This is a random post.
Updates on Peter…
His facial acne had become worse and developed into what his paediatrician called neonatal eczema. I almost used neoderm (a cream containing steroids that can eradicate bacterial and fungal infections) on him but decided to pay a visit to his paediatrician to get professional advice. Glad that we did as his paediatrician informed us that the steroid strength of neoderm was on the high end in the spectrum of steroid creams for children. She prescribed Zaricort for Peter and recommended the use of moisturizer. His eczema improved greatly after 2 applications. Now it is almost non-existent. BTW, I like this paediatrician better than Hannah’s. Her name is Dr Tan. Both of them are good but Dr Tan shares her knowledge and experience freely, is thorough and patient, and helps us cut down on medical expenditure. A-star for her :)
Eating wise, Peter has been drinking both breast and formula milk. More of the latter actually. I plan to stop breastfeeding after 3 months as my supply has been diminishing when he began to sleep more. He drinks Dumex’s Mamil Gold formula milk but during the recent contamination of NZ milk, I’m thinking of switching to Similac. And oh, I would like to share about his milk bottles. Instead of using Bfree bottle as before in Hannah’s case, I tried Pigeon’s Peristaltic PLUS wide-neck BPA-free bottle after reading many positive reviews about it. Peter took to it instantly – absolutely no nipple confusion. Other plus points are: only 4 parts to clean, valve to prevent build-up of negative pressure and BPA-free. The Japanese has done it again. And this brand is also cheaper than Bfree. A sure winner IMO.
One reason many friends have been giving to encourage us to have no. 2 is the fact that Hannah started sleeping through the night when she was 5 weeks old. The assumption was that all our babies would therefore be like her. True? False! Week 5 came and went and Peter still woke up in the middle of the night for milk. I was starting to worry whether Peter would be one of those babies who couldn’t sleep through the night until they were way pass one-year-old. Then, he started to show signs of sleeping through the night. One or twice in the following weeks, he slept through but woke up very early, like five-ish in the morning. Come week 8 the miracle occurred. He slept through between 8-10 pm to 6-7 am. I’m really thankful that I could have my sleep back again and quite soon. My energy level started to recover from then on. Yay. :)
Updates on the mother…
Sigh, I’ve been rather depressed over my mummy tummy. The second pregnancy really disfigured my body. I couldn’t locate my waist and looked 5 months pregnant. The thought of returning to work with colleagues and students asking whether I’m pregnant with no. 3 is dreadful. From the Internet, I realised that I might have diastasis recti, a separation of the abdominal muscles, due to pregnancy. This condition often causes the mummy tummy. True but I also can tell that I have a thick layer of blubber on top of my abdominal muscles which needs work. Besides doing abdominal exercises to close the gap between the abdominal muscles, I need to do aerobic exercises to burn off the fats. Tried swimming but I didn’t feel much calorie loss even after doing 16 laps in our condo pool. Read up that running is probably the best fat-burning exercise in terms of effectiveness where time is concerned. So I switched to jogging. Wah, my legs felt like lead the first time I hit the pavement for a jog. I can’t remember exactly the last time I actually jogged. Hmm, perhaps 2 years ago? I persisted and have been jogging on and off for about a week now. From jogging around our condo I upgraded to jogging around Punggol park. It was nice to jog in the park because the sight of other joggers improves my morale somewhat about doing the exercise. Last night, I felt good enough to cover 2.4 km in 20 minutes. Timing wise needs work but it is progress nonetheless. :)
We would be getting the keys of our new place soon and this means that we need to look into renovation now. Yang and I have been sourcing for ID and ideas for our new place and the process has been time-consuming and exciting. Yang will be sharing more on our renovation journey.
Glad to hear things are settling down, Ling.
I really enjoy jogging through Punggol Park, especially late in the evening. The park connector is fun, too, though I occasionally find it discouraging to backtrack. (And there is no way I’m going to jog/walk/crawl the entire 26-km again!) That, and seeing so many bicyclists on the connector makes me reconsider why I’m jogging instead of cycling.
Last week Yang shared with me some of your ideas re: the decor of your new place and I thought they were fantastic. Very exciting!
Hi Matt,
Next time you come over, you might want to try cycling instead :) I think there is a park connector near our new home – it might connect all the way to Punggol. And you must swim ok. We are going to have THREE swimming pools, one of which is a heated pool (can relax in it after your adventurous walks). :) Hannah would be most happy to show you around.
I imagine you zipping through the Punggol Park effortlessly with your level of fitness. I’m still doing 2 rounds at the park. Feeling fitter now. Yay.
Thanks for your encouragement on my renovation ideas. Hope that our future ID would be able to translate them into reality.
I told Yang that you could leave the decorating to me, as I work cheap, but that it would probably resemble a food court. I think your idea is considerably better. :)
When I was last there, the Serangoon park connector terminated at Tampines Rd (and I recall being remarkably grateful it did, because the older man ahead of me whom I targeted as a pacemaker was making me feel quite inadequate by then). But assuming the Pelikat connector and/or the Serangoon connector haven’t been extended, it’s still not terribly far: a hop, skip, and a jump along the river, is all. Either way, I expect to see plenty of the Punggol Promenade still.
I might have to run, bike, and swim to avoid putting on a bunch of weight because the Riyadh Muslim Food roti prata stall is very, very close to your new place! The servings were quite small, but it was my favorite prata place to eat in 2012.
How often does Hannah swim?
Ooh, haven’t heard of that prata stall before. Glad that it is near our new home. :) I see that you are still very fond of this Indian dish!
Hannah only swims (or rather play in the pool) once or twice a month – depending on weather, her health status and daddy’s availability! I imagine her pestering daddy more after we have shifted to the new home. lol :P
Punggol Promenade is nice but can be scorching in the day as the trees are still too young to provide any shade!
Hi Ling,
I happen to come across your webpage during my frantic googling for mum who are feeding their babies with formula milk. I am a new mum and my son is 2 week old. My milk supply is extremely low. Currently my son is feeding on formula milk.
I received comments that I am not trying hard enough, when people has no idea the torture, guilt, and sadness I am going through despite trying hard for a few days even at the expense of not getting enough rest for myself.
I am on the verge of giving up on the breastfeeding completely and just want to tell you that I found solace in reading your post with your elder daughter about the issue. Seeing Hannah growing up to be so happy, and healthy is a positive affirmation I need and that formula milk is not poison and not able to breastfeeding is not end of the world yet. Thank you….
Hi Chen,
*Hugs* I feel for you. You remind me of my trying days during the initial period of trying to breastfeed. I know what it is like to be so bone-tired.
Formula milk is a wonderful alternative to breastmilk. When I imagine those mothers in ages past where formula milk is not available then, I thank God we have formula milk to solve insufficient breastmilk issue. Breastfeeding is the best of course la but, BUT it does not mean that a breastfed baby is superior to a formula-fed baby. There are simply too many factors that will affect the healthy growth of a child. Besides nutrition (including solid foods that will follow him through a lifetime), a child needs the love of his/her parents, clean & conducive physical environment, exercise, sufficient sleep (very important!), medical care (e.g. vaccination) and so on. And the success of a child will also depend on how his parents bring him up.
There is too much hype about breastfeeding IMO. The only thing which I’m know for sure that my babies were at a disadvantage when they were not given breastmilk was that their lower immunity. The technology today hasn’t found a way to make antibodies (that protect us from diseases) to be included in formula milk. So I tried my best to keep my infants from crowded places and sick people. I was really religious at using antiseptic wet wipes to clean any surfaces Hannah might come into contact with whenever we were out. I wore a face mask when I fell sick on one occasion when Hannah was very young. The immune system of babies will develop over time. So in the meanwhile, we just need to be extra careful.
Be it BM or FM, bonding with babies is not an issue at all. I’m sure you would interact with your son whenever he is awake, hold and play with him etc. Both my children like to cling on to me if they can help it. There is always this thing about being mommy that children like to run to time and time again.
BTW, I just stopped breastfeeding Peter. It lasted for slightly more than 3 months. I was doing BM and FM for each feed and it was too time-consuming (not to mention tiring!). I thought that he didn’t have enough time to nap in between the feeds and each feed could last for 1.5 hr. A baby truly grow and develop during sleep and I want him to sleep well. I’m grateful and happy that he could sleep through the night now. The challenge is to get him to have decent naps.
Last but not least, remember to be happy about what you’re doing. A happy mommy = a happy baby = a happy family! :) And you’re doing great! Give yourself a break k. Eat chocolates or something. Hee hee :)