1. Working moms provide positive role models. Children need to realize from an early age that women are not just domestic servants and that they may have a professional life of their own. Girls will learn that they need to think about a career, rather than just getting married and having children.

13 Ways Working Moms Can Balance Work and Family (And Be Happy)

1. Let go of the mom guilt.
2. Use time saving hacks.
3. Find childcare providers that you trust.
4. Maintain open communication with your manager.
5. Reduce distractions and time wasters.
6. Reconnect with your partner.
7. Create special and meaningful family activities.

11 Quick Time-Management Tips for Crunched Working Moms

1. Spend enough time sleeping. If you do nothing else, prioritize your sleep needs so you can thrive.
2. Establish sane work hours.
3. Embrace the power of “No.”
4. Set attainable daily goals.
5. Don’t even try to multitask.
6. Let go of perfection.
7. Step away from the internet.
8. Have some fun along the way.

Working mothers, as a label, refers to women who are mothers and who work outside the home for income in addition to the work they perform at home in raising their children.

A working woman is expected to be a good wife and mother before anything else, never mind her professional status or skills. Many women themselves put a premium on being a good mother at the cost of their work or career.

“Some asked if children of stay-at-home moms were happier,” McGinn says. Compared to women whose mothers stayed home full time, women raised by an employed mother are 1.21 times more likely to be employed; 1.29 times more likely to supervise others at work; and they spend 44 extra minutes at their jobs each week.

Research from three industrialised countries finds that early returns to work after childbearing do not pose a threat to the healthy development of children. Mothers’ going back to work soon after childbirth poses no harm to children’s development, according to our recent studies in the US, UK, and Australia.

Research shows that a baby’s health can improve when they sleep close to parents. In fact, babies that sleep with parents have more regular heartbeats and breathing. They even sleep more soundly. And being close to parents is even shown to reduce the risk of SIDS.

Around the 1-year mark, babies learn affectionate behaviors such as kissing. It starts as an imitative behavior, says Lyness, but as a baby repeats these behaviors and sees that they bring happy responses from the people he’s attached to, he becomes aware that he’s pleasing the people he loves.

Over time, our brains start filtering out details deemed unimportant. When babies are just three to four months old, they can pick out image differences that adults never notice. But after the age of five months, the infants lose their super-sight abilities, reports Susana Martinez-Conde for Scientific American.

Whether breast- or bottle-fed, babies develop foundational social communication skills by looking at a caregiver’s face during feedings. When your infant locks eyes with you, and shifts his gaze to notice what you are looking at, this shows joint attention (the social sharing of a moment between two people).

When your baby conforms her body to your arms and doesn’t arch her back, it’s a sign that she’s comfortable. At this age, she’s happy when you meet her basic needs: You respond to her cries, feed her, change her diapers, and lull her to sleep.

Infants who avoid eye contact with their parents mostly end up with a diagnosis of autism. This sign falls under the “social skills” category of autism and is regarded as a red flag. As per the growth milestones set by pediatricians, most babies start to make eye contact at around three months of age.

Babies need to hear language before they can start talking. You are supporting and loving your baby by talking to them, even if they can’t talk back yet.

Here are 5 foods to limit or avoid while breastfeeding, as well as tips for how to tell if your diet is affecting your baby.

• Fish high in mercury.
• Some herbal supplements.
• Alcohol.
• Caffeine.
• Highly processed foods.

Mobile phones do emit radiations and your baby, being so tiny, may absorb these radiations. However, they can still damage a baby’s DNA structure, brain cells, and can cause cancer and other diseases. So make sure that you keep your cell phone away from your baby not only during breastfeeding but almost all the time.

Making faces and talking or singing songs to your little one is fun and great for their development; however, during nursing/feeding sessions, try to stay calm and quiet. Try rocking while feeding. Sometimes the rocking motion can help babies focus.

You may find that your baby may want to feed more often, or for longer, at night, especially if you’re breastfeeding. This is because your body produces more prolactin, the hormone that makes milk, at night. Night time feeds can actually stimulate your body to make more milk.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with nursing your baby to sleep, if you want your baby to sleep through the night so you can too, you’ll likely have to change that nighttime feed.

Babies grow out of breastfeeding to sleep just as all other mammal babies do. And just as babies grow out of crawling or wearing nappies they stop breastfeeding.

Common Signs That Your Baby Is Hungry

1. Arms and legs are moving all around.
2. Awake and alert or just waking up.
3. Cooing, sighing, whimpering, or making other little sounds.
4. Making faces.
5. Moving head from side to side.
6. Putting her fingers or her fist into her mouth.
7. Restless, squirming, fussing, fidgeting, or wiggling around1

“Many people want babies to fall asleep alone, so mothers try not to let the baby fall asleep at the breast,” says McMillan. “But this often causes feeding problems. The baby may bite or clamp down on the breast.