Developing

During the first months of life the child's dream does not have an established pattern. There is a stage, especially between four and eight months of the baby, in which the night awakenings are continuous and the sleep becomes much more interrupted. To help you overcome these continuous awakenings, we must first understand how the baby's dream works to understand why he wakes at night more than before.

Both in Spain and in other countries around us, drowning is one of the main causes of infant mortality in the first years of life. But when our children reach adolescence, the risk of drowning increases again. So much so, that the World Health Organization (WHO) has included it in the list of the greatest health risks for adolescents.

A few days ago we were speechless with the two-month-old baby that says "I love you", but that is certainly not normal. Don't start making comparisons, which is one of the worst things parents can do. In fact, it is because of comparing our children with other children when concerns arise about whether they can do this or that.

Child health professionals, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP), recommend that children do not spend much time in front of a screen, due to the negative effects that could have on their development excessive use of devices such as mobiles, tablets and television.

During the first years of our children's lives, we will be in charge of helping them develop certain skills that will help them to become the person they will become. One of them is to prepare you to be independent and self-sufficient, and this will be achieved by promoting your autonomy from an early age.

Children can explode in tantrums when we least expect it, especially when they are young and their ability to verbalize what they feel is still reduced. We all know that tantrums are a normal part of their development, but the truth is that sometimes it can be very difficult to handle them.

During the school year, children are kept busy with various activities: school, extracurricular and the daily routine that is lived at home and that is usually attached to a schedule that follows the whole family. In the summer, many parents look for options to keep children entertained, such as summer camps or a course that can teach them something new, but also, to prevent them from getting bored.

Some time ago we already explained to you what the possible reasons were for children to take off their shoes so often. Despite this, parents often insist on putting on their shoes, even when they don't need them, because they don't walk. We knew how comfortable and happy the children are exploring their bare feet.

During the first years of a baby's life, its neurons form new connections at an amazing speed, between 700 to 1,000 per second, a rhythm that will never be repeated. The future of the child will depend on these connections, so it is very important to favor his correct neuronal development from the first moment.

Childhood fears are normal and necessary, and are part of the child's evolutionary process. As it grows, its first fears will disappear and give rise to other regulars at every stage in life. But it is important that parents know how fear evolves in children, as well as warning signs that could indicate that something is happening, or that we are faced with a phobia and not an evolutionary fear.

Although babies do not have the ability to speak during their first months of life, we know that even before developing this ability they already do it in their mind when they observe us, to become familiar with the correct movements to articulate. Therefore, talking to them from an early age helps improve their verbal development.

In April, the month of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) was held at the Eagle Canyon College in Chino Valley, California, United States, to raise awareness of what this disorder entails. But nobody expected Rumari Zalez, 11, to get ahead of his class and explain that he has autism.

The sleep patterns that a baby presents are not equal to those of the adult, because while we go through five phases of sleep, babies only go through two, which makes their sleep lighter and have multiple awakenings. Today we explain how the baby's sleep takes place in its first months, and what we can do to facilitate its relaxation and help you sleep at night.

Adolescence is an especially relevant stage when it comes to sexual matters. Although at this age the usual thing is that our children already have a general knowledge about sex, it is normal that they want to know more and look for information to satisfy their curiosity. Parents should be by their side at this very important stage of development, answering their questions naturally and making sure that they have clear concepts before beginning sexual intercourse.

Sometimes, having confidence in ourselves and good self-esteem can be difficult, especially when we live in a world in which fashion magazines and social networks bombard us with ridiculous and unrealistic standards of beauty. As parents, it is important to remind our sons and daughters, that their physique does not define who they are or the value they have.

The nap for babies is sacred. And if it isn't, it should be, because besides being healthy to regain strength, the nap helps the baby retain what he has learned. That is, the nap is not only a break in the day for the baby to recharge, but it is an important part of its development, as it favors an advanced level of learning known as abstraction.

Many babies and young children show special affection for a specific object (be it a stuffed animal, a doll, a cloth, a blanket ...); He always accompanies them, they press him against his chest when they are sleepy or disconsolate. It is the "object of attachment" or "transitional object." The term was first introduced by the English pediatrician and psychoanalyst, Donald Winnicott, as a way of defining the baby's first non-self possession.

How many times have you told your child "don't do that, what's wrong"? But do you know if you clearly understand the concepts of good and evil? When do children learn the difference between good and evil? Knowing the process of moral development of our children will help us to accompany them (and help them) along the way.

On many occasions we have talked about the recommendations for the use of tablets, mobiles and TV by children, as several studies have found that excessive use of them could have consequences on the development of children. Now, a new study has found that in the case of preschoolers, having two or more hours a day of "screen time" could increase the likelihood of having difficulty paying attention up to five times.

The percentile growth charts are the tool used to review the development of babies and children during their early years. These compare the height and weight of each child with the average of the rest of the children, in order to know if they are growing and gaining weight in a normal way.