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Baby massage tips
# Make your strokes gentle but not ticklish. With soft and gentle touches the baby massage flows from the head to the toes. Tenderly begin on the head and then move to the face, shoulders, arms, hands, chest, stomach and down to the legs, feet and toes.
# Follow your baby's mood signals about when to stop the massage. If the baby wants to change position let him or her do so. A baby massage can comfortably last anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on his or her mood.
# When you gently massage your baby’s body parts, you may want to cover the areas of the baby’s body that are not being massaged with a second towel to avoid baby from getting a chill. Run your fingertips lightly over the body using circular motion. Avoid massaging your infant’s navel area, if the cord hasn't completely healed, avoid pressure on the spinal cord and avoid the genitalia area.
# You can hold under your baby’s knees and gently press the knees up toward his or her tummy. This position can help your baby to expel gas. Massage the scalp in small circles with your fingertips as if you were shampooing.
# Following the massage, wash your baby’s hair with a natural baby shampoo. This may require two washes to remove all the oil.
# Make it a good habit to give your baby a baby massage as part of your baby’s pre-bath schedule. After the massage, caress your baby and then give your baby a warm bath.
Massage tips
Sweet Potato and Carrot Pie Without the Crust (Baby Food)
>Sweet Potato and Carrot Pie Without the Crust (Baby Food)
Ingredients
1 sweet potato
1 carrot, finely grated
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
1 tablespoon raisins (optional)
grated nutmeg (optional)
Instructions
For 8-12 month-olds or omit raisins for younger children:
In microwave oven, cook sweet potato at 100 percent for 5 minutes, or longer if it is very big. Prick the skin before cooking. Carefully remove the meat of the potato. In a bowl, mix in the carrot and yogurt, then the egg; blend until smooth. Add the raisins and nutmeg sprinkle if you are using them. If the mixture appears dry, add another tablespoon yogurt.
Cook at 100 percent, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Stir, cook 1-1/2 minutes more. Let rest 2 to 3 minutes. This tastes best if served as soon as it cools. Serve with a dollop of cold yogurt.
Yield: 2 cups
Baby food recipes
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INGREDIENTS
1 POTATO
1 TBL SPOON OF BREAST MILK OR FORMULA
Not the Time to Diet
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Immediately post-pregnancy is not the time to be cutting calories. You will have plenty of time later on to lose the pregnancy weight. But right now, your first priority is to give your baby what she needs. Restricting calories will only deprive her - and yourself - of much-needed nourishment. And these nourishment needs can be very specific. In fact, here you can find a list of good food
As you enter the postpartum phase, one of the first things you should do is make changes to your nutrition program to reflect your body’s changing nutritional needs. Most importantly, pay attention to your calories. Healthy Weight Loss
That’s not to say that you can’t or won’t lose weight during this time. If you happen to lose weight as the result of a balanced diet and moderate activity (as your doctor allows), that’s great! It just shouldn’t be the focus of your dietary and exercise decisions.
If you’re breastfeeding and want to lose weight (after nursing has been established and is going well) do so gradually (about 1/2 -1 pound weekly). Eat a nutritious diet, exercise daily and cut back on foods high in fat and sugar (such as potato chips, cookies, candy, soft drinks, and fried foods). Do not try diet pills, liquid diets, or other weight loss products. Not only do they not work, but they can also be harmful to you and your baby.
After six to eight weeks, talk to your doctor; if your body has recovered and your energy levels are sustained, it may be to start losing weight.
six month baby food
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Many people bypass baby food altogether and make their own, often altering table foods to serve the baby. You do need to be careful in the table foods that you serve. At six months your son's repertoire of foods can't be too large. Therefore, you need to be sure you don't inadvertently introduce more than one new food at a time by, for example, offering him some of the casserole that contains several foods that he may not have seen before. If he had an adverse reaction to the casserole, you wouldn't be able to pinpoint the culprit food.
Be sure you alter the texture, so that it is easily gummed and swallowed. Baby food in a jar is pureed to accommodate the developmental stage of a baby's ability to chew and swallow. Be highly sensitive to that when you smash table food, to be sure that it is not too thick or too chewy, or too hard.
Do a little taste test yourself to see if you can gum it and swallow it easily.
Your son is most likely not at the stage where he mimics the up and down and side to side chewing motion of an adult. Until he does, you will want to be sure all his foods are soft cooked and mashed.