How healthy are your child's teeth?

You can never start too early when it comes to taking care of your baby's teeth - even when she doesn't have any. Beginning at birth, become familiar with your baby's mouth so that you will notice any discoloration or other change that may signify that something is infected. A good time to do this is when you clean your baby's mouth. Every day, take a soft, clean, damp cloth and wipe out your baby's mouth, especially after a feeding.

Once the teeth come in, brush them with a soft toothbrush and water. Around 6 months of age, introduce a regular cup to your baby. When a baby drinks from a bottle or "sippy" cup, the liquid pools around the teeth and starts dissolving their enamel which leads to decay and infection. This is especially important to remember at bedtime as the milk or juice will be in your baby's mouth for an even longer period of time. A good rule of thumb is to never put a baby to bed with a bottle of milk or juice. If you feel that your baby must have a bedtime bottle, use clean, cool water.

By age two, start using a pea-sized amount of toothpaste and have your child rinse and spit. Spitting can be a little difficult for your child to master, try using plain water for practice.

Even after your child can brush his teeth on his own, continue to monitor his mouth, teeth, and brushing habits to check for any issues. Cavities and other mouth issues often start showing up after the child has been left alone to care for their teeth since they may rush and not be as thorough.

Your baby's pediatrician will also be checking your baby's mouth for signs of infection. Make your baby's first dental appointment when they are around a year old or earlier if your pediatrician recommends it. Remember that even though baby teeth fall out, it's important to take care of them to ensure that the adult teeth will come in healthy.

Tummy Time

Tummy time is a specific time that your infant spends on his tummy. It is important because it helps to increase head and neck muscles, limit the "flat spots" on the baby's head and allows the baby's back to get stronger which helps them to roll, sit, and crawl.

Once the baby is used to tummy time, It is recommended that it should occur for approximately 3-5 minutes, five times a day. Keeping the time short but doing it often will allow your baby to experience several different positions and remain interested in his surroundings. Most babies enjoy looking at people's faces more than anything else so lay down next to him or lay down with your baby on your chest so he is able to see you. This may help your baby become more comfortable with tummy time. As they get older, prop up their favorite toys or picture books around them for something to look at.

ALWAYS supervise your baby's play time. Plan tummy time when the baby is alert and awake and NEVER leave the baby by herself while on tummy.

Read more information here on the importance of "Back to Sleep, Tummy to Play."

Good Night, Sleep Tight

Here is a startling truth: We are less than one month away from school starting. Yikes! Have your kids been staying up later than they usually do? To make the start of the school year more peaceful, start practicing "school year bedtimes" now.

Preschoolers need between 10 and 12 hours of sleep at night but that is often shortened by "Can I stay up a little longer?" and "I need a drink of water." Children thrive on schedules and routines during most of their day, why not extend a routine to bedtime? An easy way to begin that process is to make a picture schedule. Sit down with your child and brainstorm what your bedtime routine includes. This is a good time to address common bedtime issues such as how many drinks of water they can have or how many times they can call you into the room.

Here are some examples of traditional components:

Bath
Put on pajamas
Brush teeth
Find teddy bear or other security object
Read a book
Listen to music
Sing a song

Next, take pictures of these actions with your camera or draw pictures of the components and paste them in the order that you do them on a strip of paper. I made my routine strip with pictures cut from magazines:



Close-ups:





Hang it at your child's level for easy reference. Children are more likely to follow these homemade picture schedules since they will take pride in having made them. It will also help your child become more independent as some of these components can be done on their own. Staying consistent with routines helps your child feel more comfortable and they are more likely to complete the task without complaints when they know what is expected of them. Don't limit your routine strips to bedtime, they can apply to anything!

What's on our bookshelf....

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

These adorable little monkeys are put to bed by their mama. When she leaves the room they start jumping on the bed and inevitably one of them falls of the bed and bumps their head. Although the doctor tells Mama that monkeys shouldn't jump on the bed, one by one they fall. Kids of all ages love the repetition of this silly book and take pride that after a few pages, they can read it on their own. You can follow the five little monkeys through several adventures in more Eileen Christelow books. They are available in board books, paperbacks, and read along books with CD's.