Category Archives: Our daughter

Thank you solid food

Posted on August 25, 2015 | 1 comment

Anyone with kids knows that sleep is a luxury for  the first year of being a new mum. I am sure only a few are lucky enough to be able to say that their baby sleeps through the night from the very first week.

I am not any different either. Before Chhori came into my world I loved my sleep and tried to sleep 8 hours every night. I was always fresh and rested when I woke up every morning. But for the past 6 months, 8 hours of sleep seem like a distant dream. Like every new mum, I am juggling my new baby, home and everything else with little sleep. The sad thing is that I have so many things to do when Chhori sleeps that I cannot even catch up on my lost sleeps when she naps.

Chhori

For the first month, I had to wake up every two hours to feed Chhori. She didn’t know the difference between night and day so I had to follow her routine. Also she was exclusively breastfed so my husband couldn’t help me either even when he wanted to. Slowly she started to get better but until she was only breastfeeding, she used to wake up at least twice or more during the night.

I still remember the first time she slept through for more than 3 hours at night and I was super happy to get even that brief a rest.

chhori (3)

As I mentioned on my previous posts, I have started Chhori on solid food. I started slowly with purée and she now eats more solid. I will share more recipe on the foods I am making at home for her soon.

These days she has solid food 3-4 times a day. And I tell you she loves it too. I feel so good when she opens her mouth when I bring the spoon close to her. I am giving her a mix of home made and store bought purees. She is a good girl as she also eats pumpkins, carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips and broccoli puree too. Of course her favorite ones are mango and banana pure and sweet custards.

apple puree (3)

The best benefit the solid food has bought apart from helping Chhori with required nutrition is that it is helping her sleep longer.

Chhori used to take 20 – 30 minutes nap 4 – 5 times a day and at night still woke up 3 – 4 times to feed. The longest she went without feeding was 4 hours and that on good nights. But since she started eating solids, she sleeps for 6 hours straight and I need to feed her only 1 – 2 times during the night. Also during the day, she has longer naps which sometimes has lasted up to 2 hours.

Chhori (2)

The first night she slept for 6 hours, I woke up just to check if she was OK. I was so glad that she slept for 6 hours straight for the whole week this week. And I know, things will get better from here on so big thanks to solid food.

To all the new mums out there, things do get better as they grow older in terms of sleeping. So hang in there and do what you are doing. There is no rule and no right and wrong. Just do what you think is right and eventually you will get there. Never forget happy mum is happy baby and a happy baby makes a happy mum too.

Now my next goal will be getting Chhori to sleep through the night which should hopefully happen in the next couple of months. I will definitely keep you posted with the progress.

All the parents who have been through all these situations please do share your tips and tricks to make a new mum’s life easier. I am sure I am missing some amazing tricks. Hope to hear from you all.

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian
XOXO

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Is a bassinet necessary?

Posted on August 16, 2015 | 14 comments

When you are pregnant for the first time, there are millions of questions in your mind. It was the same for us as well.

One of the questions we had was whether we really needed a bassinet or if we should just buy a cot. In Nepal, a cot or bassinet is a luxury and we as kids used to co-sleep with our mums.

But I strongly believe in not co-sleeping for so many reasons. I don’t trust myself not to roll over on to Chhori while I am deep in sleep.

When we went for our antenatal class, the midwife also discussed about the benefits of having a bassinet if cost is not a problem.

Lucky for us one of our friends gave us a bassinet as a baby shower gift. Normally a bassinet is used for maximum of 6 months. We started with Chhori sleeping in our room in the bassinet and then we plan to transition her into her cot later.

bassinet

As most of the initial months of Chhori’s life were cold winter months, we really thought that the bassinet was great. It was cosy and warm for her. The bassinet we have has wheels so it was very easy for us to take her any where in the house during the day as well.

At night, I was able to feed her when she started to stir, rather than a full on cry as she was next to me in her bassinet. It was so much easier to settle her straight away.

So in my opinion, a bassinet is good to have but not necessary. When using a cot, just make sure that the baby is at the bottom of the cot and that the cot is completely empty.

What are you thoughts? Please do share.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Rhyme times

Posted on August 13, 2015 | 17 comments

Now that my parents have left, I am left with Chhori all day five days a week. I didn’t know how hard would be to entertain a baby every day. So I have decided to take her out and about more often.

I can’t believe how happy she becomes when we go out. She just looks around and her eyes light up. It is a great pleasure to see her so happy. Also when we are out, she doesn’t seem to need to eat or change nappy as often.

Chhori (2)

Anyway our local council does rhyme times for kids every Monday and I have started to take Chhori there and I am so glad I did. She loves it and I now wish I had gone earlier.

The rhyme times is for 30 minutes. During that time, we sing and act out the rhymes, and share great books for babies. During sessions the parents, grandparents and carers sit with their child and the library staff guides us through a selection of songs and rhymes. It’s noisy, fun and a wonderful chance to learn some new songs. We sing each song a few times so that we can all learn the words.

Chhori (1)

The rhymes and songs are great and Chhori seems to enjoy them a lot. After the rhymes, they take all the toys out and kids can have fun. Chhori is so excited to see all the new toys. She loves all the attention she gets from other kids too.

Please share some tips and tricks to entertain a baby. Chhori seems to lose interest in anything after a few minutes.

Take care everyone and will share more motherhood stories soon.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Homemade purée

Posted on August 12, 2015 | 11 comments

Chhori had her pasni just before my parents left; it was a fun event and I will post about it soon.

Chhori (2)

She was just over 5 months old when we did her pasni. In Australia, the midwives advise exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and that was what I was aiming to do. But after pasni, every time we ate anything, Chhori would look at us with puppy eyes, with the innocent look as if saying “I want some of it too.” So we decided that we would start solid slowly.

First we went out and bought a few varieties of organic purée. I discovered that she loves the taste of apple, banana and mango.

These days as I am staying home looking after her, I decided it would be a good idea to give her some homemade purée. It was so easy to make one so here is how I did it.

  • Skin 3 apples and cut them into cubes.
  • apple puree (3)
  • Add half cup of water and apple cubes into a pressure cooker. If you don’t have pressure cooker, use a saucepan.
  • Cook until 3 whistles or if using a saucepan check with a fork and if it goes in easily then the apples are done. Let it cool down.
  • Use a blender or food processor to blend it. If you find the consistency too thick, add a little cooled boiled water.
  • I bought bpa free freezer and microwave safe containers to store them.
  • apple puree (1)
  • The purée is good for 3 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezers. Mine finished in a week as she loved it.
  • apple puree (2)

Please share other food ideas for a baby. It will be a great help. Thanks in advance.

Take care everyone till my next post.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Posted in Baby food, Being Mum, Our daughter, Recipe

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Rush to Emergency

Posted on June 22, 2015 | 29 comments

I had read somewhere that bad moments don’t make bad mammas but now I have my doubts.

As a new mum, I doubt myself lots of times; I am not sure whether I am the doing right things; whether I am taking care of my baby properly, whether my way of feeding is correct, whether I am changing her correctly and similarly there are many more doubts in my head when I am looking after my daughter. I worry that what I am doing will affect her later in her life.

Most of the time when Chhori smiles or holds onto me it makes me feel great and I forget about all the doubts. But then something happens that breaks that momentary illusion and make me again thing that I’m not as good a mum as I should be and that is one of the worst feelings to have.

Chhori (3)

A few weeks ago, I was home with my mum as usual. We were in our living room, mum was watching a movie and I was checking something on the laptop and Chhori was just lying on the ottoman. This was typical of my afternoons. The ottoman was next to me and from time to time I was talking to and playing with Chhori.

Then suddenly from the corner of my eyes I saw Chhori sliding off the ottoman and she fell on the carpeted floor even as I rushed to pick her up. It felt as if my heart leapt out of my body at that moment. The next second she started crying loudly like never before.

That was the first time Chhori rolled onto her side and we were not expecting it at all. I didn’t know what to do. I just tried to console her and checked her to make sure she was not hurt. I was almost crying myself and my mum was trying to help me calm Chhori down.

To make sure that she calmed down I fed her for a few minutes until she stopped crying. After that my mum took Chhori from me and felt her head, hands, legs to see if Chhori would cry when any specific part of the body was felt. Thankfully Chhori did not cry and we hoped that nothing was injured  In that mean time I called our local GP to take her there but as it was Friday and our normal GP was fully booked and suggested I take the baby to emergency instead.

I called AS and told him what happened. I assured him that there was no injury so he wouldn’t freak out.  But I still asked him to meet me at the hospital just in case.

My mother and I took Chhori to the emergency and waited for the doctor. By then Chhori was already her normal self, smiling and looking about with interest. I was kind of sure she was alright but still wanted to be 100% sure.

After a few minutes wait, it was our turn. The doctor did some normal check and told us that she was OK. He also told me that it is normal for kids to fall and they have many cases like that every day. He assured me that I am a good mum and accidents do happen sometimes so not to feel as if I let Chhori down.

He still wanted us to remain at the hospital for 4 hours for observation. He wanted to make sure that there was no brain injury from the fall. It was the longest 4 hours of my life as I was worried. I was praying that everything was OK with Chhori. She looked happy and was playing with her daddy and grandma.

Chhori (2)

Finally the 4 hours were over and Chhori was officially fine. She got the all clear from the doctor. We were all so relieved.

It was one of the scariest experiences I have had after having Chhori. I hope not to have to visit the emergency department ever with Chhori.

I am sure I am not the only mum who has been in such situations so please share your story and make me feel a bit better.

Hope you had a great weekend and take care, everyone.

 M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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