In the Bible we are referred to as God's children, we are, in fact, children raising children. (Matthew 18:3).
We are born again into infancy. (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:23).
And, just like our infants, in need of nourishment. (1 Peter 2:2).

Infants lay around basking in their parents love and attention. They talk incoherently, mostly just to hear themselves because they have discovered they have a voice. They are developing brand new eyes and watching the movement going on around them. (Matthew 18:6). Family members tend to think their new baby is the most intelligent, cutest, and the most outstanding among all babies. Until, of course, they start crying and fussing or need something. Then it's a "chore".

"Hey, come on in....want some coffee?" I said to the neighbor girl standing in my apartment doorway. She'd just moved in next door a few weeks ago and we had been getting acquainted. Since she was 6 years younger than me we didn't have a whole lot in common except our new babies. My little girl being 6 weeks old and her little boy seven months old. Her baby boy was her first and my baby girl was my third.
"Thanks, Rysilva, I could sure use some to keep me awake." replied Tylea.
"Girl, you look awful, aren't you sleeping well?"
"Well? I'm not sleeping at all. Rodney is keeping me up all night, crying. Look at your baby girl, sleeping so peacefully. Rodney hardly sleeps at all."
"Maybe he's teething, some babies get teeth early. Let me look in his mouth?" I picked Rodney up off Tylea's lap. "What are you feeding him?"
"Just formula." Answered Tylea.
I was almost too stunned to speak. "You mean he just has bottles and nothing else?"
"The doctor told me not to feed him anything solid till he was nine months old."
"Good Heavens! Are you sure he said nine months?" I asked.
"I'm positive."
"Tylea, when was the last time you took Rodney to the doctor?"
"Oh, not since his 6 week check up, I can't afford it."
"Tylea, my four week old is eating already and she's a girl. Usually it's boys that start eating early." I just couldn't fathom her not feeding her baby boy. Poor thing was probably hungry all the time. "How many bottles a day is he drinking?"
"He drinks so many I don't count them." She answered.
"The reason my baby girl sleeps all the time is because she's dry, well fed and content. Rodney obviously isn't well fed. You need to feed him thin baby rice cereal in the morning and at night and Rodney will sleep better. Come on into the kitchen and I'll show you." I showed her how to dilute the cereal and we sat there together and fed him. "I'll give you a little cereal to take home with you and I guarantee you'll get a good nights sleep."
"Thanks, Rys, I was at my wits end trying to figure out why Rodney cried all the time."
"If you would've been able to take him back to the doctor, then the doctor would have told you to feed him before now. The reason the doctors tell us not to feed our babies right away is is because SOME babies have undeveloped digestive systems, but not ALL babies. However, in my family we have had so many babies that we know when they are hungry and we feed them. I probably wouldn't have fed my first baby either, although, I'm sure my doctor said 6 months. Anyway, I started feeding my baby because I didn't have much choice. The grandmothers just kinda take over and start feeding them the minute they sense that the baby wants more than just milk to drink. It must be great to be so experienced," I laughed.
"I just couldn't afford to take him back to the doctor. I wish I had a mom to ask but my parents don't live around here and even if they did we don't talk," Tylea said sadly, "so I had no one to help me with my new baby. Look at Rodney, he's fast asleep!"
"See, feeding him worked like a charm. You will find that boys think of nothing but food till they're grown men and to hear the women in my family talk, even then 'the way to a man's heart is through his stomach', they never stop eating." I laughed.

BOTTLES: Cleaning, sterilizing, propping, #1; Warming & testing temperature #2; heating and food, #2 and #7; sucking hard on, #8.
BURPING: What to do and not to do,#8.
COLIC: What to do, how to prevent, #8.; No solid food, #10; Won't sleep, #10.
DIAPER RASH: Protection from, Care for, rinse well, #4.
DROOLING: #12.
EAR INFECTION: Causes, #1, temperature with, #12,
GREEN MUOUS: #12.
GUMS: Swollen, #12
JUICES: acid from, diluting, #4;
MICROWAVES: Warming food or bottles in, #7
MUCOUS: Yellow or Green, #12.
OILING: #3.
ORGANIZE: List for, #13.
SCHEDULING: Naps, feeding, should I, #6.
SKIN CARE: #3.
SLEEP: Won't, #10; Colicky, Organize, #8; Lay on tummy, #6.
STARVING: #8.
SWOLLEN GUMS: #12.
TEETHING: How early, symptoms, swollen gums, #12.
TEMPERATURE: Causes, #12.
THIRSTY: Checklist #10.
WASHING MACHINE METHOD: #8
WATER: How to know if baby needs, getting baby to drink, #11.
WRAPPING NEW BORNS: For the weather, #9; Checklist, #10.
WRIST-TEST METHOD: #2.
YELLOW MUCOUS: #12

2."WARM" THE BABIES BOTTLES. Grandma says,"Your breast milk isn't room temperature." Wrist check method: squirt warmed milk on the under side of your wrist BEFORE you give it to the baby. If you can't feel anything then it is the perfect temperature.

Also, a little note from Grandma, "Your baby should have pasty bowel movements, they should NOT be green (sign of bad colic), they should not be constipated and if they are call the doctor! Infants bowel movements should not be runny, if they are call the doctor (baby may have an allergy to the milk!!!!).

3."WASH AND OIL" YOUR BABIES NEW SKIN. Grandma says, "Olive oil is best but it is expensive. We used axle grease (used for wagon wheels) if it was all we had or mineral oil if it was handy."

4. "CHANGE BABY OFTEN". Grandma says, "Clean and dry bottoms won't get diaper rash, which is most often caused by baby being left in soiled diapers too long". Other causes: juices are too high in acid (even apple juice) causing babies urine to burn them; too much laundry detergent: soap not rinsed out of cloth diapers. Diaper rash BURNS. If baby is still getting diaper rash see your pediatrician. In the meantime, baby is hurting, so do the following to relieve their pain:
Soak their bottoms in warm water (use the "wrist test method" (discussed in #2) to check the water BEFORE putting baby into it or dip your elbow in water to check it.

Use thick layers of vaseline to keep urine from penetrating it and getting to baby's skin.

There are lots of ointments on the market that will soothe and help heal babies skin.

Leave baby's diaper off for a little while so air can get to their skin, may be a little messy but baby will be happy.

5."CLEAN INFANTS UMBILICAL CORD EVERYDAY." Grandma says, "Dunk a Q-tip in alcohol and saturate it. Lightly dab onto the belly button where cord is attached. They don't like medicine either but it's sometimes necessary."

6."TO SCHEDULE OR NOT SCHEDULE?" Grandma says, "What are you talking about, girl? When your baby needs you, you get yourself up and see to it!" Scheduling is important up to a point but a schedule that is too rigid will make your life miserable. Any deviation from a tight schedule can cause a lot of upset. For example, if we are away from home at nap time, the baby won't sleep but fuss until we get home and put him/her in their own bed. And, now that the nap is late, the baby will sleep through his/her next feeding time and now the schedule is a mess and baby is cranky and you're cranky, etc. I highly recommend a balance. You should keep track of feeding times so that when the baby cries you can safely eliminate feeding time and look for other causes. NEVER skip a feeding.

When an infant cries ALWAYS answer that call. That is the "mommy, I need you" call and our baby needs to know right from the start that if we are needed we will ALWAYS be there. When our baby is older and is 'demanding' our presence, that is something else again.

Nap scheduling can be left up to the baby, you can usually tell when the baby is getting tired and can schedule accordingly. For example, some time between 9 and 10 a.m. the baby is 'sleepy eyed', it's nap time. And again at 2 or 3 p.m and when we have these 'sleepy times' figured out and try to stay within 1 or 2 hours of them, we won't have an over-tired, cranky baby on our hands.

Infants should sleep on their tummies with their head lying with one ear facing up and one ear on the bed. Grandma nearly had a stroke when I told her the 'new way' was to prop the baby on it's side so it wouldn't die of crib death. Grandma says, "So better to let the baby smother in whatever you're using to prop it? Nonsense! Babies have been laying on their tummies for generations and if there was any danger of crib death we'd all be dead. Most likely the young mothers don't know that all bedding under the baby MUST be pulled tightly and unable to bunch up under babies face. Infants should NEVER be placed on a soft surface, EVER (That's why they created Bassinets, small flat mattress to tuck recieving blankets tauntly under it. And the sides of a bassinet have no air holes to keep drafts off baby and therefore no colic." Amen, Grandma, go get 'em! Grandma says, "Well, in my day, all mother's knew babies slept more comfortably and safely on their tummies. And believe me, I'd be a lot more worried about the baby choking on it's own vomit than I would about the baby, mysteriously, and for no apparent reason, dying 'cuz' it just stopped breathing. The chance of that happening must be pretty rare and suspicious to my way of thinkin' or maybe they have no grandma to tell them NOT to lay the baby on a soft surface or allow blankets to bunch by their little face."

7."MICROWAVES" Grandma says, "I wouldn't trust them gall darned things to heat bottles and baby food in. I hear they kill vitamins." Warming an occasional bottle or baby food in a microwave is okay but like grandma I wouldn't trust it, the baby might only be getting dead food. You can heat them faster in a pan on the stove or holding a bottle or jar under a hot water faucet. If you don't believe it's faster time it and see for yourself.

8."BURPING IS MANDATORY." Don't forget to burp your new born baby after EVERY SINGLE OUNCE of milk. If you don't your baby will spit up all his/her milk and WILL have air on it's tummy which will travel to the babies intestines and cause the baby great pain. Infants also swallow air. Walking outside without covering the babies head. Driving in a car with the windows down. Any air flow passing over a babies face, even laying a new born down by an open window where the draft runs across the babies face will cause air bubbles. It's a lot easier to burp the baby after each ounce than to be up all night walking the floor because the baby is in pain. DO NOT put a baby to bed without that burp! It seems a shame to wake them but it's that or walking the floor. Colicy babies or babies with air on the stomachs will: cry hard; squirm a lot; pull their knees up to their stomachs or try to; suck on their bottles or pacifiers hard, as though starving. To relieve air bubbles:
NEVER put baby on a heating pad! If the heating pad has an electrical short it could electrocute the baby and the heating pad can burn the baby.
"Washing machine method": fold up a blanket lay it on top of the washer turn on the washer. Place baby stomach down on the blanket. Place your hand on baby's back and listen to the burp, burp, burp...and baby will fall asleep. I'm told this also works with babies in car seats and infant seats.
DO NOT LEAVE THE BABY THERE ALONE!!
Laying the baby up against your body will create warmth for the baby's tummy.
ONE DROP of peppermint extract in a FOUR OUNCE bottle of water with a pinch of sugar will also help baby burp.

10."BABY WON'T SLEEP" cries a lot. The baby drinks a bottle, sleeps for an hour or two and then is awake again and is fussy or crying. Grandma says, "Feed the baby it's hungry. Give it some rice cereal, mind, it has to be mixed with formula to VERY thin consistency, down right watery." These days doctors recommend that you don't feed your babies for months but you have to use some common sense. Especially if you aren't taking them back to the doctor regularly. SOME babies digestive system isn't completely formed but your baby might have a fully developed digestive system and you might be starving the baby. Lots of young girls today don't go back to the doctor for check ups and don't tell the doctors their baby is crying all the time. In our large family some babies ate at three days old! Usually the boys and sometimes the girls. NEVER FEED A COLICY BABY FOOD WITHOUT FIRST SEEING YOUR PEDIATRICIAN. Also before assuming your baby wants food, check:
baby laying comfortably
not too hot or cold
diaper doesn't need changing
baby isn't lying on something
baby isn't constipated
baby isn't teething
baby is wrapped snuggly
check fingers and toes for hair twisted around them
check soft spot, is baby thirsty

11. "WATER". Grandma says, "Check the baby's soft spot if it sinks the baby is thirsty." If your baby won't drink water put a 1/2 teaspoon of honey (good for babies in small quantities) or sugar if you must, in four ounces of water and try that. New mothers often are afraid to give water to new-borns because they seem to choke so easily. Find a nipple with a tiny hole in it, keep trying till you find one that works for you. In the meantime, hold baby cradled in your arm and point your elbow upward as far as is comfortable for both of you (so baby is almost sitting up) and let baby suck on the water bottle a little at a time. You can also put water on a sterilized (boiled) wash cloth and let your baby suck warm water from that. Make sure you sterilize it first! No soap, no chemicals and no germs.

12."TEETHING." Grandma says, "Feel baby's gums and see if they are swollen. Is baby cranky, drooling clear spit out the sides of the mouth and onto the chin, sometimes accompanied by clear runny nose?" Some babies actually start teething as infants but I don't know how common that is, several infants in our family actually had two teeth broken through the upper gum by four months old. (Must have been teething at birth!). Sometimes teething is accompanied by a temperature. And the temperature will come down simply by using teething gel (there are many on the market to choose from, ask your pharmacist to recommend one). If the temperature doesn't come down try a baby tylenol, aspirin or something of that sort and again, check with your pharmacist. If baby's temperature will not come down take the baby to the doctor-don't wait-especially if runny nose contains yellow or green mucus which is usually a sign of infection. Ear infections cannot be seen so take baby to doctor! One of the boys in our family (age 2, I think) had bad ear infections in both ears and never complained at all!! Please remember, a temperature is a signal that something is wrong, if you do not know what it is for sure, take your baby to the doctor!!

13."GET ORGANIZED." Grandma says, "You wouldn't be running to that baby every 5 minutes if you'd just check everything the first time!" When baby wakes in the morning GET UP and:
Warm baby's bottle
Change baby's diaper
Check soft spot while feeding baby
Burp baby
Put baby in clean dry clothes and bed

Now you can go back to bed until baby wakes up. Then when baby wakes up again we go through the list again.

Grandma there is so much controvery about immunizations these days, what do you think, were any of us immunized?

"No. Your parents weren't immunized till they were old enough to go to school. And when your mothers and fathers found out what was in them they refused to let you be immunized at all. I think today they can be dangerous. The reason I didn't do it was because I wanted my children to have a healthy immune system and didn't want anyone messing with my children's immune systems when they were infants. I have since noticed that many, many of the immunized babies have all kinds of health issues from diseases to little things and I'm glad I didn't do it. But every parent has to make their own choice and the doctors are going to pressure them to do it. My advice to you granddaughter is to not ever have your children immunized."

Please do not take graphics from this page but visit the sites below and see all they have to offer. Some of these graphics are linkware and come with conditions of use so please check their sites and leave a note in their guestbook that you were there. Thank you.

Credits: Background, matching buttons and bars are courtesy Nessa's Heavenly Creations. The baby in the bassinette is from Gran Gran's Graphics. The sleeping teddy and Mr Teddy are from Blue Valley Design Works, no longer on the Web. The picture of the infant sleeping is from Cool Breeze and Tairi's graphics. The animated Teddy is from Marla's Image Collection. Thank you all.

The baby pins, baby bottle and pacifier are mine and you are welcome to them no conditions but it would be nice if you'd link back to my site and if you wish you can use one of these:

both should link back to http://thejet.crosswinds.net

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Created: May 8, 2000