Tips for getting the medicine down:

Be decisive. Floundering about is not helping either of you and all it will do is waste the medicine and then you won’t know just how much the baby/child actually has ingested. If possible it is best to administer the medicine as quickly as possible with the minimum of fuss.

Get help. There comes a time when help will be needed to help and this can help to reduce the amount of struggle. Help can be in the form of a distraction, help to soothe the baby and if all else fails help in gently restraining flapping arms to be able to get the medicine in the mouth.

Holding the nose. I know it sounds a bit harsh but it is proven albeit controversial method. Because sometimes it is critical for the medicine to be ingested a quick blocking of the nose will momentarily make them swallow. Of course it is only for a split second and be careful not to scare them further  in doing so and definitely only for a moment. This is recommended as only the last resort as it is distressing for all and only in cases where it is vital the medicine is ingested.

Some medicine can be placed in drinks. This needs to be checked with the pharmacist first and you need to be careful as they may not take the drink and again if it is not completely finished you are never quite sure how much medicine was taken.

Check with the chemist about alternatives. Sometimes pharmacists are able to give alternatives or provide the same medication in a different form and that may alter the taste.

2) What type of support do you need?
If you are hiring a nanny as an alternative to childcare, then recruiting a nanny to work core working hours would most likely suit you best. If your desire for hiring a nanny is to reduce your workload and to ease the pressures on the household, you may find that a nanny working the intense periods of the day of most value.

Caring for children during the middle of the day is often the most enjoyable and least stressful period. It is nap time for many children, the kids have been fed and dressed and rested. Therefore if your reason for hiring a nanny isn’t due to covering your children’s care while you are at work, then consider hiring a nanny to work during the busiest periods of the day.

Many parents find the early morning rush and evening the most stressful periods of the day. If you have decided to host a live-in Au Pair/ nanny, the advantage is that they can work split shifts. For example 7am – 9am and then 3.30 – 8:30pm. In the morning the Nanny could help with breakfast, dressing the children, packing their bags, making lunches, making beds, hanging washing on the line, unpacking the dishwasher and taking kids to school. In the evening the nanny could assist with dinner, bath time, story time and homework.

3) What level of qualifications/ experience is necessary?
How qualified a nanny should be really depends on what level of responsibility you are delegating to the nanny. If they nanny is going to be responsible for the children for long periods while the parents are absent, then the more experience and qualifications the better. Experience is especially pertinent if the nanny will be responsible for looking after infants. If you are likely to be in the house during the majority of the time while the nanny is caring for the children, in circumstances where you need an extra pair of helping hands or you work from home then qualifications and experience may not be as necessary. The types of certification that you may want to your nanny to have include: First Aid, CPR, Working with Children Check and Police Check.
There are many young spirited travellers from Europe who are eager to experience life with an Australian family. These candidates are often fresh out of school and taking a gap year before they start university. They may not have the experience or qualifications but have the energy and enthusiasm. Working as an Au Pair or Nanny is a lot more common in Europe than Australia

4) What tasks would you like your nanny to do?
You will need to clarify exactly what tasks your nanny is willing to do. Bear in mind most agencies are very strict when outlining the parameters of a nanny’s role. Usually nannies can only be responsible for domestic tasks related to the child. For example nannies can wash the children’s clothes but not the adults’ clothes, cook dinner for the kids but not for the parents. In reality this practice isn’t always beneficial for the family as many households chuck all the clothes in the same cycle or cook a meal for the entire family. Before hiring a nanny make sure you are upfront about any housework you want done. www.ChoreHeroes.com allows families to highlight exactly which domestic chores they wish their nanny to do.

This article was written by Penn Goodwin founder of www.ChoreHeroes.com, a website where households can find nannies, housekeepers, cleaners, mothers helpers and au pairs.

A dad innocently kissed his newborn and in a horrific turn of events the baby then spent 6 weeks on life support before succumbing and dying from multiple organ failure.

He died at 2 months old as a result of his dad kissing him when he had a cold sore.  As you can imagine both parents are inconsolable about such a tragic loss. They are even more grief-stricken because it is such a little known reason. The baby died from multiple organ failure triggered from the herpes simplex virus.

The couple are calling on the Government to educate and make more people aware of the risks of cold sores pose to newborn babies.

Forget that it’s illegal lets talk about the effects of smoking in the car with a child/baby. Imagine smoking in a car for 10 minutes already it has exposed a child or baby in the back seat to 30% more pollutants than normal!!

While the poisons centres have received 85 calls in relation to them this has been in the past 18 months and I am by no means belittling the warning but this really is a little self explanatory to restrict a child ability to access these products.

If a child swallows one or ingests or is exposed to any part of one it may lead to a variety of symptoms such as vomiting, right through to temporary blindness so it certainly is not to be taken lightly but I do find myself thinking if you as a parent, or responsible adult (let’s assume all adults who care for kids are responsible adults) who needs a warning about a product like this then we are in trouble and need to worry about what else needs to be spelt out in order to ensure the children are safe.

I know accidents happen and I am not on my high horse preaching that we all need to become perfect parents as there is no such thing but I have spoken before about what I call non-negotiable parents things. The previous thing I was speaking about was another safety issue too, it was about how a little one had luckily survived being left in a car and how I believe NOT leaving a child in a car is a non-negotiable parenting duty.

The aim of the London Network for Men in Childcare is to support men who work with children up to the age of five in childcare settings across the capital and encourage more men to work with young children. And there is the concern that the high profile cases of child abuse, such as the Jimmy Saville investigation case, risk damaging the drive to get more men into childcare and are putting men off entering the profession for fear of being labeled as abusers or pedophiles.

To coincide with the launch of the London Network for Men in Childcare, London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) carried out research within its nurseries as part of its continuing work into the distinct role men play in childcare provision and discovered that out of the 24 nurseries only 9 men were employed in them.

Men in childcare can be a good role model, and research shows that there are huge benefits from having men in nurseries such as providing male role models, eradicating gender stereotypes and helping fathers engage with their children.

Have you had experiences with men in childcare? What are your thoughts?

How your au pair can help older kids with study:
1. Help establish a regular study routine

2. Plan study time for each subject

3. Supervise study time.

4. Inform friends & family that ‘this time is study time’ and get other kids out of the house or occupied to avoid distraction

5. Help your kids memorise and practise and test them as they go.

6. Read over homework before it’s submitted.

7. Listen when kids are stressed!

8. Provide healthy study snacks!

Blog post by: www.smartaupairs.com.au

In 2006, 1 in 110 children in the United States was diagnosed with autism. Now the latest figures indicate the rate has increased to 1 in 88. And previous blog posts we have written on the Australian stats have the rate 1 in 110 children diagnosed with Autism.

The new study builds on previous work released in 2010 that found an association between the risk of autism and living within 1,000 feet of a freeway.

But it is important to point out that there is no one definitive answer to why more children are being diagnosed with autism and this study is not implying it is simply because of air pollution.
Genetics, nutrition, and other environmental factors also must be considered.

Autism is non specific in who it affects….. it occurs in all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, however it is statistically more common among boys. Researchers have looked into various causes, from the age of a child’s parents to vaccines to also how strong the relationship is between environment and autism.

It seems too simple to have to remind people but kids are still being left in cars and It’s so extremely dangerous, and it’s especially hazardous in extreme heat which is what is forecast.

When we arrived in the NT a few weeks back we were melting in the heat and the first day we picked up the paper and there was an article where a toddler had luckily escaped being left unattended in a car in 40+ heat.

There is a few rules when you are a parent that should never be broken and one of those is leaving a child unattended in a car, and moreso when the weather is extremely hot.

If you can’t take your child with you then don’t go rather than leave them in the car.

What do you think?

A former nurse chairs the parliamentary education and health standing committee which recently tabled a report on foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. In the report it proposes that women are screened antenatal to detect alcohol use.

They believe we need to screen all pregnant & post partum women for alcohol so that intervention and/or counselling can be given. The report also considers the current screening and diagnosis to be insufficient so that the report suggests not only better screening but better data collection.

Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is considered the single most common intellectual preventable disability. It is a lifelong incurable condition. It can manifest itself symptoms including growth deficiency, central nervous system damage and brain damage. It affects up to 2% of the population and is more prevalent in the indigenous communities.

It is an important topic as research suggests that 60% of those that suffer from FASD will have a ‘relationship’ with the criminal justice system. Symptoms such as poor memory also allow for someone to be disadvantaged if they have the disorder as they often fail to remember their testimony for example, they will often have more trouble following jail rules and once released (there are proportionally more FASD sufferers ending up in jail and for longer periods) they are often found to breach bail conditions repeatedly as a result of memory issues.

So this committee is calling for better screening, warning on alcohol, better education to ensure that everyone who is contemplating pregnancy is aware of the dangers