New Mom's Life

Dear Friends, Every wedding season, there is always this very fun and close friend's or relative's wedding that you were always planning on attending. The dress, the dance, the destination all sounds very exciting, but if you are a Mom , then the mood swings, poops and burps, naps and feeds, along with a lot of drama will follow. So is it all worth it? Well, you won't believe I missed my best friend's wedding in Goa, where I had promised to be a bridesmaid, because my daughter was only 4 months old. Then came my cousin's wedding, and this time my daughter was seven months old. The thing is, the wedding was from my husband's side of thee family and I have never even met the groom before!! I wanted to meet my extended family, as the last I must have seen all of them was in my wedding, and so I had decided to attend this one. The wedding was out of town, and we had planned a three day trip. We arrived a day before the functions were to start and that gave ...

Dear All, As a mother celebrating every milestone of your child brings lot of joy. For me when my daughter turned 6 months old, I had that moment. We had a small celebration at a Swaminarayan temple and introduced her to her first solid food. Her "Annaprasanna" was celebrated well with the gathering of  friends and family.  To be optimistic, her reception to all kinds of food is very positive. She enjoys seasonal fruits, vegetables and also grains and pulses. In this post I would like to share some of the food recipes and simple procedures and some fun quirks to make the meal time easy and nutritious. Apple Carrot Puree: This dish is my daughters absolute favorite. I steam half and apple peeled and diced along with a peeled and diced carrot. Once it is tender, you can blend it by adding water to your desired consistency. I add a pinch of cinnamon and she loves that!! This has always been her in between snack or even lunch at times. Oats porridge: Introducing oa...

Hey friends, Its been a while, since my last post as I was road tripping with my daughter, after she had fully recovered from cold and cough. Yes, the common cough and cold , generally happens to most infants in the 5th month as the mothers milk, stops producing antibodies and starts pumping more of fat and DHA for brain development. If you are experiencing the same right now, then along with the medicines prescribed by your doctor, have a nasal spray and aspirator handy. Well, all that is in the past now. My daughter is almost 6 months old, and we took our first road trip together. We went to visit my husband's grand parents home and it was a 5 hour drive from where we stay. The best part about our plan was to leave early morning around 5.30am. Once I was up, in half blind mode, with minimal lighting I decided to get dressed as my daughter was asleep. Somehow, she sensed the excitement and was up within minutes.  She was very happy, and out of the blue started laughing. I...

Hello Ladies, Have you ever felt that your baby understood what you just said? Or when you crack a joke, you can see your baby smile and chuckle, or it has clearly understood your instruction and is trying to follow it? Yes, these instinctive feelings that a mother feels around baby are totally natural and also true. Sometimes, it makes you wonder if your baby has some kind of superpower. My daughter has always been fussy while bathing since day one. She hated when the nurses gave her a bath, she never liked the caregiver giving her a bath either.  She is 5 months old, and I am still not very confident in giving her a bath all by myself, so I have hired a caregiver to bathe and massage her in  the mornings aka "Maalish didi". Just last week when she was on leave, I decided to give her a bath myself. I placed her in the baby bather and gently poured water on her. To my surprise, instead of crying like she usually does , she smiled at me and thoroughly enjoyed...

Dear All, Welcome again. "People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one" I am sure most of you will agree with the above quote. Truly, motherhood is exhausting, and sleepless nights becomes part of our daily routine.  In this blog, I would like to share my experience on sleep training. My daughter is 4.5 months old, and she sleeps from 7pm till 6am (of course with dream feeds usually 2 to 3 times), but yes, as impossible as it may sound, it is definitely achievable. In the first 3 months, I would religiously follow the mantra "sleep when the baby sleeps". She would sleep at night for a stretch of  about 5 hours, and day time 3-4 naps of 2 to 3 hours.Accomplishing fixed hours of nap time and night time routine in the first three months, never happened with me. She would automatically change her routine every three days. Soon I realized that she was too young and scheduling seems impossible and so, I started to let go of the schedule ...

Dear Friends, Hope you all are having a pleasant day. In this blog, I am going to share my experience on breastfeeding and also give some pro tips which I have learnt from my ancestors and followed in my journey. Most women believe that breastfeeding is a natural thing and it happens automatically as soon as the baby is born. Let me tell you something, breastfeeding is an acquired art. It reaches you to be patient, kind , gentle, focused and most importantly loving. You have already experienced sharing your womb , so a part of your body belonged to your little one, but once they are born, you have to share your breasts. This might not be as easy as it sounds. When my daughter tried to latch on me for the very first time, at the hospital, I grabbed the nurse's hand in pain. It felt a sharp pinch and my nipples were sore for the first fifteen days. Sharing your body every few hours is tiring, sometimes even dressing up becomes stressful, with the thought of feeding again. ...