My Baby’s First Year
The prompt for today’s post is ‘The First Year of My Baby’ and this is my favorite among all the prompts till now as it was the time that changed me completely for good of course. The eventful year made me understand what exactly motherhood is all about. They say you need to be in the shoes of the mother to actually experience what she goes through and that’s what happened with me.
It brings me immense pleasure to share that I, along with 24 other bloggers are celebrating #9daysofwomanhood throughout Navratri. I thank Gagandeep Kochar for introducing me. Her blog is named as My Diaries and I loved reading her blog on the prompt for today ‘First year of my baby‘.
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So, I am done with 9 months of pregnancy and 16 hours of delivery and now is the time to do some Bhangra, yay, my baby is out and in my arms and everything will go smoothly as I had wished for, poor mommy brain thinking like all the work is over and now the time is to be back to your old self.
How wrong I was, those long feeding hours started taking a toll on my health, I was sleep deprived to the extent that I fell off the bed twice because I refused to lie down and wanted to keep sitting for the next feeding session, those endless peeing, pooping, cleaning and washing made me felt as if these were going to be my best skills to be stated to others in future.
I describe my baby’s first year as 4 trimesters outside the tummy, into the real world – 1 to 3 months, 4 to 6 months, 7 to 9 months and 10 to 12 months! And today I will share some snippets from each, maybe you (expecting ladies and new mothers) can take some hints and prepare yourself accordingly. Rest others can enjoy reading it!
Trimester – 1
(0-3 months old)
I describe these 3 months as Depressive, I suffered Post Partum Depression from Day 1 we stepped inside the house. It was already the baby’s third day and I was longing for my 8 hrs of sleep but realized that no one could help me in that now. I was given many instructions to be followed for my baby’s health and that included remaining inside the room for 40 days. Then after a week, I felt like a useless machine which was done with its job of producing the baby and now no one needed it. All the attention was showered on the new member. At one moment, I hated my baby for coming into our lives and I blamed him for everything that was happening to me.
Thankfully, Sumit, my husband, noticed the change in my behavior and decided to find out the reason. He asked me, ‘Are you ok, want to talk to me?’ I cried hysterically, the baby started competing with my howls and he cried even louder. And, I told my hubby, how I was feeling neglected, no one was interested to talk to me, to ask me if I needed anything, they were just giving me instructions to get me complete my motherly duties. I expressed my hatred towards that little being and how I was planning to run away leaving the newborn behind.
Are you a new mother? Do you feel the same as I felt? Please talk to someone. Don’t keep things in your mind and don’t assume anything. There are people around you who are your family and they love you. It’s just the faulty hormones that are playing weird And once you discuss your feelings and express your emotions, you will start loving yourself back!
Sometimes, these emotions are nothing but ‘baby blues‘ which typically go away after a week or two. But if that still persist, then you may want to know more about PPD. The depression is very common among new mothers, and its effects can be felt during the first 3 weeks after childbirth. There are treatments available to bring you back to your normal self, but I would suggest talking to someone close and whom you trust the most before considering treatment.
Speaking with my husband worked for me, can work for you too. But, if there is no one who is able to understand you, please take the help of a specialist. Again counseling is what I would suggest before directly starting with medications, so you can consider meeting a Therapist too. By the 2nd month, you will start loving yourself and your baby. And by that time baby will also start babbling, cooing and responding to sounds, which make the experience a lot more fun.
We followed a trend of celebrating our marriage anniversary every month by cutting a cake or having something sweet to eat. Hence, we decided to follow the same for our baby’s monthly birthdays.
I spent the 2nd month in online shopping, buying everything which I thought our baby might need, I bought a cot, a rocker, a pram, a baby carrier, lots of toys, a baby gym, diaper bags, different types of diapers and cloth nappies, every new style of clothes and shoes, bathing tub, fancy quilts and blankets, nursery items and what not. It was my wrong decision and I accept that. My baby made his first ever road trip from Delhi to Amritsar during his 2nd month which was a total fun outing.
You may want to read this article, Must have items for your baby, where I have prepared a list of things which we found really helpful and useful for our baby.
Now came the 3rd month, the baby started looking bigger and acting smart, all the clothes bought in the previous month were not fitting him well and the toys were not as exciting for him the way we expected. He was responding to our facial expressions, would smile and babble as if responding back to us. He started liking his massage time, bath time and tummy time. But, what followed in between all these were the Growth Spurts.
During a growth spurt, your baby will put on weight, reach developmental milestones, feed more, and sleep more or less than usual. Please note, this period can range from few days to few weeks. While we were struggling to understand the pee poo session and colic bombardments, we were hit by these growth spurts.
I have written this article, Do you know what Growth Spurts are? where I have mentioned how you can tell that baby is going through one of these episodes.
Trimester – 2
(3-6 months old)
This is my favorite trimester, the baby finally got a nickname, Noyi, as suggested by his Papa, earlier he had as many names as there were members of the family, everyone had their own favorite name. From this month, Noyi developed a sleep pattern during the day, he would take 3 naps which meant a lot of time for myself.
He started holding his neck for few seconds which was a milestone, he started using his whatever power he had to try to roll over which was again a milestone, his teething phase started as he would drool a lot and most of the times spent hours chewing on his frozen teethers. He loved to shake his rattles and smiling to their sound. There was so much to capture during this month and I loved every minute spent with my baby.
But, the month also brought unwanted advice from elders in the family’ to start the bottle feed as per them the baby was growing and not getting his daily requirements from my milk. That made me furious and mad and I would fight and reason with them but to no use. I had to go invisible for a couple of months just for the sake of my own sanity.
Noyi started crawling during his 5th month.
Although he was still not able to sit on his own, he liked crawling backward and tried to stand just like we elders do. This was the time when we prepared a separate room for him, completely baby proofed, we placed the mattress on the ground and ditched the bed just to avoid any falls, also this was necessary to avoid getting him near to Caesar as Caesar had still not accepted Noyi as part of his pack.
Next month was special. We arranged a family get-together to celebrate our baby’s first 6 months. That day Noyi surprised us by sitting on his own, unassisted. New milestone reached.
Trimester – 3
(6-9 months old)
Next 3 months were beautiful, Noyi had started recognizing me and he was expressing different emotions. It was fun to watch him grow and learn. He developed a liking for songs. His favorite one was ‘If you are happy and you know it‘ and we would play peek-a-boo a lot. The first day after his 6th month birthday, we introduced solid food. And to our surprise, he loved having something that tasted different from breastmilk. It was pure bliss watching him slurp his 1st meal, which was just 3 spoonful of mashed dal!
This was my Birthday month and we planned a trip to Goa, which happened to be Noyi’s first flight, first beach visit, first drenching in rain, first pool dip, first tasting outside food and sprouting first set of teeth. We soon realized Noyi is just like his parents and grandparents who love to travel to new places and meeting new people.
Next 2 months involved lots of new activities which I used to search over the net to make the growing process fun and exciting. These months were also the bonding months for Caesar and Noyi, gradually Caesar developed a liking for Noyi.
You may find this post interesting as I have shared a few tips on Let your baby explore!
Trimester – 4
(9-12 months old)
The past 9 months passed really fast. The next 3 months were for me like I was on a watcher’s duty. The baby was quite mobile and there was no way to stop him from moving around the house. And explore any and every new thing that came in his reach.
Noyi wanted to stand and walk unassisted but he was clearly not ready. And we had to witness a lot of falls. He liked climbing up the sofa, chasing Caesar, pulling his ears. And sometimes would try to chew his tail too.
I want to mention here, we never followed any rituals or practices in the name of tradition. Neither had any other so-called beliefs, we did not know what is Nazar utarna, never did that. We did not believe in the power of black tika and black threads, never used them.
We never used anything to assist easy teething. Luckily, we had a smooth teething phase without using any Tilsmi moti or giving any calcium tablets. And Noyi turned out just fine. He did not fell sick even once during his first 11 months.
It was just before his first birthday, he caught a cold for the first time. As per our pediatrician, getting common cold is actually good for improving baby’s immunity. We followed her advice and didn’t give any medicine to treat it. And to our surprise, he was back to normal within a week. That day we decided to keep the use of medicines as limited as possible. We only used the saline nasal drops and gave steam to provide relief from blockage.
Next month, Noyi was going to complete his 1st year outside the tummy, and that called for A Celebration. And for that, we planned a trip to Malaysia to make his birthday a memorable one. On his D-day, we spent the whole day at an Amusement cum Water Park. And, yet again Noyi surprised us by walking for the first time. Yes, Noyi walked for the first time unassisted on his 1st birthday on some other country’s land. And since then, there is no stopping him!!!
To read the story of 9 months, My Pregnancy, Click here!
To read further about the Pain that brought a Smile, My Delivery, Click here!
And if you liked reading this post, do drop a few words in the comments section below. And feel free to Share this post with your friends and family!
Now, I would like you to meet Sumira Bhatia, my friend, and co-blogger who blogs at The Cuckoo’s Nest. Read her blog on today’s prompt, The Beginning of a Journey! to know about Uday’s first 5 months and read some awesome tips from mommy.
Wow such a beautiful post Neha! Kudos for fighting PPD
Thanks Sumira 🙂 Every mother goes through some battles and wins 🙂 That’s the power of motherhood.
First of all, those photos are amazing.. secondly, your husband my darling is a rock star for being able to catch that something was not right and that you needed to talk it out and not that you might have been over reacting or acting like a baby yourself
Thirdly, everything that you’ve written about is so true and kudos to you to have gotten through it all so well.
Loved reading your diary 🙂
My husband is now my mom, that’s what I proudly tell everyone. Thanks for liking my write up 🙂
Again a beautiful write up…enjoy!! Keep writing. Love.?
Thanks sweetheart… very soon I want to hear all your stories 🙂
Such an amazing post… lovely pics n videos.. admire you to put in so
Much of efforts in writing down tiniest of the thing ???
Thanks for reading and liking my post 🙂
Could so relate to this! Really like your style of breaking them into trimesters outside the womb.
Thanks Akshaya 🙂
Dear I appreciate your efforts of capturing each n every moment of Noyi’s life…. He will be glad to see, when he will be a big boy. Dear me too followed d same fundamental of not giving any medicine in cold, as suggested by u. But this doesn’t worked in case of guchhi.
First of all, thanks for all the appreciation. Now, talking about cold and medication, getting sick and fighting infection, all depends on body’s immune power, some babies have naturally good immunity and some don’t develop it even till later in life. There is always a limit to which medications can be avoided or given but again as every child is different, administration of medicines is also different for each. I can understand when babies fall sick, we want them to get well as fast as possible and try to follow any advice we get. Noyi didn’t fall sick during the most crucial months of infancy and we give the credit to good immunity.
Just love this post so much. First of all I’m glad that your husband noticed something that you yourself might have missed noticing. I have been through a terrible PPD and somehow I had to fight it alone. People around couldn’t understand why I was acting wierd.
Yes and that’s why awareness is needed on a bigger level for this. Thanks for stopping by.
I love the idea of 4 trimesters. Congratulations on fighting the ppd, and kudos to your husband to have recognised it and spoke to you about it. And those pictures are soo so adorable
Thanks Priyanka and yes I can’t even imagine what could have happened if Sumit hadn’t approached me.
Such a detailed post on baby’s first year. The first year is so long stretched and has so many milestones marked along the way. Once that is done I feel the secondyear just starts to whizz past you. I miss those early days.
Exactly, I still have so much to share about Nemit’s 1st year.
Beautifully written Neha..well done ??
Thank you so much 🙂
Awesome! It’s not easy for everyone to accept the baby blues or postpartum depression. But the sooner you realise it and take action, the better in the long run. Hope this post acts as an inspiration for many new mommies out there.
Thanks Aritra
I loved every bit of the words you have mentioned and to one extend I too fell in same category of buying all baby products without giving second thoughts and then repenting my decision.
I think most of us new mommies guilty of this.
What a journey Mama! Congratulations!! You’ve done it ?
Thanks Deepika
Awww…this is like throwback to my time with my babies. Each picture, each thought is reminisce of the your journey with your baby. The mention of ‘post partum depression’ is a very hard-hitting fact and a lesser talked about issue. You mentioning it really helps readers realize that it’s normal.
Thanks Manveen, I am glad my post was able to take you back to the time of your kids initial years. And yes PPD needs to be talked about to spread the awareness.
That’s a great way to round up your child’s first year. These memories last forever.
You have a gorgeous family. Loved the photos.
Thanks a lot dear 🙂
Superbly, simply explained and described!
Thanks Renu
Loved going through Noyi s and your 1st year journey . Childbirth definitely is life changing.. we not only become parents but much more.
My favourite phase of the first year was-
the last 2 trimesters. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your fav parts 🙂
This is a wonderful story Neha. I loved the pictures the most. I also appreciate the way you have admitted about your baby blues and the remedial actions that one could take. Hope to read more of you.
Thanks for liking Anupriya
Loved reading the whole account of your boy’s first year. It’s lovely how they up so much so soon!
Thanks for reading and liking 🙂
Such a lovely post Neha. The memories are so fresh in mind. Your post took me down the memory lane of my first year with twins. Wonderful post and lovely pics.
Thanks for the appreciation Charu 🙂
This is a lovely post and bursts so many typical Marketing images that make motherhood sound so easy peasy.
Absolutely motherhood is no joke, thanks for stopping by
What a lovely idea of breaking down his first year into trimesters! I am going to keep this in mind for my boy’s milestones! Can’t wait!! He’s in his second trimester now!
Oh that’s great to know. Thanks for finding the idea good 🙂
Thanks for sharing about the PPD ..we usually undergo this but tend to ignore it or do not like to talk about it..but awareness is important..
So true, thanks Anubhuti
I’m glad you focused on the PPD.. It needs much awareness..
Awareness needed for new parents and their families to handle it easily
This is a detailed description of 1st year of motherhood. Interetsing read and loved all teh pics. Nemit is very cute. 🙂
Thanks a lot Deepa for liking the post
You have covered everything important neha! I am sharing ur post on my timeline! Much love!!!
Thanks for sharing gayathri
Such a beautiful journey. It is not easy to talk about PPD. Glad you had the courage to do so. Looking back the first year was incredibly fun with all the ups and downs and bitter sweet memories.
So glad you liked my post
What a beautiful record you’ve kept. I also managed to keep weekly records but I don’t think I have the courage or the patience to compile it into one blog post 😛 Loved reading about your first year as a mother, and could relate to most of it. 🙂
Haha, there is so much left to share, this is what I could manage to write about. Thanks
So well articulated! I have never even thought of the first year as 4 trimesters outside the womb 🙂 What a wonderful idea! We learn something from everyone! So glad that you managed all the “firsts” so well, esp the travel on your birthday. I’m a pure homeopath hence don’t give medicines to my 8month old unless absolutely necessary, and I’m glad you are educating others to not give medicines for each and every small thing. Looking forward to reading your blog more often momma! More power to you <3
Thanks for sharing glimpse from your motherhood journey. Thanks for such encouraging words!
Loved reading about the first year journey. Made me nostalgic. Such a lovely post
Thanks Karuna
You NAILED IT! I call months 3-6 the sweet spot, and I will try to warn parents who are in it that they should love every second.
Our son was sleeping through the night, responsible and smiley, and he didn’t move yet!
Happy Birthday to your little guy! (our sons are about the same age.)
Also, I love that DJ picture. What a cutie!
Thanks so much Lexie for liking the post. Much love to your son 🙂
Wow mano. I wish I had read it earlier. Really u explain so beautifuly. Abhi to nemit becomes noughty and talanted bacha same as mammaa
Thanks Suru, so happy to see your comment here. Haha, ya now he’s become too naughty just like his mumma 😀