Lately, I have this feeling that the poor baby is very uncomfortable being wrapped up in her diapers. I almost could feel the heat and itch the diaper caused her. So I decided to air her bums and let her goes bare bottom after her morning bath. This should be good for her skin.

I thought I am being clever, but the project ended up in a mess. For two days, the same thing happened. She decided to wee wee during her bare bottom time, thus wetting her whole body. Thank goodness it didn’t get into her mouth. Luckily I anticipated this scenario and protected her play mat with a rubber sheet, else I would have more washing up to do. Maybe I need to let her pee prior to letting her goes bare bottom.

The baby is evolving into a junkie monster. A month ago, it was just her fist. Since we decide to deny her the pacifier, I thought I won’t further deprive her from sucking her fist. Well, she need something to soothe herself.

All her rattles and teether joined to become her new victims. Its natural for babies to put everything into her mouth, I thought. Just need to make sure the toys are clean enough for her. Soon, all hankies, blankets, mattresses near her mouth or within reach ends up soaked with her saliva too. Recently, she found that my shoulder and hair are tasty treats as well. Her saliva is everywhere.

Since she is putting everything into her mouth or licking everything near her, do I have to continue sterilizing her plate, cup and spoon? I am sure her play mat and toys contain more germs then the properly washed plate. It doesn’t make sense that while she is eating all the dirty stuff happily without problem, I am still meticulously sterilizing utensils that are cleane.

Nursing room at Causeway Point
The first time I used the nursing room at causeway point, I was almost frozen by the powerful air-con. And the poor baby had to endure the cold too when I strip her for her diaper change.

I went there again yesterday, and the air-con wasn’t flexing its capabilities this time, the temperature was just nice! I like this nursing room. It is bright, cheerful, spacious, provides chairs to allow tired parents to sit down for a rest, and has two roomy cubicle for nursing moms. No hot water provided, but that isn’t my concern yet.

Nursing room at Paragon
Visited this one today. I am not impressed, though it looked more posh and classy then the causeway point nursing room. Not much space for movement if a few parents pop in at the same time, and there is only one nursing cubicle. I have to wait for the earlier mom to finsh in order to nurse my kid, and someone had to wait after me too. I don’t mind nursing without the cubicle, but there isn’t a single chair around. Perhaps I should nurse her while standing? Hot water provided, but I think chairs will be more welcomed.

Something interesting. The cleaner came knocking on the door while I was inside the cubicle to verify if I am genuinely nursing my baby. She told me some couples had use the room for other business…haha.

The question of getting my baby vaccinated or not kept bugging me. I never realized there are so many issues concerning vaccination until recently. Aren’t they suppose to be life saver to protect my most precious from the harmful diseases? The discredited Wakefield’s study linking autism and vaccination doesn’t really put parents mind at peace, including mine. And there are endless harrowing and heart wrenching stories illustrating adverse vaccine reactions leading to death.

The National Immunisation Registry (Health Promotion Board) recommends vaccination against TB, tetanus, polio, pertussis, diphtheria, mumps, measles, rubella. It also states that the school authorities will check your child’s immunisation certificates to see if he or she has completed all the immunisations when registering for primary school. Does it means that no complete vaccination, no school?

So far, the baby had received BCG, 2 doses of Hep B vaccine, 2 DTPa+Hib+IPV shots. Thats a lot of “lethal” injections. Almost wanted to postpone the 2nd DTP shot, but the Dr assured me that it is preservative free (I should request for the package insert to verify). I enquire about the 3rd Hep B shot, and learnt that the preservative free vaccine will be available soon. Just checked the 2nd dose she took during her 2nd month at Choa Chu Kang Polyclinic and found out that it contained thimerosal (a mercury derivative)!!! I will wait for the preservative free vaccine, since Hep B is transmitted thru blood and other body fluid, usually sexually. The Dr did “scare” me by saying that I am putting the baby at risk if a need for blood transfusion arise. I think it is a small risk.

During my time, there was no MMR vaccine (introduced here in 1990). I thought catching measles (vaccine introduced in 1976) and mumps (1990) were the “right path towards growing up” (not too sure about rubella). The mortality rate and complications arising from these childhood disease have greatly decreased due to better living condition. So, am I subjecting the kid to unnecessary shots? Is it being selfish of me to take advantage of the herd immunity present? I still have a year to decide for the MMR shot, but I guess the decision has already been made.

“Somewhere in Germany is a baby Superman, born in Berlin with bulging arm and leg muscles. Not yet 5, he can hold seven-pound weights with arms extended, something many adults cannot do. He has muscles twice the size of other kids his age and half their body fat. DNA testing showed why: The boy has a genetic mutation that boosts muscle growth.” (Mutation Found in’Muscle Man’ Toddler, AP)

Just a week or two ago, I told James that if we are planning for a second baby, then he will be banned from using his notebook on his lap. The reason is quite obvious. Being permanently plague by paranoia, I told him I fear conceving a mutated baby. However, I might consider one if he/she can be an x-men. Prof X, Jean, Cyclops, Magneto, Storm, etc are welcomed, but not Mystique or Nightcrawler alike.

With baby superman borned, looks like genetic mutation does happen.

Got tired of playing with the hands? There are always feet to play with. Somehow, her hands discovered the feet are easily within reach and has been playing with them since.

Was visited by a group of ex students yesterday, they wanted to see the baby. They have grown so tall and and mature (well, I must say some of them still act like kid). They were happily chatting about pop stars, school work, handsome guys, etc….and I strongly sense the generation gap between us, despite the fact that I am still able to relate to them well. I must work hard to keep up with the lastest trends and happenings. I want to be my child’s best friend and not the annoying naggy mom.

Seeing them makes me miss my teaching days. I enjoy interacting with youth, that was why I chose to teach secondary school instead of primary school. I used to think that primary school kids are noisy, silly, childish….a bunch of little ones that I can’t talk any sense into. That was just some plain stupid prejudice I held against little kids in the past, but it did make me think twice about having my own kid. With my little girl now, i don’t think I “disapprove” them so much now.

Well, forgot to remind them to come empty handed, and therefore, two more new dresses for the baby. Its very heartening to know that they have grown up to become fine young people.

I have been going through several articles from emagazine.com, mostly topics on health hazards, toxic poison concerning babies. Though some of the articles seem to look like marketing strategies of the “safer” products, it triggered my paranoid mode again. It seems that all the pretty beddings for my precious darling might be sources of dangerous volatile organic compounds (and cotton ones contain pesticides, unless you go organic). New crib for the baby might be gassing off deadly fumes (according to the article, second hand furniture are safer. Should I congratulate myself for using a hand-me-down cot?). Clear, rigid plastic bottles made of polycarbonate have been found to leach the dangerous chemical when heated (so I shouldn’t boil the bottles anymore?).

The scariest part is learning that zinc oxide is frequently contaminated by lead, which is commonly found in diaper rash cream or medicated powder or lotion. Before delivery, several friends advised me to buy only diaper rash cream with zinc oxide. Some time ago, I am still raving about how effective the desitin diaper rash cream is. Am I feeding doses of lead to the baby with each application of the cream? Got to read up more on this issue. If it is really true, then I better think twice before using it again.

Bringing Up Baby–Naturally
Hidden Hazards
The Non-Toxic Nursery

Brought the baby for the fourth month checkup plus vaccination today. Its good to know that the baby has return to the 50th percentile again. But the doctor didn’t seems to be impressed by the fact that I started her on cereal, especially when I told her the baby has been taking four tablespoonful. She advised me not to push too hard to introduce solid food. I tried to explain that she refuse the bottle, and therefore is very difficult for the babysitter to feed her milk. She probably thought that I have been feeding her a few meals of cereal a day (she only gets one per day, weekdays only). Anyway, she stressed the importance of training her to use the bottle, else she won’t be able to get her required nutrients when I wean her off my breast. This is going to be tough, doesn’t know how to go about it.

Since I have introduced solid food, and the baby seems to like them, now I have new dilemmas. Should I use jar food or fresh food? Should I cook and freeze them or cook them everyday? Should I only buy organic food? After reading scary articles from the net, it seems that organic food should be the safer choice. Now I need to seek out the organic food outlets around.

Some useful links:
Pesticides in your children’s food
Top 10 Most Important Foods to Buy Organic (Ecomall)
Top 10 Most Important Foods to Buy Organic (The Green Guide)
Pesticides in Baby Food
What You Need to Know about Mercury in Fish and Shellfish
Baby food mercury concern
Mercury baby fears eased

How is a mother’s day like when the father is out working? I am quite blessed to live near my dad, so I spare myself from cooking during weekdays. We had our dinner over there, so I don’t have to cook and do the washing up! The maid comes over to help me do the ironing (my most hated chore) and mopping once a week.

I used to keep our place clean and neat before the baby arrived. It is almost impossible to maintain that standard any more. So I make it a point to keep it neat, but not necessary clean. The windows are covered with a layer of dust, the floor not quite clean, the bathtub not sparking, the stove greasy, the white table showing newspaper stains….They are eyesores to me, but I try to keep my eyes closed. I tried to get rid of all the rubbish and junk to make the place less cluttered, put things back into place immediately to maintain the neatness. Most of the time is spent nursing the baby, entertaining her, pacifying her, washing her stuffs or rocking her to sleep (which is extremely tedious at times). Three hours in the afternoon is solely for my calligraphy session or running errands and doing groceries, without the baby to distract me.

Seems that I don’t have much to do, but I feel so busy everyday. Where has all the time gone to? Maybe I need better time management. Just read a joke on mothers :

A father came home and found his three children were outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

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