Day Care Discipline

Dhruva was 5 months old when we put him in daycare. My aunts choice was Rainbow Connection at CARC farm on Cherry lane. So that is what I went with and never regretted it. I was, like every mother, skeptical about putting him in day care since he was only 5 months old. I used to drop him off and sit outside the room and watching him through the glass window. It was a one way see through window and neither the nannies nor the babies cannot see us. Dhruva had two absolutely great nannies taking care of him. Deborah and Sheela. They were like mothers away from his mom. They took such good care of him and I soon started working full-time. He started learning new activities and also started eating well. They trained him very well. There was fixed time for food, play and nap. So he started getting into a routine. This made my life so much easier. He was a very easy baby to manage. He started crossing his milestones with such ease. I believe that his day care imbibed good habits in him from that tender age onwards. He started becoming very independent. He knew that he has to go to day-care everyday in the morning. He never gave us any trouble when we dropped him off in the mornings. He would get very excited when he sees me in the evenings. He ate whatever was given and was a very active baby. He learned to walk, talk and socialize very soon. I attribute his habits to the way that he was taught at the day care. They need constant attention at that age and he was given that to the fullest extent possible. So new moms should check out as many day care centers as possible and go with the ones that satisfy them the most. Its the first step towards teaching them to be independent.I totally understand that any new mom would be under immense pressure and confusion when she needs to drop of her child at the day-care at such a tender age under someone else's supervision. So talk to other parents who take their kids to that day-care. Talk to the management and ask as many questions as possible. Go online and see if there are any reviews about the day-care center.See if you can spend a few days in the day-care and check your baby from time to time. This might relax you a little bit. Make sure that the nannies who will be taking care of your child are experienced, preferably grand-moms. It is usually an added advantage if they are grand-moms since they tend to be experienced and sensitive to the feelings of a new mom. I think I ve covered most of it.
Happy parenting!!

Most Essential buys for a new baby

As a new mom, I was very excited about shopping for my baby. I would spend long hours on the laptop browsing the shopping websites for baby products. I used to read reviews and see what are the pros and cons listed by other experienced moms. I was very confused. In the end, I went to the expert. My aunt is a practicing pediatrician and she helped me in buying the most important products. I am not listing them based on their importance but every product served their purpose and more.

• Aquaphor
• sanitizer
• disinfectant wipes
• onesies
• receiving towels
• wash cloths
• baby towel
• breast pump
• humidifier
• baby bed/changing pad
• nose pump
• baby buds J&J
• disinfectant liquid
• baby bath tub
• bottle sterilizer
• gentle wash liquid /powder for baby clothes
• diaper bag
• nursing boppy/pillow
• soft blankets for covering
• baby bouncer
• baby carriers
• baby thermometer

Apart from these, baby personal products such as moisturizers, oils, soaps, body washes, shampoos are also necessary.

As a separate post, I will add products needed for the new mom. 

Enjoy parenting!

Dhruva - The north star

We named him Dhruva. His name means " the north star" in Sanskrit. He has brought new meaning to our lives.He has taught me more in the last two year than I will ever learn in any school, college or university. He has truly shown me direction in my life. He is my first child and my only child as of now. So everyday was and is a new day for me in terms of motherly experiences. I was hospitalized for two days after Dhruva was born. The first night that Dhruva spent at home, I slept well. The reason being my father. He slept at the foot of Dhruva's baby bed and I woke up only to feed him. But from the next night onwards, I would wake up for every 5 mins to make sure that he was covered properly, or to check his diapers or just to simply make sure that he was breathing fine. I was never a night person. I was always someone who preferred to sleep early. My husband kept telling me how difficult it was going to be for me to wake up and take care of Dhruva's needs in the middle of the night. I never gave it a thought. It never bothered me too much.Neither was I afraid of changing my sleeping pattern nor was I concerned whether I would wake up to attend to him. And I was totally fine when I had to wake up. It happened like clockwork. Dhruva s last feeding before he hit the bed would be around 10:30pm. After which he would wake up three times before morning with an interval of 2-3 hours. I never thought that I would wake up, but I did. Each and every night, 3 times every night. It was like someone turned on a switch in my system. It was automatic. Motherhood came automatic to me after Dhruva was born. It was like magic. TRULY! After a few months, I would wake up absolutely thrilled and happy if Dhruva forgets his early morning feeding and slept through! Me and my husband would wake up with big smiles having slept through for 4 hours. Those days were tiring. But every little gesture , every little smile, every little goo goo gaa gaa made all the effort totally worth it and gave us strength for more.

I was always afraid of holding babies. I never knew and never had the inclination towards learning to deal with babies or small children. I grew up with my little cousins who were a good 10 years younger than me. But I could only play with them at a distance and never really had that motherly touch. I was not even close. But it started happening once I was pregnant. The first time that I heard him cry after my OB-GYN pulled him out, a dam burst and I was crying... I saw his tiny white body, clean and perfect. That was it, the switch was turned ON. There was no going back.

Everything happened slowly though. My mom, my sister and my grand mom spent close to 3 months with me during my 9th month and after Dhruva was born. So since I had my mom and sister sharing the task of taking care of Dhruva, I was able to relax. I was recently watching a few videos of Dhruva when he was a few months old. It was probably just after my folks left for India and I was alone with the baby after Sriram, my husband, had left for work. It was like watching a silent movie only with the babies' gurgles now and then. It was like he was trying to talk to me but I was not reciprocating. I was not doing the "baby talk" that normal parents do. He was trying to talk to me and was putting so much effort into shaking his feet and hands and making cute noises. But I was just dumb. I dont know why. I slowly started conversing with him. Now, I am non-stop when he is around. I cannot keep my hands off him. But I do regret not doing the "baby talk".