You may have heard the news last week: the American Academy of Pediatrics officially recommended that children remain backwards facing in their car seats regardless of weight until age 2.  Safety experts had previously made this same recommendation, citing data that children are 5 times safter in the backwards facing position between ages 1 and 2 for preventing head and neck injuries without an increased risk of injury to the legs.  For more information, please see my prior blog on car seat recommendations.  And don’t forget to keep your child in a booster seat until he is 57” tall—usually between ages 10 and 12!

Children at younger and younger ages are being exposed to social media.  Smart phones and computers permeate our lives, and we often forget the influence they have on children.  Please follow this link to a good article about children and social media:

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/story/2011/03/Social-media-websites-can-be-useful-for-kids-but-/45404834/1?loc=interstitialskip

Our daughter decided not to sleep last week.  Granted, she was sick when she first made this decision.  So Mommy, feeling badly for her, went to her room to comfort her when she started to scream.  But five nights later, I was completely exhausted—and Lydia was no longer screaming because she was sick.  She was now screaming out of habit.  After all, why go back to sleep on your own at night when you can have Mommy come hold you for a little bit?  Her soft, warm arms are a MUCH better place to sleep.

But a Mommy who hasn’t slept in several nights is not a happy Mommy, and Mommy will function much better if she is happy.  So after ensuring that Lydia was not in pain, it was time for her to “cry it out.”  I gently explained to her as I put her in bed that night that Mommy was not going to come up to her room if she started crying.  I turned off the monitor, closed our bedroom door, and went to sleep.  To my knowledge, she did not cry that night.  At least, she didn’t wake me up!  But she was the same smiling, happy Lydia in the morning—and I was smiling and happy, too, having gotten my first good night of sleep in several nights.

I’m sure many of you are thinking, “Wow, that sounds cruel!  That poor child!”  But I cannot emphasize enough how important good sleep is for both you and your child.  Everyone feels better after a good night’s sleep!  And sometimes getting that good night’s sleep involves some “sleep training” for your child.  Letting your child “cry it out” can be one of the more efficient ways of convincing your child to sleep through the night.  It can also be one of the hardest ways—as a parent, I completely understand that at times it is torture to lay in bed listening to your child scream.  And yes, sometimes your child may even get herself so upset that she makes herself throw up!  But I can reassure you that “cry it out” may be temporarily painful, but if you are consistent and persistent it WILL work.  And your child will love you just the same in the morning.

I’ll write more in another blog about recommended “cry it out” techniques.  In the meantime, if you about to embark on this process, get yourself a pair of earplugs and stay strong!

I always told myself before having children that I’d never have one of “those” children—you know, the ones who refuse to try new foods, who won’t eat fruits or vegetables, and who have a rather limited palate.  I’ve discovered that parenthood is one big lesson in humility, and I must admit now that I do have one of “those” children—a picky eater.

Liam started out as a fantastic eater.  Anything and everything we put on his plate, he would eat—everything from salmon to green beans to eggplant to hot salsa.  Yep, even salsa.  And I couldn’t give him pieces of grilled eggplant fast enough.  But something happened shortly after he turned 2.  Suddenly, Liam refused to eat pretty much anything and everything.  We were reduced to about 3 vegetables he would eat and maybe 4-5 fruits (home canned peaches being one, but not fresh peaches!).  Protein was maybe a bit easier, but not much.  And if we put something new on his plate, it was met by an immediate, “I don’t like that.”  Never mind the fact that he hadn’t even tried it!!!

So it was time to get creative as well as to establish some mealtime rules.  First, we discovered that Liam still loved mustard.  In fact, he told his grandparents once, “I like mustard with my mustard!”  So mustard became our friend.  Mustard on peas.  Mustard on bananas.  Mustard on anything and everything, no matter what we thought of the taste combination.  Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t.  Also, like most toddlers, Liam was a big fan of pasta.  So we would have mushroom ravioli, and I would disguise veggies into the pasta sauce.  But most importantly, we didn’t fix him special meals.  Liam was given the same food as everyone else at the table.  If he didn’t like it and didn’t eat it, fine—he would eat when he was hungry.  We also established a “no seconds until you have at least tried everything” rule.  He skipped a lot of seconds before finally agreeing to start trying new things.

Now that Liam is 5, his eating habits have greatly improved.  He still doesn’t have the variety that his younger sister has, and he is still hesitant to try new things.  But by establishing rules and being creative, we have coaxed him into a wider variety of foods.  In fact, Liam now loves foods such as corn, broccoli, and tuna—even without mustard!  We had a few gagging episodes at the table to get to this point, but we have survived.  He is outgrowing his pickiness, and I now truly understand that picky children are born, not created.  Remember that your job is to provide a wide variety of healthy, nutritious food.  Your child’s job is to decide what he is going to eat—and you can’t force feed him!  If you have concerns about your child’s nutrition, please talk to your provider.

Lydia chows down.