Toddler Clinic
The toddler years are fantastic. Your baby has transformed into a tottering, toddling bundle of energy. You’ll notice their words becoming more defined and linking together to make coherent instructions. They’ll be rushing, running and probably falling and crashing as they refine their motor skills. And playtime takes on a whole new dimension with fantasy worlds and make-believe friends.
You’ll also have heard the expression “Terrible Twos” (and Terrible threes or fours for most) where your every suggestion will be challenged, demands will have to be met immedately for fear of instant meltdown, and your once “foodie” baby eyes your cottage pie suspiciously for signs of hidden vegetables. But it’s also a time for you to have fun together. And through many day-to-day experiences you'll guide the development of their character, build their confidence, instill some social niceties and help them on their way to making friends.
Feeding
Key nutrition basics
By around one year or just after, most babies will be eating more confidently, enjoying a range of tastes and textures and ready to eat more solids and relying less on milk.
However, whilst toddlers can usually eat more finely chopped versions of meals the rest of the family eats, there are a few important ground rules that might affect which meals she still eats separately.
Toddler Health
Guide to rashes
Small children get rashes all the time. Often they...
Toddler Health
Tummy troubles – dealing with them and avoiding them
Tummy upsets in small children are common
Habits
Dealing with the biting habit
Most babies who are teething will try to bite you ...
Playing
Swimming
Swimming is a great way to get your child physical...
Habits
Tantrums
Anyone who tells you their child has never had a tantrum is either telling porkies or has one very unusual child on their hands! Just as with crying in babies, tantrums are a way in which young children communicate. Until they are about three years old, they do not have a very sophisticated sense of right and wrong behaviour and, whilst a toddler will be beginning to piece together what he knows is not really allowed and what is ‘nice behaviour’, he is still looking to you for guidance.
Playing
Books and reading
With shop displays groaning with books, the temptation is to home in on the familiar faces we knew as children – Winnie the Pooh, Peter Rabbit, Madeline, Orlando the Marmalade Cat. Such legendary characters rightly endure, but what of more recent and emerging talent? What are today’s classics for the under 5s, how do we spot one, and how do we navigate our way around the oceans of children’s literature and related events?
Related Forum Topics
Forums: Toddlers
Re: Has anyone tried Zita West's fertility supplements? Or what else worked for you?
Guider, Mother of 1, Leicestershire
Re: Cranial massage
Clare, Mother of 2, London
Questionnaire on experiences of exercise and birth: can you help?
map
