It’s advised that you get your baby active in the pool at the earliest opportunity. Taking charge yourself is not the worst thing you can do, but by far, the best option available is to get them enrolled in structured swimming lessons led by a professional at your local swimming pool. Continue reading
In my experience as a dentist and father of two girls, teeth and teething are amongst the most common causes of questions and wild speculation I have come across.
In this brief guide I will aim to list a few facts, give a few tips and hopefully demystify why your calm, quiet 10 month old has become a rash covered dribbling bundle of sleepless fury in the last 24 hours. Continue reading
If a child is in pain, then don’t be afraid to reach for the painkillers – ibuprofen and paracetamol (eg: nurofen and calpol sugar free syrups) can be very effective at getting a child through a night or two of discomfort, and giving weary parents a break. Ensure you follow the directions on the bottle and they are perfectly safe.
Brushing teeth can be a source of much conflict with little ones, however it is important to try and make it work. When brushing try (as far as is possible), to make it a collaborative process. Often sitting the child on your knee and brushing from the side, rather than face to face can help with this. If your child wants control of the brush then giving them a second brush (let them have choice of which they want, and you use the other one) can work.
Thumb and dummy sucking are common in many children. My first daughter never had a dummy or sucked her thumb, and has never shown any interest in doing so. However on our first night home after my wife delivered our second daughter it became very obvious that if we didn’t put a dummy in her mouth then the thumb was going to take up residency instead! We opted for a dummy, partly as it’s easier to get rid of a dummy later on, and partly as the sucking of a finger or thumb can lead to the finger or thumb becoming thinner and less developed than it would otherwise be.
…was one hell of a wake up call to just how unprepared I was. Life with a new baby is incredibly rewarding, but undeniably tough going, and I would urge all you dads-to-be to take your paternity leave. Continue reading
You’ve survived the first swimming experience, and what a magical, wonderful heart warming session it was (we hope….). However, the fun is now over, and your baby is completely exhausted, very hungry, getting cold and you are faced with the biggest dilemma you could imagine. Who do I change first? Continue reading
Of all the things that are magical about being a father, taking your baby swimming is up there with the best of them. The nervous anticipation you feel as junior experiences that first dip, and the quivering at the thought of them positively hating it. Add some rather poorly versed nursery rhymes into this surreal mix and you’ve got a hell of a half hour ahead of you. Continue reading
Featured guest post by Al TheDadNetwork
I have written an earlier post about my experience of miscarriage but I left out more of the details. I figured that it would be helpful for dads to read about another dads experience of miscarriage. There are a lot of mums sharing their stories, so why not me.
So, as the father to be you are going to want to spend as much time with your newborn as you possibly can before entering back into the rat race. But are you clear on your rights as an employee and exactly what you are entitled to?