We like to think of ourselves as the best moms \u2013 ever. But even when we think we\u2019re doing everything right, we\u2019re not. Here are 10 of the biggest mistakes even savvy moms make:<\/p>\n
1. Sharing a bed with baby.
Bonding, breast-feeding, or 2 a.m. bottles and diaper changes are much easier when Junior is next to you at night.<\/p>\n
But you may be putting your child at risk.<\/p>\n
Bed-sharing is becoming more common in the U.S.: The number of babies who cuddle with their parents at night more than doubled (from 5.5% in 1993 to 12.8% in 2000), according to the National Infant Sleep Position Study.<\/p>\n
Infants who sleep in their parents\u2019 beds, however, are 40 times more likely to suffocate than those who don\u2019t, according to a 2003 St. Louis University study.<\/p>\n
Why? Babies may be smothered by the bedding, a parent rolling on top of them, or getting trapped between the mattress and the wall, headboard and\/or footboard.<\/p>\n
To co-sleep safely (especially during baby\u2019s first year), park the crib or bassinet next to your bed. Make sure it has a firm mattress with a fitted sheet but no other bedding. No pillows or stuffed animals \u2013 they\u2019re potential hazards.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t allow loose blankets either, because they can easily cover the baby\u2019s face. Instead, use warm sleep sacks, with holes for head and arms.<\/p>\n
And of course, always put infants to sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).<\/p>\n
2. Putting your child to bed with milk or juice.
This is the perfect setup \u2014 for cavities, says Michael Ignelzi, a Greensboro, N.C., dentist and orthodontist and spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.<\/p>\n
When kids sip milk or juice all day long or even just at night, cavity-causing bacteria in the mouth convert the beverages\u2019 sugars into tooth-decaying acid.<\/p>\n
How serious can it be? Recently, Ignelzi put four crowns into a 23-month-old boy\u2019s mouth. The toddler had been drinking milk every night for his entire life, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe milk sugars had rotted his top front baby teeth down to the nubs.\u201d<\/p>\n
So limit milk and juice to meal or snack times because then \u201cyou have a lot of salivary flow, which neutralizes the acid,\u201d Ignelzi explains.<\/p>\n
Between meals and at night, there\u2019s not a lot of saliva, and \u201cthe acid attacks for hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. Buying second-hand toys or baby furniture.
In a down economy, who could blame a mom for trying to save a few bucks by picking up gently used items at a garage sale or on Craigslist?<\/p>\n
But before you snap up that bargain, check Recalls.gov. This government-based clearinghouse for product recalls can tell you if the toy you\u2019re eyeing is hazardous.<\/p>\n
Manufacturers get a dismal return on many recalled children\u2019s products.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost recalled products are still out there, and people are unaware that the product their child is using is potentially lethal,\u201d says Gary Smith, M.D., director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children\u2019s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n
4. Showing your child \u201csmart baby\u201d DVDs.
Do you feel less guilty about using the \u201celectronic babysitter\u201d if your tot watches Brainy Baby and Baby Einstein DVDs? It\u2019s OK, you rationalize, because the programs give kids a leg up on education.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not what research shows.<\/p>\n
Instead of boosting Susie\u2019s language skills, the programs seem to hinder them. For every hour babies spent watching such educational DVDs, they knew 6-8 fewer words than babies who didn\u2019t view them, according to a 2007 University of Washington study.<\/p>\n
Another 2009 UW study found that when the TV is on, even in the background, parents interact less with their children, which also holds back language development. In fact, for every hour the TV is on, babies hear about 7% fewer words.<\/p>\n
So forget the DVDs and turn the boob tube off.<\/p>\n
Invest in old-fashioned building blocks instead. Another 2007 UW study found that toddlers who play with blocks have 15% bigger vocabularies than kids who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
5. Putting kids in the basket of a shopping cart.
Supermarket shopping carts don\u2019t look dangerous. But each year about 20,000 kids end up in emergency rooms because they tip over or fall out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe basket is absolutely the worst place\u201d for a child to ride, Smith says. \u201cA kid\u2019s center of gravity is up around the chest and when they reach for something on a shelf as you\u2019re passing by, they just go over the top.\u201d<\/p>\n
A safer way to shop with your youngster? Choose a bulky, tough-to-steer cart, preferably one with a seating space low to the ground. They\u2019re less likely to topple and a child is closer to the floor in a fall.<\/p>\n
6. Sharing utensils with your child.
There isn\u2019t a mom who hasn\u2019t dipped a spoon into hot oatmeal to test the temperature, then used that same spoon to feed her tot.<\/p>\n
Or who hasn\u2019t scooped up a dropped pacifier, given it a quick lick to \u201cclean\u201d it and then popped it back in Janie\u2019s mouth?<\/p>\n
Not so fast. These are perfect ways to pass the cavity-causing bacteria (and other germs) in your mouth to your baby, says dentist Ignelzi.<\/p>\n
A cleaner idea: Taste with one spoon and feed with another. And wash off or use a wipe to clean pacifiers.<\/p>\n
7. Delaying or avoiding vaccines.
Some parents \u2014 like celebrity Jenny McCarthy \u2014 refuse to give their children vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) because they believe they cause autism.<\/p>\n
Another trend is ignoring the vaccine schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and using an \u201calternative\u201d spaced-out timetable instead. The claim? It\u2019s safer.<\/p>\n
Actually, it\u2019s a life-threatening mistake.<\/p>\n
Delaying vaccines leaves your child open to \u201cserious, preventable diseases at the most vulnerable time in their lives, in infancy,\u201d warns Christopher Tolcher, M.D., an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at UCLA and a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.<\/p>\n
For starters, skipping the MMR won\u2019t prevent autism, says Paul Offit, M.D., chief of infectious diseases at Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia and author of Autism\u2019s False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine and the Search for a Cure (Columbia University Press). Studies of thousands of children have shown that they can develop autism whether or not they\u2019re vaccinated.<\/p>\n
Second, refusing the MMR vaccination increases the odds that a child will get measles \u2014 still a leading killer of kids worldwide \u2014 by up to 35 times.<\/p>\n
In 2008, when the U.S. experienced its largest measles outbreak in a decade, nearly half the 131 sickened kids were unvaccinated.<\/p>\n
Do you worry that giving too many vaccines at once taxes a baby\u2019s still-developing immune system?<\/p>\n
That fear isn’t supported by science, Tolcher says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat babies get in the vaccines pales in comparison to the amount of microorganisms and environmental contaminants that go into their mouths every hour of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
8. Leaving your child alone in the car \u201cjust for a minute.\u201d
Your toddler just fell asleep in the car and you have to pick up milk before you go home. You\u2019ll be fast, you think. What\u2019s the harm?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s more dangerous than you think. About 36 young children die each year because they were left alone in a hot car. In about 18% of cases, the child was intentionally left behind while the parent ran an errand.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t realize how quickly a car heats up,\u201d Smith says. Even on a mild day, the temperature inside a parked car can jump 19 degrees above the outside air is \u2014 in just 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin 20 minutes, it\u2019s like an oven,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Because their bodies heat up about three to five times faster than adults\u2019, it doesn\u2019t take long for an infant or toddler to get heatstroke. And that can be fatal.<\/p>\n
9. Skipping helmets on tricycles rides.
A fall from three to four feet can cause serious injury, even if the child isn\u2019t pedaling.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren on wheels above a hard surface need to wear a helmet,\u201d Smith says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s four wheels, three wheels or two wheels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Need another reason to insist on the helmet? It can be habit-forming.<\/p>\n
Kids who wear helmets when they\u2019re pedaling a trike are more likely to wear them when they\u2019re older and riding bikes or doing tricks on a skateboard or scooter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like wearing a seatbelt in the car,\u201d Smith says. \u201cYou start early and consistently enforce the behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
10. Leaving your child alone in the bath or shower.
About 100 children under 5 years old drown each year in the bathtub, usually because a parent or babysitter steps away for a few minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYoung children need to have constant supervision in and around water. Period,\u201d Smith says. \u201cYou should be able to reach out and touch them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another hazard: slips and falls. New research from Smith\u2019s center shows that more than 43,000 kids get hurt in bathtubs and showers each year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Whether you\u2019re a new mom or the leader of a pint-sized brigade, it\u2019s hard keeping up with all the do\u2019s and don\u2019ts of motherhood. Here are the 10 biggest mistakes parents make and how to avoid them\u2026 We like to think of ourselves as the best moms \u2013 ever<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":401213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-401212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"yoast_head":"\n