Hindsight is 20/20 and getting nostalgic about how life was when our kids were babies, made me think about what I wish I knew as a newborn mother.
What I Wish I Knew as a New Mom
newborn infant
Cry Baby: Baby Cries and Language Development
Babies cry. Period.
For those first few months, newborns sound the alarm every time they feel slightly off kilter. As a new parent, it can be rough trying to decipher what your baby needs. Regardless of how many parenting books you may read, decoding cries doesn’t necessarily come with textbook instructions
Crying is the first and most important form of communication infants have with their parents and caregivers. Their entire survival depends on it. The first two months of life, their cries intensify, peaking between 6 to 8 weeks before significantly decreasing by 3 to 4 months of age. This decline aligns with key developmental milestones, such the emergence of self-soothing behaviors (sucking fingers to turning head away when overstimulated), vocalizations (cooing and babbling), and motor skills (reaching, grasping, pushing up onto elbows and forearms during tummy time).
Although it can be tough to handle your baby’s cries, especially in the moment, there’s always a rhyme and reason behind them. Every cry is a way of communicating a need.
Continue readingThings I Learned on Netflix: Babies
I enjoy good documentaries and Netflix has an abundance of them out right now. So when I came across the docuseries Babies, I had to check it out for the blog.
Babies explores the new research surrounding child development within the first year of life, following 15 newborns from around the globe. While I’d like to think I’m pretty well informed in this arena, there is still a great deal that I didn’t know and that was quite refreshing. It would be crazy to think that what I learned in grad school about babies 15+ years ago hasn’t been challenged or expanded upon since.
Continue readingCourse Notes: Early Development and Intervention
To round out my CEU courses for the year, I finished with Effective Early Intervention: Innovative Solutions to Build Motor, Balance, and Social-Emotional Skills to Improve Overall Development. While this lecture was geared towards therapists, there is still some great information that parents can use about child development and what early intervention provides.
Continue readingCourse Notes: Torticollis and Flat-Head Syndrome
When the Back to Sleep campaign kicked off in 1994, there was a noted decrease in SIDS. However, the number of babies with developmental delays rose. Interestingly enough, the cases of torticollis and flat-head syndrome (aka plagiocephaly) dramatically increased as well. Coincidence? I think NOT!
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Child(ish) Advice 