Sticky baby

Dear Zany Mum

I just came back from a dinner with a friend. She needed to drive so she passed her baby to us to handle for a while. This baby is so "sticky" that she wanted to go back to her mummy even she is driving. Baby is 2 yrs old. Ended up, we got a vomitting baby and car smells like "you know what". Have you encountered this before and how do you handle this situation? Until what age will the baby react like that? How to avoid this situation, if possible? ... Kimmy

Dear Kimmy

When I saw 'sticky baby', I thought you had a baby who got all sticky with sweets and ice-cream. I see that you've used the Hokkien equivalent of 'liam.' In parent-speak, this stickiness is actually separation anxiety. I don't have a degree in child education and la-di-da but my advice is gleaned from the University of Hard Knocks.

I'm glad I've never encountered this problem with my kiddoes. They're only sticky in one sense - they're stuck to their car-seats. I always strapped them down right from birth to about three or four years of age, or until they outgrow their car-seat whichever comes first.

I can just imagine the torture you had to go through, holding a struggling baby who's stretching out her arms to her mummy who has to free one hand from the wheel periodically to pat the child and say, "There, there, it's okay. Just for a while only. We'd be home soon, okay. One more minute only." And if the baby could talk, she'd bawl, "Why does your one minute seem like 30 minutes?"

Another thing, Kimmy, you gotta learn more parent-speak. Parents call faeces poo-poo, urine shi-shi and bath pong-pong but there's no equivalent for vomit. You don't call it "you know what." Imagine if every unsavoury stuff is called "you know what", you'd make as much sense as Mork in Mork and Mindy. Yer-no-wa, yer-no-wa sounds like nano-nano, don't you think. Rule of thumb, if you're unsure of the euphemisms, call a spade a spade. Thus, vomit is vomit. Kapish?

There is no magical age where a child will stop being sticky. It all depends on his upbringing and his own brand of personality. An extrovert baby will never be sticky, an introvert may be sticky all his life.

Take my advice, Kimmy. If you don't want any more smelly accidents in the car, invest in a good car-seat. Even if you're not a parent, but if you go out often with mummy-and-daddy friends, buy one. You won't regret it.

But Zany Mum,

What can be done to a child who is not used to baby car seat? I'm sure they will just cry and cry and cry if he/she being strapped to the seat. This baby is like that. There was once she cried from Perak to Penang ... Kimmy

Kimmy, you have my sympathies. The first few times of training a child in a new habit is always hard. You'd just have to bear with it. I suggest you get earplugs for a long journey.