Our
second grand-daughter, Jaya, was born May 26, 2012. Two hours later we were at the hospital and
marveled at the beautiful little girl with dark hair and blue (?) eyes.
She
developed quickly and was very strong, maybe because she was born one week
later than her due date. As the days
went on she learned to latch on to her mother’s breasts and was nursing very
well. Sometimes, the parents had to
supplement some formula, either because there was not enough breast milk or
just to give mom a break.
I
can say that Jaya is a very different baby than the two I had nursed and
raised. She is what one would call a
“high maintenance baby.” She cries a
lot, either because of tummy aches, or being hungry very quickly again (less
than 2 hours after a feeding), or just to be held. Since we live in the same house as the young
couple, I am always ready to give a hand or arms to hold the precious little
girl or “our little princess” as my husband calls her.
Over
the last couple of months we learned a lot from this little baby and also how
to cope better with her needs. She is by
now 2 months old and has already her own personality. In order to deal with her crying spells we
learned from searching the internet about Priscilla Dunston
and her ways in which one can understand baby’s cries. Ms. Dunston discovered that there are 5
universal cries:
“Neh”
Hungry
“Owh”
Sleepy
“Heh”
discomfort
“Eair”
Lower gas (may put up legs)
“Eh”
needs burping to let out air
Here is the link to an interview of Priscilla with Oprah about the language of babies:
Understanding
these cries helped a lot for this colicky baby. We also learned that most babies outgrow
these crying spells by about 3-4 months.
Most babies cry about 30 minutes per day. If your baby cries longer, you may have a
colicky baby and want to investigate into gripe water which has been traditionally made by mothers at home; or a product which helped
our little one called ColicCalm.
What
else has our little Jaya been teaching us in her young life?
·
This
baby is all feelings and not at all afraid to express them. I believe that is why we are naturally drawn
to babies; they are totally themselves, helpless and open.
·
This
baby breathes deeply into her abdomen; I watch her belly go up and down,
especially when she sleeps.
·
This
baby moves all the time, even in her sleep.
·
This
baby trusts us completely and is totally depending on our care.
·
This
baby engages us with her smiles and funny faces. Watch her eyes getting bigger when she sees
or hears something interesting; or when something exciting or unexpected
happens like blowing in her face; or you put her in front of a flower or even a
mirror.
·
This
baby likes to be touched and held a lot.
It is the easiest way to put her to sleep by walking around with her
and/or rocking her to sleep.
·
This
baby likes to be swaddled and/or held tight when preparing her for sleeping.
Now,
you probably say, she is just a normal baby.
Maybe I am just a little prejudiced; I am making these comments for
those who think: oh, it’s just a baby what can I learn from her? - I have to
teach her everything.
That’s
my wisdom as a grandmother; you can’t spoil a baby. If we attend this little one with all of our
love and full attention, she will be the best daughter for her parents, the greatest
older sister, the most excellent mother’s helper, and the finest future wife
and companion to any husband in the future.
Here
are some websites I visited to get some of the feedback:
1 comment:
oh yes, there's always so much to learn from babies. i can't wait to get to know jaya as well. :)
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