She loves to read

My baby loves to be read to. The teachers in infantcare told me that she loves story books and says how amazing it is that she can sit on their lap and finish the whole book patiently and wants more.

Yes, she is like that at home too. Other than milk and cereal, usually it's play and reading time for baby. I enjoy reading to her as much as she enjoys being read to.

2 different methods - porridge

Two different methods that I tried out over the weekend. One using the slow cooker and the other using the rice cooker.

1) I pour the home-made vegetable stock, brown and white rice, peas and carrots into the slow cooker and cover the lid. After it boils (about 2 hours), turn it to 'Keep Warm' [then I go to bed] until I scoop it out for baby, which is normally 6 hours later.

2) I put the brown and white rice into a glass jar filled with the home-made vegetable stock and then put in the rice cooker (surrounded with stock too) and cook for 45 mins and then 'Keep Warm' until I scoop them out.

(1) is flavourful, smells terrific, convenient (cos I dump all in and then go to sleep - Hubby will do the 'Keep Warm' button), softer texture and easily swallowed.

(2) nutritious, less wastage on electricity.

Started on solids - Part One

Baby is enjoying her food. Even the teachers told me that she is a food lover. 

Baby has tried the following:

1) Butternut squash puree
2) Sweet potato and broccoli puree
3) Sweet potato and carrot puree
4) Peach puree
5) Avocado puree
6) Applesauce from Gerber
7) Kiwi fruit mashed
8) and of course rice cereal - both white rice and brown rice

Next going to give her potato with broccoli puree, then pea puree before I slowly introduce her to meat/fish porridge. It's good to start on vegetables first :)

She has one tooth and the other one beside it is sprouting out too. No wonder she has been cranky for the past 2-3 weeks, waking up nearly every hour at night.

Everytime I want to take a photo of her teeth, she showed me her tongue instead ;p

Infantcare

There were some issues with the Nanny and we have placed baby at infantcare for two days already. She is adapting well to the new environment. I am so glad that the transition was smooth for her and she is okay. No excessive crying. The teachers knew how to handle her well. They all say that she is very clever and loves conversation. The teachers say that my current feeding of 150ml every 4 hourly is not too good. They suggest either 120 ml every 3 hourly or 150 ml every 3.5 hourly.

She will be 6 months and will be starting her on solids soon - another milestone.

Out of topic - Baby is 5 months 2 weeks old now and she doesn't want to be swaddled anymore.

CNY Eve

‎"A young child cannot yet understand what is best for him, and he may cry if he does not get what he wants. If he wanted to play with a sharp knife, you would not give it to him no matter how hard he cried and you would not feel guilty ot worry about the psychological consequences. Poor sleeping habits are also harmful for your child and it's your job to correct them." Quote from Ferber


Yes it's MY job to correct my baby's bad sleeping habits. I shouted at my mom and an auntie on CNY Eve's.
My baby was crying herself to sleep. I was sitting on the bed beside her in case she flips and rolls down the bed or suffocate herself in the midst of the pillows. One auntie barged into the room and asked me to carry my crying baby up. I refused to. She raised her voice and repeated herself, "CARRY HER!". I said No. The next minute, she nudged me aside and carried my baby upright and was rocking her.
And when my baby was still crying, my mom took over - carried and rocked. I was so fedup that I shouted at the both of them, "she wants to sleep and she will cry, just let her be".
Both of them stared at me with disbelief, thinking that I must be mad.



I did the same to wean off pacifier and night feeds successfully. So i am doing the exact same thing for baby's sleeping habits. I agree that we shouldn't let babies cry excessively for no reason and once they are big enough for solids (5 months and above), I think they are also big enough to be trained to cry it out.


Letting your baby cry it out (from BabyCenter)

First overseas trip

Our first family trip

Bandung, Indonesia ... Novotel Bandung :)

My Avent pump was not working properly and we went Jiwalk shopping mall to buy a pigeon manual pump. OMG, my hand was aching and I asked Hubby to pump for me. LOL.

Hmm, the most enjoyable time was when I was shopping and had hubby and my mom helping me to carry and take care of baby. Therapeutic time!

My supply dropped though cos of irregular pumping.

Before the trip, I bought this inflatable tub for baby to bathe :)
Super lots of things to pack for baby. Thank goodness, Hubby helped to carry them.

Baby G with Nanny

Baby was asleep in my arms when we brought her to Nanny's place and was placed on the bed. After 1-2 minutes, she woke up (didn't cry) and was looking around at the new environment. As hubby was hungry, we left the place very soon to have our brunch. I thought we'll be coming up shortly and hence, I didn't say goodbye to baby.

When we were walking out to the lift, I heard her cry. Felt so bad and wanted to go back to explain to her. But we decided to just leave her be. After brunch, we went back and Baby was fine. We spend another 30 mins at the Nanny's place together before we left her.

When I reached home, I cried while pumping. It's barely 3 hours and I miss her already.

Today is the second day that Baby is there. I feel much better. I could read, pump, eat, bathe, nap at ease and am surfing the net now. Tonight, we'd be going to wean her off the pacifier with cold turkey treatment. Because mommy is really tired waking up every hour to put the pacifier back into her mouth. I can't be doing this when I need to go back to work soon.

I just need Hubby to inform the in-laws that I have not fainted and we are doing this because we know that it's the best for baby. It's better to wean her off now than later. Same for the night feeds wean off training. Another week of endurance.

She is now 4 months, 3 weeks old. I think we are not being cruel by depriving her of the pacifier. In the first place, I don't really like her taking it at all.