Many women will swear that the first pregnancy trimester is the most difficult part of pregnancy. After the first rush of excitement passes, you suddenly realize that this is a big change in your daily life. For those that are going through it for the first time, the surprise is quite sobering. It’s important to be kind to yourself during this time. Make a list of things you are looking forward to … [Read more...]

If you are a single mom like me, you know how time consuming that can be. When I have to work and homeschool my kids at the same time, there is a lot to be done, but I have found a way to give myself a few extra hours in the day. I wake up before them and have me time. I also grocery shop just once a week, pay all bills online, and I lean on friends and neighbors, and once in a while I hire … [Read more...]

Pregnancy and a plus size did not seem to sit well for many people in the past few decades. The feeling was so deep that it was accepted that such pregnancy cannot result in a good outcome. The times and attitudes are changing and women are raising their voices asking for respect and recognition of their pregnancies. Health organizations are also getting more involved, recognizing specific needs … [Read more...]

There is a baby on the way and your kids are less then excited to say the least. New parents can find many ways to help the older siblings along before that bundle of joy even arrives. First off, its all about the attention and all kids want all of their parents attention, all the time. Parents can create activities that their children can engage in to 'help' mom and dad take care of the baby. … [Read more...]

The question is...can sleeping, especially during the infant stages be considered a skill? The answer is a big, fat NO. Sleeping is a biological function, as are our other bodily functions that come naturally. So the more specific areas of concern lie in the amount of sleep verses waking time and the frequency. We were created in such a wonderful way that our body brings many chemicals together to … [Read more...]

Toilet training of infants, long practiced in many traditional world cultures, is only now getting a foothold in Western world. It turns out that there’s actually scientific approach to it, as some recent studies suggest. In a nutshell, the process is simple as the parents hold the baby over a target and wait for the function to happen. The challenge is reading the signal given by the baby that … [Read more...]

Every parent had gone through the same questions at least once, trying to figure out what is it that babies can see, hear and sense, and when can they do it. We know that their vision is not as good as adults’ in the first few weeks, and in fact it is rather blurry. Infants are also not quite capable of distinguishing background sounds from speech. Cognitively, they have a thirst for knowledge and … [Read more...]

A report from Pure Earth and UNICEF indicates that as many as 800 million children have high levels of lead in their blood. Lead is a neurotoxin that can be damaging even at low levels. Lead poisoning can cause anaemia, and higher levels can negatively effect blood, bone marrow, the nervous system, kidneys and the brain. Children in lower-income areas, especially in South Asia, are particularly … [Read more...]

We live in a society that prepares children for the long haul of public school at a very young age. This is what is called preschool. Researchers found that a large percent of children that did attend preschool were much more disciplined then those that did not. However, academically it appears that most of the children that went to preschool were not just the same but under preformed compared to … [Read more...]

A recent scientific study of mice has given positive results into the relationships between parents and their children. The study conducted by the National Institute of Health looked into mouse parent's responses to their offspring's distress calls. The results show that the ability of a parent to respond alleviate the stress of their offspring may in fact be an innate trait. The research sheds a … [Read more...]