Evan's Weaning Stage

It has been almost a month since my last post..Sad to say, I dun really have the time to update on her weaning to solid process. It was fun, enduring, heartaching period but I treasure every moment with Evan and her enjoyment in Food!

18 May to 16 June 2009

This is a summary of her progress during this one month. I am proud to say that she has no allergy reaction to the food she has eaten. Of course, she does have certain preference over others but thankfully, she eats almost everything. She loved Nestle Rice Cereal from the start and I progressed to Brown Rice Cereal and introduced fruits and vegetables. As a SAHM, the ability to make homemade puree is a priviledge to me. Nevertheless, the only time I gave her organic jarred fruit and vege puree was when we are out in town and I was not able to bring my homemade puree for her. The brand that I bought is Healthy Times. This is what I have made for her sometimes with the help of my mother-in-law and we truly enjoy making a mess in the kitchen with our blender, steamer and lots of fun storing them in 1 oz and 2 oz cubes.

The first two weeks from 20 May to 30 May, these are the homemade puree we produced out of the Lee factory. I will put up the recipe in the later posts. Spinach, Apple, Pear, Butternut Squash, Jap Sweet Potato, Banana, Carrot, Rock Melon, Avocado, Plum and Papaya. She rejected the pureed Spinach and the tangy Plum put her off. Avocado is still waiting for its turn.











However, there were few hiccups during her transition from Stage one Enfalac milk powder to Stage 2 EnfaPro. Yucks, if I am a baby, I will hate Enfapro too as it taste horrible. Thus, it did affect Evan in a certain way as she immediately went on rice cereal strike. She refused to eat the rice cereal as I have added the milk into it and worse, she refused to drink the EnfaPro and mind you, she is super clever to be able to differentiate which is which. There is not way to trick her. So I have to forgo the rice cereal, repeat and start all over again for the transition process. It was tough. At least, I thank God that she still eats the Brown rice cereal as it itself comes with milk. *Cross Fingers* For the past two weeks, I have successfully weaned her off from Stage 1 Enfalac. Phew! But this whole one month, due to this, she has not gain a single weight and lost a few grams instead. *Heart Sank*
Well, have to buck up now..so today while journalling this post down, vegetable stock is being cooked and I will portion the stock into a few bags and freeze them to make porridge the next few days. Tomorrow, will proceed to making chicken and porkribs stock. I hope she will like the porridge and I will re introduce the spinach in her porridge. Evan, Pls eat the spinach ok! It's good in Iron and be strong like Popeye!

To be continued.............

Day 5 : Nestle Rice Cereal

Today, I changed the format of journalling Evangeline's weaning stage. Got the idea from a mummy's blog which I frequent alot. I have learnt lots of tips and ideas from her.

Schedule for Today:

Morning 10am : 100ml of FM, 1 tbspoon of rice cereal x 50ml of remaining milk

Remaining 4 milk feeds: 150ml of FM


Allergy Reaction:

No allergy reaction observed


Texture of Food:

Slightly Thicker in consistency


Amount of Food:

1 Tablespoon (3 teaspoon) of rice cereal


Baby reaction:

Ever since the very first day I introduced rice cereal, she is able to swallow so well that nothing falls onto her bib, body or high chair or anywhere. I am very proud of her that she doesn't make a mess when eating solid food. Hopefully, it stays like this forever..hahah

Age:

5 months 28 days old

Day 4 : Nestle Rice Cereal

My mother in law came to stay for a night yesterday and this morning managed to catch Evan in action on her weaning process. She was amused at how excited Evangeline was when she saw the green Pigeon bowl and red spoon. Evangeline knew immediately that food was ready and waved her arms frantically to show her impatience of waiting.

Today, I increased the amount of cereal to the following and she finished everything. Still asking for more and showed displeasure when we show her the empty bowl.

16 May 2009 - 2 teaspoon x rice cereal x 30ml of milk
- Finished 120ml of milk

Allergic reaction: None

Current Mood: pleased

Braun Handheld Blender and JANE highchair

This morning, Auntie C and I have an appointment together at Robinson to get some good deals from the sale. After days of considering between Philip Handheld Blender 700watt model versus Braun Handheld Blender, I have decided to get the Braun model due to it's lasting, hardy and durable parts. Since I have some robinson vouchers,I treated it as an investment in purchasing this slightly more expensive brand. Auntie C bought a Fisherprice toy for Evan and we further our time of fellowship at my place till 10plus at night.

Another great deal I got for Evangeline was a secondhand JANE brand highchair which can be converted to a table and chair when Evan reaches toddler stage. The retail price at Robinson was about $275, but I only got this secondhand highchair from a mummy at a price of $100. It is in super good condition, almost brand new, no stain or faulty parts. I was very pleased to get such a good deal and I credited this to our GOD who knew that I longed to have a JANE highchair but financially not able to have one due to its price. Thank you God for making my purchases come true!!!

I am excited and can't wait to use my newly purchased blender! Monday will be the first day for her fruit puree, hope Evangeline will enjoy her fruit.

Current Mood: Accomplished

Day 3: Nestle Rice Cereal

Today, she did not really finished her cereal as she was cranky and sleepy. I was suspecting that she might not be well as she doesn't seem to be happy the whole morning which is not her usual self. The night before, she woke up in the middle of the night to play and do her stunts from one side of her cot to the other, making us super busy trying to get her back to sleep. That could explain why this morning, she was super tired and exhausted.

15 May 2009 - 1 teaspoon x rice cereal x 15ml of FM
- Finished up 130ml of milk, left behind about 5ml.

Allergic reactions: None

Current Mood: Grouchy

Evangeline's attempt in cereal

First try in flipping

In this video, Evan was trying to flip over in the morning. This was taken when she was about 3 months old. After helping her to flip, 3 hours later, she flipped over all by herself..she is really a fast learner in many things.

Videos of Evangeline When She Was Born

Day of Delivery


Munching Away???

Day 2: Nestle Rice Cereal

As said yesterday, I made some changes in my routine and her feeding. Evan took her milk feed of about 100ml, followed by her solid and then finished up her remaining milk feed of 50ml.

12 May 2009 - 1 teaspoon X Rice Cereal X 10ml of FM

Age: 5 Months, 3 weeks and 2 days old

Allergic Reaction: None

This time round, the consistency seems thicker but some lumps remained hard to dissolve. Evan's reaction towards the cereal today was more of anticipating and eager to gobble all up. She opened her arms wide and you should have seen her facial expressions, as though she can't wait to get her hands on the bowl! So far for the past two days, she did not make a mess, she has been such an angel, feeding well from the spoon and not dirtying her bibs at all. Today, she responded well by not having the tongue thrust reflex at all. She finished all up with a record of 7 minutes. I am so proud of her. By Day 4, I will increase to another teaspoon and next week on her 6 month birthday, homemade fruits and vegetable puree will be introduced. Oh I can't wait to try!

Current Mood: Proud

Introduction to Solid Food, Day 1: Nestle Rice Cereal

Today, I started Evan on her first stage of weaning. Rice cereal by Nestle was introduced. I am intending to purchase organic rice cereal either by Healthy Times or Happy Bellies for Evangeline. At the moment, I just try her out using the samples given by PD.

11 May - 1 teaspoon X rice cereal X 10ml of FM

The consistency of the cereal was a bit watery thus I may add lesser FM the next time round. Evan took it quite well and finished all the cereal. After which, I continued her milk feed of 150ml,drank 50ml and rejected the rest. She fussed and cried when I warmed up the milk again for her to drink 15 mins later. Guess she was cranky because she was sleepy. So I left her at her rocker and she fell in deep sleep immediately. I gave her the remaining 100ml of milk in her sleep and she finished them all.


Reflected on the whole process and realised that I may have to feed her a bit of milk (maybe 50ml), then rice cereal followed by the remaining 100ml of milk so as to enable her to know that milk is still her staple food for now.

Try again tomorrow and see how it goes. :)

Age: 5 Months, 3 weeks and 1 day old
Allergic reactions: None. She finished everything! :) God Bless Her!

Current Mood: Accomplished

Books and more books

As a first time mum, I really have lots to learn. I came to appreciate my mum more, knowing the difficulties and contraints and challenges in bringing up a child. However, as the older generation has a different way of bringing up kids compared to now, I have to do some reading up to ensure that what I am doing is right for Evan. Like my mum will nag about introducing solid food to Evan when she was 4 months old and to start off with chinese porridge, this is totally unacceptable in Evan's case as my hubby and I have history of allergies. Therefore these are some areas we have to educate our parents or help them to understand better.

So far, the following books are very informative and helpful for me in my research. Hope those new mummies will find them helpful as well.

1) Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron ( A good reference book for parents or children with allergies)

2) Weaning by Sara Lewis

3) Weaning and coping with feeding problems by Naia Edwards

4) First Foods published by Marshall Cavendish

5) The First Complete Nutrition Guide For Asian Parents, Feed Your Child Right, published by Marshall Cavendish

6) Annabel Karmel's New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner (My favourite :))

7) Annabel Karmel Top 100 Baby Purees (My Favourite)

Current Mood: Excited

Cooking equipments

Here are some basic equipments you may need to get baby ready for solid or prepare homemade baby food.

1) Small Cooking pot or saucepan
2) A steamer (Electric or pot type)
3) High Chair (Proud to get a second hand JANE high chair at $100, RP:$275)
4) Blender (Either U-like Blender or Braun handheld blender, still sourcing)
5) Bibs (I got Dex Dura Bibs Stage 1)
6) Measuring Spoons and Cups
7) Weaning bowls, soft-tip spoon(I bought Pigeon Stage 1 weaning set)
8) Training Cup (Mag Mag Pigeon is the best!)
9) A few cutting boards for different purposes to prevent cross contamination
10) Sieve
11) Baby cubes by Petite Creation or ice cube trays

I think these are the ones I have for now to help me with her weaning.

Current Mood: Anticipating

Evangeline, the Pianist!

Good Morning Evangeline!

Apologies that the video is inverted. I dun know how to invert the video vertically or horizontally so that it will not be upside down. Can anybody enlighten me on how to do it?

Evan drinks water all by herself!

Evan's Growth Progress

It's has been a tiring, challenging 3 months since my last post. Many things have happened but yet God is gracious and faithful. The providence of the Lord is just so bountiful that you just can't help being thankful and touched. Evangeline has grown tremendously BIG due to consuming MILK POWDER. Oh my, you can imagine the thunder thighs, the chubby cheeks and not forgetting the bulge around her waist. :)

Physical Growth

According to PD, she is still in the 25 percentile for her weight so we make the deduction that she is just generally a petite baby (like me).
Her motor skills are good and developing faster than usual. She is able to grasp for things, reach out for toys, hold her feet, lift up her feet 90 degree upwards, able to flip from back to tummy and to back again. Her smiles are incredibly sweet and the first thing she does in the morning once her eyes are open is to give you her brightest smile. That is more than enough to drive away any negative emotions or moodiness that day. She loves to converse and talk to people with her baby language. She listens attentively to every word you say and really serious about what you share. She is still not able to sit up without support but she is showing symptoms of wanting to crawl! She loves to stand and oh boy, she sure have strong limbs.

Spiritual Growth

Evangeline has this habit since she was in my womb of clasping her hands together in a praying position. She is always in this mode and we can't help to tease her that she's going to be a great prayer warrior next time. Every morning after her feed, she will spend time praying with mummy for Daddy, herself and I. I always forgotten to say grace with her during her feed, guess not conscious enough. Have to try to make that into a habit for her. Every night, without fail, we will bless her sleep to protect her so as to enable her to sleep through the night peacefully.

Feeding

Sad to say, I only managed to breastfeed her till 3 months due to lack of milk, I was really devastated, depressed and self blaming myself for not able to breastfeed her. As I was not having enough rest, no help and she not wanting to latch on properly, my milk supply dropped drastically till the milk weaned off by itself. It was an emotional period for me as I refused to give her formula milk and insisting to keep trying to save back my supply. Unfortunately, the amount of stress and expectations I placed in myself had make the situation worse thus I learned to let go and trust in the Lord that formula milk is just as good. By looking at her now, I can't help to say that she is a Sumobaby! I make a commitment and pact that no matter what, I must succeed in breastfeeding baby 2 next time!

Sleeping Routine

Currently, she is able to have her last feed at about 10.30pm and will sleep thru till 6.30am or 7.30am in the morning. In between, she will fuss a little as she unknowingly flips to her tummy in her sleep and is unable to turn back thus gets frustrated and cries. Pacifier comes in handy at this time to put her back to sleep again. We hope that as she starts her solid food, she will be able to have more restful and undisturbed sleep. :)

Reactions towards unfamiliar ppl and places

Unfamiliar ppl and places can evoke her to scream and cries for security and comfort. Besides her own parents, grandparents and godparents, she will squirm her face, pout her lips and break into cries when unfamiliar ppl carry her or when she is in a total strange and different environment. It will take her a while to calm down by having a short orientation around the place and having her to warm up a little to the ppl. Once that mode is set, she will be in smiles again.

In 3 weeks time, she will be able to have her first taste of solid food. Currently, I am getting all the necessary equipments and things ready for her solid food. I still needed a hand held blender, a steamer and a high chair. Waiting for the Motherhood Fair at Expo to get great and cheaper deals. So guess she needs to be in her bumbo seat for her solid feeds for a while before the high chair comes in in June.

Items on hand now are baby cubes for her puree food, Dex dura bibs, disposable bibs, weaning plates, bowls, spoons and bottles, First Food Book etc.

I just can't wait to start!

Current Mood: Anticipating

Evan's 5th month pic

Evan's 4th Month Pics

Evan's 3rd Month Pics

Evan's 1st CNY

Day 1



Day 2



CNY Lunch at Holiday Inn

Evangeline Flips!

Today marks the day Evangeline flips on her own...did not manage to capture a video of her doing so. Will try to catch her in action when opportunities come. What joy she brings in my life. I am thankful!

Current Mood: Thrilled

A joyous addition to Evan's life

Yup, let us welcome ZhenPeng and Jocelyn to the family. They are officially Evan's Godparents and have resume their duties since yesterday. They were told of their responsibilities and gosh, this Godpa really dotes Evan lots. Can you imagine Evan can influence him to wake up so much earlier for church as he wants to see her before attending 2nd service? Haha. Thanks for taking up this daring challenge to be her Godparents. I am sure you are both very good role models for her to follow in Christ! Cheers!

Current mood: Joyous

Depressed! Milk supply has dropped drastically!

All I can do now is to pray, pray and just pray. My milk supply is dropping drastically. From supplementing formula milk for one feed once a week now turns out to be two to three feeds daily. I really tried all means and ways to increase the supply, finding out the cause why it drops and still, not much positive progress. I am super desperate and depressed now. I have already tried to rest more, eat well ( still struggling with this as housechores and Evan really take up a lot of my time) and sleep well. Honestly, I really dun know what's wrong. Ma Ma is helping me by brewing fish soup, black bean soup and any possible recipes that claim to help in stimulating production of milk. Let's see how it goes.

True enough, being a full time stay at home housewife and mother is not easy. Determination and perserverance are the only motivations for me to move on. Sigh. But I never regret embarking this journey. For the sake of my little Evan, I will press on to breastfeed her as long as I can.

P.S I suspect Evan might have eczema and it's acting up slowly thru the symptoms of rashes and dryness of skin. Cradle cap is the latest problem I am tackling now.

God, help!

Current Mood: Insane

You are such a darling!

Ringworm on her face



Funny faces of Evan during 2nd month

2 months old

To my beloved daughter,

Yeah, today you are finally 2 months old. These 2 months must have been tough for you to adjust to the new environment however you have done pretty well.

At 2 months....
* you can lift up your head to about 45 degree celsius since the 3rd week of birth. What a strong neck you have!
* you can sleep better now at night with a stretch of 5-6 hours without waking. However, it is not consistent. Still being trained and getting yourself used to it.
* you are still being breastfed however occasionally when Mummy's supply is low, formula milk comes in. But this must not continue too often.
* Finally, you have started to chuckle and smile and is more responsive to us when Daddy and Mummy talk to you. We were so concerned during the first month as you did not smile and neither do you look at us or even response to our teasing and talking.
* You start to converse with us with your ahs, errs, coo, uhs, gaas and we love those cute little conversation you tried to make sense with us. They are music to our ears.
* You do not poo daily now. Only poo every two days. However, those poos you make are explosive ones and you hardly fuss or cry when your diaper is badly soiled. What great tolerance you have, but not in this way please!
* You sleep lesser now during the day and often wish to play, talk and be carried around. The radar in you will start to response with cries once it senses that Mummy is going to put you back to cot. Sigh.
* you are a great observer, you love to look around and will be attracted to lights and will stare with great amazement for a long long time.
* sometimes pacifier doesn't satisfy you and your fingers will be the next best choice for you to suckle. What delicious "drumsticks" you have! Oh well, I have to add on too that you do make loud slurping sound with those "drumsticks".
* you have pretty strong limbs and arms. You will kick and push away anything that comes your way like blankets, pillows etc. Grandma always says you are super active just like Mummy when she was a baby. At times, I will find you sleeping at another angle or end up upside down the next morning cause you kick and move so much that you are out from the original position you were before you sleep. Sigh...I guess even the cot bumper will lose its purpose soon.

Poor thing, today you got two injections by your PD and you really screamed in pain. But you were easily calmed by pacifier and fell asleep immediately. I was sad too to hear that the rash on your face was actually fungus infection called ringworm! Yucks! Isn't that suppose to be on one's foot? Mummy hopes you will recover soon!

Anyway, Happy two months old my dear! Mummy and Daddy loves you lots cause you are such an adorable girl from heaven above!

Current Mood: Bliss

Cute pics of Evan During 1st Month

Evan's Progress

I thank God for the perserverance He has given me, the promises He has for me, the prayers being answered and the improvement in Evangeline's behaviour. And not forgetting my hubby who has been a super great helper. Without him helping, I would not be able to handle the intital struggles, stress faced commonly by first time mums and also the housechores and taking care of Evan.

Week 1-3

Overall, Evangeline was an easy baby and she still is. She only cries for milk and spent most of her time sleeping. She was still not responsive to us or even the mobile toys we placed before her as her focus and eyesight is not fully developed yet. It will take a while before she could see clearly the things before her. The only problem she faced was latching onto my nipple, having jaundice and blocked nose. The adorable part of her was and still is her smile when she is asleep. Yup, she only smiles and chuckles at times in her sleep. Guess the Heavenly Angels were with her then. She learned to sleep on her side which helped her to breathe better so that the mucus would not backflow. The most amazing thing about her is her ability to withstand the poo that totally soiled the diaper without crying. Therefore, I have to constantly check her diaper to see if change was needed. At week 2, she can kick vigourously, able to remove her mittens and booties by herself, refused to be swaddled and able to drink from bottle and cup withour any difficulties. I can say she is quite a fast developer in her psycho-motor skills as well.

Week 4

This week is the last week she will be at her "Mama's" house. My mum was trying to hold back her emotions as Evan has to go back to her own home and MaMa can only see her on Sundays. On the 19th Dec which was her full month, MaMa bathed her and trimmed her hair. Initially she wanted to shave her hair and eyebrows. Yup you did not hear wrongly, eyebrows!. Of course, we were protesting against the idea. I am not going to tatoo her eyebrow if they doesn't grow back. No risk to be taken. She was still feeding well however my milk supply suddenly decreased at Week 4. Not sure why it was so. My breasts were still engorged at night, thus more than enough for her but day feed was worse. Not much milk and barely able to replenish on time for her 3 hourly feeds. I felt super bad as certain feeds, I have to supplement with formula milk or the frozen breast milk which I pumped during the first 3 weeks. Sigh. Thus my pumping stopped totally as nothing much to pump after she fed. Pathetic I must say. She still slept 3 hourly after every feed and continued to smile in her sleep. The only thing that needed our patience was her cries for milk. She has no patience to wait and will scream non-stop till she gets what she wants. Milk! I must say her lungs must be super strong and well developed as her screams can collapse the whole roof down. That's my girl!


That's all I can recall. I really dun have time to keep up with blogging. I wished I could have the time and energy to jot down every little details in Evan's growth but being a full time stay at home mum and housewife, able to sit down for 5 mins to do my own thing is a luxury so is blogging. Will keep up when things are more stabilised for me. :)