Health of Newborns and Infants - Free Parenting Resources

Includes a discussion of night time parenting decisions, conditioning baby to fall asleep, transitioning techniques, and stay asleep techniques.

A description of the basics in taking care of a newborn.

This site has a parenting corner with featured topics and parenting resources, hundreds of symptoms, treatment and prevention articles for everything from abuse to working parents, and safety tips to prevent injury and illness.

Parenting help with information on bedtime activities, foods for sleep, sleep patterns, problems, schedules, and important information on SIDS.

“In some unfortunate cases, infants and toddlers have experienced severe tooth decay that has resulted in dental restorations or extractions. The good news is that decay is preventable.”

How to treat your baby's diaper rash and when you should see the doctor.

Includes vital information to prevent infant injury or death from strangulations and suffocations, scalds, falls, chokings, drownings, and poisonings related to common household products and furnishings.

How to eliminate potential hazards, prepare your home to be safe for baby, and practice safety.  Includes crib safety checklist.

Symptoms, causes, treatment, and background info about baby and infant ear aches and ear infections.

From FamilyDoctor.org, learn how you can still breastfeed your baby after returning to work.

Includes the advantages and challenges of breastfeeding and formula feeding, recommendations from leading health organizations, and more.  Also available in Spanish.

From the American Academy of Pediatricians, this comprehensive car seat guide includes tips for choosing the best seat for your child, safety rules, details on each of the car seat types and their use, how to properly install a car seat, a Q&A section, and brand and model information listings.

This discussion of which is best takes into consideration skin and health concerns, cost, the environment, and convenience. 

Cold symptoms in babies, when to call the doctor, and common treatments.

Advice for parents on coping with sleep deprivation and dealing with sleepless nights with your new baby.

What perinatal depression is, its causes, symptoms, treatment, and other recommendations and links. Also includes a link to information in Spanish.

Includes the causes and types of diaper rash, treatment, prevention, and when to call a doctor.

What you need to have on hand and ready, how to wipe the baby, separate instructions for diapering with cloth or disposable diapers, and preventing diaper rash.  Also available in Spanish.

Find out how to tell whether your baby has diarrhea, why it may be happening, and what you can do about it.

How to tell if your baby has a fever, when to call the doctor, fever reducing medicines, and more.

A guide to choosing, buying and maintaining toys for children and infants. Includes information on toy labeling and the Child Safety Protection Act.

From Family Education.  Why use formula, the differences in formulas, what’s healthy and not healthy, and how to choose the best formula for your baby.

This article, from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, provides information about how to safely begin an exercise program after baby is born.

Developed by the US Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Health and Human Services, these twelve booklets walk you through baby’s first year of life.  They include feeding tips, checkup information, stages of development, ways you can keep baby safe, and much more.  Also available in Spanish.

A one stop resource for health information.  The site is divided into four main areas:  Diseases and Conditions, Healthy Lifestyle, Your Health, and Look it Up. With information for men, women, children, and the aged; also features dental information, an “Ask the Expert" area, and interactive tools such as the exciting “A Look at Your Colon,” a “Ball Park Chow” game, and a depression self-assessment.  Featuring Harvard Medical School's consumer health information.

CDC’s National Immunization Project—“Interactive Childhood Immunization Scheduler.”  Includes useful links for more information. 

Learn when to introduce solid foods, why feeding baby solids too early can be harmful, and how to prepare food for baby as they grow.

Find out if baby is actually sick or just teething, learn when and how babies teeth, and the common symptoms of teething.

With three separate sites.  The parent site offers “Practical parenting, information, and news,” the kids’ site features “Homework help and how the body works,” and the teen site details “Answers, advice, and straight talk” about teen health issues.  Also available in Spanish.

The most comprehensive information about breastfeeding anywhere.  Also available in Spanish. 

The dangers of leaving a child unattended in a car, even for a quick errand, and how kids playing in cars often become trapped, trap others, or set the car in motion.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline runs a helpful website and phone hotline for people in crisis and those that care about them. Tollfree number: 800-799-7233.

Featuring “Safety and Health Magazine,” online safety courses, a comprehensive resource center with safety issues, fact sheets, a library, and research and statistics.

This page offers a list of articles to help mothers survive the early years of parenting.  Articles include "What Moms Really Feel on the Inside," "Balancing Motherhood and Self," "Breast Feeding, Night Feeding and other Perils," "Tips for New Moms: Please Tell Me it Gets Easier!" and "Can You Afford to Stay Home?  A Calculator" among many others.

This article includes a description of newborn sleep patterns and sleep states, a description of alert phases, how to help your baby fall asleep and sleep well, and recommendations for sleep positions and bedding to avoid Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  Also available in Spanish.

"Most babies have a strong sucking reflex. Some babies even suck their thumbs or fingers before they're born. Beyond nutrition, sucking often has a soothing, calming effect. That's why many parents rank pacifiers as must haves, right up there with diaper wipes and baby swings. But are pacifiers really OK for your baby? Although the answer to that question is often debated, the American Academy of Pediatrics gives pacifiers the green light."

Find out which pregnancy nutrition myths are fact and which are fiction.

Tips for helping your child break the thumb-sucking or pacifier habit.

The goal of the Safe Kids website is to prevent accidental injury.  Get information on programs such as “Safety in the Home,” and find safety tips sheets for bike helmets, poisoning, water safety, and much more.  Kids will enjoy the activities page with coloring sheets, mazes, quizzes and more fun.

From the National Back to Sleep campaign.  Baby deaths from SIDS have decreased more than 40% since this campaign began in 1992. 

Including instructions on cleaning bottles and equipment, preparing and storing formula, and other information.  Also available in French and Chinese.

Routine circumcision is no longer recommended by most pediatricians.  However, there are reasons some parents opt to have their sons circumcised.  Learn more about circumcision, the reasons for and against it, and get a worksheet that will help you weigh your decision.

The signs and symptoms that indicate it’s time to call your child's doctor.

“Mayo Clinic's three main Web sites provide information and services from the world's first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group medical practice. Manage your health with information and tools that reflect the expertise of Mayo's 2,500 physicians and scientists, learn how to access medical services, and discover Mayo's medical research and education offerings.”

Shaken Baby Syndrome often occurs when a parent or caregiver becomes frustrated or angry with an infant’s crying and shakes it hard.  The shaking can cause severe brain damage and even death.  Get tips for coping with a baby's crying.

Publications, resources, advocacy, facts and more about children's disabilities.  Also available in Spanish.

A new study published in Pediatrics links high levels of pesticides in children's urine with higher incidences of ADHD.  In the Tips for Parents, learn how children are exposed to pesticides and how you can lower their exposure.

Get parenting tips on keeping your family safe this summer while out and about doing all of your favorite summer activities.  Including help on bicycle safety, water safety, heat safety, sunburn safety, and stranger danger safety.

What Colic is, how long it can last, possible causes, how it is diagnosed, and how to cope.

What to do when baby is vomiting, the dehyrdation risk, and when to call the doctor.

“The Nation’s Leading Resource on the First Years of Life.”  Follow the “Parents” link to a “Parent’s A-Z” with articles on hundreds of topics, a tip of the week, FAQs, Brain Wonders (a section of the site devoted to brain development), and the national education campaign “The Magic of Everyday Moments.” It “is designed to help you and other caregivers understand and gain ideas for how to use simple, everyday moments to promote your child's social, emotional, and intellectual development.”