Tips to help baby crawl

Okay, so your baby is still not crawling. Maybe he's 5 months old, or just born..... we are all eager to see them crawl.

Okay, the first thing to realize is that a newborn put on the mother's stomach will crawl up to suckle (often, if not mostly). So crawling is not that big a difficulty. However, if you are talking about crawling to actually get somewhere significant.... you're going to soon wish he was getting into less things, but hey, here are some tips anyway.

1. Put baby on stomach when awake. Really, there is no such thing as too much. Reassure, comfort, pick up, whatever, but if you're putting the baby down awake, its the stomach that must be down. Really, a baby on the back is rather like a turtle on its shell. How will any crawling happen? Its definitely a learning by doing thing, and doing needs opportunity.
2. Be excited about it: Be thrilled by the fact that baby is on the stomach. Praise, laugh, get all thrilled, and chances are that baby will think its a good thing after all. A great tool if the baby is still undecided about how this stomach thing is.
3. Join your baby. On the floor. Yep. Go ahead, crawl yourself, and he may get some ideas.
4. Use toys and stuff. Your baby may not even seem to notice them, but they have. Babies are smart and quite curious about stuff. He may not seem to show interest initially, but leave him quiet for a bit, and he'll get all curious about the toy and want to get it. This needs crawling of course.
5. Acknowledge efforts. Really, praise everything, even if baby has feet in the air. If he feels good about trying rather than feeling burdned by expectations he doesn't understand, chances are that he's going to want to spend time investigating this new experience.
6. Interpret - interpret everything as success.. If baby waves hands and feet, he's going to end up moving in some direction or the other - fabulous. Cheer!

Use firm surfaces. A soft fluffy something is only going to bunch and absorb all baby's efforts and discourage him.

Leave arms and feet (particularly) bare and cover torso. This will give more grip to the parts that will push, and more slipperiness to the parts that will slide and make movement easier. Basically, what we are doing is simply creating an opportunity for the baby to discover that moving his limbs on the floor ends up moving his body. Once he gets that, start reorganizing your home to get rid of all baby-non-proof things at floor level.....

Teething before 2 months

Is Nisarg teething?

Everyone I shared this doubt with thinks I'm nuts. For one, he was born early. For another, he's not even two months old yet. Its supposed to begin after four months and supposed to be even later for babies who come early.

Since yesterday, he's been fussy on and off for no apparent reason. I put him down to nap, then he wakes up almost immediately after, except for the night, which so far continues to be blessedly smooth.

He's suddenly started drooling, biting his fingers and sometimes (rarely) sucking his knuckles. I can see two white bits under the gum where his two lower front teeth could come. I can also feel those teeth with my finger, though they are inside.

To me, it really seems like he's teething.

Dayum, this motherhood thing is one thing after another. Seems just yesterday I was complaining about not being able to sleep because of backaches from a huge front. Now, I can sleep very well, but am still exhausted. First the birth, then coming home, breastfeeding every two hours, diarrhoea, gas pains, figuring out pee communication, worrying about his weight gain all through and just as I was celebrating two days of a regular healthy infant, its now this teething thing, or something that seems remarkably like it.

Anyone else had a child that teethed this early? Developmentally, he should be counted a month old or something. He's still very tiny and not on the weight charts for his age at all. I'm just hoping that this doesn't create a setback in his weight gain....

Baby's first real smile

Okay guys, Today, I'm on top of the world.

I woke up to see Nisarg already awake and quiet next to me and wanted to spend some quiet time with him. I picked up a rattle and showed it to him, cooing "Good morning!" and some random nonsense. Nisarg stared quietly and very seriously at the rattle, as he licked his left little finger and suddenly bestowed a thousand watt beaming smile complete with toothless gums all the way!. Then he looked at me, gave another brilliant smile and looked back at the rattle.

He's been smiling on and off when he's drowsy, but this is the first "intelligent" smile. He went all out with it. What a way to begin smiling, and what a glorious way to begin my day!!!

I wish I had a camera handy to capture this incredible bit of sunshine for today.

BTW, if you are trying to make your little one smile, here is what I did if it helps. Not that it helped when I tried it a couple of hours later...

• I came into the picture, when he was receptive
• I was quiet and didn't overwhelm him
• I showed him something (interesting is a matter of perspective in this case, I think)
• I paid attention and was appropriately delighted with his first smile.

 I think, it was basically more about him being ready to smile - his age, state and stimulus.

• He's five weeks, so its about the right time for him to begin smiling.
• He was in a quiet mood, when he didn't have to worry about hunger or poo or pee or discomfort
• His favourite person (at least the one he is most used to) was paying him undivided attention and showing something that was interesting without making too loud a noise that worries him (shaking a rattle makes him look, but not much else)

If you've found this post because you're trying to get your little one to smile, good luck!

If you are an experienced parent, do share your ideas for coaxing more smiles....

Baby's naming ceremony

We had a small naming ceremony for the baby yesterday. We have named our son Nisarg.

Since Nisarg is still quite young, we decided on an immediate family only event, which went exactly as we had hoped. With lots of love, cheer and caring.

Nisarg means nature in Marathi.