Archive for July 25th, 2008
What’s Happened to My Mind?
posted by Carol White
I was at a BBQ at my daughter’s preschool the other night and I was having a conversation with another mother about memory, or lack of memory. She is 28, and let’s just say that I’m not.
There’s probably no medical study supporting this, but every mother I talk to feels like her mind is a sieve. I never used to forget people’s names. I could meet them once, and remember their name three years later. Now I can’t remember anything, or anyone. As a child my mother seemed on top of everything. It was also a different era. She didn’t work, and young couples didn’t have to stretch as much to buy their first house.
At the BBQ all the moms were coming up with their own theories of “what happened to our minds” and we decided it was this:
- Lack of sleep
- Loving another little person so much that you are constantly worrying about if they are rested, if they have a full tummy, if they have sunblock on, where are you going to send them to preschool, and on and on.
- A lot of responsibilities other than your child(ren) including: your job, your mortgage, your husband.
- And in some cases… getting older
There. That’s the mommy version of a scientific study.
1 comment July 25, 2008
Toddler Nutrition
posted by Stephanie Gomez
Many concerned parents often worry that their new, walking toddler suddenly stops eating after their first birthday. This is an understandable concern when you consider primarily mothers have been the sole provider of nutrition during the child’s first year of life. Feeding an infant is a very primitive, instinctual and rewarding experience for many parents. However, in the second year of life, this dynamic rapidly shifts. The young toddler eats far less than one would expect. Whereas an infant nearly triples their birth weight in the first year, a toddler’s growth slows to only a few pounds in their second year of life. In addition, the child is mastering mobility and is far less interested in stopping to eat. To complicate matters, a child at this age is learning to individuate from their parent and learning to make choices for themselves and how to take control of any given situation. The best recommendation for establishing healthy eating habits in toddlers is to….lay off! By offering three nutritious meal options and two snacks a day, your child will generally choose what their bodies need in about a week’s time. If your child wants to eat nothing but blueberries on Monday, whole wheat noodles on Tuesday, and yogurt on Wednesday…she’ll be just fine. When they are hungry, they will eat, and when they do-stand back. I once saw a two-year-old eat almost half a chicken after being sick for a week! We just want to avoid getting into a power struggle and forcing or bribing our children to eat. If you still find feeding a challenge, consider this, Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, one of the leading developmental pediatricians describes the minimum daily intake for toddler as:
- One pint (16 oz.) of milk or milk product (cheese, yogurt, ice cream).
- 2 oz. of iron-containing protein (meat, egg, legumes) or iron-fortified cereal.
- 1 oz. of orange juice or fresh fruit.
- One multi-vitamin, which is used to cover for uneaten vegetables.
For other great tips on establishing healthy eating behavior, visit www.ellynsatter.com
1 comment July 25, 2008
Kids Get Squeezed in the Federal Budget
posted by Lindsay Dunckel
A recent report by the Urban Institute, a non-partisan economic and social policy research institute, shows that children are getting a smaller share of the federal budget, with spending on kids not keeping pace with GDP growth (GDP is gross domestic product, a measure of national income). Policy change is needed if our children’s needs are going to be met.
To read more on the report, go to: http://www.urban.org/publications/411699.html
Add comment July 25, 2008
New Study: Dads’ Care Benefits Babies’ Cognitive Development
posted by Lindsay Dunckel
A new study from Child Trends, Involvement among Resident Fathers and Links to Infant Cognitive Outcomes, published online in the Journal of Family Issues, shows that fathers’ warmth, care, and play with their babies is positively linked with infant cognitive development–as seen in the babies’ babbling and exploring objects. The study also finds that fathers’ influence is even greater for baby boys and for babies with a disability. More evidence about how important dads are. . .
Encourage the dads you know to bathe, change, dress, feed, sing, read, and play with their babies!
To read more about the importance of dads, go to my article the First 5 Nevada County website: http://www.first5nevco.org/articles/daddifference.cfm
To read more about the study, go to http://jfi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/0192513X08318145v1
Add comment July 25, 2008
Carol White