It is one of the first things your family and friends enquire about, when your baby is born. Years later, when you are recounting baby tales - you are saddled with the same query. And sooner than you realize, by Gosh! You are asking the same profound question!!!! How much did your baby weigh?
For most first time Moms, their baby’s weight is akin to a scorecard for their motherly performance. Quite similar to Indirank, which we bloggers wait for, with bated breath every month. For me, each visit to the pediatrician was fraught with anxiety. Chewing my non-existent nails, I would wait for the verdict – two kilos in just a month...yessss!
My baby girl was born underweight at a mere 2.6 kgs. I was aghast, a little shame-faced that I had managed far from a bonny baby. Maybe, I should have listened to my Mum and had those ghee laden laddoos... I should have been less bothered about my burgeoning weight...Should have slept more, hogged more...I was constantly plagued with these concerns.
But like most underweight babies, Tee managed to catch up really fast. I was jubilant – so what if I was cranky, depressed. At least I was doing a fine job as a Mum. Sadly, despite her piling on pounds, my baby was not exactly chubby. I would wistfully look at roly-poly babies sleeping contentedly in their mother’s arms, stare at their sumo wrestler frames and wonder why my baby preferred a size zero frame. Ahh...the cruel irony of fate.
Oh, I toiled hard - tried a clever diet of mashed fruits, pureed cereals, freshly squeezed juice, experimented with all varieties of Cerelac, but my baby refused to plump up. The stubborn thing that she was, she would clamp her mouth shut and gave a firm thumbs down to all my path-breaking initiatives. Even if I did manage to coax some of it down her gullet, she would promptly puke it out and preferably on her unsuspecting mother. I even made husband click pics, so that later in life I could furnish photographic evidence of the systematic torture in her tiny hands.
My Maa would make it worse with her edition of motherhood horror stories. You think this is bad? Wait till you hear mine. I was a skinny baby and continued to be so despite her herculean efforts. Not the type to give up easily, like King Bruce she tried and tried until she was tired. My dad had to resort to clownish gyrations to keep me amused during my feeding ritual. I was subjected to endless experimentations – stinky goat’s milk diet (yuck, yuck, yuck), eggy diet (no wonder I couldn’t stand the smell of eggs for the longest), visits to the new, happening Russian specialist, oh she tried it all. It was only at the age of 17, after attending a music camp at Aurobindo Ashram in Nainital , did I start eating properly. The food was so bad there it made me realize the goodness of home food. I returned skinnier but wiser.
And like my Maa, a few months of toil later, I reconciled myself to “the fault lies in the genes” logic. Plus my baby photographed well and appeared much plumper in the pics. At least later in life I could always fool myself into thinking that she was actually chubby. When she turned one, she loyally stuck to a certain weight and no amount of effort would make it go northwards. Quite similar to my current Indirank, that I’ve been stuck with for the last three months. But it was from then onwards, like any seasoned mum I started following Krishna’s philosophy. Perform your karma but sans expectations.
Years later, as I leaf through her pics in the album, a gentle smile plays on my lips and my heart turns to mush. She looks so adorable in those pics, her eyes sparkling with mischief, smiling a toothless smile. Was I too busy trying to be the perfect Mum that I missed out on the joys of motherhood? My reverie is broken by an anguished howl from my daughter. Maaaaaaa.... I’ve put on a kilo! Do I look fat? Gosh, I look like a cow now. No more chocolates for me Maa and from now on just one chapatti for dinner. Me, I just shake my head, let out a resigned sigh and with practised ease I say No sweetheart, you are far from fat. But don’t you think you should start exercising now?
PART-2 ..I was waiting to read this.. As expected amazing, funny.. I can relate..
ReplyDeleteI gained about 30 kgs weight during pregnancy and my daughter was just 2.4 kgs.... ''your kept hogging like pig but look at your baby-little rat'' that's what exactly my Mom-in-law tried to say but she couldn't.
Her skin color was darker then mine. I wish i had more Kesar wala milk.
I became so obsessed with my baby's diet that I had to put an hold on to my career for a year just to make her fairer and fatter... But thank God she look better and cutter.
Forget about all that.
ReplyDeleteThis child is so cute, so cute.
God bless.
lol!!! that was a great post! your blog is your baby now going by the analogy! superb!!!!
ReplyDeleteRita...Momkind has turned obsession with their baby's weight into an art.
ReplyDeleteB K Chowla..She is upset that I put an unflattering pic of hers.
magiceye....Absolutely, I have shifted my loyalties. I now obsess about my blog's health.
That was sweet post!
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I was wondering what ur daughter has to say about her baby pics on your blog... u just answered to B K Chowla... I know kids don't like it.
but, like the way u present simple and sweet things so creatively!
RESTLESS
i was just smiling throughout the post coz its so similar to what my mum says about me and my brother when we were babies! and the response to your daughter in the end is hilariouss! So true! :))
ReplyDeleteur daughter is a cutie!!
ReplyDeleteI donno why you said I might not want to read it. Just because i'm a Man? And/Or because i might never get pregnant?! :P
ReplyDeleteLOVED it :) a nice follow-up to the first one, especially 'systematic torture' and 'you should start exercising now'!!
Waiting for more...
Nice! Reminds me too of such days!
ReplyDeleteHe looks likes like me when I was that age.
ReplyDeleteIn the second one he resembles my sister.
Or maybe all babies look the same to a 17 year old.
Nevertheless, sundor dekthe. Very cute
http://sourcanvas.blogspot.com
Hmmmm....cute
ReplyDeleteRestless...Quoting from a what a friend wrote ...A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for!!!
ReplyDeleteWildflower...Ahh Mums and their stories, they never end do they ?
Vicious...Try calling her cute now...she might just kill you :D
Avi...Yupp, want to continue the series. This aint the last you heard from Mommy Ray.
ReplyDeleteGiribala...Now when I look back, I wonder how I managed.
Ujsen..HE!!!!LOL no, that's a girl.
Prateek...Hmmm
Moms will be Moms and the fact that at 45 mine is still not satisfied with my weight (so much of it!) is testament to that! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you were and continue to be a great Mom - that looks like one happy baby there - and I'm sure she's a happy young girl now ....okay - not so happy with the pics you showed..still. you get my point, na.
Oh, I had the reverse problem with my first-born -- he was too chubby but the second one was skinny and I had the same problem you had with your daughter, trying to make him a little plumper...The post made me chuckle :)
ReplyDeleteTee is such a cutie! :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if my mom has stuff like this to tell me too, I should check with her. And, I do the, "I'm too fat" thing to mom too! :)
Love this post, looking forward to more bumblings...
Your child is adorable...I dont know why you were worried about her being not chubby..But again i may never understand
ReplyDeleteBaby T was a cutie! :)
ReplyDeleteI was smiling through the whole post!
The last line was hilarious :D
Hmmm...I like your musing mode as much as the a-musing mode..:)
ReplyDeleteMy second baby was huge...an unbelievable 4.25 kg!...but came out like an angel...5 heaves and out he came! cutest baby ever...never cried ever at night...had the best time looking after him...would dance to chayya-chayya adorably.
ReplyDeletenow he is a lean fit 6 pack 16 year old young man who captains the under 16 state cricket team!
Corrinne...We are more of friends now. In fact, she loves to mother me around :))
ReplyDeleteAnd like your daughter, I fret about my Mom's weight too.
Zephyr...Ahh you've seen the ups and downs!! LOL
mazingout...And I am looking forward to write some more. And do check up with your Mum and have fun with the nuggets she comes up with.
Dhiraj...Ahh Moms love worrying, it's their favourite pass time.
ReplyDeleteGirish...Hilarious and true!! Gosh, am tired of hearing her moan about her imagined weight gain.
Journomuse ...Ha! well said.
Nalini..WOW!!!!
The baby is so cute...
ReplyDeleteLoved the way you ended the post... Very nice:)
Have a nice day!
thats such a sweet pic :D
ReplyDeleteshe's very cute :D I was a plump baby.. but later on became a skinny teenager ... and now again I am fighting ever inc weight :)
lovely chronicles from a mother :)
Arti...Mucho thanks.
ReplyDeleteRajlakshmi....Ahhh...weight, lack of it or excess of it...it's a major headache.