NEW BABY STORE

Have you ever known a person with an unfortunate name or set of initials? Please try very hard not to do this to your child. What would he think with a name like Alan Stuart Smith? He’d better make sure he doesn’t go near any holes. Unfortunately you can’t do anything about initials that mean something now but didn’t when your little angel was born. Walter or Wally for short for instance. How about Christine Sally Irving? These examples are something you will just have to chance, relying on the law of averages.

A fair number of families have a specific name that runs through the generations. If you are naming your first child, you may not realize the pressure, overt or subtle, that you will be put under to continue in the tradition. This will be especially difficult if your family doesn’t have this sort of generic identity but your partner’s does. Good parenting states that you, that is, you parents, should be totally happy with the name you choose for your child. If this means defying your elderly, or even not so elderly, relatives then so be it. If, on the other hand, you are quite happy and perhaps even willing to accommodate passing down a family name then, again, so be it. Just make sure that it is YOUR choice and no one else’s.

Your child’s name is not his soul as our ancestors probably thought. But it’s not as simple as that. People can and do associate specific names with characteristics and personality. Psychologically, good parenting recognizes that your child could ‘pick up’ on this subconsciously and become like his name. In other words a name could mould a person’s personality.

Do you follow the ‘celebrities’? Do you want to follow them even further by giving your baby a name one of them have used? Has someone called their baby Beelzebub? Isn’t that a cute name? Do you want your child to have that name? Hey, it could be used for a girl and a boy can’t it? If you’r reading this then you have access to a pc, so Google it. Find out what it means and then decide. Do try and do some basic research before naming your child. That’s what good parenting is all about - minimizing unforeseen circumstances by simply thinking things through and doing some simple research. It’s not hard.

Unique spellings are cute aren’t they? Wouldn’t it be great if you called your daughter Ema (not Emma) or Karoll instead of Carrol? Have you considered what problems she would have going through life with a none standard name. Picture yourself back in school and try to work out if you would like a name like that. Somehow I think you may change your mind if you did that properly. Good parenting is not dictatorial though. There a quite a few acceptable alternative spellings for names around now. One of these should be acceptable. The question is, do you want your little angel to start off a new craze for an alternative spelling? What if nobody else takes it up?

It’s not my intention to worry you at all with all this. You have a partner, so try and share the decision making. That’s what good parenting is all about. In the long run, you’ll be glad you put yourself to just that little bit extra effort when you named your child.

Bringing home a new baby brings with it an exhausting array of new responsibilities and challenges. Is there such a thing as a typical day and night for new parents? Probably not!

Remember, the baby has just gone through an enormous change too, so part of the process when you first bring him home is his transition from the womb to the outside world. Keep the baby close to you, keep him wrapped and warm. If you’re breastfeeding, this will take some time for both of you to adjust to as well.

If you’re new baby is formula fed, he’ll need to feed every 3 to 5 hours. If you’re breastfeeding, he’ll need to feed more frequently. Sometimes you will feel that all you do all day and night is breastfeed. You will probably feel much more empathy with cows! And there will be a lot of diapers to change, especially until you get familiar with his schedule. His diaper will probably need to be changed shortly after feeding, about once an hour in the very beginning. Be sure to check frequently.

Until the umbilical cord has fallen off, you’ll want to keep to sponge baths every few days, but you will want to wash the baby’s bottom every day. You can wipe the baby’s hands, face, neck and bottom every day with a soft washcloth with warm water. When the baby’s ready for full baths, in a few weeks, every day is a good idea to prevent diaper rashes. But keep in mind that too much bathing can dry out his sensitive skin. So see what works for your baby.

Those little finger and toenails will grow quickly, and they’ll need to be trimmed regularly so the baby doesn’t scratch himself. The baby’s nails can be long, even at birth and attached high on the nail bed. You’ll need to gently press the fingerpad away from the nail and clip it with a baby nail clipper. You might want to do this when the baby’s sleeping to ensure that he doesn’t jerk those little fingers and toes away!

Get used to being busy 24/7 during the first month, at least. You will be feeding and changing diapers around the clock so get as much help as you can so you can have some peace too.