Frequently Asked Questions on Parenting - When will my baby…? (Part - 2)

Hope you found the first part of frequently asked questions on parenting – when will my baby …. Interesting? Here are more such frequently asked questions about parenting born out of curiosity and concern.  

Some frequently asked questions on parenting:

When will my baby stop sucking his thumb or dummy?

Some dentists are of the opinion that thumb-sucking or finger sucking is common in infants, with most children giving up the habit at the age of 4 years. Again speech therapists feel that is OK to give a baby a dummy selectively and sensibly and wean the baby by about 10 to 12 months, with it being most advisable to do so at 6 months when the long term memory of the baby is not developed.

  
When will my baby roll?

Some babies start rolling from back to side at about 3 months, while most do so at 6 months. Most babies learn to roll much before they crawl, with not so physically adventurous babies not rolling at all.

When will my baby have dairy products?

According to pediatric nutritionists most babies can be given dairy products like yogurt and cheese from 6 months of age, though it is best to wait to give cow’s milk till the baby is a year old.

When will my baby remember things?

A newborn baby recognizes his parent’s voice and his mother’s smell when she breastfeeds him/her. He/she will remember things like where his/her room is by the age of 9 months and would develop long-lasting and conscious memory by the age of 14 to 18 months. The baby’s ability to identify people and objects that he/she has seen with a delay would increase dramatically in his/her first year.  

When can my baby eat honey?

It is not advisable to give your baby honey until he/she is 1 year of age because occasionally honey contains bacteria that would produce toxins in the baby’s intestine and cause a serious illness, infant botulism. Later the baby’s intestine matures and the bacteria cannot grow.

When can my baby go in a baby walker or bouncer?

Health visitors, pediatricians and physiotherapists discourage the use of baby walkers as they do not help a baby to walk, but may slow the process down. This is not the case of baby bouncers that can be used from the time a baby can support his/her head satisfactorily usually around 4 months of age. They strengthen neck and back muscles and are not used for long at one time.  

Can my baby use decongestant creams?

Avoid using strong aromatic decongestant creams on babies less than 3 months of age because they irritate the delicate mucous membranes. Usually the narrow blocked passages of babies clear up when they feed; in its absence it would prove useful to use saline nose drops.

When will a baby develop his/her natural eye color?  

The eye color of most white babies undergo a number of changed before they get set somewhere around 3 to 6 months or later; however it is best understood that the pigmentation of the iris continues increasing till the first birthday of the baby when it is set.

When can the photo of my baby be taken using flash photography? 

Flash photography can be taken even of infants though they may blink; however there is no evidence to show that it is harmful.

When will the soft spot or fontanels on the baby’s head close? 

Most babies have it till the age of 2 years, with premature babies having it longer. A newborn has two open soft spots on top of the head, one in the back and one at the front. The fontanels at the back of the head close before the one in the front. Fontanels are not a weakness in the skull, but actually make a baby’s head more flexible and stronger than an adult’s.

I am sure that the questions to some more of the frequently asked questions would make you more confident in your parenting issues. 

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