Motherhood The First Year

The first year of mother hood can be very stressful to the mother as the bay always keeps the mother on her toes. After the birth of the baby the mother needs plenty of rest to recuperate for the time she spent in carrying the baby.

After the birth of the baby from day one the mother has to spend endless waking hours to care for her child. She has to make sure that she sleeps when the baby is sleeping so she gets enough rest to handle the demands of the baby.

It is quite normal for the child to feed at regular intervals and also soil its napkin regularly. This calls for undivided attention from the mother. So she is always doing something or the other for the baby that she finds hardly any time to rest at all.

Babies keep awake at all hours and also sleep at all hours.

They do not follow our system of sleeping at fixed hours at night and keeping awake during the day. Their biological clock has not adjusted to that yet. They can sleep in the daytime and keep awake during the night. So it is important that you too make adjustments to keep yourself awake while your baby is also awake. This way you can spend more time with your baby as he or she is growing up.

Babies grow very quickly in their year that even if you happen to blink your eyes for a moment you would have missed something. I am sure you would not like to miss anything in your child's life.

Soon after they are a few months old they begin their movements. After three months they slowly learn to roll over and lie on their tummies and lift their heads. Before you know it they are soon crawling all over the house on the carpets. They then begin to raise themselves on their knees and start to stand up and before you know it they are walking all over the house.

In the first year the mother has to be careful to check if the baby is not putting foreign articles which could endanger its life into its mouth. Babies love to put anything and everything into their mouth. This is especially so when they start to teeth. Lots can be written about mother hood and babies in the first year.

As a baby becomes a toddler, most parents start to think about how best to discipline their child. It would be nice if discipline were a one-size-fits all solution but, like most parenting-related topics, it's not. What works for one child will not work for another. Good discipline takes parental creativity, consistency, and dedication.

Though it may be hard to believe at times, toddlers are not purposefully disobeying the rules to get you mad. They have a very short memory and are highly impulsive and inquisitive. A parent will find themselves needing to tell their toddler the same thing over and over again – often, even if a toddler is aware of a rule, he or she is not capable of obeying it. Eventually, they will learn – and spankings, slaps, yelling, or ostracizing is not necessary. Loving guidance and active involvement are much more effective than barking commands from across the room.

With a toddler, pick your battles. Some toddler behaviors are annoying, but are not harmful. For example, banging a pot with a spoon may be grating on your nerves, but before you scold your toddler for this behavior, consider if it's bad enough to warrant disciplinary action.

Here are some tips to help parents elicit their toddler's cooperation without hitting, yelling, or withdrawing emotional attachment:

- State requests in short, easy to understand sentences. "You need to sit down."

- Allow the child to make a choice, if possible. If your toddler is resisting getting dressed, try allowing him to pick from two outfits. This takes the focus off the power struggle (getting dressed) while also allowing him to feel in control.

- Explain the reasoning behind your requests when appropriate. ("Please do not bang on the fish tank; see how it scares the fish? Poor fish!")

- Use the word "we." "We sit down at the table when we eat." This makes your requests and rules sound less like demands and more like expectations, which is what they are, in reality.

-Try redirecting. If your child is heading toward something that is off limits, try offering him a particularly enticing toy and drawing his attention away from the off limits item.

- Phrase rules using positive words and phrases. It's hard for a toddler (or an adult) to obey a negative like "don't touch that." Instead, offer an alternative, such as "put your hands behind your back and just look."

- If your child has difficulties with transitions (particularly leaving), give him advance warning. "We're going to leave in 1 minute, so say goodbye to your toys."

- Know what to expect of your child developmentally. Expecting a one year old to sit quietly through an hour's worth of adult conversation is unreasonable. Expecting a one year old to play quietly with some adult involvement is more reasonable.

- Treat your child how you want him to treat others. You are your child's most important role model. If he sees you yell and scream, he will learn that yelling and screaming is how we handle frustrating situations. If you remain calm and model good behavior, your child is much more likely to behave in the future.

Living with a toddler every day can be frustrating, but gentle discipline will pay

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