Do’s & Don’ts

• Prefer giving soups(Chicken/Mutton/Veggies) after a hair bath.
• Treat the baby/kid with seasonal fruits and veggies. Rather than running behind preset menu, opt for the ones those are fresh in the market!
• When adding ghee to the food, always melt and use for proper digestion. Take the required quantity and melt that only so as to avoid reheating the remaining ghee.
• Wash your hands cleanly before preparing/feeding food for/to babies.
• Before cutting, wash the vegetables and soak it in salt water mixed with turmeric powder and few drops of lemon juice for 5-10 mins.
• In the market/streets, when buying tender coconuts(ilaneer) to kids, observe the dusts accumulated in the straw hole. As we cannot carry an alternate always, just like cleansing the Pipette in Physics lab, puff a little and blow it out. Even after this, I take a whole sip before offering to my kid 😉
• Always have a Thermometer at home. When baby has fever and when the temperature crosses 99.4 degrees Fahrenheit, then rush to your Doctor.
• When closing the doors, do check that the little fingers are far away from the door gaps.
• Throw away any unwanted tiny thing and let the needed tiny things stay out of reach of the tiny fingers!

Dont’s

• Avoid giving greens(Keerai) when given a hair bath.
• Do not give curd when giving fish.
• Do not give them bath just after feeding as it won’t aid digestion.
• Do not encourage the habit of giving water after every spoon of food as that might inhibit proper digestion. Baby’s food itself would be in liquid or fluid state and so intermittent water would not be required too.
• Do not rush your kid to eat fast as you are in hurry. Give ample time for the kid to taste/chew and swallow the food. It is said that half of the digestion takes place in the mouth with the aid of tongue, teeth and saliva.
• Avoid giving animal milk and milk products when baby suffers from common cold.
• Avoid giving store-bought snacks. Offer them easy-to-make and healthy homemade snacks wrapped in love 🙂
• Never entertain carbonated and artificial flavored drinks to kids !
• Do not wash vegetables after cutting as it will wash away the nutrients too.
• Do not let any plastic covers unattended as it might cause choking hazard ! The kids’ brain might not send the signal to take it off the covered face and even if it does, the pitiful hand and mind might not co-ordinate in the sobby situation! There have been several cases reported for the same. Take no risk !
• Do not leave unattended water in bucket or any wide-mouthed containers. It might seem less water to you, but  it might be more enough to drown the tiny head and these carelessness have eaten many tiny lives. A child is always a child and it cannot protect itself from perils and so be a responsible parent !
• If you opt to feed your kid with your fingers, then do not use nail polish in your right hand fingers. This restriction applies to baby food preparation too.
• Avoid long travel atleast till the baby turns one. The lil belly is too small and demands frequent short feeds(milk/meal). Also, the lo deserves more uninterrupted sleep. And the mom needs ample nutrition and hydration too for good milk supply.