Of all the queries that I get from my readers, the most prominent ones are related to the growth and development milestones of kids. I know when it comes to our children we want only the best and to be sure of our choices, we seek help and answers from people we trust. I want to thank all those who reach out to me and trust my suggestions.

Since we are talking about growth and development in children, I want to share how parents worry a lot about their child’s health, immunity, growth, as well as their cognitive, emotional, and social development. Hence, they are always looking out for ways to ensure that their child reaches all milestones in time. Here are some of the common doubts I have heard from parents –

• “My child is not gaining weight and keeps falling sick. How to ensure that my child is growing right?”
• “My son is not growing in height. All his classmates are taller than him. Should I give him any nutritional supplement?”
• My daughter keeps losing her focus during the online class. How should I make her pay attention during the online class?”
• My kid just plays games on the phone all day. How should I reduce his screen time?”
• My child is a fussy eater. How can I make him love his veggies?”

If you have ever worried about any of this for your child then don’t be surprised because you are not alone in this. We all worry about our kids and that’s absolutely normal.

Nutrition plays an important role in a child’s development. Along with that stimulation activities and a nurturing environment play a significant role in their cognitive development. I have already talked about the importance of cognitive milestones[i] in my other post.

My son is now quite independent at this age he likes to make his own choices, be it for food, play, or entertainment. I no longer have full control over what he should eat, watch, or play. We talk and discuss, sometimes we have healthy arguments too but that also is a part of growing up.

There are 3 things that my son knows are most important for him to grow into a happy and healthy individual and I know that these will help him reach all milestones.

1 – Eating Healthy Food

Being from a foodie family, we love eating and experimenting with our food. The current situation helped in bringing the super chef out of us and we learned how to give our cravings a healthy offering. We try to make everything at home by giving our favourite junk food a healthy twist. Check out this healthy recipe of Veg Momos using Multigrain Atta. Watch the video below-

Another way I ensure Nemit gets his balanced meals is through PediaSure. Do you know that recently Abbott has launched the New PediaSure in India? Yes, the favourite of all mommies, PediaSure now comes enhanced with two important nutrients, Arginine and Vitamin K2. I was invited to be a part of the launch event and it was such an insightful session where we got to know so many amazing facts about bone growth and development in kids from the experts.

Did you know that 60% of kids’ bone growth happens by the age of 6?

I got to learn about the two super nutrients that are known to support bone growth. Arginine is an important amino acid that promotes cell growth in bones to help them grow faster in case of growth delay. Vitamin K2 helps to build stronger bones by transporting and absorbing calcium in the bones. The new PediaSure is scientifically designed to help bones grow longer and stronger to further support catch-up growth.

2 – Mindful Screen Time

PIN IT!

I have followed zero screen time for a long time for Nemit as suggested by his pediatrician since he had a speech delay. But when things normalized we gradually moved on to mindful screen time. However, when the online classes started, we had to make certain rules. Thankfully, Nemit understood the importance of having a routine and fixed screen time. Recently, in a post, I shared a list of 5 fun and educational shows for kids on YouTube. Do check it out.

3 – Indoor/Outdoor Activity

Kids need a daily dose of physical activity along with nutritious food for optimal growth and brain development. Even when my son is not able to go outside we make sure that he stays physically active. We dance and groove to our favourite songs, we play badminton in our living room, we even play table tennis on our dining table. When we are not able to play with him then he does ‘online yoga’ or plays ‘the floor is lava’ or ‘the freeze game’. There are also some brain-boosting games that we play as a family. Check out this video below-

Along with these brain games, you can also include other toys that can inspire creativity, brain development and also assist in building various skills in young children.

These are three simple steps I follow for Nemit’s overall health. While each child is different and we must let them grow at their own pace, some steps on our part reassure us that we’re on the right track. Why don’t you tell me what’s in your checklist to ensure your children reach all milestones?

References

[i] https://www.verywellmind.com/cognitive-developmental-milestones-2795109

The post Key Steps to Ensure My Child Reaches All Milestones appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Hello every one, here’s the fourth(4th) post of the blog series – The ‘Un’-common Tales of common people. This post is written by a close friend of mine, Gunjan Bhatla. She has shared her experience of how she overcame all the obstacles to free her son from Autism. Her story is inspirational and I am sure every parent going through a similar phase will find a ray of hope after reading her experience. I want to thank Gunjan for coming out and spread awareness about Autism and ADHD through her story.

Now, a little something about this blog series. I strongly believe that each one of us has a ‘voice’ that can make an impact, the ‘power’ to inspire others and the ‘experience’ that could help someone else. But not everyone has a platform to reach out to others and share their experiences with them. Hence, this series, where you will get to read the ‘Un’- common tales of common people who have the power to inspire and bring the change. This series is a small token of thanks to those people who have always supported me in my journey.

Read the first post of the series here – Take professional help!

Read the 2nd post of the series here – How to rediscover yourself after having a baby?!

And, read the 3rd of the series here – Appreciation Matters!

If you, too, have been a part of our blog’s journey and wish to be a part of this series, you can reach out to me on Instagram. No bloggers, please!

Now, let’s read Gunjan’s post.

When the doctor said, ‘Your child has suspected Autism’

I hope you all have heard the terms – Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Believe me, it’s Nerve-Wracking if you hear a doctor say, “Your child has a suspected Autism / ADHD”.  WE HEARD THAT!

This all started when our child (Dhairya) was not even 2 years old. I don’t know how, but slowly and gradually my son got addicted to the gadget world. This need for a gadget reached the extreme stage and he was always in need of a mobile phone or the television, while he was awake.

PIN IT!

He started giving alarming signals to us and we could easily identify the milestone delay(s).

The first challenge that we faced was his SPEECH DELAY.  He used to just point out at the things that he wanted but never tried to utter a word.  No eye contact and poor listening skills.  He used to listen to us at his own wish.  We really got tensed and out of curiosity, we decided to send him to the Play School; hoping the situation will improve.

You may also read – How to ensure that your child is growing right?

He was around 2 years old by then. After a couple of days, we started getting complaints from the school – “The KID is not even responding to his name“, he is busy in himself and at times tries to catch hold the mobile phone of the class teacher.  This got us really scared.

Post taking the advice from the elders of our family, we decided to meet his pediatrician. And to our shock, he suspected Autism or ADHD in my child. He suggested us to go to a Child Psychiatric. This was turning out to be a nightmare for us. We met Dr. Satender Walia (Child Psychiatric) at BLK Hospital, Rajender Nagar, and she as well concluded that Dhairya is indeed showing some signs of Autism/ADHD. She suggested Occupational Therapy with Zero screen time.  Though, she said that we can’t take the kid as Autistic. We were totally BLANK and were literally weeping after coming out of the hospital.  WHY WE!!!!

Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech, and nonverbal communication.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a mental health disorder that can cause above-normal levels of hyperactive and impulsive behaviours. People with ADHD may also have trouble focusing their attention on a single task or sitting still for long periods of time. Both adults and children can have ADHD.

It was a total ZERO feeling for the next two days! It felt like everything was over for us. In the meanwhile, my sister came to our house and suggested that we should think positive and fight the situation we are in. We all decided to go to Vrindavan and take blessings from the GOD.  Trust me, it actually helped us to calm our minds and think positively towards the solution.

You may also read – How to boost your baby’s brain development!

We both were ready to take up the challenge and save our child from this scare. The very next morning, we hid all the TV remotes and kept our mobile phones out of reach from our son’s hands.  After reading ‘n’ number of online articles, we bought puzzles, doodles, books, etc as per his age bracket.  Along with these activities, I was determined to give my 100% time to my child. We literally became a talking machine and used to constantly feed our child with rhymes, counting, or any other informative thing that we can think of.

In the initial stage, it was really tough, as Dhairya showed resistance and was pretty much disturbed, as the screen was taken away from him.  It was as if life has been taken out of someone.  Even his health went down and he became restless. But on the order side, we were firm and were ready for this resistance and carried on our efforts; knowing that this hardship would be good for our kid’s future.

You may also read – How to deal with Toddler Tantrums?

Positive Signs after a week – Fighting Autism!

Finally, after a week, we saw some positive signs, a ray of hope when Dhairya started recognizing numbers from one (1) to ten (10) and even tried uttering them. It was a real positive sign which proved that we were on the right track. We continued our effort(s) and gradually Dhairya started showing improvement. We even started getting positive feedback from his playschool.

After a gap of six months, we again went to the same Child Psychiatric (Dr. Walia). She was totally amazed to see the improvement in our kid. And straight away gave us a clean chit on Autism/ADHD. 

She also applauded us for the early recognition of the symptom(s) in our kid, which helped us to overcome this in a short duration; as compared with the other cases wherein this gets detected at a later stage. However, she suggested joining some Occupational Therapy (OT) to further improve his condition and catch on the Milestones he has missed.

On her suggestion, we made Dhairya join an OT class in Moti Nagar (Inspiration – Dr. Bhagyashree Mudgil).  He used to get sessions on hand-eye coordination, leg and eye coordination, balancing, gross, and fine motor skills. They helped him to grip Pencil and sketch/crayons colors.  Most importantly, they made him channelize his energy towards the right and correct path. All these activities further enhanced his concentration level and brought stability in his mind.

You may also read – How to make young kids pay attention during online classes?

Later, we found out that there was a similar OT therapist (SMILE, Ashok Vihar) near our place. The therapist here focused on sharpening his memory by performing various activities like – solving puzzles, finding differences between two pictures, etc. Special focus was given to improve the Sequencing Skills through passing the hurdles as well.  And we are still continuing with the same therapist to further enhance the basic and advanced skills.

Excess of everything is bad – Fighting Autism!

Believe me, it was really a tough fight filled with complete patience and devotion.  In the end, I can only say GOD has literally given our child back to us and I am really thankful to him for that.  

I must tell you still our hardship is not over, though the situation has improved a lot, the battle needs to be won yet!

My advice is to keep your toddlers away from these gadgets or at least have a control on their watch time.  As the proverb goes – “Excess of everything is BAD!”

And in case if you get any alarming sign(s), delay in milestones, or some abnormal behavior; please do not ignore this. I would also like to state that Autism/ADHD is not just because of the screen time. The exact causes of these two are still unknown and multiple.

You may also read – How can you help your children with their emotional needs?

As a parent, it is your duty/responsibility to have a watch on your kid and proactively react, if in case you find something awkward. GOD forbid if anyone of you falls into this; please do not panic.

You and your child can overcome this situation; the key is to have patience and giving quality time to your kid. 

Moreover, like in our case, it was a borderline situation, but we have read and seen cases wherein the parents and kids have fought out of this Autism/ADHD, even from an advanced stage.

Never lose HOPE! 

Gunjan Bhatla 

I am Gunjan, pursuing a Ph.D. in Management. I have worked as an Assistant Professor for 5 years. Nowadays, I am a homemaker and a mom of 4.5 yrs super duper naughty son. In other words full time on toes mom. Recently, I have started my youtube channel (Mom-N-son Fun-N-learn) to share the experiences that I am gaining with my kid in this lovely journey called Motherhood.

Thank you, Gunjan for sharing your experience, I literally had tears in my eyes while reading your story. It’s true that a mother can do anything for her child and a mother’s strength is like no other. I am so glad that you noticed the early warning signs and milestone delay and took action immediately. I wish you all the strength and luck for your fight. And, blessings to the little one, Dhairya is such a brave kid.

Please help spread this post by clicking the below icons. You may use the hashtag #TheUncommonTales while sharing. Thanks for reading.

The post Doctor said, ‘Your child has suspected Autism’ – The ‘Un’-common Tales’ appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

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‘.

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.

The post Four Trimesters Outside the Tummy – My Baby’s First Year appeared first on Growing With Nemit.