Of Stretched Babies

When little man was born, my grandmother was at home and spent the first few months with little man and I. There were a lot of little nuggets and jewels of advice and information dropped here and there but one story stands out for me until today.

One day I left little man with her for a few minutes and when I came back she had quite the long face. I asked her ‘Mwaitu (a respectful term for mother in Kamba) why the long face?’

She responded in Kamba (I don’t remember the exact words in Kamba) ‘my baby doesn’t have good clothes for growing!’

I dress my babies in growers, you know the overalls that are like body stockings? They cover from the neck down to the foot with a zip or those clip-ish buttons all the way down. Now grandma’s problem was that the feet were enclosed and therefore they had no space to grow. A valid problem. I tried to tell her that there are bigger outfits that the baby will fit into when he outgrows what he was currently wearing. She just got angrier and threatened to cut off the bootee part of the grower. She was really concerned. She elaborated that I was making her child uncomfortable when growing itself is such painful and hard business.

She said ‘you know there are special times when God comes and stretches the baby, it's a painful affair so God doesn’t do it all the time.’

I laughed it off.

9 months later, I have a slightly feverish boy, cranky and no other signs of sickness. His blood work comes out clean. His pediatrician tells me, ‘it must be growing pains that come with growth spurts.’

Apparently at 2 weeks, 3 months, 6, months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months… and so on children literally grow taller overnight and this can be painful. (Growth Spurts)

Shock on me!

My grandmother told me when little man was 3 months old and I laughed it off.