Insparenting

If both you and your spouse are trying to have babies, check out these points below.

These are things that may take responsibility in men’s infertility. Things they should avoid:

1. Smoking - Not only does it increase the risk of stroke and heart attacks, it also raises the risk of erection problem and the decrease of sperm quality.

2. Drugs - It decreases the testosterone hormones level, and thus reducing the quality of sperm.

3. Alcohol consumption - It can damage the testicles and stop the production of testosterone hormones.

4. Anxiety or stress - This leads to disruption in some hormones and reproduction organs.

5. Toxic substances - Men need to stay away from hazards on their job, which includes radiation, radioactivity and chemicals.

6. Exposure of the genitals to high temperatures - Try to avoid wearing too-tight pants and soaking the body in warm water for too long.

So, you see that infertility is not just a woman’s problem.

What’s more important is men should also maintain their healthy lifestyle. Eat balanced, nutritious food, have regular exercises and have enough rests. Last but not least, establish a stress-free life.

Children love to sing and dance. These activities are very good to stimulate their language and physical development.

Here are three ways to encourage them more in these fun things:

• Repeating a song - Sing a song slowly with correct and clear intonation, pronunciation, and melody. Let your little ones follow you and repeat the song with your help. The next time they sing, encourage them to sing it by themselves. Give them applause when they finish no matter the result will be. It will motivate them to sing it better.

• Dancing and singing together - Find a song that teaches your children body parts. Do it together with them; tell them to follow you in singing and pointing the body parts simultaneously. It will be so much fun.

• Dancing and twisting - Turn on your children’s favorite music. Let them explore by moving their bodies. Come and join them!

Enjoy the moments!

If you have a six-month old baby, she is now ready for her first solid food.

What have you given her? Biscuits? Fruits? Sure, everything is okay as long as it’s easy and safe for her to swallow.

Here’s one simple healthy recipe you can have for your little angel.

Biscuit Cereal with Mung-Bean & Apple-Sauce

Ingredients:
4 pieces of baby biscuits
2 spoonfuls of boiled mung bean
100 g of ripe sweet apple, boil/steam & mash
50 ml breastmilk or formula

How to cook:
1. Put the biscuits into your baby’s bowl.
2. Add breastmilk/formula into the bowl and mix.
3. Put in the mashed apple into the bowl and mix altogether.

The cereal is now ready! Very easy, isn’t it?

If you want it more mushy, just add breastmilk or formula into the cereal.

Last but not least, though your baby has passed her 6-month exclusive breastfeeding, it’s best to continue the activity still… It’s the healthiest nutrition your baby can get.

However, if you don’t breastfeed her, it’s still the best time for her to get a various amount of healthy food.

Enjoy!

Being a parent is not easy. Yet, it should not make you give up, especially in difficult situations, such as when you feel so desperate on how to build a good relationship with your kids.

Check out this article below as it contains helpful information for your problem.
Five Ways To Build Super-Strong Relationships With Your Children
By Michael Grose

One of the questions I ask in parenting presentations is “How do you show your children you love them?”

Participants usually cite verbal and physical ways of showing affection as the most common means of showing love. These ways work well for children of certain age groups and children with those relational preferences, but how do you relate to a child or young person who becomes a ‘conversational clam’ or one who doesn’t like physical closeness?

Conversely, it is easy to miss the relational signs of children if their ways of relating fit outside our frame of reference. I remember Michael, behaviourally the most challenging child that I taught, would meet me in the car park each morning and carry my bag to the staffroom door. He would bid me farewell and we would spend most of our contact time jousting with each other. The bag-carrying was just Michael’s way of saying that he liked me. His relational preference was through acts of service, which is similar to mine so we were on the same wavelength.

According to Gary Chapman author of Five Languages of Children there are five different ways to develop a connection (show them you love them) with children. As you read them consider your preference and the preferences of children in your family or immediate confines:

1. Acts of affirmation, praise and recognition

The best way to develop a relationship with some children is through your praise, affirmation and recognition. Let them know they are wonderful, that their efforts at home hit the mark and their behaviour is appreciated and they will know you think the world of them. This is obviously easy for some children who naturally do well or behave appropriately but what of those children who are NOT ‘affirmation magnets’? We need to try something else…

2. Acts of service and shared activity

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Your parents getting older and you don’t know how to handle this? Tasha is experiencing this.

Do you have parents who are getting older? Have you thought of sending them to a nursing home? Or will you just let them stay with you and your own family?

I know it’s really a very big decision anyone would go through.

If you’re in this situation, let me help you by giving some advice before you (or your parents) decide one.

1. Pay attention whether your parents are still able to perform basic daily activities, such as preparing their meals, dressing, and shopping. If they’re not, this could be the signal that they need assistance.
2. Talk to your parents about what they wish. Respect their decision about what they will do in their future days.
3. Find as much as information regarding nursing homes or other facilities. This may help you decide what to do next.

If you finally decide that your parents will be staying with you, don’t forget to take care of yourself too. The new situation can lead you to stress if you can’t manage it very well.

Ultrasound scan might give you a great excitement for seeing your baby moves or simply to know whether it’s a girl or a boy, or to check your baby’s health. But normally it’s simply the 2D one, a flat black and white picture.
Have you tried 3D and 4D?

With 3D you’ll be able to see the picture your baby while with 4D you can see real time video. Also, the OB/GYN can check better because it can give anatomical views not possible with 2D scanning. It gives better qualitative and quantitative information to diagnose effectively.

It also can check out

• Bone shape abnormalities: spina bifida, dwarfism, club feet on one image, cleft palate vs. cleft lip.
• Skeletal dysplasia, abnormalities in dynamic: investigation of spine
• Frontal bones, spatial view of fusion or not
• Fetal heart: better correlation between valves, chambers and vessels, volume calculation of heart cavities, atrial and ventricular communication, assessment of valvular function
• Fetal well-being: normal vs abnormal fetal gestures, evaluation of fetal sleep vs awakening
• Fetal motion: deglutition, respiratory motion, eyelid, limbs and mouth motion fetal digestive peristaltic motion
• Placental abnormalities (placenta previa)

Sometimes, OB/GYN doesn’t always proposed to take a 3D and 4D Ultrasound Scan if you don’t have problems with your pregnancy, yet that’s ok if you ask your OB/GYN to give one.

Besides checking your baby’s health, this is also a way to start you baby’s photo album.

Linda, from Seattle, mom to Riley William, put her son’s 2D and 3D pictures along with the one she took lately, in her lovely blog. Very inspiring, isn’t it? You can also do the same! Let us here know as soon as you finish posting.