Nachni / Ragi (Finger Millet) – best feed for babies

My babes is 6 months old, my mom has introduced to baby Ragi / Nachni porridge. In English it is called Finger Millet Porridge. Nachni is the best feed not only for babies but also for elders – this is my mom’s favourite and medicinal receipe. This has been going on for very long by my grand-ma as well and the receipe has now been passed on to us.

Mom gives baby Nachni / Ragi porridge in the afternoon. Nachni / Ragi is best if you powder it at home. What my mom does is – she buys the whole nachni / ragi and then washes it, spreads the nachni / ragi on a dry piece of cloth dries it in sunlight and finally powders and stores the ragi / nachni flour in air tight container. She prefers to follow this method rather that buying the ready made flour from the market.

Receipe of this wonderful porridge is : She prepares the porridge by adding one teaspoon of nachni / ragi powder, 1 cup milk and little water – depending on the consistency add jaggery for sweetening and just a pinch of salt. Then keep it on slow fire and keep stirring till done to avoid formation of lumps.

This is the best feed one can give their babies. So mums and would be mums – don’t forget to introduce this wonderful meal to your lovely babies.

Safety for baby

Yesterday we were all in a hurry to get ready to go to the church. So we just gave baby her bottle feed and left her on her own. She holds the bottle by herself so we gave it to her and all got busy with dressing and stuff. We usually never leave her unattended while she is having her feed.

After sometime my brother went to the room – what he saw was the bottle had up-turned and all the milk had spill over her neck, her body on the floor. There was milk all over her. Fortunately my brother went at the right time and to our good luck the milk had not gone inside her nose and stuff. To save little time by leaving her on her own and we dressing up it took us more time in bathing her. Hence my advice not to leave your baby unattended while she is having her feed.

Safety for babies is very important. In all other things I am very careful about babies safety as in trying and protecting her from germs etc. The moment she has her feed one should wash the bottle, just not wash but also sterlize the bottle. I fully submerge the bottles and teats in boiling water. In case baby has left her feed I do not keep it but just throw it away. Babies require different amounts at different times so just because I have made a full bottle of milk doesn’t mean that she has to finish it or give it to baby after an hour till she finishes it. That’s wrong .

My baby loves to play with plastic bags – she has the best of rattles etc. but she enjoys the sound of the plastic bag. When she plays with the plastic bag someone is with her to see to it that she doesn’t put the bag in her mouth or get suffocated Normally we always keep plastic bag out of her reach.

In short never leave your sweet baby unattended even for a while – it may be dangerous. Always be with her or leave your baby with someone reliable.

Baby talks

I strongly feel that babies understand everything, hence singing to your baby or talking to your baby doesn’t go waste. One doesn’t have to wait for a year or so to start with. I started with singing right from day one while nursing and even otherwise. In case baby doesn’t want to have her feed I just need to sing a favourite poem (Hickory Dickory Dock) and you can see the smile on her face.

My mom or anyone just has to say one, two and three, Kiele rightly knows what has to be done next she will push her head up which means now it is time for her to be carried. So all these words that we use regularly are registered. She is, therefore, aware that one two three means carrying time. All babies comprehend very well only thing words needs to be continual for them to master it.

When we talk she too babbles back in her language and then I repeat what she says in her similar tone and sound she uses. I suggest that whenever your baby talks or do some action – we too should respond back to them so that they too are aware that there is response from the other end and they get all the attention.

In my baby I noticed that whenever there is a conversation happening in the room. Kiele’s eyes rotate to who ever is talking so attentively as though she has understood everything and is ready to give her suggestion and advice.

Rica's mum

Baby movements

My daughter Kiele is very comfortable moving on her tummy, rolls from one end to the other but all this happens only when she is kept on the bed. The moment I keep her on the floor she just doesn’t move an inch. She can move only on the bed she just doesn’t make an attempt to move on the floor.

In fact my aunt and family use to tell me to keep her on the floor. Babies learn to crawl and walk better. I use to never keep her on the floor since she is too small she may just put anything in her mouth which may cause infection hence I thought it is safer to keep her on the bed. I think since I haven’t kept her earlier she just doesn’t want to go on the floor now. She is not used to moving on hard surface, hence her movements are restricted only on the bed

I will keep you all posted as and when she starts crawling full fledged on the floor. She can never stay at one place on the bed, her movements are continuous, hence now it is becoming even more tedious for my mom since she just cant leave her unattended even for some time coz you never know when she will crawl over the pillow. There is a fear that she might fall off the bed hence one has to be near her.

At this time its really fun being with your baby. Even the smallest and smallest of things she does like putting her toe in her mouth or raises her bum up its just so exciting and marvelous to see these movements. Her hands movements are tremendous if you really tired and need to sleep you will just not be able to if Kiele is at the side of you.

Another thing Kiele loves to do is to catch hold of the hair of the person who is carrying her or sleeping near her. She will just not leave it – at times I keep telling my mom that I think its high time we all need to wear shower caps and move around the house or else we will have no hair left on our head at the rate Kiele moves her hands and fingers.

My advice to would-be-mums and mums – this stage of baby doesn’t come back so I feel one should observe all these movements of your baby and spend time with your baby. I understand due to lack of time and in this busy busy world we have very little time to spend with our children, but believe me the moment I reach home from work, the only thing I do is to be with my baby and watch her movements and laugh. I feel there is no other thing that is more important.

Baby food

My baby is now 6 months old… as far as the food is concerned we cannot force her or push things in her mouth coz she will push it back out by her tongue. Her doc has suggested that we give her rice and dal (kichdi), juice and soup but she just refuses to eat kichdi. She is very fussy where food is concerned.

Even though she is hungry – she will cry and cry but will not eat what she doesn’t want to. My mom has a tough time in stopping her from crying. Before she goes to bed at night I see to it that she has her feed well.

Advice to mums – and would be mums before your baby retires at nite – give her a proper feed so that she will have a sound sleep and not cry during the nite. You too will not have to worry about waking during the night.

I use to do this right from the beginning – before she could go to sleep would give her a feeding bottle so that I know how much food she has taken in and then she would wake up in the morning at around 5.00 for her next feed.

This is why I did not have much problems keeping up nights. In fact everybody use to tell me that I need to be ready to keep up nights and stuff.. knowing how important sleep is for me..but that just wasn’t the case.

so mums and would be mums there are ways where u dont have to keep up nites just well feed your baby before retiring at nite and then just see the wonder.


rica's mum

Cold

Some weeks back – Kiele had a severe cold – she had lost her appetite totally. She just wouldn’t take in any food. We were all very upset and just couldn’t think as to what had to be done for this sudden loss of appetite.

Her monthly check up was due hence we took baby to her doc - everything was fine. I told the doc about baby’s loss of appetite – the doc said no problem she will eat as and when she feels hungry and prescribed some cold medicine.

Two days passed yet baby wasn’t taking much food and she had become very weak. She would not cry but just lie on the bed. That worried us even more. We then started with home remedies which my neighbours and friends suggested. Best home remedy for cold is ajwain. We took some ajwain and roasted it on a hot tawa. Put the roasted ajwain on a piece of cloth and tied it in a small cloth bundle. We placed the warm ajwain bundle on baby’s back, baby’s palms, baby’s sole and kept the bundle near her pillow, while sleeping since she also had nasal congestion. She felt better. It was due to her cold that she had totally lost her appetite but regained it sooner. I must say Ajwain is the best home remedy for cold.

Thumb sucking

Thumb Sucking

This is to all the mothers who worry about their child with their thumb sucking problem. My baby too has this habit of thumb sucking – I use to be very tense coz in case baby does this all the time there is a possibility of her upper teeth jutting out. I had asked the doc too as to what can be done. My doc just said not to worry she will leave doing that on her own. We use to put mittens on – and what would baby do was pull out the mittens. That plan too failed. We also bought her a pacifier – that too didn’t work – baby would just push it out.

As time passed – she has reduced this habit of thumb sucking not 100% but say about 80% Now she needs it only when she is about to sleep Once she has fallen asleep we slowly remove her thumb out.
My advice to u mothers is not to worry or just pull the thumb out of your sweet baby’s mouth. Just talk to her saying that this is bad and she will understand it. Keep showing her thumb and remove it slowly saying it is bad. I’m sure your baby will be out of this thumb sucking problem. Just have a little patience and make the child understand by talking - action about this bad habit of thumb sucking. See to it that your baby is well fed. Give her all the attention and discourage this thumb sucking habit. Keep your baby busy with toys etc. respond to your baby’s crying and soothe her. Give ur baby a feeling that she is safe with you and cuddle her. Keep some toys in front of her so that she is engaged in doing something. Most important your baby will be successfully out of this thumb sucking problem with your love, caring and encouragement.