Dry scale on your baby's head? Use Olive Oil

Pranav developed dry scales on his forehead that slowly spread to the reminder of his head. This was due to the lack of oil and not washing his hair for over a month after the cough/cold episodes. Applying Dabur's Olive Oil to the scalp helped a great deal. The sclaes wither off automatically but takes a few days. Applyig Elocon lotion on alternate days is another way to treat the scales.

Home remedy to treat constipation in infants

Constipation is a commom problem if the baby is on supplement food and not on mother's milk. External foods like Lactogen, Nusobee etc can lead to gassiness and constipation causig extreme incovinience to kids. My granny's advice is to give 3 balck currants boiled in water with little saunf. Drain this water and feed this water to the baby. You might want to check with your Doctor however as Doctors advice against giving commercial gripe water these days.

I'm a Nan-1 baby

Pranav was fed Nan-1 formula for the first time today. It is a lot sweeter and tastier than Nusobee and he enjoys it. Doctor has recommended cup/spoon feeding him 60 ml for every feed. This meant he was getting a lot lesser from me.

Expressing breastmilk

When nipples go sore and you can't feed any longer, it is best not to waste the milk and to express them and store them in sterilized containers. When not fed, there is tendency for the milk to overflow causing extreme discomfort. Expressing is the art of squeezing milk from your breasts.

It is extremely convenient and painless to squeeze it by hand than resort to electric pumps or syringes. You can store it in sterilized or plastic bottles. Be sure to use it within 6 hours if kept in room temperature or within 10 hours if refrigerated. Refrigerated milk should be warmed before fed. Do not heat it directly. Keep the milk in a bowl of warm water and get it to room temperature. Babies like to drink if it is warm.

I have often found the milk supply to increase after every session of expressing.

2 months, 1 week : starts smiling

Lil General started smiling which is a big change from his expressionless teeny weeny face. I'm excited now and the feeling of liking him is slowly setting in. Don't get me wrong but the instant affection between a mother and baby that all baby books talk about and the stuff you see in movies was totally absent. All that my mind revolved around was how much sleep I would get before he wakes up again ...Life has been very exhausting and depressing..it could have been worse if mom weren't around. With all the help we had around here after LG was born, it was easy. Now everyone's gone and managing LG between the two of us - mom and I is getting stressful and tiring. It is such a vicious circle of feeding, changing nappies, bathing and again feeding. it just seems never ending...but I am happy for at least he is smiling - feels like we have human being amongst us at last.

Formula fed for the first time today: I hate NUSOBEE

When breastfeeding has to be stopped temporarily because of bite marks and soreness i the breasts, a mother is left with only 2 options to feed her baby - expressing milk which is safe and nutritious for the baby and naturally the best option. When expressing is also ruled out if the tissues are ruptured badly and it is painful for the mother, then the second option is to go for infant formula. When I couldn't continue any longer, I temporarily decided to go the formula route for a day or 2 that will heal the wounds and can continue feeding after that. The formula has to be prescribed by the Paed and one cannot just buy any infant formula off the shelf. The Doc prescribed Nusobee for Pranav which is a lactose free and sucrose free one. Since it was late last night by the time we got back from the Doc's, I decided to try it the first thing this morning to see if his system accepted it. He just doesn't seem to like it. Firstly, it is the first external food he is having since birth. Secondly, it is fed differently - through a spoon that he is ot used to at all. Third- it tastes yuck - no sweet, no taste! So I'm going to give it a day or two and then visit the Doc to see if he can prescribe somethig else.

Can I use diaper for newborn in India?

My husband and I were physically drained a week after our son's birth. A good part of this was attributed to the exercise of changing his cloth nappies every 10 minutes. I am not exaggerating at all. Since the digestive system in new born is not fully developed and is highly immature, they tend to urinate and poop a lot. It got so taxing in the nights, that we would subconsciously change his Nappy and just throw it from the bed into the dustbin. Over days, we had perfected the art of throwing into the dustbin :)

Anyways so we asked the Doc if we could use diapers. He recommended against it. This is largely because of the climatic conditions in India. Being a tropical country wherein most houses are still not equipped with an a/c, the baby can develop rashes easily causing him discomfort. So cloth nappies are the best. Arrange for someone to do the laundry atleast twice everyday so that it doesn't pile up.

However, you might try this. On some rough nights, when the baby hasn't slept through the day , you might want to use a diaper in the night. This will give him a undisturbed night of sleep. And you also need not be worried about your baby sleeping in a wet bed. I found our son to sleep through the night when he wore a diaper. Apply a diaper rash cream the next morning. Similarly, when you are sick too, put a diaper on as a precaution even if you sleep and forget to check in intervals for a wet bed.

Similarly, when we take him out I put a diaper on. Check out Pampers' diaper for newborns.

Hypocalcemia or Calcium Deficiency in newborns

From the minute my son was born, his body shook violently. There would be sessions of tremors when his hands/legs would shake violently. Until the end of day 1, we thought he was cold outside and covered him though it was warm. The a/c was turned off and the room kept warm too. Despite this, the tremors did not stop and on the second night he cried continuously. Nothing stopped his crying - feeding, comforting him on the shoulders. That's when we sought the help of the nurses at the hospital at about 4:00 a.m. who after observing him for 20 mins called the Paediatrician.

The Doc said he had to be shifted to a children's ICU ad kept under observation for a minimum of 24 hours. Diagnosis revealed that he had developed or rather was born with a condition known as Hypocalcemia - Calcium deficiency. A feeling of guilt engulfed me as I had skipped Calcium Sandoz tablets during the last fortnight of my pregnancy and my milk intake in the first trimester was very low.

The causes of Hypocalcemia extend beyond mother's itake of calcium during the pregnancy. Lack of adequate sunlight (vitamin D) - especially people confined to indoors through the day are more prone to this.

He was treated with intravenous doses of calcium for 2 days at the ICU. This was followed by a full course of antibiotics after which the tremors reduced considerably. A week later when it relapsed, he was prescribed 2ml of Ostocalcium syrup every night for 15 days.

Do's and don'ts for cracked or sore nipples

Ulcerated nipples can hurt a lot causing a throbbing pain making it almost impossible to feed. Here are a few tips that helped me and will probably help you as well:

Dont's:

1. Do not wash them repeatedly through the day. Wetness increases the pain. Washing them once a day during bath is sufficient. You can just wipe them clean after very feed.


2. Leave them open to fresh air if you can for a while. It hurts while the ulcerated area rubs against clothing.


3. Do not drown the area in ointments.


4. Do not apply hot water bag. Dry heat is better than wet heat so do not pour hot water.


5. If your baby adjusts or moves while feeding causing you pain, break the suction gently by slipping a finger and reposition him/her to latch on right. I have found improper latching-on positions leads to soreness.


6. Do not let him/her suck when there is no/less milk. Sucking on the muscles leads to soreness.


7. If the pain is unbearable, pump out the milk and spoon feed the baby. Let the area heal for 2-3 days. This way your baby is not deprived of your milk at the same time you heal as well.
   

Do's:

1. Get medical attention first before anything else. Start using Nipcare before the delivery itself. Placentrex was another ointment prescribed for me that helped.


2. Use hair dryer to dry the area after every feed. Dry heat helps.


3. The choice of clothing plays a big role. So wear comfortable clothing.

Is your baby getting enough milk?

Grannies are quick to conclude that the baby is not getting enough milk from the mother if he does not stop crying eve after being fed for some time. Firstly, the duration for which a baby is being fed is no indication of how much the baby has druk. Some kids are lazy feeders while some would drink as if he has been hungry for ages.

If you are not covinced about the feeding being sufficient, ask your doctor. The doc usually checks the weight again and will ask you the number of times the baby urinates in a day. If there is ample weight gain (150 to 200 gms in a week) and urinates atleast 6-7 times a day then be assured that there is enough milk and there is no need for a supplement. It is good to solely feed your kid for 6 months without any other supplement. Having said that, there are times of the day like nights when the supply and demand might not match. These are rough nights that one has to patiently live through. Similarly, when your kid has a cold the demand to be fed can be very very high. On such days, have enough milk (5-6 glasses atlest) so that you can feed your baby.

Medication to increase milk production:

These ayurvedic tablets/powder that help in production of milk were prescribed.

Lactare - 2 tablets 3 times a day
Galact - to be had with milk 3 times a day.

Medication for cough, nasal congestion in babies

Pranav suffered a geat deal from cough and blocked nose for days. This prescribed medication gave him good relief within 3 days.

Althrocin syrup 3 times a day.
Mucolite for cough.
Nasiveon for blocked nose to be given before feeding.

Gynaecologists and Paediatricians in Trichy

If you are planning on having your delivery in Trichy, then here is the list of the reputed Gynaecs and Chil specialists in Trichy.

Gynaecologists
Dr.Chitra - Lalitha Nursing Home - 11th Cross, Thillai Nagar
Dr.Indra Rangarajan - Lakshmi Nursing Home - 10th Cross, Thillai Nagar
Dr.Ramani Devi
Shakuntala Nursing Home - 1st Cross, Thillai Nagar

Paediatricians
Dr. K. Ramanathan - 11th Cross, Thillai Nagar
Dr. Sunil Srinivasan - 5th Cross, Thillai Nagar

Top ten reasons why your newborn cries..

Every time my seven week old son cries, I wish he could speak and tell me whats bothering him. It would be difficult to believe any new parent who says my child doesn't cry. All kids cry from anywhere between 1 to 3 hours everyday. That's the only way they can communicate their needs. Over the weeks I have made a list of why my son cries. Based on his needs/moods the tone and the length of every crying session differs.

1. I'm hungry. I need to be fed. - This by far is the most common reason or the most convenient one for parents to assume. Trouble starts when crying doesn't stop after being fed.


2. Putting him down after every feed irritates him. Regurgitating after the feed makes him comfortable.


3. I've done it. I'm lying in a wet bed. Change my nappy. Make it quick.


4. Dodos..I need some air. I'm either too warm or too cold. Touch my neck or tummy and decide which one it is.


5. I can't sleep by myself. Hold me and sing me lullabies.


6. Stomach ache. Mommy ..what did you eat. My tummy is aching.


7. Hiccup is bothering me. Will you do something about it?


8. I need to urinate but its paining. I'm straining...


9. I'm sick..running nose, fever and an irritatig throat etc..


10. No good reason. I'm bored and need some entertainment.