D.O.

B - 23rd October 2018

Observation no.3
Baby’s age - 4 weeks
Date of observation: 19/11/2018
Date presented: 21/11/2018
Observation time: 12.30pm - 1.30pm

Infant Obseravtion
By Tanay Shah

I reached on time and rang the door bell. This time, to my surprise, the mother opened
the door. As I entered, I noticed that no one was there in the living room, and the lights
were off. The mother switched on the lights and asked me to sit while she would bring
the baby in the living room along with his bed. A few seconds later she arrived with the
baby and put him on the diwan. The baby was asleep and I was sitting adjacent to him.

I asked the mother about the father, she said he is in shop today. Only the mother the
mother in law and the baby were present in the house. Mother sat on the sofa, as I
started observing. As a few seconds passed I could sense that the mother was curiously
looking at me and the baby while I was observing. She was, most likely, wondering what
I am observing in a sleeping baby. I was wearing a serious look and didn’t look at the
mother as I didn’t want her to know that my attention was partly directed at her.

The mother was using her phone as I saw through the corner of my eye. I felt relieved to
know that she is not looking at me observing anymore. As about 10 minutes passed, the
silence in the room started to make me feel uncomfortable. I started to think of things I
could ask the mother. I turned my face to her, waited for her to notice this, and asked:
“Does he still stay awake during the nights”? “No”, she responded, “now he sleeps
through the nights and only cries twice or thrice when he is hungry or when he dirties
his nappy”. She stopped at that and I felt pressured to keep the conversation going.

“Are his rashes okay now?” I asked again. “Yes”, she answered, “the doctor had
prescribed an ointment and since using it he’s doing fine”. “Times have changed”, she
proceeded, “X (the father) took the doctor’s appointment online and we went at our
allotted time slot, we didn’t have to wait”. “That must have been very convenient” I
said. “Yes it was, everyone would come on their given times and see the doctor”, she
responded. I smiled and focused my attention back to the baby who was still sleeping.
Another few minutes passed, this time the mother probably felt bored or awkward and
asked me to excuse her, and went inside. I looked at my watch: about 30 minutes still
remained. Time is passing too slowly today, I thought to myself. Now that the mother
had left and I was alone with the baby, I felt a little easier. I adjusted myself on my seat,
assumed a more open posture and started to look at the baby again. The baby was
showing no signs or waking up anytime soon. While my eyes were fixed on the baby, I
caught myself thinking about other things and feeling distracted multiple times.

The mother-in-law entered the living room. “So would you like to lunch with us today?”
she asked. “No thanks” I answered, “my lunch has already been prepared at home”.
“But you wouldn’t mind some snacks, would you”? “Sure” I said. She went inside the
kitchen and came back with a plate in her hand, shifted the table in front of me, and put
the plate on it, gesturing towards the plate and asking me to start.

“The massage lady is coming in a few minutes” the mother-in-law told me, “she got late
today”. “Oh!” I exclaimed looking up from my plate. I started to worry in my mind if they
will again ask me to stay until the massage is over. I looked at my watch, about 10
minutes remained. I mentally rehearsed what would I say if they really do ask me to stay
for longer. The doorbell rang after a few minutes and I knew that it was the massage
lady.

The mother entered the living room upon hearing the doorbell, and joined the mother-
in-law in welcoming the massage lady. It felt like the massage lady is quite highly
regarded by this family. As she entered the living room, I looked at the massage lady.
She never returned my gaze. Soon after entering she asked for the vitamin supplement
bottles, which was promptly brought by the mother-in-law.

As all this happened I started to feel a bit left out, which probably was also because the
massage lady never acknowledged my presence in the room. Only 2 more minutes, I
told myself. As she proceeded to give the vitamin dose to the baby, I started looking at
the baby closely. Baby was finally awake; the mother-in-law came closer to see the baby
as he started crying, patted his chest and started talking to him.

I stood up and waited for a few seconds until the mother-in-law looked at me and took
her leave before proceeding for the main door.