse than the illness itself.

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