Although motherhood is the most rewarding profession, unless you have some hacks up your sleeve, it is very easy to lose your sanity. And that applies very much especially when you have a big family where you cannot be present for everyone at the same time.
I would like to share what has worked for me in the postpartum period through 1 year of age, with most of my babies. And now even though I have been through it my 8th time, with my youngest who turned one not so long ago, I thought it will be a good time to post, before I forget everything! LOL!
There was a learning curve with my oldest 2-3 (guinea pigs). But of course, necessity is the mother of invention, and experience is the best teacher. So I stuck to certain things that worked for me mostly 4rth baby onwards, some things which I learned the hard way.
Disclaimer: Whatever has worked for me doesn’t necessarily have to work for someone else, and as the mother of your baby, it’s totally up to you to find that comfort zone with your baby and experiment what you think might work, and based on what your principles are. All moms and babies are different, and I’m not at all suggesting everyone tries all these hacks. I’m just posting what has worked for me, and hoping to educate about different options possible in the infancy phase. So here we go……
The underlying secret I have is to set the stage up for training independence later on.
1) I usually Introduce the bottle early on. I exclusively breastfeed as long as I can. But I start pumping and introducing the bottle as early as 6-7 days. I have found that the earlier I have introduced the bottle, my babies have adapted well to switching easily between bottle and breast. Added benefits include, being able to pump excess milk to prevent engorgement and easier to feed on those days that baby just doesn’t want to get up from sleep to nurse. Also that way, even if you need to catch an extra wink of sleep or step away for a minute, baby won’t be solely dependent on you for feeding.
I started resorting to pumping early on with my third baby onwards. My second baby was exclusively nursed till 6 months without a bottle, and so when it was time for me to join my Residency training, it was a nightmare!! He wouldn’t take the bottle. It was such a traumatic experience for both me and the baby! With my third and fourth babies, I had to be back at work by the 5th week, so I had no other option but to pump early on, and I saw how it worked out so nicely. So I resorted to that method ever since, with all the rest of my babies even though I was a stay-at-home mom 5th baby onwards.
2) Once baby starts feeding cereal, I start giving water at night for night-time feeds. Over time, in a matter of a few weeks, they will gradually overcome the need to feed at night. When you feed milk at night, it only makes them more hungry later in the night, and they keep getting up. When you give water, it sort of curbs their appetite at night and they start sleeping through the night. Atleast that has been my experience. I started doing this 3rd baby onwards, and they were great sleepers. And what I am going to say next might throw you off the edge! I usually keep a bottle/sippy cup with water, near them at night. All of them, started reaching for the bottle/ sippy cup by themselves by 8th-9th month, drank the water by themselves and went back to sleep, without even waking me up! How better can it get? 😇
3) I introduce the sippy cup by atleast the 6th-8th month. This is a time when babies are naturally curious to experiment new things, and I have found that whenever I introduce sippy cups at this age, they always catch on and completely switch over from bottle, by 9th to 10th month. The longer you wait to start, the longer they take to switch over, in my experience.
4) I utilize the high chair……a lot!!!– I usually have babies sit in the high chair 6th month onwards. This gets them very used to sitting in the chair, and later helps them sit and self-feed. I never carry the babies around to feed them. Nor do I ever distract them with toys or videos or imaginary animals, while eating/ feeding. I always encourage self-feeding early on. In fact, most of my kids have self-fed starting 7-8 months old, with only minimal help from me. 🙂 So meal time is relatively peaceful in our house, with baby also self-feeding as everyone else. Once in a while they don’t feed as well. In that case, I try to feed. If they are still reluctant to eat, I don’t force them. Usually they pick up in a day or two and feed properly again. I start getting alarmed only if the pattern persist for more than a week.
5) I ditch the baby food soon after a round of introducing a variety of food for potential allergies. After that, I usually just squish table food with my hands and give, of course with close supervision (and according to the pediatrician set standards of introducing fruits, vegetables and meat). All my younger kids, with whom I did this, adjusted very well to the transition, and actually preferred table food over baby food. By average 8 months, they were all completely switched to table food and self-fed. I also felt that this enabled them to be better feeders, and not so picky, as the taste of baby food is much different than table food.
With my 2nd child, we had to give pureed food until 1 year of age, as he had a small medical issue, but he was very picky. Soon as I switched him to table food at 1 year, he was a happy camper!
6) Give only relatively healthy food for as long as possible. It is very important to give mostly only healthy food, especially non-sweetened, for as long as possible. (Sadly, one day they will learn that there are more yummier options out there). Once you tune their taste buds to like these foods, they will hopefully continue liking them. I do not give frosted cereals, or other sweetened food till at least 1 year of age. I also skip the syrup for pancakes and waffles. Crackers instead of cookies. No juice. Only fresh fruits. They get to eat their first piece of cake on their first birthday! It is also important to introduce a variety of healthy foods earlier. Some of my kids love avocados as I gave them a lot during infancy; but the ones I hadn’t don’t like it particularly much. Same thing with eggs. My second son is the only one I hadn’t given eggs to before 1 year, and he dislikes it even now.
7) Dealing with sibling rivalry when new baby comes. One thing that will always be there with a new baby, is jealousy of the older siblings, especially the immediately older sibling. I have had ones where it lasts for only few weeks, and ones that lasted several months. The only way to get over it, is to re-establish the bond with that child as soon as possible, after the baby comes. Also give him/her exclusive one on one time. Make him/her feel included in the care of the baby, by giving small tasks to do, such as bring diapers or throw away diapers etc. Even though it may still last few more weeks, it usually ends up resolving after that.
It is also important to encourage the immediately older one to step up! I think we made a mistake with our 7th one initially , that it was like we had twins, when the 8th one was born! Though she’s overcome it for the most part, she still has her days……😣
Hopefully some of these tips will save you some sanity. What are your favorite baby hacks? I would love to hear from you!