If you are a normal parent, you have heard some of the
following comments from well-meaning family members,
friends, and even complete strangers. Something that should
be so simple - feeding your baby - suddenly becomes a
confusing catalog of do's and don'ts.

"You should not give them eggs before they are one."

"Give her some cereal before bed and she will sleep through
the night."

"No wheat in her diet until she is one or she will have an
allergy."

And the best: "You're feeding her THAT!?!?"

If you are looking for guidance about feeding your baby,
talk first to your child's pediatrician. These guidelines
should help clear the baby feeding picture for you.

Starting Solids Is Not That Important

For the first year of your baby's life he needs nothing
more than breast milk or formula for complete nutrition.
Most pediatricians recommend that babies can eat solids to
help them adjust to eating, but the main source of
nutrition is the liquid.

You can start some pureed foods when your baby is between
four and six months old. When your baby starts to show a
lot of interest in the food you are eating, can sit up with
slight support, and opens her mouth when the spoon comes
her way, she is probably ready to start solids.

Many parents start with a single item, such as rice cereal.
Feed it to your baby for a week, and watch for any signs of
an allergy or reaction. If she takes to cereal well, you
can continue to introduce solids one at a time. Traditional
advice says to start with veggies, followed by fruits, and
then meats, but you can start with fruit if you prefer.
Wait to serve pureed meats until your baby is closer to
nine months to twelve months, as they are harder to digest.

Transitioning to Table Foods

As your baby gets better at eating the purees, start making
the texture chunkier so she gets practice at chewing. When
she is good at chewing soft chunks, you can gradually
transition to finely cut table foods, but make sure
everything is very soft.

You will probably worry about choking as you start feeding
your baby table foods. Babies can choke, but for most kids
the gag reflux is strong enough to prevent this if they get
a hold of something they are not ready for. Of course, do
not let your baby eat unattended, just in case. Focus on
giving baby a variety of foods to taste, but do not worry
too much about how much she eats, as she will be getting
plenty of nutrition from her milk source. Soon your baby
will be eating like a pro, so enjoy these early days of
feeding your baby, and keep your camera handy to catch the
funny faces and messy meals.

A new baby in the family means changes for everyone. One of
the biggest changes is in our sleep, or rather, our lack of
sleep! Even if you have other children and you've gone
through the adjustment before, every child is different.
Some babies sleep through the night at an early age.
Others make you wonder if you'll ever sleep again.

It's very common for new babies to be born with their body
clocks the wrong way around. While still in the womb, your
baby may have been rocked to sleep during the day by your
movements and more active when you were resting at night.
So your baby's longest stretch of sleep may be in the
middle of the day.

There is evidence to show that a young baby can start to
distinguish between night and day from as young as two
weeks with a little gentle guidance. Here are six simple
strategies that work.

1 - During the day, let natural light into the house as
much as is possible. Take your baby out for walks in the
fresh air. Even if he's sleeping, he will be stimulated by
the light and feel of the air against his skin. Daylight
has been proven to aid night sleep for babies and adults.

2 - When your baby is awake (for a very short time in the
early weeks) interact with him, talk to him, stroke his
skin and place your face near his so he can see you. Just
being close to his family provides him with all the
stimulation he needs. Infants are stimulated just by being
held.

3 - Night time should be dark and quiet. Use a night light
when feeding your baby and don't engage with him too much.
After giving him a feed and a cuddle, put him straight back
to bed. This will set him up for healthy sleeping habits in
the next few months. Only change his nappy if you really
need to and if you do, keep the light dimmed and your voice
low.

4 - Your baby will know it's time to sleep if you introduce
sleep cues. In the early days, this won't mean much to your
baby. Once he has the hang of what's coming next, and
understands this is the pre-sleep routine, he will start to
settle to sleep easily.

A bedtime routine may include a bath, sleep suit, sleep
sack, feed and cuddle before bed.

For nap time, a little face wash, nappy change, sleeping
bag and feed will let your baby know he's going for a sleep.

You could also have a lullaby CD that plays while you're
getting him ready for bed.

Follow the same routine in the same order every night and
your baby will very quickly learn that it's time for sleep.

5 - Sleep props really help your baby know it's sleep time.
White noise works because the rhythmical sound is familiar
after the noise your baby was used to in the womb. Silence
can be alarming for babies and white noise can be calming
and reassuring.

A baby comforter that you can take everywhere with you and
bring out at sleep time is also a fantastic sleep cue.

Hold it close to you before and after your baby is born so
that it smells of you. Try one that you can attach to the
cot so it's close to your baby in the early months, but
safely out of the way.

Later, you can detach it and give to him for cuddles. And
when you feel it is safe, you can leave it with him at
sleep times too. Baby comforters have been proven to help
babies sleep through the night from an early age.

A sleeping bag or baby sleep sack also helps if you use it
for every sleep time. It's snug, warm and safe and can
become an essential part of your baby's sleep routine.

6 - Create a place for sleep. In the first few weeks your
baby will probably fall asleep anywhere and everywhere. He
will feel most safe when with you and probably enjoy
sleeping snuggled up against your skin.

But you should decide on where you want him to sleep at
night and during the day as early as possible and start
putting him down to sleep there so that it becomes a
familiar, safe place for him. It doesn't have to be every
sleep time at first. But gradually get him used to falling
asleep in the same place every night and nap time.

If you set up good habits from the start, it will make
sleep time easy for everyone. It's much harder to later
correct bad habits.

New mums are often told to sleep when their baby sleeps.
With everything that needs to be done, this may seem
impossible and simplistic. But it really does help. If
you're not well rested, you won't enjoy the time with your
baby when he's awake and ready to play. In the early days,
if you have a sleeping baby, you should be sleeping too.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and other
experts, toddlers have profound and steadfast cravings to
discover new information, observe their environments, and
master new skills. And it's no surprise that when children
are actively encouraged to seek out new information and
their efforts and accomplishments are celebrated, they
learn far more quickly.

Therefore, if your goal is to toilet train your son or
daughter quickly, you must keep these fundamental truths in
mind before beginning the process, because they serve as
the basis for any good fast-forwarding system. In my
experience, far too many well-meaning parents has less than
stellar results because they assume that their little ones
actually prefer peeing and pooping in their diapers! This
couldn't be further from the truth! Rather, children
continually strive to become more independent (and potty
training is one of the biggest first steps towards this)
and with proper instruction and support, they can - and
will - learn to use the potty or toilet quickly and happily!

All you need is four things:

1. The right mindset - Commitment, focus, and
follow-through are essential for successful, complete, and
fast toilet training

2. An excellent accelerated toilet training system - one
that combines positive behavioral modification techniques
within a nurturing environment

3. Thorough preparation - You'll need to set aside the time
and have the required equipment (which shouldn't be
expensive or fancy!)

4. Careful attention to instructions and consistent
follow-through - You must be prepared to follow the
directions to the letter and

If you're missing any of the four, you can expect that
toilet training your child will take much, much longer than
is necessary, and it's best to prepare yourself for the
long haul.

My advice? Avoid learning the hard way through trial and
error - there simply is no need to do so. But here's a word
of caution: The Internet is filled with
"faster-than- light" toilet training methods and in my
opinion, many are just plain terrible. Promoters of these
methods will promise you instant results with little, or
no, work.

Don't believe them! Yes, you can potty train your child
quickly - even in 24 hours (I've personally done this many
times) - but it will not happen by accident (no pun
intended!). Like most things, your result will be directly
related to your efforts. If you exert very little time and
effort you can reasonably expect very little in the way of
achievements, regardless of what you may have heard.

Here are four quick reference tips that will increase your
chances of success:

1. Be certain that your child is physically and
developmentally ready for toilet training. The American
Academy of Pediatrics advises that most children are ready
to be toilet trained between the ages of 18 and 27 months.
However, use this only as a guide, because experts also
concur on this other very critical rule of thumb:
Developmental age is much more important than chronological
age for determining potty training readiness. (e.g.
dressing and undressing themselves; imitating others;
frequent "I can do it all by myself!" declarations, and the
like). If you're still uncertain, check with your
pediatrician or take one of the toilet training readiness
assessments on the Internet.

2. Trust that you and your child can work together to
accomplish this joyful rite of passage. As I indicated
earlier, I have potty-trained toddlers of every "make and
model" - younger, older, cooperative, resistant, talkative,
and more. And although each was unique in many ways, they
all had one thing in common: they wanted to learn to use
the potty, even if they didn't seem to at first.

Quite frankly, I've witnessed only two main reasons for
potty training "failures." They are:

* The child was not old enough and/or developmentally
ready. (Refer back to #1)

* The "teacher" (most often a parent) didn't prepare
properly, failed to follow directions carefully, lacked the
necessary focus, and/or wasn't consistent. In other words,
the teacher's efforts must surpass the student's - at least
initially.

3. Choose your accelerated system carefully. Make sure you
select a method that will get the job done quickly and
joyfully and most importantly, one that is supported in
practice and theory by pediatricians, child therapists, and
other respected experts. And, please, don't fall for the
hype! Following are some things to consider.

Your toilet training system should...

* Help you determine if your child is ready

* Offer all-inclusive, easy-to-follow instructions (from
the planning stage through implementation) using plain
language and simple formatting

* Support constructive behavioral modification procedures
within a cheerful and supportive environment

* Call for one teacher only (usually a parent) until the
initial process is completed

* Disallow punishment for accidents or non-compliance and
highly discourage stressful "pushing" of any sort

* Contain a detailed list of necessary supplies and not
require specialized (e.g. expensive, fancy, gimmicky)
equipment or toys

* Prohibit the use of pull-ups (the worst toilet training
aids of all time, in my humble opinion!)

4. Commit the necessary time (24-48 hours), focus, and
stick-to-itiveness to the process - no matter how
frustrating you may feel at times. In other words,
preparation and dogged persistence win this one!
Laid-back, "they'll-figure- it-out-for- themselves" won't cut
it if you plan on toilet training your child quickly. Once
again, if you're determined to approach it with this kind
of attitude, you'll likely be potty training your little
one for months.

Having said that, I want to be very clear on the following
point. Although it's entirely possible - and even common -
to potty train toddlers in 24 hours or less, you should
still set aside two full days to complete it. This will
provide plenty of wiggle room to reinforce your teachings
for children who learn more quickly and allow you to
continue your lessons if your child needs a bit more time.
And remember, either is perfectly normal, and since you
won't know how it will go until you're already well into
the process, it's a good idea to plan for any eventuality.

I hope this advice has proven helpful to those of you who
have already decided to - or are considering - toilet
training fast. Remember, it can be achieved quickly,
merrily, and entirely with a little bit of planning, the
right attitude, and a whole lot of love!

Potty training is a wonderful, bittersweet snapshot of
growing up - a memorable rite of passage. However, all too
often parents dread the process, particularly after
listening to well-meaning friends and relatives openly
share their own "horror" stories.

Well, I'm here to tell you that potty training has gotten
an undeserved bad rap and it's time we learned to celebrate
the process, not dread it. Just think, your child is about
to experience newfound freedom and you're closer to a
diaper-free household! What's not to like?

Having said this, you might still be uncertain about many
things, such as when to begin potty training, which
methodology to use, and the like. If so, you're not alone.
Successful potty training is definitely a learned skill -
not an instinct.

So, following are five very general "potty tips" - ones
that will get you pointed in the right direction.

1. Normal, healthy toddlers between the ages of 18 and 27
months should be physically ready for potty training, even
though some - especially girls - may be ready as early as
16 months. The American Academy of Pediatrics supports this
and states that the vast majority of children have fully
mature sphincter muscles (needed for elimination) between
12 and 24 months, with 18 months as a good average.

When toddlers are physically ready they may... * Squat,
grunt, or display other signs of awareness when he/she is
having a bowel movement

* Tug at his/her diaper when urinating

* Stay dry for longer periods and/or throughout the night
(you may notice that they stop having bowel movements first)

* Have more regular bowel movements

* Urinate a lot at one time (but less frequently)

2. Although physical signs are important, experts also
agree that developmental signals (motor, social, cognitive,
and emotional skills) are far better predictors than
chronological age. (NOTE: Consult with your pediatrician if
your child has physical, mental or emotional challenges,
which might affect this process.)

3. If you'd like to potty train your child quickly, be sure
to get a trustworthy, solid accelerated plan. You'll find
all kinds of "potty-train- your-child- in-a-day" plans on the
Internet. Some will promise you instant results with very
little work. Don't believe them. The truth is this - your
ability to potty train your toddler in a day or two,
entirely depends on your preparation, consistency, focus,
and follow-through. Any reliable potty training method
requires that parents devote their full attention to the
process. Period. Also, be sure that the system you choose
is supported in practice and theory by pediatricians, child
therapists, and other respected experts.

Your potty training method should:

* Offer guidelines for assessing your child's potty
training readiness

* Combine positive behavioral modifiers with supportive and
nurturing techniques (e.g. no punishment for accidents)

* Insist on one teacher (usually a parent) who will take on
the bulk of the training

* Provide detailed, step-by-step instructions and supplies
list

* Require that teachers devote full attention to the
training during the specified period of time

* Discourage the use of pull-ups and/or diapers during the
potty training process.

4. Yes, you'll need a potty chair, but successful potty
training is not dependent on "fancy" or expensive
equipment. I strongly recommend that parents use a potty
chair - not adult toilet - during training. However, your
potty chair doesn't have to be elaborate or pricey, it just
needs to look like a smaller version of a toilet. If you
must use the toilet, it's best to purchase a seat reducer
(smaller plastic seat that fits over a toiled to reduce the
size of the opening) and a small step stool for your little
one.

5. Regardless of what method you choose, do not let your
child sit on the potty (or toilet) for more than a minute
or two, unless something is happening. In my opinion, this
is one of the biggest mistakes parents unknowingly make and
one of the best potty tips I can offer. If he or she is
slow to get moving, run water. The sound should help. If
not, take your tot off of the potty and if he or she starts
to go on the floor, place your child back on the potty to
finish.

I hope you've found these high level potty tips helpful. I
wish you successful - and joyful - potty training!

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