Videos you might be interested in
Videos you might be interested in
Videos you might be interested in
Suggested for you
Your Baby This Week : 5 Month Week 2 Old
Have you noticed how your baby turns to you when you speak? A relationship that seemed to be pretty one-sided for so long is beginning to blossom into something truly interactive. If you and your baby are ready to drop the night feedings, here are a few great ways to start the process. Take it slowly and gradually. To start with, give your baby less and less time on each breast or a smaller amount of formula or breast milk in a bottle at each night feeding. Try to lengthen the intervals between feedings by patting and comforting your baby and gently urging him to go back to sleep. Offer your baby an extra feeding before going to bed. In this way, he will be less likely to wake up hungry in the middle of the night. You may also want to bring him in for a final feeding before you go to bed. If possible, have your partner comfort your baby when he cries during the night. Your partner might have better luck calming your child into falling asleep without a feed.
Read more
Suggested for you
Suggested for you
This Bedtime Routine for Babies Needs to Be Brought Back NOW!
Hello there, parents, both brand-new and experienced! At some point or the other, you’re sure to have gone through that stage of staying up all night long because your little one refuses to go to sleep. In fact, a lot of you are probably reading this article late at night, cradling your crying baby in one arm and scrolling through the internet to find a solution! There are certain things that you probably follow for your baby’s bedtime routine - feeding, massaging, bathing; the common steps. But it has been found that a lot of millennial parents are actually ditching an important bedtime routine; something that a lot of us probably grew up on!
And that’s singing lullabies!
Research Shows That Younger Parents are Ditching the ‘Lullaby’ Ritual
You may have been used to your parents gently rocking you or your younger siblings to sleep with lullabies (or even nursery rhymes!), like ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, ‘Nanhi kali sone chali’, ‘Lalla lalla lori’, or popular ones in your mother tongue. Your mother probably sat down next to you, and stroked your hair or patted you on the arm, till you fell asleep listening to her soothing voice. Sigh! Brings back such wonderful memories, doesn’t it!
But the tradition is fast dwindling down, at least in Western countries! The Lullaby Trust conducted a poll among 2000 adults, which revealed that only 38% of the subjects actually still sang lullabies for their kids (under 5 years of age). In fact, the younger the parent, the less likely they were to sing to their child. Also, women were found to be twice as likely to sing to their children, as opposed to their male counterparts.
But Why is it Such an Important Routine Anyway?
It may seem like a simple trick to make babies fall asleep, but that’s not the only purpose served by lullabies.
1. It Helps Regulate Emotions
Music is known to help steer emotions in a particular direction - it can either relieve you of stress or better your mood; but in the case of disturbing music, the opposite can happen too! Lullabies are, of course, quite calming and soothing in nature, so they help your child feel at peace, and comfortable enough to gently drift off to sleep. Studies have also shown that lullabies have the power to relieve babies of pain and anxiety.
2. It Affects the Child in a Positive Manner Subconsciously
The melody aside, sweet lyrics assuring your child that he’s loved and in a safe place while he’s in his parents’ arms are bound to make him feel special. The general tone of wishing goodness upon the child will have him feeling positive, and waiting for his dad or mum to sing him to sleep every night!
3. It Helps Your Child Sleep Better
Since lullabies help reduce the feeling of stress and anxiety in your child, it relaxes him mentally and physically, thereby helping him fall asleep faster AND better. You’ll notice that singing lightly to him when he wakes up in the middle of the night comforts him and lulls him to sleep soon.
4. It Helps Develop His Language Skills
Simple words and the rhythmic tone they’re repeated in every day will help your child pick up these songs quickly. Imagine how adorable your little one is going to sound, squeakily repeating his favourite lullabies after you!
5. Lullabies Breed Familiarity
When you sing for your child as part of a routine, he begins to associate it with bedtime, and thus, it speeds up the process of him falling asleep!
6. For Dads, Lullabies Offer a Chance to Bond with the Baby
When the baby is quite young, a lot of the responsibilities with regard to the child’s well-being falls on the mother. Unless there’s bottle feeding involved, dads can’t really feed their infants. Since a lot of mothers don’t prefer bathing their child at night, dads tend to miss out on this activity when they’re at work (assuming their partner is a stay-at-home mom!). Putting the baby to sleep then naturally becomes the one thing that dads can get involved to bond with their babies. And singing to the baby is a lovely way to do that!
7. It Enhances the Parent-Child Bond
When you sing for your child, you won’t just be humming a tune, will you? You’ll be rocking your child or comforting him with a soothing touch, looking at his face and making expressions in time with the music. You’ll be gentle, smiling, and radiating warmth and comfort. All of these gestures along with the singing, help build and foster trust in your child, that his parents’ arms are the warmest and safest places to be in!
How to Sing a Lullaby to your Child
Relax, it isn’t as complicated as it sounds - in fact, you don’t have to be a qualified singer to hum a simple lullaby and put your baby to sleep. But certain little tricks help in making sure that the activity actually helps your baby. Choose a simple tune and maintain a low volume. The idea isn’t to stimulate your child too much with music, but to help him relax.
An uncomplicated tune, repeated over and over, will calm and soothe your child. Repeat a particular relaxing motion - either rocking or swaying your child or gently stroking his skin - that will slowly make him feel drowsy. Rhythm and repetition, and plenty of love, of course, is the key to gently lulling your baby to sleep! And as much as it may be convenient, try not to turn to videos on the internet – after all, nothing can replace the real deal!
If you’ve been sticking to the good ol’ routine of singing your baby to sleep, much like your parents had done when you were a child, your child is definitely going to benefit from it. And if you’ve been holding back because you feel like your singing isn’t up to the mark, well, time to brush up on your loris – your baby is a fan of your voice already so you have nothing to worry about!
Also Read:
Baby Sleep Training Methods
Tips to Get Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night
Bad Sleeping Habits That Can Harm Your Baby Read more
Suggested for you
Breastfeeding - A Long Journey, Challenges I Faced and How did I Overcome the Same
I am a mother of a seven months old daughter and breastfeeding was a long journey for me.
Before delivery you may have little or no awareness about the challenges in breastfeeding. All you concerned, is the list of things that comes during pregnancy and delivery. You will be engrossed and revolve around the topics related to labor pain, diet, pre- natal exercises and so on. But once you deliver the baby, everybody including you forget the "past pregnancy" moments. The only thing that comes into mind is "Breastfeeding" - that’s to an exclusive one.
Nowadays in corporate hospitals, you will get a chance to get free consultation from a lactation consultant, which i think, every single hospital should include as part of their delivery process/care.
Personally I had gained a lot of confidence from my lactation consultant and I was able to breastfeed my baby exclusively for 6 months.
I would like to mention the challenges I faced during breastfeeding and how did I overcome the same.
1. Nipple Structure
It is a very important thing for a mother. To get your baby latched on properly from the very first day, your nipple should not be flat or inverted and specifically, if your baby is a bit underweight, it is very hard for your baby to get latched. I am not sure how these cases would have been handled in earlier days but nowadays you can get nipple stimulator and nipple shield which will help you overcome this situation during intilal days of breastfeeding.
My experience: I had flat nipple and it was discovered by my lactation consultant during my stay in hospital after delivery.
My baby was also 2.4 kg(slightly underweight) and she was not able to suck properly. So, the lactation consultant advised me to use nipple shield. I was frustrated at first but thankfully it was a normal delivery for me and I recovered with my stiches and everything after 1 week. So, I started using nipple shield and with the help of this, my baby was able to suck and feed herself completely. But with the nipple shield, baby takes longer time to be fed. Sometimes it felt like I was feeding my baby throughout the day. But i guess this sacrifice is completely ok as you are gonna thank yourself for the rest of your life. Breastfeeding makes you feel empowered and divine.
After 2 months, I tried to feed the baby without the shield and this time I had my happiest moment- I was able to feed my baby naturally.
2. Diet
To make breastfeeding smooth and easy, you need to follow a specific diet for atleast 3 months.
My experience: I used to take a lot of vegetables, fenugreek seeds with ghee, sagoo kheer. These foods had already shown their effect after 2 weeks.
Also I used to take fruits and a lot of milk products to fulfill the Calcium demand of my body.
3. Privacy
This is one of the problems typically faced by indian ladies with a large/joint family. If you are a first time mom, the condition is even worse. Thankfully, nowadays a lot of feeding specific clothes are available even in small towns.
My experience: initially I used to worry if someone use to visit my family. Then I used to ask to give me privacy and people got used to it. Now, I can breastfeed my baby anywhere.
4. Family Support
This is the most important thing in breastfeeding journey. Without this you may give up at some point of time as it is extremely tiring, sometimes associated with postpartum depression. You are out of shape, out of routine and out of a lot of freedom.
My experience: My family members were extremely supportive. They tired their best to make this journey more comfortable and enjoyable.
I hope this will help you in your journey too.
Disclaimer: The views, opinions and positions (including content in any form) expressed within this post are those of the author alone. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The responsibility for intellectual property rights of this content rests with the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with him/her. Read more
Suggested for you
Don't Leave the Steering Wheel of Your Life in Someone Else's Hands
Don't leave the steering...
We live in a society where everyone is interested in other people's lives and want to give their valuable advice to others whether it is needed or not. More than that, there are people who want to control the lives of others. They are so dominating and interfering that they manipulate you, put a lot of pressure, making you fail to even think and understand what's going on. These kinds of toxic people could be so dangerous for you, your relationships, your family, and your mental health. Especially because somehow they make you feel like you are always wrong, you don't know how to make decisions, manage things, raise your kids, treat your husband, maintain your relationships, etc. They make you believe that you don't have any good qualities in you and you should listen to them, or else you will mess up everything if you make any decision or deal with any affair. They actually attack your self-confidence and self-esteem somewhere, to make you unsure about yourself. And when you spend so much time with such people around, you start to believe that way. You know that they are not your well-wishers or friends, but you are scared to go against their word. Because you are scared of failure or are worried about what if it doesn't work, then they would laugh at you, and you would prove them right if you fail. It happens, it's a cycle of thoughts. To get out of it, you need to break this cycle by taking a step forward. Let's see how to deal with this situation and such kinds of people:
1. Start looking and thinking
First of all, you need to address your mental state. When you start looking at yourself and the things around you, start to find out where the problem is. And mostly it's just that you can't do something because you didn't try to do that ever. So start looking and thinking about the things that matter for you and which you need to take control of.
2. Confidence
Whatever the matter is, confidence is the key. Start telling yourself, "I can do it". You become what you believe. Be confident, trust yourself and be sure about each and every step of yours. When you stand up filled with self-belief, half of your job is done.
3. Start taking responsibility
Most of the time, it's just that we don't accept the responsibility of a decision, we have an unknown fear of being responsible for something that doesn't go well. Fight that fear, leave that behind and tell yourself that it's okay if something doesn't work. You're not the first one to fail or make an inappropriate decision. There are people who fail and they learn from their failures. If something goes wrong, it's not the end of the world. When you leave that fear, you start living and enjoying your decisions.
4. Be clear
If you want to take that steering back, you need to be clear, with no confusion, no doubts, and no misunderstandings. Make up your mind and other people's minds very clear about it. You need to tell them that you are in an active mode, you are all there to take control of the situation and ready to take responsibility for the consequences. Sometimes, that energy and force need to be shown, to make them understand your intentions. Just come forward then and there right at the moment of decision making and present yourself firmly at that time.
You are the only one who has control over your personal life, your decisions, your likes and dislikes, people around you somehow affect that. But you should learn to take control in your hands, and learn to hold the steering yourself. Otherwise, they will lead you to the roads you never wanted to be on...
Disclaimer: The views, opinions and positions (including content in any form) expressed within this post are those of the author alone. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The responsibility for intellectual property rights of this content rests with the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with him/her. Read more
Suggested for you
Ankita Mehta has added a new answer
Guardian of 0 children
4 hours ago
Q. is white discharge in 8th month normal?
Ankita Mehta
Mom of a 8 yr 7 m old girl
4 hours ago
A. hi
yes
but if it is too thick or clear like water,if there other symptoms like itching, irritation, redness,foul smell from vagina, please visit your gynecologist
Dr Vandan H Kumar has added a new answer
Guardian of 0 children
4 hours ago
Q. My son is 5 months old is suffering from cough..what to do?
Dr Vandan H Kumar
Paediatrician
3 hours ago
A. give nasal saline drops every few hourly to the child in the nasal cavity.
try to prevent temperature variations around the child
you can go for indirect steam inhalation which will again help in decreasing both cough and cold
continue the regular diet of the child
if there is no improvement in few days then meet your doctoru
for fever and pain give paracetamol.u
anti-cold medicines at this age have got side effects so can be given only after medical consultation.
POOJA KOTHARI has added a new answer
Expecting Mom due in 6 months
4 hours ago
Q. hi. in Feb my period was last and I did pregnancy test in March its positive results but my belly is not being bigger
POOJA KOTHARI
Mom of a 7 yr 1 m old boy
3 hours ago
A. Typically, your bump becomes noticeable during your second trimester. Between 16-20 weeks, your body will start showing your baby's growth. For some women, their bump may not be noticeable until the end of the second trimester and even into the third trimester. The second trimester starts in the fourth month.
Rashmi has added a new answer
Guardian of 0 children
1 hour ago
Q. I am 7 weeks pregnant. Before pregnancy I used to take medicine named Cyra 20 mg for acidity. Now since the day when I got to know that I am pregnant I am not taking any medicine for acidity but daily I am suffering from it. After having breakfast it starts. I am not eating any spicy food , oily food etc. Please help on this
Read moreRashmi
Mom of a 9 yr 7 m old girl
1 hour ago
A. Start having chilled milk directly from the refrigerator that usually helps a lot in reducing down acidity and anyways when you take so much of medicine in the body gets addicted to it to check with your doctor if you need to do anything or any other medication would be friendly in cases of emergency
Dr Ghouse has added a new answer
Mom of a 1 yr 9 m old child
57 mins ago
Q. hi mam , my baby 1 year and 9 month old just now onwards stop breast feeding .pls suggest formula milk to my baby
Dr Ghouse
Paediatrician
48 mins ago
A. your baby is more than 1 year 9 months of age any milk including buffalo milk cows milk ok. if there is no relief it is better you see your doctor for proper examination particularly physical examination if there is need for doing investigations to find out the problem and treatment ok
Dr Ghouse has added a new answer
Trying To Conceive
57 mins ago
Q. #AskTheExpert hello dr.
baby planning kar rhi kuch tips btayiye conceive ho jaye
Dr Ghouse
Paediatrician
48 mins ago
A. it's a natural process ok. if there is no relief it is better you see your doctor for proper examination particularly physical examination if there is need for doing investigations to find out the problem and treatment ok
Check out this new Memory
Sneha Pansotra
Guardian of a 4 m old boy
New Milestone
My ist pic
0 Likes
0 Comment
Check out this new Memory
Bhavana
Expecting Mom due in 2 months
New Memory
0 Likes
0 Comment
Check out this new Memory
Priya Ranjan Jena
Father of a 1 m old girl
5 mins ago
#stylishbaby
0 Likes
0 Comment
Check out this new Memory
Horikanta Singha
Guardian of a 1 m old boy
5 mins ago
0 Likes
0 Comment
Check out this new Memory
haseeb
Father of a 1 yr 2 m old boy
6 mins ago
#stylishbaby
0 Likes
0 Comment
Tell us more about yourself get More Personalised
- Infant0 to 6 Months
- Baby6 Months to 2 Yrs
- Toddler2 to 4 yrs
- Kids4-6 yrs
- Big Kids6+ yrs
- Expecting
- Trying to Conceive