Your new baby will eat, need to be changed, and sleep every few hours, throughout the day and night. So getting prepared in advance is crucial. 
 
Here is a list of simple things to do to get your home and family ready for your new baby.
 
Getting the House Ready
 
There are a few simple things to do to get ready before homecoming. 

• Do a safety check of your home. Check fire alarms and carbon monoxide alarms. Make sure they have batteries and are up-to-date. Check electrical outlets make sure you don't have any loose wires. Buy some electric outlet safety plastic plugsand install them on all outlets, especially the ones your baby can reach. Before you know it your baby will be crawling. Get down on the floor and review your living space from the perspective of a crawler. What do they have access to? What needs to be covered and put away? Here is an extensive child safety checklist. 

 

• Get any flaking or peeling paint sealed or removed by a professional, especially if your home was built before 1978. Dust from lead paint, which was banned from residential use in that year, can be harmful if ingested. If you are unsure when your house or building was constructed, find a company to test for lead. 

 

• Get rid of clutter. Soon your countertops will have bottle racks and monitor equipment. Eliminate any unnecessary objects from coffee tables and shelves. Especially glass and other breakable mementos. Make room in your refrigerator and freezer for breast milk and formula. 

 

• Organize the baby’s room in advance. From your baby equipment, furniture, to clothes, everything should be in place, available and fully functional in advance. Do not wait for the last days of the pregnancy to get started. Do not forget to wash all the new clothes you bought or received in a mild, fragrance-free detergent before you get home from the hospital. Have the clothes ready to pull out and use immediately. Sometimes, the baby will need to be changed multiple times a day! 

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• If you don't already have your bills on autopay, set it up now. The first few months will be a blur. You will have to catch up with a new day and night rhythm, and you will want to focus on your little one. An important bill is easily forgotten when you’re tired or focused on your newborn.

 
Getting an Older Sibling Ready
 
If your new baby will have an older sibling at home, make sure to involve him or her in the process from the first months of the pregnancy to homecoming and after.

• Talk to your child about the new baby that is coming. Show your child how your tummy is growing and let him or her feel the baby kicking. It may help to read a book about what it’s like to have a little brother or sister. Here are some great examples: “I Am a Big Brother”or  “I Am a Big Sister.”

 

• Buy your older child a doll for practice. Let him or her practice holding, changing, feeding, and tickling their doll. Guide them on how to act around a baby. They will love to learn! At Willowdale Children’s Academy, we put a lot of emphasis on role play. It is fun and a great way to learn and involve them. 

 

• Think of ways your older child can help, such as organizing diapers, washing bottles or decorating baby’s room. Anything that makes them feel involved will be helpful.

 
Getting the Family Dog Ready
 
Do you have a dog at home? Fido will need some time to adjust to the new baby. Many families decide to have a dog trainer come infor a one- time visit on how to prepare your dog for your newest addition. 

• Before homecoming, bring the first blanket or garment that was in contact with your newborn’s skin home and let the dog smell it. Sometimes, parents even bring the first dirty diaper at home and go through the same process of letting the dog smell it. Dogs create connections with the world through odors and smells. 

 

• Teach your dog boundaries with the baby. For the first few weeks at home don’t let your dog set foot into the nursery. You are claiming that area and the baby as yours. The dog will have to be very calm and gentle to “gain permission” to see and smell the baby.

 

• Make sure that your dog gets plenty of exercise during the first few months once the new baby is home. Giving your dog a chance to run and be wild will set him up for success to be calm around the baby.

 

• Don’t leave the baby alone with your dog, no matter how gentle your dog seems when you are around. The baby could grab onto some fur and the dog could react by nipping or biting the baby. 

 
Taking your new baby home is an exciting time in your family’s life. 
 
Make sure to prepare your home so you can enjoy this special time as much as possible. In case you need more tips, connect with us.

          Toddlers can develop allergies. If your child sniffles, sneezes, has teary eyesor a skin rash, these could be the signs of an allergy. 
 
If you observe the following symptoms, talk to your pediatrician immediately to determine whether your child has a cold or is actually suffering from seasonal allergies. 
 
- runny nose
- watery eyes
- sneezing
- coughing 
- ear pain
- congestion
 
Seasonal allergies have some added symptoms: 
 
- itchy throat
- itchy skin
- itchy, watery eyes
- itchy, runny nose (mucus is usually clear)
 
It is important not to diagnose your little one yourself. Also, do not self-medicate or leave your toddler untreated believing that it will get better. 
 
When allergies are left untreated, it can result in colds, ear infections, and other secondary infections and can cause a great deal of suffering. Congestion can lead to lack of proper sleep and increased fatigue. Allergies can also cause sinus pain and even headaches. 
 
Allergy testing may be performed to determine whether your toddler is allergic to any environmental allergens. Your pediatrician may refer you to a pediatric allergy specialist for additional evaluations and treatments.
 
If the allergen has been identified through testing, an important step to avoid pain, and headaches are to manage the allergy symptoms. 
 
The best way to ease allergic reactions or episodes is to avoid the allergens that trigger the symptoms. Here are some tips that can be easily implemented and help your toddler.
 
Outdoor Allergies
 
Outdoor allergies can be caused by tree pollen, grass pollen, ragweed pollen, mold spores, and others. If you find your child reacts more when outside, tell your pediatrician. 
 
There are also a few steps that your pediatrician may recommend and that you can take to help your toddler. Here are the following steps:
 
1) Limit the child’s exposure to outdoor allergens - especially during peak allergy periods. Check out The Weather Channel’sdaily Allergy Trackerto see when your child should stay indoors. 
 
2)  Have your family remove their shoes upon entering your home to limit the amount of pollen and other allergens tracked inside. Clean the shoes.
 
3)  Wash your child’s hands immediately after outside play.
 
4) When you have no access to handwashing during outdoor play (such as the park), bring a damp cloth or rag and wipe the child’s hands and face regularly to remove allergens.
 
5)  Bathe your child to rinse away allergens. 
 
6)  Wash their clothing in hot water and their outerwear regularly. Dry jackets in the dryer to remove any remaining irritants.
 
7) Keep windows shut tight at all times to limit the pollen that can blow in. Use air conditioners to keep the temperature mild. Purchase special HEPA filters and change them regularly.
 
8) If you have dogs, bathe them. It will remove the allergens they may carry in their fur.
 
9) Ask your pediatrician if your child should start on a nose spray, like saline to flush the sinuses. Your toddler may need a prescription.
 
10) If your child is still suffering after taking these precautions, consider discussing with your pediatrician about bringing your toddler to an allergist.
 
What else can you do at home?
 
1) Use a HEPA filtered vacuum to remove allergens inside the home. Vacuum daily or every other day.
 
2) Purchase a HEPA air purifier such as Molekuleor Air Doctor. HEPA filters trap pollutants and allergens from the air. Not to mention pet dander, dust, and other immune triggers.
 
3) Use mattress and pillow covers to eliminate pollen and spores.
 
4) Wash sheets and pillowcases in hot water at least every week.
 
5) Remove curtains and use shades or blinds in the child's room to eliminate any materials that allergens could attach onto.
 
6) Take the carpet out of your child’s room. A carpet can harbor lots of dust, pollen, and spores that would aggravate your child while playing in their room and while sleeping at night. 
 
Allergies may be common, but they can be brutal on your little one’s immune system. As we’ve learned, they can result in fatigue, irritability, drowsiness, and other more common allergy symptoms. 
 
Help your child by protecting them from the allergen altogether. Again, talk to your pediatrician, do not try to self-diagnose and self-medicate.
 
A healthy child is a child who can happily learn and grow. 
 
What more?
 
If you want more information on what you can do to help your child with seasonal allergies? Connect with us and we’d be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

        For any family, the choice of enrolling your child in childcare or preschool is one of the most important and stressful decisions a parent can make. 
 
The market offers a broad choice of childcare providers and preschools with different approaches to early childhood education. In most cases, the objective is to prepare children for Kindergarten and life beyond, although the ways to achieve the goal may vary between schools.
 
For many years, play-based education has gained momentum in the educational community and from experts in early childhood education. It only takes a quick online search to notice the abundance of content about play-based learning to realize that it is an area of varying opinions and continuous research. 
 
To simplify the discussion, the concept of play-based learning can be summarized as learning while at play.
 
Why Play-based Learning? 
 
Children are naturally inclined to play. Using this natural disposition in a learning context, a play-based activity is a developmental opportunity that fosters children’s excitement and motivation to:

• Explore 
• Hypothesize
• Experiment 
• Interact
• Discover 
• Solve problems
• Socialize

 
Play-based learning is a hands-on learning approach, in which children are encouraged to go through trial and errors to solve problems. 
 
Dr Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University, says that “playful learning engages and motivates children in ways that support better developmental outcomes and strategies for life-long learning. If we hope to groom intelligent, socially skilled, creative thinkers for the global workplace of tomorrow, we must return play to its rightful position in children’s lives today.” 
 
The Benefits of Play-based Learning
 
Children are stimulated through play. They become active learners that are exposed to challenging problems that they have to solve through exploration. 
 
It is important to note that a good balance between child-initiated free play and teacher-guided play with intentional thematic teaching is essential to enable and maximize benefits such as:
 

• Evaluation abilities
• Analytical skills
• Focus & concentration
• Creativity and imagination
• Problem-solving
• Independence

 
Play-based learning supports positivity in the acquisition process and builds upon the natural curiosity of children about the nature of things and their environment. It boosts children’s enthusiasm and rewards persistence, imagination, and creativity to overcome problems. Ultimately, this impacts children’s self-esteem. 
 
Play-based Learning vs Directed Instruction
 
Compared to directed instruction, failures are not a source of stress leading to demotivation. Failures are an opportunity for more experimentation. Failures have no negative impact on self-esteem which would have disastrous long-term consequences on a child’s life.  
 
It does not mean that directed instruction has no place in education. It means that young children have more involvement and input into their knowledge and skill acquisition in a system where play is the vehicle for learning. NAEYC(The National Association for the Education of Young Children) offers interesting examples to connect play to learning. 
 
Play-based activities offer a great framework for teachers to introduce STEMor STEAM while at play. STEAM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematic. STEM or STEAM activities are perfectly complementary to a play-based learning. 
 
Are You Interested to Learn More about Play-based Education?
 
If you are interested to learn more about play-based learning and how we implement it at Willowdale Children’s Academy, do not hesitate to contact us.