Baby Names

Newborn Baby

2011-01-11T11:19:00.000-08:00

Knowing what to expect when you have a newborn can ease the anxiety that every new parent feels and give you confidence as you bond with your new baby. Here you'll find advice and information on everything from bathing and feeding your baby to establishing good sleep habits, interpreting your baby's cries, and knowing when to call the doctor.

Bathing your Baby

For the first week or so, until your baby's umbilical cord stump falls off and the area heals, it's best to stick to sponge baths with a lukewarm, moistened washcloth. Wash his face and hands frequently, and thoroughly clean his genital area after each diaper change.
Tub baths

After the umbilical cord stump dries up, falls off, and the area heals, you can start giving your newborn tub baths. While a baby is tiny, it makes the most sense to use the kitchen sink or a small plastic baby tub instead of a standard tub.

Although some parents bathe their babies every day for the sheer pleasure of it, until a baby is crawling around and getting into messes, a bath isn't really necessary more than once or twice a week. When you do bathe your newborn, you may find it a little scary at first. Handling a wiggling, wet, and soapy little creature takes practice and confidence, so stay calm and maintain a good grip on him.

Some babies find the warm water very soothing. If this is the case with your baby, let him linger. Others cry through the whole bath — that's when you'll want to get him in and out. Keeping the bathing room warm can help.
Bath safety

* Never leave your baby unsupervised, even for a minute. If the doorbell or phone rings and you feel you must answer it, scoop him up in a towel and take him with you.
* Never put your baby into a tub when the water is still running (the water temperature could change or the depth could become too high).
* Set your water heater to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. A child can get third-degree burns in less than a minute at 140 degrees.
* Never leave your child unattended. (Yes, it's so important we listed it twice). A child can drown in less than an inch of water — and in less than 60 seconds.

How to give your baby a bath

1. Gather all necessary bath supplies, and lay out a towel, a clean diaper, and clothes.

2. Fill the tub with 2 to 3 inches of water that feels warm but not hot, about 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius).

3. Bring your baby to the bath area and undress him completely. (TIP: If your baby cries through every bath, leave the diaper on at first. It can give him an increased sense of security in the water.)

4. Gradually slip your baby into the tub feet first, using one hand to support his neck and head. Pour cupfuls of bath water over him regularly during the bath so he doesn't get too cold.

5. Use mild soap and use it sparingly (too much dries out your baby's skin), as you wash him with your hand or a washcloth from top to bottom, front and back. Wash his scalp with a wet, soapy cloth. Use moistened cotton balls (no soap) to clean his eyes and face. If dried mucus has collected in the corners of your baby's nostrils or eyes, dab it several times to soften it before you wipe it out. As for your baby's genitals, a routine washing is all that's needed.

6. Rinse your baby thoroughly with cupfuls of water and wipe him down with a clean washcloth. Then lift him out of the tub with one hand supporting his neck and head and the other hand supporting his bottom, with your fingers around one thigh (babies are slippery when wet).

7. Wrap your baby in a hooded towel and pat him dry. If his skin is still peeling from birth, you can apply a mild baby lotion after his bath, but this is generally dead skin that needs to come off anyway, not dry skin. Then diaper him, dress him, and give him a kiss on his sweet-smelling head.

Music and your baby

2010-12-29T10:16:00.000-08:00

Definitely. Think about how music affects you — how an upbeat tune fends off the blues and soft music helps you fall asleep. Your baby is no different. Lullabies have a proven track record for soothing infants — ask any parent who has resorted to singing them when the baby wakes up at 2 o'clock in the morning. "I remember rocking my son to sleep to the tune of 'Snuggle Up,' " says Rich Ham-Kucharski of Canton, Michigan, father of Alex. "When we didn't play music, he would fight sleep."

Do listening to music benefit Your child....?

Music may even help strengthen premature babies. Researchers from Brigham Young University studied the effects of music on 33 premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. Cassette players piped voices of men and women singing lullabies into each baby's isolette for 40 minutes a day for four days. When doctors examined the babies on the fourth day, they found that babies who were exposed to music gained more weight, and had lower blood pressure and a stronger heartbeat.

Music can benefit you, too. It has the power to lift your spirits, soothe your frayed nerves, and move you to dance. And music helps with bonding. Imagine the joy you'll share with your child when you sway to the beat of a lovely melody (try Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"). Or how soothing it will be for you and your baby when you sing him a lilting lullaby ("Hush Little Baby" is always a winner).

Music make Your baby smarter?

The jury's still out on this question because not much research is available. Some experts claim that learning to play an instrument makes kids smarter in math, but that conclusion is based on research that focused on older children, not babies and young toddlers. For instance, one study found that piano lessons may enhance children's spatial reasoning skills (the ability to understand three-dimensional space), but experts tested only 3- and 4-year-olds.

Babies seem to be able to tell a melody from speech, even if they aren't sophisticated enough to know anything about music. For example, Norman Weinberger, a cognitive sciences and psychology professor at the University of California at Irvine, says in one study, babies as young as 4 months old seemed to know when researchers played the "Happy Birthday" song incorrectly.

Baby Development

2010-12-29T10:10:00.000-08:00

Baby activity and play is crucial for baby development, including social, emotional, physical, and cognitive growth. It's your child's way of learning about his body and the world, and he'll use all five senses to do it, especially in the first year. We have ideas for games, activities, and toys that encourage baby development.

Why it's so important ...........?

Absolutely. Play is crucial for your child's social, emotional, physical, and cognitive growth. It's your child's way of learning about his body and the world, and he'll use all five senses to do it, especially in the first year. What does this feel like when I touch it? What does this sound like when I squeeze it? What will happen if I push this or pull that? Crawl over there? Pull myself up on this? Exploration is the heart of play, and in your child's mind any experiment counts, even hurling a bowl of cereal off the highchair tray. Development experts are fond of saying that play is the work of children (and cleaning up after play seems to be the work of parents).

As your child moves into the toddler years, his play will become more imaginative and complex. Through play, he'll exercise key skills and qualities, such as independence, creativity, curiosity, and problem-solving. It can also be an important place to explore feelings and values and develop social skills. Long before your child feels comfortable sharing his favorite toy with his sister, he may offer it to a doll. His first spontaneous "please" and "thank you" may slip out at an imaginary tea party. And what parent can resist wasting a perfectly good bandage the first time her child says his teddy got hurt?

What types of play are best for my child?

It depends on the stage of development. Since play is the tool your child uses to learn about the world, the skills he's working on right now are your biggest clues to choosing the best activities. For instance, if your 3-month-old is learning how to grab objects, let him play with large soft toys. If at 12 months he's exploring cause and effect, play a simple version of hide-and-seek under tables and chairs.

Here are some guidelines for the types of play your child may be most interested in at different stages, according to Catherine Marchant, a play therapist at Wheelock College in Boston:

Social play
Interacting with you and others is important throughout the first year. Infants like to smile, look, and laugh. Older babies enjoy games such as peekaboo and itsy-bitsy spider.

Object play
Touching, banging, mouthing, throwing, pushing, and otherwise experimenting with things is fascinating for the 4- to 10-month-old set.

Functional and representional play
Pretending to use familiar objects in an appropriate way — pushing a toy lawn mower over the grass, or calling Grandma with a hairbrush, for instance — is the height of fun for 12- to 21-month-olds as their imaginations begin to blossom.

Early symbolic play
This type of play, common around the age of 2, creates something out of nothing. Your child might play with a shoebox as if it were a school bus, complete with motor noises, for example, or pretend to eat a plastic ring, insisting it's a doughnut.

Role play
Around 30 to 36 months your little actor will begin taking on new roles. Playing doctor, teacher, or mommy is common now.

Think of playtime as more than toy time. Playing is really any enjoyable activity that involves people, objects, or movement. Everything from blowing bubbles at each other to singing songs to splashing in the tub to chasing each other around the room qualifies. If you've ever seen a 12-month old enthralled with a cardboard box, you understand how wide the parameters are.

Get down on the floor with your baby. You are the ultimate plaything, and any activity will seem more fun if your baby can share it with you. Talk to your baby while you play and you'll help boost his language skills.

Introduce play activities when your baby is happy and rested, suggests Marilyn Segal, a developmental psychologist and author of the Your Child at Play series.

Stop when your child's had enough. Children have different thresholds for stimulation. When yours seems bored, fussy, or tired, it's time for a break.

Give your child a chance to play alone and with others. Both types of play are beneficial.

Let your child choose activities and control the direction of his play. You can suggest new things or present new options, but your child should be the boss. After all, play is about fun, and if there's one thing your child is an expert at already, it's having a good time.

Choosing baby name

2010-12-29T04:41:00.000-08:00

Choosing a unique baby name is one of the most exciting parts of your pregnancy. It is also a decision that should not be taken lightly. Remember, the names you choose will be with your children for his or her lifetime. With that in mind, we have compiled a comprehensive baby names list to be sure you consider every possibility. Feel free to try different combinations to produce cool baby names!

We have devoted a page to each letter of the alphabet for both boys and girls. This makes it easy for you to see at-a-glance what names are available rather than having to query a database each time. In addition to the name, we try to provide the name meaning, other derivations and the origin.

A site dedicated to choosing a baby name. Have you ever wondered "How do I pick a name for my baby" or "How to name my baby" then you have come to the right place. We have boys names and girls names and of course some of them are for both genders. Where possible, we try to put a meaning to the name and also where the name came from. So we can help if you've ever wondered "what does the name mean?" or "what does my name mean?" or "where does my name come from?" then we can help with that too. By keeping the names in lists, this also makes it easy to browse. What is the meaning of ... well just look here!

Baby Name Meaning

If you choose a name with the baby name meaning being of highest importance, you must raise the child in a manner to reflect that attribute. If the baby name you chose has as...

Family Names

Names like Eugene, Constance, Heime and William may be strong family names, but don't feel pressured to use a name you don't feel is right for your child.

How It Sounds

We think this is one of the most important factors in choosing a name. Say your prospective full baby name 10 times, see how it rolls out. Get some friends to do it too.

Nicknames

Kids can be cruel, and they'll make fun of your child's name no matter what, but its still worth doing a quick check to see if you've given them a name that will result in years of misery.

Celebrity Names

Celebrity names can be great, just don't be too disappointed if your little Beyoncé can't hold a tune.

Popularity

Be careful picking a trendy or popular name. Although they can be great names, you don't want your child to be known at school as "A$a #5".

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2010-11-21T19:51:00.000-08:00