ooooh...i can't sleep without it...!

Jihan in action!

smiling happily with her "bantal busuk"

i'm sure that many of us had a favourite pillow or blanket or toys during our childhood days that we can't live without it...when i was a little girl, (i can still remember it very vividly) i loved to take the string at the end of my bolster and put it inside my nostril or my ears....(hahaha!) ..i think at that time, it gave me a pleasure by doing so...

my little girl started to have the same habit when she was about 1 year old....she would take the edge of her pillow or blanket and started brushing her eyelids or nose or ears or even her palm...she would do that when she was feeling sleepy and would usually doze off.....

she wouldn't mind if her pillowcase or blanket are washed...some of the kids won't let their parents to wash them...i have a friend who had a bright idea regarding this matter...she would buy 2 sets of similar blanket for her daughter...so she wouldn't have problem of washing one as her daughter will have another similar blanket to sleep with it....

as parents, we need to make sure that physical hygiene of our children is not compromised...pillows/pillowcase/blankets/soft toys need to be washed or aired regularly to prevent dust/dustmites....furthermore if you and your partner have history of asthma/allergies as your children might have that too....

my tummy hurt and i puke...

Jihan when she was down with illness

one night, i was doing locum at a nearest clinic attending to a patient (one of the twin girls ) about 8 months old...she was accompanied by her parents and grandma and also her twin sister...both parents were very young (in fact younger than me!)..the twins have 2 other elder siblings who were well at that time...

mum said the younger twin had been having fever,diarrhea and vomiting (Acute gastroenteritis - AGE) since the past 2 days...oral intake was poor as anything went into the mouth would surely comes out...! the elder twin had a similar episode few days ago but recovering..

i examined the child...she looked very lethargic with sunken eyaballs and sunken anterior fontanelle...mum claimed that urine output had reduced and when she cried, hardly any tears coming down her cheek....

she was having temperature of 37.8...looked very much dehydrated, respiratory rate about 40/min, pulse rate about 110/min...i explained to the parents that she needed to be referred to the hospital for hydration...

the parents asked me, "Doc, can you just give medications that can stop the diarrhea and vomiting..?" i told them that this baby is going to collapse and might suffer from acute renal failure if they don't bring their child to the hospital..after a discussions between parents and grandma, they agreed...

then they asked me, "Doc, can i bring her to the hospital tomorrow morning..?" ohmigosh...!!! these parents seemed that they didnt really care about their child..the reason being, they own a shop, nobody was looking after it and the other siblings (including the twin sister) had nobody to take care of them..

i prepared them a referral letter and asked them to go to the hospital immediately...their baby's life was at stake at that moment...i prayed that she did not collapse before reaching the hospital...

Moral of the story:

1. pay attention when your child is not well....
2. if you feel the body temperature is hot, soak a towel in a basin of warm water and sponge your child.this is to prevent fits...
3. if your child is having diarrhea/vomiting, make sure she's taking enough fluid to prevent dehydration..
4. seek medical attention fast if no improvement..
5. do not buy medicine over the counter...some medicine has harmful effects to young babies. i.e; antiemetic (medication to stop vomiting) can cause oculogyric crisis (child's body becomes spasm)..
6. listen to the doctor's advice...

first outing....

i'm ready..! let's go!

we first brought Jihan for her first outing at a nearby shopping mall when she was about 2 months...we put her in her stroller and she would sleep quietly, once a while she would cry asking for her moo-mie's milk...almost every weekend we went out to get some fresh air and to expose Jihan to different environment so that she knows that there are other children and other people around apart from her close family....(Jihan is taken care by a maid with the help of my parents)..

it was very easy to travel with your little ones when she is small (9 months and below)..that is what i personally think...that's how i experienced it....i only brought a few pampers and wipe tissue, an extra pair of clothes, small towel, powder and that's almost it...i was breastfeeding her then, so no need to bring bottles, hot water and stuff....

we used go to places that are baby-friendly...so that it is easier to get our Jihan changed when needed...breastfeeding wise, i used to wear my nursing top, so i wasn't shy to breastfeed in public if the nursing room is full of mummies and babies...

when she started weaning, i brought along a few baby biscuits and mixed rice porridge/fruit puree to feed her during lunch time...i used to feed her before we had our meals....before 1 year old, she used to sit and babbles or sleep in her stroller while we were haivng our meals....

i also brought along a few rattles/toys just to keep her preoccupied...but she was so curious and amazed looking at her external environment...even when she is at 8 months, her stranger anxiety was almost negligible...she was a friendly baby up till now...

as Jihan is not sent to the nursery or daycare centre, i think it is important for her to mix around with other people...thus by bringing her for outings has broaden her perspectives towards outer environment other than just home...until now, she loves outings very much even just a short one....

oh no..! i eat then i freak....!!!

Jihan was able to eat her birthday cake...no more allergies...

i was so excited when baby Jihan started weaning....i started to find books and websites on good recipes of baby food....when i started to introduce her with formula milk at around 6 months+, i slowly start her off with Enfalac A+ plus EBM....by then she already started on solid food and also baby biscuits....

few days she was on Enfalac A+ (1 day before eidul adha), she had few rashes on cheeks and lower limbs...i thought it was due to heat rashes....but it was more like urticaria....on the day of eidul adha, the rashes got worse and she started to have mild diarrhea....

OH NO...!!! our baby is allergic to cow's milk...? that was our first thought...we gave her some antihistamine to reduced the reactions....and we even withdrew her Enfalac A+ due to fear that it will get worse....the day before that, she was fed with baby biscuit as well as rice porridge, the food that she usually took...

we were not sure what caused her to get the allergic rashes...we tried feeding her with soy-based formula but the taste was yucks...!! i think Jihan also had difficulties swallowing them for the first time....we also withdrew the baby biscuits in view that maybe wheat or eggs can cause allergy reaction to my baby....

i arranged an allergic skin prick test for my baby at my hospital..pity her...the result was, Jihan is having mild allergy towards wheat and eggs, not cow's milk...phewww.....! knowing that, we tried to avoid anything that has eggs and wheat (including bread, biscuits, cakes)....since we had started her on soy-based formula, so, she continued taking that for about 6 months...

at about 1 year of age, i slowly re-introduced her back with food containing eggs and wheat...Alhamdulillah, she has no allergic reactions towards them....and i also re-introduced her back to normal infant formula and she has no problem with it...

now, she's able to tolerate all kind of foods without having problems...she simply loves "ekk" (egg)...

My advice:
1- breastfeed your baby as long as possible until the age of 2 as this can reduce allergy reaction
2- start with 1 type of food and try to feed your baby with the same food for at least 3 days before introducing the others
3- look out for allergic reactions - rashes, wheezing, diarrhea, fever, shortness of breath.....to the doctor immediately if symptoms worsen
4- start introduce egg to your baby when she is about 9 months and bove
5- if your baby is known allergy towards egg, inform your doctor as when she is going for her MMR vaccination, extra precautions need to be taken..the vaccine is made from egg elements...
6- if you are not sure what causes allergy in your child, try to get a skin-prick test done at local hospitals....
7- usually, early food allergies will wean off after the age of 1 year....(but some persists through adulthood)
8- soy-based formula is not any superior to normal infant formula....it is a substitutes to infant formula during acute diarrhea, lactose intolerance, or confirmed cow's milk allergy...
9- be patient when feeding your baby

yum..yummy....

enjoying every single scoop of pureed banana

i still remember when my dear Jihan was nearly 6 mths old, she was really amazed when she saw us munching our food....her lips went smacking"chap..chap" and her eyes were following closely the colourful foodstuffs that we put inside our mouth....

at that time she was still fully breastfed and when i was at work she took about 4 oz of expressed breastmilk (EBM), about 3-5 times from 8am -5pm....so, we thought that maybe it was the right time to start weaning...

our first attempt :

my sister just came back from Australia for her semester break and she brought home lots of fresh peaches...we let Jihan tasted/licked the peaches and she loved it very much....then we bought some ripe bananas and start feeding her once a day with 1/4 to 1/2 ripe banana each time....it was a success as she loves every single things that went into her mouth....

apart from banana, we also tried on papaya, pureed apple, pureed broccoli, carrot, spinach, cauliflower and potato.....after a month +, we started to make blended rice porridge with vegetables and fish/chicken and by this time her frequency of solid food had increased to 3 times per day....! at around 6 months +, my breastmilk production had tremendously reduced (due to work stress during my internship), so i had to start her on formula milk....i prepared her a dietary schedule so that my maid knew what to give at what time...

Jihan's dietary schedule:

upon waking up from sleep - milk 4oz

breakfast 9.00am - baby cereal

11.00 am- milk 4 oz

lunch 1.00pm - porridge with vege, fish/chicken

3.00pm -milk 4 oz

5.00 pm dinner- porridge as per lunch

7.00 pm - milk 4 oz

9.00 pm - milk 4 oz

Jihan was an easy baby, she did not wake up at night to ask for milk....

i believe in home-cooked food rather than processed food in the box or bottles....but when travelling, i used to feed Jihan with Gerber fruit/vege puree...when Jihan was around 8 months, i started to introduce her with pasta, just to add some variety to her tastebud...i did not use salt or sugar in her food until she is 1 year +....i used to put chicken/vegetable stock or fried and grounded anchovy just to give some taste to her food...

to date, Jihan is not a fussy-eater....she eats almost everything now that i dont have to prepare seperate meals for her....having mamak's blood in her (papa is from Penang/Kedah), she simply loves curry very much....

icon...?

hmmm...how should i start ya...? nowadays, media can never be seperated from our lives...children and adults find themselves very much attached to TV advertisements, jingles, shows and others, somehow gives an impact to our lives...

i noticed that my Jihan, being very much exposed to TV/radio from the early days, she now can imitate and hum those usual tunes and advertisement and even recognize some of the famous figures on TV....

due to "repetitive exposure", Jihan will run to the TV when she hears her favourite TV advertisement/show...she loves Sunsilk jingles where cute Nora Danish dancing to the tune of Amy Mastura and at the end saying "kita enjoy"....she recognizes Mawi in the Power Root advertisement and in fact any bald men she will call them as Mawi....another favourite figure of Jihan is Aznil of Akademi Fantasia and Macam-macam Aznil (MMA)....she'll call him "Anish"....she will certainly dance to the tune of "menuju puncak" and in MMA....anything that has to do with Spiderman, she will be so excited and starts saying "sheman"....not forgetting all the children's favourites - Mickey Mouse, Barney, Thomas and Friends, and the list goes on...

children are fast learners...they love entertaining, "charismatic" characters that can influence their life....it's good that children can learn through educational TV programs but parents need to supervise their children so that they are not exposed to programs that are not suitable for their age....

when i am at work, i told my maid that Jihan's channels are 63 (Playhouse Disney Channel) and 24 (Astro Ceria) ,apart from TV1,2,3 that we usually watch...i usually lock the channels that have many Indonesian soaps that are easily accessible to my maid, those that Jihan won't learn anything from them....but when i'm at home, i will carefully choose the appropriate programs for her to watch which include educational programs/cartoon and family-oriented programs...

how much i spent during my breastfeeding days...?

it's not meant to tell others that breastfeeding is expensive....breastfeeding is cheap, easily available with all the richness and goodness for yout little ones...but as a working mum, lots of preparations needs to be done before you go back to work just to ensure that your little ones have sufficient milk supply while you are out at work..

i decided and strongly adhered to my decision to fully breastfeed my child when i was in paediatrics posting during my medical student days...i got pregnant with my Jihan when i was still persuing my medical degree during my final year...so, lots of preparations were made at the courtesy of my parents...(thanx, mak n abah...)

i first bought a superb breastpump avent ISIS breastpump costs RM 219.90....the testimonials about it are very good....i started to produce real milk 2 days after delivery...during the first 2 days, my baby was just sucking out the colostrum...she was well, not hungry...(?) as she wasn't crying much....after 2 days, i started to pour out milk....avent ISIS breastpump came out very handy....after my baby breastfeed 1 side of my breast, i started pumping the other side...and i started to make expressed breastmilk(EBM) stocks....

then 2 weeks before starting work after my confinement, i decided that i need something more efficient to pump out more milk in a short time....i invested in something that is "expensive" a Medela Pump In Style Traveler costs RM 1680.00....it is really expensive for a breastpump, right..? but mind you, it's really worth it...it is using a double-pumping system where you pump both breasts at the same time....at fisrt i found it quite difficult to hold both pump at the same time...but with practice, at work, i managed to pump while eating and drinking and answering my pager/HP to the needs of my patients.....i took about 10 minutes for each session and i got about 7-10 oz of breastmilk per session....i usually pumped twice a day at work (during office hour) if i was oncall, then i wasn't able to directly breastfeed my baby at night, so i had to wake up at night to express my milk...(sometimes i didn't sleep at all when i was attending patients in labour ward)..i stored the milk in the ward fridge and all the staff nurses were aware that those cute bottles were my breastmilk....

at that time, i already gave away my avent ISIS to my cousin who had just delivered her baby with an intention to promote breastfeeding to her (she had never breastfed her children before)...unfortunately, she did not manage to breastfeed her newborn baby as well.....so, i bought another manual breastpump for my usage at home.... i bought a Medela Harmony manual breastpump costs RM 245.00....by then, i used to breastfeed my baby at one side and at the same time pump out milk from the other breast.....

besides breastpumps, i also bought good bottles and teats for my baby, so that ther wont' be any nipple confusion....i used avent sets of bottles and teats since she was a baby till now, and alhamdulillah, she did not have nipple confusion when she was small....

milk storage bottles are also important for you to keep your expressed breastmilk for your baby...i used avent storage systems, 2 sets of them (20 each)....but it is still not enough....my last resort, i used small containers that are used to sell dadih....very cheap and convenient...

at times i had low milk supply when i was stress due to oncalls, overwork and not enough sleep...i bought a tub of milkmaid tea to boost up my milk supply...it worked for me...at the same time i drink a lot of fruit juice or freshmilk and plain water everyday....at least 1L of freshmilk per day....

i also had a few nursing tops that helped me to breastfeed in public without people seeing my breast....it's a very creative invention for nursing mums....

those are my few precious stuffs during my breastfeeding days.....i still have them nicely kept for my future use...

it's a once in a lifetime investment for my children....i never regret spending my money on them...i only invest much for the first time and still can use the expensive breastpump many times more for my next children.....and i dont need to buy tins of formula milk when shopping to get my baby's stuff...only pampers....and i didn't have to pack a basket full of formula milk and bottles when travelling...just bring myself and my baby and she will never get hungry...it was wonderful experience for me and my grown baby, Jihan.....

P/S: a credit should be given to Rita http://www.momslittleones.com and Kamariah http://www.susuibu.com/product, for guiding me for a smooth journey of breastfeeding....

my terrible twos...

it has been almost 2 years since i entered the wonderful world of motherhood....i'm so thankful for being blessed with an adorable, mischievious, little explorer Jihan Qaisara binti Asrul....when she was a little baby, she was an easy baby..very easy to take care of...she woke up only once or two during the night to breastfeed....even when she started weaning and switched to formula milk, she did not wake up during the night to ask for her "mik"...she wasn't a fussy eater...she gobbles almost everything just like her papa.....

she loves to sing and act and follows the tv advertisement...and she can sing some of the popular tunes heard over the radio....she's a fast learner and always entertain us with her non-boring actions and character...

how i missed seeing her growing up...it's so fast...i wish i can rewind back the time to mesmerize the moments of what i missed when she was growing up...i wasn't always there by her side to watch most of her single 1st achievement in her life....i missed that coz i was struggling during my internship...but i'm proud of myself for being able to fully breastfeed her for 6 months....with all the difficulties, i managed to go through it....i managed to express the milk without fail just to make sure that she get enough stock of milk for her needs....my freezer was all fully stocked up with Jihan's ice cream....

as a result, Jihan is an active, creative and healthy-almost-2-year-old...she seldom fell sick thus cut the expensive medical cost nowadays (though we never went to seek treatment at clinics- we treat ourselves).....i always promote the goodness of breastfeeding to others...but it's never easy...those who never have the intention and will to go for fully breastfeeding will never succeed...they always have a lame excuse that precipitated to the failure of breastfeeding...even some medical personnels don't support the breastfeeding policy, making it a total failure..

even though Jihan has no longer brestfeed now, i will continue to breastfeed my other children in the future and hopefully longer than 6 months.....insya allah....