The Parents Blog

By James Anthony

Pregnant and breastfeeding women often have concern that they are losing hair. Women especially experience postpartum hair loss which is completely normal and temporary. This temporary hair loss is completely unrelated to breastfeeding and women usually return to their normal hair growth cycle between 6 to 12 months after birth. It is during these 6 to 12 months that they are also breastfeeding the new born child, which is why they think that breastfeeding is the main cause of hair loss. However, this is never the case. Whether women nurse the child or bottle feed him by expressing milk using an electric or manual breast pump like medela pump in style advanced breast pump, breastfeeding never leads to hair loss.

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The Dunston Baby Language system “Teaches” you the language of your baby. Almost a decade of international research has found all newborn babies use 5 sounds to express their basic needs. Parents around the world are discovering the miracles of the Dunstan System; babies are more content, cry less and settle more easily. Your newborn has a lot to say and now you can learn their language.

Starfall.com is a fantastic (and free!) website designed to help children learn to read. It’s primarily for first graders but I’ve found the site is appropriate and interesting for toddlers to children in third grade. Starfall.com is easy to navigate, even for children. It includes stories, games, songs, activities and movies all designed to teach children the essential skills necessary for reading. The four sections (ABC’s, Learn to Read, It’s Fun to Read, and I’m Reading) increase in difficulty beginning with letter names and sounds, then how to blend sounds and decode words and eventually on to fun stories at independent reading levels.

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As a teacher, people often ask me what they can do to help their child be successful in school. The answer, I think, is surprisingly simple. Preparing your child for school doesn’t begin (or end) on the eve of Kindergarten. It is a continual process beginning in your child’s infancy and continuing on throughout their schooling.

Essentially it’s being an enthusiastic, life-long learner. This needs to be modeled and encouraged. That means by you. It’s not as intrinsic as you might think and, if it is, then it can be very easily discouraged in our fast-paced lives that are frequently saturated with “educational” television shows and dvds.

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