Baby Care Encyclopedia

Because they are growing, babies need more calories and nutrients per pound of body weight than adults. In the third month of life, babies require 50 to 60 calories a day per pound of body weight. In the fourth to sixth months, the calorie needs are reduced slightly, an adjustment babies make automatically. In general, though, there's no need to worry about letting your three- to six-month-old get fat and there's little indication that a roly-poly six-month-old has a greater than average chance of growing into an overweight child or adult. Continue to let the baby take the lead in deciding when she has eaten enough, and weight should take care of itself. The best way to tell when a baby is hungry is to observe her behavior. Younger babies cry, clench their fists, and tense up their bodies when they are hungry; four-to six-month-olds show hunger by grasping the bottle and drawing it to the mouth or reaching with an open mouth for the bottle or nipple. The baby's response to being ful...

Many nursing mothers wonder whether they should start replacing some breast feedings with bottle feedings during this period, with the eventual goal of weaning the baby entirely. Your decision about when and how to wean your baby should be based on your own desires, as well as on practical considerations, such as the need to return to work. Some pediatricians recommend the introduction of an occasional bottle perhaps one a day as soon as the mother's milk supply is well established. That way, the mother can be separated from the baby for more than a few hours at a time should the need arise. In addition, a baby who gets used to a bottle early in life can give up breast feeding more readily later on. It's important to emphasize, though, that there is no single correct approach; whatever choice the parents make, the baby will be fine. If you do decide to taper off breast feedings, the process may be easier if you do it gradually. The mother will be less uncomfortable from breast eng...

During feeding, the three- to six-month-old may be quite active and alert. The baby's eyes may wander around the room during a feeding, and she may stroke the breast or bottle or even break away for a moment to smile and gurgle up at you. Because they can take more milk or formula at each feeding, babies between three and six months old need fewer feedings, but there are no hard and fast rules governing the frequency and timing of those feedings. Most pediatricians recommend a maximum formula intake of 32 to 36 ounces for babies this age. Rather than getting bogged down in when and how much you feed, try to place the baby's feeding in the context of all her other behavior alertness, movement, and sleep. If the baby seems fine in these areas, chances are the feeding schedule you are on is Derfectlv adeauate. Solid foods should be introduced between the fourth and sixth months, when the baby loses the tongue-extrusion reflex (which makes the tongue push everything except a nipple rig...

When a baby starts to vocalize, it is important that the adults in her life respond with appropriate words and facial expressions. This feedback encourages the baby to keep using vocal sounds and engage in social interaction. In this way, babies learn the rhythms of conversation and gain important exposure to the sounds, tones, and meanings of speech. Although a five- or six-month-old can't understand what you're saying, she can pause to wait for your response and, when you become silent, make additional sounds in reply. This skill, simple as it may seem, is the first step toward mastering the art of communication. Long before babies understand words, they clearly respond to the specific tone and rhythm of speech. Parents often instinctively use BABY TALK speaking in a high-pitched voice and using one-syllable words and short sentences when addressing their babies. This type of speech, which is sometimes called MOTHERESE OTPARENTESE, can play a valuable role in babies' acquisition ...

During the third month, babies start making cooing and gurgling noises that will eventually lead to development of speech. Babies often coo and babble on their own, they practice using their voices the same way they practice grasping objects or lifting their heads. Early in the three- to six-month-old period, babies begin responding vocally to adult voices, especially those of their mothers and fathers. When an adult imitates the gurgle of a baby this age, the baby will gurgle back. This is the start of an early conversation. At around four months of age, babies begin to make actual speech sounds. They intone long sequences of vowels, such as aaah and eee in a singsong fashion. This type of infant babbling is the same the world over, regardless of the language spoken at home. Only at around nine months do babies start limiting themselves to sounds they will use to speak the language about to become their mother tongue. Babbling Of Deaf Babies Babies with little or no hearing also...