An Old Grandfather’s Tales

We’re familiar with Old Wives’ Tales. Well, this post is about a grandfather’s tales. The grandfather just happens to be Mr. Hubby. First, let me admit that I can’t do without his help in taking care of this baby, our little Drama Queen. I wish he had been more hands on with his own two kids whom I brought up almost all by myself. But that’s a story for another day…

Some old wives’ tales are mild compared to this old grandfather’s tales… as you will see. When we were leaving the hospital with the new baby, the nurses told Dottie to refrain from taking ginger so as not to worsen the baby’s jaundice. (More about neonatal/newborn jaundice in another post.)

That meant no chicken in Chinese wine soup, the staple when I had my babies. However, it wasn’t just this soup dish Mr. Hubby disallowed on the new mother’s menu. He also forbade all the yellow and orange vegetables and fruit. No carrots. No potatoes. No papaya nor pumpkin nor bananas. No mangos. No avocados. The list was endless!

She was allowed onions but I reminded him onions will give her ‘wind’ which she doesn’t want to pass to the baby through her milk. It was a hilarious situation if I had found it funny then. Imagine, according to Mr. Hubby’s reasoning, yellow food will aggravate the baby’s jaundice. If that were so, would eating beet turn your baby purplish-red? Would consuming peas and broccoli turn her green? How easy it is then to change your baby’s colour by eating the ‘correct’ food! Eat bean curds and your baby turns white? Drink coffee and his skin becomes black!

Just the other day Mr. Hubby and I had to rush to the bank early morning. Sonny had to look after the sleeping baby during the several minutes we were out. We were two houses away from home when Sonny phoned me.

 “When is the next feeding time?” he asked. I could hear the baby crying in the background.

I rushed up the stairs to find a hysterical baby. OMG! Her forehead was littered with a dozen insect bites and her nose was red—like Rudolf the reindeer’s. There were no bite marks or red nose before I left for the bank. Maybe a mosquito feasted on her nose and ants bit her forehead?

I always make sure the bed is free of foreign objects before I put the baby down. However, Mr. Hubby had something to say about those insect bites.

“You should always check again after one hour,” he said. “The ants know…”

 “The ants know how long ago I checked the bed? That’s scary!" And can you imagine waking up every hour to check the cot?

Anyway, one hour later Baby’s nose was fine and all the rashes were gone. Completely! “Do babies get rashes when they’ve a crying fit?” I asked Dottie in a text message. I know she's fond of refering to Uncle Google.

Her reply? “Baby is probably sensitive or allergic to something Sonny was using.”

Why hadn’t I thought of that?