Nina Said:

Important questions regarding 19 month old?

We Answered:

I have a schedule for my child..however. it bends when I need it to..as for when I go somewhere..since she is almost 2...the schedule is really not that hard to keep.

She gets up at 8am (give or take) and has breakfast
she plays, we play, then I clean
lunch is at 1pm
She takes a nap sometime after she is finished
dinner is at around 6pm
She goes to bed at 9

with going to bed...I rock my children..I rocked my first daughter to sleep every night until she was 3...after she was 3...I read to her everynight until she drifted off to sleep.
she is 8 now...she does not wake up in the mid of the night, she does not come into our bed...she has no trouble getting to sleep on her own.
I now do the same with my 2 year old..I rock her to sleep....why? because they only let us rock them for so long..before they are "too big" to be mommy's babies....its not like they will end up in your bed forever. So..he has a hard time going to sleep? rock him..and if you feel comfortable enough...bring him to bed with you..time flies and before you know it..he'll be too big to do so...by his own terms. My daughter now fights with me because she wants me to give her a kiss downstairs and allow her to go up to bed alone...I feel bad that I'm not tucking her in anymore..but...its her call not mine. And it seems like just yesterday I was rocking her..it flies..and it doesn't last long...so let them be mommy's cuddler :)


tantrums...are normal...they have no way of expressing themselves other than with crying or smiles...there are no in betweens...and they take they're signals from you on whats appropriate and what is not...when my daughter has a tantrum? I ignore it. I wait till it passes, then I pick her up, give her a hug and help her to get what she wants.

as for frustration..its a given in parenthood..however..if you are showing it..then he will learn it..which may be where alot of the tantrums come from..again..he takes his cues from you....

as for the speech therapy..he is still rather young...do you read to him? on a daily basis? also..when you speak be sure to speak as if you are talking to any other person..no baby words or terms...its not blankie..its a blanket..its not doggie...its a dog or puppy...its not dwink..its drink.....not saying that you are speaking that way to him...just saying..make sure you and others around him are not. But..don't correct him either..meaning...when he says something wrong..don't turn and say "no...its this way..." for example..you are taking a walk and he says "ooooh twee..." you then say "Yes I see that tree..isn't it pretty?" Children need around 10,000 words a day spoken to them in order to get the most benefit of learning..now this of course is almost impossible with today's busy world...but just make sure you are speaking to him and reading to him every chance you get. with my kids everything becomes a fun learning experience...with my toddler the grocery stores becomes an array of vocabulary learning as I point out veggies and fruits and place things in the cart..with my 8 year old..it becomes a fun math experience..which is priced better? which product gives us more for the money...etc etc

but most importantly realize....he's only a baby for so long, and today we seem geared to growing our kids up way to quick. Let him stay your baby for as long as he'll let you.