Yesterday, I visited a long lost-contact friend, Ena. She just delievered her 2nd baby. We chatted as if it is an endless day beyond, which the topic lingers around motherhood and parenthood life.No more gossiping these days,okay!So, she asked me how shall she could exclusively breastfeed her 10 days old daughter. To me,I have a breastfeeding system that really works!! Well, actually, the system is universely practised world wide:)by working mom who wanted to continue breastfeeding.
Here goes the system :
1) DETERMINED & MOTIVATED
At the very 1st day you knew you are pregnant, you must have a great determination and motivation to breastfeed your baby. I had a bad experience with my Abir.I was only able to breastfeed him only for 3 months.Consequently, he is an asthma boy now. So upon knowing I`m pregnant my 2nd child, I started to determine that I have to succeed to breastfeed this time,no matter what. I reflected all my mistakes and other external problems that failed me before.
2) KNOWLEDGE
You must have lots of knowlede about breastfeeding. Believe me, brestfeeding is not a so-called natural thing, it need knowledge and skill. Get all you need to know about breastfeed from books and also the internet.I love my "What to expect in the !st year" book. It is a complete book for a mom who wanted to breastfeed. Aside from that, please ask around mothers who successfully breastfeed their child.As for me, I always discuss with my sisters in law, namely Kak Cho & Kak Ngah. They are the natural expert in breastfeeding chores.I also refered with the Hospital Lactation team who really help. Not to be forgotten, I once had a detail explaination through phone about Breastfeeding and working from Rita, Moms Little Ones.
3) FAMILY SUPPORT
This is very vital. You shall include your husband and parent in your major plan for exclusively breatfeeding. This is because, without their support, you will lose breastfeeding very shortly.Breastfeeding is not an easy decision.It needs a lot of commitment from everyone.I made my husband crystal clear that I wanted to breasfeeding and he have to support me no matter what.So, we put breastfeeding the baby as the major item in any decision.Alhamdulillah, I already moved to Teluk Intan and Abang is working at Sitiawan, when we have Aufa. So, during confinement we stay in my mom`s house and Abang was there to aid me in any problem. My experience with Abir,Abang had to return to work in JB, and left me with my parent during confinement.It was a very sad-sad moment though:(
4) NO BOTTLES
In order to succeed, please ensure that bottles are not offered to the baby especially during the early weeeks. No matter what the problem may arises, such as complains like "Susu tak cukup...sebab tu nangis aje" or "Jaundice baby...so needs add more milk" or "Baby tak reti hisap la.." or "Puting inverted.." or " cracked nipples "...which the lists go on.... Remember, offering a bottle will only confuse the baby and deficits the milk supply.I encountered all the problems mentioned with Abir, particularly jaundice. I gave up breastfeeding when he had a prolonged jaundice (his jaundice remains until day 26th), so finally after going in and out from hospital,we admit him to a private specialist center, where the Paeds told us to leave him at the center, but I shall stop breastfeed him. Ironic, we just agreed
:(, he was then bottlefed for 2 days and after that he prefers bottle nipple. So, when jaundice came to Aufa, we spent RM100 for an advance cup feeder by Medela. The special cup feeder avoids baby to get nipple confusion. Bottle are only offered to the baby when breastfeeding is already establish that is at week 7th. This is when the baby can differentiate 2 ways of sucking, a mothers nipple and the bottle nipple.
4)BREAST PUMP.
You shall have a good pump in order to get the maximum expressed breastmilk (EBM)for your child. Start pumping your milk after confinement, so that you have plenty of EBM for 1-3 days when you resume to work, where that is the time where you are adjusting to work life.Pump before and after of each feeding, and store 3 oz per bottles.I bought Medela Harmony from Fabulous Mom, which has 2 phase expression that mimmicks natural baby sucking.Aside from that, I also equiped myself with Coleman Cooler Bag+ice brick in case I have courses that travel is required. Other preferred brand for breastpump is Avent and Spectra.
5) PUMP AT WORK
It is very important that no matter how busy you are, you must take at least 5 minutes break to express your milk,which is routine for every 2-3 hours. Well, now is where you will find that a good breast pump will help you so much. With my medela harmony, I am able to get 3-4 oz of milk in less than 5 minutes. I also brief my colleagues about me having to stop every 2-3 hours to express milk. So, eventhough there are bunch of patients still waiting outside my room, I have to sneak out to the diagnostic room to pump milk.So, during 8am-5pm, I had 3 sessions of pumping, that could store 6 bottles of EBM.
Well....that`s the system that works well for every working mum!Good Luck to all mothers who believe in breastfeeding miracles!!
Shop Online?
I love both of them...a pretzel & pie.We will never left a mall, without having first couples of Auntie`s Anne delicios, fluffy pretzels in hand:) Well, I actually tried to bake myself the pretzel before, but it turn out not as like as at Aunties Annes`.So, I gave up trying and decide, well it is just fair with buying at the kiosk.Anyway, since Auntie Annes` kiosk at Jusco is 100 kms away from our hometome, yet I feel so missed to eat a pretzel after so long. Finally I bake once again today.It is sesame and honey-glazed pretzel.This time, I got the recepi from Zaar`s Recepi.The output, is considered 95% as at Auntie`s Anne. 
The pie that we bake today is a the pre- for PIE COMPETITION this Sunday. My mom who joins 10 NGOs such as KEMAS, Women`s Instittion,PKIM,Puspanita etc always take part in any Cooking competition by respective NGOs.And, she never get home without prizes, at least 3rd place.:)Today, as it is Public Holiday.., she ask me to try out the recepi first-Chicken teriyaki Pie, before she did it on Sunday.Pie is actually simple but yummy.Hopefully, mom will win.Amin.
• For starters with young children, as parents we can demonstrate healthy ways of expressing our own emotions.
• Use the word "I" to own the feeling. Start with I feel upset when I am not heard.
• Give the feeling a label for your child: "It looks like you're sad because your friend could not come over and play."
• Validate your child's feelings. Listen, nod your head, use short comments to get them to continue talking. Do not criticize or yell or your child will shut down.
• Make eye contact and pay attention.
As your child grows, help them to understand different emotions and why people react to certain circumstances.
Help your child to identify the following:
- How am I feeling right now?
- Why am I feeling this way?
- How would I like to feel?
The more you help your child understand his/her emotions, the more your child will be able to control impulsive behavior and cooperate with others.
By Marie Roker
*Personally, I am agree 101% with this marvelous article.Please read....
Although many parents are concerned with our children's intelligence quotient (IQ), research shows that a child's emotional quotient (EQ) is just as important for that child's personal success. So what is Emotional Intelligence? Emotional quotient is your child's ability to feel, while intelligence quotient is your child's ability to think. Although the term was coined in 1990 by psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer, the person responsible for bringing more awareness to emotional intelligence is a science writer Daniel Goleman.
Mr Goleman's book Emotional Intelligence brought to light the importance of a child's skill of awareness, empathy and ability to manage emotions. Although there is some controversy regarding how emotional intelligence plays a role in a child's life, there is evidence of the value of emotional intelligence.
Two of the multiple intelligences of Dr. Howard Gardner are Inter and Intra personal intelligence. Inter-personal Intelligence is the ability to relate to and understand others. Intra personal Intelligence is the ability to self reflect and understand inner emotions and identify strengths and weaknesses. Emotional intelligence combines the two intelligences and helps a child to manage their feelings and emotions as well as empathize with the feelings and emotions of others.
Should we be concerned about the emotional intelligence of our children? Yes, because part of growing up to be responsible, healthy and happy individuals is the ability to show respect, cooperate and have empathy. We live in a society that inundates us with so much technology that we sometimes forget the importance of human contact and relationships. Children need to be able to understand their feelings. We place so much emphasis on behavior, that we neglect the underlying feelings that create these behaviors. Misbehavior is sometimes caused by an unmet need. According to psychologist Abraham Maslow, "people are motivated by their unsatisfied needs".
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs illustrates the five basic human needs:
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. Only when the lowest of the needs (#1) is met, can a person start to move up toward fulfilling the other needs. For example, if your child does not feel safe at home, your child can not be expected to perform well in school (#3-Belongingness).
We also are not aware how our moods affect our children's moods. If a parent is stressed and constantly annoyed, the child picks up on that mood and starts to behave the same way. If we do not speak to our children about their feelings, acknowledge their feelings and validate their feelings, our children will not understand how to be responsible for their own feelings and emotions.
When children have their emotional needs met, they are able to make healthy decisions in life. Some of children's emotional needs are to feel loved, safe, understood, valued, trusted, listened to, worthy, appreciated, needed, important and motivated. To find out what your child's emotional needs, think about how do you want your child to feel and how you would like to create those feelings for your child.
Our 'balik kampung' monthly routine was due 2 weeks ago, but we only able to make it last weekend. Suppose we wanted to balik kampung this week, but there will be another Kem Keindahan BersamaMu scheduled on 28th.
Anyway, the balik kampung trip is okay. I actually bake an orange cake and apple muffin a day before balik kampung, but unfortunately my mom`s 12 years old convection microwave oven, finally got hay-wire!The cake was not cooked after the recommended time.So, I add another 30mins.But, it was still bot properly baked!Then my mom increase the temperature to 250`C, and at last it it baked but the output was not satisfactory.Abah said, there must be something wrong with the temperature calibration. Now, we need to find any electrical shop that can fix the problem.It seems that, our plan to supply buns to the canteen shall be postphoned now.
"Are you still doing that?" commented an acquaintance few days ago when my two-year-old daughter ,Aufa clambered onto my lap and demanded "Nak cak ummi!" What, until that time, had been a normal, nurturing part of raising a baby, suddenly became an offensive act of which to be ashamed. I found myself justifying my reasons for feeding a walking, talking toddler, as though I were somehow continuing to nurse my daughter for my own gratification and not because my daughter had chosen not to want to be weaned off the breast. Nobody can force an unwilling child to breastfeed and more often than not a child will wean herself or simply lose interest in taking the breast, so the previous argument immediately becomes invalid.
Naturally, breastfeeding a toddler is not without its problems. I have had to teach my daughter that if I sit down, it is not an automatic invitation for a comfort suck and this particularly applies when we are in situations when it would not be prudent to feed her, such us in public for example. Although I have no problem with breastfeeding in front of other people, as she can hide beneath my tudung (so grateful Islam oblige us to wear tudung),but, I am also sensitive to others' feelings and I would not wish to offend the more prejudiced with an open display of nursing a fully mobile, verbally communicative child.
Finally, the most important factor in any choice that a woman makes with regard to breastfeeding is that it has to be her decision and no one else's. Forget social pressures, forget "well-meaning" advice from friends and family and ignore insensitive or callous comments. A mother has to do what she feels is right for herself and her baby. If she is feeling ambivalent and is coerced into doing something against her will simply to please others, she will inevitably end up feeling guilty, resentful and unhappy and what benefit is that to a baby?
Ni la basikal kami...
Menyedari yang kami suami isteri masing-masing dah put on weight dan dah ada spare tyre di perut, abang pun beli la sepasang basikal. Kononnya, kalau nak jogging..jemu sebab tak larat nak pi jauh2.segan lak kat jiran-jiran.Tapi kalau berbasikal ni, tak segan dan boleh pi jauuuh.
Contohnya masa nak pegi beli basikal tu, kami minta Farah hantar kami ke kedai basikal dengan kereta. Sampai je, abang pilih 2 basikal & bayar. Kalau ikutkan hati, nak beli tanderm-bicycle(basikal kembar tu).Senang la aku kat belakang abang.kalau letih tak payah kayuh...abang je kayuh.Tapi, mahal sgt.RM800+. So, sejurus lepas tu, tanpa warm-up dan berbekalkan pengalaman berbasikal yang dah lapuk lebih 15 tahun dulu, kami pun dengan semangat berbasikal berdua-duaan dari Kedai basikal Nadina, Seri Manjung ke rumah di Pasir Panjang sejauh 5km. Orang toleh2 kat kami, ingat couple mana ni? Wuiih, letih yang amat kaki!Separuh jalan, rasa nak give up.Rasa nak telefon je adik aku suruh jemput dengan kereta.Tapi abang kuatkan semangat aku.Lenguhnya... tak payah nak cerita.Sampai je rumah, setelah berkayuh selama 30 mint, kaki lemah semacam masa pijak tanah.Haa..tak percaya?Percaya lah..
Tapi, sejak beli basikal ari Sabtu tu, sampai sekarang aku tak berbasikal lagi pun.Takde masa.Agak2nya akan jadi aktiviti mingguan la kot.Abah pulak yang dok berbasikal dengan abang selang sehari.
Abang kata "Ha...jangan jadi tukun sudah gerek tu"dlm loghat Kedah nye.
We`ve been thinking the most suitable present for our dear Aufa. Considering few factors, such as to choose something that she can share with his witt brother, we finally bought :A hermitt crab sea-saw, add in to the playground collection that we`ve already bought for the kids.
These are the presents that Aufa got from her friends :
1) Jumping penguin coaster from Aunt Normi & Milia
2) Ballet doll from Aunt Farah
3) Cheetah Junior shirt & pyjamas from Atok & Wan
4) Teddy bear from Aunt Nana & uncle Khalil (Firdaus & Harith`s parent)
5) Tweety bird from Wan Norsiah & Aishah
Aufa & Abir really enjoy the present.They learn to sea-saw together. But, since Aufa recovered from fever, she seems to have such an unusual behavior. She kind of showing tantrums when her request is not fullfill.I guess, she is still don`t regain her genuine mood.
As her age is approaching 2 years old on April 6th, Aufa had flu and cough which associated to fever. She had the symptoms since Tuesday until today. Actually, I am planning to wean breastfeeding her, which should commence at her 2 years old birthday, yet now I don`t have the cold-hearted to do so at the moment, as she is still unhealthy. Maybe my plan will resume next week.
However we still held her birthday party yesterday since we already paid the deposit at McDonald. Alhamdulillah, she was quite okay yesterday, as her body temperature has returned to normal.Only flu and fever persist now. There were 9 children came yesterday (Aishah, Fara, Hanan, Sofea, Sarah, Mariam, Milia, Harith and Firdaus). Actually, this is the first time we arrange a birthday party at McD. We must say, it is a wonderful party.More organized, with guided games and host by McD birthday staff. As the birthday parent, we only need to entertain the guests.No rushing to the kitchen to and fro. After the party ends, there will be no after-party mess and no clean up to do. Instead if you don`t have much time, no cooking prepation is needed. I only preparea birthday cake that is a vanilla tropical fruit cake.
The feverish birthday girl
The tropical fruit cake.
We bought package B which consists of :
Meal :
15 pcs fried chicken McD
40 pcs McNuggets
5 large French Fries
3 corn cup
15 carbonated drink
3 Mcflurry
Party Setting :
1)Party accessories for the children (fun traymat, invitation card, party hat)
2)McDonald mascott appearance
3)Game Prizes
4)Children songs
With Ummi`s friend-Normi & baby Milia
Straw games
A birthday child will be given :
1 Happy Meal
1 set exclusive birthday gift
Perhaps, if Aufa feels better, she will enjoy the McD mascott. But somehow yesterday at the party, she screamed upon seeing the mascott step in the party room.Abir enjoy his time playing with his friends and the mascott.
Cheerful abang Abir and friends
I knew something was wrong with him as soon as he stepped in the car; he was not as cheerful and energetic as usual, yesterday evening. He tend to be more calm and more sensitive. I rest my palm on his forehead and yes, he got some temperature. When he was not feeling well, he use to be a so-called good-boy . When I told him that we are going to stop at Giant on the way to pick up Abi, he was just nodding his head. There was no the usual Yippee yell. Upon arriving the entrance, he said “Ummi, ummi ada gaji dah ke? Abir nak makan fries dengan sos tomato aje” “ Ok, kita makan KFC.Tapi kita pegi toilet dulu.”
I just don`t know what was wrong with me then when I clumsily knocked him in front of the toilet which his head got hit the door. He cried, a weird response. Usually he could bare any head accident. I said sorry to him, and we done our business quickly. Soon, he had his Chicky meal with fries and tomato sauce.
On the way to Abi`s office, He dozed off with his eyes partly shut. Perhaps he was too tired. Pity boy. Abi got in the car and we get home straight. His temperature was 38`C and I gave him PCM, then he continued his sleep until 9.00 pm. At 9.30 pm, he wake up with a smile. He was feeling quite better. Had 10 spoonfuls of nasi ayam and his favorite Isomil milk. “Wah, anak ummi dah baik demam eh?”. He smiled , while his eyes still on his favorite TV show.
I slept late that night, as Abir was still not sleepy whereas my hubby was deep asleep. I did some reading until 11.30 that night, when suddenly he shouted and ran to me “Ummi, Abir tak buat homework .Nanti teacher marah!! Abir nak buat homework.” gasping as he said in one breath. “Ok ok, ummi ambil buku Abir.” I replied with puzzle. So, there he goes…doing homework until midnight. Hu hu hu, I `m touched. We went to bed at 12.15am that night. …
