Mom is a huge mix of emotions when a baby is coming. The planning, the preparing, the pregnancy are all overwhelming. But she is not the only one involved in this parenthood. The father-to-be is often over looked and he has some very legitimate concerns of his own. Fortunately, he’s not alone out there and there are answers to most of what he’s worried about.

Did you know that if you quit smoking your baby may sleep soundly? According to a study recently published in “Pediatrics”, parental smoking may worsen sleep problems for babies who already struggle with snoring. The study found that 100% of babies who lived in a house where one or more parents smoked awoke at least once during the night, but only 50% of those who lived in non-smoking households awoke.

Cough and cold medications that use nasal decongestants, antihistamines, cough suppressants and expectorants are commonly used to treat sick children. Yet an oversight group reports that over the course of one year, more than 1,500 children under the age of 2 were taken to emergency rooms — and three infants died — because of adverse effects from such medicines. “The American Academy of Pediatrics does not support the use of over-the-counter cough medications for children of any age,” says Ian Paul, M.D., of the AAP Section on Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. “There is no evidence that they are effective, and there is a safety concern.” Instead, Paul suggests treating the symptoms to make the child more comfortable. Use acetaminophen for kids over 3 months and ibuprofen for kids over 6 months. Keep Baby hydrated, and use saline nose drops or spray.

A recent study published in the medical journal “Pediatrics” in July found that breastfeeding longer than three months may protect against bed-wetting during childhood. The research involved two groups of children — those who were wetting the bed and those who were not. Participants of both groups were asked about whether they were breastfed and for how long. It turned out to be that the children who wet the bed at night were 81% less likely to have been breastfed for more than three months. “Breastfeeding has been associated with several developmental advantages in kids,” says Joseph Barone, M.D., chief of pediatric urology at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. “Bed-wetting is considered a developmental delay. It also runs in the family. If one parent wet the bed as a child, then their child has a 40% chance of wetting the bed. If both parents wet the bed, then it’s 80% likely their child will. Breastfeeding may protect against that. All of this is another piece of information for parents to look at when they’re trying to decide whether or not to breastfeed.”

Pacifiers have long been regarded as bad with respect to misaligning Baby’s teeth or changing the shape of his mouth. However, a recent study published in the January/February issue of “General Dentistry” shows that using a pacifier might reduce the occurrence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Doctors are not yet sure why, but they suspect it could help keep the airway open, as well as prevent Baby from rolling over onto his face, or strengthen the muscles of the upper airway. “The important thing to note is that none of the potential downsides of using a pacifier are life-threatening,” says Luke Matranga, DDS, with the Academy of General Dentistry. Matranga advises using the pacifier after the first month, when nursing has been well-established, and giving it to Baby only when he is going to sleep. Also, he suggests start weaning the child off of it by age 2.

Any parents can tell you, potty training isn’t always easy. However, in a race to make things “cleaner” and prevail in this difficult task, many parents overdo it by making it a little more difficult than it needs to be. Before you even begin the “boot camp” it always pays to ask yourself is my child really ready? In this article we bring to you some of the common potty training mistakes:

• its very important that you don’t start potty training during a stressful time in your child’s life, such as a move or around the arrival of a new baby in the house
• you will face a brick wall and spend your energy in vain if you continue pushing the potty training when your child obviously isn’t interested
• Its very common to have accidents while you are potty training so please try not to punish your child for every such incident
• remember that potty training isnt a quick process and will not be finished in a few days or a weekend so take your time
• try not to migrate your child quickly to regular underwear as soon as you begin potty training, especially not before your child shows signs of staying dry for long periods of time or regularly using the potty
• don’t expect your child to complete all aspects of potty training at the same time, such as potty training in public, having bowel movements on the potty, or using the potty each and every time he has to go
• its usually not a good idea to rely on the same potty training method for each of your kids. It may need to be uniquely “tailored” to each child, as each one of your kids may have very different temperaments
• since bedwetting is not usually related to potty training, try to realize that your child may continue to wet the bed at night, even after he has finished potty training

The root of most of these mistakes are parents who have unrealistic expectations about potty training, which usually include that they should start at a certain age or that they should be finished by a certain age.
Nowadays we hear lots of people talk about potty training their infants, however most parents will find that their kids aren’t ready to begin potty training until they are about 18 to 24 months or older. More than that, the whole potty training process could take a good 6 months or more to complete. Not surprisingly, the older your child is when he begins potty training, the quicker the training typically is. So while a 2 year old might take 6 or 9 months to finish potty training, a 3 year old might just take 3 or 4 weeks.
And keep in mind that 3 is not a magic age when all kids are potty trained. About 25 percent of kids finish potty training after they are 3 years old.