Author Topic: Many Misc Toddler Questions  (Read 1532 times)

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Offline branwen

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Many Misc Toddler Questions
« on: July 22, 2006, 00:30:21 am »
Hi there!  Not sure where to put these many random ?s but it looks like a good place- toddler logistics.  So here goes!

1) my dd has been nuzzling a pillow- should I let her sleep with it...it is very small...but what is the right time to introduce sleeping with a pillow?  she has no lovey

2) related to above...we are about to hit our limit on the "big baby" grobag...pros and cons on keeping it and going with the toddler bag, verses learning to have a blanket?

3) teeth brushing...what is the rule these days with that?

4) stairs...we have gated off our stairs...now she won't go up them at all...she actually just closes the gate when I try to get her to practice.  What to do?  She has been a "late" walker (within the last two weeks) and she is highly uncoordinated so we need to practice, but she's so smart about what she is and is not supposed to do...any ideas?  also ideas about going down stairs too...

Thanks in advance! ;D
Branwen
Mama to Eirwen 1/22/05


Nikki~Nathanamp;Danielle

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Re: Many Misc Toddler Questions
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2006, 02:07:24 am »
Hi, my 15mth old has a pillow now, has for about a month which is when I also gave one to ds as he was starting to lie on whatever was in his cot.

With winter here and me wanting to keep power bills down, I have put a couple of blankets on dd's bed. I have found with both my kids that the introduction of a pillow actually seems to anchor them in one place more or less. When I check on her before I go to bed she sometimes is lying facing the other way on top of the blankets, so I move her back and I assume she stays there all night as I don't hear her at all - I figure she moves in initially while she's going to sleep. She is also layered up still with plenty of other clothes esp in the upper body since she tends to move upwards out of the blankets.

I'm a bit slack in the teethbrushing :-[ - but I definitely do night time brushing after all food and drink, I hand dd her brush while in the bath and she has a play and tries to brush, then I have a little flick around as well - I have heard that night is the time that there is limited saliva moving around to help keep teeth healthy so is the most important. But morning brushing is also highly recommended. :) I spoke to the dentist just a few weeks back when I went and he said to avoid juices and lots of fruit and esp dried fruit - but if those are offered to encourage kids to drink water after to wash the teeth or offer cheese or some sort of non-sweet food to get the saliva running.

I wouldn't force the issue with the stairs. We don't have internal stairs at our house, but practice on the outside ones occasionally and at my parents. She has only just figured out going off backwards off the couch and our bed, and will do that with stairs as well now which is cool, it's been a few months since I've been teaching her since she's been climbing so I've had to, now I feel ok with leaving her if she's up on something - definitely teach backwards crawling - I wouldn't bother with stepping down walking too much at this stage. It wasn't until after 2.5 that I was OK with my ds walking down by himself. My dd isn't a walker yet, so it's not an issue for us anyway.

HTH :)

Offline Marisa's Mom

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Re: Many Misc Toddler Questions
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2006, 17:44:49 pm »
What size pillow did you give your 15 mos old?

DD just turned 16 mos, and I had been wondering about the pillow thing. Sometimes I feel like she would like one cuz she sometimes lays her head on top of her blankies.

DD also sometimes does this weird thing where she will pull her blankie over her head. (We've had a heat wave here lately, so that really didn't make sense to us, I mean, she's going to overheat faster that way, but how do you explain that to them?  ::) )  Not sure  what pulling the blanket to cover her head means...

Marie


Offline Mum to cool dude

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Re: Many Misc Toddler Questions
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2006, 20:36:44 pm »
We're sticking with the grobag as long as possible (the current one goes up to 36 months). It seems to make DS feel secure and when he moves to his own bed, that may be a deterrent to come and visit Mummy and Daddy at night  :D

He went through a phase too of putting the blanket over his head, which would freak out my friend when she would babysit. It was probably a comfort thing too and he seems to have outgrown it

Nikki~Nathanamp;Danielle

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Re: Many Misc Toddler Questions
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2006, 20:41:35 pm »
Quote (selected)
What size pillow did you give your 15 mos old

Hers is a flattered down adult one. It's not soft and plush or too high though. You can get toddler pillows that are very thin.

Quote (selected)
she will pull her blankie over her head

Both my kids went through this phase. I wonder if it is a sensory type thing to do? My kids blankies (I'm assuming you're meaning their lovey not a blanket?) are both so thin and cotton that they are breathable so I haven't worried too much, I just remove it when they are asleep since that seems to be the time it happens.

Offline Lana

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Re: Many Misc Toddler Questions
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2006, 20:43:26 pm »
Oh yes I also wanted to say that Ewan used to put the blankets over hsi head too.  I would always go in once he was asleep and take them off ;D


Offline Erin M

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Re: Many Misc Toddler Questions
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2006, 02:32:14 am »
We found that Katie never wanted to go down the stairs until she actually had some clue as to how to go down them.  If she's smart enough to realize that it's not such a good idea to go up/down them I don't know how you can force the issue.  As far as going up, can you put a toy or something she likes on one of the steps so she'll climb up and get it and them move it up farther and farther?

I know that my DD got good a climbing down stairs when they had a few big blocks covered in carpet at her daycare that were kind of stacked like stairs (do you KWIM, feel like I'm not describing it well) -- anyway, she used to climb up them to look out the window and then couldn't get down again -- until she learned how on her own.  After that, she was great at home with the stairs.  I think it's just less intimidating to them when it's not a full flight.

Offline branwen

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Re: Many Misc Toddler Questions
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2006, 02:40:56 am »
Hi Erin!

How does she go down?  Does she slide backwards?  or scoot?
Branwen
Mama to Eirwen 1/22/05


Offline Erin M

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Re: Many Misc Toddler Questions
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2006, 02:55:43 am »
She slides backwards -- puts her foot down on the step below, puts her other foot down, goes to her knees, repeats process.  She's gotten pretty fast, lots of practice by now!