Motherhood

Motherhood is always a blessing. My baby has had cough and cold for the past four days. I took him to the doctor yesterday because his cough seems to be worse. It was a good thing we went yesterday instead of waiting until Saturday to have him checked. It turned out that he might have asthma. I am thankful that a cousin of mine lent us his nebulizer. It was my first time to operate it and at first,  baby cannot stop crying. After two sessions of nebulizing, baby started to get the hang of it and just allowed himself to breathe through the mask. Of course, every now and then, he grabs the mask and wants to eat it.Lol.

 Even though we did not sleep well last night, I find motherhood fulfilling in spite of situations like these. I am still on leave today to monitor his condition. He needs to be on the nebulizer every four hours and I want to be the one to do it to make sure it is done right. I also want to prepare his antibiotic myself to make sure it is the right dosage. I could not trust completely to let the nanny do it without my parents in the house. My parents are out of town so I made a decision to just avail of my vacation leave to be with my baby.

I still have a lot to learn about being a mother. I am grateful to other mothers who share their experiences with me. No matter how many articles I read about parenting, nothing beats experience:)

Baby Scare

     I felt really horrible yesterday. I go home every lunch break to nurse my little one and my new routine since mixed feeding is that after feeding, my baby falls asleep and I leave him in the middle of the bed with pillows around him and I would prepare his formula for his afternoon feeding. I want to be the only one preparing his milk to make sure that it is sanitized.  I would be gone only for a few minutes. Yesterday, while I was preparing his milk, I heard him cry and his nanny immediately rushed to our room to comfort him. I thought he just woke up from his sleep and cried because no one was around. I knew something was not right because his cry was louder than usual. I ran to our room and asked his nanny if he fell and she said yes. She found my son lying sideways on the floor. I felt like a terrible mom for leaving him alone.  I should have realized that my son is already 7 months old and pillows will no longer protect him from his movements.

     I immediately asked opinions from friends who are in the medical field. All of them said that if there are no danger signs, my baby is fine. Danger signs are vomiting, nosebleed, no energy, always sleeping, and non-stop crying. I should also observe his behaviour for 24 hours. Thank God that my son do not have the danger signs. As soon as I carried him yesterday, he stopped crying and started smiling. While I was at work, I kept in touch with his nanny to monitor his behaviour. I am really grateful that he is ok. I promised myself that this will be the last time he will fall off the bed. I would never leave him alone again on the bed. 

Mixed Feeding

My baby is seven months today and he officially had his first formula. After six months of breastfeeding and pumping, my milk stash finally caught up and I have no choice but to supplement with formula. I am happy that I reached my goal of giving him only breastmilk for six months. My original goal was actually only three months because I had to consider going back to work. I was not expecting I could stretch it to six months. For that, I am gratefulJ

I bought the small can of NAN HA2 for my baby. Most mommies I know are using S-26 but I have read somewhere that S-26 contains a lot of sugar. I am hoping that my baby will not have any bad reactions to my chosen formula.

I am not yet ready to give up breastfeeding. I love our breastfeeding sessions because it’s a special kind of bonding between mother and child. I think I have to start eating more clam soup once again to increase my milk supply and hopefully I may not have to supplement with formulaJ

First Solid Food

                My baby started eating solids two days ago. Since we currently have avocados, I gave him one bite sized avocado. I mashed it and diluted it with breastmilk. He loved it. He is being fed three times a day. Tomorrow, I will introduce mashed potato. I have been advised to introduce solids one at a time around 4-7 days interval before introducing another food. This is to know if the baby has allergic reactions to the foods introduced.

                He still has colds and his antibiotics will end tomorrow. He was immunized yesterday and he lost weight because one of the effects of antibiotics is frequent bowel movement. He also could not nurse properly because there are times that he has to breathe through his mouth. I hope he will get better soon so that he will gain more weight.

Baby Wipes

      One of the things a mother must always have on hand is Baby Wipes. It is good for diaper changing and instant cleansing of baby’s hands especially when thumb sucking is prevalent.

      I have tried brands like Farlin, Giggles, Kinder Care, Pigeon, Johnson & Johnson, and Bebeta. The best one so far is Johnson & Johnson because the wipes has a lot of moisture unlike the other brands. The downside is that the price is very steep.

     The one that I am currently using is Bebeta because it has more moisture than the other mentioned brands and the price is a little affordable. I was surprised to see that Pigeon did not have that much moisture considering that it is one of the leading brands in baby stuff.

     If I would not consider the cost, I would choose Johnson & Johnson because aside from the moisture, the wipes are also thick.

Missing Kids

      Sometimes watching the news breaks my heart. There were two missing children last March ages 4 and 3. They were last seen playing at an abandoned car in their subdivision. Their parents started looking for them when they realized they could not be seen anymore. They searched everywhere including the abandoned car. They reached other towns just to search for their kids. Police already got involved.

     Just this week, news broke out that the two missing kids were found dead at the same abandoned car where they were last seen. Media captured the first time the parents saw their child dead. I tried not to cry because I could not imagine losing a child. The car must have been in child lock and could not be opened from the inside because according to the police, the car was not locked when they tried to open it.

     The bodies were discovered because the neighbours were noticing a foul smell coming from the car and they thought it was just a dead rat. All were shocked to see the dead children inside the car. I could not imagine the pain the parents must be feeling right now. If only they went back again to the abandoned car to see if the kids went back there to play.

     Kids that young must never be left alone because 3 and 4 are still babies. Some kids that age are still wearing diapers and are still drinking milk from a bottle. These days, it’s hard to find a nanny that parents can trust. Most parents are working and are forced to leave their children to guardians while working. It is important to scrutinize the people we entrust our kids with.

Videos for Babies

    My son is almost five months old and he is starting to be curious on a lot of things. I started showing him videos for toddlers and he is already reacting. One of his favourites is the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star video. There is an owl in the video that flies with the star. He makes a sound every time he sees the owl.

    I am thankful to YouTube because we do not have to buy DVDs for babies and toddlers. Those educational DVDs like Baby Einstein are a little expensive so I was so happy to see some of them on YouTube.

After Birth Weight

 Becoming a mom is not an excuse to slack off on how women should dress. It is also not an excuse to just eat anything we want and not watch our weight. While it is a fact that majority of women gain weight during pregnancy and after birth, I think there is a limit as to when we can stop using giving birth as an excuse to just let go of our eating habits.

I am guilty of this. Four months after giving birth and I was still using my maternity clothes because my pre pregnancy clothes are still super tight. I could not even wear my pants. I was not really affected when people would comment about my weight gain because I thought  I was entitled to it because of childbirth. I had another excuse. Breastfeeding. Nursing makes you hungry and thirsty all the time. At least that’s what I’m experiencing. It is true that a breastfeeding mom should not limit her food intake. However, it is the kind of food that matters.

I realized that I was eating a lot of chocolates and I think it is the main culprit why I am not losing weight. I made a decision that four months is enough of making excuses. I then started putting away my maternity clothes. I am able to use one pair of pants from my pre pregnancy days. It was the pants that was a little big before and now, I can fit into it but still a little tight. I decided to start using it to remind me that I have to watch what I eat. I have started using my pre pregnancy clothes. Well, the ones that still fit anyway. I have a long way to go but I am determined to be able to wear all of them in a few months.

I am not going on a diet.  I will just eat healthier. I will not totally eliminate eating chocolates. I will just lessen it. Being skinny is not my goal. My goal is to just reach my ideal weight and just be healthier for myself and for my son.

Happy Weekend EveryoneJ

Baby Weight Loss

 I bring my baby to the pediatrician every month for his regular check up and immunization. During his check up, the doctor measures his head, length and weight. She also checks up my son’s breathing if there are abnormalities. My son just turned four months and when we had our regular check up, we found out that he lost 200 grams of weight.   

We were analyzing the cause of his weight loss. The doctor suggested that the quality of my milk was deteriorating so I had to eat healthier foods. She also suggested giving him solids if he is ready. She mentioned that one of the signs to look for if the baby is ready to eat solids is when he starts opening his mouth when we are eating. Also, if the baby starts rolling and lying tummy down on his own. My baby has not started doing any of the mentioned signs so he is not yet ready.

About  two weeks before his check up, my husband and I were more rested at night because our son sleeps about five to eight hours straight without feeding. We realized that this is the major cause of his weight loss. Though, I would love to sleep the whole night without waking up, it is not healthy for the baby. Breastmilk is faster to digest than formula milk so I have to feed him every 2-3 hours.

 So now, I wake up every three hours to feed my son. It’s a good thing that he still feeds even if he’s asleep. I want to prolong giving him formula as long as I can and I want to start giving him solids when he is almost seven months. I just read so many articles saying that delaying solids will be more beneficial for the baby as allergies and having diabetes can be avoided.

I hope and pray that his weight will improve on our next visit.