I reintroduced NaN this month. The switch over of NaN formula from Stage 1 to Stage 2 happened as Lil General completed 6 months. NaN 2 is the follow up infant formula. I slightly increased the quantity of formula too based on this article in baby center on how much milk a 6 month old baby needs. With the monsoon setting in, I have discontinued butter milk and coconut water. Instead, I have switched over to dal water. The routine gets disturbed with the introduction of solid foods. Most days, it works as per the pre-determined schedule (worked out based on his sleep and bowel movement pattern) and then there are days when I can't go by the clock. Especially when he gets sick, he gets a lot cranky or if the food hasn't suited him well. Anyways, here it is.
6:30 a.m. - Mother's feed
8:00 a.m. - 120/150 ml of NaN - stage 2
10:00 a.m. - Pureed 3/4ths or a full carrot or half mashed apple. Made at home.
11:00 a.m. - 25 ml water or coconut water.
12:00 noon - 4-5 scoops of Nestum Rice or Nestum Rice-Ragi (Stage 1) or 2 scoops of Easum. I give this on alternate days for a change in taste. I mix this with either water or butter milk or dal if it is Nestum. Easum has dal in it already, so I mix that in water. A little water after the feed.
Mother's feed if needed in between.
4:30 p.m. - 120 ml of NaN stage 2 or Ragi kanji in water/formula.
6:30 p.m. - Mashed Banana or biscuit in water. (alternate days again) This feed is only if he is very hungry else it is mother's feed.
7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Based on if the 6:30 p.m. feed happened or not, dinner can be anytime between 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. - It is 4-5 scoops of Nestum Rice mixed in water.
11:00 p.m. - 90 ml to 120 ml of NaN stage 2.
This diet gets its protein from dals or Easum. Carbohydrates from Rice cereal and calcium from formula.
My baby's diet : 7th month
If in doubt, ask mom
Thank you Graham Bell, for inventing the telephone. And thanks to the deregulation in telecom industry that has brought about considerable fall in the prices of the STD and ISD calls. This enables me to be in constant touch with Mom.
If Lil General so much as sneezes or does a green potty 5 times or anything that he hasn't done before, the next thing I know I am talking to mom. Lil General measures only 70 cm in length...but huge enough to send jitters down my body anytime. A huge responsibility and a job assigned without any prior experience or training, yet you have to come out with flying colors all the time. No room for mistakes, only guidance available.
It has taken me a month to figure things out on my own, what to feed him, what not to, work out a schedule and if I am doing it right. With parents living abroad, I realised it is not always easy and feasible to get in touch with them at unearthly hours. So I found a new savior - the Internet that has answers to most of my questions such as "is it OK to give milk to a kid who has fever?" or "is it alright to give coconut water when it is raining? or "is it OK to bathe the kid if it is raining?". A lot of questions swim in my head all the time. Sometimes I am convinced by what I read and sometimes I don't and there are times when I feel very confident. Sometimes knowledge is power and sometimes ignorance is bliss. When I don't get convincing answers on the net, I reflect on experiences or ask mom and when nothing works, my instinct does.
There are still moments when I am overpowered by self doubt and decide after preparing the feed, that it might not suit him. Yea, welcome to the world of cautious parenting.
I am sure all the moms talk to moms frequently but how much I am not sure, atleast with their first kids. If you are amongst those know-it-all mom who does everything by yourself, I admire you and would like to hear from you.
In India, it is customary to use white clothes under the rubber mat and to wrap, for the baby. I don't know if there is any rationale behind it. One, it appears neat and clean and second, sometimes it helped me to spot quickly if any insects had crept onto the bed like a small red ant once (yea, the pesticide treatment /turmeric didn't work much with red ants). In the first 8 weeks, you would use on an average about 30-40 clothes in a day - assuming you are not using diapers or nappy pads and only cloth nappies. It is not a good idea to place the baby directly under the rubber mat because rubber generates a lot of heat which is not good for the kid. Here are some ideas to get your white clothes ready before the baby is born:
- Generally in the south, old folks such as grandfather or father wear dhotis at home. If the dhotis are clean and white and not used too many times, then you can cut them into roughly 2.5*2.5 ft size pieces. The idea behind using used ones is it is soft on the baby's skin as compared to the new ones.
- you can buy mull or cotton cloth and get the corners stitched by a tailor. Roughly a meter of cloth would give about 4 pieces. So you do the math of how many meters you would need.
Store your umbilical cord blood in a Stem Cell bank
Last Sunday's Times Life carried a good article on why you should store umbilical cord blood if you can afford it. This is a great Way of creating awareness. Very little people in urban India are aware that this is possible in India through an organisation called LifeCell. The Seniol and I were aware of this last year itself through their ads that appear regularly in Femina. But I repent now for not taking timely action and storing the cord blood with LifeCell for Lil General. In the last few months of pregnancy, every one is worried about how it will go and working out the logistics that this was totally missed. What could have been a better life long gift for the baby? So if you can afford it, please plan it and do so. You'd rather not do the same mistake that we did. Here is the article that appeared in the Times :
STRIKE ACORD
Move over Nintendos and Playstations… the latest gift the rich and famous are giving their little ones is a cord blood bank account. Indrani Rajkhowa Banerjee
on a facility which involves storing baby cells from the umbilical cord
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
WHAT IF at 18 you were to suddenly discover that you have diabetes or some equally dreadful health condition? Your world comes crashing down. But your mom doesn't seem too perturbed or worked up. She simply rings up the family doctor and tells you that the blood stored from your umbilical cord for the past 18 years will nix all your medical woes. Unbelievable?
Well, it's happening in India, a trend that is surely making its presence felt, specially amongst the affluent ones.
The latest gift celebs and upwardly mobile parents are giving their little bundles of joy is signing on for facilities that store their umbilical cord blood. Though this service comes for a hefty price tag, which may be considered steep for most Indians, parents who have gone for it say it's similar to taking out a life insurance policy for the child.
Second-time pregnant Priya Dutt, MP and daughter of the late actor-politician, Sunil Dutt, swears by the decision she took for her first born. So do actors Madhavan and Raveena Tandon and cricketers Ajit Agarkar and Nayan Mongia. For the uninitiated, cord-blood banking involves harvesting stem cells from the placenta and umbilical cord, normally discarded after the baby is born. The baby cells from the umbilical cord are stored to be used at a later date to treat diseases, including cancer, Parkinson's, diabetes and so on.
Call it a legacy that parents and grandparents are leaving behind for a privileged few, but certain incidents that Dr V R Chandramouli, CEO of Life Cell, a pioneer in this field in India, narrates, will make you choose this facility over the Rs 75,000 Fisher Price layette for your yet-to-be born. Here's a case study:
It was a moment of joy when Julie and Jonathan Henderson found out that Julie was pregnant with their second child. But their joy was short-lived as around the same time they discovered that their twoyear-old son Nicolas had Tcell lymphoma. After Nicolas' chemotherapy failed to work, the Hendersons’ doctor tried a relatively new transplant procedure using stem cells taken from the umbilical cord blood of their just born baby, Nathaniel. Today, Nicolas is a happy, energetic fouryear-old, who is in remission. He and his baby brother Nathaniel share a special bond.
"Cord blood is more like a biological future health insurance for the newborn baby and its future offspring and siblings. And with 21 million births a year, stem cells from cord blood, which is discarded everyday in all maternity hospitals as a bio-medial waste, can be a precious source giving renewed hope to many," says Chandramouli.
"What's Rs 75,000, if it ensures cure for deadly diseases that might harm my child in the future?" asks Madhavan. "We never shy away from buying the most expensive toys or clothes for our babies. In fact, do we bang our heads before we do all the investments for their life, education or marriage? No, we don't. Then why not something for their health?"
Proud mama Raveena couldn't agree more. She's at peace that she took the decision for her daughter Rashaa. Priya, who has decided to book an umbilical cord blood account for her unborn second baby, feels "It's the greatest gift you could give to your child."
The process for storing and preserving the cord blood is hassle-free. "From our first contact to the sample collection, the process was efficient, prompt and professional," says Ajit. In the case of Madhavan, his family, other than his wife, didn't even get to know about it. "It was a painless process where they take a little bit of blood and it's over." Other than having deep pockets, you'll also have to be intelligent and brave enough to shake the age-old taboo (if some long-lost aunt declares it ominous for the baby) and assert just the way Raveena does: "I've g i f t e d Ra s h a a something extremely precious — health and happiness for life."
How to get your kid to have medicines?
Kids until 1 year old are prone to fall ill frequently and there might be times when you would have to give drops, syrups and tablets in water. There were too many such instances for me ever since LG was born. His medicine cabinet was full, the first two months and things got better slowly only to grow worse during teething and the move to Pune.
Until LG was 12 weeks old, I was a happy mom when it came to his medicine eating habit. The most non-fussiest kid on that account - so many drops and syrups without the slightest oon. It all changed at 6 months. He has grown older and understands the difference between food and what is not food. Knows that something that follows a little while after food is not normal. This has given way to he becoming very aggressive and suspective even while I am feeding him normal food that his first reaction is to resist the spoon or turn the bowl upside down. The first spoon has become so much of a struggle that it takes me over 10 minutes to get him to taste and process that it is not bad food.
From a totally non fussy eater who used to finish a carrot or half a apple within 10 mins it takes me over 20 mins and dramatics now.
Some tips that helped me to make my kid have medicine and food:
- If you get the slightest inkling as your kid grows older that he/she is averse to medicine but not to food, then mix it with food (if it is a tablet). I don't know if there is any harm in mixing food with medicine. I usually do it only in the last 2 spoons of cereal or with 25 ml water in a bottle.
- Make it a total non-event by singing to him casually and placing him on my lap and feed the syrup with a spoon when he is smiling and pretend as though nothing happened. Yea, I know what you are thinking, he is not that dumb but I act like the dumb schmuck.
- My local medical shop guy suggested Doctors here generally advise in giving syrups through the top part of the disposable syringe (with the needle removed, ofcourse). And let your kid chew on it. However, from my experience this was a bad one.
- Wait a good 30 minutes after feeding before you give medicine so that your kid does not puke.
- I play his favorite music or let him fiddle with his rattle or ask the seniol to do his famous jig during the tablet sessions.
