Winter Health

• If your child suffers from winter nosebleeds, try using a cold air humidifier in the child's room at night. Saline nose drops or petrolatum jelly may help keep nasal tissues moist. If bleeding is severe or recurrent, consult your pediatrician.
• Many pediatricians feel that bathing two or three times a week is enough for an infant’s first year. More frequent baths may dry out the skin, especially during the winter.
• Cold weather does not cause colds or flu. But the viruses that cause colds and flu tend to be more common in the winter, when children are in school and are in closer contact with each other. Frequent hand washing and teaching your child to sneeze or cough into the bend of her elbow may help reduce the spread of colds and flu.
• Children 6 months of age and up should get the influenza vaccine to reduce their risk of catching the flu. It's not too late to get the vaccine! Around 80% of all influenza illness generally occurs in January, February, and March. 

What to Wear this Winter

• Dress infants and children warmly for outdoor activities.  Several thin layers will keep them dry and warm. Don’t forget warm boots, gloves or mittens, and a hat.
• The rule of thumb for older babies and young children is to dress them in one more layer of clothing than an adult would wear in the same conditions.
• ​​When riding in the car, babies and children should wear thin, snug layers rather than thick, bulky coats or snowsuits.
• Blankets, quilts, pillows, bumpers, sheepskins and other loose bedding should be kept out of an infant's sleeping enviroment because they are associated with suffocation deaths and may contribute to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). It is better to use sleep clothing like one-piece sleepers or wearable blankets is preferred.
• If a blanket must be used to keep a sleeping infant warm, it should be thin and tucked under the crib mattress, reaching only as far as the baby’s chest, so the infant's face is less likely to become covered by bedding materials.

Ways to Boost Your Daughter's Self-Esteem

In a culture saturated with digitally altered images of impossibly thin women, raising girls with high self-esteem can be daunting indeed. But as parents, you have great influence—both by what you say and what you do. Here's some advice from experts.

How to Communicate with Your Teen

Many parents have questions that start with, “What do I say when…?” However, parents need to understand that it is “less important what you say, and more important that you listen.”

Turn off the “parent alarm.” Listen without judgment and reaction. When your son says, “Mom, I met this girl” and you react by saying, “You’re too young to date,” that instinctual alarm prevented you from being able to hold a meaningful discussion on healthy sexuality.

Don’t catastrophize. When teens come to their parents with concerns, they need a calming, rational presence that will create a safe space for them to figure things out. When parents make it seem worse than they had imagined, they leave more anxious and won’t return.

Don’t over empathize. Adolescents need a sounding board. Sometimes they exaggerate; sometimes they express fleeting feelings. When you over empathize, it can heighten their emotions and make you look naïve or overly involved. Imagine your empathizing by condemning their friend who your daughter had a fight with. You’ll look “wrong” the next day when your daughter is best friends again with the girl she hated yesterday.

Your Values & Opinions
Teens are happy to hear their parents’ values and opinions, but these opinions should not be shared in a way that feels judgmental or condescending and should try to avoid personal territory that will position a teen to need to become defensive of friends or self.

Avoid “The Lecture”
Parents who lecture are not heard. The lecture is often condescending or hostile, and is delivered with an abstract string of possibilities loosely tied together. Young adolescents are still not thinking abstractly, and all teens who are upset or in crisis mode will not absorb lessons delivered abstractly. Parents may increase their yield if they are able to convey their wisdom in a more concrete manner that adolescents can follow.