Sun bath

Babies are exposed to sun in the mornings as vitamin d is beneficial for them. When my daughter was getting discharged from the hospital, one of the instructions was to give the baby a sun bath for half hour every morning. I was wondering if it was okay to take the tiny infant to the terrace and expose him to the elements as it were. My sister clarified that we should do it inside the house when the morning rays of the sun stream in to the house.

She said that I should have him in my lap, shield his eyes from the sun and he should be bare bodied. Fifteen minutes of sun bathing lying on his back and another fifteen minutes of sun bath while lying on his stomach.

We have taken her instructions quite seriously and our morning routine is quite geared towards the sun bath ritual.After a lot of back and forth arguments to decide the perfect spot inside the house, we zeroed in on a spot in the guest bedroom where sun's rays fall at the right time, between 7.30 and 8 am. Our most important job in the morning is to spot the sun's rays and quickly alert all concerned to gear up for the ritual. While all of us are tuned in, the 'hero' has his own mind. He would be fast asleep at the crucial time. Since he sleeps so less, we do not have the heart to wake him up. It is a  moral tussle between what is good for him in the long run(sun bath) and what is good for us in the short run(he should continue his sleep).He is sometimes feeding and soon after feeding is not a very good time to toss his around and put him through the wringer of a sun bath. So we try to do it prior to his feed time. We tried this a few times and given up as a lost case. While we are thinking of sun bathing him, his only thought is 'food'. If he is not whimpering and crying, he is busy trying to grab every available stuff into his mouth, while includes, the wraparound shawl, or his thatha's fingers or his toes and fingers. He is also constantly wriggling and thatha finds it a challenge to hold him in position.Yes, you got it, thatha has been drafted in and he quite enjoys the same, especially  on the days he is quiet and contented and contemplative and just stares at thatha fixedly.

It is usually the time my daughter gets to freshen up and have her coffee/milk and fortify herself  with sathu maavu  kanji. I am usually hanging around to come to thatha's rescue when the baby slides down his lap or tries to overturn or do anything to cause him alarm!

The recent cyclone in Andhra meant a few days of cloudy weather in chennai, and it was 'holiday' for sun bath. We were not very happy, as we look forward to this happy and healthy time with the child and the sun.

It has also meant that the family gets its dose of  vitamin d as a desirable spin off!