foxnut coconut ladoo

Here we are again with a recipe which is healthy, nutritious and delicious. It is foxnut(makhana), coconut (nariyal) and dry fruits ladoo. Let us quickly see its recipe now : 

Ingredients : 

1. Foxnuts - 50g
2. Coconut - 50g use shredded or desiccated coconut. I prefer to buy fresh coconut and chop it in chopper
3. Sugar - 4-5 tbsp. Use powdered sugar,  jaggery powder or no sugar at all. 
4. Ghee - 2-3 tbsp
5. Milk - 1-2 tbsp
6. Almonds - 7-10 (optional)
7. Cashew - 7- 10 (optional)
8. Cardamom - 1 (optional)
9. Pinch of Nutmeg powder

Recipe 

1. Dry roast foxnuts for 10-15 min until they become crunchy

2. If you are using fresh coconut, grind it in grinder or mixer ( If you are using shredded or desiccated one, it will be already in powder form ) and then dry roast for 3-5 min along with dry fruits and cardamom.  

3. Wait for all these ingredients to cool down

4. Now mix all ingredients and make its powder in mixer

5. Add ghee and milk in powder

6. Make small round balls with this mixture. If mixture is not sticky and u r not able to form balls, add 1 extra tbsp of milk or  ghee to it.

7. Tada da, your delicious dish is ready. 

How to store : Can be stored in air tight container for 2 weeks in refrigerator. 

Education begins at home

 Through this post I want to share a small yet very meaningful and relatable story. 

Today in the kitchen while I was cutting apple for my son, my maid said that bhabhi bhaiya ko bhi de diya karo. wo kha lete hain agar koi de to( mam, please give to sir as well. He eats if offered) and this has been happening for quite sometime when my maid expects me to take care of my husband for each and everything. I have always politely said to her that ok didi, I will give. I will take care of it but today It was a different day. I felt that this needs to stop. What I am going to teach my son that he can't take care of himself and he always needs someone else to take care of him just because he is a boy. 

I explained it to her that your bhaiya (sir) is not a child. He can pick himself and eat. Fruits are always kept in basket and if he needs it, he can anytime ask for it. 

She replied that with babies, fathers also behave like baby. Mother should take care of baby as well as papa. 

This simply irritated me but keeping myself calm I said that if you cut fruits for me, I will also eat. Not just papa, mumma also feels lazy about cutting fruits for herself. 

This was a very small incident. Infact after this conversation, out of guilt I gave fruits to my husband on his table and honestly speaking I don't mind it, I don't see any problem in cooking or serving food to my husband. Infact, I and my husband both love to cook for each other. 

What bothered me is my maid's expectation from me just because I am a woman and it is my responsibility to take care of my husband's diet. 

Then later I thought society doesn't change in a day. It takes decades to bring a change and change begins with me. I have always seen my mom serving food on table/bed to me and my brother. But I don't want to repeat this. I want my son to develop good habits(which are gender neutral, healthy, empathetic) from the beginning. We can't change people but we can definitely educate our kids, who are future of the country, to make a better world, a world that is worth living for all,  world that is equal for all. 

Our girls should not grow believing that they are just born to serve others , sole purpose of their living is to cook, wash dishes, serve others, prioritise others before themselves etc. etc. and our sons should not feel handicapped who can't take care of themselves, who are incapable of cooking, doing household chores. For this we need to bring up our kids in gender neutral fashion. 

Remember home is child's first school. It is the place where they begins to learn Hence as a parent, it is our responsibility to give them happy and healthy environment, to set right example in front of them. Kids don't do what we ask them to do but what they see us doing.  

Let us know in comment section how did you like this story. Do share your mommy and daddy stories with us. We would love to hear it. 

crawling

Most of the babies start Crawling between 6-12 months. Ours started after 9 months. Some kids skip crawling altogether.  Normally it is not something to be concerned about but do talk to pediatrician if your child skips crawling to be sure that there is no development issue. 

Crawling is the first stage when kids get some sense of independence. It is the first time when they realize they can move by their own. 

But for parents it is initially a difficult stage Hence I would like share some key points here : 

• If you are excited about your baby's crawling but she has not yet started, hold on. Don't force your child to crawl especially on floor because it will just lead to injuries. When their arms have enough strength, they will themselves start crawling. Babies are never lazy.

• Initially you can encourage them to crawl on some soft surface. e.g. EVA play tiles, cushioned sheet etc. 

• Falling is part of process. As a parent we want to protect our children from small of smallest injury but remember it is only way to learn. So let them fall and learn. All you can do is to  ensure that they don't fall from height and there is no sharp or harmful object(small objects that they can gulp, knife, scissor, medicines, insecticide etc. ) around them. Keep an eye on them. 

• To protect children from sharp edges, buy corner guard.

• If you have open sockets in your home that is in child's reach, cover it with socket plug cover guard

• Give a lot of floor time to your child. It is important for their growth.

• If you don't have much help at home, you can buy bed railing to protect your child from falling from bed or you can buy playpen

• We are not in favor of knee guards because they are not much successful(most of knee guard available in market keep coming down) and moreover crawling is a natural thing. Let it be as natural as possible.

• Always make baby wear full length legging or at least that covers baby's knees otherwise their knees can get scratched. We made this mistake once. We let our son crawl bare knee once for an hour and his knees were scratched 😢

• Standing is next milestone for babies after crawling so they try to stand while crawling by holding things around them, so be around them and keep a watch on them to prevent falling. 

  

Do let us know how do you like our posts. We would love to hear your feedback/suggestion and do share your child's cute, unique, sweet-sour stories of crawling. 

Eggplant Pizza

Yes you heard it right. It is eggplant pizza where eggplant will be used as base.

Eggplant pizza

 And it can be one of the best options that your child will love to eat, regardless of the age. Let us quickly see its recipe now.

Ingredients: 

• Eggplant (brinjal)
• Rice flour
• Desi ghee/ home made desi ghee or any edible oil
• Cheese
• Tomato, onion, capsicum or any other veggies for topping
• Oregano for flavoring

Choose low salt cheese especially if baby is younger than 1 year. 

Recipe: 

• Wash eggplant properly and Cut it into thick round flat circles of around 1cm thickness.

Eggplant slice

• Apply salt on both sides of it and keep it aside for 5-10 min and then wash it with drinkable water. This is an optional step to remove bitterness of eggplant. If your child is younger than 1 year, you should skip it as salt is not advisable. Read post Just Parented: Introducing solid food to your child to know more. 

In the mean time you can chop your veggies by hand on in vegetable chopper. I used tomato, onion and capsicum.

Chopped veggies

• Cover eggplant slice with rice flour on both sides.

Eggplant slice with rice flour

3. On non stick tawa or pan, roast it from one side with little ghee or oil.

Roasted eggplant slice

 

4. When one side is roasted, flip to other side and add cheese and topping vegetables on roasted side. 

5. Cover it with some lid so that cheese melts and veggies are cooked (you can bake it in microwave as well). Make sure eggplant is well cooked. you can check with fork. if fork easily passes through, eggplant is cooked. 

6. Your delicious dish is ready. 

Eggplant pizza

Please let us know how your child liked it in comments.

foremilk and hindmilk

Foremilk and hindmilk are components of breastmilk.

Foremilk: Milk that flow in the beginning of feeding is called foremilk and is rich in terms of nutrients.

Hindmilk:  Hindmilk is the milk that flow in the latter part of feeding and is rich in fats.

Both foremilk and hindmilk are important for development of your child. So hindmilk is responsible for gaining weight in babies and foremilk is important for their overall well-being. 

How to make sure that child gets both? 

Simple let one breast empty out before switching to other side. 

It is advised not to switch breast too early because doing so, your little one can miss hind milk. Let one breast get empty completely (although breasts never get empty but when you feel that breast has become very light) it is the t you should switch. 

What if child feeds only from one breast? 

This is completely ok. Just make sure in the next feeding session you start from another breast first. 

E.g. you started nursing with left breast and baby took feed from left breast for 10 min and then you switched to right breast and baby fed only for 2 min there. Now next time when you breastfeed, start from right one so that your body produces milk in both breasts. 

Many mothers are worried if her child is getting enough hind milk or not. I would say don't get into calculations. Breastmilk is tailored as per your baby's needs. All you have to remember is to empty out one breast before switching to another. Rest your body knows how much to produce.

Quick tip for cracked or sore nipples :

If you have cracked/sore nipples because of poor latch, biting, over pumping etc. use nipcare ointment cream or moms co nipple butter cream

Introducing Oats to your tiny tots

Oats is a grain which is very nutritious and tasty in nature. It is a good source of vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, iron, protein etc.

Milk oats was one of my baby's early food and my baby has always liked it with added fruits (banana and mango particularly). In fact, not just my son, now our whole family eats it this way i.e. with fruits in place of sugar. 

I knew very little about oats when I introduced it to my son but later I got to know a lot about it. Hence I decided to write a post on this. 

which one is good for your little one
oats recipes

Oats are available in 3 varieties in market that differ in terms of their cooking time, processing etc.

• Steel cut oats: These are whole oats cut into 2-4 pieces with steel blades. These are least processed. It takes long time to cook (30-40 min). 

Figure 1: steel-cut oats

• old-fashioned (rolled oats):  These are lightly processed and takes lesser time to cook as compared to steel cut oats. Steel cut oats are steamed and pressed into flakes to make rolled oats.  It takes ~10-15min to cook them.

Figure 2: Rolled oats

• Quick oats (instant oats) : These are highly processed and gets cooked easily that's how they got their name. It usually takes ~5 min to cook it. 

Figure 3: Instant oats

Which one is good for your child?

Although steel cut oats are least processed but they can be heavy for your little one's digestive system. Best is to offer rolled oats to your child as they are not much processed and can be digested easily. Avoid giving instant oats as they are highly processed and some of quick oats available in market contain salt which is not good for babies.

Oats recipes

1. Overnight oats : This is one of the easiest oats recipe that I have come across recently. 

• Take a glass jar and add 1 cup of rolled oats along with 2 cups of milk and 1 teaspoon of chia seeds.
• You can add sugar/jaggery powder for sweetness as per your taste. I don’t add sugar, instead add fruits while serving. 
• Keep it in refrigerator for whole night. 
• In the morning your dish is ready. 
• You can keep it outside refrigerator in the morning for half an hour or so before serving. 
• Add  fruits and nuts of your choice while serving. 

2.  Fruits Oats cooked in water and milk : This is our all time favorite.

• Cook 1 bowl of rolled oats in 2-2.5 bowl of water until the water is dried.
• Add 1 cup boiled milk and add sugar/jaggery powder (this is optional, you can add fruits for sweetness while serving)
• After few minutes, your dish is ready. 
• Add fruits (banana, mango etc.) while serving

3. oats cheela : you can grind oats in mixer for oats powder or you can directly buy oats atta. 

• Mix oats powder and wheat atta/besan in 1:1 ratio
• Add vegetables of your choice (tomato, onion, capsicum, beans, carrot etc.)
• Add spices of your choice (ajwain, hing, black pepper, jeera etc.)
• Add water to make a smooth paste. It should neither be too runny nor be too sticky. It should be such that you can easily spread it on tawa. I use non stick tawa as it is easy to make cheelas on it. 
• Spread it in round shape on tawa with the help of ladle (kadchi) 
• flip it when one side is cooked.
• when both sides are cooked, your dish is ready. serve it with any vegetable, curry or curd.

A quick advice 

• don't make very thin cheelas for kids. It should be little thick and soft so that they can easily chew it.  

• if  you find it difficult to spread, it means batter is sticky and you need to add little more water.

4. Masala oats/ oats upma : This is normal tadka recipe. you can customize as per your taste.

• In pan, add 1 tbsp of desi ghee or any oil that you use. 
• Add jeera in it. 
• After a couple of min, add garlic and ginger. 
• When it is sautéed, add onion and let it sauté. 
• Add tomato and let it also get sautéed. It will take 7-10 min to make proper masala. 
• Now add vegetables of your choice (peas, capsicum, bell pepper, beans etc.)
• Sauté it for couple of minutes. 
• Add salt (recommended only if your child is 1+ year old). 
• Add a cup of oats and add 2-3 cups of water. 
• Let it cook. When water is completely eliminated, your dish is ready. 
• You can serve it with curd. 

5. Oats cookies : click here to check oats peanut butter cookies recipe

Related Posts

• Just Parented: Eggplant Pizza
• Just Parented: Home-made oats cookies for kids
• Just Parented: How to make foxnuts (makhana) powder
• Just Parented: Food choices for your child

How to deal with hiccups(hichki) in infants

Hiccups(hichki) in new born are very common and it is normal too. It is not  as uncomfortable for babies as it is for adults. Infact some age old myth says that hiccups in babies is a good sign. It increases their hunger. 

Hiccups is a natural phenomenon, it needs no extra attention and  most of the time it will settle by its own in sometime. 

For babies younger than 6 months, breastfeeding is the best and easiest way to get rid of hiccups. It gets settled in a couple of minutes with it. Infact this technique has always worked for me without a single time failure. But even it doesn't settle , don't worry. As said above, it has no harm to your baby. 

If baby is older than 6 months, you can also offer few sips of water. Please don't offer water to baby younger than six months. Ideally water should be started when you start solids. Check post introduction to solids for more info. 

If baby's age is more than 1 year old, you can try most of the home remedies that you do with adults e.g. taking few sips of water, eating sugar or honey etc. Please don't try anything extreme. (Don't use any harsh method. Be gentle.  baby's safety and comfort should always be taken into consideration)

Home-made oats cookies for kids

Stopping your children from eating unhealthy is a challenging task. Refusal is not always an option; in fact, I believe too much restrictions can cause anxiety in kids. Biscuits are one of the unhealthy food which is found in almost every home. Most of the biscuits available in market have refined flour (maida), too much refined sugar and many preservatives in it which is not good for their health.

Hence I decided to cook biscuits at home for my son. This recipe is super easy that requires no baking. In fact, if You have all ingredients ready, it will take 7-10 min to prepare. 

Ingredients : 

1. Rolled Oats(60g)
2. Peanut butter(60g)
3. Honey or jaggery(1 tbsp)
4. Half tbsp desi ghee
5. 2-4 tbsp of cold  water

check this post for more oats recipes

Procedure: 

• Dry roast oats for few min.
• Grind it in grinder. This step is optional. I prefer to grind for fine texture
• Now mix it with peanut butter/desi ghee and honey/jaggery.

If your child is younger than 1 year, use of honey is not advisable. Hence in that case you can add jaggery powder, powdered sugar or no sugar at all. 

• Mix it well. 
• For binding add few tbsp of cold water. 
• Make small round balls of it and flatten it with your palm. 
• Refrigerate it overnight. 
• Biscuits are ready. 

Since these are not baked, it will not be crunchy. Its texture will be soft. My son loves it. Not just my son, I also eat it whenever I crave for sugar or biscuit. 

Do try this recipe and let us know in comment section. :-) 

Breastfeeding when you are ill

In general scenarios, you should definitely breastfeed your baby when you are ill, e.g. if you have fever, headache, stomach ache etc. ( regular illness). It is completely safe to breastfeed baby but for some complicated situation or any particular condition, it is better to check with doctor. e.g. if you have some breast infection, you should consult your gynecologist before taking any call.  

can I take medicines while breastfeeding
breastfeeding with covid-19
what to do if mother on non breastfeed friendly medicines

Can I pass my ailment to baby through breastfeed

You will not pass your ailment to your child via breastmilk but antibodies will definitely be passed through breastmilk. It will protect little one from disease or help her to recover faster if she also gets ill because of exposure to same bacteria or virus that you got exposed to.  

In case of cough or cold, you should wear a mask while feeding because it is contagious disease. 

Can I take medicine while breastfeeding 

Be cautious about medicines you take if you are a breastfeeding mom because not all medicines can be taken while breastfeeding. It can harm your baby so it is always advisable to consult your doctor before taking any medicine (even it is just a painkiller) and do mention to doctor that you are a breastfeeding mother. All medicines are not breastfeed friendly but there are enough breast friendly substitute for most of the medicines. 

Should I breastfeed if I get infected with covid-19

For Covid 19, available research suggest that mother should continue feeding even she gets infected with it because it is not quite clear if baby will get infected with covid-19 or not but this is quite sure that covid-19 antibodies will be passed to baby through breastmilk which will keep him safe from the disease. Just take necessary precautions (wear mask, avoid touching baby). since it is a new disease and medical science is making daily progress on it, I would suggest you to always check WHO, NHS latest recommendation and guidelines before taking any decision.

If you are still not sure about direct breastfeeding (in covid-19 or any other contagious disease like cold or flu), you can give expressed milk to the baby through bottle, spoon, nifty cup or  paladai. It will help you to maintain milk supply and baby will also get his/her share of liquid gold which is a win-win situation for both mother and baby.

What if I am on non-breastfeeding friendly medicines :

If you are taking some medicines that is not breastfeeding friendly, doctor may advise you to stop breastfeeding till the time you are on medication. In that case, please keep pumping milk at regular interval of 2-3 hours so that your milk supply is not affected because milk supply works on demand & supply mechanism. If there is no demand, your body may start reducing milk supply. You can not feed this pumped milk to your child but these days people are doing many innovative things with left out breastmilk e.g. BM soaps, BM jewellery or apply on baby's skin to remove dryness.    

Colic - Things you should know

Colic is not a disease but some sort of stomach trouble in new born babies. Unfortunately medical science has not made any significant achievement finding its exact root cause, prevention or cure in last 2 decades. It usually start in babies of age 2-3 weeks and can prolong up to 12 weeks. It has no long term or permanent side effects to your child. It can happen with any healthy baby and at the same time not all babies get colic (lucky ones). Seeing your baby in pain is very disheartening for parents. It was one of the most challenging phase of our parenting journey.

How do I know if Baby has colic
Reason
When does it start
Treatment of colic
Does gripe water help with colic
Is colic and gas same

How do I know if Baby has colic:

Only way a baby can communicate with you is crying. So if baby is crying unconsolably, nothing sooths her (breastfeeding, rocking, patting etc.) and there is no illness, it is considered colic pain. 

One sign that we found when our son had colic was that his stomach used to be hard.  check our post why do babies cry

Reason:

As I mentioned earlier, exact cause of colic is not yet known but it is believed that it is related to baby's digestive system. A new-born baby's digestive system is weak because inside the womb, the way they nurture is completely different. In fact, they start breathing when they come in this world. Inside the womb they don't even need to breathe. By 3-4 months, baby's digestive system becomes mature and colic vanishes itself in most of the babies. 

When does it start:

It usually starts when baby is 2-3 week old and can last up to 4 months but in most of the babies it settles down by 12 weeks. It is believed that colic is at its peak when baby is around 6 weeks, after that it starts getting better. Most of the time, colic pain starts in evening hours i.e. after sunset. I think reason behind this is that in the evening digestive system of babies (like adults) becomes slow and they feel some sort of discomfort in their stomach. This is one of the reasons why babies demand milk more in the evening. They are not more hungry in the evening, but they take feed frequently for soothing only. 

Treatment of colic:

There is not any treatment for colic pain yet but there are few medicines that can give temporary relief to child. Hopefully we will have its treatment for prevention/cure in future.

There are some remedies that you can use if your baby is having colic. 

• Take a brisk walk with your baby after every feed for 10 min. Keep baby on your shoulder in straight upright position and walk for at least 10 minutes. Even if baby takes burp in first few min, walk for complete 10 min at least and If your baby doesn't burp in these 10 min, you don't need to walk for longer. In nutshell, Have a 10 min brisk walk irrespective of number of burps.

• Please do this after every feed even if it is 2 am. Remember it is just a phase, you don't have to do it forever.

• This is the most effective way to ease out colic pain. My baby was severely  colicky for 3-4 weeks and this technique worked wonders for us.   

• Apply "hing"(asafoetida) paste around  naval area. check this video on how to make hing paste or apply tummy roll on around baby's naval area. I found latter option more convenient because it is ready made, you can just pick up and apply. Moreover you don't need to wipe it off. Do give it a try. It is a very good and effective product.

• Give your baby tummy time. Tummy time is making your baby lie on tummy instead of back. Since new born can't move/hold their neck, be around them and make sure they can properly breathe when in tummy time position. 
• Best way to give tummy time to your new born is lie down them on your thighs. 

• If your child is older than a month, you can use boppy pillow for tummy time.

• Cycling exercise of baby. check this video

• I love you(ILU) massage. check this video

• Our pediatrician gave a medicine called colicaid syrup to ease out colic pain. In general it is very safe medicine with no side effects but it is always advisable to consult your doctor before giving any sort of medicine to your child. 

• If your child is on breastfeed, mother should avoid cow milk because babies are not able to digest cow milk. This recommendation is from my personal experience, some people may disagree to it but I have personally experienced that as soon as I stopped consuming cow milk, my son's colic got better by 80%. Our pediatrician also agreed to it that mother's diet impact quality of milk to some extent. 

If your baby is severely colicky and nothing seems to work or you are not sure if baby is crying because of colic or some other discomfort,  it is always good to consult your pediatrician.

Does gripe water help with colic?

Well this is a question of debate whether you should give gripe water to your child or not and out of scope of this post. When my son had colic pain and nothing was working for him, we tried gripe water to ease out hís pain even though it is not recommended by doctors because we wanted to soothe him at any cost. Unfortunately it didn't work for my child but remedies that I above discussed with you worked for him. 

So I would not recommend gripe water to any parent instead you can give colicaid after consulting your doctor and try above mentioned remedies. 

Is colic and gas same? 

Well I don't know its scientific answer but in my experience they are related. When my son had difficulty in releasing gas, he got colic in the evening and on the days when he was able to pass gas/burp properly, we didn't find colic pain. Colic and pooping is definitely not related. Some babies poop multiple times in a day and other poops once in multiple days. Both are considered to be normal. 

Boppy pillow              Tummy roll on

         

Why do babies cry

A baby's cry is very unpleasant sound especially for a mother. A mother can't hear her child crying. Infact, there are scientific studies that explains this behavior. 

But do you know crying in babies is not a sign of just pain. It is their language. This is the only way they can communicate with their surroundings. For instance, babies cry when they need attention, when they want to be cuddled, when they are hungry, when they are in pain e.g. diaper rash, itching, mosquito bite or any other illenss, when they need nappy change, when they want to sleep or simply to notify that they are awake etc. etc. In fact, this list is very long because crying is the only language they know.   

 A mother and child's relation is very beautiful and it can never be described in words. I don't know how but a mother has strong intuition why her baby is crying and most of the time she is right. Once a doctor told me to give my baby medicine if he is in pain and I asked how would I know if he is in pain or not and his answer was bacha dard mein ho aur maa ko pata na chale aisa to ho ni sakta (it is not possible that baby is in pain and mother doesn't know) so there is definitely a mysterious science behind this.

Many people say that baby cries for no reason and I believe it is completely wrong. There is definitely some reason behind their cries. Sometimes babies cry when they feel insecure and it  is often misinterpreted as cranky baby who cries with no reason. This kind of reasoning is absolutely rubbish in my opinion. 

Many new born babies cry more in the evening hours. In fact, in the evening, they take breast feed very frequently. Mostly it is because of colic pain that starts in evening hours which makes them uncomfortable and insecure. Staying at breast makes it sure that they are with their mother. So breastfeeding is not just feeding process it is an emotional journey and it enhances bonding between mother and child. After the womb, mother's breast is the most secure place for a new born.

So next time your baby cries, don't panic, try to decode it.  Just go by your intuition. You may take sometime to decode initially but eventually you will do it. But if for some reason your baby in inconsolably crying and nothing sooths him, you should contact your pediatrician.

 

Here I would like to share a story with you. Once my baby had been crying for long time. We kept him in lap all the time, he was settled for sometime but after sometime he again started crying. I fed him multiple times, even that didn't work and he finally started crying loudly. Then I and my husband solved this mystery. He was feeling hot. We had made him wear new clothes that were really warm for him. As soon as we changed his clothes he started smiling. We solved such mysteries many times and we always found some reason behind his cries. There are very few instances when he cried without reason (I mean we couldn't decode it or were not sure if we guessed it right). 

Sometimes babies cry very hard in middle of night. They will not stop crying whatever you do. I think it happens because of some nightmare. You just have to awake them from sleep and keep them close to your skin. Skin to skin contact make babies feel secure. 

If baby is happy in your lap, take him in lap. He needs your warmth and love. If he wants to be rocked, rock him. He might be bored of lying on bed. It might seem very tiring and inconvenient but trust me children grow in no time and you are going to miss all these moments. My son is just 9.5 month old and I am already missing his toothless smile. So spend as much time as possible with your child. Pay attention to his cries. They don't cry without reason.

In nutshell, every cry of baby has some meaning. Now it is up to you how good you are in decoding it. 

 

A quick tip : 

To avoid diaper rash, always apply diaper rash cream or extra virgin coconut oil before putting diaper. Touchwood, my baby never had diaper rash not even once in these 9.5 months and i think reason is that I am religiously using these 2 products. 

Your little one and sleep

Making a baby sleep is not less than a project; especially for new parents. And parents have to take up this project multiple times in a day. So we have come up with few suggestions or recommendations that worked for us. You can also try these..

• Many new parents think that babies are afraid of dark. So they use a dim light for baby all the night. We also did the same but gradually we learned that light is not for babies but for parents so that they can check on baby and they don't hurt baby in sleep. Babies are not afraid of dark by default (of course with age, this fear can develop because of some horror story etc.). In fact, they are used to living in the dark inside womb. So if your baby is not sleeping, try making room pitch dark. It should be so dark that you can't see each other's face. This technique has worked for us many times. We use smart bulb for this purpose as it can be controlled by mobile phones.

• Play white noise in background. check this video Some babies sleeps really well in white noise. You can use amazon alexa to play white noise since it is voice controlled which makes it easier to use for parents.

• Try swaddling for babies of age 2 month or younger. You must have seen in hospital that nurses neatly wrap babies in a cloth. This is nothing but swaddling. check this video on swaddling

• Swaddling is not a modern but old age technique to make babies sleep. As I mentioned earlier, babies take time to adapt to the outside world. Inside the womb, babies live in a very small space and they are used to it. So swaddling is a technique to make baby feel safe and secure by wrapping them in a cloth. 

• Don't use swaddling for child elder than 2 months because around this age, they learn to start roll, explore their body part etc. 

• You can use cotton cloth for swaddling or there are swaddling clothes available online. 

• Swaddling should be done very carefully. Don't wrap child too tightly. So watch above video carefully. 

• It is a myth that more tired baby is more easily she will fall asleep. If they are overtired, it will take them longer to sleep. So catch your baby's sleeping cues e.g. if she is rubbing her eyes, not very active, yawning etc. etc.

• Don't try to sleep train a baby for first 3 months of  their life. First 3 months of a baby is called 4th trimester because it takes time for baby to adjust to the outside world and inside womb they are not aware of day and night concept. In fact, you might have observed that babies in womb are most active in night. So expecting a new born to sleep in night is injustice to them. My baby started to sleep for whole night after ~2.5 months. He used to wake up for feed but stopped playing in night after 2,5 months. You can start sleep training your kid after 3 months. A recommendation to sleep train your child is here :

• Start teaching her the difference between day and night e.g. in the day, let natural light come into the room or take your child in the sunlight for sometime. Start dimming the light from evening.

• Expecting babies to sleep whole night without feed is too much for them. It is a milestone that kids meet around 1.5-2.5 years of age. Don't compare your child with other as every child is different.

• Don't change diaper in night. Change their diaper just before putting them to sleep and remove it as soon as they wake up if you are concerned about diaper rash. 

• We are not a supporter of cry out method i.e. let baby cry and she will fall asleep by herself. So I wouldn't recommend this approach. This approach may work for some parents but can negatively impact on their emotional health. There was a phase when my son used to wake up every half an hour and we attended him every time. Now (when he is ~9 month old), he is getting better. sometimes he sleep continuously for 5-6 hour. So not consoling your kid, thinking that he will be addicted to it, is just a myth. They are little humans who need your love, care and affection. So please don't be so harsh to them.

• Babies do wake up in night for multiple reasons e.g. they are feeling cold or warm, have done potty which is irritating them, have some illness etc. etc. Do check for these things if you think your baby is waking up more than usual. 

• Holding baby for naps is completely ok. If your baby is resisting her nap, it is ok to hold in your lap. Children need human touch because they have stayed in womb for 9 months (in touch of her mother). Don't worry, you are not spoiling them. They will not be used to it. Sometimes, I used to hold our son for as long as 2 hour for nap but he has not got used to it. With time, his sleeping routine is improving. 

• Bear with baby during Sleep regression. Sleep regression is a phase of about 2-4 weeks when babies wake up more than often or having hard time to sleep who otherwise sleeps well. 

• sleep regression mostly happen around 4, 8 and 12 month of age.

• sleep regression may happen because of some major milestones e.g. crawling, walking, speaking etc. etc. or growth spurt.

• Not all children go through sleep regression. We were lucky that our son didn't have 4th and 8th month sleep regression. 12th month is still in queue (will keep you posted.)

• If your baby does not sleep on bed/couch but in your arms, we have few hacks for you. This mostly happens in winter. 
• wrap/cover your child in a sheet such that no body part touches the bed/couch when you put her on bed because they sense the temperature difference when you put them on bed. By doing so, they will not feel temperature difference.

• Put them on bed very slowly or very fast so that they can't feel it. We have used both approaches and it works.

• If after putting her on bed, she wakes up or start crying. breastfeed her or if your baby is on  FM, offer her bottle. I am a breastfeeding mom so this technique works well for us. 

• Mosquitoes may irritate your sleeping child and disturb her sleep so take care of it. Check this post to protect your child from mosquitoes

• Understand baby  nap schedule as per her age. Here is the chart. 

2-3-4 pattern means two hours after your baby wakes for the day, you put them down for their first nap. Three hours after that nap ends, you put them down for their second nap. Then 4 hours after that 2nd nap ends, you'd put them down for bed. Taking an example, let us say baby wakes up at 8am.

1. Put her down to sleep at 10am (after 2 hours of wake)
2. say she wakes up at 11:30am
3. Again put her to sleep at 2:30pm (after 3 hours)
4. Say she wakes up at 4:30pm
5. put her down for bed at 8:30

I won't say that this routine/chart works perfectly for all children as all babies are different but with this schedule you would have idea that when you should try to sleep your child. e.g. my son in 9 month old. He follows mostly 3-3-4 pattern but at times he hardly takes 1 nap. This schedule has helped me a lot otherwise I was always confused when my child should be sleeping or when should I be trying etc. etc.

You can join facebook group given in references for any specific sleeping related query or you can comment here. 

References:

Gentle baby sleep India FB Group

Milk requirement of your baby

I used to worry a lot (sometimes unnecessarily) related to my milk supply, and if my son was getting enough milk or not. In fact, I have observed that I was not alone, this is the story of many new mothers. Specially, when it comes to breastfeeding, it is impossible to know how much milk baby is getting and if it is sufficient or not. What I also feel is that the concern related to milk supply can be a part of post-partum depression, so it may be better to consult a psychologist if you feel so. Below was the recommendation of our pediatrician and lactation consultant and I now realize that they were so right.

• Pee count should be at least 6 in span of 24 hour.

• Baby should be gaining appropriate weight.

And remember, if your baby does not look chubby, it doesn't mean he is not gaining enough weight. A better measure of your baby's nutrition can be in terms of weight gain. Baby should double his lowest birth weight by the end of 6 months and it should be triple by his first birthday. E.g. say baby's birth weight is 3.2kg, and lowest weight is 3kg (since all babies loose some weight after birth) so by end of 6 months his weight should be at least 6kg and similarly it should be at least 9kg on his first birthday. 

Many mothers also worry related to frequency of feeding. Frequency of feeding varies from child to child. My son's feeding frequency has mostly been on higher side but according to our pediatrician as well as lactation counsellor, my baby is doing well in all aspects and there is no milk supply issue. 

If your baby is happy and active and meeting all his milestones, then please don't worry and keep feeding on demand or once every 2-3 hours (whichever is lower) until your child regains his birth weight. After that, you can slowly increase the time between feeds and later conform only to on-demand feeds. There should not be any issue if you keep a close check on the two things mentioned in this post.

Protecting your child from mosquito bite

Saving your child from mosquitoes is very important. Being a resident of NCR, getting rid of it completely is impossible here. So we try to minimize them and take necessary precautions and measures. I am writing below some practices that I follow to keep my child protected from mosquito bites, I hope they will be helpful for you too.

 

• Keep doors and windows of your house closed during the evening. Even a slight hole in doors/windows can help mosquitoes sneak into your house. Any gap in the bottom of doors should be sealed appropriately. I have seen people using newspapers for it. you can check this for sealing the gap. I have personally not used this product but did a research around it and I think it is a good option.

• You can keep camphor near doors and windows. It will help to keep mosquitoes outside (Don't keep it near your child if her age is less than 2 year as camphor vapors can be harmful for your child)

• Use mosquito spray 1-2 times a week. Spray in corners. After spraying it, close the room for 30-45 min and you should stay outside the room because its vapors can be harmful to you and your child.

• Use anti mosquito racquet to kill mosquitoes. Please keep it away from reach of children. Its shock is very bad. Sometimes there is current even when it is off. So don't even leave it off near your child.

• Use baby mattress with net. My son used it for 2-3 months only because he was more interested to sleep very near to us but many kids are happy to sleep in it even for one year. So it is a very good option to save your child from mosquitoes as long as she sleeps in it happily.

• Use mosquito net in night if your child co sleeps with you. Please kill all the mosquitoes with racquet in it before sleeping otherwise mosquitoes are going to have party inside net. Please choose the size as per your bed size. They are available in different sizes (for single bed, queen size bed, king size bed etc. etc.). If baby sleeps in a separate cot, then you might already  have net attached to it. 

• Use baby mosquito net during the day time. Please buy mosquito net of good quality. Once we bought it from a local store and in few days, its string  got detached and my son just got escaped from being hurt. The one mentioned here is of very good quality, we have personally used it and are still using. After 4-5 months of age, babies start rolling so they don't want to stay in net. If that's the case, you can put muslin cloth over baby to protect them from mosquitoes. Muslin cloth is airy so putting it on their face  will also be fine.

I tried mosquito patches and anti mosquito baby fabric roll-on as well but it didn't work for us. 

What to apply on mosquito bites: 

How hard we try but mosquito somehow find a way to bite and especially our little children. Normally mosquito bite marks disappear on their own in couple of days. But you can apply any of following to prevent itching: 

• lactocalamine lotion or any other soothing lotion.
• Mother sparsh mosquito bite cream. 
• extra virgin Coconut oil - This is a very good oil. I have been using it for my baby's massage in summer since his birth. This is bit costly but totally worth its price.

Breastfeeding myths and facts

Breastfeeding is nature's best gift to women. It is not just a process but an emotional journey for both mother and child. Unfortunately, not all mothers are able to breastfeed their babies. Do you know that 99% of mothers have sufficient milk supply but still the percentage of breastfeeding mothers (especially exclusive breastfeeding) is very less than that. I believe it is because of lack of knowledge and due to old age myths of breastfeeding. So in this post, I would like to talk about breastfeeding myths to make your breastfeeding journey easier and smooth : 

• Myth: Soft breasts mean low milk supply.
• Reality: This is the biggest myth and worry of almost all mothers. Soft breasts after 6 weeks is completely normal. After 6 weeks milk supply starts establishing. But if it is before 6 weeks, you should definitely consult a certified lactation counselor or your gynecologist.

• Myth : Don't feed the child right after taking shower. Milk will be cold.
• Reality: Well this is completely illogical. Just make sure (especially in winters) if you have taken a head bath, water droplets from the head do not drip on your child. I have fed my son just after a bath many times and he never had any issue with it. 

• Myth: Stop breastfeeding if you are ill
• Reality: This will be your biggest mistake if you do so. In fact in such situations, breastmilk will have antibodies to protect the child from illness. If you have some contagious disease (common cold etc), wear a mask while breastfeeding. 

• Myth: If child is putting his hands in mouth he is hungry.
• Reality: Well because of this myth many moms introduce formula to their child. This is just an age related milestone. Around 2.5 month of age, children start exploring their body parts and surroundings. So putting hand in mouth is not necessarily a sign of hunger.

• Myth: Breastmilk is not sufficient for child. Top feed is necessary.
• Reality: Many people specially our parents' generation believes that only Breastmilk is not sufficient for child which is absolutely wrong. No other milk can be as nutritious as mother's milk because it is tailored as per your baby's needs so unless and until you have a valid reason to introduce formula, don't do it. 

• Myth: If child is not chubby, there is problem with mother's milk supply.
• Reality: Every child is different. Infact there are many story of twins who are breastfed and one is chubby other is slim. If Child is happy, active and meeting all his milestones on time stop worrying momma and keep feeding.

• Myth: If child sleeps while feeding, he can be hungry.
• Reality: Well this is very funny myth. Children can't starve. If child is sleeping,  it means his hunger is satiated. Infact it is very normal to sleep while nursing and it is very convenient method to put baby to sleep. But remember that until child regains her birth weight, he should be fed every 1.5-2 hour even he is sleeping. 

• Myth: Mother should eat while breastfeeding. Child will feel full for longer. 
• Reality: This is a harmless myth. If you want to eat you can, there is no issue. But make sure you don't throw anything hot on baby. After ~3 months children become very active even while feeding so if you are eating while feeding, they can actually get hurt accidentally. But it has nothing to do with child's satisfaction. 

• Myth: If child is demanding breastfeed frequently, there is milk supply issue.
• Reality: Breastmilk is not just food for babies. Babies demand  bm for many reasons. E.g. clusterfeeding, For comfort,  for sleeping, just for sucking, colic etc. etc. Breasts are their home. It is the safest place for them after mother's womb.

• Myth: Breastmilk tastes exactly like what mother eats. 
• Reality: Again because of this myth many mothers are not able to enjoy their meals. While it is true that mother's food intake impacts quality of milk but breastmilk doesn't exactly taste what mother eats. Yes mother should avoid ice cream and other cold items if it is winter season to avoid cold and cough since cold is contagious disease, baby can also catch it via your touch, sneeze etc but not via breastmilk.

• Myth: Mother should feed from both breasts in every feeding session.
• Reality: Well, this myth is very harmful. It is absolutely normal to feed from one breast only in one session. If you tend to feed from both breasts, your child may miss hind milk(milk that comes later) which has higher fat content and responsible for weight gain in babies. So unless one breast is completely empty don't switch to another. But make sure in next nursing session you start from other breast. 

• Myth: Breastmilk reduces after few weeks so better to start top feed at early stage. 
• Reality: Breastmilk doesn't reduce but your body understands how much to produce. Initially body doesn't know how much milk it has to produce so it produces so much milk that 2 babies can be fed but gradually milk supply gets established (in 6-8 weeks). Infact with introduction of formula milk, supply can actually reduce because breastmilk production is simple demand supply phenomenon. 

• Myth: If child finishes his meal in less time, there is some problem with milk supply. 
• Reality: New born takes a lot of time to finish one nursing session but with time it reduces; and after a point they finish it in 5 min or so but it doesn't mean there is some issue with milk supply or child remains hungry. With time children becomes pro at feeding and they don't want to spend whole time in feeding they are more interested in playing so they finish their meal rapidly. 

• Myth: Other breast should leak while breastfeeding. 
• Reality: For some woman, it is true while some doesn't leak. Both scenarios are completely normal. It has nothing to do with milk supply.

• Myth: If child is not spitting milk, he is not getting enough milk.
• Reality: Unfortunately because of this myth, many new mothers introduce formula. Spitting of milk is because of baby's immature digestive system. It has again nothing to do with milk supply. 

• Myth : Baby should be fed every 2 hours 
• Reality : It is true only until baby regains his birth weight. Once baby has attained his birth weight, feed on demand. As baby grows, feeding frequency may reduce because babies' capacity increases so they can go without feed for longer. In my case, my son's feeding frequency has always been 2-3 hours( on average). Many babies can go without feed for as long as 5 hours after 3-4 months. Don't worry about such numbers, keep feeding on demand once baby has regained his birth weight. 

Mommies, please don't introduce formula milk unless and until there is real need of it. Your milk supply is low if and only if

1) baby's pee count is less than 6 in 24 hours.

2) baby's weight gain is not appropriate.

These myths are my personal point of view that I have learned over time through my experience. If you face any issue in your breastfeeding journey, please discuss it with your respective gynecologist, pediatrician or lactation counsellor.

Feeding bra - I tried nursing bra from few brands and found this one most comfortable. This gives support to sagging breasts as well. 

Disclaimer: Product links mentioned on this page are amazon associate links. A very small amount of money comes to justparented.com when you purchase a product via the amazon affiliate link provided (at absolutely no extra cost to you !! ).

How to make foxnuts (makhana) powder

Foxnut powder can be a good nutritional add-on to your child's food, and it can be added to almost any recipe. I, personally, prefer to add one spoon of roasted foxnut (makhana) powder in my son's food while serving (porridge, khichdi, homemade cerelac, curd, etc.) to enhance the nutritional value of food. Making foxnut powder is very easy. You can prepare it,  store it in an air-tight container and use it on day to day basis. Here are the steps to make foxnut powder : 

• Dry roast foxnuts till it becomes crunchy and light brown. I add one tablespoon of homemade desi ghee in the beginning (it's an optional step). To perfectly roast, keep it on a low flame in a nonstick pan for around ~60-70 min. Keeping it on the high flame will cause it to burn in no time. So don't use high flame at all. Don't cover it with lid. After 10-15 min, you can stir it with a wooden spoon. Since we are using low flame, even you keep it for a longer time (5-10 min) or forget to switch off the flame, it will not burn. 

• Let it cool and then put roasted foxnuts in a mixer jar and use a mixer/grinder to make powder from it. 

Foxnut is a perfect gluten-free and guilt-free snack for adults as well. It is not just healthy but equally tasty as well. I prefer it over namkeen/chips etc. So you can roast foxnuts in more quantity while preparing foxnut powder for your kid, after roasting keep some portion of it aside, add black pepper and salt (or any other spices you like) in it and have it as a snack.  
Given below is an economic and good quality option to buy foxnuts. Or if you prefer, you can buy organic foxnuts from any local store.

Related posts : 

http://www.justparented.com/2021/04/food-options-for-babies.html

Disclaimer: Product links mentioned on this page are amazon associate links. A very small amount of money comes to justparented.com when you purchase a product via the amazon affiliate link provided (at absolutely no extra cost to you !! ).