My darling's finally feeling much better! We can see it written all over her face from the moment she woke up! She greeted me this morning with a 'hi' and returned a friendly wave when I waved at her while she was sitting in her cot. Thank God the ordeal's finally over. She can drink her milk properly and she's also back to eating well again! Time to fatten her up again and hope that this time she doesn't get any more bugs...
She's been able to eat a bowl of brown rice porridge every day with some broccoli and egg yolk for lunch and rice, veggies and pork for dinner for the past few days. Today for lunch, she ate her porridge, her fav broccoli, a bit of egg yolk, cod with applesauce (I just started her on cod with applesauce again today) and she even agreed to eat spinach with wolfberries which I sauted with garlic and simmered in stock. But I think she agreed to eat it because of the wolfberries rather than a sudden change in taste... She's not been willing to eat spinach in months... let's hope it's a sign of a good start to better eating habits and a healthy appetite! Oh ya, she even ate rice from us when we were having lunch. Maybe the illness which caused her to lose her appetite entirely earlier caused her to appreciate food now (coz she went without solid food for a few days). We can only speculate but I do hope that my picky eater has evolved and become as greedy as mummy and daddy. :D Well, we always muse that she should be greedy coz she's got 'greedy genes'.
Honestly, now that she's better, I feel a little bad for all the negative emotions I harboured when she was ill. She was a grouchy, whiny little thing that just refused to cooperate and it didn't help that I was fighting the same irritatingly strong flu bug. And it was made worse by the fact that she was in a Daddy-favouring phase. I really felt like cancelling my no-pay leave and going back to work next year and dumping her at the childcare centre since she would be exactly 18mths in January. Now that she's no longer that whiny monster which always rejected mummy unless it was milk time, and she's all lovey-dovey with me again, I don't feel like going back to work anymore... well, at least for the next couple of years. Oh well, I guess what I experienced is just normal and part and parcel of the ups and downs of parenthood! I so appreciate my little darling angel now.... let's hope this angelic phase is here to stay!
9/20/2009
9/19/2009
Mid-Autumn Festival
Ooh, it's that time of the year again where we go hunting for yummy mooncakes. Okay, we don't really 'hunt' that much and we usually settle for something that tastes yummy and not way out of our budget. This time we bought our snow-skin mooncakes from Home's Favourite (they had a booth at Great World City). It's got D24 durian filling and two of the four we bought have charcoal snow-skins. Pretty special I must say.
Beautiful box which is now Alicia's toy... she loves boxes: she'll put things into it and take the things out over and over again and sometimes, she decides that she wants to sit in the box! :D
yummy food concealed by so many layers of packaging...
This is the special charcoal snow-skin mooncake!
And this is the normal durian snow-skin mooncake
Apart from buying mooncakes, we also bought Wife Cakes (lao po bing). This Hongkong eatery always comes to Singapore once or twice a year to sell their specialties at Great World City, of which one of them is wife cake. I love to eat them and will always make sure that I come by to buy it every year during the mid-autumn festival... :) but my hubby doesn't like it...
6 in a box for S$8
These wife cakes have chewy winter melon filling which I love!Back to the mid-autumn festival, we bought her a cute little lantern coz she took to it the moment she saw it... Once we got home and unwrapped the lantern for her, she flung it around gleefully, wildly and violently... :)
I do believe that this lil bee will be spoilt in no time...Breastfeeding my ill baby
It has been ages since my darling had any problems nursing. Now because of the blocked airway, she has problems suckling and she would just come and latch eagerly, only to unlatch feeling frustrated because she can't breathe while she's latching due to the phelgm. Then there are times that she can latch and drink but when the letdown comes (which is within a minute), she just can't cope with the sudden strong gush of milk and ends up unlatching and crying again (and of course, there'd be milk spraying everywhere).
I feel so sad whenever she fails to nurse. I can see that strong desire of hers to latch on and suckle (she'd behave like a hungry little puppy), but that look of disappointment and frustration when she can't drink is just so heart-breaking... :(
The most difficult part about her not being able to nurse is that if she doesn't nurse, it means that she's not drinking anything else. She's always been fussy about what we put into her mouth and that includes fluids. Till now, she doesn't like water and even glucose (which the doctor recommended feeding her when she's ill). In fact, she's so against any other method of feeding fluids (or milk for that matter) these days: she'd put the cap back on the sippy cup when we bring it near her then push it away (she did the same to the bottle when my hubby tried using the bottle which we haven't used for ages). It's almost impossible to get her to drink fluids and of course, that's terrible because she needs more fluids when she's ill. Sigh.
We brought her back to the doctor on Tuesday because she couldn't drink milk on Monday night. He rented us a nebulizer to clear her airway. It worked well and she nursed immediately after the treatment at the clinic. But this problem came back on Thursday afternoon so we brought her back to the clinic on Friday. We were told to carry on with the current medication as well as the use of the nebulizer. Last night she had some difficulty latching still but the two feeds today so far were fine and I hope there'd be no more hiccups from now on...
I feel so sad whenever she fails to nurse. I can see that strong desire of hers to latch on and suckle (she'd behave like a hungry little puppy), but that look of disappointment and frustration when she can't drink is just so heart-breaking... :(
The most difficult part about her not being able to nurse is that if she doesn't nurse, it means that she's not drinking anything else. She's always been fussy about what we put into her mouth and that includes fluids. Till now, she doesn't like water and even glucose (which the doctor recommended feeding her when she's ill). In fact, she's so against any other method of feeding fluids (or milk for that matter) these days: she'd put the cap back on the sippy cup when we bring it near her then push it away (she did the same to the bottle when my hubby tried using the bottle which we haven't used for ages). It's almost impossible to get her to drink fluids and of course, that's terrible because she needs more fluids when she's ill. Sigh.
We brought her back to the doctor on Tuesday because she couldn't drink milk on Monday night. He rented us a nebulizer to clear her airway. It worked well and she nursed immediately after the treatment at the clinic. But this problem came back on Thursday afternoon so we brought her back to the clinic on Friday. We were told to carry on with the current medication as well as the use of the nebulizer. Last night she had some difficulty latching still but the two feeds today so far were fine and I hope there'd be no more hiccups from now on...
9/13/2009
Feeding my ill baby
My darling's got the flu bug and I brought her to another doctor today because the medicine from the other doctor wasn't working and her flu got worse since Thursday. It's really heart-wrenching to see her suffering from this flu and sometimes it really gets to me because she's so super grouchy and whiny and just cries all of a sudden. She's not been eating well since Tuesday and for the past couple of days, she hardly ate anything except the muesli and apple muffins I baked and Gerber stars. I know it isn't exactly healthy to give her snacks now but doctor says it's better than nothing and just give her whatever she likes to eat now and make sure she's hydrated.
This loss of appetite has caused her weight to fall quite drastically. I'm so upset. On Thursday when we weighed her at the first doctor's clinic, she'd lost 200g. Today when we weighed her, she lost another 200g. Actually I was mentally prepared for the figure I saw on the scale today because I weighed her yesterday on my own at home by taking [the total weight (mine and hers) - my weight]. I'm really sad because she takes so long to put on weight but loses weight so easily during an illness. Thank God she hardly falls ill... Hubby told me to stop worrying about such unimportant things and concentrate on the big picture of getting her well. I know that. But I can't help but dwell on it sometimes because I had taken great pains to help her put on weight. And now, it's all gone...
Anyway, yesterday she agreed to take some sweet potato porridge (she ate 1/3 bowl) and we were already overjoyed that she's finally eating a little. Here's a picture of her porridge I cooked using the small Tanyu claypot for her dinner tonight.
It's back to the basics - sweet potato porridge!
I hope she eats it and her appetite is better after her long nap. She's been sleeping for 5hrs since she took her medicine - I guess it's because the medicine causes drowsiness. Let's hope and pray that my little one gets better quickly and gets her appetite back before she loses more weight!
I hope she eats it and her appetite is better after her long nap. She's been sleeping for 5hrs since she took her medicine - I guess it's because the medicine causes drowsiness. Let's hope and pray that my little one gets better quickly and gets her appetite back before she loses more weight!
9/12/2009
Mini Muesli and Apple Muffins
I made mini muesli and apple muffins for Alicia yesterday while she was taking her nap. A close friend of mine whose daughter liked the eggless apple muffins I baked last time asked me to post the recipe here so that she can make the muffins in her own time. Well, this recipe's found on the packaging of the Heinz Muesli and Apple Cereal (for 10-15mths) so I think it's ok to share it here. :)
Mini Muesli & Apple Muffins
Ingredients
Mini Muesli & Apple Muffins
Ingredients
- 11/2 cups self raising flour, sifted
- 1/2 cup Heinz Muesli & Apple Cereal
- 1/2 cup light brown or raw sugar (I used Origin's organic raw sugar)
- 2T sultanas
- 1tsp cinnamon
- 3/4cup full cream milk (I used breast milk)
- 1/3cup canola oil (I used olive oil)
- 1 x 120g can Heinz Apples (I used 8T of homemade applesauce)
Method
- Combine flour, muesli, sugar, sultanas and cinnamon.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.
- Stir in the milk, oil and apples, until just combined.
- Spoon into lightly greased mini muffin tins. (I used mini silicon muffin cups I bought at Daiso and the muffins came out so easily!)
- Bake at 180degC for 12-15min, or until golden. (I had to bake it for 20-25minutes before they turned slightly golden.)
Freeze for up to 3 months.
I made 28 mini muffins (I told my friend 32 - mis-counted) but I ate 2 coz they tasted so yummy so there're just 26 mini muffins left for her. She's eaten one yesterday and one today... 24 left! :D
Here're a couple of pictures of the muffins:
The first batch fresh from the oven!
Yummy!
Feeding at 13 months (and beyond)
When Alicia turned 13 months, we brought her for her pneumoccocal booster jab. When I asked the doctor about her weight, he said she was at the 10th percentile and he advised me to either increase her food intake or supplement 1 milk feed with formula milk. Very reluctant to supplement her milk intake with formula (which she hasn't had any for the past year), I decided that we had to increase her food intake (which really isn't easy, but we had to try somehow). My hubby said that we should start giving her a bit of everything that we had (unless it was seafood or nuts) in the hope that she'd be a less picky eater. I agreed to do so, so Alicia started eating table food from this month onwards. This means that from this month onwards, there's really nothing much to blog about since she's just eating what we eat :) I'd only blog about the food that I make specially for her from now on...
In the picture: rice, broccoli, cod with applesauce, quail egg, sweet potato (orange and yellow), a small piece of salmon and chicken without the sauce (from our dinner - I cooked stir-fried salmon in black pepper sauce and baked chicken that night)
Eating table food also means that from this month onwards, she gets to taste the condiments used in our food. As long as the taste's not too extreme, we let her try it. Has letting her try everything we eat worked in making her a less fussy eater? I would say that it has to quite an extent because she does seem more keen to try out our food every time we eat something. Whether or not she actually accepts what we're eating is another issue altogether but well, it seems that she's becoming less fussy this month. The best part this month? It's gotta be her eating and loving rice! On a good day, she can eat up to 8-10 tablespoons of rice (more than what I used to eat during pre-preggie days!). I'm also quite sure that amount's more than what my 21-year-old cousin eats... haha...
Here's a picture of a typical dinner:
In the picture: rice, broccoli, cod with applesauce, quail egg, sweet potato (orange and yellow), a small piece of salmon and chicken without the sauce (from our dinner - I cooked stir-fried salmon in black pepper sauce and baked chicken that night)
The frustrations of taking care of my ill baby
I just need to vent my frustrations a little. My darling has been fussing since Tuesday night. For two nights in a row, she cried and refused to (and couldn't) sleep properly. On the first night, we thought we heard a little bit of phelgm but other than that, she was perfectly well. I had to nurse her almost every hour just so that she would calm down and rest for awhile. She was still alright on Wednesday morning but when night came and it was time for bed, she cried and fussed again. Thursday morning, the phelgm got worse and I detected a slight cough so I brought her to the doctor. He said she's got flu symptoms but there was no fever and her throat was alright (thank God!). He prescribed three types of medicine: one for her cough, one for phelgm and the last one to clear her airway. That afternoon after she took her medicine, she nursed to sleep and slept for five hours straight. I thought she was feeling better and would be able to sleep better at night but she refused to sleep till it was almost 4am. I'm so very tired because I can't seem to rest in the day even when she's taking her nap. I can't get to sleep even though I'm so wasted and groggy. I hate that feeling! It reminds me of my confinement month when I was practically a walking zombie.
Finally, I got some proper rest last night and am more sane today because she could sleep properly from 2am till 9am this morning. Oh, but we were rudely awoken at 4am because she fell off our bed (she was sharing our bed and was sleeping between us - we usually let her share our bed when she's ill). She rolled off the foot of the bed (we don't really know how) but we think it was a pretty bad knock because it was really a very loud thud. Poor darling! After that, we placed her back into her cot for her own safety - she cried for awhile but fell asleep on her own and we had our much needed sleep till 9+am today.
It's not just the lack of sleep that gets to me whenever she's sick. Her lack of appetite worries me too because I hate to see her lose weight (because she takes so long to put on weight)! Recently she's put on weight because she's been eating better and just when we were so happy about it, she had to fall ill. Obviously, her appetite's bad because of the flu and there's nothing we can do about it. I even tried to give her Pediasure to make up for the 'lost' meal yesterday when she hardly ate her dinner! She drank 50ml and refused the rest. Today I tried again when she refused lunch but she tasted it and decided that she'd give it a pass. It's the first time I've given her formula milk since she was 1 month old. Maybe she's just not used to the taste of other types of milk other than mine (which I'm not sure if it's a good thing because I had been hoping that she'd at least accept Pediasure so that we could feed her a bit of that when she decides to be fussy and skips her meals, even on normal days). Anyway, the only things she's agreed to eat today and last night are apple and muesli muffins (which I just baked yesterday) and Gerber stars. And fortunately, she still wants my breast milk...
An ill, fussy and crying baby really tests the limits of one's patience... and sanity. Fortunately, I have my hubby to go through this with me... if not, I might be mad by now...
Finally, I got some proper rest last night and am more sane today because she could sleep properly from 2am till 9am this morning. Oh, but we were rudely awoken at 4am because she fell off our bed (she was sharing our bed and was sleeping between us - we usually let her share our bed when she's ill). She rolled off the foot of the bed (we don't really know how) but we think it was a pretty bad knock because it was really a very loud thud. Poor darling! After that, we placed her back into her cot for her own safety - she cried for awhile but fell asleep on her own and we had our much needed sleep till 9+am today.
It's not just the lack of sleep that gets to me whenever she's sick. Her lack of appetite worries me too because I hate to see her lose weight (because she takes so long to put on weight)! Recently she's put on weight because she's been eating better and just when we were so happy about it, she had to fall ill. Obviously, her appetite's bad because of the flu and there's nothing we can do about it. I even tried to give her Pediasure to make up for the 'lost' meal yesterday when she hardly ate her dinner! She drank 50ml and refused the rest. Today I tried again when she refused lunch but she tasted it and decided that she'd give it a pass. It's the first time I've given her formula milk since she was 1 month old. Maybe she's just not used to the taste of other types of milk other than mine (which I'm not sure if it's a good thing because I had been hoping that she'd at least accept Pediasure so that we could feed her a bit of that when she decides to be fussy and skips her meals, even on normal days). Anyway, the only things she's agreed to eat today and last night are apple and muesli muffins (which I just baked yesterday) and Gerber stars. And fortunately, she still wants my breast milk...
An ill, fussy and crying baby really tests the limits of one's patience... and sanity. Fortunately, I have my hubby to go through this with me... if not, I might be mad by now...
9/08/2009
Swimming@Jurong Safra
We went to Jurong Safra's swimming pool yesterday (it's our second time there). Alicia loves to wade in the shallow pools there and we let her float in the deeper pool. We were too busy playing with her in the shallow pools so there are no photos but here are some photos of her floating around... look at how tanned she is!
The much awaited trip to the Zoo
Like I mentioned in an earlier post, we wanted to bring our darling to the zoo on her birthday but the weather was bad so it was postponed. On 1 Sept, we tried again. This time we drove to the zoo despite the rain but in the end we didn't enter the zoo and just had our lunch there because the rain did not stop. So finally on 5 Sept, we managed to get our little one into the zoo's premises! Here are some photos of her adventure at the zoo:
Checking out the itinerary
This otter is cute!
Look at the white tiger, mummy!
Hehe... I love the elephant show!
Mummy, quick catch this photo of daddy kissing me!
Mummy, can you stop taking photos of me? :)
Stop tickling me daddy!
Mummy says she's being creative when she took this shot...
Ooh... I love wading in water...
I love playing in water but i'm a bit scared...
Can I play in the water please?
Checking out my shadow...
Wheeeee... this is fun!
I'm ALLLLL wet...
Penguins are cute!
I'm soooo tired...We had a wonderful time at the zoo... our little darling was quite a greedy gal that day as she insisted on trying out all our food (on top of eating her own)... which included our sardine puffs, Ben n Jerry's Phish Food and she ate most of the food prepared for her as well (applesauce, brown rice lentil porridge, eggless apple muffins, egg yolk). If only she can eat so well every day, I'd be a very happy mummy... :D
9/06/2009
Life as a Stay-At-Home-Mum
It's been almost 14 months now since I became a stay-at-home-mum (sahm). Do I enjoy being a sahm? Well, to the surprise of many, I'd say yes, I have been enjoying my stint as a sahm, but I'd like to highlight the plight of sahms here.
Actually, sahms are a very misunderstood lot of people. In the eyes of working people, a sahm is a very 'free' person, someone who stays at home and only looks after the child(ren) and the family. Now, can someone point out what the problem is here? Well, why should the job of a sahm be considered easy or even easier than that of the working person? Anyone who has taken care of a baby alone for awhile would know that looking after a baby or a child is hard work, let alone having to handle household chores at the same time. It is extremely annoying to get my ex-colleagues asking me or telling me that I'm leading an idle life as a 'tai-tai' now. Which part of "no-pay childcare leave" do they not understand? I'm a full-time mother, not an idle woman who gets to while the time away.
I'm not resenting my choice (yes, it's my choice, but also a decision made by both my hubby and I) to be a sahm. I'm just irritated by how people make ignorant comments about sahms and how the 'job' of sahms goes unrecognised by the general population just because it isn't considered a real profession. The monotony of the routine of taking care of a baby is enough to kill some women and push them back to the workforce. Is that not true for some? Friends of mine who are mothers themselves wonder how I can choose to continue to be a sahm because they cannot and/or do not want to put up with the stress of being a sahm. Yes, you are reading right. The stress of being a sahm. Again, people who are unaware of what it takes to take care of a child would think that sahms have no stress at all. If you're wondering at this point, what stress can a sahm have? Well, I'm sure many sahms would be able to share how difficult it is to handle a whiny, crying, clingy baby/child (can you just imagine how a persistent crying baby will drive you up the wall?), how to get food into the picky eater's mouth (and make sure the food doesn't get spat out), how there's always housework that needs to be finished or how personal time is hard to come by...
Oh well, after having highlighted some negative points of being a sahm, I'd like to share how pleasurable it still is to be one at the end of the day.
I get to see my little one every moment, I'm aware of her every little new development and preference, I'm always there to 'catch' her doing something new and fascinating and best of all, I'm always there to shower her with hugs and tender loving care and be the recipient of loving hugs and kisses.
So are my degree and scholarship 'wasted'? Well, I would say no, because to me, nothing is more important than being able to watch my little one grow and be there for her now. I can go back to work in future, but I can never turn back the clock to watch her grow up again.
Actually, sahms are a very misunderstood lot of people. In the eyes of working people, a sahm is a very 'free' person, someone who stays at home and only looks after the child(ren) and the family. Now, can someone point out what the problem is here? Well, why should the job of a sahm be considered easy or even easier than that of the working person? Anyone who has taken care of a baby alone for awhile would know that looking after a baby or a child is hard work, let alone having to handle household chores at the same time. It is extremely annoying to get my ex-colleagues asking me or telling me that I'm leading an idle life as a 'tai-tai' now. Which part of "no-pay childcare leave" do they not understand? I'm a full-time mother, not an idle woman who gets to while the time away.
I'm not resenting my choice (yes, it's my choice, but also a decision made by both my hubby and I) to be a sahm. I'm just irritated by how people make ignorant comments about sahms and how the 'job' of sahms goes unrecognised by the general population just because it isn't considered a real profession. The monotony of the routine of taking care of a baby is enough to kill some women and push them back to the workforce. Is that not true for some? Friends of mine who are mothers themselves wonder how I can choose to continue to be a sahm because they cannot and/or do not want to put up with the stress of being a sahm. Yes, you are reading right. The stress of being a sahm. Again, people who are unaware of what it takes to take care of a child would think that sahms have no stress at all. If you're wondering at this point, what stress can a sahm have? Well, I'm sure many sahms would be able to share how difficult it is to handle a whiny, crying, clingy baby/child (can you just imagine how a persistent crying baby will drive you up the wall?), how to get food into the picky eater's mouth (and make sure the food doesn't get spat out), how there's always housework that needs to be finished or how personal time is hard to come by...
Oh well, after having highlighted some negative points of being a sahm, I'd like to share how pleasurable it still is to be one at the end of the day.
I get to see my little one every moment, I'm aware of her every little new development and preference, I'm always there to 'catch' her doing something new and fascinating and best of all, I'm always there to shower her with hugs and tender loving care and be the recipient of loving hugs and kisses.
So are my degree and scholarship 'wasted'? Well, I would say no, because to me, nothing is more important than being able to watch my little one grow and be there for her now. I can go back to work in future, but I can never turn back the clock to watch her grow up again.
9/04/2009
Woes of feeding a fussy eater
If you've been following the feeding section of my blog, you'd know by now that I have an extremely picky eater. Sometimes, I really wish that she were not so fussy then I'd have an easier time (and I can spend more time playing with her instead of feeding her). Very often, I get people telling me that I shouldn't give such 'fanciful' food to Alicia and just feed her fish and spinach porridge for her meals as everybody else does. I get really pissed by comments like these because people just don't understand (and they don't even bother to try to) that I'm feeding a fussy baby and fish and spinach porridge for every meal and every day just doesn't work out at all. And the most irritating thing is that because Alicia's on the smaller side (her weight's been hovering between the 10th-25th percentile since she became mobile), people just think that it must be because of what I'm feeding Alicia: if only I'd listen to them and feed porridge day in and day out instead of fanciful 'rubbish', Alicia would surely grow. I'd just say 'thank you very much for your input, but really, if you know what my daughter is like, you'd know that it isn't as easy as it looks'. Then there are those who say that it's because I've introduced 'fanciful' food to Alicia, she's rejecting simple porridge. Honestly, if Alicia were agreeable to eating simple porridge for every meal, I'd most certainly have given her that. Need I spend so much time every day, racking my brains and planning her meals if things were that simple? It's because she refuses the simple food which other babies have no problems with that I have to come up with so many ideas of what to feed her. These people just can't get things right.
My daughter's not only fussy about food, she's extremely active. How can she possibly put on much weight? But of course, people don't understand. They just think that I'm a bad mummy. And there's the breast milk issue. If it's not the food that I'm feeding that's not causing her to grow, it must be the milk I'm providing. Breastfeeding beyond the first year and even after the first 6 months seems undesirable to most people. When am I ever gonna stop breastfeeding, people would ask in a most irritating manner. Well, my response is always a flat 'as long as Alicia wants to'. If you've read my musings in the breastfeeding section, you'd understand why I really love breastfeeding and why being able to breastfeed is so precious to me. I really don't want to switch or even supplement with formula when I've got no issues with milk supply.
It seems that once I have my baby, everyone has something to say about the way I treat my baby and somehow what I'm doing is always 'wrong' or 'just not desirable'. I'm sure every new mummy (and daddy) knows just how irritating that can be. Maybe next time when someone tells me to feed simple porridge to Alicia instead of the food she eats, I'd tell her to try feeding Alicia herself...
My daughter's not only fussy about food, she's extremely active. How can she possibly put on much weight? But of course, people don't understand. They just think that I'm a bad mummy. And there's the breast milk issue. If it's not the food that I'm feeding that's not causing her to grow, it must be the milk I'm providing. Breastfeeding beyond the first year and even after the first 6 months seems undesirable to most people. When am I ever gonna stop breastfeeding, people would ask in a most irritating manner. Well, my response is always a flat 'as long as Alicia wants to'. If you've read my musings in the breastfeeding section, you'd understand why I really love breastfeeding and why being able to breastfeed is so precious to me. I really don't want to switch or even supplement with formula when I've got no issues with milk supply.
It seems that once I have my baby, everyone has something to say about the way I treat my baby and somehow what I'm doing is always 'wrong' or 'just not desirable'. I'm sure every new mummy (and daddy) knows just how irritating that can be. Maybe next time when someone tells me to feed simple porridge to Alicia instead of the food she eats, I'd tell her to try feeding Alicia herself...
Sample Meal Planner (11-12 months)
Alicia started eating quite a bit of food in these 2 months but she only takes 2 big meals mainly rather than 3 because she started taking longer naps in the afternoon and by the time she wakes up, it's time for dinner most of the time. Anyway, here's an idea of how I plan her meals for her (for most of the recipes of dishes stated here, please refer to Feeding at 11 months and Feeding at 12 months):
Mon
Lunch
Earth's Best Instant Oatmeal
Steamed cod served with applesauce
Sauteed vegetables* with a bit of garlic and simmered in stock (click here for details of this dish)
Snack (if she's awake)
Yogurt
Dinner
Heinz Beef Casserole
Sweet potato**
Fruits***
Tue
Lunch
Scrambled egg with breast milk, peas and carrots
Wholemeal bread
Pan-fried cod served with applesauce
Snack (if she's awake)
Eggless apple muffins
Dinner
Pasta with meat, veggies and tomato sauce (unsalted)
Fruits***
Wed
Lunch
Heinz Apple and Muesli Cereal with a bit of wheatgerm and some applesauce stirred in
Sauteed vegetables* with a bit of garlic and simmered in stock
Steamed cod served with applesauce
Snack (if she's awake)
Healthy Times Teddy Puffs in breast milk
Dinner
Brown rice lentil porridge
Sweet potatoes**
Fruits***
Thu
Lunch
French toast combi meal (spread some yogurt on the toast and sprinkle some finely minced pan-fried chicken on top)
Sauteed vegetables* with a bit of garlic and simmered in stock
Snack (if she's awake)
Eggless apple muffins
Dinner
Only’s lamb and mediterranean vegetables
Sweet potatoes**
Pan-fried cod served with applesauce
Fruits***
Fri
Lunch
Baby oats with mango puree and cubes
Steamed cod served with applesauce
Sauteed vegetables* with a bit of garlic and simmered in stock
Snack (if she's awake)
Healthy Times Teddy Puffs
Dinner
Sweet potato chicken porridge
Fruits***
Sat
Lunch
Baked macaroni with chicken, cheese and vegetables
Snack (if she's awake)
Eggless apple muffins
Dinner
Brown rice lentil porridge
Egg yolk
Pan-fried cod with applesauce
Fruits***
Sun
Lunch
Wholewheat pancake with pea and chicken puree served with mango and papaya cubes
Snack (if she's awake)
Healthy Times Teddy Puffs
Dinner
Sweet potato pork porridge
Pan-fried cod served with applesauce
Egg yolk
Fruits***
* You can vary the veggies for each meal/day. She has a mixture of veggies like broccoli, french beans, cauliflower, baby asparagus and baby corn from time to time but because she loves broccoli best, she gets that every day! :)
**A combination of different coloured sweet pototoes are served almost every day (choose from orange, yellow and purple!) because I feel that sweet potatoes are really jam-packed with nutrients.
***She eats a variety of fruits with us at night when we take our fruits.
Mon
Lunch
Earth's Best Instant Oatmeal
Steamed cod served with applesauce
Sauteed vegetables* with a bit of garlic and simmered in stock (click here for details of this dish)
Snack (if she's awake)
Yogurt
Dinner
Heinz Beef Casserole
Sweet potato**
Fruits***
Tue
Lunch
Scrambled egg with breast milk, peas and carrots
Wholemeal bread
Pan-fried cod served with applesauce
Snack (if she's awake)
Eggless apple muffins
Dinner
Pasta with meat, veggies and tomato sauce (unsalted)
Fruits***
Wed
Lunch
Heinz Apple and Muesli Cereal with a bit of wheatgerm and some applesauce stirred in
Sauteed vegetables* with a bit of garlic and simmered in stock
Steamed cod served with applesauce
Snack (if she's awake)
Healthy Times Teddy Puffs in breast milk
Dinner
Brown rice lentil porridge
Sweet potatoes**
Fruits***
Thu
Lunch
French toast combi meal (spread some yogurt on the toast and sprinkle some finely minced pan-fried chicken on top)
Sauteed vegetables* with a bit of garlic and simmered in stock
Snack (if she's awake)
Eggless apple muffins
Dinner
Only’s lamb and mediterranean vegetables
Sweet potatoes**
Pan-fried cod served with applesauce
Fruits***
Fri
Lunch
Baby oats with mango puree and cubes
Steamed cod served with applesauce
Sauteed vegetables* with a bit of garlic and simmered in stock
Snack (if she's awake)
Healthy Times Teddy Puffs
Dinner
Sweet potato chicken porridge
Fruits***
Sat
Lunch
Baked macaroni with chicken, cheese and vegetables
Snack (if she's awake)
Eggless apple muffins
Dinner
Brown rice lentil porridge
Egg yolk
Pan-fried cod with applesauce
Fruits***
Sun
Lunch
Wholewheat pancake with pea and chicken puree served with mango and papaya cubes
Snack (if she's awake)
Healthy Times Teddy Puffs
Dinner
Sweet potato pork porridge
Pan-fried cod served with applesauce
Egg yolk
Fruits***
* You can vary the veggies for each meal/day. She has a mixture of veggies like broccoli, french beans, cauliflower, baby asparagus and baby corn from time to time but because she loves broccoli best, she gets that every day! :)
**A combination of different coloured sweet pototoes are served almost every day (choose from orange, yellow and purple!) because I feel that sweet potatoes are really jam-packed with nutrients.
***She eats a variety of fruits with us at night when we take our fruits.
9/03/2009
Sample Meal Planner (8 - 10 months)
Here's a sample of Alicia's meal planner when she was 8-10 months old (based on 3 meals a day):
Mon
Lunch
Brown rice porridge*
Broccoli puree (cooked and added into the porridge just before serving)
Steamed cod with wolfberries (served as a side dish)
Snack
Mixed grain cereal with sweet potato and minced pork
Dinner
Macaroni shells with mango cubes
Fruits**
Tue
Lunch
Whole wheat pancake (with chicken and pea puree added in batter) served with applesauce
Snack
Egg yolk
Dinner
Red date pork porridge (short-grained rice) with minced french beans
Fruits**
Wed
Lunch
Wholemeal bread
Steamed cod with sweet potato puree topped with wolfberries
Snack
Bellamy's toothie peg
Dinner
Minced chicken brown rice porridge with cauliflower puree (cooked and added into the porridge just before serving)
Fruits**
Thu
Lunch
Sweet potato minced chicken brown rice porridge
Steamed cod with wolfberries
Snack
Egg yolk
Dinner
Mashed potato with minced pork, carrots and peas
Fruits**
Fri
Lunch
Cereal with applesauce
Snack
Wholewheat pancake with mashed banana
Dinner
Red date minced pork porridge with french beans
Steamed cod with wolfberries
Fruits**
Sat
Lunch
Pumpkin and spinach brown rice porridge
Steamed cod with wolfberries
Snack
Wholemeal bread
Applesauce
Dinner
Cereal with mashed banana
Fruits**
Sun
Lunch
Macaroni shells filled with applesauce
Snack
Gerber's stars
Yogurt
Dinner
Sweet potato minced chicken porridge (short-grained rice)
Cod with mango sauce (puree till liquid form) and cubes
Fruits**
*Her porridge is cooked with stock. See Feeding at 8 months for the recipe for the stock.
**She takes a variety of fruits with us at the end of the day when we eat our fruits.
Mon
Lunch
Brown rice porridge*
Broccoli puree (cooked and added into the porridge just before serving)
Steamed cod with wolfberries (served as a side dish)
Snack
Mixed grain cereal with sweet potato and minced pork
Dinner
Macaroni shells with mango cubes
Fruits**
Tue
Lunch
Whole wheat pancake (with chicken and pea puree added in batter) served with applesauce
Snack
Egg yolk
Dinner
Red date pork porridge (short-grained rice) with minced french beans
Fruits**
Wed
Lunch
Wholemeal bread
Steamed cod with sweet potato puree topped with wolfberries
Snack
Bellamy's toothie peg
Dinner
Minced chicken brown rice porridge with cauliflower puree (cooked and added into the porridge just before serving)
Fruits**
Thu
Lunch
Sweet potato minced chicken brown rice porridge
Steamed cod with wolfberries
Snack
Egg yolk
Dinner
Mashed potato with minced pork, carrots and peas
Fruits**
Fri
Lunch
Cereal with applesauce
Snack
Wholewheat pancake with mashed banana
Dinner
Red date minced pork porridge with french beans
Steamed cod with wolfberries
Fruits**
Sat
Lunch
Pumpkin and spinach brown rice porridge
Steamed cod with wolfberries
Snack
Wholemeal bread
Applesauce
Dinner
Cereal with mashed banana
Fruits**
Sun
Lunch
Macaroni shells filled with applesauce
Snack
Gerber's stars
Yogurt
Dinner
Sweet potato minced chicken porridge (short-grained rice)
Cod with mango sauce (puree till liquid form) and cubes
Fruits**
*Her porridge is cooked with stock. See Feeding at 8 months for the recipe for the stock.
**She takes a variety of fruits with us at the end of the day when we eat our fruits.
9/02/2009
Petrina's 21st Birthday
My cousin, Petrina, held her 21st birthday celebration at Ritz Carlton, Greenhouse, on 11 July (just a day after Alicia's birthday)...
Here are some of the photos of Alicia taken mostly by my cousin, Matthew:
This photo was taken by daddy when we arrived at Ritz Carlton.
Wow! I like this place!
See my cute smile :)
I think I'm the star of tonite's function... hehe...
This is my 4th grandaunt...
yes, I should be in the centre of the photograph... :D
My 4th grandaunt and aunty Michelle
This is an enjoyable nite...
ooh.. birthday cake again for me...
Here are some of the photos of Alicia taken mostly by my cousin, Matthew:
This photo was taken by daddy when we arrived at Ritz Carlton. Look at me in my pretty white dress with mummy! :)
Wow! I like this place!
See my cute smile :)
I think I'm the star of tonite's function... hehe...
This is my 4th grandaunt...
yes, I should be in the centre of the photograph... :D
My 4th grandaunt and aunty Michelle 
This is an enjoyable nite...
ooh.. birthday cake again for me... I thought I just cut it yesterday...
That's my grandma! :)
That's my grandma! :)9/01/2009
Adventure at Hort Park
These are just some photos which we took at Hort Park one evening when we went for a walk :) See how naughty my little darling Alicia looks in these photos!
Mummy loves this photo of me (from this series) best!
Checking out the place... 
I'm enjoying myself!
That's mummy and I... who's cuter? :)
Nursing Strike
When Alicia was about 4 months old, she went on a nursing strike for a few days after the jabs that she took in the 4th month. It was a terrible time and nursing her again became a time for battle.
A nursing strike is when a baby stops nursing abruptly.
I tried the following methods during this period of time:
You can read the following (which I find useful) for more information on nursing strikes:
A nursing strike is when a baby stops nursing abruptly.
I tried the following methods during this period of time:
- Feeding her when she's sleepy/ just woke up
- Feeding her in a different way such as feeding her and walking around at the same time
- Offering the breasts often (I had to try very very hard not to make an issue of it when she refused me)
You can read the following (which I find useful) for more information on nursing strikes:
- kellymom - nursing strikes
- Surviving a nursing strike by Becky Flora, IBCLC
- Is Baby Weaning or Is It a Nursing Strike? by Nancy Mohrbacher
Blocked Ducts
I thought I'd dedicate a section to discussing blocked milk ducts because it is quite common among mommies with babies who are still learning to latch correctly (and hence not emptying the breasts) as well as mommies who express exclusively (as I did in the first month). Baby's suckle is much stronger than the pump's strength so sometimes you may get blocked milk ducts if expressing exclusively. I was one such mommy as I was exclusively expressing for Alicia in the first month and I didn't even know I had blocked ducts then! It was a very painful experience but at least I learnt how to clear them on my own after the lactation consultant helped me to clear them.
First of all, how do you know if you've got blocked milk ducts?
I gathered this information from kellymom:
"Mom will usually notice a hard lump or wedge-shaped area of engorgement in the vicinity of the plug that may feel tender, hot, swollen or look reddened. Occasionally mom will only notice localized tenderness or pain, without an obvious lump or area of engorgement. The location of the plug may shift. A plugged duct will typically feel more painful before a feeding and less tender afterward, and the plugged area will usually feel less lumpy or smaller after nursing. Nursing on the affected side may be painful, particularly at letdown."
My symptoms then fit the above description and I kept getting this sharp shooting pain that was a lot more painful than a normal letdown. So I called the lactation consultant and made an appointment with her.
Anyway, here's how to clear blocked ducts (my own method):
The affected breast will feel soft and no longer have lumps.
The process hurts but it is important to get the problem fixed. Nursing is supposed to be a wonderful experience, not a painful journey.
If after going through the massaging and pumping the milk ducts are still blocked, try getting your baby to suckle on the affected breast again. If that fails to clear the ducts as well, seek help from a lactation consultant.
First of all, how do you know if you've got blocked milk ducts?
I gathered this information from kellymom:
"Mom will usually notice a hard lump or wedge-shaped area of engorgement in the vicinity of the plug that may feel tender, hot, swollen or look reddened. Occasionally mom will only notice localized tenderness or pain, without an obvious lump or area of engorgement. The location of the plug may shift. A plugged duct will typically feel more painful before a feeding and less tender afterward, and the plugged area will usually feel less lumpy or smaller after nursing. Nursing on the affected side may be painful, particularly at letdown."
My symptoms then fit the above description and I kept getting this sharp shooting pain that was a lot more painful than a normal letdown. So I called the lactation consultant and made an appointment with her.
Anyway, here's how to clear blocked ducts (my own method):
- Place a warm towel on affected breast
- Massage breast gently in small circular motions, moving towards the nipple.
- Pump milk from the affected breast and while pumping, massage and press on the lump(s) (this will HURT!). Do this until the lump(s) become smaller and eventually disappear.
The affected breast will feel soft and no longer have lumps.
The process hurts but it is important to get the problem fixed. Nursing is supposed to be a wonderful experience, not a painful journey.
If after going through the massaging and pumping the milk ducts are still blocked, try getting your baby to suckle on the affected breast again. If that fails to clear the ducts as well, seek help from a lactation consultant.
Latching Wars?
I'm not sure about you, but I had lots of problems latching Alicia in the first month. She gave me sore, cracked and blistered nipples from incorrect latching, biting and pulling at my nipples with her gums... After being discharged from the hospital, I no longer had the help of nurses or lactation consultants during feeding time so I was all alone and every nursing session was a latching war. It usually comprised of a screaming and crying baby followed by a crying mummy...
After a few days of latching wars at home, I gave up on latching and expressed exclusively for her. But I didn't give up hope on latching her as I read that sometimes baby just takes awhile to learn to latch. So in the mean time, I read up on how to latch baby since I didn't want to engage the services of a lactation consultant then.
I stumbled upon two very good resources for breastfeeding during that time which I'd like to recommend.
For breastfeeding information, I really like kellymom.
Whenever I meet with breastfeeding questions, I'd consult that website first and only when I can't find the answers I need there then I'd call the lactation consultant.
For latching videos, Jack Newman has a wonderful library of videos to show and teach new mommies to latch baby! If you think a picture speaks a thousand words, then well, his videos are a treasure to a desperate mommy with very painful nipples :D
I hope you find these resources useful!
An aside: for those with cracked and painful nipples, I find Medela's Purelan effective in healing:
What I like about it is that it is safe for ingestion so there's no need to remove the cream prior to breastfeeding.
For those who really find too much pain in nursing due to painful nipples, you can try using the nipple shields:
Mummies with flat or inverted nipples or mummies with babies who are reluctant to latch may find this useful too. You can read more about breastshields here.
After a few days of latching wars at home, I gave up on latching and expressed exclusively for her. But I didn't give up hope on latching her as I read that sometimes baby just takes awhile to learn to latch. So in the mean time, I read up on how to latch baby since I didn't want to engage the services of a lactation consultant then.
I stumbled upon two very good resources for breastfeeding during that time which I'd like to recommend.
For breastfeeding information, I really like kellymom.
Whenever I meet with breastfeeding questions, I'd consult that website first and only when I can't find the answers I need there then I'd call the lactation consultant.
For latching videos, Jack Newman has a wonderful library of videos to show and teach new mommies to latch baby! If you think a picture speaks a thousand words, then well, his videos are a treasure to a desperate mommy with very painful nipples :D
I hope you find these resources useful!
An aside: for those with cracked and painful nipples, I find Medela's Purelan effective in healing:
What I like about it is that it is safe for ingestion so there's no need to remove the cream prior to breastfeeding.
For those who really find too much pain in nursing due to painful nipples, you can try using the nipple shields:
Mummies with flat or inverted nipples or mummies with babies who are reluctant to latch may find this useful too. You can read more about breastshields here.
How to increase milk supply
The best way to increase milk supply is to let baby latch on as baby's suckle is the strongest pump on Earth. However, if baby cannot latch for whatever reason (like my darling in the first month), express frequently. I used to pump for every feed in the first month, so that means that I pumped milk every 2 hours or so for 30 minutes each time (5 minutes per side, alternate till 30 minutes is up). Yes, that means that I had to wake up to pump milk instead of sleeping through the night... which explains the lack of sleep then - hardly a two-hour stretch at a time! Besides expressing frequently, I also made sure I drank enough fluids and ate enough nutritious food at regular intervals to maintain milk supply (note: do not diet while breastfeeding!).
I never had any lack of breast milk but here are some ways to increase milk supply through my own reading as well as what nursing mommies have shared with me via forums and casual chats. Not every suggestion works for everybody as I have learnt from these mommies so I guess it's just trial and error till you find the best method that works for you! :)
Fenugreek
Fenugreek is a herb and Malays and Indians commonly use it in their cooking.
There are a few ways to take fenugreek.
Some mommies say that this soup works wonders for them while it has no effect on others. Whatever it is, you can try out this soup because even if it doesn't increase your supply, at least it's a nutritious soup!
Instead of papaya fish soup, you can cook ABC fish soup (big onions, carrots, potato) or herbal fish soup (wolfberries, red dates).
Oatmeal
Some say that eating oatmeal helps to increase milk supply. I'd say eating a bowl of oatmeal, if nothing else, is healthy for mom. At best, it may be a simple way to increase milk supply. That said, I did eat quite a bit of oatmeal during my confinement month (not knowing that it may increase milk supply!)
If these methods do not work for you and frequent nursing doesn't seem to help, seek help from your doctor or a lactation consultant.
Disclaimer: I've not tried any of the above methods to increase my milk supply. These methods are what I have gathered from other nursing mommies. Do feel free to try them and ask me any questions if there's any and I'll try to answer them if I can. But I cannot be held responsible for any mishaps from following the above methods.
I never had any lack of breast milk but here are some ways to increase milk supply through my own reading as well as what nursing mommies have shared with me via forums and casual chats. Not every suggestion works for everybody as I have learnt from these mommies so I guess it's just trial and error till you find the best method that works for you! :)
Fenugreek
Fenugreek is a herb and Malays and Indians commonly use it in their cooking.
There are a few ways to take fenugreek.
- The fenugreek seed itself. Go to those Indian spice shops to buy. Cook with water or your soup & drink.
- Fenugreek pills. Most convenient, some brands are more effective than others. Some find Nature's Way more effective than GNC but I'd say you have to try it out yourself to find out if it applies to you as well.
- Fenugreek extract. This apparently is potent! (Not suitable for Muslim mummies though as it has alcohol extracts)
- Organic Mother's Milk tea. It's a blend of herbs for breastfeeding mothers to increas breast milk. Best part is it is organic & natural, no need to worry that you are taking anything harmful.
Some mommies say that this soup works wonders for them while it has no effect on others. Whatever it is, you can try out this soup because even if it doesn't increase your supply, at least it's a nutritious soup!
- Ingredients
- Fish bones
- Fenugreek seeds 1tsp
- Lemongrass 1 stalk
- Unripe papaya half a small papaya, cut into slices
- Boil fish bones with fenugreek seeds and lemongrass.
- Add unripe papaya.
- Simmer for 1-2 hours (use slow cooker also can).
- Just before serving, add fresh sliced fish, boil for around 3-5min (to prevent overcooking the fish)
Instead of papaya fish soup, you can cook ABC fish soup (big onions, carrots, potato) or herbal fish soup (wolfberries, red dates).
Oatmeal
Some say that eating oatmeal helps to increase milk supply. I'd say eating a bowl of oatmeal, if nothing else, is healthy for mom. At best, it may be a simple way to increase milk supply. That said, I did eat quite a bit of oatmeal during my confinement month (not knowing that it may increase milk supply!)
If these methods do not work for you and frequent nursing doesn't seem to help, seek help from your doctor or a lactation consultant.
Disclaimer: I've not tried any of the above methods to increase my milk supply. These methods are what I have gathered from other nursing mommies. Do feel free to try them and ask me any questions if there's any and I'll try to answer them if I can. But I cannot be held responsible for any mishaps from following the above methods.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
