month, or when the child shows the first teeth, with slow weaning of the baby from breast feeding to other sources food. Some texts recommend continued breast feeding of the child, as the child adapts to the various foods. The ritual is usually celebrated with cooked rice, in a paste of honey, ghee and curd. Sankhyayana Gryhasutra recommends that fish, goat or partridge meat gravy be added to the solid food that baby tastes for the first time, while Manava Gryhasutra is silent about the use of meat. The mother eats with the baby, the same food. The father sits with them and participates in the rite of passage. The rite of passage, in some texts, include charity and feeding of the poor, and ceremonial prayers by both parents. Baby's first haircut, Chudakarana Chudakarana (IAST: Cūḍākaraṇa, Sanskrit: चूडाकरण) (literally, rite of tonsure), also known as choulam, caula, chudakarma, mundana or "mundan sanskar" is the rite of passage that marks the child's first haircut, typically the shaving of the head. The mother dresses up, sometimes in her wedding sari, and with the father present, the baby's hair is cut and the nails are trimmed. Sometimes, a tuft of hair is left to cover the soft spot near the top of baby's head. The significance of this rite of passage is the baby's cyclical step to hygiene and cleanliness. The ritual is seen as a passage of purity. It is typically done about the first birthday, but some texts recommend that it be completed before the third or the seventh year. Sometimes, this ritual is combined with the rite of passage of Upanayana, initiation to formal schooling. The ritual may include recitation of prayers for the child's long life and happiness. Baby's earlobe piercing rite, Karnavedha Karnavedha (IAST: Karṇavedha, Sanskrit: कर्णवेध) literally means "ear-piercing". This is a minor rite of passage that is not mentioned in most Gryha-sutras. Those that mention it state different schedules, with some suggesting the ritual within the first four weeks after birth, others suggesting within the first year. The purpose of this optional ritual is primarily an ornamentation of the body, and it is part of the baby's socialization process and culture emersion. The piercing is usually done with a clean gold thread, or silver needle. For a baby boy, the right earlobe is pierced first. For a baby girl, the left earlobe is. In case of