If your baby develops a fever, is not interested in feeding,is vomiting, has watery diarrhea, and develops a skin rash, the best thing to do is to contact your pediatrician. It is strongly advisable that you should be alert at all times for these symptoms because your baby is still not capable of speaking and muttering of what he is feeling; you should observe your baby at all times for any physical and behavioral changes. You should always be prepared in case of an emergency.

How to know if it’s a fever already?

A temperature of 37.5 degrees celcius is considered a slight fever, but body temperature typically varies during the day. It is usually lowest in the morning, and highest in the afternoon. Normal temperature also differ from one person to another. Babies usually have a higher normal temperature than adults.

Observe your baby’s temperature daily. If he has persistent high temperature, or if his temperature is erratic (rising and dropping for 3 consecutive days), you should consult your pediatrician because your baby has a fever.

How to safely treat a fever?

After consulting your pediatrician, there are some steps you can do to hep bring the fever down:

Medication: Follow promptly your pediatrician’s advice concerning fever medications. Do not alter or change it for it would result to prolonged infection.

Fluids: Make sure your baby gets enough water and fluids (milk) everyday. This will help prevent dehydration and cool the body.

Warm him up: Most of the times, babies with fever also get the chills. Use a baby blanket for warmth and hold your baby for extra warmth and comfort. Remember not to put your baby in the crib with a blanket, for it could lead to suffocation.

Cool off: Keep your baby at rest in loose, light cotton clothing, and give him a lukewarm sponge bath to help lower his body temperature.

It is always important to monitor your baby closely. Never disregard even a slight change in your baby. Whenever in doubt, it is always best to call your pediatrician immediately.

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Toddlers can already clap and dance to music, so introduce them to nursery rhymes and songs they can dance to. This helps develop their motor and verbal skills.

Preschoolers love musical instruments like xylophones, drums, toy keyboards and guitars. Musical books and CD’s would also be greatly appreciated.

Experimenting with sounds stimulates a child’s brain. For example, parents can make a guitar out of rubber bands and a cereal box. Just stretch rubber bands of different thickness around the box and pluck to create sounds.

Musical toys, as we all know are very popular for the children. MUsical toys vary from those that produce soothing sounds to relax your baby’s mind, to noise-making variety that interests the child. These toys are also designed to fit in any age group.

In newborn babies, crib mobiles are a big hit because of the soothing sounds it create that help ease and relax the baby especially during sleeping time. These mobiles are also fun to look at because of the colorful figures attached to it.

Baby rattles are also perfect as musical toys because of the varied sounds it create whenever the baby take a grasp of it and start shaking it.

Musical toys are very important for the child’s development. These toys hone the child’s senses and ability to create and appreciate music in any form. These toys are specifically designed to entertain the child, at the same time educate him about music.

They are designed to entertain babies in musical ways that encourage speech development, motor and skills development, and deep appreciation to the music world. Learning music is very vital for the child’s proper growth development.

There are many ways to introduce music to your child. From toys, to musical CD’s, and just by simply singing to him a beautiful song, your baby can be exposed and learns to appreciate music in his life. With introducing and learning music, you are opening the world to him in new and exciting ways.

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Because of our hectic schedule, we are already tired and exhausted whenever we go home. And one of the quickest and simplest form of bonding we could give our children is watching television together. Just by doing so, we think that we have already spent time with them. Watching tv is our way of bonding with them, at the same time, we get to relax our tired body.

Watching tv can be fun, but letting your children watch too often for you to spend time with them is not quality time.While watching tv can be educational especially if they are watching informative programs, too much of it is not a healthy bonding for you and your children.

TV can give useful information, but toddlers learn best by actual touching, tasting, smelling, hearing, and seeing. We say it is educational, but if we are perfectly honest with ourselves, the real reason we allow our children boob tube time is that it is convenient. The colorful, flashing images grab their attention and glue them to their seats. We get to cuddle them without worrying about keeping them busy. TV gives us the luxury of low-maintenance quality time.

But most of the time, despite the convenience, we still feel bad about boob tube bonding. So we often rationalize- we think of the hundred and one things that our precocious children are learning from TV. Unfortunately, there is increasing evidence of the harmful effects of TV on little children.

TV does not allow experimentation- they passively watch the images and absorb pre-processed facts. They can’t interact with it, and because there is no interaction, there is no feedback. A habit of passive learning dampens curiosity and weakens problem-solving skills. Children grow used to being given information, not actively processing experiences for hidden facts and concepts.

The bottom line is, you don’t need energy to watch TV, but you do need to invest time in support activities to glean any educational value from what your toddler watches. A 30-minute Barney tape on numbers has to be accompanied by games and activities where you and your children learn to count together.

Having quality time with your kids does not rely solely on watching TV. There are a lot of fun and educational activities that you could do together to strengthen your bond. Playing is one important bonding activity that you could share with your children.

There are a lot of educational toys available in stores and even online that are great for your children. For your toddlers, Ride-on toys and pedal cars are a sure hit to them. Toddlers love toys that are mobiles. You can bond with them by teaching them how to play and ride on those toys. Its double the fun and enjoyment, plus educational benefits that could help your children in their learning stage.

Being tired and exhausted is not a reason to disregard your time with your children. Spending quality time with them is the most important aspect of a good parenting.

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No matter the starting point of the red wagon obsession, you vowed that your children would be properly and continuously supplied with a one of their own to enjoy hours of play and fond memories for years. Now the time has come for you to make good on your vow to yourself. You have been blessed with a bundle of joy that you would like to take on a ride in a little red wagon.

The thought of a wagon which pops into most adult’s heads brings with it an uncannily similar mental image: a red metal contraption, with a black handle and white decals on the sides, rust spots and wear may vary depending on use or abuse. Times have changed and with it the wagon we all love. If you have a girl you can get a princess wagon befitted with sparkles and pink paint. Boys also have themed wagons of their own. Not to be out done, popular children’s shows have emblazoned their images on many wagons. You can choose from metal or plastic.

There is still the perennial favorite of the traditional red wagon. Yet even the traditional item has morphed into several varieties. You can choose from the basic red wagon for use out doors, a red wagon topped with wooden railings and even a mini-red wagon for use inside with stuffed toys and dolls.

When trying to choose let your nostalgic need be placed on the back burner and consider what your baby or toddler is likely to want most. Girly-girls will love the red models. If your child is nuts for Barney, as embarrassed as you might be to pull your son in his very own Radio Flyer wagon while he belts ‘I love you, you love me…’ at the top of his voice, looking lovingly at his purple friend. This is is the memory and toy he is likely to cherish most. A large wagon is not always feasible. In this case a small indoor red wagon might be the perfect way to get your child a wagon of his own.

If you are ahead of the game and your child is still a baby, then buy the item you want most (maybe think about the models with higher sides) and your child will grow up with the wagon they love most because you played with them in it since before they could remember. Any way you slice it, it’s a winning gift.

Edie Mindell is the writer for http://www.SimplyUniqueBabyGifts.com famous for unique baby gifts. Parents, grandparents and other “Santa’s” will also love the large selections of Radio Flyer Toys ready to make your holiday shopping easy. Visit their online catalog and enjoy free shipping (lower 48 states).

The three bears had their own place to sit; your child deserves a seat of his own too A chair may not seem like a very exciting Christmas gift. This is usually the thought of the parent. Children see things a bit differently. Even with the competition of dolls, cars, blocks or games calling for a child’s attention a chair just their size usually is a sought out and fought over prize.

Think about it for a moment: your baby or toddler lives in a world hugely out of their reach. The kitchen table towers of their heads, the couch and arm chairs they see mommy and daddy sitting in so comfortably can only be reached with help or after a monumental climb that takes months of preparation to complete. The cupboards and storage areas are huge, high and often off limits to your child’s curious little fingers.

Yet in this huge over sized world your baby and toddler watch you, and learn by mimicking your every move. Our children when they are smallest want to do and be exactly what they see mom or dad doing or being. Add to the desire to emulate their parents the stubbornness of a toddler ardently wishing to do it himself, and a chair just your baby’s size does not seem like such a boring gift anymore. You still don’t buy into the depth of a child’s desire to fit into the adult world of their mom or dad? Take a stroll down the toy aisles as you shop for holiday gifts suited to your 18-month old son or daughter. What do you see: dolls, mini babies for toddler’s hands to soothe; cars and trucks for children to drive; cell phones; tea sets and cookware; tools to rival the collection of even the most well equipped handyman; there are even toys devoted to mimicking cleaning supplies which are hugely popular. Thinking of giving your child a toy broom and dustpan puts the idea of a chair into perspective.

There are many kinds of chairs you can choose from for your toddler. Deciding how and where your child will use their chair will help you zero in on the perfect one. For example a chair for use in the kitchen will have different specifications than a chair used in the family room or a bedroom. You will find tiny wooden rocking chairs that are so elegant they will look at home in the most perfectly appointed rooms.

Want something just fun with lots of bold colors? There are chairs for that too! You will find soft fabric and foam chairs, as well as wooden, plastic or metal chairs. Some chairs are tiny replicas of their larger cousins made for grown up bodies, others are wild and fun designs only for children’s use. There are even chairs dedicated to favorite classical and modern childhood characters.

You have selected your toddler’s first bike. It is a sweet sassy little number complete with racing stripes and a bell. It is only 18 inches off of the ground. After the frenzied research and purchase is complete don’t be tempted to think your job is done. Dreams of Christmas morning watching your child run to the toddler bike are incomplete unless your toddler is properly equipped with a helmet and other safety gear.

Why does a toddler need a helmet?

Many parents when shopping for a toddler bike forget about the helmet. The bike is only knee-high and the likelihood of serious injury may seem quite remote. Don’t be one of the parents whose Christmas efforts and dreams are rewarded by a broken baby. It is very easy to see the reasoning that a tiny bike might only cause a small bump or bruise, and let’s be honest, for many this is the case. The news headlines on Boxing Day are not topped with mangled and helmetless riders of toddler bikes. Yet there is an element of protection a helmet provides that will insure your child’s safety.

Does a Toddler need the padding?

Toddlers have plenty of natural padding in the form of chub, but they may need a few extra layers to prevent bumps and bruises as they hit the road on their new tricycle. It seems kids these days are buckled, padded and helmeted until they can hardly see or breathe. These safety items really make a difference.

Even the most vigilant parent cannot prevent every fall, nor do they want to. It is necessary to risk a good tumble to learn how to ride a bike, even if it is a tricycle. Toddlers want to learn how to do everything by themselves. Why not give them the padding to make any falls less scary for both parent and child.

Think of it this way: your timid, yet eager child perches atop his bike ready to ride when splat! He falls off skinning his elbows or scraping his knee. This is not a serious life threatening injury, but how long and how much talking will it take to convince your child that this fancy tricycle is fun and not a toddler torture device?

Teach them young

Perhaps the more compelling reason is that of precedent. This is a toddler bike, but it is your baby’s first bike. Setting the expectation of wearing a helmet and other padding protection for knees and elbows now will establish good habits. Then when your toddler somehow becomes a daredevil 8-year old rocketing up and down the street he is doing so while happily wearing the appropriate safety gear.

The first toddler bike is a big deal. Enjoy your child’s Christmas present along with them and have the shiny new helmet and elbow pads with red racing stripes to complete the holiday Kodak moment. Have a safe and merry Christmas!