Newborn jaundice, or the appearance of a yellow color on your baby’s skin early in life, is virtually universal. Yet for many parents it can be deeply upsetting, even scary. For the vast majority of babies, jaundice — caused by a pigment called bilirubin released with red blood cells break down naturally — is a…
An article describing Colic was posted on this blog in September. But today I learned of a website designed to help parents better understand and survive this difficult period of early-infant crying: The Period of Purple Crying. “Purple” is an acronym developed by Dr. Ronald G Barr and Marilyn Barr of the National Center on…
Nothing is likely as intimidating or discouraging to parents as a screaming infant — especially a newborn. Last week my wife Kathy showed me this amazing YouTube video of Dr. Robert Hamilton, of Pacific Ocean Pediatrics in Santa Monica, California, demonstrating his calming technique for infants 3 months or younger. Literally, I had opportunity to try…
Thrush is a remarkably common, harmless, yet frustrating condition which many of us have had to contend with in our newborns and infants. I still shudder when I recall, as new parents, how long it took for us to eliminate those nasty little white patches from our daughter Emily’s mouth. The basis for our repeated…
“Does anyone have a clue what we’re going through?” Likely nothing in our entire lives leading to parenthood will ever quite prepare us for the infant with colic. Though our three children are not genetically related (two are adopted), all three had severe colic from about 3 weeks of age until just after 3 months of…
Exhausting, complete overload likely describes the emotional state of many first-time (or even experienced) moms and dads: Sleep deprivation, sore nipples for breast-feeding moms, and visitors showing up at all hours can put a damper on this once-in-a-lifetime experience. So why does baby have to create mayhem with an array of potentially scary behaviors and…