Q1:
I have a 4-month-old premature baby who weighed 1.5kg when she was born. On the third day after her delivery, she developed jaundice and was down with pneumonia. She was also ventilated for 3 weeks and was given oxygen through a tube that was attached near her nostrils for another 18 days after that. Overall, she stayed in the hospital for 46 days before being discharged. My question is, will she have a higher chance of contracting asthma due to her weaker lungs and her history of pneumonia?

Premature babies often need mechanical ventilation from birth due to their immature lungs. Three weeks may sound a lot, but by premature babies' standard, it is not too bad. If you look at the statistics, your baby may have a slightly higher chance to get respiratory tract infections in the first one or two years and a higher chance to get asthma. Overall, most of the premature babies with birthweight of 1.5kg do very well in the long term.

Q2:
My 13-month-old son seems to put everything into his mouth from the floor. I understand that it is a growing stage and it will phase out eventually. But when will it happen? How do we as parents help him to grow out of this bad habit? Would spanking or scolding work?

At this stage, the best way is probably to make sure that the floor and everything that lies on it is clean. Having said that, you should continue to tell him not to put dirty things in his mouth while at the same time minimising the chance for him to do just that. Patience is the key here. No, I don't think spanking or scolding is a good idea on a 13-month-old.

Q3:
My daughter is 4-month-old. Does she still need her milk-bottle sterilised ?

There is no absolute right answer for this, but you could probably be slightly less obsessive when your baby reaches 4 to 6 months of age. Of course, it is still important to maintain a very high standard of hygiene for all her feeding utensils even if you don't sterilise them.

Q4:
My son is one-year-old now, but he can hardly sleep soundly throughout the night. He will wake up and cry every 1-2 hours per night either to look for a bottle of milk or to swing in the spring cot. I tried to ignore him and let him cry, hoping he would go back to sleep by himself but he can continue to cry for hours without stopping. He doesn't sloop a lot in the daytime either, maximum of 1-2 hours a day. This has made me feel very frustrated & extremely tired. Is there anything wrong with my son? What can I do about it?

There are many possible reasons why your son don't sleep well at night. Is he over-stimulated? Is he hungry/ how is the home environment? It might be a good idea to talk directly to your doctor so that he can explore further what the problem might be.

Q5:
My 2-year-old son loves to jump off tables. Mostly it's not too high, about half a metre. He doesn't seem hurt by it, though I worry a bit that he might be putting extra strain on his joints as he grows up. Should I worry?

Kids generally do things that are within the limits of their capabilities. Jumping off a half-metre high table is probably not going to hurt a two-year-old that much.

Courtesy from Parenthood Magazine (25 January 2002)