Eat. Cry. Sleep. Repeat

My son is now 2 months old. And he is following the cycle of Eat. Cry. Sleep. Repeat. It is that cycle which every normal child follows. If your child doesn’t follow this cycle then he/she has some sort of problem. Infants can’t express their pain or suffering. So it is important that they follow this cycle. Read on to know the importance of each factor in this cycle.

Eat

Normally pediatricians suggest that a newborn should be fed once every 2-3 hours. Though they prescribe milk powder, the child shouldn’t be habituated to that. Breastfeeding should be the only thing your child should be habituated to. If you give your child powdered milk even once a day then he/she is going to ask for it every day even after turning five. In the first week, if you give powder then it is fine but after that slowly, replace those meals with breastfeeding. It is all about growing a healthy child and breastfeeding is the only way to do it. Moreover, make sure you stick to once in 2-3 hours. You can’t overfeed or underfeed your child. Even if you are in a deep sleep at night, you have to wake up and breastfeed your child properly.

Cry

Crying is one of the most important features of a newborn. You don’t become a bad parent if your child is crying. If your child is not crying then there is something wrong with him/her. I think children cry because that’s the only way they know to express their pain or a need. They can’t talk so how will they say, “I am hungry,” or “I have stomach ache or headache.” In short, the crying of a newborn is normal. As a parent, all you can do is predict the reason behind it on the basis of intensity and pitch of crying. Again, the accuracy of predictions will not be 100%. If you predict the reason right then the child will give best moments of your life. Otherwise, the struggle continues and it might end after a visit to Doctor.

Sleep

Sleep is also an important component for the healthy growth of a child. First 20 days, the child will sleep most of the day. The reason for that is, child takes 20 odd days to realise that he/she has come out of the womb. After that, he/she starts adjusting to the outer ecosystem. When the child sleeps most of the day, you will get the feeling that parenting is easy. Once that period is over, parenthood begins. After the initial period, the child should sleep 13-14 hours a day. My son sleeps around 12 hours and I am trying to stretch that to 14. The child will ultimately form the sleep patterns but that will revolve around a particular schedule. If there are changes in that schedule even for a day then the whole pattern will be disturbed.

Repeat

It is a cycle that should be repeated until the child reaches a certain age. This cycle makes sure that the child is on the right track. If your child follows this cycle properly then he/she will smile most of the day. The smooth running of this cycle will ensure the smooth running of urine or stool cycle. Both these cycles walk hand in hand. As a parent of a 2-month-old son, I make sure that nothing disturbs the Eat. Cry. Sleep. Repeat cycle.

As a parent, I also doubt myself. I am also anxious like other parents. Considering the current phase, even the smallest of the behavioral changes of my son increases my anxiety. With every passing day, I am growing (as a father) with my son. And it will go on until he becomes a father. Until then I’ll keep sharing my experience.