Sunday, February 19, 2012

Baby Care Tips - Your Baby's Health Care

Most of the time when people talk about Baby Care Tips what they mean is health care tips for the baby. Everyone has some particular personal wisdom to impart from their child-rearing days. They want to be sure you benefit from their experience. That is not bad. Just listen carefully, some of what they say is not appropriate for today.

Many people continue to use vasoline petroleum jelly for a variety of baby care needs. Honestly, it did not kill us. But we know more about petroleum products now than we did when many of my siblings were babies. Today petro products are not often recommended for baby care. Your baby's skin is still developing. You can find many more gentle products available for natural baby care.

If you are a new parent and have never held a baby before, be gentle . Give your baby support from top to bottom. Your baby's neck muscles are not strong enough to support the weight of her own head yet, so do not let her head fall back. You can ask the health care people at the hospital to coach you so you are not yanking the infant around by arms or feet by default.

NEVER NEVER shake a baby. Even if you are frustrated because your baby will not stop crying. Especially in situations like that! Shaking your baby results in giving its brain a bashing on the inside of its skull. That can cause short or long term damage depending on how badly the infant was injured. Besides, it will hurt your baby and major crying will follow, so it is self-defeating too. It is considered a form of child endangerment today. That is obviously not good baby care.

When you put your baby down to sleep, be sure you have her lying on her back . That will minimize the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.). This simple baby health care [http://babyhealthcareproducts.org] tip has saved many lives and a lot of grief.

Perhaps the best baby care tips I can offer are to provide a safe environment for your infant, remember they wiggle and squirm. Be sure there is food, water and shelter from the blazing sun for her. Hold your baby as much as possible and provide necessary hygiene when you are cleaning up her wastes. Give your baby love and gentle care and these basics and you have a great foundation for building sensible and strong baby health care practices into your life.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Health Care Tips at Home For the Elderly

The number one reason for needing home health is when care of an elderly person becomes too much for family members to bear alone. This is especially true with those patients that need special care due to illness.

Alzheimer's disease is a tragic slow deterioration of someone's mental faculties. With this disease people often lose the ability to care for themselves. It quickly overwhelms family members and they turn to help. Home health care for the elderly is one of the answers to this problem. A home health care nurse can help with daily monitoring of these patients. Often an Alzheimer's patient will tend to wander and get lost. Home health nurses are able to be an extra pair of eyes in this event.

Many times elderly patients don't want to live in nursing homes or retirement communities. This is another reason for home health care for the elderly. It gives the patients a sense of self to know they can stay in their home instead of an institution. It's common for these people to have living wills and instructions for their final times. Home health nurses are often saddled with the responsibility of making these difficult decisions when the time comes. From that moment on they stay in the home full time until the death occurs.

Aside from physical care, home health care for the elderly can provide emotional support for the entire family. This is a trying time for all involved and it's not unusual for it to be the first experience with death for many. Add the fact that it's a parent and the family is often grieving before the actual death. Home health nurses have been trained in grief counseling and emotional support. They're by no means professionals in that field but they certainly understand how to handle someone going through these tough times. They often get emotionally involved in their patients as well, so they mourn the passing with the family.

Home health care for the elderly has no set time limit. Usually the nurses are called in for the last weeks or months of someone's life. Sometimes this assignment can last for years. Nobody can definitely pinpoint how long a disease will last or when someone's time is up. This is why dedication is extremely important. People who can't handle it are weeded out quickly, leaving only the best in the field. Families depend on their home health nurse for guidance and support. It takes a truly special person to be able to shoulder these responsibilities.