She is growing normally but her weight is not gaining much. At last checked, she only weight a miserable 8.5kg only (Darrius was around 10.5kg during the same time). She is about 80cm tall which is considered as pretty small (petite) for her age. She eats a lot of fruits and cereals but she don’t take a lot of rice or milk. She do like noodles but I think the table or chair eats more than her tummy

Last week, while I was at my parents’ place, I decided to wean her off from the boobs as she was crying too loudly and disturbed everyone. My mom thought that I should toughen up if I seriously wanted to wean Ms Samseng off. She don’t like formula and don’t drink a lot of water which was why I was quite hesitant to wean her off initially. I tried weaning her a few times but was unsuccessful.

I am so sleep deprived and can hardly clock in more than 3 hours of sleep each night so I told myself that I just have to DO IT! If I remember correctly, I weaned Darrius off around the same age too.

Since we were staying at the hotel, I thought it will be a good time as the rooms are more sound proof (I think so la!). The first 2 nights, PiggyBeng complaint so plans were backfired. Then on the 3rd night, I told him it is either now or we’ll never get to do it so we just went ahead and ignored the cries. She was tired (as we went out for dinner) and slept pretty well and hardly make any noise. She did make some noise on the 4th night but it was so much better than before.

As she don’t take that much of milk, I prepare water for her in her new favorite sippy cup every night as I assumed that she must be thirsty thus she wants to suckle on the boobs…

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Sometimes she will drink and sometimes she just refused. She can get pretty fierce too… not sure why she is so hot temper…

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She only takes about 4Oz of milk each time so that is considered as very little compared to what Darrius used to take which was around 8 or 9Oz at least. For some weird reasons, she just don’t like regular milk bottles so it is either using straws or the new sippy cups. I am happy if she can finish her milk each time… which is rare as she likes to leave some each time. 0.O She gets a one feed first thing in the morning and maybe one in the afternoon and I am trying to give her one before bedtime.

I’ve never have so much troubles with weaning Darrius (not as much patterns!!!) so, it is true that each child is extremely different! I have changed more than 4 different formula milk powder and I am not sure if she has settled with the last one or not. Currently she is having Sustergen in Vanilla flavor.

Last night, my boobs were engorged (after more than a week) so I decided to pumped out the milk and add into Baby G’s milk. I am not sure how long it will take the body to stop producing milk but I don’t mind pumping them out instead of letting Baby suckle.

The past few days, she will run to me and show me those sad looking puppy face and will try to pull my shirt up (meaning she wants to suckle) but I told her that there’s no more milk and she will walk away. Sometimes, I know she wanted to suckle though she don’t want to say it out. Before this, she will always run to me and asked for ‘meek-meek‘ (milk-milk) and give me those cheeky looks. I so miss those moments!

Well, after slightly more than a week in this battle, I am most proud to announce that, Baby G is 100% WEANED as of today.

First, I got her some Enfagrow which she refused but managed to finished through adding into cereal. She hates it when given through bottle. Then I went to get her Lactogen. It came in 2 packets of 300g I think. Same thing… she rejected them but I managed to feed some through bottle but with lots of battles… like taking almost 2 hours to finish 2 ounces!!!! Then I went to get her the Abbott’s Gain Plus. Same story! Went through a lot of tears, sweat and stress!

So, final verdict – She either hates the bottle or the milk! Since I have tried feeding her using the spoon, the straw and the cup, there is still no changes so it has to be the milk. She hates Formula Milk – PERIOD.

Then I got to know about this site and read about this article…

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continue reading here

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I remembered that those sales reps of the milk companies always stressed the importance of these DHA/ARA in their milk powder which is very vital (to be smarter or whatever!) for all growing up kids but being someone who only breastfeed exclusively, I hardly have much ideas coz to me Mama’s milk has all the required nutrients.

Only when I started shopping for milk powder for Baby G did I start doing some read up. During Darrius’s time I was too relax since he took almost any milk I gave him. He was fine to not stick to a particular brand so there was no problems with switching him from one brand to another. However, silly me will stick to those that is not too costly and yet still contains the DHA/ARA thingy.

After reading the above article, I felt a little cheated and I felt really bad that I am actually feeding ‘poison’ to my kids! PiggyBeng has always been skeptical with all these so called chemicals added in most milk powders. He will tell me to not buy all those expensive ones as they are mostly marketing gimmicks that droves up the prices.

Since I have to replenish Darrius’s milk powder, I decided to buy a packet of this milk which does not contain those ABCDE stuff…

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Yeap… going back to basic!

I also gave him those UHT box milk too which to me, is still better than formula milk.  Since both kids are eating a varieties of food, they can also get their nutrients from those food. That’s why I have been active with packing bento for Darrius as each bento contains a good amount of different nutrients which he will need each day.

So, does not means you spent a fortune on formula milk your kids will be genius/prodigies! It is all marketing gimmicks to disillusion kiasu parents!

Well, I was woken up by Ms Samseng about 3 hours ago and since then I can’t fall back to sleep. After tossing and turning I decided to come down and do some work instead rather than waste time starring into the darkness in the room!

Ok, we are actually in the midst of training Glennedine to go without night feeds. We have been at it for almost a month now and though we are not very successful at the moment but we are getting close. The reasons I wanted to wean her off earlier than Darrius was because she bites… hard! I have been in pain for almost 2 months now and I think I am going to have another mutated nipple!

I tried to switch her to formula milk but she don’t seems to accept it and due to the pain on one of my nipples, I tried to not let her feed on that particular boob. However, the other side do not producing that much and I am tired to look for ways on how to produce more breast milk now. She is turning 14-month in another 10 days so I should be happy I’ve managed to breastfeed her that long thought I’d hope to breastfeed her till she turns 2. I just can’t tolerate the pain anymore.

The past few nights we saw some improvement though she still do some karate kicks when I pulled her away from my boobs. From a frequency of 3-4 feeds a night, I have managed to limit it to 1-2 feeds a night.

Hopefully she can go without any feeds soon so that all of us could sleep in peace. The only thing which I dreaded when she has weaned off my boobs will be my weight… which will balloons up unless I change my diet!

Like they said, can’t have the best of both world lar…

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MONTREAL, CANADA – MOTHERS who breastfeed their children can expect them to grow up smarter than their formula-fed peers, say Canadian researchers in the largest ever study of lactation, released on Monday.

The study published in this month’s issue of Archives of General Psychiatry found that breastfeeding raises a child’s IQ and improves his or her academic performance.

‘Our study provides the strongest evidence to date that prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding makes kids smarter,’ said lead investigator Michaelo Kramer, of McGill University in Montreal.

His team followed 13,889 infants born between June 1996 and December 1997 at 31 Belarussian maternity hospitals and clinics for 6.5 years.Half of the mothers were encouraged to breastfeed exclusively and for a prolonged period, while the other half were not.

The children’s cognitive abilities were later assessed using IQ tests and based on their early grades at school.

On average, the breastfed group scored better in all tests, and ’significantly higher’ in both reading and writing.

Mr Kramer said, however, that it is still unclear if the cognitive benefits of breastfeeding are due to the makeup of breast milk itself or the social and physical interactions between mother and child inherent in breastfeeding.

In the study, he suggests that the higher frequency and duration of breastfeeding compared to bottle-feeding results in increased verbal interaction between mother and child, which ‘might also have a stimulatory effect on cognitive development.’

Other studies, he also points out, have shown that a mother rat’s grooming and licking of its pups has long-term behavioural effects on its offspring. — AFP

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Found this article from AsiaOne site.

So, for those who are not breastfeeding their babies, please do so and for those who will be delivering soon, do go and equip yourself with all the knowledge. I can assured you that you will not regret it!

The message for this year event is:

Initiation of breastfeeding within the 1st hour of birth us the first and most vital step towards reducing infant and under-five mortality, by reducing the overwhelmingly high neonatal mortality rate. Save ONE million babies – beginning with ONE action, ONE hour support and ONE message.

  

I know many young urban working mothers are not fully aware of the benefits of breastfeeding and what impacts it has towards their children. Many of them are being brain-washed by some giant marketing companies and believed that formula milk are better but how wrong they are!

Sometimes the desire to have more freedom and convenience could results in poor health in our children. I found that many of these mothers still do not know the greatest culprits are these formula milk they kept feeding their babies! They are made of chemical compounds which has no antibodies contents like what mother’s milk has that keep our babies’ immune systems at it best. Breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months of your babies’ life so they can have a healthier life.

Sometimes, the best can’t be bought with money but given out of love. Mother’s milk has all the required nutrients, vitamins and antibodies the baby’s required to grow up strong and healthy. I breastfed Darrius exclusively for more than 6 months and only started weaning him when he was almost 15-months and he was completely weaned when he was 18.5-month. Though he do fall sick (minor flu and fever) over these 20 months but he recovers really fast! So, dump that can of formula and start breastfeeding your baby today!

One of the main reason why we are unsuccessful – I still breastfeed Darrius (very frequently) during those times when we were trying. The chances to conceive while still breastfeeding is rather slim for some mothers (differ from one woman to another) as the increase in the hormone that produces milk is actually a form of contraceptive or birth control. I was not prepared earlier thus the failure to conceive. So, after much discussions with PiggyBeng, I’ve decided to wean Darrius completely before trying again but deep down inside I felt the deliberation as I really wish to breastfeed Darrius till he is two. However, I need to prepare my body in order to conceive again… There goes my chance to have a go at tandem nursing…..

Darrius will be 18-month old in about 3 weeks time and I have made a target to wean him completely from my breast by the time he hits 18-month. As of now, I only let him have his comfort suckling once in 24-hours, which is early in the morning around 6 to 7am. I am feeding him supper (milk with cereal or milk with bread) before tucking him in every night so he would not feel hungry. I’ve wanted him to sleep through the night but somehow still  unsuccessful as he still wakes up many times asking for milk. When he cry for milk in the middle of the night now I will give him plain water instead and was surprised to find out he was actually thirsty rather than hungry after a few nights as he will first screamed and cry loudly when I refused to let him suckle but after a while he will ask for water…

Since we are staying at my parents’ place now, I hope it will be easier as my mom will tuck Darrius in some of the nights and this will help him ease the thought of suckling on my breast to sleep. It pains me to see him pleading every night but there’s no other way… *sigh*

JOHOR BARU: A 14-month-old baby boy suffered for almost 90 minutes before dying, after he accidentally swallowed his pacifier at his babysitter’s house. 

The victim, Lam Chee Hol, whose parents work as factory operators in Singapore, was sent to his babysitter’s house in Taman Johor Jaya here yesterday.  

It is learnt that the parents have been sending the baby to the babysitter for more than a year. 

Yesterday, the babysitter put the pacifier into the baby’s mouth when she went to prepare his milk at about 10am. When she came back to check on him, she was horrified to see that he had swallowed the pacifier. 

She tried to pull it out but it was stuck in the baby’s throat. She rushed him to a nearby clinic but the people there could not extricate it. By the time he was taken to Sultan Ismail Hospital at 11.30am, he was pronounced dead on arrival…

I felt really glad that Darrius never wanted any pacifiers… also due to the fact that he was an exclusive breastfed baby, I have actually discourage him to use any or else he will bite me! Ouch!

Ever since I started this blog, I’ve made quite a few blogging mommies friends and so decided to meet up with some of them during my stay in KL. The session took place last Saturday at Burger King, Mid Valley. All of us have a fun as well a havoc time since we brought along our little monsters with us. There were a total of 6 mommies with 7 kids and 1 maid meeting up on that day.

The eldest of the lot is little Oscar followed by Fathye, twins – Fearless & Cruz, Ethan, Darrius and baby Jayden. The little ones were really a handful for their mommies and it was really tough to chat as some of us have to chase the kids around and a screaming Darrius who almost break everyone’s eardrums!

From left (standing) : Esther with Ethan, Annie with Fearless and Cruz, Sasha with Jayden, Angeline with Oscar, Jazzmint with Faythe and Me with Darrius.

I do not have a camera with me so no extra photos to show. For more photos, visit here and here for mommy and baby lookalike vote.

A recent news report by The Associated Press on ‘Weight Gained Between Pregnancies Risky’ revealed that mothers who gained more than 7 pound between their pregnancies could put themselves and their babies at medical risks such as diabetes or high blood pressure in their next pregnancies.

To read the full report, please click on the link above.  

I am not sure about other moomies but I have gone back to my pre-pregnancy weight after 6 months of breasfeeding and I’m proud to report that I lost another 3kg after the 8th month even though I ate more than before.

So, who needs expensive post natal slimming programs which kept harrasing you to sign up more sessions and forces you to purchase more products when we can lose weight for free and also give the best to your babies???

Human milk is for human. Cow milk is for cow!

In Penang, the Hospital Pulau Pinang and WABA has a joined event at Giant Hypermarket.

Above is a photo taken during Madam Juliana Abdullah’s speech. She is the co-ordinator for WABA.

I was supposed to give a short speech on my account in breastfeeding but due to unforseen circumstances or maybe time constrain, the session was cancelled abruptly. Hence, only one of the moomie managed to go on stage. However, we managed to take a group photo though…. for remembrance sake…