Revealing the book cover

Book Title: The Essence Of Motherhood

Sub-title: The ups and downs of being a Mom

Genre: Non-fiction (Motherhood)

About the Book:  Do you think motherhood is messy, along with messy houses, messy rooms, and messy clothes? If your answer is yes! Then yes! It is. It’s messy and beautiful.

The book is divided into two sections:

1. Healthy Pregnancy: Pregnancy is divided into three phases called the three trimesters and I have tried to cover all the unique issues and events that occur in each trimester, answering the questions that most mothers or to-be-mothers have.  A few topics include healthy diet plans and exercise, maintaining self-love, garbh sanskar, packing your hospital bag, and how prepare yourself for the D-day.

1. Cherish the Motherhood: At the end of nine months, you are able to hold your baby in your hands and see him or her for the first time. You are now officially a ‘Mother’! The second part of my book is about the so-called official motherhood stage once the baby is delivered. How can you take care of yourself in the postpartum period? How has your role as a mother changed now?

You must read this book if you:

• Are a first-time parent
• Are scared of pregnancy
• Want to cherish motherhood

What can you expect from this book?

• Fitness and diet plans for the three trimesters
• Garbh Sanskar and the right techniques
• Personal experiences of mothers
• Positive visualization and thinking methods
• How to deal with postpartum depression and weight
• Experts interviews

The book will help you in having a positive mindset towards pregnancy. It’ll also give you a glimpse of what you can expect during and after the pregnancy phase. Motherhood is a beautiful journey but not a destination. This book will help you through this journey like a friend, a guide, and sometimes like a mother or mother-in-law.

About the Author: Radhika Jindal is a well-known blogger and a mother of a 3-year-old. She loves writing about relationships, motherhoods, books, parenting and self-care. She shares her thoughts through her blog, www.radhikadiary.com. This is her first book. When she is not writing, she is busy making happy memories with her princess.

Cheers to Motherhood!

Blurb of the book

Kindly note that the paperback will be available soon on Amazon, and Flipkart.

Paperback

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 ‘This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.’ 

Book Name: Motherhood Talks

Author’s Name: Sadvika Kylash

Ratings: 4*/5

Download the book: Motherhood Talks

About the Author:

Sadvika kylash, is a Master graduate in Journalism and was a Freelance Writer till she entered motherhood. Her passion is writing. She shares her blogs at momlifeandlifestyle.

About the Book:

*Do you feel you have forgotten yourself after becoming a mother?

*Do you think motherhood is messy but exciting too at the same time?

The author has thrown light on the pros and cons of being a mother. This book is for all the moms out there who want to ensure that they're doing it right. A mother should always believe in her maternal instincts. The book will guide you on :

*How you can be multi-tasking?

*Why being a mean mom is good?

*how to avoid tantrums in kids?

This is a quick read. The writing style is Lucid. The book title goes well with the content of the book. I recommend this book to all the parents. You might doubt yourself in the parenting journey, but this book will clear a lot of doubts. Though the author has described a lot of things, I feel like the author could have mentioned a little about mental health and how to keep calm while dealing with kids.

Overall, it’s a useful guide, especially for new mothers. The book helps in realizing your self-worth too. You might feel you're not a perfect mother, but after reading this book, you'll notice that you're doing justice on your motherhood journey.

 Blog 1: Vision Board for Expecting Mothers 

 Blog 2: How do I wean off my 2 years old bottle? 

Let’s discuss what problem are you facing with your little one now? What strategies and tricks worked out for you during the bottle weaning process. Kindly share your thoughts in the comment box below.

 ‘This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.’ 

How do I wean my 2-year-old off the bottle?

First, you need to understand why bottle weaning off is important?

It is said that you should wean the bottle off after 1 year. Even I regret I wasn't aware of it and couldn't pay much attention to it when my little one was 1 plus. But it’s ok! No one is a perfect parent. We all learn with time and experiences. I am glad that I could wean it off before she is 3 years old. I hope this blog will help other moms.

What're the side effects of bottle feeding?

1. Tooth decay: Tooth decay in baby teeth sets the stage for problems with permanent teeth like additional cavities and improper placement.

2. Delayed speech: when babies are sucking the bottle nipple, they’re not putting their energy into chewing their food. That delays the process of speech development.

3. Loss of appetite: Babies find comfort in sucking the nipple and want to use it for every purpose. Then they don’t want to eat anything, because they like to have it from the bottle whether it’s milk, juices, and water, etc. It decreases their loss of appetite.

4. Addiction to sucking the bottle nipple: Babies get addicted to what they find comfort in.

Here are a few steps on how I weaned off my toddler’s bottle (based on my personal experience) :

*First, you need to understand that it’s not a one-night Job neither for the baby nor you.

 *Second, follow the wake-up and sleeping routine.

*Third, keep their favorite soft toy with them always.

Step 1: Make up your mind

Yes! Being a parent, now we know that the bottle is affecting the child’s dental health. First, a mother should show the willingness to wean it off. Please remember, you’re a responsible mother. No one else can do it for you. No one understands your child and their habit better than you. Neither you should expect nor you should blame your husband, in-laws, family, and friends for the same. Yes! You should ask for a little help like if they can help you with household work etc. as you’ll get busy to make the routine for your little one.

2) Transition from bottle to cup (invest in attractive cup/mugs/Tumblr/sipper/straw) First day time :

Day1: Give the bottle (It’s the first day) Introduce at least a cup/mugs/Tumblr/sipper/straw depending on their age and comfort. You can pretend like this is mummy’s glass of water and this is the baby’s glass of water. While you make them sleep in, 

Day 2:  Give proper solid foods three times a day

Don’t give the bottle during the daytime. Hide it completely and don’t even use the word “Bottle” in front of your kid. Keep an attractive cup/mugs/Tumblr/sipper filled with water or milkshake in front of them. Let them drink it by themselves.

Day 3: How to make your little one sleep at noon without the bottle?

 I tried keeping cups/mugs/Tumblr/sippers everywhere she used to go, like in the kitchen, in the hall, and in every room. The primary motive was to make her forget about the bottle. I made her sleep without the bottle at noon. The best you can do is always make her stomach full and physically active. 

Day 4: What to do if the baby wakes up at night?

I made sure that I would make her sleep without the bottle and it doesn't matter if she asks for the bottle in the night feed. You’ll not believe but it took me 45 minutes to make her sleep and pretend like yes your extra bottle is coming. “Your papa, Dadu, is bringing the bottle and they’ll be here soon. You sleep now. It’s time to sleep. Everyone has slept, but not you. What is it that is waking up my baby?” This used to be my conversation with her every night for the first 4 days. It’s still the same.

If they wake up in the middle of the night, and then refuse to drink water, and cry for a bottle, give them water in the bottle but don’t make them cry much. Remember, it’ll take a little time to wean it off. Relax!

Day 5: Remember 2 things:

Kids don't wake up at night for milk. It’s a myth and our wrong perception. They wake up only because of two reasons:

1.      Comfort

2.     Thirst

Note: Keep the sipper/water glass always nearby. If they wake up at night, first check on AC and the environment. They MIGHT BE FEELING COLD/HOT DEPENDING on the weather. Second, take him/her in your arms and do a little walk and then they’ll fall asleep slowly. You can sing their favorite songs or chant “Hare Rama Hare Krishna” etc. depending on what you used to make your baby sleep.

Day 6: Stay Consistent

I hope you’re getting things more clearly now. Repeat all the above steps. Hide the bottle completely and offer cup/mugs/Tumblr/sipper every time.

Day 7: It’s not a 7-day process. It took me 10 days to wean it off. Once I started, so many doubts and strategies appeared automatically. Like, in my case, she used to sleep in her father’s arms more easily than compared to me, but I asked my husband to sleep in a separate room for a few days until I wean the bottle off.

 Second, One day when she slept in his arms quickly, we made a habit that I’ll follow all bedtime rituals during and before sleeping like “Brushing Teeth, washing feet, hands, and face, etc., Om Chanting, saying Gayatri Mantra, Reading a book, and acting like its time to sleep. Mumma and the soft toy want to sleep now. This bedtime ritual takes around 30-45mins and then I chant Hanuman Chalisa and she is almost 70% sleepy by now. Don’t forget, the light should be dim and the environment should be soothing.

 After that, I call her father and he makes her sleep, which takes him around 15 minutes. This way I could follow a 10-day challenges to wean off the bottle. It all depends on the team efforts put in by you and your husband.

Now I can sleep peacefully 

3) Direct Communication: Infants mostly understand more by their mother’s expression. But once they enter the stage of being a toddler, they can understand your words properly. They can understand what you're trying to communicate with them. This made it a little easy for me too.

4) Don’t give up: No matter how much effort I put in to keep her mind diverted, she always asked for the bottle before sleeping. We fixed it in her mind that sleeping means a bottle, whether it’s an afternoon nap or sleeping time at night. Slowly, she started forgetting about the bottle.

It’s my personal advice to all the mothers who’re in this process. Kindly don’t stress yourself much. Just keep on putting in your best efforts. And take care of your health.

I tried strategies: 

1.      I ordered an extra pair of the nipple and cut down the nipple into two pieces and gave it to her to play with. I gave her so many times in a day like during her bath time, too. First, her reaction was like Mumma. Ye tut Gaya..how. I replied, yes! It's broken. Oh, no! then I made her understand like you’re a grown-up girl now. You need to drink like Mumma and other big kids drink from the glass.

2.     Thank God! My family is always supportive. They also tried to convey the same message that used to get recorded in her mind. 

3.     I made her bottle dirty by using Turmeric powder, clay, etc. Then I asked her to throw it in the dustbin as the bottle is dirty. You’re not supposed to use this bottle anymore now.

4.     The last strategy is that I told her that monkeys need the bottle more than you. Monkey has a small baby. Monkey has taken your bottle. He’ll come back tomorrow. That tomorrow never came. Hahaha!

Blog 1: Vision Board for Expecting Mothers

Let’s discuss what problem are you facing with your little one now? What strategies and tricks worked out for you during the bottle weaning process. Kindly share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Image Source: Pinterest.com

 ‘This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.’ 

We've heard a lot about vision boards to achieve our short- and long-term goals. With this blog, I wanted to help expectant mothers to have a positive mindset throughout their pregnancy via a vision board. Vision Board for expecting mothers.

 Vision Board for Expectant Mothers

We all are aware of the book “The Secret'', and “the Magic” by Rhonda Byrne, who has explained the concept of “the law of attraction”. 

Vision boards play an important role in getting what you want. You can manifest all the things that you desire. You get the desired results just by putting your right intentions into it. Vision Boards are helpful, whether you use them for your personal or professional purpose. Today, let's get to know a little about how it helps expectant mothers and those who’re trying to conceive.

What is a Vision Board?

It’s a board where you put pictures, quotes, and affirmations of what you want in your life. These are the desires that you put into the board and remind it of your subconscious mind every day. It results from your visualization. This works by “the Law of attraction”.

The Law of Attraction 

Law of attraction means that whatever your mind believes with full right intentions and emotions. Then it becomes the reality. You need to believe in the power of  mind to attract anything that you desire. Our subconscious mind has the power to believe in what you allow it to believe. It depends on you, what you feed to your subconscious mind. Some techniques that can apply the law of attraction are affirmations and visualization.

You have heard the word affirmations so many times but now let us discuss what exactly affirmations are? And how does it work? 

About Affirmations:

Affirmations are the positive statements that you adopt in your daily life to program your subconscious mind. It overcomes the negativity of the thoughts. And the best thing about this is, you can repeat it throughout the day. But to get the best out of it, the best time to get the best result is to say it early morning just after you wake up or before you fall asleep at night. 

Here are a few takes you can apply to make your affirmations as well. You need to remember few things like:

•  It should always be in the present tense.
• You should have positive intentions while writing it down.
• Don't write affirmations in the future tense.
• Visualize and feel the affirmations while writing or speaking them verbally
• Have a positive mindset while affirming.
•  Here, I’m sharing a few affirmations for the expecting mothers they can apply for their benefit. We all are aware that words are more powerful. So, choose the right word accordingly. Those words push you, motivate you, and bring out the enthusiasm in you.

The importance of affirmations during pregnancy

• You feel happier and less stressed.
• Helps you to turn your thoughts into a positive thought
• Makes it easier to sleep and to eat
• Helps you to prepare your mind for the pregnancy

Affirmations for expecting mothers:

• “I welcome the changes in my body.”
• “My pregnant body is beautiful.”
• “My body knows how to nourish and grow my baby.”
• “My baby feels my love.”
• “My baby and I are healthy.”
• “My body is perfectly equipped to give birth

Visualization

It simply means VISUALISING the life, the moments, the goal that you want to achieve. Visualization means imagining that you have already reached your goal or some kind of positive thought. It’s an important part of the law of attraction. For e.g... If you want to have a healthy baby, then you need to visualize a healthy baby. If you’re visualizing a baby who’s not healthy, then the law of attraction doesn’t work on the positive side. Keep your intentions pure while visualizing. It attracts what you think.

Now, “What is Manifestation and how to manifest it”?

Manifestation  

We define it like it's happening with us in real life or we’ve already achieved our desired outcome. 

How to Manifest?

• Sit in peace and keep observing your vision board
• Do deep breathing and make yourself calm and focussed
• Visualize your life with the help of your board
• Use imagination and pretend as you’ve already achieved the desired results.
• Make yourself happy and excited about the good news
• Put your positive intentions into it.
• Keep the poster in front of it recorded in your subconscious mind.

What do you need to make the Vision Board?

1.       Big cardboard (ideal size 24”*30”)

2.     Collect your pictures 

3.     Write affirmations

4.     Write your favorite quotes

5.     Colorful pens, colorful stickers

6.     Babies images

7.     A lot of creativity

8.    100% commitment

So, now we’ve everything with us to make the best vision board 

How to get the best out of the vision board?

• Be specific about thwart you want
• Keep the things real. For e.g., you can’t write as I want 
• Choose your categories like health, career, family, personal, and others
• Write short-term or long-term long in each category
• You can re-edit your vision board once you achieve your mentioned goals.
• Be grateful when you look at your vision board.

Why the law of attraction doesn’t work? 

• You’re not putting the positive intentions
• You’re practicing it with a negative or undisturbed mind
• You don’t understand the ‘Law’
• You’re flowing your energy towards your nightmares
• You’re not fully committed to your dream
• You’re patient enough

You can use such types of vision boards for any purpose of your life like your daily routine, writing short- and long-term goals, etc. You can add many categories of your choice where you want to manifest things. The categories are personal, career, health, family, financial and others, etc.

Let's discuss, “ What is that one thing you want to achieve this year”? Is it a healthy baby, fit body, or conceiving the baby? Kindly share your thoughts in the comment box below.