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Well… I’ve been a first time parent since 23 August 2008. This was the day my daughter was born. And from then, it has been one ‘crazy’ journey!
The first two weeks were quite nightmarish. I had to endure the stitched wound left by episiotemy, engorgement of breast when the milk came, backaches, sore nipples, and sleepless nights (as you need to wake up to feed baby).
I would advise all mothers-to-be to engage a helper (be it your mother, mother-in-law, nanny, confinement lady, or maid) during the confinement period. You definitely need it. If you expect your husband to help, do adjust your expectation. No doubt, most husband will help (if they are considerate) but many of them are also adjusting to the new member of the family. In fact, since they do not have paternity leave, they probably can only help during the first few days. After that, they will expect you (the mother) to wake up in the nights to feed baby since you are not working.
It is during those times you need a helping hand. Good idea to express for those breast feeding and get your helper to feed at night so that you can have some rest. Also good to let your baby try feeding from bottle as I’ve seen many cases whereby babies on full direct breast feeding unable to feed from bottle until much older e.g. 1 year old. So for mothers who intend to go to work after maternity, good to express milk and let someone else feed your baby using a bottle. Of course, other times you can breast feed directly for the bonding…
Actually I don’t really buy this bonding thingy for direct breast feeding. Personally I find that feeding using bottle can be intimate too as I will have eye contact with my baby. When I breast feed directly, my baby is usually staring at my chest and not my face. Another friend of mine (who also just gave birth) concurred this as well.
Will share more on what to expect in details in the next post…
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Baby resumed sleeping thru the night
Thank God, my baby slept through the night yesterday. In fact, I had to wake her up at 7am to feed. Hopefully this will last... not sure what went wrong the last two nights that she woke up at 3 am plus...
Will continue to feed her well during day, I think this should do the trick in keeping her content throughout the night. :)
Will continue to feed her well during day, I think this should do the trick in keeping her content throughout the night. :)
Baby Sleeping Thru the Night??
I shared that my baby could sleep through the night (10pm - 7am) since a few days back. However the last two days, she suddenly woke up at 3am. I
nitially she seemed to want to play on the first day so I had to encourage her to return to sleep. But she was just kept 'talking' and cooing. Only at about 6 am, then she started crying for milk. So I fed her 1 hour earlier than her scheduled feed.
Last night, she again woke up at 3am. This time, her cry was more obvious that she wanted to drink milk. So I breast fed her and then put her down to sleep on her own. She could not fall asleep and fussed until 5am plus. My husband couldn't take it and gave her 90ml of formula which she took in. Now I suspect she's not getting enough milk during the day. I've increase her milk intake today. Let's see if she can sleep through the night tonight...
Will keep you updated!
nitially she seemed to want to play on the first day so I had to encourage her to return to sleep. But she was just kept 'talking' and cooing. Only at about 6 am, then she started crying for milk. So I fed her 1 hour earlier than her scheduled feed.
Last night, she again woke up at 3am. This time, her cry was more obvious that she wanted to drink milk. So I breast fed her and then put her down to sleep on her own. She could not fall asleep and fussed until 5am plus. My husband couldn't take it and gave her 90ml of formula which she took in. Now I suspect she's not getting enough milk during the day. I've increase her milk intake today. Let's see if she can sleep through the night tonight...
Will keep you updated!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Medela Breast Pump
As promised in my previous blog, I'm going share my experience with the Medala breast pump.
I bought my breast pump from the Babycenter store from USA. It is much cheaper to ship it here (to Singapore) than to buy directly from the retailer here. However you need to have a US bank account before you can purchase anything from Babycenter. So ask around and see if you can have a friend with an US bank account to help you make the purchase.
Trust me, it is much cheaper to buy big items direct from the US. For instance, Pump In Style Advance - Shoulder Bag (which is what I bought) is selling at USD265.99 at Babycenter while it is retailing at S$699/799 depending if there's promotion at departmental stores here. You do the math and realise that you can save up to 40-50%. Of course, you need to add in shipping cost which is about S$60-70.
Anyway, I could be selling my pre-loved sometime next year after I wean my baby off breastfeeding. Keep a lookout at my blogsite for good deal on my pre-loved breast pump. Should be around Feb 2009.
The Medela Pump In Style Advance breast pump has served me well. It has the revolutionary technology that mimics your baby's nursing rhythm for faster let-down and milk flow. Since the price is on the high side, I would suggest that you obtain a pre-loved set if you are not able to purchase directly from the US.
Another good thing about Medela is that their bottles are BPA-free. BPA is found in plastic bottles which have harmful side effects on baby if consumed. I read in some articles that BPA may be released after several washing and sterilisation. Hence when you purchse plastic bottles, good to select those that are BPA-free.
Check out the below link for the breast pumps sold at Babycenter store if you are interested to purchase directly from US. They also have other good deals for breast feeding accessories.
Babycenter Store
I bought my breast pump from the Babycenter store from USA. It is much cheaper to ship it here (to Singapore) than to buy directly from the retailer here. However you need to have a US bank account before you can purchase anything from Babycenter. So ask around and see if you can have a friend with an US bank account to help you make the purchase.
Trust me, it is much cheaper to buy big items direct from the US. For instance, Pump In Style Advance - Shoulder Bag (which is what I bought) is selling at USD265.99 at Babycenter while it is retailing at S$699/799 depending if there's promotion at departmental stores here. You do the math and realise that you can save up to 40-50%. Of course, you need to add in shipping cost which is about S$60-70.
Anyway, I could be selling my pre-loved sometime next year after I wean my baby off breastfeeding. Keep a lookout at my blogsite for good deal on my pre-loved breast pump. Should be around Feb 2009.
The Medela Pump In Style Advance breast pump has served me well. It has the revolutionary technology that mimics your baby's nursing rhythm for faster let-down and milk flow. Since the price is on the high side, I would suggest that you obtain a pre-loved set if you are not able to purchase directly from the US.
Another good thing about Medela is that their bottles are BPA-free. BPA is found in plastic bottles which have harmful side effects on baby if consumed. I read in some articles that BPA may be released after several washing and sterilisation. Hence when you purchse plastic bottles, good to select those that are BPA-free.
Check out the below link for the breast pumps sold at Babycenter store if you are interested to purchase directly from US. They also have other good deals for breast feeding accessories.
Babycenter Store
What will be a good breast pump to use?
Still haven't decided on what brand of breast pump to use?
Will share my experiences with breast pump in the next blog. If you have certain experiences with breast pump you would like to share, pls feel free to leave a comment or two.
Will share my experiences with breast pump in the next blog. If you have certain experiences with breast pump you would like to share, pls feel free to leave a comment or two.
Potty Train Your Baby
IT IS THAT SIMPLE TO POTTY TRAIN YOUR BABY
Can you believe that my baby who is just 3 month old is potty trained? Of course, she still can't sit on the potty herself... But at this very young age, she is aware that when Daddy puts her over the potty, it is POO POO time!
Check out her facial expression while pooing over the potty... minus the '#*#*'
Can you believe that my baby who is just 3 month old is potty trained? Of course, she still can't sit on the potty herself... But at this very young age, she is aware that when Daddy puts her over the potty, it is POO POO time!
Check out her facial expression while pooing over the potty... minus the '#*#*'
I tell you it is possible to potty train your baby from the moment he/she is born. I can say this because we did. We did not plan to do this, we were forced to.
This is because our baby has the habit of pooing once a day or every two days since she is born.
So you can imagine the amount of poo n her diaper. In the past, when she pooed in her diaper, we would try to clean her buttocks thinking that she had finished.
Lo and Behold, another squirt of '#*#*' would catch you by surprise. And if you were lucky, the poo wouldn't land on your shirt or face!!! Mind you, it actually happened to a few family members - Mummy, Daddy, and Po Po (Grandmother).
Hence, her unique pooing habit left us with no choice but to potty train her when she was just 2 weeks old.
We had two methods of training her...
Method One:
From experience, we found that she had this 'pushing' expression on the face whenever she needed to poo. Therefore, when we spotted it, one of us would quickly put her over the potty. With this, she gets used to pooing in a potty and will have no 'phobia' of doing it when she is older. We know of friends' children who refused to poo over the potty even at 2-3 years old.
Method Two:
Make it a habit to put your baby over the potty at certain time of the day e.g. after first feed or after the evening feed. The timing is entirely up to you. After a while, your baby will get used to the timing and will only poo when he/she is put over the potty. Of course, there will be days when he/she still poo in the diaper. What is important is that she gets used to pooing when put over the potty.
The key to successfully potty train is to start young! And the added advantage of your baby pooing over the potty is that you get to minimise the number of soiled diapers which helps in this uncertain economic climate.
Hope this sharing is useful to parents and parents-to-be. Feel free to drop a comment or two if you want to find out more how we train our baby to poo over the potty.
This is because our baby has the habit of pooing once a day or every two days since she is born.
So you can imagine the amount of poo n her diaper. In the past, when she pooed in her diaper, we would try to clean her buttocks thinking that she had finished.
Lo and Behold, another squirt of '#*#*' would catch you by surprise. And if you were lucky, the poo wouldn't land on your shirt or face!!! Mind you, it actually happened to a few family members - Mummy, Daddy, and Po Po (Grandmother).
Hence, her unique pooing habit left us with no choice but to potty train her when she was just 2 weeks old.
We had two methods of training her...
Method One:
From experience, we found that she had this 'pushing' expression on the face whenever she needed to poo. Therefore, when we spotted it, one of us would quickly put her over the potty. With this, she gets used to pooing in a potty and will have no 'phobia' of doing it when she is older. We know of friends' children who refused to poo over the potty even at 2-3 years old.
Method Two:
Make it a habit to put your baby over the potty at certain time of the day e.g. after first feed or after the evening feed. The timing is entirely up to you. After a while, your baby will get used to the timing and will only poo when he/she is put over the potty. Of course, there will be days when he/she still poo in the diaper. What is important is that she gets used to pooing when put over the potty.
The key to successfully potty train is to start young! And the added advantage of your baby pooing over the potty is that you get to minimise the number of soiled diapers which helps in this uncertain economic climate.
Hope this sharing is useful to parents and parents-to-be. Feel free to drop a comment or two if you want to find out more how we train our baby to poo over the potty.
Infant Sleeping Habits
Ever wonder when your baby will sleep through the night?
I've been asking myself this question for the past three months. And praise God, baby Genieve is starting to sleep through the night. She can now sleep from 10am to 7pm though there are days when she still wakes up in the middle of the night - initally wanting to drink milk, now more like she wants to play...
Thanks to my sister too, who gave me a very helpful book - Babywise by Ezzo and Bucknam.
The book teaches you how to help your baby develop good sleeping and feeding habits and how to adopt a parent-directed approach in training your baby to sleep.
Although there are several schools of thought regarding training your baby to sleep, I find that Babywise does work wonders. It gives control back to the parents instead of the 'baby controlling the parents'.
I'm someone who likes to plan so I find it very difficult to feed on demand. So the Babywise method suits me fine.
If you are an experienced parent and your baby hasn't slept through the night or going to be first time parent, I suggest you pick up this book from your local bookstore and start your journey to 'saying goodbye to sleepless nights when baby arrives' kind of life.
Check out the peaceful look when Genieve's in slumberland...
I've been asking myself this question for the past three months. And praise God, baby Genieve is starting to sleep through the night. She can now sleep from 10am to 7pm though there are days when she still wakes up in the middle of the night - initally wanting to drink milk, now more like she wants to play...
Thanks to my sister too, who gave me a very helpful book - Babywise by Ezzo and Bucknam.
The book teaches you how to help your baby develop good sleeping and feeding habits and how to adopt a parent-directed approach in training your baby to sleep.
Although there are several schools of thought regarding training your baby to sleep, I find that Babywise does work wonders. It gives control back to the parents instead of the 'baby controlling the parents'.
I'm someone who likes to plan so I find it very difficult to feed on demand. So the Babywise method suits me fine.
If you are an experienced parent and your baby hasn't slept through the night or going to be first time parent, I suggest you pick up this book from your local bookstore and start your journey to 'saying goodbye to sleepless nights when baby arrives' kind of life.
Check out the peaceful look when Genieve's in slumberland...
First Time Parents
WE BECAME FIRST TIME PARENTS on 23 august 2008
On 23 August 2008, my hubby and I went for my gynae appointment in the morning, praying that the time was finally here. Indeed, my gynae told me that I was ready if I wanted to deliver that day. Of course, without hesitation, my hubby and I unanimously said "Yes".
And so we went to the delivery ward. We spent close to 9 hrs there before our little angel, Genieve arrived! She was borned at about 9pm and to our delight, she weighed a healthy 3.66kg... :)
This day marked the end of our twosome journey. Now we are three... and I must say it has been truly a journey. As I penned this blog, our princess just turned 3 month. Although it has only been a couple of months, it seemed like ages.
Here's a picture of me in the delivery ward, getting ready to welcome little Genieve. :)
On 23 August 2008, my hubby and I went for my gynae appointment in the morning, praying that the time was finally here. Indeed, my gynae told me that I was ready if I wanted to deliver that day. Of course, without hesitation, my hubby and I unanimously said "Yes".
And so we went to the delivery ward. We spent close to 9 hrs there before our little angel, Genieve arrived! She was borned at about 9pm and to our delight, she weighed a healthy 3.66kg... :)
This day marked the end of our twosome journey. Now we are three... and I must say it has been truly a journey. As I penned this blog, our princess just turned 3 month. Although it has only been a couple of months, it seemed like ages.
Here's a picture of me in the delivery ward, getting ready to welcome little Genieve. :)
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