Baby walker safety

1- Make sure that the baby walker that you choose has a stable wide wheeled base, preferably not less than thirty-six inches (92cm) wide. This will prevent your child from getting through the width of a door-way.

2- Find out what the recommended maximum child weight is?

3- A folding walker is very useful when visiting, but make sure that it has a good locking system. You don’t want it collapsing while your child is in it.

4- The seat portion must not be detachable and should be made of a strong durable material.

5- Do not pick up the walking ring while your child is in it. He could fall out.

6- Your child is not ready for a baby walker if he is unable to sit without help.

7- Make sure that there are no obstacles and that the floor is flat and firm (your lawn is not a good place). Electrical cords and toys lying around should be removed.

8- Do you have glass doors? If they are not safety glass, have the glass replaced. You really do need crash-proof doors for your mobile infant.

9- If there are stairs, make sure that access is solidly blocked. A gated stairway is not necessarily safe. Given enough momentum, your baby can crash right through the safety gates.

10- Have a look around, get down to his level, are there any potted plants, electronic equipment, or anything else at all that he could possibly pull down on himself. Don’t just say No! Put your hand out and pull!

11- Don’t forget, babies in walkers can also roll into fires and swimming pools. Be vigilant! 

By homesafetyforkids.com

kitchen safety tips for kids

If possible, keep small children out of the kitchen when you are cooking.

Do not carry, or drink anything hot whilst holding a child. 

Keep a wary look out for little people (and pets) while carrying hot foods or liquids, they are easy to trip over.

Avoid carrying a small child while cooking.

If using a microwave to heat baby’s bottle or food, make sure that the heat is distributed evenly and that it is not too hot before giving it to your infant.

A child is likely to pull on tablecloths and/or place-mats, thus overturning hot food or drinks. Where possible, do not use them.

Ensure that all kitchen appliances are unplugged when not in use, and that the cords are placed well away from little hands. Shorten the cords if possible.

Use the plates at the back of the stove, before using the ones at the front.

Make sure that pot handles are turned away when placed on the stove or kitchen counter.

Keep young children away from the front of ovens. Don’t open the oven door when children are close by.

Keep hot foods and liquids away from table and counter edges.

Keep your cutlery drawer locked – use a safety latch if necessary.

Do not keep knives in a holder on the kitchen counter.

Just because items are stored out of reach, does not mean an enterprising child cannot get to them. Install child Locks.

Store all breakables – glasses, plates, bowls, out of reach, or use a safety latch.

Keep the sharp blades of blenders, food processors and other appliances out of reach in locked cupboards.

Store your cleaning product containers, including washing powders and aerosol sprays in a top cupboard. Do not place cleaning supplies under the sink 
Never put non-food products that could cause poisoning into empty food jars or juice and cold-drink bottles.

If there is a the possibility that a product is poisonous, lock it out of reach and preferably out of site of your child.

If you are called away while using any chemical type products, move them out of reach immediately. While you are running to the aid of one child, another child might get at the products you left on the counter.

Wipe up any water, food, and oil spills immediately. You cannot help another person, if you are sitting on the kitchen floor with a broken ankle.

As soon as you have finished your ironing, pack the iron and ironing board away. Burns from the hot iron and injury from the iron falling onto a young head are not a good idea.

Store plastic bags well out of reach. Teach children never to put plastic bags over their heads. Tie a knot in plastic bags before throwing them away.

By homesafetyforkids.com

Food hygiene and your kids

If you can help kids understand why it’s necessary to wash their hands, they’re more likely to remember to put it into practice.

Food hygiene is all about preventing the spread of bacteria that can cause disease.

Bacteria are living organisms just like you and me. 

The fact that you can’t see them doesn’t mean that they can’t cause more problems than the naughtiest kid!

Like us, to live and grow, bacteria need food and moisture, a warm home and time. 

Here’s a little experiment your kids can do to see for themselves how bacteria spread:

*Give your kids some pieces of fruit: half a lemon, some orange segments, a piece of peach – but not apple as it takes too long to go mouldy.

* Ask them to deliberately drop it on the pavement or in the garden. 

* Then pick it up and put it into a clear plastic bag along with a piece of damp cotton wool.

* Fasten the bag securely and leave in a warm and dark place for a few days.

* Check it each day and your kids will see the mould develop. Explain to them that this is the bacteria spreading (and that when food is mouldy they shouldn’t eat it).

To help keep as safe as possible, there are plenty of things you can encourage your kids to do:

How we Keep Food

How we store food is very important in the fight against bacteria. Many of the foods we buy have recommendations for storage on their labels but there are some basic rules.

• Keep chilled food in the fridge with raw meats at the bottom (this prevents any blood that escapes from the meat dropping onto other food and contaminating it).
• Keep frozen food in the freezer and don’t re-freeze defrosted food.
• Don’t leave food out uncovered.
• Allow hot food to cool before putting in the fridge as hot food will raise the temperature in the fridge.

Handling Food

ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE TOUCHING FOOD! This is even more important if you’ve just been to the toilet or have earth on your hands.

 You shouldn’t really wash your hands in the same sink that you do dishes in.

• Wash your hands with soap and make sure that you scrub them all over – don’t just dip your fingers under a tap!
• Wash your hands frequently while cooking especially after touching raw meat.
• Use different chopping boards for meat and vegetables. Having a selection of different coloured boards makes this easier.
• Scrub the chopping boards thoroughly after use. Hard plastic ones are best

The Cook

Before starting to cook, make sure your kids are wearing aprons, have hair tied back, and have short sleeves or rolled up sleeves that can’t catch in anything.

• Don’t sneeze or cough over the food! Turn away, and wash your hands afterwards.
• Don’t play with your hair or nose! Wash your hands after touching either.
• Any cuts or scratches should be covered with a plaster

Cooking

To kill bacteria

Make sure fish and meat are thoroughly cooked

Chilled cooked food – either your own left-overs or ready meals from the supermarket - poses a special risk as research has shown it to be particularly high in bacteria, so make sure it’s piping hot all the way through before taking it to the table

Eggs for young children, who are especially vulnerable, should be cooked until the yolk is hard

*All good cooks need to taste as they go along but don’t use the same spoon more than once. 

*Try to persuade your kids not to touch food that other people are going to eat!

*If you can get your kids to put these things into practice, they’ll be well on their way to keeping themselves protected from bacteria.

*But don’t worry too much if they slip up sometimes!

By kidsandcooking.co.uk

Image by dreamstime.com

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Development milestone

Child development refers to how a child becomes able to do more complex things as they get older. Development is different than growth. 

Growth only refers to the child getting bigger in size.

When we talk about normal development, we are talking about developing skills like:

Gross motor:  using large groups of muscles to sit, stand, walk, run, etc., keeping balance, and changing positions.

Fine motor:  using hands to be able to eat, draw, dress, play, write, and do many other things.

Language:  speaking, using body language and gestures, communicating, and understanding what others say.

Cognitive:  Thinking skills:  including learning, understanding, problem-solving, reasoning, and remembering.

Social:  Interacting with others, having relationships with family, friends, and teachers, cooperating, and responding to the feelings of others.

Developmental milestones are a set of functional skills or age-specific tasks that most children can do at a certain age range.  Your pediatrician uses milestones to help check how your child is developing.  Although each milestone has an age level, the actual age when a normally developing child reaches that milestone can very quite a bit. 

 Every child is unique! 

Delayed milestone, also called developmental delays, is used to describe the condition where a child does not reach one of these stages at the expected age. However, in most cases, a wide variety of ages can be considered normal, and not a cause for medical concern. 

By med.umich.edu

Wooden Toys

Automated plastic toys do a lot of activities that attract a kid. However, the child does nothing other than just watching it. That means zero mental activity. In contrast to it, wooden toys are passive and the kid has to think a lot before making a shape out of it. Also, wooden toys are known for creating spatial awareness. Wooden sequencing sets improve a child’s hand-eye coordination.

Wooden Toys are the Safest Toys

Safety comes first when choosing a toy for your kid. There is no substitute for you kid’s safety. Following points prove you why wooden toys are safe.

• Wooden toys are electric-shock resistant.
• Kids use to keep everything in their mouth. In such cases, wooden toys are not as harmful as plastic toys.
• As wooden toys can be recycled, they are referred as environment friendly toys.
• Pollution caused during the manufacturing of wooden toys is very less compared to plastic and rubber toys.
• Wooden toys are nature’s gift. Nature can never harm your child.

* The only safety aspect that you have to keep in mind while your kid is playing with a wooden toy is its colour. Check whether the colour comes off when you scratch it with your nails. Usually the colours used in branded wooden toys will never come off and are the safest for your child. Wooden toys may be costly, but your child’s safety matters most.

Wooden Toys are Attractive

Some wooden toys are beautifully crafted, making them look very attractive.

Usually wooden toys come as detachable pieces and kids have fun building them together.

Educational Benefits of Wooden Toys

Wooden toys not only provide great entertainment to your kids but also help them in their mental development. Wooden building blocks stimulate the child to think creatively. Your kid will never get bored playing building blocks. They constantly try for newer shapes and they are proud to be the architect of their own toy wooden house/train/truck/temple. Wooden building blocks also improve a child’s motor skills.

Wooden puzzles greatly help a kid in the development of her problem solving skills. They are really challenging to play and the parents must select the puzzle according to their kid’s age. Colourful shapes made out of wood helps a child to recognize shapes and colours.

Different Types of Wooden Toys

There are a huge number of wooden toys available in the market. Some have the good old traditional designs and others have modern day designs. Most popular wooden toys are trains, trucks, farms, castles and doll houses. Wooden horse ride-on and wooden tricycles are children’s all-time favourite. Jigsaw puzzles and wooden board games are meant for elderly kids.

Wooden Toys are the Best Gift for a Child

Wooden toys are worth your money. They hardly get any damage. Also, wooden toys can be kept as sweet remembrances. As wooden toys never break easily and can be kept forever and the best gift you can give a child is a wooden toy.

by prakash-t.hubpages.com

Seven ways to boost your child's immunity

There are healthy habits you can adopt that will give your child's immune system a boost:

1. Serve more fruits and vegetables. Carrots, green beans, oranges, strawberries: They all contain such immunity-boosting phytonutrients as vitamin C and carotenoids.

Phytonutrients may increase the body's production of infection-fighting white blood cells and interferon, an antibody that coats cell surfaces, blocking out viruses.

Try to get your child to eat five servings of fruits and veggies a day. (A serving is about two tablespoons for toddlers, 1¼ cup for older kids.)

2. Boost sleep time. Studies of adults show that sleep deprivation can make you more susceptible to illness by reducing natural killer cells, immune-system weapons that attack microbes and cancer cells.

A newborn may need up to 18 hours of crib time a day, toddlers require 12 to 13 hours, and preschoolers need about 10 hours.

3. Breast-feed your baby. Breast milk contains turbo-charged immunity-enhancing antibodies and white blood cells. Nursing guards against ear infections, allergies, diarrhea, pneumonia, meningitis and urinary-tract infections. It may also enhance your baby's brain power and help protect her against insulin-dependent diabetes, Crohn's disease, colitis, and certain forms of cancer later in life.

Importance of breast-feed for at least the first two to three months in order to supplement the immunity your baby received in utero.

4. Exercise as a family. Research shows that exercise increases the number of natural killer cells in adults and regular activity can benefit kids in the same way, says Ranjit Chandra, M.D., a pediatric immunologist at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

5. Guard against germ spread. Fighting germs doesn't technically boost immunity, but it's a great way to reduce stress on your child's immune system. Make sure your kids wash their hands often with soap. You should pay particular attention to their hygiene before and after each meal and after playing outside, handling pets, blowing their nose, using the bathroom, and arriving home from day care.

When you're out, carry disposable wipes with you for quick cleanups. To help kids get into the hand-washing habit at home, let them pick out their own brightly colored hand towels and soap in fun shapes, colors, and scents.

6. Banish secondhand smoke. Kids are more susceptible than adults to the harmful effects of secondhand smoke because they breathe at a faster rate; a child's natural detoxification system is also less developed. Secondhand smoke increases a child's risk of SIDS, bronchitis, ear infections, and asthma. It may also affect intelligence and neurological development.

7. Don't pressure your pediatrician. Urging your pediatrician to write a prescription for an antibiotic whenever your child has a cold, flu, or sore throat is a bad idea. Antibiotics treat only illnesses caused by bacteria, "but the majority of childhood illnesses are caused by viruses," says Howard Bauchner, M.D., a professor of pediatrics and public health at the Boston University School of Medicine.                                               By www.parents.com