Eating Out.

Eating out has never been the same ever since the baby is around, because he is one easily-bored little fella. At first husband and I would take turn to eat. We call this 'Shift Makan'. But we would have one of us with this OMG-I'm-So-Hungry-Please-Chew-Faster look while staring into the other person's plate, so eating under pressure is definitely not fun.

Then I started stocking up a bag full of goodies to keep him occupied. We call this the 'Doraemon Bag'. From toys to books to crayons to straws, the works. But it seems like he's much more interested in throwing everything from the bag onto the floor.

Then we thought, okay, let's bait him with some gadgets and food. Sure enough, he became very much interested in the husband's iPod Touch. Food pulak in the beginning we gave him Heinz/ Milna Rusks. And like I mentioned, he's easily bored so before we know it, instead of eating the Rusks, he enjoys throwing them to the floor. Then we moved on to Heinz Rice Cakes (RM9 per packet and he can finish all of it at one go *pengsan*). After he got bored with this, we gave him Heinz Biscotti. And currently, he's enjoying Baby Bites. We call all of these biscuits the 'Biskut Pancing/ Weekend Biscuits'. Because we only give him these when we go out during the weekend (hence the name).

There you have it. Our methods in trying to have a (quite) peaceful meal outside. If we're really lucky, he would nap and we would run into any nearby restaurant and try to gobble up everything before he wakes up. But too bad, that only happen about 20 percent of the time.

Ohai. I iz eating Baby Bites. Iz yummeh. Om nom nom.

So what about you? Any tips/ methods that you would like to share?

Refusing To Eat.

For the past week, the baby has been refusing to eat most of his meals. The only foods he would take are Rusks and bananas (he does enjoy trying to eat inedible stuffs like books and tissues, which is driving me up the wall!). Everything else goes untouched and into the garbage. Mealtime used to be easy and pleasant, now it's turning into a nightmare with all the screaming and foods flying across the room. But thankfully he's nursing as usual, otherwise I would go totally berserk. I don't know if it's the flu or he's just turning into a picky eater. I really hope it's not the latter.

From Baby Center:

David Geller, pediatrician

Toddlers can be finicky eaters. One minute they're in love with a particular dish — spaghetti, for instance — and won't take a bite of it the next. Or they'll decide they hate blueberries without even having tried the fruit. Kids this age are becoming aware of their ability to make their own decisions, sometimes to the frustration of their parents. They also enjoy pushing the limits you impose upon them to see what response they get.

Even though it seems impossible, most picky eaters get enough calories and nutrients from their regular diet, so don't worry that your child will starve if he doesn't have a versatile palate like you do. If your child is gaining weight and getting taller, and has had no developmental problems, he's doing just fine. Make sure his diet is healthy and that the things he does eat aren't junky fare, such as chocolate, chips, or candy. Keep encouraging him to eat all types of food. If he refuses, don't force the issue. Eventually, he'll try foods he once shunned. Don't stop offering them, though — if you never present him with a varied selection, he'll never learn to eat them, and the list of foods he won't eat will grow longer.

Is That Enough?

Image from Thenovakagency's Blog
I've been getting this a lot ever since the baby started on his solid food, especially when I'm feeding his meals.

"Is that enough?"

Or disapproving looks at the food container/bowl.

And then followed by this when he was done.

"Are you SURE it's enough?"
"He wants more! You're feeding him too little."
"I feel like cooking a whole pot of porridge for him."
"I can see he's losing weight."

Or something along that line.

And without fail, I gave them the same answers.

"Yes, it is enough."
"No, he doesn't need to eat that much."
"Solid foods are complimentary feeding for babies his age."
"His most important food is STILL breastmilk."

Sigh. I know they mean well, and I appreciate their concern. I really do. But I don't want to feel obligated to feed my baby more than he actually needs.

And another thing that makes me tick is when someone happily try to shove junk food/drink down the baby's throat. I mean, come on. Here I am doing research, choosing and making the best food I could for him, and then you go feed him these nonsense? Have a little respect, please. That's all I'm asking.

This is getting really tiring.

Babyland and Avocado

My favourite place to get baby's essentials has got to be Babyland in SS2, Petaling Jaya. I would go there with a purpose to get just disposable diapers, but would end up with toys, rusks, clothes, socks, bibs and whatnot an hour later. It's a sickness, I tell you. And what made me like this place even more is that there's a small fruit stall just below the store. The fruits are fresh and prices are reasonable. Today, I got 3 avocados for just RM10. Now that is awesome.

I've been meaning to introduce avocado into the baby's diet, but I held off the intention (until today) because it is quite pricey just to get a piece. Preparing the avocado is super easy as you don't need to steam/bake/blend, therefore making it a great to-go meal.


The 3 avocados bought for RM10, posing nicely on the cutting board before getting sacrificed for the baby.




Slice, de-pit, and scoop out the "meat".



The rest of the slices are kept in a zip-lock bag to be frozen.



Before serving, mash with a fork.


The verdict? A yay all the way!

Reference: Avocado For Your Baby

Menu Of The Day: Pea Puree

Ever since my son started solid food, his menu has been consisting of rice cereal, banana puree, apple puree, pear puree and pumpkin puree. All of these were prepared by husband and I (except the rice cereal). So for his next new food, we decided to introduce peas.

The husband spent close to an hour blending the cooked peas to get a smooth texture. Looks yummy, eh?

Then, the pureed peas were poured into ice cube trays to be frozen and stored.

And the verdict? For the first attempt, I fed him the puree plus breast milk without adding any rice cereal, but he didn't quite like it. So for the second attempt, I mixed rice cereal and breast milk together with the puree, and he liked it a whole lot better, hurrah!

Extracted from Wholesomebabyfood.com:

The Goodness of Peas

The nutritional value of peas is amazing when you think of the small size of a cup of peas. One cup of peas contains more protein that a tablespoon of peanut butter and also provides calcium, Vitamin A and C and Iron too.

These wonderful vegetables are a great first "green" food for baby as they are nutritious, and mostly pleasant to eat.

And for those of you who doesn't want to buy baby food off the shelves but don't quite have the time to prepare the food yourself, you can check out Baby Ambrosia. They sell freshly made baby and toddler meals, and you can find their kiosk in The Curve. I'm considering buying it one day, just to give it a try!

First Day On Solid Food

Today marks the first day my baby starts eating solid food.

Prior today, I paid a few visits to the supermarket to survey on baby rice cereals. No doubt, Nestle products dominate the shelves at the baby food section. But after reading about the Nestle boycott, I decided to get Heinz Baby's First Rice Cereal.


One teaspoon of the rice cereal mixed with a bit of expressed breast milk to get a thin consistency. Baby was grinning from ear to ear when we fed him!

Quick Update

Oh wow, my last update was two weeks ago, huh? Alrighty, here's a quick recap of what have happened since:


14 November 2009, was my husband's birthday. As usual I'd ask him,

"What do you want for your birthday, sayang?"

Usually he'd answer,

"Just a dinner will do."

But this time around, he said,

"I already have you as my birthday present for the rest of my life."

How can I not feel blessed with that kind of response? So I got him a Lumix LX3, which he had been raving on about for months now other than Nikon D90.


16 November 2009, I sprained my leg muscles during my workout, which lasted until today. So sakit, okay?!


22 November 2009, my baby boy pulled an all-nighter for the first time since he established a sleeping pattern when he was 2 months old.


23 November 2009, now that he's 5 months and 2 weeks old, my baby started showing signs that he's ready for solid food. So I've been prepping up for the big day. He's growing up so fast :(


25 November 2009, I created a new blog, photoplaybox, to display photos that was taken using the husband's brand new baby. We're not professional photographers. We just play around and snap :)