Newsletters

Teaching Your Child Life Skills   Are you preparing your child to be independent? Teaching your child life skills is not only important for self-care and sufficiency— it also allows him to feel empowered, works on socialization and reasoning, and helps develop healthy self-esteem. This list of age-appropriate skills will help prepare your child for each [...]

Separation Anxiety in Babies   Tearful, tantrum-filled goodbyes are common during a child's earliest years. Around the first birthday, many kids develop separation anxiety, getting upset when a parent tries to leave them with someone else. Though separation anxiety is a perfectly normal part of childhood development, it can be unsettling. Understanding what your child [...]

Top 10 tips for coping with a fussy eater   1. Introduce your fussy eater to as many foods as possible at an early age. Giving your children a limited number of foods will only escalate their fussiness, and deprive them of the essential nutrients they need to grow and develop. You could try playing [...]

Potty training tips   If you're afraid your child will still be in diapers by the time he or she gets married, you'll take comfort in these suggestions from BabyCenter parents. They've found creative and original ways to make potty training easier – and more fun. Try a tune "We used the Once Upon a Potty video for our [...]

Child Passenger Safety Requirements   Illinois Child Passenger Protection Act The Child Passenger Protection Act requires that all children under age 8 be properly secured in an appropriate child safety restraint system. This includes the use of booster seats, which must only be used with a lap/shoulder safety belt. If the back seat of the [...]

Parental Smiling and Warm Voice May Affect Infant Brain Development   Links between normal variations in parenting and a baby’s brain development have been found in a study involving 352 mothers and their babies. Annie Bernier at the University of Montreal and colleagues observed mothers playing with their 5-month-old babies for two minutes and coded [...]

Learning Math, Science and Technology Is Good For Preschoolers   Many adults, including some researchers, believe that “open-ended free play” is good for preschoolers and kindergartners, but “lessons” are not. They don’t believe that the youngest children should be taught specific subjects, especially math, science, engineering, and technology (STEM). But young children show a natural [...]

Organic vs. Non-Organic Foods for Your Child Erica Mouch, RD, LD, a dietitian with Children’s National Health System, explains the differences between organic and non-organic produce and the positives and negatives that each bring to the (kitchen) table. What is the difference between foods labeled organic versus non-organic? At the very core of it, there [...]

How Much Sleep Does My Child Need?   This is a common question parents ask themselves and their pediatricians. Unfortunately, sleep is not a peaceful topic for parents at times. There’s no question that we worry when we see our kids having difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. What makes this even harder for parents [...]

Five Things Parents Should Know About Talking to Their Baby   Being a new parent isn’t easy. Between feedings, changing diapers, and running errands, parents barely have a spare moment to breathe. Combine that with the countless how-to parenting books and articles that are thrown at them on a daily basis, and it’s easy to [...]

How To Mix Your Baby's Formula With Safe Water   Debating between breast feeding and formula feeding? Healthy Child recommends breastfeeding if possible for at least the first 12 months of life. However, there are valid reasons a family might need to use formula. One in every four American newborns consumes formula from birth. Around [...]