(2008/02) Feb 2008 MTBs

Re: jaundice
I have been going mt a to do jaundice blood test for my boy, he is at level 15 and pd says is quite high, asked me to monitor n bring him back on mon, hope he is ok.

Can I check for mummies who's kids are aitted got jaundice, what was e level before and after 2 days of phototherapy ,I dunno what is high or low, pd says 15 can admit to
hos already but me n Hubby decide to monitor first since now is the peak for his jaundice . Mummies, pls help mr and share the levels.

Clover, sorry missed ur post, so qiao same surname and same name.. haha.. very cute leh to noe someone of the exact name..
 


pauline.. where u got the mumsfairy shields? can fit onto all medela pumps? i am using freestyle.

Sigh..i droppeed my freestyle today, hope its not spoilt, now have to recharge for another 24 hrs, have to use manual pump now. Anyone dropped their pumps before??

Today hubby helped me set up the pump, din turn tight enugg in the end the bottle dropped off and spilled a lot of milk and in the panicky moment , i bent down and the pump dropped too..
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Genice I bought during motherhood fair at expo but I think u can buy from their smh biz thread. Yup it fits all medela n ameda pumps.
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Bx, qingling, Genice, jiayou on bfing. U can do it. Remember I was so gek sim cos always Kenna blocked ducts n got to see LC (I still do) n dun know if I can bf until 6 months. But before I realise, Bb 6 months Liao. Hee.
 
bx-i tot can store for 3 days as chilled? i always see if i have more than enough for 2 days consumption,i will freeze the latest output.

ARGH i want to vent my frustrations - i tink the maid's stupidity is driving me nuts. ask her do 1 task, she do another, tell her i want to finish up the soup, she add in more plain water and boil again?!? i was using the thermal pot to cook the soup, usually we just leave the thermal pot on the dining table when the soup is inside, she put the whole pot back into the packaging box and put on the shelf?!? Ask her to put the bowls n plates back into the cabinets..she took out all the bowls n plates from the cabinets and wash them..DUHZ!!!!!argh..i tink i am going crazy. i know they are slow..but this is plain stupidity..HELP.
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..i wana send them home after 2 yrs (if she can tahan my grumbles n scoldings for 2 yrs..hahahha). i think i speak to her very harshly now..sigh..i think maybe she will "resign" soon.
 
genice - Hayden was also 15 on the 3rd day. PD ask me to stop breastfeeding,feel Nan HA, then next day went back to prick again,still same,doc says continue on Nan HA, then 2 days later check again, drop to 12, so he says maybe becos due to breastmilk, he says continue the FM for another 3 days then can resume full breastmilk. He did mentioned if above 15, the bb must hospitalise. Hayden did not do phototherapy
 
Ql,
I'm not sure. I play safe so stick to 48 hrs. Wow u got 2 days stock
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genice,
Ashton was 16 on day 5. Ver high. But pd say just sun bath. Also din ask me to bring bb back for follow up.
 
ql,
how many times hayden wake up for milk at night? ashton tekan me. every one hour plus will ngek ngek. if dun offer him breast, the ngek ngek will proceed to become wailings. scary...
 
Thanks ql n bx, that's reassuring, think I will sub w fm these 2 days.

Bx, Kieran also at nite ngek every hr, I am dying from fatigue!! Can't sleep well, but day time he can sleep 3 hrs str.

Bx, freestyle is gd, convenient n fast lor , if compared to my manual coz dual pump n handsfree , can surf net lor. Hehe. But just now drop it very 心痛cause the pump is just so small , dunno whther it will spoil or not.

Ql, aiyoh ur maid cmi lor, she doesn't understand u? How's her English? I think i will be like u vomit blood lor. Everyday gek by e maid.
 
genice, kieran seems to behave like my cousin nephew leh, daytime no problem in zz, but night time either he is not sleeping or ngek every hr. hey, jiayou!!
 
Bx, if Ashton keep suckling like that, your supply will increase in no time.
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Qingling, when my maid behaves like that, it's either because she is 'dreaming' (not focused cos she just called home or received a letter and her family gave her a lot of problems) Or she doesn't understand what I'm saying cos I talk too fast and gave too much instructions at one go. Try and make her repeat the instructions after you. If she cannot repeat, it means she cannot understand. :p

Just now, we were at Century Sq, I was at Kiddy palace buying some things while hubby brought RaeAnne to the toilet. Maid was alone with baby in the pram waiting outside KP and another maid chatted her up. She said she is looking after 2 babies, one aged 1 year old and another 1 month old. So now, my maid said she is lucky. The other maid not so lucky and she said she wants to look for another employer. I told her if that maid changes employer, she will end up as a transfer maid and may not get a better employer. Got to wait at agent's office everyday and wait for people to choose her. Most employers will not take transfer maid unless they are desperate. Because if the maid is good, why would you end up as transfer maid instead of fulfilling 2 year contract? I don't like my maid to talk to other maids so that teaches me a lesson, must tell hubby cannot leave them alone when we are outside, wait kenna 'brainwash' by other maids. :p
 
pauline,Genice-i also wonder why did I hire a maid to Gek myself..Hahah..I gave 3 words instruction "pour out soup" which I tink its the most simple I can tink off and she can go add water n boil again..i wonder why..I got fed up and ask her throw that pot of soup away..Duh...sigh..yes they r easily brainwashed..so far she haven't called home..Haha..am I too mean?she's with me for 1.5 mth liao..was suppose to let her call home this month,then dunno why this few days keep doing silly things..sigh..made me upset so delayed let her call back,anyway I been quite hostile this 2 days so I tink if I let her call now,sure she will get emo..better let her "cool off" first..

Genice-is kieran crying for milk at night for the constant waking? I agree its super tiring so we gave in to fm,haha...cos too tiring to wait for bm to heat up. If its only 1 feed in mid night I can still manage,but 3 feeds plus my exclusive pumping will exhaust me..buay tahan..
 
pumps
i'm also using freestyle now! borrowed from a friend, if not i have the swing which i bought in the states last time.
i also read the instructions that you just wash with soapy water, don't need to sterilise the soft shields. not sure why those no need to sterilise but bottles must (what's the point right??).

genice, how is the freestyle handsfree? i haven't set it up yet, heh.

the mumsfairy supershields i used before last time, does it fit in the soft shields? i thought that they were not bad (when i used it with the normal shields), but soft shields more "comfortable". actually i think the most comfy ones is probably avent. but their pumps aren't as nice as medela, haha.
 
iso.. u haven use thes handsfree? Then how u pump? By holding??? Its very tiring!!! Go and set up the handsfree then u have some me time to surf or read magazines!!! U got the mumnsfairy shields from where?

Pauline.. thanks.. will check out tje mum's fairy shields.

Bx.. forgot to answer u, i pump abt 100 ml from both sides every 3 hrs, now i stretch the pumping to 6 hrly and get abt 180-200 ml, K only drinking 60 ml and i latch on so got quite a bit to store. I just started to freeze and i also started to give e extra to G, i mix 100 ml bm w 100 ml fm, intend to give her 300 ml per day ( or whatever i can spare after putting aside for K) cause i dun want to store that much.

Ql, ask u, do u latch on in the day time? then at night when u feed FM , u use bottle or cup feeding? Does ur bb get confused???

Re:bb waking up
I suspect its because oif the aircon, he doesnt seem to sleep well in air con room so we have moved him out to sleep in the living room, more airy for us. He seems to sleep better.

Re:maid
QL, maybe u have overestimated her english liao.. hehe.. next time must add in actions.. to illustrate. I think give her a few more weeks, she will get the hang of it. How is her attitude?
 
Genice-i only latch on occasionally,cos the timings bb want to latch dun really match the timings I want to pump now,unless I adjust it,plus I leak badly when he latch one side(same as using single pump previously,so don't fancy latch that often) but if ss dipping,will start latching again..the pro is no need to sterilize pump..

Maid attitude is so far Ok,but when u r feeling tired,tend to get angry and impatient easily,plus not first time cook soup...sigh. I am not a very patience person to begin with..Haha. U can get the super shields from the mumsfairy website,maybe I will get one too..just that the sizing chart a bit funny,i am now a 80b but I dun see this measurement,i dunno which size to get for the shields,is it a m?
 
cupcakes from cupcakedivinity,i order the mini ones,2.20 each.flavor is quite nice,some may find it a tad too sweet but they have 3 flavors,i order the lemon n chocolate ones.
 
Morning ladies,
wow genice, ur ss really good. Dunno whether I asked u before if u have any secret recipe?I have also been givng big A my bm but only abt 100ml a day. Tempted to invest in the freestyle but I cfm not gg for #3 so doesn't justify for buying. But I thought keep one in office then I no need to lug the heavy PISA ard.

Cupcakedivinity
got them for both ashlynn's full month and1st birthday. They are beautiful. Agree wif ql that they are too sweet that some of my guests removed the icing.
 
morning ladies
Wanted to latch no 2 this morning. suceeded a little at first but then Josh unlatched then wailed. Then hubby gave me the look and ask me to make him formula. I didn't wanna argue with him so make formula loh. But i super buay song. Each time I wanna latch and baby cry, either my mom or hub will say something. But when no one is around I can successfully latch baby after a few cries.

QL, my other boob will also leak a lot if I have a let down. So sometime latching puts me off coz its too messy
 
BX, you give Ashlyn ebm..does she like it? or u mix with formula? I also wanna give James the ebm coz I've got too much excess now, freezer is too full. Frozen emb is all yellow and fishy..heh I smell i also get turned off.
 
Sweetpea,
we dun have a fixed formula to mix ebm and fm. Currently Ashlynn drinking gain iq. 1 scoop to 60 ml water. If we give her 100ml ebm, we will top up with another 100ml water and add abt 2 to 2.5 scoops milk powder. We just agar agar give. Remember must warm up ur ebm first.
 
good day!!
heh.. long time never come in.
just to contribute a bit on the leaking part.
my other breast leaked terribly (up to 50 ml each latching session) when i latch on the other side. it last till about 3-4 months. initially use the Avent Breast shield to hold the milk but it still leak in the end as the shield can't hold so much milk.
end up, i attach the PISA shield with bottle attached (just like pumping w/o attach to the pump) to collect all the leaked milk. when i see the leaked milk is thick, i will feed bb when she's hungry after feed; if the milk is thin (foremilk), i will still keep for other purposes - e.g., bath..

because of the leaking, i wear bra + breastpad at home too.
 
re: jaundice
last time C reached 19 (i think). hospitalized using triple light for 1.5 days. and we rented the phototherapy set for another 3 days. and she has been yellow for about 3 weeks.
 
Qingling, ok, I think it's because your maid is homesick. Mine not supposed to call until 1 month later (when she gets pay) when she came in Aug 09 too. But she made so many mistakes and 'boh sim' to work. End up after the agency employee scolded my maid, the boss (I know him cos his daughter at my gal's PG) let her make 1 phone call back home at his office. She was better after that. Cos she knows she cannot pay off her loan unless she works. Maybe talk to your maid, ask her why she makes this kind of stupid mistakes, warn her, then let her call back bah.

Genice, good to store as much as possible in the beginning cos their appetite really picks up. It's worse when they have growth spurt. :p

Sweetpea, tell your hubby to be more encouraging bah. BF is a learning process for the baby, he has to learn to latch properly. Even though Raelynn is good at latching since birth (according to LC), she still cries after 6 months when latching cos sometimes flow too fast (she choke and pull out) sometimes too slow (usually when I got blocked duct) so she suck and suck but can't get much out. It's ok for babies to cry a bit during BF lar as long as adults are not too impatient. :p
 
Bx/qingling,
me too store ebm in fridge for up to 48 hrs.

Bx
itz so sayang to discard the ebm. You hv made the right decision to freeze it.
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pigletail,

We replaced pork slices with beef slices, and cooked more pork soups and more seafood dishes. Hehe….I am thinking of trying more lamb dishes.

My helper does all cooking now; for pork dishes like vinegar pig trotter, bat kut teh, white pepper pig stomach soup, we normally tasted and adjusted seasoning before serving. The rest of dishes she is quite ok.

Qingling,
Yah, I also become more patient when talking with helper, during this 2 month stay-at-home time. hehe….. our helper still couldn't grasp my husband's words right most of time, I still need to clarify for both of them.
 
morning ladies!

Kitsune,
the soup pack was a success! heee...thanks so much! the easiest and most convenient dish to cook n i think the most satisfying.
think i'll go buy somemore today..
but hor, i always spend ages trying to cut away the fats of pork bones/chicken bones/whole chicken for the soup base. how do you solve the 'oily soup' problem? this is the part that makes me pek chek in cooking - trying to 'prim' the meat. if i buy lean meat, it gets so hard after cooking. if i buy other cuts, the dish looks so oily after cooking i dun feel like eating them.

the previous weekend i used a large piece of lean meat that's been sitting in freezer for 1month plus (i dun dare to cook it -dunno how it'll taste ;p) thus it was oil-free. but then think this is not the best use of the meat right...

tubao,
thanks! yeah think seafood dishes is the way to go... i also asked helper to cook 1-2 dishes, usally the stir fried veg/stir fried meat that is done just before meal time. cos in the past i'll be sweating like mad and feeling so pek chek right after cooking i dun have the appetite anymore. plus i have to feed G while the whole cooking-feeding-den my turn to eat the cold food all in continuos sequence, all done feeling hot and irritated, make the whole process very unpleasant.

QL,
your maid is like my previous...think becos u were too nice to her from begining thus she's begining to slack. now it's still ok to give her a wake up call and set the record straight. agree with kitsune you can talk to agent and ask agent talk to her. usually they are very fierce and can really 'wake up their idea'. den we also dun have to be the 'bad person'.
 
piglettail-the meat u can use hot water to scald first before put in soup. i think trimming of the fats is still necessary, but after scalding with hot water perhaps easier to trim. usually i use a lot of pig big bones to make the stock.

maid - hubby felt the maid perhaps dun understand, well sigh..she's not lazy so i can't really bring her to agent to complain, but she's just so "BLUR",maybe in her environment she isn't used to doing things like us, i will try to "train" her again. she's quite hard working, but like in chinese "si zhuo gong" without using brain lor..
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..but then if they r too smart, they wun be maid liao hor.. i also think my temper need to restrain a little..haha..strict but not fierce.
 
tubao-ur maid is smart, can even cook pork trotter (my maid told me she dun like pork trotter..hoho..cos too sour for her..)for my maid, so far she can do steam fish dishes (but dunno how to concoct sauces), and stir fry vegetables only and plus cook rice with rice cooker. By the way, hope ur morning sickness is better already
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QL,
heee..think after my first maid, my attitude change liao. i dun think they are really blur, more like act blur. she's been with you for 1-2 months rite? if really blur/dunno, the mistakes would hav shown up in the first weeks not now. like u mentioned, this is not the first time she is cooking soup, how come the mistakes only came about now (after the 4/5/10th time)?

ya think must be strict but not fierce. sometimes i also find it difficult to be fierce but i always remind myself if not my family will be at the suffering end. that said, i also always thank her for job well done.

cooking soup - i also scald the meat but that's after i have trim the fats and just before reall cooking the soup. think i will try in the sequence u mentioned and see if it's easier.
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Piglettail, congrats! That's my favourite 'cheaterbug' way to make nice soups.
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yup, like QL said, trim the fats. I use a pair of kitchen scissors, it's much easier. If the soup is oily, you can buy those oil blotter paper from NTUC or Daiso and absorb the oil. Filtering is too much work so can just put one or two pieces of filter paper on top of the soup then use chopsticks to take it off and throw away. I use pressure cooker for meat soups (pork ribs) so the meats are usually more tender. Don't use lean pork, can try using 'mei rou'. It's a darker cut of meat, more tender but not much fats.
 
Anyone having difficulties feeding ur kids? Mine refuse to sit in baby chair, run ard while we feed her. If she sits at the dinner table, she will insist to self feed. She will keep drinking soup, eat her fav ingredients and play with the rice until whole floor dirtied with food. She will be very dirty as she refuses to wear the bib. Big headache... And her favourite word is "don't want!". She uses so often that I find it so painful to my ears.
 
Bx, take heart, RaeAnne is always like that. I've given up in a way, if she plays too much and doesn't want to eat, I teach her a lesson, clear her plate and she is still hungry, feed her milk lor.
 
Wow Pauline, then u muz be very patient lor. Coz we only needa feed A breakfast n dinner. Lunch she eats at cc. For u, u needa feed 3 meals.
 
bx- same with Heidi.."bu yao" is the fav phrase..sometimes she insist on self feed..if u anger her by forcing her to eat, she will sweep all the soup n rice to the floor..grrr..
 
hi kitsune,
thanks! i will go and look out for the oil blotter paper. have been trimming the fats and scooping the oil from the cooked soup until i'm so pek chek, worse usually only drink a small bowl after all the effort.

Bx,
don't worry you are not alone! i just started teaching G to self-feed over the weekend and it was a mess too! Sat was good, he managed to eat without much mess but Sun was a disaster! there was food on the floor, all over the high chair, in his hair, on his body ( and he was wearing a bib and clothes) like kitsune, i just let it be, clear the plate when time is up. in the end he was hungry and between 8-10pm he had 1 small cup of jelly, 2 cubes of cheese, 2 slices of pringles, come ice cream before his bedtime milk feed at 10pm.
 
SOUP:
I grew up in soup-drinking family. Mum cooks a lot of double-boiled soup. Her method is old skool but no choice. You want nicer soup, need the oilier cuts. Before you serve, scoop one shot off entire pot. U dun scoop like loads of soup off. just the surface. cannot be u cook soup 1 pot, oil = half pot? Usually it's just the top like 2mm layer at most?

thing is, cannot be 100% lah. Even if u use blotter paper, also can't be 100% one. Only way is use lean meat lor. EVen u go outside drink double-boiled soup, also will have oil (that's why taste nice :p)

FEEDING:
My mum has totally no motivation (same as I) to let Ruth self-feed meals. Snacks ok...and limited to those that erm, are easy to clean-up.

Her rationale is...
- None of us were made to self-feed at such an early age (and we grew up fine..)
- can't be bothered to keep cleaning up after each meal
- ruth is never gonna finish her meal (and that is like...life-n-death for my parents. everything can dun do but FOOD MUST EAT!)

So yeah.

NO high chair, no sitting throughout meal one. She will sit for maybe 5-10 minutes and watch tv or play her toys, then when she's about halfway through or almost full, she'll start walking around to do ALL sorts of weird things. But she will walk back to you, open mouth and eat.

There will be struggles la, but well, that's just normal.

THOUGHTS ON MEALS:
We always say weekend is hunger camp for Ruth. Weekday is like...stuff her till she's bloated.

Weekend, we mostly have nothing to eat at home except garbage. (Garbage means frozen stuff ilke fish fingers, canned food, leftover food, titbits, snacks etc). Actually,e ven our snack collection isn't great nowadays cuz i'm trying to reduce such stuff around.

Come to meal time, we go out and eat. Other than meal time, at most she has drinks and meal. Once in awhile we buy yogurt but recently she's been coughing to that's out.

I find that she eats with much more compliance. can sit at hawker centre and finish her bowl of rice/porridge/bee tai mak.

And because she's erm, quite hungry by the time mealtime comes, she's quite enthusiastic. Of course we still need iPhone/Ipod sometimes. The best tool for us, is a stranger. SHare a table with some auntie/uncle and she will be so terribly shy she will cling on to either of us like a koala and just keep eating. *BEST!*

If my mum saw this, she sure say we are cruel parents. But I do recall reading somewhere tackling this eating issue - that if u keep feeding throughout the day, they won't be hungry and come mealtime they will chut more pattern leh. Same as us adults also mah i guess.

At my mum's place, everyday will have steamed apple, Pringles, and all sorts of snacks (cuz my dad is a real snacker). Every other hour there's food. (Look at my size u will know liao.)

And Ruth knows WHERE the Pringles is kept and everytime u open the fridge, she will run there to ask for Pringles! *faint*

So now die die at home, i DON'T buy pringles. GOod for me also lor.

:p
 
NO!

Used to be NONONONONO, coupled with head-shaking and hand-waving "no".

Nowadays it's just NO! And honestly, if u ask me something and I had a choice and I didn't have to give you face, I'll also say No. hahahaha. It's the way we ask our questions I guess.

Sometimes i dun ask. i say "let's go bath, i'll run there first and u come and catch me!" Then i'll make some stupid sound and zooom zoooom to bathroom. Everytime have to act like idiot to make her do something simple nowadays.

I can't wait till she's more cooperative. I"m SO running out of patience! That's why no. 2 is like.....NO WAY!

BUT....

it's horrifically cute la - especially when she's saying no to someone else and not me! LOL!

(ANd they are very cheeky leh. If i smile at her while asking her the question, she will purposely say no and give me a sneaky smile back! AIYOH BEH TAHAN AH!!!!)
 
Lezy, why still need to steam apple? Ruth doesnt like fresh apple? My colleague just told me to go for #2, else #1 will be very self-centred. Everything me, me me!. Not good. Well, I think I should be able to survive with 2 kids even if I’m not working?

each kid is diff, so that doesnt mean your #2 will be non-cooperative too. does this sound more encouraging? hehe
 
tong..ya she dun like apple as it is. steamed apple she will guai guai sit there and nomnomnomnomnom finish the whole thing.

Many ppl tell me that about only child too, but i think a child can turn out in many different ways, regardless of their erm, 'child' status? Dunno lah. Looking at the way this is going, ruth is definitely quite spoilt rotten now.
 
lezy,

LOL !! Love the way you describe the daily behaviour with Ruth... hahaha... i feel your pain... talk about behaving like an idiot, I do that too ! or rather i become more like a puppet master... see, there are just things which he will do when e.g. Eeyore/Barney/Ernie/Elmo/Thomas/Mr. turtle/Mouse etc etc... from getting the blanket, going into bathroom, taking off clothes until feeding time! :p

re feeding time,
haiz.. honestly i think this is where i fail most as a parent. i rely on videos/youtubes to entertain C during his lunch/dinner/milk feeding time. I know this is terrible... when I read the books on "what you should not do when it comes to feeding", I'm like doing it all !!
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Thinking to change it, but scared he will suffer from malnutrition... am I overthinking this? People say, if he's hungry he'll eat... you know what? during our holiday 2 weeks ago, he can survive with 2 packets of milk and 1 lunch serving with snacking cereals in a day... the only thing i'm thankful is that he loves snacking cereals but not biscuits... oh and that now he finally wants to eat bread albeit we need to put melted ice cream on the bread...

piggletail,
umm... we just use knife to cut food into small pieces...
 



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