Letting your child skip a nap may seem like no biggie, but come evening, faced with a true grumposaurus on your hands, you might be singing a new lullaby. Want to know why skipping a nap is the infant equivalent of pulling an all-nighter? We asked Elizabeth Pantley, author of the The No-Cry Nap Solution (McGraw-Hill, 2008) to fill us in on why naps are the most effective mother’s (and baby’s) little helper. You cover naps in your book The No-Cry Sleep Solution (McGraw-Hill, 2002) . Why did you decide to develop a new book on naps specifically? I thought I knew everything there was to know about naps, since I've written two other books and countless articles about children and sleep, but I was shocked and amazed at the new information I discovered while writing this book. I set out on this knowing that parents struggle getting their children to nap; since almost one third of readers who write to me ask about napping. Everyone knows that children need naps, but the biological...

Preverbal communication can be stressful. While a mom or dad can interpret a lot of baby's communication instinctually, we all know what it’s like to try and figure out what cries are trying to tell us through the process of elimination: Hungry? Sleepy? Thirsty? Tummy ache? Karmic justice? (That’s your own mother talking, not us.) Introducing simple signs that communicate specific needs, such as milk , bottle , and more , can help reduce a child’s frustration at trying to convey their immediate need, and a parent’s frustration at trying to decipher what all that crying...

Until recently, antibiotics were the first line of defense against ear infections. But raising concerns about antibiotic resistance—along with a convincing study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2006—have changed that. The study, conducted in children ages 6 months to 12 years, found that waiting 48 hours to allow the infection to clear up on its own was just as effective as treating it with antibiotics. Of course, 48 hours with the pain, fever, and general misery of an ear infection is hardly an appealing alternative. Relief may come in over-the-counter...