What should we expect at night?
You can expect a baby to wake up
several times in the night during
the first six months, and even once
a night at a year old. (Their night
wakings don't mean, however, that
you have to wake up. In fact, you're
better off not getting up and going
to your baby as long as you know
she's healthy, warm, and well-fed.)
Night wakings will gradually decrease
as your baby gives up night feedings
and moves towards longer sleep cycles.
Hold
the Baby
Baby-sitting
is such an easy way to make money,
that we hear it's how Bill Gates
started his fortune. Food, TV, phone
calls, and all for making sure that
someone's baby doesn't accidentally
swallow his own foot. But now we
have to give you an unfortunate
reality check: caring of an infant
(well, we're talking about a child
that is 12 months old or younger)
is not nearly as easy as it seems.
This is because you're not allowed
to use duct tape. Not only is it
important for you to know the proper
techniques for caring for an infant
so that the baby remains healthy,
it's also important for your own
mental health. Baby-sitting can
be extremely frustrating, but we
have the answers here. In fact,
Dr. Spock just wrote to us asking
us for advice. OK, that's not true.
But we hear he's a nice guy.
This
SYW will teach you to accomplish
6 infant tasks: holding the baby,
feeding the baby, changing the baby's
diaper, bathing the baby, and putting
the baby to sleep. We'll be working
under the assumption that you're
a first-time baby-sitter, so we
promise not to go too fast; we'll
take baby steps. Before we even
get started, here are some fundamental
baby-sitting tips.
1. DON'T use this SYW as your only
guide for general infant rearing.
Yes, this is a great guide to orient
yourself to baby-sitting techniques
for very young children, but all
of our information must be supplemented
with other sources of child expertise.
In other words, don't sue us or
take our word as law. These are
general basic techniques and should
be treated as such. Now that we've
covered our own butts...
2. Get the phone number of all the
places that the baby's parents will
be.
3. Have the number of the pediatrician.
4. Ask the parents well in advance
to prepare the bottles, clean diapers,
and anything else that you'll need.
You don't want to be looking for
a clean diaper in a mid-changing.
5. Ask if the baby has any medical
conditions (for instance, does she
have a cold?).
6. Specifically ask the parents
how they usually get the baby to
go to sleep. While we'll provide
you with a couple of suggestions,
the parents probably know best.
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