Feeding Tales: A Harried Mother's Rant

Every time someone talks about babies and the tough parenting involved they are quick to talk about changing umpteen nappies and of sleepless nights. But what is actually more excruciatingly tough and which nobody seems to talk about is - about feeding them.

Almost right from the time they are born, be it breastfeeding or formula and then progressing to the next stage of baby food and then slowly graduate them to adultfood is no small matter at all. Believe me. Each stage comes with its own set of problems that one would hardly have ever foreseen.

You thought babies will cry when they are hungry? Yes, they will apart from wailing for a host of other things.

You thought they will open their cute little mouths and ask to be fed? A Big NO!

Babies love to test your patience. Stock it well. As they grow their feeding habits gets to be even more adventurous.

Most parenting books say - strap them on to their high chairs and give them finger food to play around and slowly spoonfeed them. This is what happens in an ideal situation but almost never in reality. Most of the time toddlers want to run around, or try to get out of the chair or throw food around and firmly refuse to open their mouth. Then you got to have different tricks up your sleeve like making funny faces or showing colorful toys. Brace yourself for another bitter truth - children's attention span is as much as probably the gap between teeth and they don't like to play with the same toys. At least not my son. This ritual happens three to four times in a day.

Now, if you thought this was it then the bigger ordeal is planning their daily diet. He would love bread and cheese today and throw up the same thing tomorrow. One day he likes mixed vegetable puree and the same thing with little extra carrots bits will make him shun it. If they don't want it they will gag even on semi-solids!

Despite facing all these odds in your stride, just when you think that a routine is getting set,lo! there comes a viral or cold/cough and throws everything to the wind. They sleep for about four hours late in the evening and wake up fresh for dinner time, just when you want to rest those tired limbs. When your precious is in a mood to mega blocks & choo-choo train at 10:00 p.m its time to bid-adieu to sleep. Yawn!

IMHO mothers need to be tax exempted all their lives.