Flame retardants, including Chlorinate Tris, Firemaster 550, and PentaBDE, are found in the foam inside upholstered furniture in order to meet California regulations — the must be able to withstand exposure to a small flame, like a candle or cigarette lighter, for 12 seconds without igniting. But these chemicals don’t stay inside the foam. They continuously migrate into dust and end up in pets and people. Surprisingly, flame retardants have been found in the bodies of creatures who have never sat on a sofa including salmon, peregrine falcons, cats, whales, polar bears and even Tasmanian devils.

But what about humans who do sit on sofas? Numerous studies find flame retardants in the blood of nearly everyone in the United States with the highest levels in infants and children.

Toddlers have the highest levels because of their hand-to-mouth behavior and proximity to the floor. They are also most vulnerable to the toxic effects of the chemicals since their brains and reproductive organs are still developing.

Tomorrow we’ll discuss flame retardant exposure. It may be different than you think.

It’s becoming an ever more common sight: babies and kids playing with smartphones. According to NPR’s Health Blog, one recent survey found that as many as 1 in 4 toddlers has used a smartphone and for many young kids, it’s become the toy of choice. Yet, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that kids under two follow a no-screen time rule. Is this new breed of tech parenting going to wreak havoc on the development of toddlers? Not if we educate parents how to use smartphones smartly (because the trend is most likely only going to grow).

Here are 5 smart tips for letting toddlers use smartphones:

1. Play together. One main concern that the AAP has about young children using things like smartphones is that it leads to a reduction in parent-child communication – which is vital for language development. So, if your child wants to play on your smartphone, play together and talk about what’s happening. If you’re looking for a way to entertain your child while actually increasing your ability to communicate with one another, try our new, free KidGlyphs app which is a fun tool that uses graphics, spoken words, and text to help children communicate beyond their verbal skills.
2. Opt for educational apps. In the same vein as above, choose apps that encourage interaction and education as opposed to those that mindlessly suck kids in without benefit.
3. Be aware. Parents need to be aware of what their child is doing on electronic devices – to teach them how to use them respectfully and responsibly and how to best interact with technology.
4. Use in moderation. While there are no set recommendations for how much time you should allow a young child to play with a smartphone, use your best judgment.
5. Don’t use it for soothing. Children are naturally fascinated by the colors, sounds, and animation of smartphones and given the choice, may often choose it as a favorite distraction. If your child is crying or throwing a tantrum, don’t try to soothe him by giving him your phone. You’ll only teach him that he can have that special tool whenever he screams enough.

New advancements in science and technology can be very exciting, but it’s wise to understand the benefits and risks. And, with the boom in developments our children will experience in their lifetime, one of the greatest lessons we can teach them is responsible use.

Finger foods are food pieces that your baby can pick up and eat by himself.  At first, finger foods are mostly tools for practice in self-feeding, which will help your baby to develop manual dexterity and give him more control of his mouth muscles. Practice at finger feeding also promotes the skills necessary for later self-feeding with a spoon.  Once these skills develop (9-10 months), finger foods will become an important nutritional part of your baby’s diet.

Babies’ tummies are small and they must eat frequently—no more than a few hours apart.  They should eat three small meals and two or three snacks daily.   Snacks should be as nutritious as main meals; don’t think of snacks for babies as dessert foods or sugary treats.

WARNING:  NEVER LEAVE YOUR CHILD ALONE WHILE SHE IS EATING.  WATCH HER CAREFULLY AS SHE EATS IN CASE OF CHOKING.

Remember that baby’s mouth taste and sensitivity changes often. You may have to offer the same food up to 15 times before baby will accept it!  Baby may accept a food one day and refuse it the next.   Offer your baby a variety of healthy foods.  Never push or force your baby to eat.  Keep mealtimes pleasant and as stress-free as possible.

Let your baby eat plenty of finger foods. Your baby may stop accepting the spoon from you and insist on feeding themselves. This is normal and a good sign of independence. Don’t dismay, just let her feed herself with her fingers, a spoon, or by dipping foods into sauces as explained in the next few guest blog posts. This week’s blog posts will tell you everything you need to know about feeding your baby healthy, organic, nutritious finger foods. Stay tuned!

Guessing what babies and toddlers are thinking about can be difficult before they have words to tell the story. Over the first year parents usually do get increasingly adept at recognizing when their babies feel tired or hungry or have a poopy diaper. And at some point, many notice their babies staring impolitely at what the parents are eating – usually just around the time for the babies to start solids. Of course they would be fascinated by food! This is also about the time they start to stare at the mouth when you speak.

On January 17, 2012 the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencespublished an intriguing study of 120 babies from 4- to 12-months old, tracking their eye movements while their parents spoke. At four months the babies gaze at their parents’ eyes. By six months, though, a dramatic change has happened: babies are intent on lip-reading. When someone speaks, they stare at the mouth – puzzling out what this whole talking thing means and how it works. By 12 months old, babies developing normally have come to understand the mechanics and go back to watching the eyes during conversation – unless unfamiliar sounds, such as a foreign language, come up. The eyes also dilate to unfamiliar words.

I think this is one of the reasons that reading to babies is so powerful. Use the opportunity when they watch your mouth during speech to read to your baby, so they can watch the same words in the same order again and again.

And keep in mind: Babies understand far more language than most people think.

^{David J. Lewkowicz and Amy M. Hansen-Tift. Infants deploy selective attention to the mouth of a talking face when learning speech. PNAS 2012 ; published ahead of print January 17, 2012,doi:10.1073/pnas.1114783109}

Babies generally begin pointing around 6 to 9 months of age, coincidentally the time they are ready to begin the adventure of eating solids. In fact the act of pointing is one of the indicators to look for in determining if your baby is truly ready for solids. Pointing is one of baby’s first forms of communicating. In the beginning it is adorable and parents as well as caregivers ask questions to find out what baby is pointing at to find out their interests. Sometimes baby will also point at things they want. Why pointing isn’t always effective is because of the long arduous process of trying to find out each and every time what it is they want. When they’re pointing it is generally something they can’t get their hands on immediately and they need help to obtain it. Parents get up and go over to the general vicinity of where baby is pointing and begin picking up objects, “is this what you want?” item after item being picked up and put down with your baby growing frustrated in not being understood.

Often pointing and the excitement around pointing diminish after a couple short months because of its inconsistent results and ineffectiveness. Yet, it is clear that babies have the desire to “point out” things they are interested in, just for the pure joy of communicating, not so much because they want the item. This is when I encourage parents to take advantage of pointing for the beauty of baby sign language, the act of just bonding with their child where there is not a need to be met, but rather your child steering two way conversations.

Birds and airplanes are two great examples of having this ripe opportunity available. It is something that has caught your child’s attention, which they merely want to talk about. More often than not this situation arises when you are enjoying time outside, where you have the time and tendency to connect. It is clear the child doesn’t want the bird or airplane, but rather enjoys the interesting sound it makes or the fact that it is in the sky, where not everything else can go…. Amazing that those babies are in fact making these distinctions this young!

Take advantage of this time and talk about the “birds” or “airplanes” flying high above, how interesting the sound is that they make, or their color, or how many there are…. Each situation is unique and provides various possibilities. The key point (no pun intended) is to have a dialogue with your baby, letting them know you take interest in their observation of the world around them. The tip I specifically share in the Sign, Play & Learn classes is this “Every time your baby points, take it to mean – I want to know what that’s called” and provide not just the name of the item, but also the sign. Babies want to be heard and valued, when we provide them the tool for being better understood with signs that associated with their “interests” instead of focusing so much on the common signs of “eat”, “more”, “all done” and “please”, a child will not only respond more readily, and by that I mean learn and demonstrate the sign, but they will feel good about being understood, well responded to and loved!

Children and water, it’s just a natural fit. Summer has ended and I’m thinking about how much the kids enjoyed various water play activities from filling up the water table, playing on the slip n’ slide, turning on the sprinkler, going to the pool, and splashing around at our favorite theme park, Legoland CA a bunch of times. It might be the sole reason we enjoy summer so much, well, that and the fact that there’s no homework to monitor.

Water is one of those signs that I encourage parents to add to their signing vocabulary early because it offers plenty of natural contexts to repeat and reinforce the sign. Just think for a moment all the points in the day that you or your child interacts with water. It’s quite a bit when you think about cooking, cleaning, drinking, washing hands, taking a bath or shower, then add in the summer fun activities and you’ve doubled your child’s exposure to the sign for water in context.

I’m going to ask you to run a mock scientific experiment in your mind’s eye, with the example of signing WATER in specific contexts.

Baby A is being shown the sign for WATER each time she drinks from a sippy cup.

Baby B is being shown the sign for WATER each time the faucet is turned on or a pitcher filled up or hands being washed or bath being drawn PLUS every time baby splashes, or goes to the pool, or plays in water in general.

Will Baby A or Baby B pick up the sign faster? The answer is easy. Baby B would certainly be the one inclined to begin signing WATER faster given everything else is equal.

Having fun is something we can easily forget as new parents, there certainly is plenty to do and care for and the rollercoaster ride of adding a family member can keep our mind pretty occupied. When kids are busy playing, they are having fun, but more importantly when kids are busy playing, they are also busy learning!

What signs do you have the most fun with in communicating with your baby?

Introduction

The toddler that rushes down the hall calling, “Mommy phone!” is dramatically different from the newborn you held in your arms a moment and an eternity ago. Astonishing and unparalleled growth takes place in the first two years – and it takes place in fits and bursts. Tomorrow’s complex skills build on today’s simpler ones, with countless interconnections.

To make sense of this dizzying affair, I like to sort growth into four storylines: the apprentice mastering hand-eye coordination, the athlete learning to run, the scholar’s saga of symbols of the mind, and the poet’s journey.

The Apprentice

When a newborn fixes her eyes on something intriguing, she might swipe towards it with her arms and/or legs. Even though her swipe does not come close, this is the beginning of her training in hand-eye coordination that will one day enable her to master tasks such as tying shoes, playing the piano, or performing neurosurgery.

A baby can grasp an adult finger pressed into her hand on her very first day. It’s not until this automatic grasp starts to fade a few months later that she can learn to consciously take hold of the world around her. Babies become increasingly fascinated by their own hands and then by objects they can handle.

Over time, their grasping behavior will become more sophisticated and precise. Using the arm to corral a toy gives way to picking up a block in the hand. Usually, kids first grasp with the little-finger half of the hand and move to the thumb-side with practice. Then, about the middle of the first year, they’ll demonstrate their emerging mastery by passing toys from hand to hand. Then on to holding two toys at once, followed by banging them together! Next, they start peering at smaller objects, captivated by objects the size of a raisin as they are about to develop a precise finger-thumb grasp. By the time they are taking their first steps, they are ready not just to hold objects, but to build with them. When a toddler has built a stack of six blocks, or turned a doorknob to open a closed door, the apprentice has completed his journeyman training.

Read More from the Apprentice, Athlete, Scholar, Poet:
The Apprentice
The Athlete
The Scholar
The Poet
The Parent Detective

Dr. Greene’s Answer:

Most kids hit or bite at some point. Those who keep it up usually feel they are getting something out of it. Either getting their way or getting attention (even negative attention), getting their siblingunhappy, or just getting a chance to express anger.

To help them go faster through this phase, immediately go to the child who is bit or hit, scoop him/her up for a hug, while saying, “No, no biting” to the biter. Then say he is in time-out and set a timer for three minutes. Don’t give him the attention to try to get him to stay in any particular place or go anyplace, just don’t pay attention for three minutes and at the end, when the timer dings, it is over.

For most kids, it is better not to have a “time-out” spot because if they leave, they are getting away with something or you pay attention to them trying to get them to stay. Either way, the time-out doesn’t work. The timer is important so that the end is not subjective. After the timer rings, treat him normally. In between, repeat the message, “In our family, we don’t bite.” Kids are trying to learn family identity at that age. In the meantime, try to teach him alternatives to get his way or express being upset.

In addition to time-outs for negative behaviors, give your child plenty of praise for positive behaviors. When your son is playing well with others and not biting or hitting, praise him for playing nicely. Children innately want a parent’s attention and affirmation. Your praise will act as strong motivating force for your child to avoid aggressive behaviors in the future.

Dr. Greene’s Answer:

Your daughter could be perfectly normal, but this is worth discussing with your pediatrician.

In the United States, most kids start walking by about 12 to 14 months. Some kids skip crawling altogether and it can be normal not to walk until 18 months, but the combination of not crawling and not walking is worth looking into now to be sure there isn’t a problem.

Related concepts:

Bad Dreams

Introduction to nightmares:

Mommy, I had a bad dream…

What are nightmares?

Nightmares are unpleasant dreams that awaken a dreamer from sleep.
We’ve learned much about nightmares from traumatic events, which are known to cause a predictable pattern of nightmares: first dreams that relive the event, then dreams that relive the primary emotion of the event using different scenarios (different pictures), then dreams that incorporate aspects of the event into other parts of life.
Nightmares are an important means of addressing the normal difficult events and emotions of childhood, to weave them into the fabric of our minds in a constructive way.
Night terrors are very different from nightmares.

Who gets nightmares?

Birth is a wonderful and terrible experience. There is much to be happy about and much to learn about in the weeks that follow. Babies’ dreams must incorporate and address those things that bring them pleasure and those that make them cry. In all likelihood, the peak age of crying, the first 6 weeks, is also the peak age of nightmares.
These nightmares are not unsuccessful dreams. Far from it! They help babies learn and grow; nightmares may even be an important reason that crying diminishes after 6 weeks.
Stressful events, such as injections, circumcision (which should never be done without anesthesia), being left alone or dropped, or even feeling hungry, need to be learned about and integrated. Anything worth crying about is worth dreaming about.
Nightmares are most evident between the ages of 3 to 5 years — the peak age when children talk about their fears.

What are the symptoms of nightmares?

Children wake up and remember a scary or sad dream, usually in the second half of the night. They may be sad or afraid when they wake up, and are often crying. Children who are old enough will often wake their parents and tell them they had a bad dream.
Unlike with a night terror, they will recognize their parents and be comforted by their presence. In addition, unlike a night terror, they will often have trouble falling back asleep because of fear.

Are nightmares contagious?

Nightmares are a normal part of development. They are not contagious, although children will often respond to the fear and sadness of those around them.

How long do nightmares last?

Individual nightmares are brief.
Nightmares can occur throughout life, but tend to decrease with each passing year.

How are nightmares diagnosed?

Nightmares are diagnosed based on the history.
They are to be distinguished from night terrors. In pre-verbal children, they should be distinguished from ear infections, reflux, hernias, or other causes of pain.

How are nightmares treated?

An individual nightmare is treated with your reassuring presence. Holding your child and talking soothingly about the dream can diminish the fear and sadness.
If your child is old enough to tell or draw the story of the dream, it can be helpful to find a way for the story to reach a happy ending. Addressing the underlying emotions can help your child make sense of them.

How can nightmares be prevented?

Much excellent children’s literature directly addresses difficult dreams. Other books address children’s common fears and concerns. This literature, and other art, can help children do some of the integrating work of nightmares without the nightmares themselves.

Related A-to-Z Information:

Colic, Ear Infection, Gastroesophageal Reflux, Hernia (Inguinal hernia), Night Terrors, Separation Anxiety, Tantrums