As mentioned above, the habit of thumb sucking occurs as a natural reflex action; according to theories of medical science, the babies start sucking their thumbs right from the time they start moving in the mother’s womb. Majority of the babies stop sucking thumbs when they are between the age of 2 and 4 years of age; any baby stopping sucking around this time generally does not experience any dental defect.

The jawbones of an infant are pliable, as a result of which sucking the thumb might end up changing their shape. There are instances when the dental arch of the upper jaw of a baby has got deformed due to the habit of thumb sucking. This, results in protruding appearance of the front teeth of the upper jaw and inward tilting of the front teeth of the lower jaw. Deformation of jaws might also cause cross-bites. Usually, a baby having baby teeth do not experience any of these deformities; these problems mostly occur when the child has not stopped thumb sucking even after crossing the age of 4 years.

How much badly the jaw will be affected by thumb sucking depends on the duration and frequency of the habit. The intensity of the impact also varies based on the way in which the child sucks his thumb. A child who only rests his thumb in the mouth passively is unlikely to have any serious dental defect.

1. Think whether you have the mental strength of taking care of children at your own place for several months or even for several years and then returning them to their own parents. Often foster parents find it difficult to leave the child as they get emotional attached to them; this is even more common if the birth parents of the child are abusive in nature.
2. The next thing you must consider is your own family. Try to understand how the other members of your family, especially your kids will react to your decision of you becoming a foster parent. If you find that they are not ready to accept the changes occurring in your home due to the foster children, you should stay away from the idea of becoming a foster parent.
3. Next, understand whether you have enough time for taking care of the foster child. If your professional and personal lives are already keeping you extremely busy all through the day, it would create a chaos if you opt for becoming a foster parent.
4. It’s true that foster parents receive financial compensations for their services; however, you must keep it in mind that foster parenting is not a way of becoming rich or making extra money. As a foster parent you might end up spending more than what you are offered as fees. So, if you are struggling with your finances or don’t have enough money, you should not become a foster parent.
5. As a foster parent, you will not always be offered the job of taking care of sweet little babies; you might also need to look after grade-schoolers suffering from depression, disobedient preschoolers and hostile teenagers. So, if you don’t have the right personality, you should not go for the job.

Mild fever is common among children receiving this vaccine. According to recently obtained statistics, 1 in every 6 individuals immunized with MMR vaccine experiences this side effect. Some other milder after effects of MMR vaccine administration include swelling accompanied by minor rashes in the glands of the child’s neck and cheeks. These rashes usually appear within 7-12 hours of receiving the MMR injection. This vaccination might make the child fussy and it might become extremely difficult to put him to sleep. The injection site might become tender and painful. All these signs usually do not last for more than 48 hours of receiving the vaccine.

A child vaccinated with MMR injection can also suffer from high fever leading to seizures. There are instances when the toddlers receiving the vaccine have experienced temporary stiffness and pain in their joints. You may find your walking toddler limping after the vaccination; temporary paralysis is also a possibility, but occurs extremely rarely. Besides all these side effects, on rare occasions (found in 1 in every 30,000 recipients of MMR vaccine) a child receiving the MMR vaccine can exhibit temporary decrease in his platelet count, which eventually cause bleeding disorder.

If a child is allergic to MMR vaccine, he is likely to experience some serious side effects after receiving the MMR vaccine. Some examples of allergic effects of the vaccine are: appearance of hives, breathing difficulties, swelling on body parts like throat, tongue, lips and face, deafness, prolonged episodes of seizures etc. There are also instances when such situations have lead to coma or permanent damage to the brain.

Avoiding eye contacts: If your toddler is a victim of overstimulation, he will begin to avoid eye contact. Doing so will ensure that he receives inputs in lesser amount. You may find your baby crawling under the tables, hiding the eyes, putting pillows or other things over the head or refusing looking at individuals speaking to her.

Irrationality: It’s true that there’s hardly anyone who expects a 2 or 3 year old to take part in highly rational discussions; however, the toddlers are surely expected to be as rational as their peers. Over stimulated toddlers generally are much less rational than other children of similar age group. They often refuse eating, make strange demands, express emotions which are not suitable for a particular situation and fight to get into the car. A over stimulated toddler might also be extremely aggressive.

Tears: The toddlers do not cry as often as the infants; however, even when the baby becomes 2 or 3 years old tears are considered to be his major tool of communication.  The toddlers might fail to use their limited verbal skills due to stress caused by overstimulation. They start finding it difficult to make sentences or even words; as a result and again start using crying as their only mode of communication.

Disobedience: Over stimulated toddlers begin disobeying simple commands of their parents and other adults around them. They tend to be extremely willful and often violet limits.

1. The massage should start from the head of your baby and move downwards to reach his feet. During the head massage, gently touch the baby’s temples and forehead. Next, move to the eyebrow, eyelid, nose, cheek, lips and finally to the ears.
2. The next step is massaging the neck of the baby. Using small and gentle movements for massaging his neck and gradually move into his shoulders. Both your hands should be placed of the baby’s shoulders for offering a gentle massage.
3. Next, circle the arm of your baby using your thumb and index finger. Rub the underarm area of the baby gently and start moving down along the arm. Turn the baby’s wrist gently.
4. Now, move to the stomach of your baby. Move your hands clockwise in circular motions for massaging the tummy of the infant. The process should start from the area below the baby’s ribs.
5. Now, it’s the turn of the legs of your baby. Rub both legs gently and flex his knees and legs carefully. Apply mild pressure on his toes and rub the feet gently. The heels of the baby should be rubbed in circular motions.
6. Finally, place the baby on the stomach for massaging his back. Rub the back slowly; make sure that your strokes are all pointing towards one direction. Remember, you should never massage the spinal cord of your baby.

1. Search for roomy shoes, which have comfortable design around the toe area. Toddlers have soft feet and pliable bones; so, if you make them wear constricting shoes, their feet might lose their normal shape. Never buy pinched or pointed footwear for a baby; wearing such shoes might lead to medical conditions like ingrown nails and bunions. Instead, buy round-toes footwear for them.
2. Shoes that can be fastened easily are ideal for the toddlers; this will make sure that the heels will not slip as the toddler walks around. The fastened shoes will allow the little to concentrate only on walking and not on gripping the shoes with his feet. If you are a busy mom, instead of choosing shoes with laces, go for the ones with Velcro straps. Within a few days of using the shoes, the kid will learn the method of putting on the shoes on their own if you buy shoes with Velcro straps.
3. Shoes with rigid and hard soles are not suitable for the tiny feet of a toddler. A toddler’s shoe must have flexible soles made from rubber. You should not buy plastic shoes for your baby; such shoes trap moistures from sweat and can lead to bacterial growth. Instead, buy shoes made up of breathable materials like canvas or leather.

Experts suggest that every baby possess some primitive reflexes right from the time of their birth. One of the major ones among them is sucking reflex. Due to presence of sucking reflex, a baby instinctively begins sucking on the mother’s nipple or even the nipples of feeding bottles. This sucking reflex is joined by tongue thrust reflex during the first 4-6 months of the baby’s life. The tongue thrust reflex make the babies thrust their tongue against the feeding spoon or any hard textured food item as they are inserted into their mouth. Newborn should never be fed with solid foods; the tongue thrust reflex become active when newborns are offered solid foods. You should only give breast milk and baby formulas to the newborn babies. Solid food can be introduced only after the baby completes 4-6 months of age, as recommended by the physician.

Breast milk contains all the nutrients i.e. all minerals and vitamins that a baby requires for proper development. So, nutritionists consider breast milk as a balanced diet for the babies. Constituents of breast milk like casein, whey, fat and lactose makes it easily digestible for the developing digestive system of the newborns. Besides that breast milk also act as the source of antibodies required for protecting the babies from infections. Commercial formulas that act as breast milk alternatives, on the other hand, mimic breast milk’s composition. However, in spite of acting a lot like breast milk, these formulas are not as beneficial as breast milk.

However, there are ways to stimulate your baby’s hair growth back once they start falling. A proper hair care regimen for your baby should start with a safe infant shampoo. These shampoos are designed to meet the hair growth needs among toddlers and work gently on their sensitive skin. Usage of any shampoo, other than a specified infant shampoo would be disastrous to the skin of your new born. Furthermore, the chosen shampoo should be used daily or at least alternately, by squeezing out a bit and then moving it across the scalp in circular motion. Once the hair is rinsed, they should be thoroughly dried using a clean and dry towel. Special moisturizer creams or lotions can then be applied on to the head. These creams are laden with essential nutrients that are imperative for the hair growth.

Then it is better to use fingers or at times a gentle baby brush in circular motion on the baby’s scalp. This allows for a better penetration of the moisturizer that stimulates the hair follicles and further promotes hair growth. Follow up of this hair care regimen for months trigger the growth of hair.

Some kids, unfortunately, suffer from loose anagen syndrome right at the beginning of their life. The hair growth in this particular condition becomes scarce and does not hit below the nape of the neck.

Lack of self-esteem: Often the middle children think that they are overshadowed by the older and younger siblings and overlooked. This might force them to believe that their siblings are superior compared to them in most departments of life. As a result of such feelings and feelings, the middle children can suffer from lack of self esteem, which might make them victims of alcohol and drug addiction, suicidal thoughts and other dangerous behaviors. To avoid such situations, the middle children should be taken for psychological counseling when they step into their teenage.

Lack of aim: At times the middle children lack direction. This happens as these children generally don’t require forging ahead on their own. The parents along with the help of older siblings should guide the middle children while taking a new step in life.