Ways To Ease Colic

An extract from http://www.mummysg.com/forums/content/20-ways-ease-colic.html 

Published on 20-11-2010 08:31 PM

Parents may wonder what colic is all about. It can be described as the uncontrollable crying of a baby for hours with no known reason.

You may suspect your baby has it if the crying continues for several days. Colic tends to peak around 6 weeks then improves significantly between 3 and 4 months.

It is quite frustrating for both mommy and baby. Sad thing if mommy cannot bond well with baby because of this reason. Hopefully these tips will help to ease colic discomfort and bring back sanity to you.

1. Get anti colic remedy.
There are several brands in the market that offers relief of colic. It can be diluted in the milk or given directly to the baby. Whichever you choose, it all really depends on your luck to ease colicky baby. Seek a pediatrician for advice on this would be wise.

2. Offer the slowest flow of teat to avoid gulping milk.
For new moms, you may be surprised by the number of brands offer different shapes and sizes of teat. dont’t get distracted by the model it brings, but make sure your baby won’t gulp milk every feeding. You may need to try a few types before settle down to one.

3. Offer the milk in smaller amount frequently.
dont’t worry if your baby keeps asking for more milk. Give some time for the little tummy to digest the milk.

4. Change soiled diaper or cloth before feeding.
If you change diaper after feeding, you have to lift baby’s leg above her stomach that may encourage reflux that is something can cause colic.

5. Feed the baby in an upright position.
This is to encourage milk to begin exiting the stomach during the feed which helps to minimize colic.

6. Always try to burp the baby in the middle and after feeding.
By doing this, you can help baby burp the air up before they are collected too much that causes gas in the stomach.

7. Hold the baby in an upright position for about half an hour after feeding.
Well, you may be too tired to wait for that long after feed. But try as long as you can to avoid baby spitting up the milk.

Food For A Healthy, Happy Baby

An extract from http://www.mummysg.com/forums/content/211-food-healthy-happy-baby.html 

Published on 15-11-2012 03:00 PM

It is vital for a baby to have an assorted diet once he can eat solid food. At an early age, the baby will learn how to eat food with different textures and flavors as well as gain the essential nutrients that are crucial for the his growth and development.



Here are some ideas on what you can serve your baby during its first year:

4-6 Months:
Pureed food is ideal for your baby’s digestion. It is important that your baby has fruits and vegetables. Ripe bananas, avocados, and papayas are some fruits you can start with. Pureed cooked pears, apples, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and carrots are also good choices. Green vegetables like peas, zucchini, green beans, and cauliflowers are rich in vital nutrients. The simple tastes are enough so you need not add spices or seasonings.



6-7 Months:
By the time the baby reaches six months, it starts to eat three meals a day. It is also the time you can feed your baby different kinds of food for as long as its texture is smooth and silky. The important minerals that a baby needs at this age are calcium and iron.

For breakfast, cereals with low salt and sugar are fine. It is okay to serve baby cereal as well as kids’ cereal and instant oats. Just serve it with milk.

Lunch and dinner should contain 25g of meat or protein. Minced or pureed meat is an excellent way to start. Add chopped vegetables to complete its requirement of certain nutrients. A good substitute for red meat is red lentils. Be sure that the skin of the potatoes and sweet potatoes are peeled to make it easier for the baby to chew and digest them.

7-9 Months:
By this time, the baby’s food can just be mashed or semi-pureed since the tongue and muscles in its mouth are stronger.

Cereals with low sugar and salt as well as cooked semi-pureed food are still ideal meals for breakfast. Once your baby turns eight months, you may prepare buttered whole meal toast.

For lunch and dinner, you can feed your baby mashed instead of pureed vegetables. Grains like rice, quinoa, and couscous are a good addition to the meal. To add more texture, minced meat may be added as well as grated fruits like pears and apples. Dessert may be yogurt, custard, cooked fruit, or rice pudding.

9-12 Months:
You can feed your baby finger food by now. Chopped foods with lots of color are a good way to make it look attractive. By now your baby might be used to eating the kinds of food that the rest of the family eats.

For breakfast, you can serve muesli or porridge with milk. You may also add fresh fruits to yogurt. Cream cheese goes well with toasted whole meal toast.

For lunch and dinner, you may now serve your baby as much as 50g of meat that is chopped into small pieces. Just mix them with vegetables. Pasta, so long as it can be easily chewed, is a good alternative to rice.


If you would like to offer your baby snacks, freshly cut fruits and vegetables, cheese cubes, and muffins with fruit filling are good choices.

You can come up with different meals for your baby that taste delicious and are healthy. Just look around your kitchen and be creative.

Post Natal Massage - Goodness in a Touch

Postnatal massage has become increasingly important to mother, especially when woman is encourage to deliver more babies. After some seemingly long hours of delivery process, much exhaustion and effort, a quality postnatal massage is something to reward the mothers.

Be it a wonderful natural birth or a unexpected Caesarean, mothers should still go for postnatal massage. If the lingering post-delivery discomfort or pain is still there, wait for a while before engaging in the massage. For mothers that went through natural birth, it is advisable to start massaging sessions on the 4th Day after hospital discharge. For caesarean, it would be dependent on the recovery process and condition of the wound.

Benefits of Postnatal Massage:

Restores your body

Massages helps in getting your body ready to go back in shape, just like before pregnancy. The pelvic structure during the massage would also gradually be re-structured and to facilitate healing. Abdominal massages help to tone and flatten the muscles and skin.

Relieving aches and pains

Especially for back pain, joint pain, stiffness, swollen feet.

Caesarean Recovery

Helps to heal the incision, abdominal muscles recovery and scar tissues reduction.

Relaxation

A great time to rejuvenate and pamper yourself, boost your energy level and away from stress and anxiety.

After a good massage, mothers would be able to focus back on your little one with lovingly, tender care.

For Singapore mothers, I have one very good recommendation and have personally tried this masseur before. Her massage techniques really got me back to my pre-pregnancy state.

Details as follow:

No. of sessions: 7 sessions at $400  (please call to confirm the charges) - standard package
Venue: At your home
Duration per session: 1.5 hours

How to book your sessions:
- SMS or call Ms. Zie (details below) and let her know your expected due date.
- when do you intend to start your sessions (start and end date, how many sessions you need, consecutive days or alternate days, etc)
- wait for Ms. Zie's confirmation of her slots, then you can let her know your residential address.

What would be provided:
- wrapping cloth (white bandage cloth and outer Batik cloth), both needs to be returned to the masseur.
- massage oil
- herbal application

What do you need to prepare?
- mattress
- mattress cover or waterproof mat to protect mattress.
- bedroom slippers (foot and sole would be massage with oil too)

Masseur Name: Zie (Ms.)
Mobile: 9008 9114

Hope the above recommendation helps for those who are contemplating which one to engage. Through recommendation is always the preferred. ^_^

Signing off,

Fairy Angel Shop

Visit our store at www.fairyangelshop.com

'LIKE' us on FaceBook at www.facebook.com/simplyluvbb

We are also listed on Qoo10 (Gmarket)

Natural Glow Booster During Pregnancy

Lustrous hair, rosy and radiant facial complexion and glowing skin are some of the plus things that every expectant mothers enjoy and wish to have them last forever.

Though these are gifts of pregnancy, we should also give our skin a natural boost of vitamins and minerals. Make it better and last longer, even post pregnancy.

Working mothers on the go face stress, UV-rays of the scorching hot sun outdoors, freezing cold air-con in the office and absorbing the harmful computer radiation. Over time, the skin turns dry, more oil generated, clogging pores, giving rise to acne and all related issues. Hence, it is important to keep the skin's moisture level balance.

A mist in the handbag or at the office is always a good choice. Small and convenient to use, a mist helps to prevent the surface layer of skin moist and dewy.

Personally, I highly recommend the HadaLabo Super Hyaluronic Acid Moist Mist. It is a small sleek bottle of 45ML, easy to carry along everywhere for use at any time of the day.

It is sold at all leading pharmacies such as Watsons and Guardians.

If you are putting on make-up, spray the mist onto the face too. Hold the bottle 15 cm away from your face and spray 2-3 times. Using your fingers, pat gently on your face till the mist is fully absorbed. This helps to hold the make-up in place, as well as to prevent the skin from drying up or irritated.

Give it a try, mothers. ^_^

Signing off,
Fairy Angel Shop

Store: www.fairyangelshop.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/simplyluvbb
We are also listed on Qoo10 (Gmarket)

Broccoli, Pumpkin and Fish Porridge

Preparing a delicious and nutritious meal for a baby 8 months old and above is never difficult.
Simple ingredients, yet big nutrients!

Broccoli, Pumpkin and Fish Porridge

Age: 8 months and above

Nutritional Facts:

Broccoli

This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Protein, Thiamin, Pantothenic Acid, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Potassium and Manganese.

Pumpkin
This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.

Threadfin Fish Fillet
Protein, Iron, Calcium, Potassium, Vitamin A, C

Ingredients (serving of 1):
Ikan Bilis (dried Anchovies) - a small handful to give taste
Threadfin Fish Fillet - 1/4 of the slice
Broccoli Florets
Pumpkin - 1 small thin wedge
Rice
Water

How to Cook:
1. Wash rice in a pot and add water.
2. Add ikan bilies to the pot and bring together to boil.

3. Drain and remove the ikan bilis from pot and discard.
4. Leave to boil till rice takes form into porridge for 5-10 minutes.
5. Dice pumpkin into small cubes and chop broccoli florets finely.

6. Steam pumpkin and broccoli florets for 10 minutes.
7. Remove skin of the fish and slice it thinly.

8. Remove steamed pumpkin and broccoli florets from stove and mash lightly. Do not mash them fully. Aim to retain a little crunchiness and texture.
9. Add fish and mashed pumpkin and broccoli florets to porridge. Give a little stir to mix everything together.
10. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
11. Turn off the fire.
12. Ready to serve.

Baby Walker - Helping Baby Learn to Walk?

Does a baby walker really helps a baby to walk sooner?

A baby walker is known to many, and it exists as far back as 1870s. It looked like an equipment with a baby sitting within and merely uses his little tiny toes to steer around the floor, with his feet barely touching.

Many parents have used a walker to keep their babies occupied while they carry on doing their chores. To date, this practice prevails, and much believed that their babies would walker sooner or later.

Many babies automatically learn to walk if left on their own, provided if their bodies are ready. Before mastering the technique of walking, babies must first learn to balance on both legs and feet. Of course, their leg muscles must also be able to support the body weight and keep themselves upright.

Walkers are not designed to stimulate and encourage normal walking.

Referring to the above mentioned, a child needs to learn to balance weights over his legs and feet before learning to walk independently. But, when a child is placed in a walker, he almost always learn to walk only with his toes. Walking on toes is not normal and often shortens the Achilles tendon which would mess up the child's balance when he eventually starts to walk.

Besides, actual standing position in a walker does not improve a child's balance. And, teaching the knees to take weight is often disturbed and not developed naturally. Practical observations show that many babies who spend most of their days in a walker struggle to or never crawl. This is especially true if a baby is put in a walker at a very early age. Or spends too much time in a walking ring.


Crawling on the other hand teaches important motor and perceptual skills such as distance, depth... concepts such as in, out, on and under.

Injuries due to Walker

Injuries to your baby's head caused by the walker falling over is probably the single biggest reason to use a baby walker sensibly and under constant supervision.

Should you continue using a walker?

Yes, why not? A child should be limited to spending a relatively short amount of time on a walker. A walker is still a friend especially when parents really have something to do, and keeping a child within a walker would enable them to complete their tasks sooner.

Breastfeeding Myths!

Extracted from an article on Singaporemotherhood. Enjoy reading! ^_^

MYTH: Women with inverted nipples can’t breastfeed.
FACT! Women with inverted nipples can breastfeed if the problem is corrected with a niplette at mid –trimester. A nipple shield, nipple puller or a pump can also be used.

MYTH: Women with small breasts have less milk than those with larger breasts.
FACT! Yes, the volume in certain cases can be affected, but you can still breastfeed.

MYTH: My mother did not breastfeed me, I probably can’t breastfeed my baby either.
FACT! Not true. Early initiation is vital and you should get professional help as soon as possible if needed.

MYTH: My newborn keeps crying and wanting to drink. I don’t have enough milk for her!
FACT! Yes it is possible, but check and do not assume that there is not enough milk. Observe and see if there are any other possible problems.

MYTH: Breastfeeding hurts. It’s normal.
FACT! When a mother first initiates breastfeeding, she may feel some pressure, but it should not be at the level of severe pain. If it hurts, she should first check the latching.

MYTH: I must breastfeed for 20 minutes on one side, then switch to the other side for another 20 minutes.
FACT! There is no fixed timing, but most babies will not able to suck continuously for more than 20 minutes. The baby will tend to nibble and use the mum’s breast as a pacifier for comfort. From previous research, if baby is sucking effectively, the timing per side can be as short as 15 to 20 minutes. However, this is only a guideline to ensure that the baby suckles from both sides.

MYTH: A breastfeeding mother will never know how much her baby is drinking, or whether baby has had enough.
FACT! When the baby has had enough, he will show signs of having drunk enough and generally be satisfied after a full feed. He will rest in between feeds for couple of hours or even longer. He will be gaining weight, and producing at least six wet diapers and three soiled ones per day. 

MYTH: Breastfeeding babies do not get enough iron.
FACT! The recommendation is for babies to have 8 to 10mg or iron per day. However, most babies will not require an iron supplement till they are six months of age. The amount of iron present in breast milk (Colostrum: 0.5 to 0.8 mg/l. Mature milk: 0.2 to 0.3 mg/l) is enough. This does not seem like much, but most iron (70 per cent) in breast milk is absorbed, compared to formula, where only 30 per cent is absorbed.

MYTH: If I am sick and taking medication, I cannot breastfeed.
FACT! It is important to let the doctor know that you are breastfeeding, as this may affect his choice of drugs for you. Don’t worry, there are medications that are compatible with breastfeeding. Most common medication is okay to take unless the mother is allergic to it. But do try to take them only after breastfeeding.

MYTH: If my baby is sick, she needs water, I cannot breastfeed her.
FACT! If baby is sick, breastfeeding is the best way to feed baby as the breast milk contains 87.8 per cent of water.

MYTH: My nipples are bleeding, I cannot breastfeed.
FACT! Correct the problem and continue with breastfeeding. In extreme cases mothers seek advice from a Lactation Consultant. Blood is edible but not easily digested, so it may irritate the baby’s stomach and make him throw up.

MYTH: Breastfeeding mothers must eat more in order to make milk.
FACT! Not true. A well balanced diet will do. The mother should not be dieting.