Your baby’s arrival marks special joy in your life and opens up a whole new world for you. But at times taking care of a newborn can be bit overwhelming, especially for first time mothers. But worry not, follow our baby care tips to sail smoothly through the initial phase and then become a pro in parenting. Here are some tips :

 Wash your hands (or use a hand sanitizer) before handling your baby. Newborns don’t have a strong immune system yet, so they are susceptible to infection. Make sure that everyone who handles your baby has clean hands.v Be careful to support your baby’s head and neck. Cradle the head when carrying your baby and support the head when carrying the baby upright or when you lay your baby down.

  Check the diapers. Do this often. Check on the diapers every four hours or so. A healthy newborn would be urinating very often. Keeping your baby on with a soiled diaper can lead to diaper rashes.v Don’t be rough. Remember your newborn is not ready for a tough play. So all that throwing in the air, jiggling the baby on your knees isn’t advisable.

Child Health Care Tips:

Body Care

• Instead of soap you can sometimes use a mixture of gram flour (besan) and milk to bathe the baby.
• To massage the baby you could use

·                    A mixture of gram flour (basen) and cream with a pinch of turmeric. Apply the mixture on the baby’s body and gently rub it off.

·                    Take a small ball of wheat dough. Apply some massage oil on it. Massage the baby with this ball by rubbing it over the baby’s body. The strokes should be against the hair growth. This is an excellent remedy for removing body hair from a newborn.

• A rich moisturizer can be made by melting 2 tbsp unsalted butter, 1 tbsp lanolin, 2 tsp glycerine and 3 tbsp olive or almond oil, over a double boiler. Beat well.
• Boil a handful of neem leaves and basil leaves and wash your hair regularly with it to get rid of lice.
• To get rid of Band-aid or ugly gray plaster marks apply some lukewarm coconut oil to the area and leave it for 15 minutes. Wash off with soap water.
• To remove paint or fast colour from your skin, apply curd on the effected part. After few minutes rub and wash it off.

Dandruff Control

• A mixture of 2 tbsp of curd and a few drops of honey is an excellent anti-dandruff agent when rubbed on the scalp.
• Lemon juice mixed with mustard oil is an excellent cure for dandruff.
• For lustrous and dandruff free hair, apply a paste of cooked channa dal and fenugreek leaves and rinse off.
• To get rid of dandruff, apply a mixture of 10 gm pepper powder, 1 tsp lime juice and ½ cup milk on the scalp.
• Leave it one overnight and wash off next morning.
• Onion juice, when massaged on the scalp acts as a wonderful anti-dandruff agent.

Chewing gum Menace

• To remove chewing gum from clothes –

·                    Place the garment in a plastic bag and freeze it. You can then flick off the hardened gum easily.

·                    Soak the garment in white vinegar and then wash off.

·                    Rub the area with egg white before washing it off.

• To remove the chewing gum stuck to the floor ,clean it with a little kerosene.
• To remove chewing gum stuck to your hair, rub a little honey over the hair and the chewing gum will come off.

Clothes Care

• To prevent colours from running, soak the garment in salt water for 10 minutes before washing it.
• Nappy washing

·                    Stains disappear if you dry the nappies on the lawn or even on a plant, perhaps the extra oxygen exhaled by the plant helps.

·                    Half an hour of sunshine is enough to disinfect the nappies.

·                    Ironing takes care of any further fear of germs.

·                    If washing in a machine the temperature setting can be raised to effectively disinfect the nappies.

• Stain Removers

·                    To remove ice cream stains clean with a sponge dipped in borax solution.

·                    Curry stains on clothes can be removed by applying white toothpaste to it and washing after two hours.

·                    Ink stains can be removed with a slice of tomato.

·                    Sprinkle talcum powder on ink stains before washing off with soap and water.

·                    Ball pen ink marks can be removed easily with nail polish remover.

·                    To remove ironing stains from garments apply a little salt over the area and wash.

·                    Cuffs and collars, if turned inside out before being put in a washing machine, get cleaned very well.

Household Care

• Pest Control

·                    Burn dried orange peel in a corner of the house. The smoke will drive away the mosquitoes.

·                    Turmeric powder is a good repellent for ants. Just sprinkle a line of turmeric powder to cordon off the ants.

·                    When boiling water, boil some extra water. Pour this down your sink. This will kill cockroaches and remove their eggs.

·                    To eliminate cockroaches, knead some wheat flour with boric acid powder and make small balls. Place them near drains and damp corners of your house.

·                    To keep flies at bay, add a little salt and a few drops of kerosene to the water for mopping the floor.

·                    Betel nuts kept in the corner of a cupboard will help ward off cockroaches.

·                    Sprinkle borax powder under the paper covering book shelves and kitchen shelves to keep off silverfish.

• Before placing a photograph in a frame, lightly dust it with a little talcum powder to prevent it from sticking to the frame.
• Stick posters on walls with the help of toothpaste. The toothpaste can be scraped off later and does not damage the wall.
• Some castor oil mixed into coconut oil prevents the latter from freezing in the winters.
• Add a few drops of olive oil to the dried shoe polish and keep it overnight the polish will be as good as new the next morning.
• To clean the soiled edges of books, rub with very fine sand paper.

Craft Tips

• If the end of the cello tape is lost, keep it in the freezer. After few minutes take it out and you will easily be able to find the end.
• A handy colour palette can be made from an old ice tray.
• A little vinegar added to hardened gum makes it spread evenly
• If the cap of gum bottle has become tight and cannot be removed, immerse it in a little glycerin to open it.
• To ensure that the chalk doesn’t rub off the slate, just spray it with some hair spray.
• Chalk dipped in milk and used on brown paper gives a fantastic sheen.
• When using the cutting blade make sure you have kept a wad of old newspapers below the design to give it support.
• Always remember to close lids of varnish and enamel tins tightly.
• In the long run small tins of varnish or enamel paints are more economical than bigger packaging.
• Once a varnish tin is opened a wasteful skin begins to form on top, because of which always store the tins upside down as this makes sure that the skin forms at the bottom of the tin and therefore doesn’t cause problem in usage.
• The golden rule for brushes for varnishing is always to buy the best quality brushes. You don’t want to waste time and effort of having to stop constantly to fish out stray bristles.
• Keep a separate set of brushes for use in varnish as once used in varnish they are not good for use in any other medium.
• Never use damp brushes for varnishing. Always dry the brushes properly after having washed them.
• Sharpen scissors against the neck of a glass bottle.
• Sharpen a sewing machine needle by running the machine on sandpaper.
• Before painting terracotta pieces, soak them overnight. Once dry they will absorb paint better and the paint will not chip off easily.

WHY DO BABIES CRY?

IT’S NOT AWALYS CLEAR EXACTLY WHY, BUT YOU CAN BE SURE WHEN YOUR CRIRES HE IS TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING ISN’T RIGHT. IT IS THEIR MAIN FORM OF COMMUNICATION TO YOU.

BABIES DON’T CRY TO ANNOY YOU, BECAUSE THEY ARE NATURALLY NAUGHTY OR GRUMPY, BABIES JUST CRY, IT’S WHAT THEY DO. SOME BABIES SEEM TO BE MORE SENSITIVE TO CHANGE AND DISCOMFORT THAN OTHER ARE, BUT IGNORING THEIR CRIES WON’T MAKES THEM CHANGE. USUALLY A CUDDLE WITH MUM OR DAD IS ALL THAT IS NEEDED TO HELP SETTLE YOUR BABY.

Fortunately, crying hardly ever indicates a major physical problem or illness. Yet if you are worried about it, then ask for your doctor's advice, to rule out any illness.

In the majority of cases, crying babies are healthy, even babies who cry for a long time, and at least once a day. Your doctor will be able to reassure you your baby's developing well.

Here are the types of things your baby might cry about, and which you can attempt to deal with:

o                    Is he hungry or thirsty? This is the most common reason for crying. Let your baby decide when to come off the first breast, if you're breast-feeding. Then offer the next breast. Make up an extra amount of formula and offer it if you're bottle-feeding.

o                    Is he getting a good, satisfying feed? Check your baby's position on the breast, to make sure he's stimulating the letdown reflex, which brings him the calorie-rich hindmilk. If you're bottle-feeding, check the teat hole is not too small and thus making sucking and swallowing difficult, or that the hole is too big and overwhelming him.

o                    Does he need 'winding'? Sit your baby in an upright position and rub his back.

o                    Is he uncomfortably hot or cold? Check his chest with the back of your hand; it should feel comfortably warm, not hot and clammy, or cold.

o                    In the early weeks it is quite common for some babies to suffer from colic.

o                    Is he bored and needs some company? Cuddles, soft singing, back patting, a bath, can all be calming and soothing.

o                    Is he tired, yet unable to settle down to sleep? Try rocking or pushing him up and down in the pram.

o                    Is he irritated by noise, excitement and people? If so go to a quiet room with him.

o                    Is he uncomfortable? Check his clothing for tightness round the wrists or ankles. A baby with diaper rash will cry in a wet or dirty diaper.

o                    He might just want a cuddle from mum or dad. He loves the feeling of security he finds in your arms, your smell and just being near you.