Better Living

BOTTLE FEEDING HELP

Babies like to feed until they fall off to sleep, no matter if they are feeding by breast or bottle. In fact, many toddlers need to have a feeding before they go to bed so that they don’t wake up hungry until morning. There are a couple of problems with giving your baby nighttime bottles.

Your baby always associates going to sleep with the bottle, just as the breastfeeding baby associates sleep with breastfeeding. Babies associate sleep with feeding and the object or person a baby associates with going to sleep is the same that the baby expects in order to get back to sleep.

The trick here is to keep the babies asleep by offering them various things to associate with sleep so that they don't get hooked on one. The bottle or breast works so well for sleeping that the parent can get into a sort of rut as well as the baby because they stick with what is working.

Doing this is okay if you're going to offer the same prop every time the baby wakes up. But if you want baby to learn to resettle himself without the bottle in his mouth or hands you will have to switch it up. For example, give him his bottle in a rocking chair, and then help your baby snuggle to sleep with one arm around a teddy bear and the other around something else.

When the baby wakes up, cuddling the bear may be enough to resettle him on his own. Or, you can use a specially shaped snuggle helper for baby to nestle his head into. A solo sleeping baby may need this more, since he doesn't have people around him.

NIGHTTIME BOTTLE SAFETY

Sending your baby to sleep with a bottle in his mouth may damage the teeth which is what doctors call bottle mouth. You should never do this. If you want to ease baby off the nighttime bottle, try watering the formula down, or better still give him water.

If you prefer to water down the formula, gradually dilute the bottle contents with increasing amounts of water until baby figures out it's not worth waking up and fussing for a bottle of water. Though it is tempting to leave a bottle in the crib with the baby when you have to feed him at 2:00 a.m. don't do this!

Not only does this really help to contribute to tooth decay, your baby can choke with no one there to help. Don't let your baby sleep with a bottle of milk or juice. Bottles are not good for your baby's teeth. Do not soak pacifiers with honey either.

When your baby falls asleep, saliva flow decreases, which lowers the baby’s natural rinsing action on the teeth. The honey will coat the teeth. Plaque and bacteria will use this to eat your baby’s teeth. If a baby is hooked on the nap or nighttime bottle, try watering down the juice or milk, each night diluting it a bit more until it's all water.

SOOTHING BABY ACCESSORIES

Finding accessories that will help to relax a colicky baby can be difficult. There are quite a few, so I have decided to add a section that will address this very thing. I mentioned things like vibrating seats and swings, so now we will use this section to look at these so that you can choose what is best for you and your baby. Let’s look at them now!!

A baby swing is a wonderful way to soothe a fussy or colicky baby. It is also a great way for the parent to hold an infant while mom or dad sneaks a quick shower. Before you buy a baby swing, you should look at this list of handy must-have features that will make your baby swing more useful and pleasurable for you and baby.

Stability & Safety First

Since baby's safety is naturally going to be your first priority, so you will have to check all swings to be sure they have a wide base and will not tip over on the baby should he to one side. You will also have to check to see that the swing has a safety belt system; especially if you have a smaller baby. Just like in car seats, you will want a 5-point harness system in your swings because it is safer. The shoulder and hip straps help to reduce the chance that baby will slide out of the swing or learn to climb out of it.

Battery & Wind-Up

Whether you choose to get a battery-powered swing or a wind-up swing is a matter of personal choice. Of course, batteries don't last forever, so it is reasonable to assume that these can be costly over time. However, battery swings will help to eliminate the need to keep re-winding every time the swing stops moving which is about every 15 minutes or so. The wind up for a manual swing is also quite loud. Battery swings also tend have more swinging speeds and music settings to meet baby's preferences.

Speed & Sound Differences

Some babies want to be rocked to sleep slowly, while colicky babies may like to be rocked with more force. For this reason, you must choose a baby swing that has several different rocking speeds. Your baby may also have strong preferences on music, so look for swings that play music at different volumes or with no music at all. Some babies just want peace and quiet!



Reclining

Small babies will not be able to hold their head up on their own or avoid slouching forward in an upright swing, so be sure your baby swing has at least two recline positions. It also helps to weigh down the swing with a blanket placed over the baby. One of the recline positions that will come with the swing setting should be a newborn recline that allows baby to lie back far enough to avoid slouching all together. The reclining feature is also handy when older babies fall asleep while still in the swing so that you don’t have to move him.

Open Top & Flip-Out Tray

You will want to have a flip-out or fold-up tray on a swing, so that a sleeping baby can be gently removed from the swing without going through a great deal of trouble. These trays are also more convenient for the parents. An open top swing makes it easier to lift the baby out of the swing without hitting their head on the swing's upper bar as well.

The best Swings

Two of the most popular baby swings on the market today are those that are made by Graco; which is an open top and the Fisher Price Aquarium Wonders Swing. The Graco Open Top Swing features a reclining seat, multiple speed settings and soothing music. It is also a 6 time winner of best swing.
The Fisher Price Aquarium Wonders Swing has an open side, and has soothing music, reclining seat and varying speeds.

VIBRATING BOUNCER

Baby bouncers are called many different things: baby bouncer, jolly jumper, vibrating chair, rocker chair. When shopping for one it gets quite confusing. The most common type of baby bouncer attaches to the top of a door frame. You can also buy a bouncer that has its own, free-standing frame, and these are the ones that are called a vibrating chair.

It is good for me to tell you that with all types of bouncers, your baby sits inside a padded fabric seat which cradles and supports your baby’s body in a way that is a lot like a car seat. Doorway bouncers fit your baby like a diaper with a bungee cord on it. The seat is suspended from elastic straps which attach to the door frame. Free-standing bouncers are shaped a lot like a chair, with a sling style seat attached to a heavy-duty wire frame. They are very sturdy.

Babies should not use these types of bungee bouncers until they have full control of their heads, which is usually between three and five month’s years of age. Babies should stop using the bouncer when they hit 25 pounds.

Doorway bouncers should also be positioned so that your baby’s feet just touch the floor when they are sitting in the seat so that they do not propel themselves too high. They should be positioned in the center of the door frame, so that they don’t hit the door sides. If you have a wide opening between two rooms that doesn’t have a door, you should then attach your bouncer to that door frame. If you don’t have a door-less opening, you have to wedge open the door when you set up your baby bouncer. You don’t want the door accidentally closing on your baby while they bounce around.

Many babies love the sensation of gently bouncing up and down and this is very relaxing for them. They stay quite happy bouncing for a good 20 minutes, or in the case of my daughter an hour or more. Other babies are very unsure of the instability of the bouncer and will scream to get out. If your baby likes the bouncer, it’s yet another way you can entertain your baby on days when you need to give your arms a rest.

Bouncing or vibrating chairs are very soothing for colicky babies. Many babies find the vibrating seat lulls them off to sleep in much the same way a car ride or sitting on the dryer does. Excited babies will do well without the vibrating seat turned on because they can swing their arms around madly and bounce gently up and down in place. The vibrating chairs often have toys to help stimulate the baby enough to keep a colicky baby occupied during a colicky episode. The Fisher Price vibrating chair below is a good choice for young babies.

Vibrating Bassinet

While some parents, express concern about the use of vibrating baby equipment, referencing stories of babies becoming addicted to the motion, I found that the vibrating bassinet kept me from loosing my mind with my colicky daughter, and she loved it. The Fisher Price vibrating infant seat was a great start for traveling, but I needed something I could use at home.

That’s when I discovered the Fisher Price vibrating bassinet which helped her to sleep more than an hour at a stretch and in fact, it helped her transition to full night’s sleep faster. Neither of these items led to a vibration dependency.

Because my daughter didn't sleep much as a newborn was supposed to thanks to the colic, she was often overtired and fussy, needing to be held and cuddled. The vibrating car seat helped her to relax or sleep but still be with me. I found it especially handy when I wanted to take a shower or bath. The baby sat happily in the bathroom with me for 20 minutes and didn’t make a sound. It was also one of the few ways I could put her down so that I could do other things like cleaning etc.

She liked the seat so much that I decided to buy the vibrating bassinet for nighttime. Because the vibrating bassinet was so soothing to her, I learned that I could place her in a blanket and put her in it while she was still awake. She would fall asleep and stay asleep for 4 to five hours at first as she was 4 weeks old when I bought it, and as she got bigger, she slept for longer. That meant that she learned early on to fall asleep without my having to hold and cuddle her.

The bassinet runs on a single C battery, so you should be able to get a couple of nights before having to replace it. When it is running, the strength of the vibration will gradually decrease and then stop sometime in the middle of the night while the baby is in it. This was important to ensuring that the baby didn't become dependent on the vibrations for sleep. My daughter learned to sleep without problems, until the baby learned to sleep in the bassinet even after it had stopped vibrating.

When she was 3 months old, I was able to transfer her to a regular crib. She had no trouble falling asleep on her own in the crib and staying that way. I also loved the vibrating bassinet because it was very easy to bring around with me as it folded easily. I honestly think this was the best $50 I ever spent!!!!

GRIPE WATER

If your baby is suffering from colic you are likely way too tired to think of anything else, but how to stop the baby from crying. You likely already know colic does not have one particular treatment that can cure it. Instead, there are many different treatments that might help like the things I mentioned in this guide.

There is one product that seems to work wonders for all colicky babies that use it and that is gripe water. As soon as you try gripe water for the first time you might be amazed at how well it works at soothing a screaming baby. However, it is really just some water and herbs that together seem to make a remedy for colic that actually works.

The Europeans developed Gripe water and it has been famous ever since. As new parents find how well it works there will surely be a higher demand for this product than there is now. When all the other remedies and medications don’t help your baby the way they could, you can turn to gripe water.

This is simply water mixed with herbs that are designed to help the intestines relax so that a baby can pass gas easier and it really helps to soothe the stomach. The water inside of the bottle is very sterile and fortified with tummy calming herbs like catnip, fennel, chamomile, peppermint, ginger, and a few others.

These herbs are readily available in herbal tea remedies that are frequently given to babies, however I must mention when Gripe water is used the results are just as good and you don’t have to prepare it yourself and worry about doses in the mixture.

The herbs in gripe water work for baby colic because the herbs are used to clear up a tummy ache. They make the entire digestive system function better and feel better, too. Sometimes, your doctor will prescribe antacids, gas meds, and reflux medications to help out with a baby’s colic, but they don’t always work. No matter what the cause is for colic, your baby will respond well to the gripe water.

When you try feeding your baby gripe water you can mix it with your next formula bottle if he doesn’t like it outright. Few babies can tell the difference in taste and will eat without knowing that their feelings of gas and colic disappear after eating. Breast feeding mothers having a hard time getting baby to try the Gripe water can try a spoonful in the baby’s mouth. You can also place a little bit on a pacifier for shorter episodes or as a quick nighttime aid.

The main benefit of gripe water for treating colic is that it is homeopathic and completely natural, so it is not harmful to the baby. Frequently this remedy works wonders for colicky babies, but it won’t be the magic solution for all babies. So, if it works for your baby that is great.

Complete Ingredients in Gripe Water

Ginger
Ginger is a natural safe and effective ingredient, which has been used by parents for centuries, to relieve nausea and other digestive problems.

Fennel
Fennel is another natural safe and effective treatment for stomach upset, hiccups, gas and other conditions with a century’s long history of human use. It is recommended by many herbalists. Fennel seed oil is especially effective for relaxing a baby's intestinal tract.

Sodium Bicarbonate
Sodium Bicarbonate is a common ingredient in food (baking soda), which is commonly used to decrease stomach acidity. Therefore, it is useful for easing the discomforts of colic, which is often associated with stomach discomfort. (14 mg per dose with a maximum 6 doses a day).

Fructose
Although today many health experts recommend less use of all forms of sugar, they also agree that where sugar is consumed in limited quantities, fructose (a natural sugar in fruits and honey) is a better choice than processed sucrose (table sugar).

Please note that this ingredient information was brought by http://www.colichelp.com/shop/gripewater.html. Also, gripe water no longer contains alcohol as was previously believed and is not harmful or addictive to the baby.

Colic Drops

Colic Drops are a great way of trying to find a solution to your baby’s constant crying. Many people realize that their baby’s colic can be linked to lactase enzyme deficiency which, when added to milk, allows babies with lactase deficiency to be able to drink milk without suffering for it.

By breaking down most of the lactose that occurs in baby’s feeding sessions by adding lactase enzyme drops to the milk a number of hours before feeding, the hours of crying can be significantly reduced.

Colic drops also work to make the transition to sleep much easier for the baby and you. Colic drops also help to let the baby sleep longer than he normally would. It is a great way to get the colic to be less painful for you both.

WHITE NOISE

White noise is basically just a combination of all of the different frequencies of sound that you can find. If it’s easier, you can think of white noise as 20,000 tones all playing at the same time. Because white noise contains all frequencies, it is frequently used to mask other sounds.

If you are in a hotel and voices from the room next-door are heard in that muffled tone and you try to drown it out with a fan, this sound the fan makes gives out a good amount of white noise. Think of it this way, 1,000 people talking together sounds a lot like white noise because you can’t single any of their voices out enough to understand what any of them are saying.

When a colicky baby hears this type of indistinguishable noise, it reminds him of the womb and is very soothing in getting the baby to calm down during an episode. I have included a few CD’s that offer white noise that can soothe your colicky baby.