Thursday, February 19, 2015

Night Night Baby

I had no experience with a baby until very recently when I spent few hours with this cute baby boy of a friend of mine who is a single father. It is easier to lull a calm baby to sleep. But Arsh is not just super adorable, he is also extremely naughty. So how do you put such baby to sleep at the end of the day? Not an easier task than rocket science! Here are few things that we tried that day to put the hyper active baby to sleep – 

PLAY A GAME – A quiet game before the bedtime is a fun way to spend some time with the baby before he hits the bed. You have to ensure that it doesn’t over excite him. I played building blocks with the baby as his dad cooked khichdi for his dinner. He soon started screaming happily and toddling all around the living room, just because he loved his new friend. The next thing I knew was that he was throwing all the colorful play balls in every direction so that I would go and fetch them. This can be a risky venture if the baby is hyper active, but still worked out as we followed it up with something calmer. 

BED TIME STORIES – For all I remember, this is all I got when I was a baby myself. I used to love stories, especially when told dramatically by my grandmother. No, she never read from any book and I am still amazed by the number of stories she had told me during bed time. I used to listen to her very attentively and slowly fall asleep during the course of the story. We did not exactly tell stories to my friend’s baby. We used flash cards to make him learn and recognize new words by looking at the pictures. It is not only fun for the baby to guess the words from the pictures; it is also productive as it improves the baby’s language skills and intelligence.

FEEDING OR A BOTTLE OF FORMULA – It is important the baby’s stomach is filled till the morning. I fed him the khichdi when we were still guessing words using the flash cards. It also avoids the baby from waking up multiple times at night due to hunger pangs. And of course, the “brush your teeth” ritual followed immediately after that.

A RELAXING BATH OR MASSAGE – Now that is something everyone loves, be it a baby or an adult. It was a soothing experience for the baby to sit in the warm water and having a baby lotion rubbed into his back after he was patted dry. But this shouldn't include hyper splashing of water or tickles to make the baby go on a laugh riot (that is for you dads).

A LULLABY OR SOOTHING MUSIC – Isn't that time tested? From ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ to ‘Ba Ba Black Sheep’ to our very own ‘Lakdi ki kathi’, it just never fails. A lullaby in a soft voice works the best, but if you cannot pull it off even a tape of lullabies in very low volume can lull the baby to sleep.

CUDDLES AND KISSES – It is always best and sweet to end the ritual with a reminder to the baby that you love him dearly and will always be there for him. I got a lot of kisses in return too as he slowly drifted to sleep after being pampered throughout the whole evening. 

I am eagerly waiting for the next time with my new friend who is a whopping 27 years younger to me. 

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