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The book talks about various issues that make babies unhappy. It is a nice (though not great) read for first-time parents. A baby can naturally fall asleep. Hunger for food (milk) and hunger for sensations prevent that. Massages are good, but even carrying a baby in a body-hugging baby carrier is a form of massage. Steady walking with a baby in your arms is one of the best ways to calm down a distressed baby. Sleeping on the back has increased the incidence of head flattening. Due to sleeping on the back, the tummy time is even more important. Carrying a baby over your arm provides both tummy time and an amazing sensory experience for the baby. Beyond 10 hours a day, any more time spent with the baby has diminishing returns. Using a baby carrier while doing chores also exposes babies to the sensory experience of the house. White noise machines are not a good idea for babies during sleep. The best place for babies to fall asleep is near their parents. During the daytime as well as at night. Induced burping is a bad idea. It has little upside, and it interferes with sleep. If the baby fails to breastfeed properly in the first few days, it can create negative associations that are much harder to fix later on. A baby might cry a lot due to a lack of good gut bacteria. One can fix it by adding Lactobacillus reuteri to the baby’s diet. Overprescription of anti-acid medications leads to suppressed acid production, leading to allergies in the long-run. Infacol is no better than a placebo in treating colic. In the initial days, the baby must gain ~200 grams per week (even 500 grams per week has been seen). Cue-based care creates a language of cues between the baby and the parents. For the first 16 weeks, babies make inconsolable cries as the amygdala (emotion center of the brain) is not fully developed. As the circuitry matures, the cries go down. Boys are usually less developmentally mature at birth than girls.

Sandbox your tools before they harm you

We outsource chores all the time. We outsource cooking to restaurants. We outsource travel planning to travel guides. We outsource oil changes to auto mechanics. But software outsourcing is unique in that it often gets a bad reputation and causes a loss of expectations. I believe there are a few reasons why software outsourcing gets such a bad reputation. Lack of discernment A Peruvian restaurant would refuse to serve you Indian food. They might suggest some good vegetarian options, but would not cook Paneer Tikka for you. ...

The natural baby sleep solution is an interesting book on the baby’s sleep patterns. BRAC, Basic Rest and Activity cycle of 90-120 minutes decides the sleep and wake times for everyone. This is especially useful for babies, who would be active for about 90 minutes and then need to sleep or slow down. Too much stimulation near sleep time can delay sleep and have adverse effects on cognitive development of the baby. Unlike adults, babies cannot easily fall asleep on their own till the age of 6 months. 6 to 8 months is the best time to sleep train a baby with either Feber method or cry-it-out method, which involves letting the baby cry for a certain amount of time before comforting them. The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) regulates all body clocks, including the sleep-wake cycle and even hormonal cycles in women. NAPS plan - Note the time baby wakes up. Add 90 minutes to it. Play/feed with the baby. Soothe the baby at 90 minutes to make him fall asleep. Use red bulbs in the baby’s room to avoid stimulating them with blue light. If you feed the baby whenever he wakes up at night. Then the baby would get conditioned to food at that time. And then it would be impossible for the baby to sleep without food at that time. A 6+ month-old baby should be able to sleep through the night without food. They should get the calories they need during the day. A baby who is being put to sleep in the middle of the alertness cycle will not sleep regardless of how sleepy he might be. Some babies are early morning larks. Some are night owls. Usually, babies are larks till their teenage years. An 8-9-month-old baby might stand up in the crib. The novelty of standing would die down in a few weeks, though. The most important lesson is that the baby always functions according to 90-minutes cycle when awake. For the first 3-6 months, the baby needs a nap every 90 minutes. For the next 6-12 months, the baby needs a nap every 180 or 270 minutes. How long they sleep will vary from child to child, though.

Antwerp is easily accessible from Brussels in about ~1 hour by train or ~40 minutes by bus. Compared to Brussels, Antwerp is small and charming. I would recommend starting the day with Legends of Antwerp tour. One great thing about this tour is that you get to see both a church and a museum for a short time for free. Both of these have entry tickets otherwise. This statue of a man throwing the hand of a giant (who used to demand tribute and punish sailors if they didn’t pay) into the sea gave the name to Antwerp. “Hand werpen” means “to throw a hand” in Dutch. ...

The standard journey of influencers Start with podcasting or video blogging (YouTube/TikTok) It is hard to build an audience when you don’t have one Start with interviewing other podcasters/creators to bring yourself to the front of their audience Alternatively, build an audience via engaging (tweet replies) high-value customers or by catching the trending topics Build a one-way connection with your audience via newsletter on email/WhatsApp The goal is to connect directly with your followers and not be dependent on social media algorithms for too long Build a community via Facebook/Slack/Telegram/Circle groups Once you have a critical number of connections, invite them to a community In the initial phase, maintaining and running a community requires work Eventually, the community becomes self-sustaining Monetize Selling branded merchandise Large-ticket affiliates like insurance Paid consultation calls Fan funding (Patreon) for exclusive content access Organizing a Conference

Brussels is a charming European-style city with cobblestone streets, historic architecture, and a rich cultural heritage. Brussels . I would recommend doing a day-trip to Brussels if you are visiting Paris or Amsterdam. Every street/area in Brussels has two names - one in French and one in Dutch. Sometimes, they are not even similar. The Grand Palace (Grote Markt) is the central square of Brussels and a UNESCO World Heritage site. ...

People love taking shortcuts in real life. Ozempic is a shortcut to losing weight. Tanning beds are a shortcut to getting tanned. Summaries are shortcuts to reading books. Few take shortcuts in the activities they enjoy. A hiker in Patagonia or climber on Mt. Fuji is not looking for a shortcut to finish the journey. There is a genuine desire to enjoy the experience. There is a genuine desire to improve one’s ability and skills. ...

Rakhigarhi (राखीगढ़ी), an archeological site in Haryana is dated to be 3000 BC and might be even older. As of July 2021, the site isn’t ready for visitors just yet. There is a museum but that’s under construction too. So, if you are planning to visit, just wait for a few years.

Paris is huge. Paris is spread out. Unlike Eastern European cities, Paris does not have a beautiful old town. In fact, the city is so overhyped that there is a Paris Effect named after it, where tourists expect to see a beautiful city but are disappointed when they arrive. Now, of course, if you travel to Europe, you have to visit Paris because everyone else does. Here’s my recommended plan for Paris. ...