Sudden Infant Death Syndrome kills more than 2,000 babies in the US each year. They are most commonly aged between 2 and 4 months and die in their sleep. The cause has always remained a mystery.

However, recent breakthrough findings reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association show that SIDS is a disease. Even so, there are ways of minimizing the risk. Reading this could save a life.

How Did They Make This Discovery?

Researchers studied the brains of 31 babies who had died from SIDS and 10 who had died for other reasons. They focused on the medulla of the brain which controls involuntary actions, including breathing, controlling blood pressure and heart rate.

The medullas of SIDS babies were much more likely to have abnormalities in the nerve cells which respond to serotonin. Serotonin is a chemical that plays a major part in the regulation of breathing and sleeping.

They also found that there were more abnormalities in the SIDS boys than girls which would help to explain why boys are twice as likely to die of SIDS.

What Does This Mean for SIDS?

Its a huge breakthrough and may bring researchers nearer to developing a test to identify at-risk babies. At the moment, such a test is still a long way off as no early warning for SIDS has been pinpointed yet so no-one knows what to test for yet.

But there are known methods of minimizing the risk of SIDS. These are methods that everyone caring for a baby at any time should be aware of and follow.

Back to Sleep

The Back to Sleep campaign, started in 1992 has cut deaths from SIDS by 50%. However, their safety recommendations still need spreading far and wide.

Of the 31 deceased babies examined in the recent SIDS study, a worrying 77% had been sleeping on their stomach or side, or sharing a bed with an adult or both.

Top Recommendations For Safe Sleeping

1. Always, always place the baby on his/her back for every sleep. This applies to night time sleeping and naps and every time the baby sleeps.

2. Make sure the baby is sleeping on a firm mattress which is covered by a tight fitted sheet. Never let a baby sleep on pillows, quilts, sheepskins or anything soft.

3. Keep the entire sleeping area clear of soft toys or objects, pillows, blankets, quilts, sheepskins and pillow-style bumpers. The baby can sleep quite happily in a onesie.

4. Dont have the baby sleep with you (or with others) in a bed, on a couch or in an armchair. If you breastfeed the baby in your bed put him/her back into their own sleeping area once youre done.

How Can These Help?

Put simply, SIDS babies dont seem able to sense if oxygen is low and rouse themselves. Following the recommendations can literally save a babys life.

Make sure that everyone who cares for the baby follows them at every sleep.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com

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It is a well-known social phenomenon that changing parental work patterns have transformed our all-family life over the past 30 years. One of the most dramatic changes is the increased rate of paid employment among mothers with children. According to published data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the overall maternal labor force rose from 38 to almost 70 percent during the last 30 years and for mothers with youngest children below the age of 3, this rate rose from 24 to 57 percent. During this same period, the demand for non-parental child care increased dramatically, taking place in a variety of child care arrangements, including babysitters or nannies, family child care, care centers, au pair, family members, neighbors or friend child care arrangements, and other organized activities. Alone in the United States, a large percentage of the 35 million children and adolescents below the age of 14 with working parents are in an arrangement with a babysitter/nanny or an other type of childcare arrangement for an average of 22 to 40 hours a week. Child care is no longer simply a protective or remedial service for children from low-income or troubled families: it is an everyday arrangement for the majority of children in the United States and all other industrialized countries in the world.

There are quite a lot of social studies available determining the effects of child care on children’s cognitive and social functioning (see references below, to mention only a few of them). As a conclusion, if children and adolescents are exposed to high-quality care, their development can be significantly enhanced. However, it has also been shown that society has not taken full advantage of the opportunities of childcare provides. Many children and adolescents spend long hours, often at early ages, away from their parents in unstimulating, mediocre care, resulting in development delays and social disturbances. This conclusion of the social studies leads to a real challenge for the families in need of a childcare service, as well as for the caregiver themselves. Selecting the correct type of caregiver service for their actual situation is not an easy task for the family. There are a lot of services offered in local newspaper ads or the internet and the first question will be if you prefer a full time in-home solution, drop-in or part-time or an off-home solution (care center, all-day school programs, etc.). Whatever the decision will be, the selection of the day care center or the nanny/babysitter never should be performed without considering the children’s opinion. Especially small children have a very fine instinct and they will show you immediately if there is “chemistry” between the babysitter or nanny and the child or not. Definitely it will be not enough to hire a caregiver just by a phone interview or a five-minute talk in your office. In order to find out if the candidate fits well with your family it is essential to perform a personal interview at home, starting with the candidate and the parents and later on also involving the children. There are many reasons to accept or not to a accept a nanny or babysitter, all depends on what you are looking for. It might be important for you if the candidate is old or young, mature or in between, with college grade or even with master degree, short or tall, thin or heavy, white, black or latin, with or without religious background, etc. There are many factors that define an individual but the most important thing of all is that the nanny matches with your family. And also consider the following: The caregiver always should be seen as a person whose primary function is caring for the children. There are too many cases where babysitters or nannies are basically used as general housekeeper, making the beds of the parents, doing their laundry or cleaning toilets, etc. As a consequence, children often are “parked” in front of the TV for hours, instead of stimulating them performing creative activities like attending after-school events, reading books or helping with homework, just to mention a few of the possibilities. For a quality care of their children, it needs to be clear that first priority of the babysitter/nanny is taking care and stimulating the children and in second place realizing other activities like the participation in general housekeeper activities. Both, the family and the caregiver clearly should define this in a contract that will help to ensure that all of the terms and conditions are well understood.

References:
1) Working Families and Growing Kids: Caring for Children and Adolescents Eugene Smolensky and Jennifer Appleton Gootman, Editors, Committee on Family And Work Policies, National Research Council (2003).

2) Caring for America’s Children, Anne Meadows, Editor; Panel on Child Care Policy, National Research Council, National Academies Press (1991).

3) Brooks-Gunn, J., Berlin, L.J., and Fuligni, A.S. (2000). Early childhood intervention programs:
What about the family? In J.P. Shonkoff, and S.J. Meisels (Eds.), Handbook of
early childhood intervention, 2nd edition (pp. 549-588). New York: Cambridge.

4) Vernon-Feagans, L., Emanuel, D.C., and Blood, I. (1997). The effect of Otitis Media and
quality daycare on children’s language development. Journal of Applied Developmental
Psychology, 18, 395-409.

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About the Author: Oswald J. Eppers is manager of the consulting firm E&R InterConsult and founder of the Two-Approach Job Search Guide for easy and effective Job Searching and Career Assessment. Browse his Nanny Job Database to find 1000+ published nanny job vacancies.

Many new parents vow that their kids wont be given sugary foods or stuck in front of a TV! They will only have healthy, well-balanced food and all play will be mentally stimulating and educational.

Sohow come Junior is watching that Sesame Street DVD for the 20th time and snacking on cookies?

Ill give injust this once

If theyre honest, most parents and babysitters have fallen back on bribery at least once usually a lot more than once! If youre exhausted and crave a few minutes of peace and quiet, a little bribery seems the obvious way to go.

Babysitters are often in the awkward position of having to discipline the child but not having the same level of authority as the parent. This is for two reasons. The babysitter isnt the parent and doesnt know the full history of what has and hasnt worked with the child in the past. And bribery does work at least in the short term but what is it teaching the child?

Creating A Demanding Child

People who are steadfastly against bribery argue that it is encouraging children to behave badly as they know it will end in a bribe to stop that behavior.

It helps to look at the dictionary definition of a bribe. Its anything given or promised to induce a person to do something illegal or wrong so that clearly isnt whats happening here. Youre using a bribe, but to induce good not bad behavior.

Its All In The Timing

Bribery is offering payment before the deal is closed. In other words, once the child has what they want why should they do what you want? Especially when yet more bad behavior is likely to result in another gift.

The fundamental difference between a bribe and a reward is the timing of the action. Whether its intended to induce good or bad behavior, a bribe is given before or during the bad behavior, to stop it.

A reward is given after the good behavior. If the good behavior doesnt happen, neither does the reward.

Make The Child Do The Work

A huge amount of effort can go into persuading, coaxing, explaining and finally bribing a child. Its exhausting, frustrating and worrying. So stop doing it! The ironic thing is that in the early stages, the reward will have to be offered prior to the situation arising. For example, tell the child that if they are good while youre grocery shopping, you will be able to get round the store quicker which means there will be time to go to the park on the way home. Its then up to the child to work for that reward.

Make The Power Shift

When you bribe a child they have the power in the situation. They are manipulating you in order to gain a reward.

When you offer a reward you both have power. You can give the reward or withhold it. The child can earn it or lose it. Youll be surprised how quickly they learn!

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com

aring for children is likely to be the most important responsibility any of us will ever have. It makes no difference if you are caring for your brothers and sisters, babysitting for a neighbor’s children or raising your own family. Whether you are 13 or 30 years old, your primary responsibility as a care provider is the HEALTH, SAFETY and WELFARE of those in your care.

Everyone who cares for children needs to learn basic First Aid and CPR. And if you are caring for the very young, the training must include special instruction relevant to newborns and infants. A Babysitting course will help prepare you as a young care-provider for the responsibilities involved in babysitting. The right training and education will give you confidence, make you a highly desired sitter and help protect children in your care.