Important information about your 18 month old
Family
Set firm, fair rules and keep them the same to teach your child respect and discipline. Timeout should happen in a neutral area of the house (one minute for each year of age). Also, praise them for things that they do correctly and for good behavior. Eat meals as a family and encourage physical activity, whether as a family or with others. Support emerging independence but reinforce limits.
Development
Use simple words to describe pictures in the books that you read. Allow your child to choose between two options. Use simple, clear words and phrases to promote language development. Make sure to describe feelings and emotions. At this age, your child will have stranger anxiety and more separation anxiety when away from you. This is because they are perceiving and understanding more movements. They also enjoy imaginary play, so engage your child with different toys and pretend play.
Health
There should be no smoking in the home of the child or in the car. Your child should have a night routine, including reading, singing, brushing teeth. They should also be brushing their teeth twice a day with child’s toothpaste and a soft toothbrush. There should be no TV at meals, and if you choose to introduce media at this age, we recommend less than 1 hour a day of high quality applications (i.e. Daniel Tiger for parent app) and always with a parent. Do not use TV as a means to calm your child. Excessive media use in children has been associated with obesity, lack of sleep, aggression, and behavior problems.
Nutrition
Your child should have 3 meals a day with 2-3 snacks per day. They should be eating healthy meals with no junk food. Encourage them to feed themselves and choose what they want to eat off of the plate. They should be off of the bottle, but, if not, continue to wean them off of it, only putting water in the bottle and don’t give them their bottle while they are in bed.
Safety
Make sure your home is childproofed and that your child still sits in a rear-facing car seat in the back seat. Around water, you should never be more than an arm-length away from your child, and think about signing them up for swimming lessons. No smoking in house or car. If your family owns any guns, they should be kept unloaded and locked away. The hot water heater should be set to 120 °F or below. Keep hot liquids out of reach and be careful when cooking in the kitchen.
Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222
After Hours and Weekends
After 4:00 PM and before 8:00 AM
For medical advice when People’s is closed call After Hours Nurse line at 512-478-4939
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