Baby Tracker 6

FEEDING YOUR BABY

• Try to be patient with your baby as he/she can be messy while learning to eat without help.
• Encourage self feeding. Do not get upset if baby is messy or spills food.
• Baby should be given 3 meals/ day and in between these meals 2-3 snacks must be provided too. Avoid junk and packaged foods, chocolates, toffees, juices and salty biscuits. Can introduce spices and salt but should be less ie only half the quantity taken by the family.
• Increase water intake and gradually reduce amount of milk. If breast feeding one feed of milk/curd should be included. 
• Only healthy food should be given to baby and you should strictly avoid giving soft drink, tea, coffee and flavored milk.
• Babies might deny eating new   food stuffs at least 10-12 times before they start liking it, you should never force the baby to eat.
• Try to teach baby on how to use cup, plate and spoons for drinking and eating. Layout the food separately for the child in a plate with katori and spoon.
• Encourage child to chew on a long carrot/ long cucumber/ chappati roll etc.
• If on formula feed, now is the time to shift to single toned milk by sipper/small glass. Stop bottle feeding now. 2-3 milk feeds with some cereal added into it can be given to the baby, along with other meals. Reduce the milk intake to about 500ml a day. If large number of milk feeds are given, baby will avoid eating solids and other food items which are essential for baby’s growth. Refer to Nutrition Guide for more info.
• Peanuts, soy, strawberries, tree nuts, fish and shellfish should be avoided as these can cause allergies to the baby.

DEVELOPMENT OF BABY

• The baby will cruise/crawl around the house and may try to stand with support of furniture. So please make your house child safe.
• The baby now listens when spoken to. Baby imitates the actions performed by adults and siblings. So we need to be good role models.
• The right kind of toys at this stage would be push toys, shape sorters, balls, toy telephone, books, and blocks.
• Maintain a regular time table for daily activities like bathing, feeding, sleeping and playing.
• Make the hour before going to bed calm and loving.
• Talk, sing and read to your baby daily.
• Check If your baby wakes up at night, but do not pick him/her up immediately.
• Watch her when the baby explores the entire house.
• Avoid TV / video / computers instead give him/her toys and play with her.
• Avoid scaring or yelling at your baby.
• Demonstrate and speak to your baby in simple words, what you would like the baby to do.

YOUR BABY AND FAMILY

• As parents are the role model of every child, therefore you should always do things which you want your baby to do. * Be polite and nice to your baby and try to teach him on what to do and how to do things rather than "what not to do". * Don’t keep saying "No" to your baby for everything; except when he/ she is going to get hurt or going to hurt someone else.
•  Eating with family is very important for the baby. Make meal times a bonding time and also give baby freedom to self feed itself. Baby can be made to sit in a secured high chair and eat from its own plate/katori.
• Read stories, sing songs to the baby and keep 30 min time for all these activities prior to putting the baby to sleep.
• Before hiring a baby sitter interview them properly and have few training cum trial sessions, where they handle the baby in your presence. A caregiver should be professionally trained, hygienic, clean, safe, loving and mature.

SAFETY MEASURES

1. Your baby must be seated in a car safety seat while travelling. 
   ( the car safety seat should be preferably installed at the centre of a rear seat, facing backwards)
2. Never place a rear-facing car seat in the front seat of a vehicle that has an active air bag. If the air bag inflates, it can push against the car seat and cause a head injury to the baby.
3. Never drink and drive (neither with the baby nor without the baby) and always wear a seat belt while driving.
4. Empty all buckets, tubs, pools etc. after use.
5. Do not keep heavy or hot things on a table, which your baby may pull over.
6. Put barriers on electrical plugs and keep your baby safe from all electrical/ hot items.
7. Always keep closed the doors to rooms where the baby could be hurt, like the bathrooms, kitchen etc.
8. Keep medicines, cleaning agents, poisonous substances and sharp objects out of reach of the baby.
9. Barricade all staircases.
10. Keep guards on the windows and keep furniture away from the windows.
11. In order to avoid accidents like burns/ scalding / drowning while bathing:
    a. Always set your water heater at a temperature lower than 120 deg F i.e. 49 deg C approximately.
    b. Always open cold water tap first for filling the bath tub and once the required level is reached close the hot water tap first followed by the cold one.
    c. Before giving bath to the baby check the temperature of the water by inserting your own elbow / wrist first. Ideal bath water temperature for infants is approximately 90-100 degree F i.e. 32-38 degree C.
    d. Never leave the baby alone in the bath tub / basin.
    e. Fill the baby bath tub / basin with not more than 5 inches of water and gently make your baby sit in it. The water level should never be above the baby's waist.
    ( a child can drown in as little as one inch of water and it takes only 3 minutes or less for a baby to drown )
12. Do not keep a gun at your home. If it’s a must then keep it unloaded and locked away from the baby. The ammunition should be kept separately and locked too.
13. Never leave your baby alone and while working in the kitchen keep your baby in a playpen or in a high chair with a safety lock.