Parenting

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Parenting

Weaning

Weaning is the term used to describe the process of switching a baby from:

Breast-feeding to bottle-feeding.
Breast- or bottle-feeding to a cup.
Breast- or bottle-feeding to solid foods.

Your baby will go through one or more of these weaning processes. All types of weaning usually work best when they are done gradually—over several weeks, months, or even longer. Weaning a baby from the breast is a big change for moms as well as for babies. Besides affecting you physically, it may also affect you emotionally. Some moms feel a little sad to lose some of the closeness that breast-feeding provides. But you will also have more freedom, because others can feed your baby. Don't be surprised if you feel both happy and sad that your child is becoming more independent.

How do you know if your baby is ready to wean? Signs that a baby is ready to wean often appear after the baby has learned to crawl or learned to walk. Your breast-feeding baby may suck a few times and then stop nursing. He or she may just start to lose interest in your breast. Bottle-fed babies who are ready to wean may start spitting out the nipple, or throwing or hiding the bottle before it is empty. Your baby may show more interest in drinking from a cup.
What is the best way to wean a baby? Gradual weaning is best for both babies and moms. Look for signs that your baby is ready. When you are both ready, try dropping one feeding every 5 to 7 days. This will help give you and your baby time to adjust to new ways of feeding. If you are breast-feeding, gradual weaning helps keep your breasts from becoming too full, a problem called breast engorgement.

How to wean a baby? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the following:1 Breast-feed babies for at least a year and as long after as mother and child desire. Introduce iron-enriched solid foods at 6 months of age to complement the breast milk. For babies who were weaned from the breast or the bottle before 12 months of age, give iron-fortified formula, not cow's or goat's milk. You can also give your baby breast milk from a cup or a bottle.
What if your baby does not want to be weaned? Sometimes a mother wants to stop breast-feeding but her baby seems to want to keep it up. If you can, keep breast-feeding a while longer. Try offering your milk or formula in a cup before you breast-feed or between breast-feedings. There are also different bottle nipples you can try. Some babies grow attached to the bottle and do not want to give it up. Don't let your baby crawl, walk around, or go to bed with a bottle. Nighttime feedings are often the hardest to give up. Try replacing that feeding with new habits, such as reading a book or looking at the stars together.

Stop Childhood Obesity

As parents, we spend a lot of time talking to our kids about the dangers of drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and Internet safety, but obesity rarely comes up. Yet it's clearly one of the biggest concerns in the United States today and poses dangerous consequences to our children's physical and emotional health. Let's reverse this epidemic by creating a healthy home environment and regularly talking with our kids -- starting as young as two years of age -- about the importance of eating right and engaging in regular physical activity.
Joy's Health Strategies for Parents:

Set a shining example. Kids, especially the youngest ones, mimic their parents. Be a healthy role model at home and on the road.
Put the entire house on a "health program." Never single out one child struggling with a weight issue. Even super thin siblings benefit from healthy eating and regular exercise.
Make healthy eating fun. Involve your kids in meal planning, shopping, and cooking. When kids help pick out and prepare veggies for the stir-fry, or season turkey meat for tacos, they'll be more likely to branch out from mainstays like chicken nuggets. You can also try themed dinners once a week. For example, for Japanese night, make chicken teriyaki, put pillows on the floor, take your shoes off, and eat at the coffee table.
Encourage kid-friendly exercise options. If your child is too self-conscious to participate in team sports or regular after-school activities, you can suggest jumping rope, bike riding, or stair climbing. When it comes to fun family exercise, enjoy weekend bike rides, long walks, adventurous hikes, playing ball, tennis, tossing a Frisbee...anything goes. You could also consider investing in a backyard trampoline, exercise videos, and/or video games that make the player get up and move, such as Dance-Dance Revolution (between $50 and $70) or the Wii game console ($250 with interactive baseball, bowling, boxing, golf, and tennis games included).
Practice a 90/10 food strategy. My rule is 90% healthy food, 10% fun food. Certainly we should limit the not-so-healthy stuff -- but not eliminate it. Diets that are too restrictive backfire with a vengeance. Help your child preplan for occasional indulgences and ensure they fit in with friends and schoolmates (for example, pizza at parties, cake at birthdays, and ice cream with friends).
Seek outside help. If you're having a tough time getting your kids on board, don't hesitate to seek the help of an outside professional. As parents, we all know that some kids are much more likely to follow guidelines and show interest when the information is coming from someone else. To find a qualified pediatric/adolescent registered dietitian in your local area, ask your pediatrician for a recommendation or visit the American Dietetic Association's website at http://www.eatright.org/ and plug in your zip code. Scroll through the list of names and select those who have experience working with kids. You can also investigate personal trainers who work with kids, one-on-one coaches, gym teachers looking for extra after-school hours... if cost is an issue, team up with a few neighborhood kids in the same boat to share the expense.

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