I always believed that a first time mother doesn’t need to be
taught on how to raise a new born. Of Course, there are apprehensions at first
but I can never doubt a mother's capability of raising a child.
Only a mother has
a sixth sense of knowing when a baby is hungry or when he wants to play or
rather go to sleep. My baby is part of me and I felt restless if he was not
with me even for 5 minutes.
Now he is 4.5
years old and when I look back at journey of raising him from a baby to a
toddler to a preschooler now, I feel overwhelmed. But I also look at those
mistakes which I wish I could revert. But it’s better to learn from the
mistakes rather than regretting them.
1) One thing which
I am definitely going to try with my second (If I change my mind *wink*), I
will withdraw the habit of using a bottle to drink milk. One major disadvantage
was that he loved to suck milk out of his bottle that he always preferred it
instead of fruits and vegetables when he was hungry. Breakfast, lunch, Dinner-
whatever it is, he never ate anything to feed his hungry stomach but his last
resort was milk bottle- always.
He left using
bottle for milk after almost 4 years and I could see his interest in food to
satisfy his hunger pangs. How much I regret for not taking the effort earlier!!
2) Another mistake
was not just neglecting, but I totally forgot about the oral care aspect of a
baby when his first tooth emerged. And now when he is 4.5years old and
has decayed his front teeth, I learnt the importance of oral care in babies and
toddlers. I realized this when Dentist explained the effects of prolonged
sucking of milk bottle and how it can decay the toddler's teeth if we don’t
clean or wipe the teeth after every bottle.
As per the
dentist, we should start wiping and cleaning the first tooth of the baby to
avoid any decay due to deposit of milk and sugar.
3) When I started
solid with my baby, I was always scared and tried my best to give him smoothest
of texture while preparing his food. As per his paed, once a baby is 6 months
old and has started to munch on carrot sticks, we should not have a thumbs rule
on what to feed him and what not to. I always decided on my own terms small
tummy will be able to digest something or not. How I wish, I could have been
more experimental and exposed hi to vast variety of food.
4) Last thing
which I am still trying to inculcate in my son is a schedule of sleep and
wakeup time. I wish I could realize the importance of setting a schedule as
early as possible. However, it’s never too late. I am sure one day I will make
him stick to his bed time schedule.
