Nisarga

Category: infant

  • Travel tips to India

    While searching for diaper rash because I wanted to know what its like, I came across a page with the stupidest information for visitors traveling to India with infants. Not only is it factually incorrect, it stinks of pseudo superiority.

    I have a lot of friends who are foreigners (as in non-Indians). Many of them have kids. Some bring their kids here, a few have given birth in India. The top three things I hear from parents of infants about their India experience are:

    • The tradition of post-partum massage in India totally rocks. Its the ultimate in pampering, and the stomach binding methods really help new moms get back into shape.
    • India is a place to be experienced anew through the wonder of a young child.
    • If you want to potty train your kid, bring him to India, and let a few of the grannies at him/her. Quick, painless and blessed freedom from marathon diapering.

    I also know quite a few Indians who have settled abroad. These people seem to have lost touch with their sense of wonder in their need for looking down at the very things they grew up and flourished on. Take for example this article with its snobbish approach.

    • Number one problem in India is mosquitoes! Wow!!! And what problems Harish faces with them. Mosquito nets are too hot, coils are a bad idea (I agree). odomos is unsafe for children, and to bring electronic repellents before entering India. This guy has seriously lost touch with what India has become. Whatever happened to the liquid repellents like All out? Odomos works fine on kids as young as you like as long as you don’t apply it on areas babies suck – hands. I don’t even know that it does harm if applied to hands.
    • Water is a big problem. Sure – in some places, but bringing a kettle from US of A to boil it? The smallest roadside dhaba will give you all the boiled water in a clean utensil you want for free. Never mind the relatives you have come to meet.
    • Infant formula can be found in one store in Mumbai? Is this guy nuts or totally clueless about shopping for babies? Its more like one store every  5 minutes in any direction.
    • Not to bring babies under 2 years, one year etc. And here I was, an idiot for thinking that breastfed babies would have better immunity as well as make water problems irrelevant. Though if the guy has “psuedo-civilized” enough, he probably thinks breastfeeding is something the primitive Indians do and real babies thrive on formula.

    Oh, I could go on and on and on…. but one thing leaps to my mind. Cheerful parents make cheerful babies and fussy parents make fussy babies. What wonder is it if the baby keep suffering because that seems to be all the parent can see?

    While I hate to stereotype, this is such a glaring pattern, that I’d be lying if I’d de-nationalized it.

    The British have left India, but the hangover of inferiority remains. For many people in India, reaching a place where they are better than other Indians imprisons them from appreciating what is, in their hunt for what’s wrong. They can relocate, but the mind remains in their prison of insecurities. There are two ways to be higher my friend. One is to life life to our best. The other is to push everything near us down. Guess which is easier, and which is more satisfying.

    On the other hand, non-Indians enter India with a desire for discovery, prepared fully to enjoy their visit, and they find an enriching experience and adventure in the same land with the same number of shops and availability of products.

    We can choose to win or whine. Remember, we will soon have echoes of our words coming out of our children’s mouths. What is the world we want them to discover? What is the attitude we want to encourage?

  • Baby's first real smile

    Okay guys, Today, I’m on top of the world.

    I woke up to see Nisarg already awake and quiet next to me and wanted to spend some quiet time with him. I picked up a rattle and showed it to him, cooing “Good morning!” and some random nonsense. Nisarg stared quietly and very seriously at the rattle, as he licked his left little finger and suddenly bestowed a thousand watt beaming smile complete with toothless gums all the way!. Then he looked at me, gave another brilliant smile and looked back at the rattle.

    He’s been smiling on and off when he’s drowsy, but this is the first “intelligent” smile. He went all out with it. What a way to begin smiling, and what a glorious way to begin my day!!!

    I wish I had a camera handy to capture this incredible bit of sunshine for today.

    BTW, if you are trying to make your little one smile, here is what I did if it helps. Not that it helped when I tried it a couple of hours later…

    • I came into the picture, when he was receptive
    • I was quiet and didn’t overwhelm him
    • I showed him something (interesting is a matter of perspective in this case, I think)
    • I paid attention and was appropriately delighted with his first smile.

     I think, it was basically more about him being ready to smile – his age, state and stimulus.

    • He’s five weeks, so its about the right time for him to begin smiling.
    • He was in a quiet mood, when he didn’t have to worry about hunger or poo or pee or discomfort
    • His favourite person (at least the one he is most used to) was paying him undivided attention and showing something that was interesting without making too loud a noise that worries him (shaking a rattle makes him look, but not much else)

    If you’ve found this post because you’re trying to get your little one to smile, good luck!

    If you are an experienced parent, do share your ideas for coaxing more smiles….

  • Tips for infant gas pain

    We had gas pain again last night.

    This time around, I was able to comfort him in an hour…. which is too long for my baby to be in pain…

    What worked was:

    • Playing his favourite music
    • Cuddling to comfort him
    • Breastfeeding to comfort him
    • Patting and stroking his back while cuddling to help him burp
    • Raising his legs like for a diaper change to help him fart
    • Doing leg exercises like cycling, pressing knees to stomach, etc

    Feeling troubled about giving gripe water when the doctor said not to, I gave it anyway and discovered that burping him immediately after the gripe water provided greater relief than just giving it to him. He burped at least two times, maybe five (couldn’t be sure if those were burps).

  • Gas trouble for my baby

    We had our first horrible night.

    Nisarg just cried and cried and cried for 3 hours. We felt so helpless.

    He woke up screaming bloody murder. Poor baby had gas. Every little while, a pain built and he screamed and squirmed and kicked out with his tiny feet in agony, and all we could do was look on helplessly as all our comfort methods failed. If there was ever a moment parents could be fired for failing their babies, it was this one….

    I tried everything I could. Rocking, singing, talking, cuddling, massaging, feeding at the breast, bottle, moving his feet to help expel the gas. Everything worked for a minute or so, and the poor tyke was back to yelling. I have never felt so helpless or under prepared. The doctor had given us some drops and they helped, but it was about an hour after he had started crying that we thought to give them….

    He had cried so hard that he was still having tiny sobs after he finally drank milk and slept. The morning brought some relief, but it was back to the same screaming inconsolably a while later.

    Am at my wits end. Called the doctor, and she simply said that these things happen and to comfort him how we could.

    Mother in law says to give him gripe water everyday, but the doctor shot down the idea earlier. She repeated it again, and again, and again, till we got some and gave it to him. Not much of a difference though he does like the taste.

    On an internet expedition to find out what I can do to help him.

  • Milk coma in infants?

    I learned a new term today – milk coma.

    Apparently it is the state of the baby after it has fed well, and can barely keep his eyes open. Like this:

    Talk about drunk
    That’s it – not a drop more!

    I used to call it Niarg getting tipsy on milk and then blackout, but “milk coma” describes it good too….

  • How to play with a newborn

    I read a lot about the importance of play in the growth and development of a baby. However, there was little I found on when to begin and how to go about it with a newborn baby.

    Of course, like any other parent, I was eager to “test drive” my brand new son. Unfortunately, said son had other ideas. He was hopelessly unable to smile, make interesting sounds or move in any way that could lead to playing. Now what. Here are some tips fom experience and what little information I could find.

    • Forget about “training” baby to do anything. Doesn’t work. The idea is to train yourself to do stuff he can relate with or find interesting.
    • Singing: This guy knows my voice and he loves to listen to it. Singing makes him look intently at me if I’m close, or in my direction if he can’t focus on me.
    • Chatter: Talk to him. Doesn’t matter what. Stocks will work, as will romance or fairy tales and chemistry equations. Just keep your tone relaxed and go on.
    • Cuddle: You will love this and so will your loved one.
    • Don’t expect enjoyment to mean smiles. If it ain’t crying or avoiding looking at you, its good with what you’re at.
    • Hand holding: Give him a finger to hold… or not. Whatever. Don’t expect too much every time your finger is offered.
    • Be brief: Conclude while its good. Everything is new to the baby, so your efforts could just end up tiring it out. begin when he seeks eye contact, and stop after a while (particularly with talking while looking at his eyes). No limits to cuddling though.

  • Baby's naming ceremony

    We had a small naming ceremony for the baby yesterday. We have named our son Nisarg.

    Since Nisarg is still quite young, we decided on an immediate family only event, which went exactly as we had hoped. With lots of love, cheer and caring.

    Nisarg means nature in Marathi.