I’m not a professional writer or
blogger but today, I would like to write down the story of how my son grows
from day 1 till now. This post was inspired and suggested by Ms. Jyn Ling, my
besty. Haha. This story is not to show you how good I am or how strong I am.
This is purely to share my own experience and to give inspiration to new mums
out there that: You are not ALONE! And you are definitely not an expert as you
are learning everyday as you child grows. You will be an expert as you go
along. So, do not fret if you were not doing so well. Be patient and just do
your best! For the hubbys, always be a strong supporter to your wife..Help out
to ease her burden and stress of taking care the young one as first time parent
too, especially at night. You are learning too! Ok. Let’s begin.
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| A Great Supporter - My Huby |
My little prince was born on 15th
January and he is a Capricorn baby! Giving birth to him was not difficult as I
went through C-Section straight away. However, the after math was the tough
journey as a mum. Like I said before in the previous post, I suffered from
wound breakdown due to too much blood clots below my wound. And I suspected
that this was due to the medication error occurred during my hospitalization. I
was given Voltaren which I was known to be allergic to. I had also inform the
MO when he was clerking me at ED. Well, they did not notice the allergic drug
note written on the clerking sheet and the nurses served the drug to me and I
had taken it. Within an hour post medication, the itch started to come in and
spread all over my body including my wound. After a few light scratches on the
skin nearby my wound, the wound was swollen and painful. To cut the story
short, the wound was badly affected. Blood clots were everywhere and could not
heal properly and thus, it had to be opened again for dressing. I went in and
out from the hospital for the whole month of my confinement. I told myself, no
more Government Hospital after this!
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| Cute baby is born |
My little son was not easy to
handle when he was young. He was very bad tempered at young age. When he wants
milk, he means it!. He will cry and cry and cry till he gets it! As a new
parent, this is very stressful for me. I remembered crying many times when I
could not sleep due to his crying. There were times where he cried non-stop and
nothing could soothe him. As he grows older, he slept better and longer.
Mummies and daddies, this is very normal when the baby sometimes cried for
nothing at night. Sometimes he/she just wants you to carry and soothe him/her
and reassure that you are around. But, there are cases of exception as well. Do
check out his forehead and tummy, if they were cold, it could be stomach ache.
So, quickly rub on some warm oil on the tummy and forehead. The oil I meant is the
‘Cap Limau: Ru Yi You’. Google out and see. Rub the oil on both your palm till
warm and leave in on the tummy and forehead (be careful not to put too near to
the baby’s eyes), then repeat rubbing your palm and leave them again on the
tummy and forehead. This will ease the stomach ache.
When baby cries at night, this
can due to few reasons; i) wet diapers, ii) hungry, iii) stomach ache, iv) too
cold, v) not feeling well vi) teething or the least possibility is vii) saw
‘spirits’. So, when your baby cries at night, check for all these and see what
measures to take. You can always google or speak to a paediatrician for
soothing measures. These normally happens during the first few months of their
life...As my son grow older to 3-5 months, when he started to turn his body,
another worry came. There were times he turned middle of the night when I was
sleeping, and you could not imagine what could happen. Our queen bed is
enclosed by a large mosquito net (luckily) and nothing can goes in out from the
net. When my son learnt to turn, there were times when he turned after I slept
and he fell from the bed. Luckily he was not on the floor but protected by the
enclosed mosquito net. After such incidences, we moved our bed to the side of
the wall and so that he will not fall again. This incident happened not just
that time, after he started crawling, he would crawl to the other end of the
bed after I slept and fell down from the bed also...! But again, saved by the
mosquito net. So, my highlight is that, for safety, maybe we should not let the
baby sleep on bed with us. Actually, he is not supposed to sleep on the bed
with us, but for the convenience of breast feeding him, I had him on the bed
with me daily and nurse him to sleep.
As he got to 6 months old, he was
able to sit and started teething. Another night mare; he had difficulty
sleeping due to teething and he was too active to practise his turning and
sitting skill at night on the bed. Conclusion: daddy and mummy also less sleep.
Well, we had to rub some teething gel on the gums to soothe the pain so that he
could sleep. We also offered him teething toys to bite to ease the pain but he
rejected it! LOL. Anyway, you can try for your baby and it may works for you!
When he got to 7 and 8 months, he started crawling. Owh! Baby crawling is super
cute and again, he also practised crawling at night on the bed middle of the
night. It’s very tiring for the parents. But this is a part of their growing
process and we also have to understand and help them to go through it.
Do take note that sometimes baby
can also be clingy to the dad instead of the mum. Like me, my son wants his dad
more than me at night when he wants some comfort. He will prefer his dad more.
Well, jealousy and guilt will come in naturally. I started thinking: am I not a
good mum that he doesn’t want me when he is crying for comfort? Is it because I
always scold him not sleeping so he rejects me?? But hubby said this is not the
fact. Sometimes, he just wants to stick to daddy and doesn’t mean that he no
loves me!!
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| I love u Daddy |
When baby got to 10 - 12 months,
he learnt going up and down from the bed but he could not walk yet. Well, we
taught him how to go up and down from the bed. Hubby taught him everyday how to
use his leg to get down first when going down the sofa or bed. It sounds
ridiculous but he taught that so that our son won’t let his head goes down
first from the bed. Thank god we did teach him, he never had any incidence of
falling from bed or sofa with head down first. *Touch wod* Around this age, he
also started to stand up with assistance from tables, chairs and walls.
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| Biri at 5 months - Gong xi Gong xi |
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| Biri at 6 months - In baby walker |
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| Biri at 6 months - round round |
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| Biri at 8 months - sitting up |
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| Biri at 9 months - Sitting his walker |
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| Biri at 10 months - Crawling here and there |
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Biri at 1 year old - Standing with some support
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We celebrated his 1 year old
birthday with family and besty Chia Wen. We did not have grand birthday party
as his grandparents refused it. But, we brought him out for a simple birthday
celebration at a cafe and he got few angpaos and presents from the Jie Jie and
his daddy! Couldn’t believe how fast he grows. He is also a car racer in nature. Hahah. He's super good with his car. I'll upload some videos of him drifting next round.
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| His first car from Daddy on his 1st Birthday |
Oh oh! Another thing is, after
teething, my son was and he still is; a doggie. Bite everything that he can
reach with his hand. From towel, handkerchief, toys, food, clothes, pillows and
even me and my hubby. He just love to bite us. Like a vampire! Ouch!
Bite bite bite
One important thing that my mum
taught biri and us the parents is that baby must be potty trained when they are
young. When biri is less than one year old, she already started potty training
by carrying him and let him sit on the potty after meal to make him get used to
the potty. After he was one year plus when he knew how to walk, she let him
wore pants everyday instead of cloth nappy. But the first few months it will be
tough as he will not know yet how to get the potty in time before he peed. So,
be prepared to clean the floor and change the pants often. Sometimes, it will
reach up to 2-3 times of cleaning in a hour. After he had an ‘accident’ for not
making in time to get the potty, we cleaned the mess and then showed him the
potty. A bit of punishment is needed to make him remember to take the potty.
Smack the buttock a bit..then show the potty. Well, he is now trained and he is
able to get his potty each time he wants to pee or poo. =) And he is only 1
year and 9 months.
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| Biri Potty Training |
Try to start potty training early
because this saves some hassle when you want to bring them to holiday (less
pampers to bring). Hehe and it’s good also because when they enter nursery,
they are independent enough to go to toilet without having to pee their pants
wet!
My son all these while has no
problem with his diet. He eats everything that was offered to him. When he was
6 months to 1 year 7 months, he eats well without much issue. One advice I must
give to new parents are, ensure your baby get enough fluid (water, fresh juice,
cooling drink - leong sui, and soups) and fiber (various fruits and vegetables)
to keep them healthy and strong. I find that sufficient fluid helps my son to
be free from fever and hard poop. But, now my son is 1 year 8 months and he
starts to show some sign of picky eating...those favourite porridge and fruits
he refused to eat all of them for a week...and made us worried like sick. OMG
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| Ahhh nom nom nommm |
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| Yes ? Never see baby waiting to eat??!! |
But, after trial and error few
times, finally we found out that he realized that he is big boy now, he wants
to eat himself and feed himself. He managed to finish his milk if he drank from
his sippy cup instead of milk bottle. He ate finish those small bites of food
and dishes which we separated in a different bowl. Till now, he is still
rejecting rice and some option of fruits. But, anyway, at least he is in
progress of eating back the food. Step by step and we have to be patient!
Mummys out there, this is very normal for baby to be picky as early as 7-8
months. Just be patient and be more creative with the food cooking method and
choices. Try not to force feed (which we did) because force feeding can make
baby rejects the food more. If they refuse to eat, just stop and wait to feed
again later. As long as they can eat certain food they like, active, happy and
cheerful as usual, there is nothing to worry about and the picky eating will
slowly go away in few weeks time.
Another parenting guide is to
teach your baby to pick up the toys after they played. Teach them to keep at
the respective storage area. Every time tell them to do it. Eventually, they
will remember to tidy the place after playing. Not just toys, any other things
you see on the floor, you can ask your baby to pick it up and put back to the
correct place. Like my son, he is now very systematic and remembers to keep his
toys every time after playing and before he sleeps. It’s a habit that parents
need to instil in their child since young. It’s responsibility that we are
teaching them since young.
Also, always talk to your baby at
young. Tell him who you are, who the father is, who the grandparents are, the
uncles and aunties. When you point at the person, tell your baby who he/she is.
All teaching starts from young. You might look silly because your baby doesn’t
know how to talk yet. But I can tell you, they KNOW and UNDERSTAND everything
you said. Around this age, it is easier to take care of him as he is able to tell
you roughly what he wants and he can perform simple task like 'bathing'
and drinking his milk. He is also able to self-feed using utensils like small fork. He also runs here and there after learnt walking, runs like nobody's business. You scroll down you will know what is loves to do after 1 year old
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| He loves to do some acrobatic stunts |
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| He loves watching his favorite cartoon, Sorry for the messy table |
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| He loves to scribble |
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| He has undying love for water |
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| He loves his koala bear back pack |
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| He learns to brush teeth |
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| He is riding the 'Busy Bugs' by himself at Genting |
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| He learns to think of what to wear... |
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| He runs all over the park like as if the park is his |
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| He bathes on his own,,with our supervision |
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| He drinks milk by himself while staring at the ceiling |
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| He eats by himself |
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He scares off all types of puppies due to his 'over-friendliness'
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My husband and I grow together
with our little boy. None of us are expert with parenting, but we learn to be
expert as we grow together. I must say that my son that made me grow so much,
to a mummy that I am today! Children are growing up very fast and they pick up
things very fast nowadays. Early parenting and teaching of good values are
needed to shape them to be who they are in the future. We are trying our best
to be a good parent and teach him the best. *fingers crossed*
Alright. SO long for this post.
Shall write more in the future.
Love,
Biri Mummy Grace
