Anant Agrawal
Anant Agrawal – our little superstar
Anant Agrawal was born on 19th April 2018 at Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
We are basically from Rajasthan. Anant has three family members - Mother’s name is Suruchi Agrawal, Father’s name is Sanjay Agrawal and Cute elder sister Krittika Agrawal. He is blessed with Trisomy 21 or one extra chromosome. Anant’s nickname is Chikku.
When he was born, the doctor found features suspicious for Trisomy 21 in the form of simian lines, flat facial profile, and reduced muscle tones. It was confirmed after testing for the karyotype. During these time we were not accepting that our child is one with Down syndrome.
I faced many difficulties- mental stress, was worried for his future and other such concerns that parents usually face during these times. We met many people, searched more for knowledge as in how we can give him a better life. Fortunately, our entire family accepted this truth and we moved forward.
We followed all mandatory Vaccinations, whole body screening for thyroid, congenital heart defects, cognitive and intelligence screening. We followed nutritional diet on scheduled time.
After 6 months, doctor suggested us to go for Physiotherapy sessions. It was a potentially tough task as the daily therapy would incur a lot of financial expenditure but by God’s grace, we sailed through that phase without much hiccups.
Anant started to sit at the age of 10 months. The doctor told us that it’s a big achievement for us that he is not much delayed in development. I was also doing home exercises for him as suggested by the physiotherapist.
He took to breastfeeding which was reassuring that his oral muscles were working well. I breastfed him till the age of one year. Later, I started to wean him as suggested by my sister in law who happens to be a trained nutritionist. It was really smooth transition for him. Anant now loves every types of food.
Slowly, he started achieving all the developmental milestones appropriately-Crawling, Swallowing, Standing to name a few.
He started walking at the age of 1 year and 6 months. The entire family was thrilled to see him walk independently. It was like a great achievement…
He had constipation throughout the year. So, I gave him regularly flax seeds oil and high-fibre food.
He likes to eat banana very much. He has achieved Most Adorable child award, in Art and crafts. Even in dance, Yoga, he achieved an award. He loves to eat whatever the adults eat. He likes Dance, Music, Paper tearing, playing with utensils, Ball and bat, Water games the most.
During this 2 and half year journey, we changed three destinations due to our job. By god’s grace, we always got very good housing society, supportive whatsapp groups, attended multiple Webinars, Face to Face discussions with senior parents and everything has been a wonderful journey.
In Chikku's development journey, a major role was played by his elder sister Kitty. There is a strong bonding between them. She teaches him new things while playing games. We always kept an inclusive environment in our house. Each member has his own role. We as parents, never differentiate between the two kids.
Anant loves his father a lot. Every evening he waits for his father to come back from office. He is keen to learn new things and he mingles with everyone. He is the Most Lovable child in our family.
And last but not least, I will just say that God gave us this responsibility so we transformed our lives to fulfil our role as parents to this loving child. It is a genetic modification and not any "Deviya Prakoop". So please beware of all these superstitious thoughts…….We are Thankful to Rekhama maa and Nina Ma'am for making this Wonderful journey with their positive vibes around us.
Just keep in mind.
Special Needs kids are made for Special Parents and those WE ARE…………….
Suruchi Agarwal, mother of this Superchild
