The girl who LOVES milk!

In a few days' time, Bean will be 7 months and that means she has started on solids for about 1.5 months now. Exactly how well is she reacting to her solids feeds? My dear readers, if you have seen the videos we uploaded on the first few sessions of cereal feeding you would have thought she's pretty much into cereals/purees by now. Wrong! Eversince don't know when (at least 3 weeks ago?) it has become a nightmare when giving her her evening feed. Strange thing is the morning feed at daycare (fed by teacher), she finishes it according to teacher.

Anyway here's a list of food Bean has tried so far:

01) Instant Cereal - Healthy Times, Only Organics, Heinz Vanilla Custard, Earth's Best (sample from Mummy Sherryl). Since she refuses to open her mouth during feeding time, I have resorted to mix about 1-3 teaspoons of cereal into her regular milk for night feeds. This way the cereal don't get wasted and she gets some nutrients.

















02) Homemade Vegetables/Fruits puree - Pumpkin, avocado, potato, sweet potato, apple, papaya. Rejected everything except for avocado which she showed great likeness for. I had wanted to re-do the avocado but the Fairprice near our home only sells Israel origin and when I cut up the fruit, it's spoilt. Phobia for avocado now. NZ origin is still the best. Papaya puree was fine only on the first attempt. To think I went through all the work (steam, blend, seive) for pumpkin and sweet potato and she refused to open her mouth at all.

03) Oats/Millet/Rice porridge & Poultry/Meat - Oats is very simple to prepare. Just had to cook it over a slow fire and it's ready within minutes. I used water for the first attempt (which she actually finished it!). Second time I used breastmilk instead of water and added a whole egg yolk as a bonus (no egg white before 1 year old). She refused to open her mouth on the second oats meal. Millet is very tricky to prepare. I have no experience with other grains except for rice. Had to soak millet for some time before it is ready for cooking. I cooked millet in old cucumber pork rib soup base and added in some soft tofu and broccoli to blend. No salt added as I scooped a bowl of stock for preparation of Bean's meal before adding seasoning to the whole pot of soup. Honestly the thing tasted quite yucky. K even said it tasted a bit bitter. Ok I decided to use normal rice for porridge the next round. I used regular rice (Fairprice housebrand which consists of 80% Thai fragrant rice, 10% red rice and 10% unpolished rice) which I recently decided to switch to (I give up on organic whatever. I need "Certified Baby-Eats" more than "Certified Organic" at this point of time after all the failed attempts). Rice was cooked in stock of sweet corn/baby carrots pork rib. When porridge is almost ready to serve, I added a small portion of minced pork seasoned with a little soya sauce. Don't lecture me on the "no-salt-before-age of 1 year" policy or the 4 day rule. Obviously all those theory crap (to me it is crap) don't work for everyone. How was I supposed to do the 4 day rule when my baby refuses to open her mouth during every feed? Even if I force the food inside her mouth, she will only eat a little and the next few mouthfuls, simply ooze it out immediately. It was like fighting a battle trying to push the spoon inside her tightly closed mouth. So I had to try new food at each meal don't I? How to attract Bean to open her mouth willingly during feeding time? Obviously to make the food smells nice right? Anyway, she did give me some face by opening her mouth for the rice porridge. K and I were quite happy about it. K even had good things to say about the porridge. At least it tasted like real food. So K and I were like doing a stage play, using a super high pitched tone to praise the porridge while feeding her at the same time. In fact we do the stage play thing at almost every feeding time and I always loudly remind K "Hey Daddy pls don't eat Bean's food". *LOL* It's apparent that out performance sucks big time. K was a little over-enthusiastic in feeding I guess cuz soon after, Bean actually puked everything out. Yes, including the first few mouthfuls which she ate voluntarily. What to do? Clean up the mess and bath her. I did attempt to give her the remaining portion left in the pot but it was just a waste of time. Hahaha...
















04) Teething Rusk/Baby Biscuits - Heinz teething rusk, Pigeon baby biscuit (courtesy of Auntie Yvonne), Gerbers puffs and 旺仔小曼头. Teething rusk was bought during the teething saga. First 2 pcs were thrown away after Bean soaked them up in her saliva stock and seemed not interested after that. Pretty normal I guess since I haven't come across any baby who likes it. Pigeon baby biscuits contain salt!!! That's the reason why I was put off by it but since Auntie Yvonne was so sweet to buy it, I let Bean eat it. Well, who doesn't like tidbits? Of course Bean likes it. We all had a taste of it. Everyone agreed it was pretty tasteless except for me who thought it is mildly tasty which probably is saltish enough for Bean since baby's tastebuds are very sensitive. Gerbers puffs (which is supposed to be very nutritious) didn't work either. 旺仔小曼头 was fine but it was only after she ate some then I realised they contain EGGS. Well what to do? Anyway I don't see Bean getting any allergic reactions after eating so I guess should be fine?
















05) All sorts of non-baby food - Too much to list out. Yes I know it's such a bad habit to feed baby with whatever is in our bowl but I was really curious about finding out whether Bean is not interested in baby food or just any food. Was having tea at TCC with Auntie Den on Tues afternoon and I gave Bean nibbles of most of the food we were having. Bits of beef patty, bread, tomato. She opens her mouth big big whenever I bring food near to her! Surprised right? And all the while we thought she doesn't like solids! So the very same day I bought Fromage (cheese) bread from Four Leaves for her dinner. She liked it quite a bit though she didn't eat much. Probably like 1/50 of 1 slice. Haha... I was at Four Leaves again 2 days later and she had a taste of "Hawaiian" bread; those small bread which was sold at 3 for $1.80. The following day I ta bao-ed a MOS rice burger while on the way to Clarice's. Yes, this little girl has had her first taste of fastfood. Not to worry cuz I gave her only the rice part :P. Well, not only once but twice! Another strange thing, she was ok to eat the egg yolk from her daddy's kway chap (we took the yolk that has not touched the gravy) but when I made hard boiled egg yolk for her at home she was not interested. Anyhow, she managed to eat about 1/10 of the yolk. Not too bad for a picky eater like her.

This is the Fromage bread from Four Leaves
















At least now we know she's just not interested in baby food so we'll continue to feed her with whatever adult food that is consumable for infants. No point spending time and effort keep repeating the same procedure now that we know her likes and dislikes right? Current favourite for Bean now is still Mummy's milk although we might start her on NAN Pro 2 anytime soon.

Cheeky gal!

Pics courtesy of Auntie D who came visiting about 1 month ago.

2nd dose Pneumococcal jab

As promised, here's the video clip of the jab taken by Dr Chong (Healthway). We took the 3 jabs package (1st jab done by Dr Eileen Tan) which is deductable via Medisave account ($300). According to Dr Chong, Healthway offers the best rates in sg. Even cheaper than Polyclinic rates. Dr Chong is extremely good with babies. See how he does it.

iphone lovers

Like father, like daughter.
Let the pictures do the talking :P
Sweet :DD

New year, new clothes

CNY eve - Pink romper (gift from Auntie Yvonne). Polo Ralph one hor.

CNY Day 1 - Floral dress (gift from Uncle Fai 舅舅). Zara baby leh. So sweet and sexy :D

New drink for Mummy Jo

Yes, I'm still at it. In the desperate/final attempt to boost my milk supply, I ordered these from drugstore (thanks to Mummy Jas for organising the spree). Fenugreek + herbal tea, how can I not have enough milk??? Provided I am disciplined enough to drink 3-5 cups daily. Hahaha...

虎年快乐

Beanster family wishes all a Happy and Prosperous Tiger Year!

Our first junkfood of the tiger year: Domino's Pizza. And it really arrived in 30min. On 1st day of CNY please!!! Served WARM. Goodbye 6-235-35-35 (not that they deliver to my area though).

It's Little Xiang Ying's turn now...

Yes... it's also time for XY to bid farewell to the wonderful teachers at daycare. How long has she been there? Let me see... Exactly 16 weeks (D, yes I like to count too!). I had been there with her for the first 3 days and she had adapted so easily. We were a little apprenhensive to put XY there initially. Will they take good care of her? Will XY get used to being there? Well, she did get used to the teachers very soon. No separation anxiety at all and so far, I get good feedbacks from all the teachers except the part where she often leaves behind 20ml of milk after each feed, which is well... not uncommon to us. Overall, the teachers are a friendly bunch, especially teacher Shu Mei whom K and me find has the most passion towards the babies. She appeared way too cool in the beginning but she was actually the one we could clicked with the most. As reported by K, she would rush out to carry XY every morning when K sent her over.

It was on the second week of Jan I requested to withdraw XY from the daycare centre and the very next day onwards, the teachers started to be 依依不舍 towards XY. Kinda like withdrawal syndrome. Haha. Teacher Poh Leng was like asking us why want to withdraw her since she's adapting so well over there. But as we have decided, I will be the sole caretaker of XY at least for her first year.

Some pics taken on the second last day. I missed teacher Azian! But not to worry, I shall be bringing XY over to kaypoh sometimes in the afternoons.

This is my favourite teacher Shu Mei. Cutie dress is a gift from all the teachers. See la people only infant and got farewell present leh.

Teacher Poh Leng. I think she is the one who dotes on XY the most. I missed her on XY's last day (she knocked off a 430pm that day). Heard from the other teachers she actually wept a little on that day!























And... the most meaningful Ang Baos from the teachers! I was so touched I cried when I read the messages back at home.

From teacher Poh Leng























From teacher Azian























From teacher Shu Mei
















I am so gonna keep these APs for XY till she's old enough to understand the message from the teachers.

First day as a SAHM/Housewife

K sent XY to school as usual. Me went to Compasspoint for grocery shopping, did few loads of laundry, went to Fairprice for grocery shopping (again!), prepared dinner and fetched XY back from school. Sounds easy eh? But all these kept me busy the whole day. I boiled potato for XY's dinner but she was too sleepy when she came home (did not sleep well in daycare) that she did not want to eat. Gave her a hot bath and she fell asleep very soon after.

Dinner for that night:

From left - Herbal chicken soup (Boy, I'm getting soooo good at making it nowadays), Stir-fry 菜心with mushrooms and 干贝, 麻婆豆腐. I cheated by using the 李锦记sauce. All tasted great!

P/S: K asked me was I going vegetarian when he saw what I prepared. Well, my answer is, chicken soup is cooked with chicken bone, there is 干贝 in the stir-fry and there's minced pork in the 麻婆豆腐. What vegetarian? *LOL*

Goodbye Coperion!

Remember during our primary school English composition lessons, most of us used to start our first paragraph with “How time flies” when we were asked to write a compo to say how we spent the school holidays? This is exactly how I’m feeling now. Kind of mixed feelings though. Been working here for 3.5 years. The longest job I ever held in my 9 years of work life.

The company culture is really quite different from my ex-co and very hard for me to come to terms with it. I will not elaborate things here but I’m sure my close ones already know it by heart (I complain so much). Although I complain about it but I’ll surely miss some of the nice people there, the shopping/pumping during lunch time and of course the location itself. During my 3.5 years here, I had the most major changes in life. I applied for HDB flat in Nov 2006, ROM-ed in Aug 2007, got the keys to new flat in March 2008, did my customary wedding in Sept 2008, conceived Baby Xiang Ying in Oct 2008, Mum passed on in April 2009, gave birth to Baby XY in July 2009. The list just keeps going on. I entered as a mid 20s young lady and left as a Mummy (Read: Auntie Jo). So many memories here. All the way from Plaza by the Park to Gateway at Beach Road. When I first joined the company, they were located at Plaza By the Park which is just about 15min bus journey from my parents’ place (I wasn’t married then) and yet I can be late haha. No wonder I kana blacklisted for lateness. But I’m so thick-skinned that I continue to be late and kana-ed marked even further. I was actually monitored for my report time and I lost 3 points during my appraisal last year for lateness (if you consider 10-15min late in the morning to be that late).

Still remember we used to pass by Gateway (Poly days I think) and I used to envy the people who were working there. Yeah, Gateway looked glam from the outside during those days. So when the management announced the move, I was elated. Only to realise that the walking distance from Bugis MRT is quite a pain to do everyday. And now with the Circle Line construction it's even worse. *LOL* So I bade my farewell on 10th Feb 2010 and officially start as a SAHM. I'll surely be bringing my little XY to Bugis some day to lunch with my colleagues at Coperion.

Beanster family goes shopping without the Bean

We finally tried it!!! Oh my, it was fun! No pram, no big bag full of baby stuff (my handy Avent manual was with me though. No cooler bag as it's fine to leave EBM in normal temperature for 2-3hours) and no lugging bottles of EBM. I was even telling K "Hey my arms feel so empty". We had left Bean with my Dad and Auntie Lasi on Sat which they happily agreed. I think they were more happy that we left Bean with them. It's a win-win situation here you see :) One minor hunch though. Since we had no pram, we had to carry all our purchases by ourselves instead of depositing in the pram basket or hanging on the pram.

For the 1st time in 6 months, K and I went out as a married couple, not parents. Was a great experience. Maybe we should do it more often in future. Bean gets along really well with my family members :)

Hm... I may have to skip the Feb family outing post then.

P/S: K also enjoyed it but he kinda wanna bring Bean along our next shopping trip. He likes to go out as a "family".

No need for NAN2 yet

As most of my readers already know, my 傻瓜人 rejects formula milk. I'm so fearful for the day that I'm unable to have enough supply what is she going to drink? So was I right to be so persistent in giving her total breastmilk? Or should I have continued to supplement at least 1 feed of fm to her since her younger days? Don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this. I see some mummies facing the problem that their babies are so used to latching that they reject bottles (though mine is the other way round *LOL*) and my problem (rejecting fm) is obviously not new to many mummies. As I'm stopping work in a few days more, K said I'm going to be with my 傻瓜人 24/7 so no need to worry not enough milk. I guess he's right... but then again I'm contemplating whether or not to open the small can of NAN2 sample I got from Dr Ho's clinic. Initially I was quite confident that I won't need it (I was planning to get HA formula) and even wanted to pass the can to my friend but I later on backed out cuz I'm not sure if it's a good idea to open a big can of formula in case she rejects it then whole can wasted (again). I'm keeping the sample can for trial to test if 傻瓜人 going to be more sensible in a few months' time or not. By right cannot be choosy on food right but this girl from the beginning already show her pattern. What can we do right? We were educated to do TBF from early pregnancy stage and not to supplement with FM. I spoke to a LC few weeks back when we had problem re-introducing FM to Bean. She's nice but slightly emotionless cuz she actually expected each and everyone to be able to bf till the kid turn 2 years old. Being able to feed for 1 whole year is already very good effort (just imagine lugging a heavy cooler bag to and fro work everyday and going straight home EVERYDAY after work. No meeting friends for shopping/dinner for 2 years. What kind of life is this?) in my humble opinion. I've targetted myself to give BM for the 1st 6 months of Bean's life and now it's past 6 months and I don't feel like stopping yet. Yeah very addictive. Haha... No lah in fact K and I got so used to it that it no longer bothers us very much. K supports my pumping "action" very much. He washes/sterilises the pump parts everyday. Although some days he finds it a chore but he's still doing it cuz he knows I put in a lot of time and effort to do it and he knows the benefits and nutritional values of BM so he would like me to continue to provide.

Well, after the teething saga (READ: reject milk/cereal) here's what I have in my fridge. * Winks to my loyal reader * Not that my supply increased but that she was drinking less those few days. Now back to normal.



Bean looking like Banana in Pyjamas in the cute sleeping suit given by Auntie D. Just woke up in the morning. Blurry faced still...



Clinging on to her favourite flavour of milk.

Bean's graduation present

The teachers at daycare like XY so much that they are telling me almost everyday how much they will miss her when she stops going there. I feel kinda sad as well. I will surely be bringing XY to visit the teachers in the afternoons. Still want to keep in contact with them. Never expected the teachers a daycare to be so warm , so caring. I never regretted placing my XY there at all. At the daycare centre, there is always children's songs playing and lots of toys for stimulating the brain. Most importantly, no tv available and the teachers stick to a schedule. XY is well trained in this way for her feeds and sleeping time. It's still some days before XY's last day but the teachers already prepared a lovely present for XY on Monday. She's still too young to know what's happening but I will definitely tell her about the nice teachers when she's old enough to understand.

Blur blur girl don't know what the package is for.

My nick for her: 傻瓜人. Don't ask me why but I just love calling her that.

Looking interested finally.

Mummy Jo wants to bond with Little Bean

My last few days with the company. Am taking a break from work to be a SAHM (stay at home mum) to my little Bean. It’s gonna to be very challenging this year for us financially but then again spending quality time with the little one is priceless and she is growing up fast! We (or I) got so sick of waking up at 7am everyday (yes, some weekends too) to express milk, rush to work, express again during lunch time, rush back straight after work to fetch Bean from daycare and rush home for third expressing session, bath her, gobble up takeaway dinner, make her sleep, sterilize bottles, do laundry, pack Bean’s stuff and last pumping session at 1230am. Thank goodness K has been taking over the night feeding shift since 1 month ago so I could have a “sleep through” night (He wakes up later than me in the morning). Anyway, that’s the typical schedule of my life for the past 3 months. It’s so tiring that I don’t even feel like stepping out of the house on weekends. Just want to nua at home. In preparation for the rest of the year, I’ll have to work out a proper timetable for weekdays when I’m home with Bean – want to train her to eat/sleep on regular timing. K will be having more of homecooked meals as well. He can even come back for lunch if he wants. People office near to home can? It’s time to deploy the help my Tefal steamer more often now and also high time I try out new recipes instead of forever doing the same old dishes.

Will try to be a SAHM for this year and see how it goes. If I’m going back to work in 2011, the same old story will repeat itself but at least I would have stopped EPing by then I think (I’m not a COW!). Shall see how things go. Counting down to THE day!

Teething woes

Past 2 days had been living hell for me and K (almost)... Bean started to have fever on Tuesday morning and I stayed home to attend to her. I did not bring her to the doctor's since I am very sure Dr Tan will surely give Panadol syrup which we already have a bottle on standby. I sponged Bean with tap water and stripped her down to only her diapers. Also tried the cooling pad (which kept falling off). Ok her temperature went down. She was grouchy the whole of Tuesday but nothing I could not handle. We thought the fever was triggered by the 2nd dose of Pneumococcal jab she did the Sat before. By evening, her grouchiness got worse. Fussed, whined, cried, did everything unlike her usual behaviour. It was only then we deduced she was teething and hence felt the discomfort. She couldn't drink nor eat well. Each time she sucked on the bottle teat, she would drink hungrily only to stop herself promptly after she felt the pain and discomfort at her gums. It was so heartbreaking to see her like that. It was the worse night in the past 6 months she cried non-stop. We applied Bonjela on her gums and I think this made the pain worse and she screamed really hard whenever we did that. (I joked to K: So sometimes when we heard neighbour's baby crying badly, it could be due to teething eh?) She could not sleep well at all. She would sleep and wake up every 1-1.5 hours to cry starting from about 10pm. The whole family can't sleep at all. At 330am I was awakened by her cries and I went over to carry her. She was feverish again. Same thing, we stripped her down to only her diaper. This time I used ice wrapped in plastics bag covered with towel to rub her whole body and put the pack on her fore head. All done in our airconditioned room. Sounds very 狠心 but this is a very effective way to bring down her temperature. Better we do it now than the nurses do it at the hospital. Sorry Panadol syrup does not work anymore since she is on milk strike and forcing it down her throat with the syringe does not work every time. We were contemplating to bring her to Mount Alvernia A&E. 24 hour clinic was not a choice since they (highly possible) could be giving Panadol or refer us to KKH A&E. Anyway using the ice method, we were able to bring down her temperature. By this time it was almost 5am. I can't remember what happened next cuz I dozed off. K had to take the day off for her since we could not possibly send her to daycare and I can't possibly take yet another day off. I was getting ready to leave for work when K woke up and asked me to prepare cereal for Bean's breakfast. No choice. Since she could not suck from her bottle, we had to give her cereal early in the morning. Anything to fill up that little stomach which had not much food from the day before. Well, she did not want cereal too and cried so hard. We decided to bring her to the doctor's. While waiting for the Q, I went off to work. Later on I found out from K there was no medication given. Not even teething gel or tablet. They waited a long time and Dr Tan had no solution for us except to try to feed her slowly. (Dr Tan is a GP not a PD. We don't send Bean to PD.) K had a tough time the whole day. Bean keep wanting to be carried, refused to be put down, refused milk. He spoonfed her some milk and succeeded but he claimed that have to pour the milk into her usual Avent bottle if not she refuse to drink. Reason being: she will keep staring at the bottle to make sure is her milk and then when almost left 20ml she will call for stop (Bean has the habit to leave 20-40ml milk in the bottle. Trying to act lady and don't finish the whole bottle.) The other way to sooth her (besides continue to carry her) is to put her in her pram and bring her downstairs for walks. Haha the last walk I bumped into them while I was on my way back from work. K said that was the only way she can stop crying. By late evening things seemed to have gotten better (although she still rejected cereal and milk and still whiny) and I was able to put Bean to bed by 845pm. She slept only for 30min which gave us time to shower, hang her laundry and sterilise her bottles. Another 1hr+ to make her sleep again. This time she slept from 11pm all the way to 3am. K actually managed to bottle feed her 1 feed of milk and she continued to sleep till 7am after which the whole family woke up again. Me, my usual wake up time. K, to start to entertain Bean in case she cranky again. Truth is: He couldn't wait to "dump" her to daycare! Hehe. Anyway the worse part is over and she was feeling much better today. Feedback from the teachers in daycare, she wasn't her usual cheerful self but not too cranky either. Cereal and milk feed was ok but she drank lesser milk than usual. Best part is she slept all the way from 11am to 3pm. See how sleep deprived she is! She managed to eat half her cereal during dinner time. Slept at 915pm till now (1050pm). Now we are anticipating when she will wake up for her next feed. K has a night job tonight at 2am. Gosh I am on night shift tonight. Very fearful now!

P/S: By the way, the Heinz teething rusk wasn't very useful. Bean was not that interested in it and soon throw it aside.

The 6 monther Bean

* Purposely update many entries to make my most loyal reader late for work. Haha evil Mummy *

A few days late actually. Bean turned 6 months last Sat (30th Jan) and we brought her for her 2nd dose of Pneumococcal jab. Found out that the nearby clinic has a package and can use Medisave to deduct so we switched clinic for the Pneumococcal jab. Hexa (6 in 1) will be still done at the regular GP since already done 2 there. Sure I will post a video of the process. Don't worry la eventhough parents very sadist but this time round doc very good so almost no crying. Current weight is 5.7kg. Yes, still very petite.

Some random pics taken few days back:





Yes, her hair finally grow long a bit.



This pic has slight resemblence to baby Adelle.

Grouchy look.

Bean's first fever

XY was exceptionally grouchy this morning starting from 530am. K was sleepy (he did her 230am feed) so I was arrowed to do the second feed. Sigh... Bean is still waking up up to 2 times for feeds. Not sure should we start to wean her off these feeds but she drinks so little that we can't bear to do it. She only drinks 70-90ml each night feed. Very little right?

Ok, anyway back to topic. I fell asleep while milk was warming up and i arrowed it back to K who ALWAYS wakes up later than me. Strangely Bean does not want to drink and seemed very whiny which isn't her usual self. Well, as I said I was simply too sleepy and I had not done night duty eversince Bean refuses to latch so i continued to sleep while K handled her. Not sure what he did but I think he brought her out to living room for a while and cradled her for some time. * ME: Sleep sleep *

Just as I got out from the shower and was getting ready for work, K suddenly told me Bean felt feverish. I touched her body. Yes, definitely. Didn't need a thermometer for that. No wonder she had been grouchy since the early hours and what was this Mummy doing??? Sleeping away. So I decided to stay home for today with Bean. K wouldn't know how to handle it I assume.

Grouchy Bean. Luckily I have Pigeon cooling patch on standby.



Sleepy cuz not feeling well can't sleep...

Poor thing...



Wet towel to bring down her temperature and to cover her 两点 *LOL*

Sick but still cheeky.





Finally after 20min of coaxing, she managed to fall asleep.
But only for 30min and I gave her a bath after she awoke.

Bean-style Push-ups