Although growth is a process of letting nature take its course, there are things that should be done for children in different periods.
If you miss it, it may not only get twice the result with half the effort, but also cause some bad consequences.
Do the right thing at the right time, don’t delay the growth of children because of adults’ negligence.
First, play on your stomach
The newborn baby sleeps most of the day, and the rare waking time is either lying down or being held. Adults are always worried that the baby is too young to let him lie prone.
In fact, the first day the baby returns home from the hospital, he can play on his stomach.
Let the baby play on his stomach as soon as possible, not only can prevent flat head, but also can promote early head control, exercise the strength of back, neck and arms, and help the baby learn to turn, roll and climb these movements later.
When the baby is awake, he can be placed on a bed that is not too soft or on a climbing mat to let him play on his stomach. For a younger baby, parents can gently hold his shoulder, then hold it from ear to ear, put his elbow flat, with both shoulders at the same height, hands forward, and then let the baby practice raising his head on his stomach.
2-3 times a day for 3-5 minutes each time. If the baby likes to lie prone, the time can be appropriately extended.
2. Adding iron-containing supplementary foods
After the baby is 4 ~ 6 months old, supplementary foods can be added according to the baby’s situation, and the supplementary foods initially added should be foods rich in iron.
When the baby grows to about 6 months old, the iron stored at birth is almost consumed.
If you don’t add rich iron in time, it may cause iron deficiency in your baby. Iron deficiency may not only cause anemia, but also affect your baby’s brain development.
Therefore, the supplementary foods initially added to the baby should be iron-fortified cereals, red meat paste, fish paste, tofu, etc.
Three, with the cup
The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that children can learn to use cups after half a year old and leave bottles around the age of 1, not more than 18 months at the latest.
Timely use of cups can not only improve the coordination ability of the baby’s eyes, hands and mouth, but also promote the development of lip ability and chewing and swallowing ability, which is beneficial to the development of the child’s psychological and language ability.
However, not allowing the baby to learn to use cups and always using bottles for him will not only fail to improve the baby’s habit of using bottles lying down, resulting in more choking cough, tooth decay, otitis media and other problems, but will also affect the baby’s habit of eating milk and sleeping and prevent him from learning to sleep alone at night.
IV. Oral Care
When the baby grows his first tooth, he should brush his teeth, and fluoride toothpaste should be used to make the baby used to brushing his teeth every day.
After the tooth erupts, as long as the child can cooperate with the dentist, he can be taken to apply fluoride for prevention. Then the pit and fissure of deciduous teeth and permanent teeth were sealed at 3 ~ 4 years old, 6 ~ 9 years old and 11 ~ 13 years old respectively.
If tooth decay occurs, even deciduous teeth should be treated as soon as possible.
Don’t think that if you want to change your teeth anyway, it’s okay if your deciduous teeth are not well protected. The deciduous teeth will take more than ten years in total. If you don’t handle the broken deciduous teeth, it will not only affect your children’s chewing food and nutrition absorption, but also affect the development of permanent teeth in the future.
Five, cultivate sleep habits
Good sleep habits are not born, but need to be cultivated by parents. 4 ~ 6 months is the key period for the formation of baby’s sleep rules.
After 3 months, the baby gradually has the ability to [sleep for a long time]. After 6 months, most babies have added supplementary foods and are not so easy to wake up hungry at night. They can begin to cultivate the baby’s sleep habits and let him learn to fall asleep by himself, which is conducive to the establishment of good eating and sleep rules.
At a fixed time every day, follow a series of activities such as drawing curtains, taking a bath, changing diapers, nursing, brushing teeth, etc. to make the baby understand that it is time to sleep, and then put him on the bed, pat or hum lightly, so that the baby can gradually learn to fall asleep by himself, instead of relying on hugging or sucking all the time to fall asleep.
If you don’t help your baby cultivate good sleep habits in time, once you develop bad sleep habits, such as holding sleep and milk sleep, it will be difficult to correct them later.
Six, quit pacifiers
Pacifiers have many benefits for babies within 6 months old, such as pacifying babies and satisfying sucking needs. However, after more than 6 months, the disadvantages of pacifiers gradually emerge.
Continuing to use pacifiers after 6 months will increase the risk of otitis media, while continuing to use pacifiers until 4 years old may have bad effects on teeth, such as irregular teeth, earth-covered sky, upper tooth protrusion, etc.
Generally, the use of pacifiers should be gradually reduced or stopped when the baby is 6 months to 1 year old, and it is best not to exceed 2 years old at the latest.
Seven, let the baby eat by himself
How old a baby can eat by himself actually depends to a large extent on the opportunity his parents give his child to eat by themselves during what.
In fact, at the age of 8 ~ 12 months, the baby can try to eat with his hand, and then help the child gradually become familiar with eating with spoons or other tools.
Doing so can not only promote the coordination of his hands and eyes and the development of fine movements, but also make the baby more confident and independent.
At first, the baby may get food everywhere, but this is only temporary.
If parents are too troublesome to clean or can’t stand food being found everywhere, they must feed the baby. Not only can the baby’s ability to eat not be exercised, but it is also easy to form the habit of feeding, even if he is two or three years old, adults must feed him.
8. Adding Vitamin D
Vitamin D can promote calcium absorption and plays a very important role in bone and growth and development. If lacking, it may cause rickets and other diseases.
However, due to the relatively low content of vitamin D in natural foods (including breast milk), it is easy to lack vitamin D if it is not supplemented in time.
Therefore, within a few days after the baby is born, he should be supplemented with vitamin D, 400 IU per day, and at least 2 years old. If conditions permit, it can be continuously supplemented to teenagers and even adults.
Nine, sleep in separate beds
Although it is not reliable to say that delayed separation of beds will affect children’s independence and lead to precocious puberty, it is not recommended that children share the same bed with their parents.
For a small baby, it is best to share the same room with his parents but have different beds. Only when nursing or comforting can the child be carried to the adult’s bed, and when sleeping, the child should be put back into his crib.
When the baby reaches the age of 3 or so, he will gradually notice the difference between men and women. If he continues to sleep with his parents, it may have an impact on the child’s sexual cognition development. Sleeping with the child for a long time will also affect the husband-wife life and the relationship between husband and wife. Only when the relationship between husband and wife is harmonious can he be more conducive to the healthy development of the child’s personality.
Therefore, parents can gradually guide their children to sleep in separate rooms after the age of 2 and before the age of 4.