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Reading to Your Baby- The Right Way Reading is important to your chid's development. Kids whose parents talk and read to them more know more words by age 2 than kids whose parents do not do the same. Daily reading helps make connections between written word and objects to the spoken word. As parents, you can start to read to your children starting at birth. Babies from birth to 6 months old do not understand the words but that is not the purpose. Choose books that have... big visuals and pictures with minimal text. Instead, show and interact (using puppets or peepholes) with these visual books to encourage your baby to look. Singing or rhyming is also encouraged. The purpose is so your babies bond to you by listening to the tone and sounds of your voice. From 6-12 months, babies will correlate an object to a word. This is when they start babbling and let them babble! They will start to point at pictures or grabbing the book. Parents should repeat what their baby is pointing at and act it out with hands or sounds. When your baby starts talking, choose books that allow them to repeat simple words. After 12 months, parents should read books to their kids with a few sentences per page. Remember to keep interactions engaging and fun! Make animal sounds when reading an animal books. Babies will find that funny and imitate you. Ask them questions, such as, "What does the cow say?", or point to an object and say, "what's that?" Encourage your baby's vocabulary by expanding on adjectives to her answer. Closer to 2 years old, read with your child and ask them what they liked about the book. After 2 years old, parents should still be encouraging their children to read. Let them read without any distractions and foster a love for reading. Check out the chart below on how reading impacts future development. #CuteSeal #SealofApproval #ParentingTips

Does Your Baby Have Dry Skin? Winter is coming! That means snow, hot chocolate, and the holidays! But that also means dry skin and our precious babies may be suffering from it too. Your baby's skin is more delicate and sensitive than yours and requires some special care. Here are some tips to keep your baby's skin bum soft. 1. Get a gentle, non irritating soap and lotion. Look for fragrance & paraben free, and hypoallergenic labels. The simpler, the better!... 2. Keep baths short and lukewarm! Long and frequent exposure to hotter water causes dry skin. Hot water strips skin of natural oils and infants up to 1 year old may only need 3 baths a week. Keep bath water lukewarm and infrequent! 3. Pat your baby dry! Try not to rub the skin as it causes irritation and chapping. 4. Use a gentle detergent. Laundry detergents can cause irritation even to your skin because they contain harsh chemicals. Don't let that happen to your baby's skin. Get a gentle detergent specifically made for baby clothes. #CuteSeal #SealofApproval #Parentingtips #Parenting101

Balancing Work Life with Your Baby Transitioning into the working parent life is difficult and hectic. You need support from people around you and it puts a strain on your family's situation. Here are some ways to lessen the stress and manage the work and home life balance. 1. Preparation: A huge part of taking care of a child is responsibility and being prepared is being responsible. Plan out your childcare and nanny services early if outside help is part of your plan. Pa...rents should look for good and reliable nannies way before going back to work so they have time to build trust and familiarity. Also, have back up plans such as back up nannies, help from family, help from your partner. Being prepared will help ease the stress. 2. Work Arrangements: Communicate with your boss to see when you could work from home. Perhaps when the baby is sick or the nanny is suddenly unavailable. Prior communication with your boss is your best bet at a last resort plan when other plans have fallen through. Communicate your needs so you do not burn out at work and at home. Understand that you may need shorter hours, no evenings, or flexible work schedule and communicate those needs. 3. Simplify Chores: Share household responsibilities with your partner and split the chores. Household responsibilities aren't always split 50/50 and that's okay if you and your partner have agreed on it beforehand. Adding a new member of the family into the mix makes the list of responsibilities longer though so make sure you and your partner are coordinated and on the same page. If the responsibilities are too much, maybe it's time to look for outside help. A cleaning service could come once a week. Meal preparation everyday is very time consuming so meal prep beforehand all at once on a weekend. 4. Acceptance: Look, some days you just can't do everything. Prioritize what is the most important work to you and accomplish those tasks first. Be proud of what you've accomplished in a day. Don't beat yourself up for not being able to spend that much time with your family or at work. Trust others to complete the work and enjoy spending time at family activities. #CuteSeal #SealofApproval #Parentingtips #Parenting101

Determining the Right Fit for Your Baby Diaper blowout? Red marks on legs? Less coverage? These are all signs that your baby needs a bigger diaper. Frequent leaking or blowouts may not be caused by a higher volume of your baby's business but by improper fitting. If there are red marks around your baby's waist or legs and you are finding it harder to seal the tabs on the waist, it is time to size up the diaper. Check the diaper box for sizing guides. These are ours:... Size NB (<11 Lbs/<5 Kg) Size 1 / S (4-8 kg/ 9-18 lbs) Size 2 / M (6-11 kg/ 13-24 lbs) Size 3 / L (9-14 kg/ 20-31 lbs) Size 4 / XL (12-17 kg/ 26-37 lbs) #Cuteseal #Sealofapproval #parentingtips See more

How to Avoid Picky Eating Habits Question: Do you always prepare a separate meal for your child that you know they will eat without any fuss? Or is your dining table constantly a battleground when dinnertime comes around? Children’s picky eating habits are finicky and hard to solve and many parents give into them out of frustration and guilt. Although being your chid's private cook may seem like the easiest option, you should know that this negative reinforcement only str...Continue reading