Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Why I don't let my baby cry unnecessarily..

I have been extremely EMO lately. You might not understand, why I don't let my baby cry unnecessarily. We've heard of many advice telling us to don't give immediate response when baby cries, baby cries is good for her lungs, cannot manja baby too much... etc. A lot of "very-kind" advices you will hear from many resources, and it creates a little confusion in me. I actually know what I should do, but I do not have the choice. If I have given the choice, if I do it without thinking any further, I'm not sure what the future holds. Should I just go for it and plan on the future later? Like what God says in the Bible, we are worth more than lilies on the ground. And He takes care of us more than we can imagine. But I just can't simply make that decision, because we wanted to give Ashlynn the best. And to give all the best, it requires some finance. Of course, nothing on earth can beat the love parents can give, but to be realistic, we are still living in the world and everything in this world requires $$$ if you are looking at giving your baby the best. Just like giving your kid the best education, doesn't it requires money?

I really forbid letting my baby cry for long. 1-2 mins is enough for me because the sound of her scream is like 1-2 years. The reason I didn't let her cry for long at home is because she had ENOUGH during her first two months.

The first month, she was pricked on the hands and feet for blood test due to jaundice. And the poor baby, cried and scream for 30 mins when she was pricked on the feet and the nurse slowly collected her blood drop by drop in a tube. Can you ever imagine the "excellent technology" that a hospital has! This was more than enough of crying training for a newborn, as early as 7 days after birth.

The 2nd time was when her jaundice level didn't go down and the nurse tried to prick on her hand, but couldn't find the vein. Again, the poor baby cried buckets and whenever you hold her hand, she got a trauma and she started screaming. Ain't this more than enough?

The 3rd time when she was having bad phlegm, flu, cough, blocked nose and suspected RSV. Again, she was pricked on the hand and this time was to insert the fluid drip. Again, she cried and scream for minutes.

The 4th time was during suction to clear some phlegm in the throat and remove some excess from the nose. Suction was done 2 times a day, for 2 days and in the end, to avoid the 15 mins screaming, I told the nurse she was getting better and she did not need suction. She hated the suction a lot. And I hated it too! Imagine inserting a tube in a 2 mths old nose and throat to suck out the all the stubborn enemies  .... It is torturing and traumatizing! Her milk intake dropped, her eyes swollen, she slept most of the time, she got shocked easily, she got traumatized when you touch her nose/mouth/hands......

SHE HAD ENOUGH OF ALL THESE CRYING ..... and I strongly against unnecessary crying that I have the control!

Since then .......

I never bring my baby out to shopping malls or any crowded places... she stays at home most of the time. Wait till she's bigger... Many smart voices told me, it is good to expose your baby with some "germs".. Does it sounds logical to you? Why do I want to PURPOSELY put my baby in such environment to boost her immune system? Doesn't make sense to me.. Germs are already everywhere, when I bring her out of the house to the car, to the lift. Even at home, I didn't sterilize the whole house so it has germs traveling all around. I endure the "quarantined" because again, she had enough! She's too young to go through all the hurdles of pricking and suction!

Secondly, I never let her cry for long, 1-2 mins are enough because she had more than enough of crying. I do not want her to cry unnecessarily when I have the choice to stop the crying, when I can do something to stop the cry. It is no longer any topic about spoiling your baby... you do not know what she has gone through in her first few months, so you have no say. I'm not spoiling my baby, she's a baby and she does not have to go through any hard training, all babies should be loved, aren't they? Wait till she can start talking and that's when the real parenting and training comes in.

As for crying being healthy for baby's lungs? Kitzinger and Taubman both agree the advice is "stupid and inappropriate." In her book, Crying Baby, Sleepless Nights, Sandy Jones elaborates, "The real truth is that crying is hard on a baby, and it uses up his limited resources. Although young babies can't help crying, you can tell it is self-punishing behavior. When a baby's cries aren't stopped, his arms and legs tighten, his mouth gets dry, his lips start to turn blue, his lungs probably ache, his blood pressure goes up, the veins in his head may swell and even break, and his blood oxygen level starts to go down, not up."

Go with the feel,  many conflicting and contradicting advice is available everywhere... and if you don't feel good following them, don't do it. Some works for other babies, and you know what works for your baby and I know what works for my baby. Follow my way please..... 
Monday, January 16, 2012

My Heart is troubled!

My Heart is troubled.
I can't stop thinking.
One thing, it is good for her lungs.
On the other hand........
Will it cause her throat to sore with excessive screaming?
Will the cry generate more phlegm/blocked nose?
What kind of damage are we doing when we let her cry alone?
Will she grow up with emotional hurts being ignored when she needs help?
How can I be so cruel to ignore her
when she gives you hearty smile everyday?
When she cheers you up with her coos and smiles
and all her funny patterns.
DO I HAVE THE CHOICE?
Answer : No...

Why?

I cannot attend to her.
Because she is on "training"
 Hopefully.................
She will be out of the "training"
SOON!

Sometimes I don't understand
Why I cannot pacify her when she woke up crying in between of sleep
She might be having some bad dreams
which she wants someone there to pacify her
and why we can't do it?
Why she must go through this hard training?
Everyone needs a care taker
You still need a word of comfort from your mom
You still need some words of encouragement at down times
You still need a warm tight hug when you are lost
Moreover a baby that only knows how to express everything through cry
needs and wants YOU to be there with a warm tight hug
and feel better when hears your soft voice of comfort!

I felt terrible.
Again, DO I HAVE THE CHOICE?
Answer : No....
All I can do...
PRAY.
I never stop praying
that she will sleep well, poo well, drink well, stay healthy always
and angels to be with her all the time,
protect her and look after her,
and also help her to sleep well without *hard* cry.
And every morning,
I tell her dun cry cry, tired just sleep. 
Daddy & Mommy see you in the evening. Love you!
As much as I know, as much as it will happen
prayer is the answer. 
that she will be the happiest, lively, adorable, gorgeous, awesome, amazing baby!

*~!HUGS!~*

Sunday, January 15, 2012

15 Weeks Old

Date : 11 January 2012


How far along : 15 weeks

Weight : 5.8kg at 14 weeks checkup

Height : 63cm at 14 weeks checkup

Sleep : Talking bout sleep, baby bullied mom & dad with the not-want-to-sleep mood over the weekends. Whenever we tried to put her to sleep, she cried buckets and screamed to the top of her lungs, cried till cough and the moment we picked her up again, she started smiling! So.. what do you say? This lil cheeky baby....... All she wanted to do was to EXPLORE, kei poh looking around and be LOA all-the-time! If you ignored her for few minutes, she started with her aak-aak and when you picked her up, she started cooing and smiling! Cutie pie oh cutie pie.... where did you get your energy? So, I actually blamed it on all the CNY cookies that I baked which contains lots of sugar and thus, all the sugar goes to the breastmilk and there she goes, with the hyperactive spirit. Hopefully she will go right back on track over the weekdays at Rachel's...

Food :
Babysitter told me that she was not satisfied with 5oz! O.O... which means she finished all the 5oz of milk and wanted to be fed every 3 hours! This was not her usual self.... does this mean we should upgrade her milk intake to 6oz? Or is she going through growth spurt? Or is the breastmilk too diluted? So, at 15 weeks, we upgraded her milk intake to 6oz... and my mom gonna be shocked! Hehehe.... Dr said feed on demand, so I'm not sure if I really overfed her....

Best moment this week :
My baby is trying to roll! And she got frustrated at times when she assumed she had tried her best, and yet she still can't turn! Sometimes it's just so funny to watch her with her turn and roll moment, especially when she gets frustrated over it. Haha.....See the pic below. Not only that, whenever she's on her tummy now, she can lift up her chest and tried to move forward. Symptoms of crawling already in the air? =))
Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips

CNY is coming real soon and I thought of giving out some cookies to Ashlynn's babysitter and also some of our close friends and not to forget our dearest family members. Instead of getting them from supermarket, (which doesn't taste good at all) I decided to bake them on my own. Baking cookies is really new to me and I've not baked any cookies BEFORE. Most of the time I bake cake, muffins or roast chicken but baking cookies is totally new.

Initially, I wanted to try pineapple tarts but since I've not baked any cookies before, it will be better if I kick start the momentum with baking simple butter cookies. So, here's the "Melt in the mouth butter cookies" by Nasi Lemak Lover. This is really simple and I settled everything within 2 hours including all the cleaning.

Here's the recipe:

Butter Cookie (makes 50pcs)

Butter 200g (use good quality of butter)
Icing sugar 50g
All purpose flour 150g
Corn flour 50g
Chocolate chips (optional, not in original recipe)

1. Beat butter and icing sugar till creamy.
2. Sift in flour and corn flour, mix well to a soft dough
3. Scoop dough into piping bag and pipe dough evenly on baking tray.
4. Bake at preheated oven at 180C for 13-15 minutes or golden brown.


My new gadget which cost only RM10.90 at Carefour. Extremely excited to try out all the patterns! Kekeke...

The very buttery batter, smells good because am not using any Farmcow or Buttercup, but SCS. Slightly expensive butter.


I bought a new baking tray, but it doesn't fit in my oven. Sigh ... wasted. End up using the slightly curved tray.

Oh well, I'm still new in baking cookies and didn't know that cookies get burnt VERY fast. 1 minute you check and it is still nice in colour, but the next minute you check, the side is all roasted! Practice makes perfect and the last tray that I baked, it turned out to be so perfect! Nicely baked with the perfect temperature and texture. Really melt in the mouth with the buttery aroma.


One big container! My first attempt but I'm still not really satisfied with the outcome as in the not-consistent shape and the slightly burnt cookies. I can do better than this! =))
Can't wait to try again and if it's really good, off they go to the friends + family! Next week is already CNY and all I need to do now is to dig out some time here and there, patch the time together and get started!
Sunday, January 8, 2012

14 weeks old

I got my monthly checkup on 7 Jan 2012 at SDMC and mommy disturbed my sleep, woke me up as early as 7.15am and with my blurry face, she told me let's go kai kai. I was thrilled at first with the word kai kai, but then I heard her saying "Baby go for injection".... Injection? And then she said "No pain pain wan". I felt relieved when I heard that... hehe.

Off we went to the hospital, and we we reached there quite early. We got number 0021 and at the Dr's clinic, we were FIRST! Yeayy......

While waiting for the registration counter to open at 8.30am, mommy put me in the stroller. But I didn't quite like it here because I can't explore and be kei poh around. I was covered up so I started to sound "aak aak". Hopefully my mom carried me out.. I wanna be kei poh.

Mommy ignored me and what can I do inside here? I can't see around, my 360 view was blocked, so I sucked my fingers. She didn't like it when I sucked my fingers, she always make sure my hands are away from my mouth. Why oh Why? Ain't this what babies love to do? We can't eat KFC drumstick, so these fingers tasted like one... I sounded for few times and finally mommy gave up, she carried me up and out... hehe.

The nurse was late on that day and we gotta wait till 9.15am for the monthly measurement. Yeayy, am now 5.8kg, 63 cm tall. Ain't this a good progress? So here's the summary of my 14 weeks progress.

Date : 04 January 2012


How far along : 14 weeks

Weight : 5.8kg

Height : 63cm (Dr said I'm tall... hehe, tall like mom?)

Sleep : I sleep through the night when I was 8 weeks old. Mommy was quite impressed and she was super happy. No more waking up middle of the night. And now, at 14 weeks old, I can sleep at night on my own! No more rocking, no more carrying, no more cry cry... yes, I fall asleep on my own when mommy fed me the last feed, changed my diaper, cleaned my face, put me in the cot and cover the mosquito netting. Oh yeah, I don't need white noise as well! Imma a big baby girl now.... =))

Food : Am still drinking mama cow's milk. Teehee... Baby consumed 5oz now. Some said it's a lot, some said it's ok. But sometimes I'm still not full with 5oz and grandma got worried, she always say "enuf liao, too much liao".. haha. You should see her expression. Super funny...Am growinggg!

Best moment this week : I noticed that my fingers tasted so much more better than milk! My past time is to stuff my mouth with my fingers. I love doing that, but my mommy doesn't like it. She said dirty! Haha.. Whenever I lie down, I always practice how to flip but I still can't do that. Anyway, practice makes perfect! I have been cooing more, mommy say one word and I follow her by cooing. Besides, I woke up every morning smiling.. I love to smile at daddy and mommy whenever I'm awake.
Thursday, January 5, 2012

The 9 months journal

Oh yeah, I've not shared with you guys the 9 months journey of pregnancy. And here is it:
http://superabundant-love.blogspot.com/

A journey filled with faith, grace, and hope!
Truly believing that the work God has started in us, He will make it into completion. Not to forget, a servant heart that totally surrender everything to Him, trust Him completely for miracles and wonders, trust Him for healing and put our hope in Him, the Alpha and Omega. He never fails us as we hanged on tightly to the verse Psalm 121, our help comes from the Lord. His grace is truly sufficient for us. It's not with our own ability that we conceived Ashlynn, but it is His. He created Ashlynn and he crafted her to be the most beautiful perfect baby girl on earth. All glory to Him and we truly thank you for His exceeding grace, blessings and mercy.

Have fun hopping over to the other blog!


Our princess, Ashlynn Ng, born on 28 Sept 2011, 12:13pm at SDMC. =))
Tuesday, January 3, 2012

I heart White Noise

It's finally proven that white noise does a very good job at night. After her last feed, changed diaper, face cleaned, put her in the cot, lights off and white noise on. She was talking to herself for the first few minutes and slowly, her eyes getting smaller and smaller and finally, 1o minutes later she was asleep! Awwww..... white noise did a very good job. Finally my baby can sleep on her own at night for the very first time. I can officially announce that at 14 weeks, my baby's best friend is White Noise and not Pacifier! Well, I would rather give in to white noise than pacifier. Looking forward, if she does really need some frequency wave to let her fall asleep, I can slowly transition her to music instead. At least she learns some beats or words while sleeping. =) Sounds like am a really kiasu mom, 24 hours of learning and growing! Hehe...

As much as we might think that the womb is a soundless secretive place, silent bubble of sac for a growing baby, it’s probably as quiet as our LRT station at rush hour! 9 months in the womb, baby hears and gets used to a symphony of sounds straight from mommy; the mother’s rhythmic heartbeat and steady whoosh sounds of her blood rushing through veins and arteries, the stomach's krog krog sound and even mommy's voice, burps, hiccups and other bodily noises. On top of all that commotion, baby may even hear voices and sounds emanating from outside the womb! That’s why it’s been shown that “chaotic” sounds from machine sounds such as a vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, or raining outside help soothe crying or fussy babies.

If you think that your baby does not sleep well, don't hesitate to try on this calming relaxing soothing white noise. Sometimes this white noise looks pretty much like hypnotizing.. haha. But it's not, don't worry. All in all, it's just the fact that your baby grows in a "chaotic" womb. =))
Monday, January 2, 2012

She doesn't need a pacifier?

Referring to my post below, we decided to give her the pacifier, make it her best friends to sleep together with at night. But but, yesterday night was simply amazing! She fell asleep on her own!! Remember I was telling and asking around how to train baby to sleep on their own... and I've tried one of the methods, which is white noise. Ohh well, it works pretty good on the first try. White noise is more magical!

First try:
=======
In the evening nap, we put her on the tummy and Justin switch on the white noise. We slowly pat her butt and few minutes later, without much crying.. she fell asleep. We were wondering if it was just coincidence or it was the white noise that does the job. So.... we decided to try again at night.

Second try:
=========
After ensuring her stomach was full, diaper changed, face cleaned... we put her on our bed, lights off and we switched on the white noise. Anddddd, after few minutes, we noticed that her eyes getting smaller and smaller and yeay, she dozed off on her own, without any cranky/fussy sound! And yes, not a single aak aak aak from her............ oh wow, is this white noise that magical? Works so much better than pacifier! Still, we couldn't believe if it's the white noise that does the job or it's just coincidence again... we decided to give it a try again tonight and if it works, then I really thank the white noise!

Ooopss... white noise does not do the job alone. But white noise with prayer works so much better. White noise alone is not sufficient, but top up with a word of prayer and that makes your baby have a really good sleep.

Can't wait to be back home tonight and try again........... kekekeke. =)))

Pacifier says it all...

Since Ashlynn was born, I struggled with the idea of offering a pacifier to pacify a crying baby. I tried my best, whatever way that I could just not to offer her the pacifier. I could say my enemy is the pacifier. I didn't want to start her off with the habit of sucking to sleep, but I try to train her to sleep on her own. Looks like I'm not capable to change her, with my "tauhu" heart.

At newborn age, she used to drink until sleep and that was easy. Perhaps the mistake was here. Suck until sleep.... Moved on to 1 month old, she cried and I offer her bbs. Suck until sleep eventho she just had her milk. 2 mths old... as her cry got louder, Justin carried and rocked her to sleep. And now, 3 months old.. she just can't fall asleep on her own at night. She needs to be carried and rocked to sleep! If we decided not to rock her to sleep, I offered my bbs. Gosh.....

Yesterday night, we agreed that it was time to train her to sleep on her own. We tried the first method, leave her in the cot and if she cries, let it be. Just ignoreeeee.... Close both ears shut with cotton buds. But after 2 mins, my heart break with the loud cry + scream + struggling and this method failed immediately. I felt so bad for letting her cry her lungs out when one minute ago, she just gave us a hearty smile. A smile from all her heart! How can I do that to her? Leave her to cry alone in the cot.... I cannot be so 'cruel'. I carried her and rocked her and after she calmed down, I put her down again. She started screaming again.... and thus, I gave in to the pacifier! Voila... she settled down, enjoyed sucking and then fell asleep after 5 mins.

I wonder what magic does a pacifier has. Does this mean I have to really give in to pacifier? I wonder what will be the consequences if a baby was left alone crying in the cot, in the dark room. I think too much? I'm too soft hearted? Phewwww... take a deep breath and the solution for now is pacifier. I surrender! If a pacifier can help my baby to sleep on her own without crying, I think it will be the best choice. Later I might need tutorial to learn how to wean off the habit of pacifier.