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ShareAh! It is such a pleasure to watch one's baby grow. Initially, the changes may be oh-so-slight and observable only to a loved one's caring and discerning eyes...but in a few weeks' time, the baby starts showing new 'milestones' (turning over, sitting up, smiling at hearing one's name, and so many more) that are noticed and commented on by family members.
Today, I look on with fond amusement as one of the first things an expectant mother buys is a 'Baby Book' - not one that tells her what is the right thing to do but one in which she can note down the landmarks in her young one's life. Years ago, I had been gifted one when I had been expecting my now almost 19-year-old daughter. What had stood me in good stead though is the firm advice that senior paediatrician Dr Prem Sheth of Bombay Hospital had given me while I was still at hospital after the delivery. It went thus: No two babies are alike. Your baby might sleep longer and feed later than the one in the next cradle. Do not panic or worry. Babies grow in their sleep too.
And so it is with subsequent milestones. A baby might feed at regular two hour intervals while another might demand milk at erratic times. I remember how the mother of a girl in our colony had become worried whether her child was 'dumb' when the girl did not do much more than utter a few words till she was about a year and a half. Today, the child is a bright nine-year-old whose lively chatter fills their home with joy.
Yet another kid would slide around on his stomach in the home with the speed of a fleeing snake but walked much later than his elder sister did. But once he started walking, it was difficult to keep up with him. This is not to deny that there are certain parameters that most children follow -- parameters that are considered 'normal' by paediatricians and parents all over the world. For instance, by the end of the first year, normally a child's birth weight trebles! If it doesn't, does it mean your child is not normal? Two first cousins -- both girls -- born at a difference of a couple of months showed a remarkable difference in weight at the end of the year. Today, both are tall teens who slip into each other's clothes with ease.
A paediatrician told my friend who was worried about her child being underweight (and this is the same advice he gave the mother of a 12-year-old), "As long as your child is active, without showing signs of excessive lethargy, there's nothing to worry about. The metabolism of different children is different!" So, if you want to, do go out and buy the book of landmarks. But don't go exactly by rules and benchmarks. Fill it for fun, to look at it years later when the tiny tots have grown far beyond its pages.
