Curry and me

I've fallen ill.

stomach flu, doc said.
vomited more than 5 times since about 6pm after I woke up from my nap yesterday.
Have since stopped at 8:30pm after taking anti-vomiting medicine.

but please continue to pray for me to be able to eat and keep the food in today.

actually I had frequent bowel movements (3x poo per day) for two days before yesterday but my parents didn't think much of it (cos it happens sometimes).

~ photo taken from mygreenspace.nparks.gov.sg ~
They even brought me Mushroom Cafe at MacRitchie Reservoir to celebrate Deepavali

~ photo taken from www.bighooha.sg ~
with curry.
Look at the bread.
It's so big and it was toasted so I was really tempted.
then my papa dipped it in the curry and gave it to me.
I asked for more!
and had 3 servings of curry-dipped bread.

~ photo taken at mushroom cafe ~

after this episode, think my mummy won't allow me to eat curry anymore.
sigh!
I love curry!
and laksa too!
(though my papa insisted that it was not the curry's fault)

Healthy Snack: Cheerios

if you like the photo of us below, please vote for it at
http://apps.facebook.com/life-from-all-angles/photo-contest/view-photo/photo_id/44/appmodule_id/1
~photo taken in April 2011 when I was 10 months old~
We love Cheerios!

Why Mummy loves Cheerios too:
1. Made from whole grain oats,
2. has no artificial colors or flavors
3. have only one gram of sugar.
4. low in fat, have no saturated fat and are naturally cholesterol free.
5. an excellent source of folic acid
6. a good source of fiber.
7. trains babies' fine motor skills.

Cheerios are so much healthier compared to

image taken from www.fairprice.com.sg

Gerber's Graduates Puffs.

If you compare the nutritional facts of Gerber's Graduates Puffs to those of Cheerios,
you'll know that the Graduates Puffs are just junk.


These
Happy Baby Organic Puffs
are more comparable to Cheerios.
These puffs do not contain Magnesium unlike Cheerios though,
and Cheerios are much higher in iron.
S$8.90 per bottle of 2.1 0z.

So, Cheerios are still the best for babies.
They're much cheaper too.
S$10.95/BOX of 14 OZ

Pss... Cheerios are also great for toddler (me now at 16 months), pre-schoolers (my korkor), children and even adults (my mummy eats them with milk and cranberries)!
Papa, u should eat this too. soluble fiber from whole grain oats in Cheerios can help lower cholesterol.

but Don't give baby other flavoured Cheerios as they may contain more sugar,
even this

Multi-Grain Cheerios
contains 6g of sugar compared to the original's 1g.

Cheerios are available at all Cold Storage and NTUC Fairprice Finest.

self-feeding with spoon

Me feeding myself with a spoon at 14.5months.
Sorry, don't know why can't upload the video.

Mummy breathed a sign of relief when I finally managed to feed myself with a spoon.
She had hoped that I will be able to feed myself before I turn 18 months cos she's worried that my new school will not actively train me to self-feed.

Anyway, here's what you need to make baby self-feed less messy.

1. bib with catch-all pocket/ tray.
I'm wearing a Bumkins Superbib, available at Mothers Work Baby & Kids, Tanglin Mall Level 3.

My korkor used Sassy EZ-Clean Pocketed Bib and Crumb Catcher Feeding Bib.
(click to see my korkor feed himself at 17months)
These were great too but they comes with cloth binding while the Bumbins bibs are full nylon so it dries faster.

2. Bowl with suction base
(keeps the bowl on the table and from moving about)
Mine's from Sassy - comes with lid so we can bring the bowl out.

3. Newspaper
to cover the floor below baby's high chair so you can just wrap up the messy after the meal.

Babies, have fun feeding yourselves!

Tahini vs Black Sesame Paste

Have you heard of Tahini?

My Mummy hasn't, until she read the Super Baby Food book.

Tahini is a paste made from grinding sesame seeds just as peanut butter is made from grounded peanuts. It is a spread so it's super easy to add into baby's food.
Tahini is super healthy because it is high in calcium, protein, and healthy fats baby need for proper development (e.g. brain development).

Chinese also believe that black sesame seeds are great for hair growth.

Not only are sesame seeds a very good source of manganese and copper, but they are also a good source of calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin B1, zinc and dietary fiber. In addition to these important nutrients, sesame seeds contain two unique substances: sesamin and sesamolin. Both ... have a cholesterol-lowering effect in humans, and to prevent high blood pressure and increase vitamin E supplies in animals. Sesamin has also been found to protect the liver from oxidative damage.
~ taken from WHFoods.com. Click to read more about what these minerals do for the body.

So Mummy went in search of Tahini and found only one brand in the supermarkets - Melrose.

image taken from www.originshealth.com.sg

Mummy didn't buy Melrose Tahini cos it says on the label, "may contain traces of peanut".
She decided to look for other brands and happen to find this

Healthy Mate's Organic Black Sesame Paste
in an organic shop at HarbourFront Centre -
Taste Original (Organic Food).

It says "suitable for diabetic" so Mummy thought it must be less sweet than Tahini.
(somehow, Mummy thinks Peanut Butter is not very healthy so she's not convinced that Tahini is any better)

Click on image to see the Nutrition Facts if you are interested.

Review - this "suitable for diabetic" black sesame paste has a little bit of bitter taste so add just a little bit (tip of a teaspoon) to baby's meal less baby doesn't like the bitter taste.
now we wonder if tahini will be sweet. haha.

Tip: use a dry spoon to scoop from the jar.

Jade's food before 8 months old

Realised that I've been slacking in recording my food adventures.

So far, Mummy tries to introduce food to me as recommended by the Super Baby Food book though my Teacher doesn't.
Mummy bought the Super Baby Food for her but think she's not reading it.

Click image to enlarge.

Those with ticks are the ones I've tried.
Mummy marked a cross next to "yogurt" cos I developed rashes after eating yogurt!
so no yogurt for me until 1 year old perhaps.

Teacher also gives me fish, pork and chicken. Think from 7months onwards.

Millet - super healthy whole grain

Have you heard of this food - Millet [mil-it]?

image taken from crazysalad.typepad.com

My mummy hasn't heard of Millet til she read the book - Super Baby Food.
and now she knows that Millet is used to make one of her favourite bread - chapatti.

Millet is super healthy because
Millet is rich in B vitamins, especially niacin, B6, and folacin and offers calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, and zinc.

source: http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch29.html

check out other health benefits and nutritional profile of Millet at
www.whfoods.com.

Mummy grind and cooked and gave it to me today.
but I didn't like it and didn't want to take it!
even when Mummy added in some bottled pear baby food, I still refused to eat it.

Later in day, I finally took it when Mummy added a little of the Millet porridge into my brown rice cereal.

Mummy, u should take Millet and not give it to me since
"Millet has an interesting characteristic in that the hulls and seeds contain small amounts of goiterogenic substances that limit uptake of iodine to the thyroid."
source: http://chetday.com/millet.html

Tip: (updated on 10 July 2011)
soak the millet overnight before cooking.

Melt-in-mouth Baby Biscuits

Baby biscuits and other finger food are great to keep baby self-entertained during meal times.

though I still need a little help holding onto the biscuit.

Mummy thinks melt-in-the-mouth Rice Crackers are safer, compared to other baby biscuits,
for Beginning eaters like myself.

picture taken from fairprice.com.sg
Take One Baby Bites are especially popular with Singaporean mommies.
I suppose it's because it's cheap ($2.40 for pack) and easily available in NTUC Fairprice.

BUT my mummy is not about to give this to me. This Baby Rice Cracker is made in China.
How quickly people forget about the massive recall for China-made milk and dairy product in 2008 when this product was one of those that were taken off the racks.
Well... this product might be tested (or assumed to be) ok now,
but my mummy doesn't want to take the risk and be shocked like how
this Mummy did in 2008 during the recall.



We'll be sticking to made in Japan Pigeon baby biscuits which my korkor was taking.

Pigeon Small Fish Rice Crackers
Ingredients:
Rice, Cornstarch, sugar, fructo-oligosaccharide, salt, small fish powder, calcium carbonate.

cost $4.90 per pack, 2x the amount of Baby Bites, but I suppose we pay for the peace of mind.
Available at all major departmental stores.
You can always wait for these stores to have their 20% sale and grab a few of these.

Recently, Mummy found, by chance, another brand of Baby Rice Crackers:

Wakodo Rice Crackers (Akacyan Osenbei)
Ingredients: Rice (domestic production - Japan), rice/potato starch, sugar, table salt and calcium carbonate, the pyrophoric acid iron.

cost $4.50 per pack,
Available at Yamakawa Super - Japanese Supermarket at Square2 and Central
or you can try Cold Storage and Isetan's supermarket.

Wakodo is a reputable brand in Japan and has its own line of formula milk and other baby food.

Think the next time we go Square2 or Central,
we'll get the
Wakodo Rice Crackers with Vegetables (Pumpkin, carrot, spinach)

Mummy likes these Wakodo and Pigeon baby biscuits not only because they melt in the mouth but also because they are animals' milk free.

Cow's milk is listed on "Super Baby Food" as
"the food most notorious for causing allergies in young babies".
Since I'm on breastmilk, Mummy wishes to introduce cow's milk to me as late as possible.

So don't just buy any biscuit for me, kay?

My 1st foods

12 Dec 2010

On this day which Mummy planned for me to start solid food,
she woke up extra early to go to the super market to get organic brown rice for me.
According to the book "Super Baby Food", you should grind and cook your own brown rice porridge so Mummy wanteda get this

Lunderg Organic Brown Rice

to grind/blend at home.

According to the book, it's easy and fast to cook and healthier and cheaper than getting those commercial packet of Baby Cereal.

Then Mummy saw thisHealthy Times Premium Organic Baby Cereal - Brown Rice Cereal for Baby.

One pack of this cost almost the same as one pack of those Lundberg Organic Brown Rice.
Mummy checked their nutrition facts (see below).

Left - Healthy Times Organic Brown Rice Cereal
Right - Lundberg Organic Long Grain Brown Rice
as the serving size on Lundberg is 3x that on Healthy Times', in blue ink is the amount divided by 3 for fair comparison.

It seems the nutrition value of both are comparable.
Of cos, the commercial Healthy Times Baby Brown Rice Cereal has all the vitamins and minerals added so got all those "stuff" at the bottom of the nutrition fact sheet.

Having considered how hopeless she is in the kitchen, Mummy decided to buy the just stir-into-water/milk Healthy Times Baby Cereal instead.

So that was my 1st solid food.

Next up is Healthy Times Wholegrain Oatmeal Cereal for Baby.
Mummy bought this cos it has more potassium and fiber compared to the Brown Rice Cereal.
(See why potassium is important here.)

Other food I've tried so far are
papaya
potato
carrot
sweet potato
and baby biscuits (will talk about that in another post).

My first solid meal

12.12.2010 6 months 4 days old

This is the day I start on solid food.

My korkor helped me put on my bib.

Eagerly waiting to taste solid food.
Organic Brown Rice in this case.

Super Baby Food Tip: use a cup instead of a bowl so that Mummy can hold the bowl cup more easily.
Tip from Jade's Mummy: Beware of Baby grabbing the cup!

Tip from Jade's Mummy: Use a soft tip spoon cos it's gentle on baby's gums.

Super Baby Food tip: Have a wipe-cloth ready. Not for baby to chew on but to wipe baby's mouth, hands, etc.

As you can see, Baby gets messy during mealtime.

Super Baby Food Tip: Give baby a little water after and between meals. Water will help her kidney dilute the more concentrated waste products of solid foods.
Common sense tip: Water helps baby pass motion more easily.

My first solid food experience's been fun though messy.
Appears to Mummy that I will love food like my korkor did, rather, does.


Stock list:
Ikea High Chair with removable tray
Combi soft tip Spoon with Case
Pigeon MagMag Spout Cup

Super Baby Food

When my korkor was a baby, my mummy never thought of reading up on starting solids for him.
She just did everything intuitively and follow my brother's infant care centre's leading.

This time though, Mummy decided to "start it right" for me by reading

Super Baby Food
by Ruth Yaron

There are a thousand and one books on starting baby on solids, Mummy chose this because
she knows 3 super mummies who feed their 5 babies super baby food and their babies are healthy and smart and love fruits and vegetables.
No prize for guessing whether my korkor love vegetables. haha.

Super Baby Food is mainly a home-made vegetarian diet for babies and toddlers.

"ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING you should know about feeding your baby and toddler from beginning solid foods through age three years. How and when (and what) to start your baby on solid foods, with detailed information on the best and safest high chair, spoons, bibs, and other feeding equipment."
~ Product Description from Amazon.com ~

also check out its contents pages at amazon.

Ruth Yaron also talks about baby's development in Super Baby Food.
Mummy strongly recommend this book to all parents.
Oh. you should start reading this book as early as possible to you know what to expect/do when the time comes.

Available at Books Kinokuniya Singapore.

Full Month @ Sukura

Had my full month celebration with my father's relatives at

Sakura International Buffet Restaurant
at Doby Ghaut Green.

~ photo taken from www.sukigroup.com.sg ~

The buffet spread is very good and food is yummy too.

Their outlet at Doby Ghaut is super convenient - just outside Doby Ghaut MRT
but since it's in town, it was very crowded (full house!) and super cramped (space is scared in orchard).
Hence my papa didn't take any picture.
of cos, he was busy entertaining the guests too.

To celebrate my full month, we are giving have given away
10 Sakura 50%-off-2nd-pax vouchers!
Actually the restaurant gave us lah.

Click on the picture to read the terms and conditions.

Note: only valid at Choa Chu Kang and Balestier Shaw Plaza.
Since these outlets are not in town, I'm sure they're much more spacious cos the ones my papa visited before (Omni and Jurong West) are very spacious.

To win these vouchers, just leave a comment on this post, indicating ya interest and ya email address and we will contact you soon.