Music Stimulates Baby's

Development
Most have heard people say that having a baby listen to classical
music will make him a smarter child. This claim is a bit deceiving.
Tuning into a bit of Mozart each day is definitely not going to
make your child into a prodigy. However, music stimulates a
child's development, including emotional, motor and linguistic
skills. So, if the preceding statement equates to a smarter child in
your eyes, then so be it.

A loving parent's singing voice can stimulate linguistic skills. Even

if you feel like you cannot carry a tune for anything, you're little
baby will be delighted with his personal concert. Sing nursery
rhymes or other kid songs to encourage your baby's
development.

I often sang to my infant daughter, including singing along with

the tunes on her toys. At 20 months, she was able to clearly sing
all of the lyrics of "Twinkle, Twinkle." She knew what the words
meant because we did hand movements to go along with words.
These gestures aided her motor skills. And you don't have to
know anything fancy to put with a song. Simple dancing and
swaying sharpen a child's motor skills.

At Brigham Young University, researchers studied how music

affected 33 premature infants in a Utah intensive care unit.
Babies listened to men and women singing lullabies recorded on
cassette tape for 40 minutes per day for four days. On the fourth
day, doctors discovered that the infants who heard the music had
lower blood pressure, gained more weight and had a stronger
heartbeat than those who heard no music.

Yes, music can have healing power. When your baby is feeling
under the weather, gently sing to him or play soothing songs on
CD. Perhaps your little one will be back to his old self faster than
he would have been without music.

So, even though you're not coaching the next Mozart, you can
encourage the learning process by singing and regularly playing
music for your infant.
 Organic Disposable Babies
Diapers
Now you can have it all: the convenience of disposable babies
diapers and the reassurance of all-natural materials; "Organic
disposables," no longer oxymoronic, promise to end the
controversy and help to take Mother Earth out of harm's way.

Diaper technology may have advanced to the point where The

Great Diaper Debate fades from screaming to whispers and
ultimately becomes just a memory. Especially working parents
and daycare providers stridently have argued in favor of
disposable diapers, because they put a premium on quick-and-
easy changes and zero maintenance: Who has time to fumble
with pins or tricky closures, and who has time for daily laundry?
Environmentalists, however, challenge disposable advocates'
flagrant disregard for the planet's needs: Filled with chlorine,
volatile organic chemicals, and plastics, old-fashioned disposables
accumulate in landfills, releasing toxins without degrading. And
the average baby clad in nothing but disposables will pile-up two
tons of inorganic waste by the time he toddles up to the toilet.

At least five major manufacturers of babies' diapers now offer all-

natural disposables. Even the frequent environmental offenders-
Huggies and Pampers-come in all-new and all-natural materials.
Most organic disposable diapers will go straight into the trash
without inducing great pains in a parent's conscience; although
they briefly take-up scare landfill space, they degrade and
disappear in 150 days. The best organic disposables, however,
are flushable and compostable. The flushable diapers typically are
designed and developed for use in "pocket diapers," but a few
work just like the old fashioned kind. Parents must break-up the
paper and cellulose before they flush, but the flushables do go
right down the drain. Compostable babies' diapers go right into
the heap with all your other yard waste, breaking down at least as
quickly as last autumn's leaves.

Advances in organic farming have made chemical-free wood more

plentiful and affordable. Now, environmentally conscious
manufacturers produce diapers that go from forest to baby to
landfill untouched by toxins or volatile organic compounds. A few
premium producers of organic disposable babies' diapers boast
their raw materials come from rare trees organically grown on
family farms in the world's emerging nations. That claim scores
the environmentalist trifecta. Large-scale manufacturers attribute
their innovations to development of new cellulose products. Used
as substitutes for old-fashioned disposables' plastic outsides, new
cellulose compounds share plastic's performance properties, but
they come from corn instead of complex laboratory-synthesized
polymers.

Infant Massage
No new parent needs to be told to cuddle and touch her baby. But
did you know that specific kinds of touch- infant massage- can
help preemies gain weight or fussy babies settle down? Research
has shown that massage calms colicky babies, improves sleeping
patterns, and can help premature or ill babies who have trouble
nursing latch on,and breastfeed successfully.

But even if your newborn is full-term and easy-going, massage

can benefit your baby. "Any loving touch is good touch," says
Susie Plechner, a certified infant massage instructor and
spokesperson for the International Association of Infant Massage,
"but massage is one of the best ways to bond with your baby."
To get started, lie your baby on her back, either on a blanket on
the floor next to you, or on your lap, with her head near your
knees. Talk to her in a soothing voice to help her relax. If you
wish, put a dab of an unscented massage oil in the palms of your
hands (avoid oils made from nuts, since they may cause an
allergic reaction). Then:
1. Start with the legs. Hold one foot in one hand and use the
other hand to "milk" the leg, moving from ankle to thigh.
Then, hold the thigh with both hands (like you're holding a
baseball bat) and use a very gentle twisting and squeezing
motion as you move your hands from thigh to foot. Now roll
the leg between your hands from knee to ankle. To finish,
lightly stroke the legs from thigh to feet.
2. Tummy time. To massage your baby's abdomen, slide your
palm and fingers in a hand-over-hand circular motion,
moving gently from the rib cage downward. Now slide both
hands around the abdomen in clockwise, circular
movements.
 3. If your baby has gas, try the "I Love U" stroke a time-tested
tummy relaxer. Picture an upside down U over your baby's
abdomen. Start with a downward stroke for the "I" on baby's
left side. Then stroke along the imaginary upside down "L"
and then along the upside down "U."

Feeding Techniques
Baby will quickly establish his individual pattern as to when he is
hungry or sleepy. Let his hunger pattern determine his feedings:
this is called "self-demand" schedule, which some doctors
recommend for Baby's first few days. Keep a record of the times
he seems to want to eat and sleep and after a week you will have
known the schedule that fits Baby satisfactorily. Other doctors
may recommend what is called "modified-demand" technique.
The baby is fed whenever he shows signs of hunger but is also
offered a feeding at regular intervals. There are, however no hard
and fast rules about feeding time. The time between feedings
may depend upon: the size and weight of the baby; how often he
seems to need food; and whether you and your doctor want to try
letting him establish his own schedule or want to feed him only at
regular intervals.

Young babies naturally fuss and get cranky when they swallow air
during feedings. Although this occurs in both breastfed and bottle-
fed infants, it's seen more often with the bottle. When it happens,
you're better off stopping the feeding than letting your infant fuss
and nurse at the same time. This continued fussing will cause her
to swallow even more air, which will only increase her discomfort
and may make her spit up.
A much better strategy is to burp her frequently, even if she
shows no discomfort. The pause and the change of position alone
will slow her gulping and reduce the amount of air she takes in. If
she's bottle-feeding, burp her after every 2 to 3 ounces. If she's
nursing, burp her when she switches breasts.

Peek-a-Boo
This game teaches your baby that objects out of sight still exist
and can be found—an important cognitive lesson for baby.
Here are some variations of the game:
 • Hide your face behind your spread-apart fingers.
• Peek around the corner of a doorway.
• Use a light cloth that baby can pull off easily and victoriously
as you call out "Peek-a-boo!"
This game can be played throughout baby's first year of life and
into toddlerhood.
 New Trends

in

Maternal
and Child Care
A Worksheet in NCM 101

Submitted to:
Ms. Ashdel Artes R.N.

Submitted by:
Ana Marie V. Busa
BSN II-C