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Infant Sleep Safety By Amanda Hanson, Psy.D.

3/15/2019

Having a newborn addition to your family creates an increase in responsibility, decision making, and safety concerns. One area that new parents may have questions is in regard to sleeping behaviors for their infant. Safety is an important aspect to understand, and education about safety can assist in decreasing risk to your infant. The following are helpful recommendations made by the American Academy of Pediatrics regarding sleeping hygiene for your infant

Babies should be placed faced up, on their backs, every time to sleep. Once an infant is able to roll from back to stomach and stomach to back, the infant is able to sleep in the position they choose. Reserve “tummy time” for day time activities and not for sleep in order to decrease risk of suffocation.
No objects should be placed in the crib. Make sure the crib environment is free from miscellaneous items or toys. While stuffed animals may appear cute and decorative, remove them from the crib prior to sleeping.
The mattress should fit snug in the frame, as well as the fitted sheet.
Place the crib in a room that is smoke free.
The offer of a pacifier has been linked to a decrease in risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
If breastfeeding, wait until breastfeeding is well-established before offering a pacifier.
The infant should return to own crib or bassinet following any feeding or comforting if brought to the parents’ bed, and before the parent returns to sleep
The temperature of the room should remain comfortable, similar to the need of a lightly clothed adult in order to avoid overheating of the infant.
Avoid over bundling the infant which can also increase overheating.
Never use propping up a bottle at naptime or bedtime.
Once the child learns to sit, lower the mattress in the crib, and lower even further when they learn to stand.
Respond to the infant’s cries during the night.

While some parents may feel that sleeping with their infant is beneficial, the act of co-sleeping is NOT recommended. Co-sleeping can increase risk of suffocation while the infant is sleeping. In order to avoid any potential accidents, co-sleeping should not be considered.
In order to promote healthy sleep for your infant at night, consider the following tips:

Use active playtime during the day. This is when “tummy time” would be appropriate.
Allow for skin-to-skin contact during the day.
Attending to your infant’s cries throughout the day in order to reduce the baby’s stress.
Consistency with meals, naps, and bedtime is beneficial.
The implementation of a bedtime routine can assist in healthy sleep. This may be in the form of a bath, gentle massage, or quiet time. Research supports that babies with bedtime routines fall asleep 30% faster, wakes up 50% less, and sleep for longer stretches of time.
Verbalizations, such as talking softly or singing to your infant before bed can be soothing.
Place your child in their crib when they appear to be tired, but are still slightly awake. This transition assists them in helping them to fall asleep on their own.
If your child appears restless, place them to bed 30 minutes earlier in order to avoid the infant becoming overly tired and attempting to fight off sleep with energy.
The use of background noise, such as soft music, a fan, or white noise may also help, as repetitive sounds can lull them to sleep.
Place a warm towel on your baby’s sheet and remove it before you place the child down.

In the event that your infant continues to struggle to fall asleep despite these healthy suggestions and tips, consider consulting with your pediatrician to discuss further.

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Self-Regulation and Increasing Self-Control By Kirsten Ellingsen, PhD

3/9/2019

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Self-control is about being able to regulate yourself. Self-regulation is the ability to manage behavior, control actions and productively manage emotions. Developing self-regulation involves understanding both behaviors and feelings, and being able to effectively control these across different situations. It includes calming down when frustrated, upset, or excited, controlling impulses, and focusing attention. It is important for academic achievement and learning in school, getting along with other children and making friends, and managing stress.

Helping your child learn self-regulation

Parents are the best example to model and teach self-regulation. Explain how you calmed down and managed your strong emotions and show strategies to your child when you are frustrated or upset.
Label and talk about feelings with your child (e.g., ‘did you throw that puzzle piece because you were frustrated?’ Remember to keep it simple (and do this when your child is calm).
Teach alternate behaviors and appropriate ways to react to “big” or difficult emotions. When a child is calm you can offer choices (e.g., that was hard when you could not get that piece in the puzzle, you could say “help” or take some belly breaths instead of throwing a piece next time).
Discuss rules and expectations for behaviors.
Identify consequences before a problem occurs, make sure these rules are consistently applied, and reviewed often with children.
Try to “catch” your child doing a positive behavior and making good choices.
PRAISE your child for demonstrating (even the smallest amount of) self-control and describe the positive behavior you observed.

You can play games to help children learn self-control such as red light/green light; mother may I.

According to https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/peaceful-parents-happy-kids/201506/8-steps-help-your-child-develop-self-control
(see website for explanations of these steps)

1. The foundation of self-control is trust.
2. Children learn emotional regulation from our modeling.
3. The self-control capacity of the brain increases with practice.
4. Self-Control is CHOOSING to give up what we want for something we want more.
6. Empathic Limits give kids practice in self-discipline.
7. Waiting is good practice -- up to a point.
8. Children learn self-control naturally as they attempt to master their world.

Have reasonable and fair expectations for behavior

It is important to have realistic and developmentally (age) appropriate expectations for self-control.

Infants should be responded to right away and comforted to help them calm quickly.
For toddlers, use distraction, set up environment to minimize frustration and have reasonable expectations about how long they should be able to wait (e.g., for food, toys etc) – which is not very long! Talk about feelings and expectations for behavior very simply- particularly for aggressive behavior.
Children ages 3-5 can be expected to learn simple rules about behavior and some better self-control.
School age children (6-9)- you can discuss rules and consequences and help children make good choices. Remember to review and reward positive behavior.

When Should I be Concerned? Consider seeking professional help if your child’s problematic behavior appears to be more extreme, more frequent or more persistent compared to other same age children (or if you just need more support and specific strategies to support your child’s self-regulation and positive behavior).
In addition, children who have an underlying developmental disability will have more difficulty with impulsivity and self-control. If you have concerns about ADHD or other potential disabilities please talk with your pediatrician or a psychologist.

Resources
(https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/behaviour/understanding-behaviour/self-regulation for more information about why it is important and tips to helping children increase self-regulation)
www.kidshealth.org

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Parents Versus Picky Eaters By Joy Bui, M.A., Doctoral Candidate, Intern

3/2/2019

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If your little one is a picky eater… YOU ARE NOT ALONE! On average about 50% of parents consider their children picky eaters. Picky eaters emerge around toddlerhood and can be typical for preschoolers. Many parents are concerned that their kids are not getting enough nutrition or feel overwhelmed and frustrated as dinner time turns into a struggle.

Tips for Parents to Help with Picky Eaters:

1. Be Patient and Calm
It is very normal to offer or need to expose children to new foods over 10 times before they attempt to try it.

2. Be flexible.
Focus on what they already like or make adjustments to foods/textures that are challenging for them. Does your child not like crunchy foods? Then swap out apple slices for applesauce.

3. Let your kids be involved.
Let them pick out fruits and veggies from the store and show excitement and offer lots of praise for their choice. Let them help prepare meals (stir, add seasoning, etc). Encourage them to touch, smell, lick, or taste the new food.

4. Offer the same foods for everyone in the family and have family meals.
Offering your picky eater their own meal only encourages them to be picky. During family meal time, try serving a meal that includes something they already enjoy with a new kind of food. Remember to frequently and gently encourage trying the new food.

5. Be Creative.
New foods can look “weird or scary” to kids. Be open to trying new recipes and presentations - you can use simple things, such as a cookie cutter to make the new food look silly, fun, and exciting.

6. Offer two choices at a time.
Try asking, “Would you like carrots or broccoli?” instead of, “What do you want for dinner?” or “Would you like carrots with dinner?”

7. Less is more.
Having a lot of something new can be overwhelming and intimidating to children. Try only incorporating one new food at a time and starting out with small amounts. Put one or two carrots or a few peas on their plate at a time, then slowly increase the amount as they get more comfortable with eating them.

Things to Avoid:

It is unhelpful to force your child to eat certain foods. Try having realistic expectations for your kids about how much they “should eat.” Though the size of the stomach varies, for some it is about the size of their clenched fist. Forcing your kids to eat usually leads to the child eating less. Be mindful about negotiating and making deals with your kids. For example, “Just two more bites and then you can have ice cream” can easily turn into children asking “how many bites until I can have ice cream?” Overall, approaches like these are unhelpful for the long term. Some children may even start negotiating other unlikable tasks in exchange for a reward, such as getting ready or brushing their teeth. Try utilizing verbal praise to let them know how proud you are of them, or give non-food related rewards.

While picky eating in children can be normal, there are some instances in which it may be a more serious problem. Always talk to your child’s health care provider about any nutritional concerns you may have.

Additional Resources:

Phrases That Help and Hinder

Healthy Tips for Picky Eaters

Age Appropriate Kitchen Activities

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Photos from Marco Verch (CC BY 2.0), verchmarco, wriggly_toes, verchmarco

Infant Sleep Safety By Amanda Hanson, Psy.D.

Self-Regulation and Increasing Self-Control By Kirsten Ellingsen, PhD

Parents Versus Picky Eaters By Joy Bui, M.A., Doctoral Candidate, Intern

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