I’ve read so much about the risks of baby-walkers but I haven’t really given it much of a thought when I borrowed my sister-in-law’s walker. I used to allow 15 minutes of supervised play on the baby-walker when I’m not around.

Now, I’m considering not using it at all especially after what I heard yesterday about a 6 month old baby on one of those baby-walkers, and while his babysitter was busy doing something when all of a sudden the baby falls 7 steps down the stairs! OUCH!

So yesterday I gave some new instructions that my baby won’t be using the baby-walker anymore when I’m not around at all. I admit though they’re very cute but nothing can compete with their dangers.

I also read that baby-walkers don’t really help much with walking at all because walking needs a totally different maneuver. It also delays crawling, walking, and standing up (BMJ).  But the American Academy of Pediatric and other associations have already proposed a ban on using baby- walkers. The Canadian government prohibited new and used baby-walkers from being advertised, sold or imported. I hope Kuwait would do that one sweet day!

Today we’ll witness another sun eclipse around 1pm-3pm. On CNN, I read that there’s some superstition going on in India that pregnant women shouldn’t go out today to avoid having blind babies, and another superstition is to throw any food cooked before the eclipse because it becomes impure. Just don’t look at the sun with a naked eye. And how come primary schools here didn’t give a day off for students like in Lebanon and other countries? 

A quick update on my baby’s teeth, I’ve read more about my baby’s gums and the splotch or lump I found on my baby’s upper gums is something called Gum Hematoma, which is a sort of bleeding under the gums. Scary! The reason for that is definitely teething!

Just recently and that’s in the past week my baby started to learn how to crawl but the funny thing he’s moving like a soldier with one arm against his chest and the other to push himself forward. But cuuute. I guess that’s called creeping because he drags himself around on the floor. Very rarely he’s on his four, with several failed tries to sway back and forth a little and leaps to the floor.

On a different note, yesterday I found a bluish greenish splotch on his upper gums and for a while now he’s been rubbing his gums on my shoulders all the time. So I know that he’s upper teeth might be coming out real soon especially now that they’re so swollen though his lower ones were not as bad.

Anyways, what really got me worried is the bruise I found on his upper gums. I’ve never seen anything like it. He must have hit his gums on one of his toys because that happens a lot and he’d start to cry at once. That might be the reason for that bruise. But I hope it has nothing with teething. It also turned out that an illness is connected with teething in one way or another. I want to take him to the dentist once I’m done from work.

There’s a perfume exhibition I want to go to on Mishref’s Fair Grounds. I heard from my co-worker that they’re selling stuff there for half the price or less. They give out so much free testers and gifts. Looks like its so much fun!

On my way to work today I noticed a palm tree that was broken into two sections on my left side. Later on I heard from my co-worker about a car accident that happened early in the morning on the Gulf Road. I was told the car was speeding, took a sharp turn and striking into a row of palm trees. So on our way back we found the car has been shifted to a different location, right in front of the Church and my co-worker took a snap of the wrecked car. Nasty accident! What happened to the driver, I wonder?

My fear before I introduced solids to my baby’s diet was starting my baby with another feeding routine all over again. I was advised by my sister-in-law to feed solids after two hours or so after a bottle-feeding (milk), and if my baby wanted a bottle-feeding after a solid meal it should be an hour or so after the meal. Of course this really depends on how much my baby ate during his meals because sometimes I’d end up giving him a bit of both.

Generally, this new routine worked out for my baby because stretching the hours between one feeding to another wasn’t that easy. The older the baby gets the longer the gap should be between feedings. For example, a newborn baby bottle-feeds every 1-2 hours. But a 6 months old baby usually bottle feeds every 4-5 hours, this is true only if the baby had a full solid meal. To make sure that your baby is having enough to eat, every month or two I’d check on my baby’s Growth Chart. My baby’s at the 50th percentile now. I guess he’s average for his age.