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

happy boxing day

Happy Boxing Day!

Thanks to every1 for your presents!

Time flies!
This picture was taken on Christmas eve.
I was sick then and left the party early to go home and sleep.
I can't sleep outside that's why.

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.

Infant Care Centres: Questions to ask, n things to look out for

From the stats, it appears that some1 was looking for info on
"Sending breastfed baby to infant care"
on my blog.
Sorry you couldn't find what you need
but hope u come back and see this.

This was written by my Mummy and posted on a forum some 4 years ago in 2006:
in blue are updates this year - 2010, after my breastfed brother has gone thru' infant care.

Hi everybody, After having a bad time at our 1st infant care n having visited a few centres, I came up with a list of questions to ask n things to look out for while hunting for an infant care centre.

In case you dunno, Here's where u can get the list of infant care centres (as well as childcare centres). Can sort by area.
http://www.childcarelink.gov.sg/ccls/home/...areServices.jsp
click the link at the bottom of the page.
You can also take a look at the guidelines for the centres so u know if a centre is "compliance" when visiting.

Questions to ask over the phone:
1. (1st thing to ask) Any vacancies?
2. How many babies n teachers at the moment?
3. What is their recomannded teacher to baby ratio?
(anything worse than 1:3 is crazy not realistic. Zhenghu recommendation is 1:5 (which is ridiculous)
4. What is the maximum capacity? lesser better. the centre may have very few babies but can take in more.

If the answers to the above are not favourable then dun have to visit liao.

If wanta visit, ask if can stay there with baby for a few hours.

Questions to ask when visiting:

For BreastFeeding mums:
1. what is the centre's stand towards breastfed babies/ breastmilk? Any babies there on bm?
The politically correct answer is of cos they support breastfeeding. So you'll have to "dig" deeper.

2. Ask to see the fridge they use to keep breastmilk. It should be dedicated to bm ONLY. that's the guideline set up by MCYS.

3. u probably want baby to continue at the same centre when he goes to childcare. If you want to bf beyond 18 months, Ask them if the childcare side accomodate bf babies. Some don't. e.g. some NTUC.
actually if they don't support breastfeeding beyond 18 months, you more or less know how supportive they are towards breastfeeding.

4. ask how they warm bm.

5. what will they do if baby reject the bottle?
the 1st infant care Jade's brother, Hann, went to, they do nothing. Their stand is baby hungry, he will drink from bottle.
but no loh! it just doesn't work this way.
My stand is, the priority should be to let baby adapt to the place and people.
Then baby will drink from bottle.
I feel that bottle strike is a way of "protest" from baby.
in the 2nd infant care, the one Hann stuck though, they were patient with him when he rejected bottle and spoon-fed him until he eventually took the bottle.

For all:
4. what are the teachers' qualifications. how many of them are trained teachers? (teacher assistants not counted hor.)

5. what's the turnover rate of the teachers?

6. How do they handle new babies esp if they can already recognise people n places n may cry a lot.

7. Do the infants mix w the toddlers/preschoolers? (if yes, more exposed to viruses)

8. look at the bath n sleeping area. Ask how they clean up the sleeping facilities (usually a cot).

9. Look at changing area. how they dispose the diapers. are the soiled diapers exposed?

10. Impt: look at the children. are they happy? are they engaged in activities?

11. Impt: look at the teachers. how they handle the babies, how they feed them. Are the teachers happy, confident. Talk to the teachers.

12. Discipline. ask how the teachers discipline the children. if they don't discipline at all, you may want to think twice.

13. If quite happy with the above, ask for a trial period, though it seems nowadays infant care and childcare centres don't give trials. ask abt the trial charges.
Even if you are sure happy with the place, still ask for a trial period. otherwise, if things don't turn out well and you want baby to leave, you may have to pay for 2 months.

I can sit!

5 months 3 weeks

This is rather overdue.
Finally, I can sit unsupported!
so I didn't lose to my korkor after all. =p

Fan vs Aircon for confinement

not Jade but Jade's Mummy the trained application scientist says...

a friend, who is expecting her baby real soon, post this on her Facebook status:

Mothers out there, any scientific proof that aircon has no negative side-effects during confinement??? I need to win this war very badly! pls help

Fret not, Mummies! Scientist to your rescue!

basically the whole idea is to prevent wind from entering your body during confinement.
Hence, Fan is actually worse than aircon w/o fan.

Aircon
just keeps the air cool.
keep it at no less than 25 deg would be good and don't blow the aircon directly at you though.
If you Don't let the aircon "sweep", and/or keep it at low fan speed, the air in the room is actually quite still.
So, no wind!

Cuba Gallery: Retro fan blowing hair
Originally uploaded by Cuba Gallery - Now on Twitter!

Fan
creates wind which is exactly you want to avoid.
Wind is also known as convection currents which is a type of heat loss,
hence Sweat + fan is the worse combi.
If you are sweaty and you blow the fan at yourself,
the convection currents promoted by the fan will cause the sweat on your skin to evaporate more quickly and as a result, more heat lost from your body.
Even if you have no sweat on ya skin, heat will continually be removed from your body thru' convection if you blow the fan at yourself.

so Jade's Mummy, the trained application scientist (aka engineer), strongly recommends Aircon over fan.
Well... of cos, if you are one of those who can survive in hot hot Singapore without aircon as well as fan, Bravo!

but Jade's Mummy will just die without at least one of those.

Shopping and Delivery

December's the best time to shop for baby stuff!
cos on top of The Great Singapore Sale (GSS), there're Christmas specials all around.

topperIMG_1524
Originally uploaded by alwayscake

but Did you know...

most, if not all, major departmental stores deliver ya shopping to ya place for free if u spend above the minimum sum.

for Takashimaya, it's >$200
and Robinson, it's >$150
check other departmental stores for their min sum for free delivery.

so no more lugging all those heavy shopping!
especially helpful if you're pregnant and/or carrying a baby and shopping alone.


Can't make up the minimum sum?
No prob!
just pick up a few of those 6-packs Pigeon Baby wipes. cost $19+ per.
otherwise, u can get those boxes of 60-piece Pigeon Breast Pad, cost $13.90.
These are the stuff that run out quite fast and they are soooo heavy and/or bulky so it's best u don't have to carry them!

Warning:
If u're in ya 3rd trimester, excessive shopping may cause contractions to start earlier than due.

Happened to my mummy twice!
1st time: Mummy just had her gynae appointment at my brother's 36th weeks. Doc said baby won't be coming out for at least a week. So she went shopping for baby stuff for the rest of the afternoon. Her contractions started that very evening.
2nd time: Mummy went to Robinson sale at my 35th week. She did asked for delivery (no pun intended) but still... I came out 3 days later and just managed to pass the "premature baby" mark.

erm... so according to this logic, it's best for expectant mothers in their 1st trimester to please take note of how long u've been shopping for the day. Rest is important!

Sleeping habits

this is how I sleep - in between two pillows + one bolster above my head, suck thumb and hold hands.

This was at my Ah Gong's house and the soft toy I'm holding hands with belongs to my Xiao Yi.
I usually hug a small pillow at home or just grab the pillow I'm tucked into.

Activities for babies

Many parents wonder what to do with baby.
So here's a list of things you can do with your baby:

Baby Centre's
Let's Play! Weekly activities for your baby's first year

My parents have not been reading this so here's what they usually do with me:

1. read
I love reading.
actually I love eating the book too!

Get those "touch and feel" or peek-a-boo books.
They're great for baby's development.

2. talk
I enjoy talking and learning to make new sounds.
I always try to copy the sounds my parents teach me.
just make sure u're facing baby and hold his attention while you talk to him.

3. Mirror
Sit with baby on your lap, both of you facing the mirror.
Tell point to him and name his body parts.
Sing the song "head and shoulders" and move baby's hands to touch all the parts mentioned.
Make funny faces as you look into the mirror at baby's reflection.

4. action songs
believe it or, at 5 months old, or even earlier, I've been actively worshiping God.
my mummy plays the children's worship CD and lift my arms and body to move to the music.
One of our favourite songs: Bubbling Joy.

better still if you do all the action songs in front of the mirror!
another action song good for this purpose is "if you're happy and you know it"

5. Hang Laundry and Fold clothes
While hanging up the laundry, Mummy will put me in my Bumbo Seat and let me watch her.
As she takes out each garment from the washing machine, she'll show me and tell me its colour.
When folding clothes, mummy gently sweeps the piece of clothing she's going to fold across my face to let me feel its texture.
You can also play peek-a-boo with baby while folding clothes.

yummy toes

5 months old

I can "eat" my toes!

I also lift up my legs when Mummy's changing my diapers.

Charlie's Chubby Angel

Crying Angel
Originally uploaded by lastboltnut

Check out my arms...
These are what my parents call 面包手.
Look like bread, don't they?

When my mummy brought me to accompany my korkor to his new school on his 1st day, korkor's classmate asked Mummy, "Why her (Jade's) arm got so many lines?"

To avoid using the word "fat", Mummy replied, "cause she is chubby."

The boy continued, "what is 'chubby'?"

To which my mummy doesn't know what other word to use besides "fat".

wriggly girl

at 4months plus,

I wriggle all around the bed and cot.

korkor put a pillow on my back and called me a tortoise. Humph!

I'm still learning to sit unsupported.
My parents think I'm going to "lose" to my korkor who can sit on his own at 5months+.

Mirror Mirror on the wall

Mirror, Mirror on the wall cot,
who's the cutest of them all?

Haha!
I like looking into the mirror on my cot.

Mirrors are great toys for babies!

check out how mirrors can help babies develop here.

bottles

am learning how to drink from bottles.

Think my mummy won't be bothered with bottles if not for her having to go back to work.
She finds bottles a hassle - gotta wash and sterilise.

Worse thing is...
I don't even want to drink from the bottle!

yah... at the moment, I still don't know or don't want to drink from the bottle.
every time the 30 ml of milk mummy prepare will be gone to waste.

did you know?
all standard neck bottles go with standard neck teats too!
I'm using Pigeon teats on Medela bottles.

When choosing baby bottles, make sure that it is BPA (Bisphenol-A) free.
Mummy was very upset 3 years ago when she found out about BPA and that my korkor's bottles contain BPA.

Rhinestone Babies

Received a surprise gift yesterday!

comes in a nice little package like this.

Wow! it's a romper with my name in Rhinestones!
Glam or what?
Finally, something that's not in pink. haha.

Thanx, Auntie Michelle.

If you're interested in getting a customized baby tee/romper , check them out at
www.rhinestonebabies.com

Gone swimming

6 -8 Oct 2010
few days to 4 months old

Gone swimming with my korkor and parents.
It's my 1st time swimming!
and I swam for 3 days consecutive!

Sometimes I swim forward.

Am I back in mummy's tummy?
Originally uploaded by lastboltnut

Sometimes I swim sideways.

sometimes I swim float backwards.

when I do, I like to hook my legs together.

Sometimes I complain a lot, other times I enjoy myself.

*yawn*
swimming sure is tiring!

I even fell asleep in the pool!

Tip: Baby gets tired and hungry after swimming, get a bottle of milk ready after swim might be good.

Flip Flip

3 months old

I've been trying to flip....

see my legs?
this happens quite often...

here I go again...

Argh! just need to get this arm out!

Yeah! I did it!
eh? what's this?

Oh! I need to do a lucky blessing draw for the pacifier give-away.
and the blessed winner is....
chanelgay!

Blog Give-away: Pacifier *closed*

Am giving away Have given away an unopened, brand new pack of 2 Avent Pacifiers for 0-3 months.

Nope. I don't use pacifiers nor am I endosing them.
These came free with the Avent Combined steamer and blender my Ah Gong bought for me.

Why no pacifiers for my brother and me?

1. My mummy is worried bout nipple confusion.
not just for us babies but also for herself.
She's worried that she won't be able to tell when baby wants milk and when baby wants the pacifier.
She'd rather her babies suck on her all the time than for them to suck on the pacifier.

2. One day, when my korkor was a few days old, he was crying non-stop at night and my papa put a pacifier in his mouth. My korkor stopped crying but my mummy started crying and said, "他不像我的baby! (he doesn't look like my baby.) boohoohoo!"
so my papa stopped giving the pacifier once my korkor spat it out.

3. We (my korkor and me) didn't know how to keep the pacifier in our mouth.
We kept pushing it with our tongue instead of sucking on it.

Hence, no pacifiers for us.

oh yes, of cos there were times my mummy is tempted to give me the pacifier but each time, she leaves the "dirty job" to my papa who is not doing a good job of keeping the pacifier in my mouth. I reckon he still remembers that night when his wife cried and said, "他不像我的baby! "

Think my korkor would have done a better "dirty job".
He's always enthusiastic about giving me the pacifier.
he thinks babies look cute and more like babies with one.

click on the picture below to read mummy's friends' comments about the pacifier:

The issue of giving a pacifier to a baby has been debated much through the years.
Click to read the pro and cons of using a pacifier.
You might find some interesting stuff that u didn't know before!

at the end of the day, hope you can make an informed choice.

If you'd like to have these Avent tootoos, leave a comment with your email address.
we'll closeWe've closed the give-away on Mon 27th Sep 2010 and do did a lucky blessing draw.
and the blessed winner is channelgay!

Yummy Fingers

3 months old

some weeks ago, I started feasting fisting, i.e. "eating" my fist or what my korkor calls "cucumber".

now I promoted to "eating" my fingers.

did you know that sucking fingers is also a milestone?
It means baby can control her hands and fingers to go to her mouth!

"Parents often think that it is better to let their baby suck on a pacifier instead of their fingers or thumb. They figure that they can always take away a pacifier, but they can't take away their baby's thumb or fingers.

The problem with this reasoning is that:

• few parents actually take away the pacifier
• there is nothing to stop a child from switching to their thumb or fingers if you don't let them have a pacifier anymore.

...

Thumb or Fingers versus Pacifiers

Although you often don't have a choice and it will be up to your baby's preference, you likely don't need to discourage thumb or finger sucking, since:

• your baby has ready access to her fingers or thumb
• parents often overuse pacifiers, putting them in their baby's mouth every time they cry, while your baby can use her fingers or thumb when she really needs it
• your baby can stop sucking on her fingers or thumb when she is ready, while you may continue to use a pacifier longer than necessary, making it more likely to become a habit."

~ italics taken from pediatrics.about.com

认人 recognise people

Ping and Jade
Originally uploaded by lastboltnut

at 11 weeks old, I can recognise people.

sometimes even my papa can't pacify me when I cry cos I want Mummy. Once Mummy carry me I'll stop crying.

oh. I can differentiate men and women too.
when women carry me when I'm hungry, I'll start "digging" for milk. but when men carry me, I won't.

Shower

talking about strengthened neck muscles,
mine are quite strong since birth.

since my neck muscles are strong enough,

My papa's being giving me shower instead of bath since I was 7 weeks old.

Less hassle, Fast and simple, he thinks, compared to using the bathtub.

me? bath or shower, I love them all.

Tummy Time

Tummy Time is simply time baby spends on her tummy.

Tummy time helps babies strengthen their neck muscles and to get ready to push up, roll over, sit up, and eventually stand.

A search on "tummy time" on the internet suggests that many babies hates tummy time.
I wonder why.

cos I love tummy time!

It's a time of play for me!

while on my tummy, My parents will put their hand/ arm or leg against my feet so I can kick off and move forward.
it's lots of fun!

Library for Babies

hmm... where are we?

Library?

Went with my korkor to the library.
My 1st visit and what did I do?

Drink milk
(shhh... not allowed in the library)

and

sleep.
See my korkor reading on his own in the background.

by the way, expecting mummies, go get a Pre-birth Kit for your baby.
It includes a Baby Journal, an audio CD and a Growth Chart.

Pss... remember to bring Baby's BC and a parent's IC
if you wanta make a library card for baby.

Finger Games

~ picture taken about a month ago ~

These are MY fingers?

When to remove mitten?
From about 6 weeks old, remove baby's mittens when baby's awake and play finger games with her.

This will help baby to learn that she has fingers and that she can use them!

Here are some songs Mummy sings as she gently pinches the tip of each of my fingers.
By pinching the fingers, signal is sent to the brian.

1. Ten Little Indians Fingers
One Little, Two Little, Three Litter Fingers
Four little, Five Little, Six little Fingers
Seven little, Eight little, Nine little fingers
Ten little Jadee(replace with ya baby's name)'s fingers



2. Friendly Fingers

This is one of the songs we learn from my korkor's Yamaha's Junior Music Course.
oo... the video is removed due to copyright issues.
maybe will get my korkor to sing and upload (stay tuned!).

Look at me, I'm holding up my thumb, finger number 1!
Always feeling really hungry,
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yummy yum!

Here's the one that points at me and at you,
Finger number 2!
Always feeling cross and angry,
Ra, ra, ra, ra, ra, ra!

...

Now the baby, smallest of all, finger number 5!
Always crying really loudly,
waa, waa, waa, waa, waa, waa!



3. One, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, then I let it go again
why did I let it go?
Because it bit my finger so
Which finger did it bite?
this little finger on my right
(randomly change the finger bitten)



oo... my fingers look so yummy, my mummy really bites them!
Ouch!

Confinement Must-haves

Not Jade but Jade's Mummy said...

Must-have for the confinement period (and beyond):

~ image taken from http://www.myfredi.com ~

1. Bedroom Slippers
Most Singaporean homes use ceramic tiles or natural stones for their flooring, hence the floor will be cooling.
Wearing bedroom slippers during confinement keeps your feet warm and the "cold" away from ya feet.
Believe me! I don't really believe in these confinement stuff but I get pains when I'm not wearing bedroom slippers.

2. Bathrobe
Help you dry ya body faster - just put it on and wa-la! most of your body will be dried.
Use towel to dry other "uncovered" parts like hair, face, calves , etc.
if you decide to shower, that is.
I think the idea of not showering is to keep the water and wind out so if you do decide to shower, try to dry up quickly.

3. Long pants / pajamas
same thing: keep the wind out and keep ya legs warms
I wore shorts most of the time for this confinement (am really afraid of heat!) and later on always get joint-pains at the knees.
When I get joint-pains then I put on long pants loh. Helps!