Infant Toddler Care

This paper uses findings from the Maori section of a multiethnic infant care practices (ICP) study undertaken in Auckland, New Zealand/Aotearoa, in 1998. It aims to increase understanding of present day Maori infant care practices in order, firstly, to inform infant health message and service delivery to Maori and, secondly, to understand the context of practices that comprise modifiable risk factors for SIDS. Publicity about modifiable SIDS risk factors since the early 1990s brought about a significant reduction in the national SIDS rate but the Māori rate reduced more slowly and in 1998 was still three times that of non-Māori. The ICP study was a qualitative study that, for the Māori section, involved seven focus groups and a one-on-one interview comprising 26 caregivers of under 12 month old infants. This paper focuses on five selected areas explored within the ICP study: sources of support, customary practices, infant feeding, infant sleeping arrangements and smoking. It discuss...

An increasing number of parents engage in extended daily chest-to-chest contact with their full-term healthy infants for several months after birth as an extension of skin-to-skin contact in the early postpartum period. This practice is commonly known as "babywearing" (BW) and employs various carrying devices. The purpose of this review is to acquaint pediatricians and primary care providers with the numerous studies of physical, behavioral and social effects of BW as well as the different types of infant carriers and safe practices. BW studies demonstrate improved attachment and breastfeeding outcomes and infant sleep organization, as well as reduced maternal postpartum depressive symptoms and infant crying. BW is likely to strengthen paternal caregiving engagement, associated with positive child outcomes. The spread squat position for the hips during BW offers an optimal position for hip development and may prevent some forms of developmental hip dysplasia. BW may reduce the risk of positional plagiocephaly, by decreasing the time infants spend in the supine position while also allowing for spontaneous head movements. BW enables some mothers with short maternity leave to bring their infants to the workplace with limited interference in their tasks. Numerous designs of infant carriers are described along with basic safety precautions. Pediatricians may be key influencers for parents in achieving the positive outcomes described in this review.

To maintain a stable over-all prevalence of handicap, the rate of handicap among survivors must decline in parallel to the decline in mortality among live births. The 24 per cent decline in mortality among low-birthweight infants in New York City between 1962 and 1976 requires a 35 to 39 per cent decline in the rate of neurological impairment among low-birthweight survivors simply to avoid the production of an increased number of handicapped children in the population as a whole. Such evidence as we have suggests that the declining morbidity may not be keeping pace with the recent declines in mortality: thus, although more healthy survivors will result from newborn intensive care, a modest increase in the prevalence of handicap may also ensue.

The paper was written in occasion of the XVII Congress organised by Gruppo Nazionale Nidi e Infanzia (http://www.grupponidiinfanzia.it) in 2010 and presents the project and the structure of one part of the work sessions in which experiences from Ecec services could be shared among practitioners, researchers, early childhood experts, politicians, local administrators and other figures involved in early childhood education and care with various roles and tasks. This choice wasn’t merely an organizational one but it had high pedagogical value; firstly, it aimed at promoting – before the Congress - work on educational projects and pedagogical documentation within every service involved, achieving great training meanings. Secondly, it aimed at stimulating mutual knowledge, experience sharing, confrontation and new, possible alliances and cooperations among the above mentioned figures and perspectives.

Couvade is the male experience of pregnancy and couvade syndrome incorporates a range of symptoms suffered by "pregnant" men. The aetiology of the couvade syndrome is unknown. Anthropologists, psychiatrists, nurses and sociologists have provided explanations for behaviour changes in "pregnant" men in terms of cultural pressure, intrapsychic processes and psychosocial adaptation to a new situation. The adoption of a biological perspective allows us to ask a new question: is there a physiological basis for the couvade syndrome? A fresh research agenda would include measurement of physiological change and a search for causation. Implications for nursing are outlined.

Toddler family cadre is a community members work voluntarily in fostering and providing information to parents of toddlers about how to properly care for children. Toddler Family cadre desperately need training to increase their skills. There are still a few Toddler family cadres who get training so that the knowledge and skills of parents and other family members in developing toddlers' growth through physical stimulation, motoric intelligence, emotional and social economy as well as possible are still lacking. The purpose of this study is to develop an Android-assisted Toddler family cadre training model in Demak. This research is research in tian research and development. The research location was in Demak Regency. Toddler family cadres became the object of this research. Development of Toddler family cadre training models assisted by Android in Demak is feasible to be used as an effort to improve Toddler Family cadres' capabilities.

A World of Babies provides a wide variety of answers to these and countless other child-rearing questions, precisely because diverse communities around the world hold such different beliefs about parenting and engage in remarkably different child-rearing practices. While celebrating that diversity, the book also explores the challenges that poverty, globalization, and violence pose for parents.
Fully updated for the twenty-first century, this edition features a new introduction and eight new or revised chapters that directly address contemporary parenting challenges, from China and Peru to Israel and the West Bank.
Written as imagined advice manuals to parents, the creative format of the book brings alive a rich body of knowledge that highlights many models of baby-rearing–each shaped by deeply held values and widely varying contexts
Parenthood may never again seem a matter of “common sense.”

"The paper aims at presenting the Italian edition of Philippe Meirieu's book "Lettre aux grandes personnes sur les enfants d’aujourd’hui" (Rue du monde, Voisins-Le-Bretonneux, 2009); it is the occasion to reflect on children's rights and on adults' responsabilities within Ecec services and to highlight that both educational
alliances between adults and the development of educational research could promote a positive understanding and image of children but also enrich their learnings and education."

Since Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) was developed in Colombia in the 1970s, two trends in clinical application emerged. In low income settings, the original KMC model is implemented. This consists of continuous (24 h/day, 7 days/week) and prolonged mother/parent–infant skin-to-skin contact; early discharge with the infant in the kangaroo position; (ideally) exclusive breastfeeding; and, adequate follow-up. In affluent settings, intermittent KMC with sessions of one or a few hours skin-to-skin contact for a limited period is common. As a result of the increasing evidence of the benefits of KMC for both infants and families in all intensive care settings, KMC in a high-tech environment was chosen as the topic for the first European Conference on KMC, and the clinical implementation of the KMC model in all types of settings was discussed at the 7th International Workshop on KMC. Kangaroo Mother Care protocols in high-tech Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) should specify criteria for initiation, kangaroo position, transfer to/from KMC, transport in kangaroo position, kangaroo nutrition, parents’ role, modification of the NICU environment, performance of care in KMC, and KMC in case of infant instability.Conclusion:  Implementation of the original KMC method, with continuous skin-to-skin contact whenever possible, is recommended for application in high-tech environments, although scientific evaluation should continue.

To create and test an audio-visual (AV) aid for providing anticipatory guidance on infant oral health to caregivers. A DVD-video containing evidence-based information about infant oral health care and prevention in accordance with the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry guidelines has been developed (www.utoronto.ca/dentistry/newsresources/kids/). It contains comprehensive anticipatory guidance in the areas of pregnancy, oral development, teething, diet and nutrition, oral hygiene, fluoride use, acquisition of oral bacteria, feeding and oral habits, causes and sequelae of early childhood caries, trauma prevention, early dental visits and regular dental visits. A questionnaire was developed to test the knowledge of expectant and young mothers (n = 11) and early childhood educators (n = 16) before and after viewing the video. A significant lack of knowledge about infant oral health was indicated by the proportion of "I don"t know" (22%) and incorrect (19%) responses...

Creativity in adults is highly valued in our society. Personal creativity contributes to inventiveness, innovation, social and cultural change as well as political development and economic progression. The creator is an innovator, a problem solver, an entrepreneur, an artist. Creative people have rapid and effective responses that help them to achieve their life goals and allow them to enjoy the journey. Creativity is both a skill set and a unique and individual character structure that is developed throughout childhood and fine-tuned in adolescence and adulthood. Education has a key role to play in its development. Positive creativity inspiring experiences at every stage of the educational journey are needed. This is especially true in early childhood. Educators who rise to the creativity challenge will be well rewarded in rich teaching experiences and the joy of seeing children reach their creative potential in supportive and integrated learning communities.

Creativity in adults is highly valued in our society. Personal creativity contributes to inventiveness, innovation, social and cultural change as well as political development and economic progression. The creator is an innovator, a problem solver, an entrepreneur, an artist. Creative people have rapid and effective responses that help them to achieve their life goals and allow them to enjoy the journey. Creativity is both a skill set and a unique and individual character structure that is developed throughout childhood and fine-tuned in adolescence and adulthood. Education has a key role to play in its development. Positive creativity inspiring experiences at every stage of the educational journey are needed. This is especially true in early childhood. Educators who rise to the creativity challenge will be well rewarded in rich teaching experiences and the joy of seeing children reach their creative potential in supportive and integrated learning communities.

When a new baby arrives among the Beng people of West Africa, they see it not as being born, but as being reincarnated after a rich life in a previous world. Far from being a tabula rasa, a Beng infant is thought to begin its life filled with spiritual knowledge. But how do these beliefs affect the ways the Beng raise their children?
In this unique and engaging ethnography of babies, Alma Gottlieb explores how Beng religious ideology affects every aspect of their childrearing practices, from bathing infants to protecting them from disease to teaching them how to crawl and walk. She shows too how widespread poverty among the Beng sets practical limits on these practices. A mother of two, Gottlieb includes moving discussions of how her experiences among the Beng changed the way she saw her own parenting. Throughout the book she also draws telling comparisons between Beng and Euro-American parenting, bringing home just how deeply culture matters to the ways we all raise our children.
Anyone interested in the culture of infancy, and vice versa, will enjoy The Afterlife Is Where We Come From.