A collection of sample essays on parenting and children’s health

There has never been a one-size-fits-all template for parenting and children's health. All circulating experiences, guidelines, and standards are only references. The final plan that suits your child will always rely on your own observation, adjustment, and trial and error. Don't believe in "perfect moms" and "zero illness parenting methods." The best method is the one that can make your child healthy and happy without causing internal friction for you.

To be honest, the pitfalls I went through while raising a baby in the past two years can fill a shopping cart. When the baby was just 6 months old, he was constipated. My mother-in-law said to eat more bananas to relieve constipation, so I fed the baby half a banana every day. As a result, the baby was stinking and cried until her face turned red. I went to the child care doctor and scolded me for being confused: unripe bananas have high tannic acid content, which will only aggravate constipation. The kind my baby eats has green skin, so it is better to eat two more mouthfuls of prune mud tube. Oh, by the way, my best friend’s child is the same age as mine. Eating prune puree causes diarrhea. She relies on steamed apples to treat constipation. You see, the two children have completely opposite solutions to the same problem.

The same goes for sleep training, which has been a hot topic on the Internet. Sears' intimate parenting group says that babies should be held until they fall asleep on their own and not allowed to cry. Supporters of the cry immunity method say that after crying a few times, adults and children will learn to fall asleep on their own. My neighbor's baby is a typical high-needs baby who wakes up when put in bed. She has been holding him to sleep for two years. Now he is in kindergarten and feels very safe. He can play with anyone and is not "spoiled". My colleague's baby has a naturally stable personality. When he was 6 months old, I tried to let him sleep on his own. After crying for 5 minutes, he fell asleep with a comfort towel. Now he crawls into bed at 8pm every night without being coaxed at all. Do you really want to discuss right or wrong? No one is wrong, only what is suitable for the child is right, and the rigid method will only cause trouble for the adults and the child.

I met a grandmother at the community child care last week who insisted on adding salt to her 10-month-old baby's complementary food. She said, "Without salt, she has no strength and can't walk." The doctor argued with her for a long time and said that the sodium intake of babies under 1 year old from breast milk and complementary food is completely sufficient for the body's needs. Adding extra salt will only increase the burden on the kidneys, which is really reasonable. But that’s not to say that this rule is stuck. When my colleague’s baby was 11 months old, she didn’t even eat a single morsel of salt-free complementary food. She lost weight because of hunger. The child care doctor asked her to add a drop of low-sodium soy sauce each time, which added up to less than 0.1 grams of salt. The baby was willing to eat, and within two months her height and weight returned to above the median line. Do you think this is a violation of the rules? It doesn't count. After all, rules are dead and people are alive. You can't watch your child go hungry.

When my baby first entered kindergarten, he caught three colds in a month. I searched online every day for "how to improve the baby's immunity." Some people said that he should wear more clothes to avoid freezing, and some said that he should "cover the spring with autumn frost" to improve his resistance to the cold. I tried them all. If he wore too much clothes, he would sweat after running around and blow the air. I caught a cold and my nose was runny due to the cold due to lack of clothing. I figured it out on my own and touched the back of my baby's neck. It was just warm enough. It didn't matter if my hands were cold. I took him running around the community for 40 minutes after school every day. I came home sweating so much that I only caught a cold once in half a year. Now, every method works better than before. Oh, by the way, there is also the matter of the baby having a fever. Before, I panicked when I saw the baby's fever reached 38.5 and quickly gave me antipyretics. Later I learned that if the baby is in good spirits and can run, jump and eat, there is no need to rush to feed the baby when the fever reaches 39 degrees. Just drink more water and physically cool down. If the baby is in a bad mood, he must go to the hospital quickly even if it is 38 degrees. Don't get stuck on the 38.5 line.

In the past few years, I have accumulated a lot of practical experience with more than a dozen mothers around me. They are all learned through trial and error. I have compiled them below. You can take them as needed, and don’t force them on your own children:

Feeding related

Don't force your baby to eat so-called "highly nutritious food". My baby still doesn't eat broccoli, and I don't force him to eat it. I give him more spinach and green vegetables to supplement vitamins. Only when the baby is in a good mood will he be willing to eat, but forcing him to eat broccoli will make him anorexia. Oh, by the way, don’t feed honey to children under 1 year old. This is a hard rule. It can easily cause botulism. Don’t listen to the old people’s lies about honey soothing throats. Babies who drink milk powder do not need to supplement extra calcium. They only need to supplement 400IU of VD every day. The calcium intake from milk is enough. If they supplement too much, they will be prone to constipation.

Daily care related

When a baby falls, don't shout "Don't cry" immediately. Pick him up and comfort him first. Crying itself will not break the cry, but can vent his emotions. My baby broke his knee last time and cried for ten minutes. After crying, he ran off to play. It is much more effective than me telling him "Men are not allowed to cry." Avoid using disinfectant wipes on your baby's hands and toys, and just wash them with water as usual. Too clean will destroy the baby's intestinal flora and make it more likely to cause allergies. My baby always suffered from eczema before, but then I stopped using disinfectant sprays at home, and the eczema was cured within two months.

Psychological related

Don’t always compare your baby with others. Some babies can walk in 10 months, and some babies can only walk in 15 months. As long as the child health index is normal, there is no problem. My baby can only speak in full sentences when he is 2 years old. Before, I was so anxious that I was afraid that his development would be delayed, so I went to the hospital to check if there was any problem. Now that he is over 3 years old, he talks non-stop every day, and he can talk better than anyone else. Also, don’t quarrel in front of the baby, it really has a big impact. I had a fight with my husband once before, and the baby woke up crying from a nightmare that night. Since then, we have never blushed in front of the baby.

In fact, after all, there is no standard answer to raising a baby. I used to have dozens of "parenting tips" and "health guidelines" stored in my phone, but now I have deleted them. Instead of staring at the guide every day, it is better to look at the reaction of my own baby. What he likes to eat, how comfortable he wears, and when he wants to sleep are more accurate than what all experts say. After all, as parents, we don’t need to pursue perfect scores. As long as our children are healthy and happy, that’s better than anything else.