All About Baby: Chinese Vocabulary Related to Baby Care 

In Chinese, there is a popular saying regarding children which is 孩子是祖国的未来 (hái zǐ shì zǔ guó de wèi lái) meaning that “Children are the future of our country”.

Children require delicate care, let alone babies. Here we are to learn some useful Chinese vocabulary related to babies.

Pregnancy and Medical

This is a delicate and precious period for both the mommy and the baby. For pregnant women, every aspect of their life will affect the fetus, so they should be extremely careful with everything. Pregnant ladies should use drugs with caution, avoid radiation, and be cautious about any bleeding symptoms.

From this list, we can see that in Chinese, different terms are used to express babies of different ages. Whereas in English “infant/baby” would cover a quite large age range. 宝宝 is special in a way that there is no specific age range, this is a very cordial expression which indicates “darling baby/child”, and it could even be used among couples. 

As babies normally require special care and treatment, when health problems occur, parents would need to take them to special departments such as 儿科 (ér kē) “Pediatrics”.

Relevant vocabulary includes:

Feeding and Food

The feeding supplies for babies and children’s tableware are usually specially designed, many factors are taken into account, such as color, thermal conductivity, volatile chemicals, gripping or holding designs, lid designs, and auxiliary functions, etc. There are different tableware for children of all ages.

Principles for adding complementary food/dietary supplement “辅食 (fǔ shí)”: from watery to thick, from fine-grained to coarse-grained, from less to more. In the beginning, parents should only feed one new food at a time, after the baby adapts to his new recipe, then another new food could be added.

From 4 months old: 流食 (liú shí) liquid diet/food, such as milk powder and rice paste.

From 6 months old: 半固体食物 (bàn gù tǐ shí wù) semisolid food, such as fruit puree and egg yolk paste. 

7–9 months old: 软固体食物 (ruǎn gù tǐ shí wù) soft food, such as porridge and noodles.

10–12 months old: 固体食物 (gù tǐ shí wù) solid food.

via Pixabay

Materials and Measurements

Parents should choose manufacturers or distributors with product warranties and good after-sales services, also checking their product quality reports and company qualifications. The ingested food amount should also be measured and closely watched.

Baby clothing materials could be generally divided into cotton and gauze. Cotton clothing absorbs sweat better and is good for keeping warm. Gauze materials have good air permeability, it is also quick-drying, and doesn’t produce cotton batting; making it less likely to cause neonatal 过敏 (guò mǐn) allergies.

Clothing

Babies require different clothing for different ages. For babies 1–3 months old, jumpsuits and 和尚服 (hé shang fú) are recommended. 和尚服 means “monk gowns” when directly translated, but when it’s used to indicate baby clothing, this is a type that opens in front without buttons but uses strings instead.

via Pixabay

Beddings

It is neither hygienic nor safe for babies to sleep in large beds with adults. Babies should sleep independently from an early age, which is good for their mental and physical health. A baby sleeping bag is used to wrap the infant’s body to prevent him from kicking his blanket while asleep.

Daily Supplies

These are the daily supplies that a baby requires. As the baby’s skin is particularly delicate, adult toiletries may cause certain damages.

Toys

Baby toys could exercise muscles, promote hand-eye coordination and develop causality or spatial concepts. Parents should choose toys for their babies based on their specific age; safety should always be the first concern.

We hope that aside from learning some new vocabulary, you also acquired some tips and general understanding of how to take care of a baby. And do remember that your highest priority is: NEVER leave a baby alone or unattended.