Head banging usually occurs in most toddlers during the night. Even though this can be very distressing for the parents, this practice is actually considered normal. It is considered as one of the sleeping disorders like night terrors or sleep walking.

Infants and toddlers bang their head during the night or when they wake up during the wee hours of the morning in order to help them sleep.  Sometimes, it is also compared to other soothing techniques before bedtime including thumb sucking or even pulling their hair.

More often than not, head banging stops by the time your child reaches four years old. But experts said that if a child does head banging day and night, it can be a sign of neurological disorder like autism.

When your child vomits or has diarrhea, there’s no need to have him confined at the hospital so that doctors could check on him every now and then. Unless the vomiting and the diarrhea is not severe, there are several treatments that you can do at home without spending so much for the medical bill.

Instead of making your child drink juice, water, or sometimes Gatorade, let him have an Oral Rehydration Solution instead. The most popular child-friendly ORS is Pedialyte. But you can also give your child Enfalyte or Liquilyte as well.

Don’t give your child too much water if he frequently vomits. Instead, let your child drink when he wants. Increase the amount gradually as his condition improves.

Continue feeding them breastmilk or formula milk. Stop giving them drinks with too much sugar such as fruit drinks or carbonated drinks.

When thinking about “ground rules”, parents think that it only becomes necessary when their children reach puberty. But because you think about the safety (and sometimes a form of guidance as well) of your infants and toddlers, you start to set limits at an early age.

If you want your toddlers to understand their limits, you must make the rule very clear. Talk to your tots like a grown up. Don’t just spank them if they would pull your hair or play with their milk. Instead, pull them away from you or simply put them down and tell that you would not play with them again unless they stop doing these acts.

You must also make sure that you stay very consistent with your rules or else they would grow up believing that they can break it anytime they want to.

Temperament varies from one child to another. Some kids are naturally perky and outgoing while others are just plain reserved. Most parents do have a hard time dealing with a friendly child. They are even proud that theirs is sociable and can actively participate with other kids of their age.

But what if your child is not like that? What should you do is yours is too shy that you may even reach a point where you would get frustrated?

First of all, you must understand that threatening and punishing your child for having this kind of temperament would not help at all. And since these type of kids are “cautious”, try to associate them with a small group of people (or kids their age) before you involve them in activities that require large groups. As a parent, it is also your role to build your child’s self-esteem by looking and praising your child on things that he/she is good at.

Who doesn’t want to have a son that is as tall as Kobe Bryant or Yao Ming so that he can be a great basketball player? And who wouldn’t love to have daughter who is as tall as Tyra Banks so that she can be a stunning model? Unfortunately, not all parents are blessed with the “dream height” which may result to short height of their children.

Some parents are now looking at the growth hormones as one of their options so that their kids can be taller. Growth hormones can be used by children who are affected by growth hormone deficiency. Moreover, it can also be used by kids who have chronic renal insufficiency, Turner syndrome, as well as premature infants who are very small for their gestational age.

However, these growth hormones are not recommended to be used by normal kids. For one, FDA doesn’t approve it. Next is that growth hormones can be quite expensive (parents may spend as much as $25,000 every year). And these hormone shots may continue for a long time (usually 5-7 years)

Every time a company calls for a product recall, the main reason who be the high amount of lead content found in the commodities. More often than not, it includes toys, slippers, and other products for kids that use lead to decorate or paint the items. But what is it with lead that makes it very dangerous to one’s health especially your child’s?

One of the most common dangers when a child is exposed to lead is anemia. But this can also affect adults and can be very risky for the unborn child of a pregnant woman as well. In severe cases, exposure to high lead content may also be a threat to the kidneys.

If you think that your child has been exposed to lead (due to the products that you bought or because of the chemicals in your house such as paint) look at the following symptoms and seek medical health immediately.

• abdominal pain
• sleeplessness
• constipation
• headache
• appetite loss

One of the most commonly found critters at home is the spider. Although most of it are friendly, there are spiders that can be dangerous to kids like the brown recluse spider and the black widow.

If your kid has been bitten by a spider (not the two spiders mentioned above), here are some of the things that you can do to treat your child at home.

• Wash the area several times with water and soap
• Put an ice cube and let it sit for about 20 minutes
• Use an anti-biotic ointment and apply it topically on the affected area
• If your child can’t handle the pain, give him Tylenol or other pain medicine for kids
• Do these steps until the swelling goes away (about 2-4 days)

But if your child was bitten by the said spiders, seek medical attention immediately.

We just recently talked about some of the features that you must consider when buying a car for you family.  When it comes to your child’s safety, the list goes on and on. Therefore, before making your choice, ask your dealer if the car also have these features as well:

• Safety locks – who says that kids would only play with the car’s windows? They can also put their hands on the car locks as well, making it very dangerous even if they are on seatbelts.
• ABS or anti-lock brakes – this allows you to stop your car in various difficult road conditions (slippery and wet roads)
• Electronic Stability Control – like the ABS, this feature helps you to drive safer. It prevents the vehicle from skidding and sliding which is essential if you have kids as passengers.

When you were still single, your dream automobile are usually the sports cars or the latest models manfactured by Toyota, BMW, and others. But now that you are a parent and have kid (or kids), then its time to put this dream aside. Follow your instincts as a parent and choose a  car that can be safe for the rest of the members of the family.

Choose a family car where you (the driver) can control the windows and keep it locked while traveling. So even if your toddlers and bigger kids would play on the window controls, you can make sure that they are safe at the passenger’s seat.

Aside from that, you must also get the car that has adjustable seat belts. This is important since you will be using your family car for a long time and your child would definitely grow traveling in this vehicle.

Aside from milk, most parents serve eggs to their little ones especially if they are already starting to eat solid foods. But is it really safe for the infants?

Some parents do not to give their infants eggs because they are afraid that it would result to food allergy.  But if you think that food allergy does not run in your family (both yours and your husband’s side) then you can start feeding eggs to your kids as long as they are over twelve months old.

However, the egg yolk is considered safe and can be fed for infants that are between 7 months up to 10 months old.

It can be a great source of iron as well as DHA.

So if you want your 7-month old infant to have some eggs, trying scrambling it by including formula milk, butter, and a little bit of cheese as well.