13 parental care habits can harm your baby

As parents, everyone wants their baby to receive the happiest and most happy things. However, there are habits that take care of children unintentionally that harms babies without parents' knowledge.

Raising a child is a difficult and challenging journey. How to properly care for children is still a controversial issue. According to pediatric experts, there are parental care habits that seem to be good, but in fact make them feel uncomfortable and negatively affect the child's development. Please continue to see the following shares of aFamilyToday Health to see if you have these habits.

1. Tickling young children

Tickling to let children laugh is a common habit of many people. However, a researcher from the University of California, USA, found that this action does not bring feelings of happiness. Your child's laughter when you tickle him or her is not a sign of joy but just a natural reaction. Even if they hate it, children still have to laugh.

2. Place the toy on the baby's bed

For a good night's sleep, infants only need a good mattress, a bed sheet and a small blanket (if it's cold). You can also give your child a small, flat pillow. However, according to research, before the age of one, children do not need a pillow.

In addition, children do not need any special decorations on the bed. Even a soft toy is not necessary because it can interfere with sleep, even breathing difficulties if the baby accidentally faces it.

3. Use a night light

Keeping a light nightlight in a child's room all night is not a good thing, although it can make parents feel more comfortable and convenient to take care of. This is because the growth hormone  produced during sleep is released only in the dark. Some parents think that keeping a nightlight will help children avoid phobias of the dark, but this is really not necessary.

Tracy Bedrosian, a neuroscientist at Ohio State University in the United States, recommends that you stop using blue light emitting night lights in your child's room. Because experiments show that green light can change the circadian clock for about 90 minutes, while blue light can change about 180 minutes, making it difficult for children to fall asleep.

4. Swaying the child

The act of rocking children is a common caring habit of parents when trying to comfort their children to sleep . You may even have to hold for a long time without going to bed. Pediatricians believe that you can get rid of this habit if you teach your baby to sleep on a schedule from birth and get rid of external influences such as hunger, wet diapers, noise, uncomfortable clothes ...

5. Do not let your child play in front of a mirror because of superstition

In folklore, there are many rumors that letting children look in the mirror will make them sick. However, the pediatricians and psychologists around the world think this is a strange concept. Dr. Suzy Green, founder of the Positivity Institute, advises parents to play with their children in front of a mirror as this can help develop cognitive abilities in young children.

Children of different ages will have different reactions when they see themselves in the mirror. However, no matter how your child reacts, these are also engaging and positive experiences for babies.

6. Let the child live in a sterile environment

Most parents believe that keeping the environment clean is extremely important. There's nothing wrong with this, but you don't need to be overly thorough. If you let your child live in a very clean environment, the child's immune system will slow down. This makes the child more susceptible to infections and more likely to experience allergic reactions such as asthma , rhinitis and atopic dermatitis .

One of the common mistakes made by many parents is cleaning the house too often and not letting children come into contact with pets . However, in fact, the sooner a child is exposed to the allergens , the immune system will easily learn to consider it normal.

7. Forcing the child to finish the meal

One of the most common bad care habits in parents is trying to force children to finish meals even if they don't want to. Under parental pressure, children may try to finish but not feel happy at all. Not only that, but this action also contributes to the development of bad eating habits. It prevents children from learning to understand their body's signals. In addition, eating too much when you feel full also puts great pressure on the digestive system.

8. Teach children to use potty too early

Should children use a potty is not a matter of controversy. However, experts have confirmed that you should not give your child a potty when he is 1 or 2 years old because he or she still does not know how to properly respond to the body's signals.

Children's urologist Stephen Hodges says sooner or later babies will learn to control their body's signals. The bladder will take about 3-4 years to fully develop. Spontaneous urination will help in bladder development.

9. Let your child walk barefoot on a flat surface

Young children usually walk around one year old. At this point, some parents will let their kids use walking shoes , while others will let their kids walk barefoot . The researchers don't conclude which is best, but they agree that not all surfaces are good for a child's walk.

If the child has a chance to walk barefoot on sand, grass or fine rocks, that will be very good. Conversely, when walking on a flat surface, all the load is placed on the tendons, preventing the muscles of the foot from developing properly.

10. Feeding the baby

Amy Brown, a professor at Swansea University, Wales, UK, shared that parents should not feed their children when they can do it themselves. The reason is that feeding will cause babies to eat for too long, and over time will easily lead to weight problems. In addition, in the process of feeding your baby, you do not know if your baby is full or not, as a result you may overfeed your baby.

According to researchers, when eating by themselves, babies can eat at their own pace and sense the taste of food for themselves. This over time will help your child develop the correct attitude toward food.

11. Prevent children from eating or coming into contact with allergens

Giving children to allergen-prone foods is not only harmless, but also very beneficial , said Gotran Wennergren, professor of pediatrics at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden . This action allows the immune system to learn how to respond properly.

Studies performed by Israeli and British scientists have also shown similar results. In the study, London Jewish parents did not feed their children peanuts, and Israeli parents gave their children peanut butter before the child was one year old. As a result, Israeli children are less prone to allergies.

12. Forcing children to share

At the age of 2, children begin to learn to behave and manage what they own. This is why anyone who takes something from a child is considered an intruder. However, very few parents understand this. Mothers do not want their children to be considered greedy and selfish, so they force their children to share toys and food with other children.

Psychologists believe that this way of parents will prevent children from seeing their needs, so they act against their wishes. Consequently, as an adult, children will not know how to say "no" even if it is for their own legitimate benefit.

13. Wrap the baby tightly when he sees cold hands and feet

A child's feet, hands or nose do not feel cold does not mean he is feeling cold. The normal temperature in a child's room should be between 20 and 22 ° C. In these conditions, the child does not need a hat, socks or gloves. It is more dangerous to feel hot than when a child feels cold. The most obvious signs are wet neck and skin color. The normal child's skin is pale pink, if too pink or red, it means the child is too hot, need to take off some clothes.