Baby Has Better Behavior With Sitter Than With Parents

It’s always a shock — finding out your oppositional little tyke is a perfect darling for the sitter (or grandma). When I found out my usually picky eater ate like a champ at a neighbor’s house, I felt embarrassed that I had been complaining about it. It must be me, after all! I worried. Then more »

The Quotable Parent: The Fabulous Fraiberg #3 — Civilizing your “little savage”

Your toddler isn’t a “kid”. Your toddler is a unique creature with his own way of thinking. We could all use some reminding about what it’s like to be a toddler. Check this out, another gem from Fraiberg, about the experience of a young toddler: The missionaries have arrived. They come bearing culture to the more »

A Granddaughter’s Stress about a New House and a New Baby

Dear Dr. Heather, My 2-year-old granddaughter is stressed about her new house. Her parents moved a couple of weeks ago, and then her mother had a new baby. Emma seems to “love” her new brother, so I can’t imagine that he is upsetting her. But I am concerned that her mother is not giving Emma more »

Baby walking but never crawling — any learning disability worry?

Dear Dr. Heather, Our 8 month old son seems to be skipping the crawling phase altogether and learning to cruise and walk straightaway. Today someone told me that this means he’ll have learning disabilities later; is this true? Thanks! A Concerned Dad Dear “Concerned”, That’s an old wives tale, but one that many people still more »

Easing Diaper Changing Struggles: A Pint-Sized Tip

Chasing a toddler around is exhausting. The last thing you need is to get into a wrestling match with a poopy diaper and a flailing child. Here are some tricks to try (that also work with wriggly babies, 5 or 6 months and older, too): Give a warning: When the stink-bomb hits, let your toddler more »

What’s Your Toddler’s “Lovey’s” Name?

I need your help! I’m writing my book chapter on toddlers’ gotta-have, must-have, go-ballistic-without-them comfort items. You know: The Binky. The Baba. The Blankie. Your toddler’s “Comfort Thingie” — whatever it might be. But I know your kids have come up with some fantastic, silly, unforgettable names, and I want to include those names in more »

Will One Spanking Cause Trauma in My Toddler?

Poor reader Jenn wrote in to confess her guilt at giving a swat on the tush to her toddler, worried that she might have psychologically scarred the poor baby for life. I hope you know me well enough by now that of course I don’t condone spanking, and aggression turned on your child is always more »

A Toddler Sleep Dilemma Solved

Hi Dr. Heather, I have a sleep question regarding my 11-month-old. Since he was 5 months, he successfully fell asleep in his crib after our nightly routine, and woke 2 or fewer times to nurse. Similarly with naps. We do not use any type of music or white noise when putting him to sleep. We more »

A Toddler’s Strange New Fear, and What To Do About It

I’ve gotten a lot of traffic lately on Strange and Sudden Toddler Fears. I’ve written on this before (and included a link at the end of this post), but this is such a common question that I’ve decided to answer it’s latest incarnation, hopefully with some additional insights. Here goes: Dear Dr. Heather, Just in more »

When Parenting Your Toddler Gets Rough, Remember This…

Parenting a toddler can be one of the toughest jobs you’ll ever have. Then one day, they become….KIDS. And then BIG KIDS. You get the idea. It makes those tough days with a toddler a lot more bearable when you can re-gain some perspective on the whole process. Check out today’s installment of one of more »

How to Handle Aggression in Your Young Child

Recently, I’ve gotten lots of questions about how to handle aggression in young children. It’s a common concern, and it’s always startling when your previously sweet little baby starts to bite, hit, or generally wreak havoc. How did this happen? Did I do something to cause this? Surely, we rationalize, he’s learning it from daycare…(or more »

No More Naptime? What to do When Your Toddler Won’t Nap Anymore

It happens to the best of us. We work so hard to establish nice, regular nap schedules for our babies. Finally, we’ve gotten used to a more predictable nap schedule for our toddler. And boy, do we need it: Running around after a toddler all day is HARD WORK. We need that couple of hours more »

Toddlers are like dogs….Really!

I love that Dog Whisperer show on the National Geographic channel, and not because I’m a dog lover. Watching Cesar focus in on the “parenting” approach of the humans involved is quite similar to my approach with parents of toddlers. He’s great at empowering people to embody the authority they already have over their dogs, more »

Tips for When a Toddler Withholds His Poop

Potty-training complications are pretty common topics of discussion around here. Stephanie’s question about one of the more common complications — poop withholding — comes up at a time when many of us are frantically trying to get our toddlers ready for preschool in the Fall. The frantic pressure parents feel to get their toddler trained more »

Tips for a Toddler Tinkling (and Screaming) in the Bath

Hi Dr. Heather, My husband and I are hoping you can shed some light on a concern we have for our son who is 27 months old. Over the last month during bath time, my son has peed in the bath 3 separate times, and without fail he would then ‘hold himself’ while crying/screaming hysterically! more »

How To Handle a 3-Year-Old’s Pestering

Dear Dr. Heather, I have a 3 year-old daughter who is very strong willed and just won’t give in. For example, she wants me to get her ‘blanky’ which is lying around the house somewhere. I tell her no, you go and fetch it, then she says NO — I must fetch it — and more »

Discipline Techniques for a 3-Year-Old

Dear Dr. Heather, When my 3-year-old son hits, pushes, or bites me, my husband, or his 6-month old sister, or is throwing things or generally being threatening (he likes to act like a mad dinosaur), our response is to tell him he needs to calm down and spend some time playing quietly in his room. more »

Baby’s Sudden Fear of the Bath — Another Hot Topic

One of the FAQs here at BabyShrink is about your toddler’s sudden, inexplicable fear of the bath. Readers Noelle and Dana recently joined in the chorus of parents who are mystified about the radical change in their baby’s bath-time routine. I’ve had plenty of first-hand experience with baby’s bath fears, and I know it can more »

MORE on Poop-Smearing: A Complicated Case

“What,” you may ask, “is the most popular ‘lurkers’ topic at BabyShrink?” Is there a common theme that brings the most readers to this site? Yes, there is. Every day, I check my WordPress “Stats” to see what parents have been reading on BabyShrink. I think it’s hilarious that each and every day I get more »

Help! How Can I Stop My Toddler from Whacking our Pets?!

Dear Dr. Heather, My 15 -month-old terrorizes animals. We have a small dog and a few cats, and any time the child sees one of them she goes running over with her arm cranked back to whack it. If she has anything in her hands she will use it as a club. If the animal more »

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