Baby week 2 and lentil soup - indian style

Week 2:- I’m back from the hospital . The baby is looking a bit larger and I am more confident of holding her.  Her redness has disappeared and she now looks ‘normal’ . Such tiny hands and legs. And she seems to have a small but sharp nose. Just like my mother ! and very unlike my first baby – Reet. Reet’s nose was very flat and so much time and energy was spent massaging it to make it ‘sharp’ and beautiful .. not that any of it helped J

The umbilical cord dropped off on day 11 . So the Indian ritual of a daily massage has started . Want to more about managing a baby the ‘Indian’ way ? Do read up ‘Gentle first year’ by Dr Gowri Motha and Kareen Swan Macleod. This was lent to me by a friend and has  practical advise on how to manage the baby.The things you can look up include how to massage the baby .

We have started off with Olive oil (virgin). It suited Reet (my older kid) and we see no reason to doubt it being the best choice for the second one .

A word about baby Johnson’s oil.. it did not suit our older baby Reet a bit . She developed rashes and the doctor told us how about 30-40% children in his experience do not react favourably to Johnson’s baby oil. So a 100% natural vegetable oil is a better bet.

 And we have also discovered that Vira sleeps in the day and likes being awake in the night .. just sort of looks around and exercised her lungs. So we need to sleep with a night light on !! A baby being awake means lots of wet and soiled diapers .

We notice a yellow discharge from her right eye .It is giving her discomfort as the eye lids get stuck together. A run to the doctor and he prescribes some eye drops – and says its conjunctivitis. How scary !!

In India the new born baby and mother are kept under ‘house arrest’ for 40 days. This gives the mother ample time to recover and the baby to adjust to the outside world. I need to drink only warm water, eat a lot of ghee rich , dry fruit rich food , dal (especially red dal or massoor dal- red lentils) – cooked quite like soup so that I could have a couple of bowls of it .

 How to cook dal (red / black lentils) – soup style

1.       Wash 2 tablespoons of raw dal

2.       Put this into the pressure cooker and add 2 glasses of water

3.       Add a tomato (diced), a sliver of ginger and a bit of garlic , a pinch of turmeric , some black pepper and salt

4.       Let the pressure cooker cook for 2 whistles(approx.. 10 minutes)

5.       Soup is ready

Note:- Strain the mixture thru a sieve if you like it thin

All lentils / peas etc. are rich in protein and great for a new mum – low on fats and carbs . So hopefully I will reduce some weight fast. They help improve the quality and quantity of milk – so it helps my baby too . A truly win – win situation J