Cobaan.

Budak buas suka mengamuk.

I am currently facing a couple of... challenges with my 20 months old toddler. First of, he's refusing to sleep in his own cot. He was fine before until recently. One minute he is fast asleep on our bed, and as soon as we transfer him to his cot, he wakes up and starts crying. We pick him up, dodoi him, and put him back in the cot. Then he wakes up crying again. Repeat cycle until we give up and let him sleep on our bed. How to have sexy time lah like this?!

The second challenge is getting him to nap/ sleep without having to 'bergantung' to the boob-juice machine. Unless he is with someone else, like my MIL for example. In that case he'll happily drink from the bottle and go to sleep fuss-free.

So, how now brown cow? How do I tackle these challenges?

Stools and Honey.

It's funny how there are some parents who spend most of their waking hours online, can't even be bothered to do some readings on babies. They know everything when it comes to celebrities gossips or the latest fashion, but when their small baby didn't pass stool for 3 days, they gave the baby some honey. Konon it will help the baby to release some 'brown hostages'.

Okay firstly, the baby is fully breastfeeding so it is normal for them to not pass stool for a few days.

BABYCENTER: HOW MANY TIMES A DAY DOES A BREASTFED BABY NORMALLY POOP?

Expert Answers.
Susan Condon, lactation consultant.

What goes in must come out, so just about every feeding in the early weeks following birth should produce a bowel movement. The number and type of movements your baby has will indicate whether he's getting enough to eat.

During the meconium phase (the first few days after birth), your baby may have four or five tarry, dark, greenish-black stools spread out over two or three days. As your colostrum develops into mature milk, he should have at least two to five bowel movements in a 24-hour period for the first six weeks. He may even have had a bowel movement every time you change his diaper throughout the day.

After six weeks, it's normal for some babies to have fewer bowel movements, though others may continue having frequent ones. Don't be alarmed if your baby has a bowel movement only once a week. He's not constipated unless his stools are hard and dry. If your baby's producing loose, unformed stools with a pea soup consistency and cottage cheese-like curds, he's getting a good balance of foremilk and hindmilk. Don't be concerned if his diaper overflows!

Once your exclusively breastfed baby begins eating solids (between 6 and 8 months of age), his stools will get firmer and have a stronger odor.

And secondly, what were you thinking giving the baby honey?!

BABYCENTER.COM: FOODS THAT CAN BE UNSAFE FOR YOUR BABY

Honey: Honey can harbor spores of Clostridium botulinum, which causes botulism. An adult's intestinal tract can prevent the growth of these spores, but in a baby the spores can grow and produce life-threatening toxins.

Please. Do. Some. Readings! I strongly recommend Babycenter.com, it is packed with useful information.

Money Or Time?

This came to mind while I was preparing breakfast this morning.

What is the best thing you can provide for your children: money or time?

(Obviously putting love aside because those who neglect to provide love for their children do not deserve to be parents).

You work hard day and night, to gain more income to be able to provide a nice and luxurious life for your children. Branded clothes, good education, numerous toys. But at the same time, you're hardly at home to spend more time with them that sometimes, you don't even get to witness them growing up.

Or,

You leave your job to become a stay-at-home parent, to be able to provide more time and attention to your children. Witnessing their milestones, preparing their meals with your own hands, wiping their tears every time they cry. But at the same time, financial gets a bit tight that sometimes, you couldn't shower them with other nice things.

Being able to provide them both money AND time is definitely wonderful, but either one? I really can't decide.

Preparation For Parenthood

CAUTION: Lengthy post ahead! 

I found this via StumbleUpon. Don't get me wrong, being a parent is super great, but these are pretty funny!




Image from LilSugar
PREPARATION FOR PARENTHOOD

It's not just a matter of reading books and decorating the nursery. Here are 12 simple tests for expectant parents to take to prepare themselves for the real-life experience of being a mother or father.

1. Women: To prepare for maternity, put on a dressing gown and stick a pillowcase filled with beans down the front. Leave it there for 9 months. After 9 months, take out 10% of the beans.

Men: To prepare for paternity, go to the local drug store, tip the contents of your wallet on the counter, and tell the pharmacist to help himself. Then go to the supermarket. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office. Go home. Pick up the paper. Read it for the last time.

2. Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who are already parents and berate them about their methods of discipline, lack of patience, appallingly low tolerance levels, and how they have allowed their children to run wild. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior. Enjoy it -- it'll be the last time in your life that you will have all the answers.

3. To discover how the nights will feel, walk around the living room from 5 pm to 10 pm carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious noise) playing loudly. At 10 pm, put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1 am. Put the alarm on for 3 am. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2 am and make a drink. Go to bed at 2:45 am. Get up again at 3 am when the alarm goes off. Sing songs in the dark until 4 am. Put the alarm on for 5 am. Get up. Make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.

4. Can you stand the mess children make? To find out, first smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer. Stick your fingers in the flower beds, then rub them on the clean walls. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

5. Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems: first buy an octopus and a bag made out of loose mesh. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out. Time allowed for this: all morning.

6. Take an egg carton, using a pair of scissors and a pot of paint, turn it into an alligator. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle. Last, take a milk carton, a ping pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Pops and make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower. Congratulations! You have just qualified for a place on the play group committee.

7. Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a dime. Stick it in the cassette player. Take a family-size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seats. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There. Perfect.

8. Get ready to go out. Wait outside the bathroom for half an hour. Go out the front door. Come in again. Go out. Come back in. Go out again. Walk down the front path. Walk back up it. Walk down it again. Walk very slowly down the road for 5 minutes. Stop to inspect minutely every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way. Retrace your steps. Scream that you've had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you. Give up and go back into the house. You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

9. Always repeat everything you say at least five times.

10. Go to your local supermarket. Take with you the nearest thing you can find to a preschool child -- a fully-grown goat is excellent. If you intend to have more than one child, take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goats eat or destroy. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

11. Hollow out a melon. Make a small hole in the side. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone. Tip the rest into your lap, making sure a lot of it falls on the floor. You are now ready to feed a 12-month-old baby.

12. Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street, Barney, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

When you find yourself singing "I Love You" at work, you finally qualify as a parent.


Source: http://www.stanford.edu/~bfenton/parenting.html

How To Lose Your Baby Fat

Image from Fashionverbatim.net

Well, how I did, anyway. Sure, I am definitely no Gisele Bundchen (it is a crime to look that good postpartum!), but I managed to lose those baby fat steadily over the few months. I don't have the discipline to keep up with a strict diet or routine, hence the slow result. But hey, slow result is better than no result, yes? (optimism is the key!)

1. Eat Fat Burning Food
I usually take fat burning food for breakfast or lunch, with the likes of eggs, apples, low fat milk/yogurt, and chilies.

2. Cardiovascular Workout
I do cardio exercise for one hour, at least once a week. But there were times when weeks pass before I paid the gym a visit, hoho.

3. Cut Down On Refined Carbohydrates
I take rice once a day and substitute white bread with wholemeal.

4. Keep Busy

I've always been the type of person who can't sit still. I always find things to do in the house, otherwise I'd feel agitated.

5. Chase The Baby
Now that the baby is crawling, climbing, cruising and throwing tantrums, he is actually giving me free workout at home!

6. Breastfeed The Baby
And, of course, the best calorie burning method EVER. By breastfeeding, your body burns an average of 500 calories per day. Sungguh best!

Mothercare Opening Promotion

Dear parents/ soon-to-be parents,

Mothercare is opening in Bangsar Shopping Center and they'll be having an opening promotion from 1st to 15th November 2009.

Shoppinnnnnggg!

Baby's On The Way! (Part 2)

Image from stock.xchng

Based from experience, I've gathered a few shopping/ preparation tips for you new expectant mothers and fathers:

1. Stock up on well-known branded diapers, as they have more quality compared to the one that aren't, well, not that well-known. Newborn babies have sensitive skin, therefore you need to test out which brand suits them best (and also suits your wallet). Myself, I stocked up on Mami Poko, Huggies and Drypers. My baby didn't have any skin reaction towards Mami Poko and Huggies. Drypers, on the other hand, gave him blisters.

2. Go easy when buying baby care items. Because firstly, as I've mentioned, babies have sensitive skin, so they don't need us slapping on anything and everything on them. And secondly, you'll be surprised at the amount of baby care items people will give you when they come for a visit. My baby's 4 months and two weeks old, and I still have lots of baby care stock stashed away.

3. Baby cot, stroller and car seat can wait if you have limited shopping funds. This is because your baby will end up sleeping on the bed with you so breastfeeding will be a lot easier, otherwise you will need to carry him in and out of his cot every feeding time. As for the stroller and car seat, you won't be bringing your baby out anytime soon until he's at least 3 months old (or right after the 2 months confinement period for those eager new parents).

4. Do not buy too many clothing sized for newborns, as babies grow at a very fast rate. Buy the ones sized for 3 months old onwards. I can say there are quite a number of clothing that my baby didn't get a chance to wear at all!

5. Survey, survey, survey. If you have an eye for a pricey item, make sure you survey a few places first before making the purchase. For example, I wanted to get Medela Harmony, retailing at RM249 at Metrojaya. Then I went to Babyland in SS2, PJ, and they had 10% discount on it. I didn't stop there. A week later I went to Robinsons, The Gardens, and they had 20% discount on Medela Harmony.

6. Preferably, don't get the modern swaddling blanket as it is too easy for babies to 'escape' from being swaddled. Get the traditional swaddling blanket and secure it with a safety pin. But first, you'd need to learn how to swaddle them, yes? Easy peasy.

7. Before you start splurging, ask your siblings/ relatives whether they have anything they want to hand-down to you.