At a glance Teething is a normal, temporary stage but it can make days and nights feel very long. Sucking is a powerful built-in calming tool, which is why dummies help many babies settle, especially when gums are sore. Your baby’s unique sensory personality affects how they handle teething, crying and sleep disruption. Gentle, consistent […]
In the last trimester of pregnancy, your little one’s sensory systems begin to make connections in the brain and learning starts. However, unlike other mammals, human babies are born relatively immature. Consider the newborn antelope, springing across the African veld, following the rest of the herd only hours after birth. Her ability to keep up […]
The uterus is undisputedly the ultimate environment for the development and nurturing of a fetus. The sensory systems develop throughout pregnancy and affect the brain’s development. Fetal sensory development Your baby begins to develop on a sensory level from the moment of conception. The first sense to develop is the sense of touch, emerging at 3 […]
After 9 months in a perfectly regulated environment – the womb – it becomes one of your baby’s first tasks to regulate his body temperature. It takes a while for this ability to develop and intermittently you may find that your baby is too hot or has freezing hands. Because of this, many parents fall […]
Sleep is most parents’ first separation from their baby. And for many this elicits anxiety. I am sure the scene of a mother crouching over her sleeping baby to hear if he is breathing is familiar to most parents. We do this because of the terrible scare of cot death. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) […]
Illness can affect your child’s sleep, so Ann Richardson gives ideas on getting your baby through the night. It is a fact of parenting that somewhere along the line your little one will come down with a cough and a cold (commonly called “the flu”). Most of the time it will simply be a viral […]
An infant’s skin has many functions – it protects the body against ultraviolet radiation, provides a barrier against bacteria and toxins entering the body, and also prevents fluid and electrolyte loss from the body. The skin enables the baby to experience the sense of touch. The pre-term infant has a more sensitive skin to that […]
“Is your baby fussing an enormous amount or is he slow to warm up to all social settings? Let’s look at the problem of sensory defensiveness and some ways to deal with a fussy baby.” Mary’s little boy was not doing anything by the book. He did not give her the usual two week honeymoon […]
You have been happily living with a part time domestic worker who comes in twice a week and manages to keep your home perfectly in order. Now the time has come when you are blessed with a little one on the way and you would like to leave your precious bundle at home when you […]
For those who’s lives have never been touched by the tragedy of and child injured, it is difficult to understand the turmoil associated with it. To most people childhood injuries are merely a newspaper headline and far removed from their own lives. A home is a very special place. It is the place where children […]