TOO MUCH LIFTING SPOILING YOUR BABY?
Does Too Much Lifting Spoil the Baby?
How our heart breaks every single time the baby cries. New parents worry excessively and fuss over their crying baby a lot, but this is all only natural when you are suddenly handed someone so tiny and helpless!
A newborn does not cry to manipulate a parent, crying is merely the little one’s way to communicate discomfort or pain to the parent by crying. It is every mother’s first instinct to pick her crying child, to comfort her baby and make her feel loved and taken care of. Lifting the baby and holding him is an act many mothers consider a gift. While lifting is a mother’s response to her baby’s wails, some people also believe it can spoil the baby.
However, no amount of attention by the mother could possible spoil a newborn. It is a slightly different case with older babies (six months and above) who cry to be sat up or to get to a colourful object. Remember, your baby was jiggled, held tight and swayed while in the uterus; no amount of cuddling or holding can equate the warmth and security of a mother’s womb.
New mom Mayuree’s hubby isn’t too supportive of her lifting their baby every time the little one cries. He feels that Mayuree is spoiling the baby with too much attention. Mayuree came to us looking for a solution, let’s take a look at what our SOS moms have to say to her regarding this.
Shweta Bhardwaj was the first to come to Mayuree’s rescue, she says, “Not at all. He is habituated to having you around him as he was with you for 9 months and feels secure around you. With time he’ll learn to handle things on his own. But right now the body warmth of the mother is necessary for his growth. He doesn’t have words to express his needs.
Namrata Lad Sharma agrees, “I think your baby needs to be attended to as much as you can. Because having the baby know that you’re always going to be there for him/her, builds the baby’s confidence in your love for him so he doesn’t grow to feel neglected and not cared for. Especially if you’re dealing with something like colic. He needs to be soothed, and crying is his way of telling you what’s up since he can’t use words yet. And I do the same thing width my little one.
Dias Annisia reiterates, “The baby gets a habit of being carried around. But, so what? I used to waste no time in picking up my baby whenever she needed me, day or night! It’s so beautiful and loving to hold a baby in your arms. My baby/my daughter is 9yrs old today and she hasn’t developed any negative habits developed because of the carrying. Please do pick up your baby in your arms!
Swati Shukla and and Krishnaveni Sharath also echo their thoughts on how it is good for the baby to be touched and held.
Finally, Arpita Routry adds a quirky reply, “ Husbands can never understand a mom’s heart!” It is indeed true sometimes Arpita.
A Mom Can Never Spoil Her Baby by Lifting!
We recommend keeping the baby swaddled and playing soothing music to comfort the newborn. In fact newborns who are held and comforted grow up to be more loving individuals who trust their parents and families.
We thanks all the SOS moms who came in Mayuree’s aid:
Arpita Routry, Swati Shukla Mishra, Krishnaveni Sharath, Dias Annisia, NAmrtha Lad Sharma and Shweta Bhardwaj.
The Best Ways to Pump and Store Breast Milk
Expressing and Storing Breast Milk
It is crazy to go back to work after maternity leaves. Like, the last time your coworkers saw you, you had a happy baby bump,but now, you’re all flat out, dark circles and all. We feel you fellow mommas, we know what it is leave your baby and fight off the guilt that is steadily creeping up your throat. One major worrying factor for all new moms returning to work is – How Do I Store my Breast Milk? After all, your little cherub needs it and it is the best gift you can give your child.
Now, the women who want/need to work, take a minute to bless science, because science has given you this wondrous, wow worthy thing called the breast pump. These little gifts from technology lets mothers pump their milk out and store it for their baby’s care takers to feed the little one whenever necessary.
One such new mom Veena is returning to work and she came running to us to ask us how she should store her breast milk and our unfailing SOS moms have come to our rescue.
Anisha Rodrigues Pinto hurried in to help Veena, “Well if you are starting work you can always start combining breast and bottle milk ( i.e. more times breast milks and fewer times bottle milk( supplement). But as you mentioned you want to know about breast milk, which is the best to give your baby. Here is what I know. Well, expressing of breast milk can be done in three ways: 1) hand, 2) using a hand pump (available on firstcry.com), 3) using an electrical pump (available on firstcry.com). If you get heavy milk supply it will be quite easy for you to express by hand specially in the morning. However if you find it difficult ask help from doctor or experienced people to teach you or show you in either of the above 3 ways mentioned. At times expressing by hand can also take a long time in this case the pumps are helpful. You must express your milk in sterilised bottles (available on firstcry.com), which can then be capped and stored in the fridge. Don’t keep it longer than 24 hours. See that it’s frozen as soon as possible. Melt frozen milk and use at once. Never refreeze. You can also keep it in fridge for 5 to 6 hours (in case u get a break and can rush home and get back to work).”
Sonal Maner shared her experience of returning to work when her daughter was just three months old, “Use an electric breast pump to extract milk and store in special sterilised bags in d freezer. Use Medela breast pump and bags, they are the best. You can store milk in the freezer for up to 3 moths after extracting, remove from freezer 45 mins before feed time and keep the bag/bottle in hot water so it can warm up. Do not open d bag/bottle until the baby is ready to be fed. I joined work wen my daughter was just 3 months and used to feed her extracted breast milk until she was 1.5 yrs.” Medela Breast Pumps on FirstCry.com are available here.”
Neha Gaurav puts in her useful tips, “You can use manual breast pump instead of electric one. After extracting milk you can keep it at room temp (27 degrees) for 4 to 6 hours in the refrigerator (towards the corner of tray) for 24 hrs in sterilised bottles only. After taking out the milk from refrigerator , keep the bottle in a pan of warm water for few minutes so that it comes to room temp. But make sure u do not bring the milk in direct contact of heat (gas flame)”.
Noopur Agarwal also reminded us to instruct the care taker, “With an automatic breast pump you can extract all the milk in morning before going to office, then store the milk in sterilised baby bottles and refrigerate them. Tell the person who will be feeding the baby to take out the bottle half an hour before feeding the baby”.
Breastpumps Come In Handy For New Moms Going Back to Work
Radhika Varun Soni also reiterated the best method to store breast milk, “You can use breast pump of your choice n refrigerate the milk in sterilized bottle and warm the bottle in hot water just minutes before he is to be fed.”
A lot of advice comes in the way of new moms, but the best ones are from peers who have been mothers themselves. Being a working mom can bring whole host of challenges, but it is also a really satisfying role to play.
We would also like to extend our thanks to the moms who came to Veena’s rescue:
Sonal Maner, Noopur Agarwal, Radhika Varun Soni and Neha Gaurav.
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