15. Parents or Lovers?

Once upon a time there was a couple deeply in love, then they became parents.

Being parents is a wonderful feeling, life changes for good. But parenting can also become a full time job, and most often we become so obsessed parenting that we forget that we were once lovers. Remember the person who was there before your children came into being, it will be the same person who will be with you when you hairs grey, when your vision blur, when your legs become weak, and when your children grow-up and leave. Don’t let parenting make you forget the lover in you. It is from you that your children will learn to love.

There is another very important person whom we forget and ignore after becoming parents. That person it called ‘self’. Every person needs time for themselves. A time when they can do what-ever that makes them happy, a time for ones obsessions, a time for ones hobbies. It is one reason I still find time to read and write. It helps me relax and de-stress myself. Happy and stress free parents will result in happy and stress free kids. It’s the key to happy parenting.

Stress increases cortisol (stress hormone) secretion, which in turn increases the cortisol in mother’s milk. This can make the infants less confident, less social, nervous and cranky. Sons happen to be more sensitive to this than daughters. These behavioral traits stay with the kids even when they grow old.

Hridhima is 4 months now. She has become mobile and can turn and roll from one side of the bed to another. She is keeping us on our toes. Here is a video compilation of her.

Below is some useful reference charts for parents. These charts are just guidelines. Every child follows his/her own pattern. 

You can find the WHO growth reference chart in the following website:

http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/

This is how Hridhima is growing:

Following is a link to a website I found interesting.

http://guidetochildcare.org/feeding-the-newborn-and-infants.htm