The Quotable Parent: The Fabulous Fraiberg (#1)

Selma Fraiberg wrote this classic on early childhood fifty years ago. My own thinking is based largely on her work, and I literally sleep with this on my bedside table for parenting comfort after a hard day with the kids. One of the problems with parenting advice today is that it’s a “one size fits 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 »

Baby Won’t Eat Baby Food? Some Tips

Dear Dr. Heather, My baby won’t eat his baby food. His doctor says he’s ready, but he’s just not interested. He takes a couple of bites here and there, but would really rather drink his milk. I’m starting to panic since the other babies in his playgroup are trying all sorts of baby food and 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 »

Pros and Cons of High Tech Toys for Young Children

Are high-tech toys good — or bad — for young children? I was recently contacted by Aaron Crowe, who’s doing a story for the AOL personal finance site WalletPop on the use of high-tech toys with young children. He had some interesting questions about the pros and cons of these ubiquitous gadgets. He specifically asked more »

Why your first grader probably doesn’t have ADD

One of my pet peeves is the tremendous pressure that schools have been putting on our young children to “perform”. Over the past several years, schools have been ratcheting up their demands for the performance of academic tasks on younger and younger children. But the developmental realities of young children don’t change just because No more »

The “Good Enough” case against over-parenting

One of the central themes of my parenting approach is to go for “Good Enough”. Forget about perfection in parenting; it’s all about pragmatics. Balancing YOUR needs with the needs of your kids. Filtering out the pressure we get from the media to have perfectly sculpted kids from the beginning; babies who have been delivered more »

What to Do if a 2-Year-Old Isn’t Talking

Hi Dr Heather, My 2 year old son isn’t talking yet. He socializes at daycare, we read books, and try to encourage him by pointing at objects and saying their name. He will ramble on in his own language & expect us to understand it & sometimes gets frustrated when we don’t. He communicates with more »

Did Swine Flu cause Autism in my son?

There’s a lot of confusion out there about illness, the flu, vaccines, medications, and autism. This poor Mom is terrified that her son may have contracted Autism from a bout of Swine Flu. Here’s her email to me: Dear Dr. Heather, Please help. I saw your article on autism, and I am very intrigued and more »

Can’t our kids be “normal”?

Living in Hawaii ain’t bad. But one of the things I truly miss about living in Southern California is reading the LA Times. I especially love the Health section; I find things in there that I don’t even come across in my geeky science-journalism review sites. My in-laws lovingly and patiently collect them for me, more »

Moving to a New Home with Young Kids

One of the things I love about BabyShrink is the ability get to know some of my readers over time. Tim had questions last year about his son’s distaste for haircuts. But I recently heard from him again, with questions about an impending move. Tim is clearly very tuned-in to his kids’ developmental needs and more »

Helping Young Children Understand Feelings

Parents can start helping their kids to become emotionally “fluent” at a very early age. I recommend that parents keep a “running commentary” going, when observing social and emotional situations with their children. Start as young as 9 or 10 months, to get in the habit, and to convey the message that feelings are important 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 »

Food Allergies, Your Child’s Behavior, and YOUR Guilt

I’ve been away on vacation for a bit, and we were able to visit lots of family and friends. I was struck by how many have kids with food allergies and sensitivities — more and more of us are discovering what a difference our food choices have on how we, and our kids, feel and more »

Does your child have food allergies?

Having a child with food allergies is tough — first, there are the obvious safety issues involved. You don’t want your child to accidentally — or intentionally — eat something that may make him sick, or even kill him. Then there are the practical challenges; finding acceptable, palatable food substitutes for the things he can’t more »

In Praise of Attachment Parenting (Sort Of)

Every week, I buy groceries at our grungy, local health-food store. My daughter affectionately dubbed it “The Stinky Market” — partly because of that characteristic “health-food store” smell, but also because of the bodily odors emanating from some of the motley group of customers frequenting the place — a weird combination of surfers, hippies, homeless more »

Halloween and Young Children: What’s TOO scary?

Reader Fran in Massachusetts wrote recently, asking an interesting question about her 3-year-old son, who has an unusual request for a Halloween costume. He wants to be Cruella de Vil this year. Fran’s not worried about the gender thing; she knows that it’s perfectly fine for a 3-year-old boy to dress up in a female more »

Help! Another Kid’s Mom Upset My Kid

Boy, this election is sure making people crazy (me included). Everyone’s all wound up about the outcome, and what it means for us. It’s one of those times when major world events come into the awareness of young children. Usually, we shield them from the daily news and it’s usual dose of murder, theft and more »

My Baby is Difficult to Console. What Should I Do?

Is my baby just “difficult”, or is there something wrong? And if I do have a “difficult” baby, is there anything I can do about it? BabyShrink reader Tina is struggling with this issue. She writes: Dear Dr. Heather, I need some good advice on how to stop my 2-year-old from screaming for everything she more »

Is This Daycare Right for My Child?

Hi Dr. Heather, My son turned 3 in July and was potty trained in April of this year. Therefore he had four months before he started in a daycare that required him to be fully potty trained. I have now been blindsided yesterday with an official letter stating they will not be able to continue more »

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