For my 8 month old, I've been blending potatoes with pumpkin/broccoli/carrots and for fortified goodness, breast milk as well. I also scrape half an apple to give her the mushy flesh. She loves the natural sweetness of fruits. And if constipation is a problem, mashed papayas and bananas work like a dream!! Try it, laifchan!
Speaking of which, this is the thanks I got for my hard work:
Siiiiiiiiighhhhhh....... :(I have another question: Has anybody tried those commercial baby food from supermarkets? Does your child like it? I tried once myself (potato and chicken--I forgot which brand) and I thought it was disgusting! But maybe there are others that are better? Do they add preservatives or additives? Is it really 'natural', so they claim?
Carpe Diem, ladies!
Becky
The contents of this blog are for informational purposes only. The content is not designed to be a substitute for professional medical consultation.
24 comments:
Thanks for sharing about leia's menu, becky
Ya, i think i'll try blending potatoes with other veges next week.
Jason finally poo-ed as usual this morning, thanks to the pumpkin minus the rice porridge yesterday evening.
I think jason was probably constipated due to the multi-grain rice. The current recommendation is to start of with single-grains as they are more digestible.
I have not tried the commercial baby foods in jars but have read in the Star last year that some enterprising lady in Sri Hartamas deep-freezes 'home-cooked' baby food in such a canggih way that it can be stored in the freezer for some time without preservatives. I think it was RM4-5/jar.
Jason is also on Nestle Cerelac cereal (single grain plain rice) coz we figured it was easier to prepare in small amounts for starters and convenient for travelling. Nestle was pretty savvy, it's just printed that the preservatives used are plant-based or synthetic.Will slowly try to switch to home-cooked baby food eventually.
As for Jason, he doesn't seem to be a fussy eater and will wallop everything when he's hungry though he'll look a bit puzzled during the 1st few spoonfuls of a new food.
As for his eczema, its resolving with the Clobetasone; don't think its food-related.
Ran out of pumpkin so will try papaya with cereal this evening. Difficult to stick to the at least 3 day rule of a new type of food-lah.
Oh, he got up and extra 1 more time for milk last nite, that's why I'll prob mix the papaya with cereal for better satiety.
Will be flying outstation tommorrow morning for a symposium. Trying to figure out how to pack my pump, steriliser, laptop etc. Jason will come later with daddy and grandparents in the evening by car.
Any tips on travelling and packing for a baby who's still on expressed breastmilk and just starting on solids?
Thanks
LF
First of all, let's welcome Nanamips to the group!! Hi, Nanamips!
Most welcome laifchan! As for travelling, how long is your journey? Do you have an ice pack? I think you can keep the breast millk in an ice pack then warm it up in a cup of hot water..a bit troublesome when on the road though. otherwise just feed rice cereal? Anyone else with suggestions? So far I've avoided travelling long distance while still breatfeeding.
Welcome Glory Yong and Sugarapple!!
welcome welcome everybody.
how bout a round of introductions....
I'm a first-time mama who's trying to juggle a full-time job and a 6-month-old. Thank God for a supportive family.
I work in a university hospital. A typical day involves seeing patients in the psychiatric clinic and lecturing/supervising undergraduate & post-graduate students.On days that I'm not on-call, I'm at work from 8-5pm.
As I stay nearby, I pop back during lunch to breastfeed Jason and feed myself :) My mum takes care of him while I'm at work.I'll express milk once at work in between his morning and lunch feed, previously twice (another time before going home in the evening)but slowly cutting down now with introduction of semi-solids. More on the challenges of breastfeeding later....just as an encouragement, its possible to exclusively breastfeed while working after your maternity leave, hardwork but well-worth it:)
yeah becky, i just bought a rather compact travelling milk bottle bag. Brand:Safe to go,cost:RM 109 with 1 ice pack-got a 10% discount. Had bought 2 more ice-packs same brand for Rm30 plus earlier, 1 not cold enough.
I had been lugging a big Coleman ice-box with a chiller to and fro work b4 this but figured i'd better invest in something more compact if i were going to fly.
I guess i'll check-in my mendela pump-in-style and steriliser in 1 luggage-bag.
As for now, will use hot water 2 warm milk in car b4 considering whether 2 splurge on a portable bottle warmer-anybody with experience with one? Worth the money?
hi! I'm AL. was introduced to this by LF. Let me introduce myself. my 1st baby gal is 8.5 months old and taken care by my parents and a chinese aunty that comes to my hse to help out as well during office hours. i work in a office from 8.30am-7pm but need to go out for day out-station trips on and off. i just came back from penang y'day and packed my medela harmony pump with the ice cooler bad and ice that came with it. the milk managed to stay cold for 12 hours! i used to express 2x in the office when was exclusively breastfeeding but since baby's on solids, express only once during lunch time. i started weaning her with cooked soft rice with breast milk then gradually added potato,carrots and 'por choy'/spinach.she doesn't fancy the instant cereals meixed fruits(nestle) stage 2 so i have to add in tomato and vege. she also doesn't really like rusks biscuits. tried Heinz pumpkin and sweet corn mixed with porridge for her but she doesn't like it at all! i had to eat it :( as for constipation, i give her mashed papayas (about 2cm x 2cm) 2x a day which works beautifully for her. previously she used to get constipated with bananas and she disliked prune juice (could see her face turn red as she strained). she also loves to make 'poooh' sound with her mouth while eating so the food gets spat onto whoever that feeds her and onto the floor. wonder if babies do that and for what reason? she tends to do eat when she dislikes eating something...
hi AL
thanks! Now I have a whole range of foods for my son 2 sample
ya, heard that many babies kinda like 2 spit while being fed. hmmm... mebe that's how they communicate their preferences and dislikes. will c whether my son spits when he dislikes certain foods, but then again, he seems 2 b taking after daddy's side of the family who don't seem to have problems with any foods, unlike me who gave my mother daily battles during feeding time. God must be merciful-my son didn't get my trait!
oh BTW becky, from the photo of your daughter, couldn't tell whether she was sitting on a regular chair at ground level or a high chair.
For now, since my son can only sit up with support, he's fed sitting in the bumbo chair put on the table top. Very soon, he'll be too big for that.
The bumbo chair is great to keep ur little one safely sitted in one place outside a playpen, but never leave unattended especially on elevated surfaces-some reported cases of accidents ending up in skull fractures esp when the baby is big and strong enough to flip while in the chair.
I guess a high-chair is only suitable when the baby can sit better on his/her own.
What's everyone's take on highchairs?
hi all,
I'm sharon, becky's sister. i'm a mother of a 10 month old boy. Full-time at home and conjuring up all sorts of things to make my day work. Yes, time is a factor. see, i can't even be bothered to caps my letters.
on the issue of feeding, when my boy was at the appropriate age for solids, i started him out on commercial cereals, the nestle range, because i don't know how he would react to other stuff. but i guess im quite blessed cause he is not fussy and he likes to try anything. and he has a tough stomach coz he didn't suffer constipation or other ailments.
my son loves to eat. he will even take the trouble to crawl to the parents and make smacking noises with his mouth when he sees us eating something. As long as it's easy to swallow for him, he'll eat it. Although i do recall the first time he ate porridge, it had blended carrots in it. He actually spat it out and said 'yeaaack'! So, i was put off giving him porridge for a while. But i must say, persistence is the key cause it may be the new taste that they are put off by.
Right now, he eats whatever is given to him, steamed egg, blended pumpkin (although i find butternut squash has a sweeter and nicer taste), porridge with red bayam, tofu, lean chicken, fish. As for fruits, he is crazy about fruits. Bananas, mangoes, apples, papayas etc.
I do try to give him diff stuff everyday or he'll get bored with porridge. On top of these solids, he needs his milk and rusk biscuits. Yes, that is how much he eats.
i just made something for his lunch before writing this so i'll share the recipe:
mashed potato supreme
potato (russets)
butter
milk
cream cheese (i had a half packet of these in the fridge so i thought, y not...but it's optional, and yet it does taste exceptional)
1. boil potato till soft
2. put everything in a blender or food pro
3. whizz, add milk gradually to reach desired consistency
i put him in a special feeding chair when he was young. it was given to me by someone, this chair had that fixture where you could adjust the hinges to go backwards, so he would look like he's lying down but not completely flat. when his back was strong enough, it was the walker. and now it's a high chair from ikea. i luv this high chair cos it has sturdy legs and because the seat and table is plastic, clean-up is easy and fast. They're not that extremely expensive either.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70146792
Hi AL! WELCOME to Carpe Diem Mamas! You're fantastic! You work, travel and you can STILL express milk for your girl. I salute you! Next topic will be about managing work and expressing-- Please share more ya? You can inspire other mothers ...
Let's also welcome new member Sharon Chieng, who looks JUST like her baby boy!
BTW, laifchan, what's a bumbo chair? Is it a walker that's locked down? Wonder if it's possible to include photos for us to see.
In the picture, my girl was sitting on a high chair--I think I'm one of the only TWO people I know in Kuching who use the traditional RATTAN high chair. I bought this in a very old rattan shop in Carpenter Street, Kuching and it cost me only RM70. It's sturdy and durable. When my elder girl outgrew it, she used it for her pretend play, flipping it and pushing it around. We like it cos it's so solid.
The only downside is the rattan strips tend to come out and it has no straps to 'tie' a child to the chair.. Therefore it can be a bit of a safety hazard as even now, my girl can stand up on it.. dangerous!! so we only use it under close supervision..
wow, i'm hooked 2 dis blog oredi
luckily its a quiet day at work 2day....
thanks sharon. I'll update my mum on the countless recipes we can have fun with.
yup, ikea high chair seems 2 b popular. thank you glory, i think your chair is somewhere in sitiawan so i don't have 2 buy :)
just wondering whether your kids were comfortable with dangling their legs without support as they grow bigger- a relative with the chair commented that might b a slight comfort issue, but then again, a footrest may be a bit dangerous in case they suddenly stand-up and climb out of the chair.
i'll try 2 post a picture of jason in his bumbo chair when daddy's around to load the pictures, actually got a video if can be uploaded. u can check out their website
http://www.bumbo.ca/
there is supposed to be a new additional feature whereby it can be converted into a highchair but not available in m'sia yet.
My mum used to put me in a walker last time, don't seem to have dev any problems with it but if i'm not mistaken, some chiropracters and orthopaedic people don't really recommend it. Also, close supervision necessary esp if the child is very lasak coz there's a tendency for accidents. Then again, what-lah doesn't need close supervision?
You said it, laifchan!
Topic for Tomorrow! Managing work/housework and Expressing B'Milk!!
WELCOME zionkch!!! Hope you'll find this blog useful and we'd love to hear from you too!! Carpe Diem!
one thing sad about malaysia is the lack of support for breastfeeding mums esp BF rooms. only a few shopping complexes have it eg jusco but as my bb gal loves to BF for quite long eg 15-30 mins previously, it was difficult to sit in the jusco BF room so i carried around a batik cloth to cover up where ever i went :P. now though as she's getting bigger she can pull down the cloth so it's a bit harder.
i bring along my medela swing pump when i'm outstation but as it's a bit cumbersome to set up and given the limited time i have to express my milk, i usually do it manually although it may not be so thorough. used to get pretty frquent breast engorgements bordering on mastitis but thank God that phase has passed. another problem i have is getting Jamie to sleep thru the nite. at 8.5 months old she still feeds at least 2x at night. She sleeps with hubby and i as have been unable to break the habit since she was 4 months old.. the crying it out method also will not work for me as i just can't bear to see her cry that long. any ideas??
as for hsework, luckily our place is a small condo 1100 sqm so can vacumn and mop on weekends. laundry is 2x /week...although a part time cleaner that comes 1x a week would be good.
As for highchairs, i was given one by a friend and have to strap her down to it as now she knows how to climb out of it and is a bit unstable. needs observation at all times.
Hi AL,
For my son, he's thankfully waking up only once at 3-4am for a bit of sucking from the breast between 11pm expressed milk and 6 am from the breast. I think since starting on semi-solids(2meals a day,morn and evening) he gets more full now, he is slowly reducing his intake by himself at 11pm from 4 ounces to 2 ounces over last 2-3 weeks. We plan to reduce further and replace it with water gradually. Can't tahan the cold-turkey crying method either :)
Learnt about getting hubby to give the bottle at 11pm from friend coz as a full-time working mum, she usually konks out at 10pm so essentially you have to get up only once to feed and hubby can sleep thru then.
Hope this helps :)
oh another factor i just remembered that mite help is this eat-play-sleep cycle (baby-wise by gary ezzo, careful about his other 'teachings' of scheduling which i find a bit too regimental)
We were trying to wean Jason off sleeping on the breast after feeds at night. At first, he fussed like crazy, so the compromise was to feed him an hr or so before his sleeping time but not till he's so drowsy and sleeps off so that he's awake for bout an hour or so before putting him to sleep. He still needs to be carried and lulled but it takes about half an hour compared to feeding and waiting for him to sleep which takes an hour. This supposedly helps the baby to sleep thru the night faster and some friends seem to think it works.
I guess breastfed babies kinda get used to the comfort of sucking the breast to help them sleep, some have compared to a pacifier so its either cold-turkey weaning (cannot tahan) or finding other reasonable alternatives.
Any other ideas people?
Dear AL and laifchan, for as long as I was breastfeeding my 1st girl, I hardly slept and it's the same for 2nd one now. For the 1st one, by her 11th month, I couldn't take it anymore and weaned her off 'cold turkey', the poor thing cried for a week--all the 'gentler' methods just didn't work! After a week (she cried herself hoarse), she slept through the night!! and so did I...some managed to wean off the 'natural' way--guess the child doesn't want it herself. Well, if you wait for that, it might take up till 3 -4 years!
AL, it's worse in Kuching as far as support for mothers and babies are concerned. NONE of the shopping malls have BF rooms or facilities.
BTW laifchan, I'd suggest u do a background check on gary ezzo. He was kicked out of church, the M.D he used to support his book wasn't really an MD at that time and some other dodgy stuff. Apparently, he was a self proclaimed 'expert'... just google him and see...
ya becky, we had our suspicions about gary ezzo. I'm against propagating his technique of 'scheduling' the baby so that they sleep thru the night by 2 mths-really dangerous esp 4 exclusively breastfed babies who run the risk of dehydration and failure to thrive. However, i think some of his ideas are not extreme or unsafe, as in all things, sound judgement and a balanced perspective should be adopted.
thanks for the caution about him-its quite scary that many christians (pastors included) seem to highly recommend his teachings wholesale. Maybe we need to highlight his ajaran sesat and put sorta a red flag on him since he is so popular.....
Right...plenty of research needed with facts to back that up... I wouldn't want to get sued either!
Maybe next time should have a topic that goes "Babywise Not so Wise!!" U reckon?
Beloved breastfeeding moms, I agree with Becky re: Kuching's LACK OF BF facilities so with my last kid, I searched the internet and got a friend in Singapore to buy a breastfeeding shawl (SG 22) and her hubby bought it in for me.
I used the shawl to breastfeed on Sundays while in church. That was almost 4 years ago. I still remember the weird looks I got. It wasn't like I was whipping out my breasts to breastfeed but the looks were just like I was actually doing that so many are still not used to moms breastfeeding.
I didn't care tho cuz I knew I was giving the BEST to my baby. After a few months, I think people get used to it.
A few years ago in our local newspaper they printed a picture (surprisingly cuz I thought our local newspaper would have edited it out) of philippino mothers sitting arounds feeding their babies with their breasts exposed.
I guess that's the way the newspaper was trying to promote breastfeeding.
One of my friends makes her baby food and put them into ice cubes. Once frozen, she'll distribute them into plastic bags and use accordingly.
Here's what I fed my last baby:
sweet potato
potato with some chicken or fish soup (no salt in anything)
pumpkin
porridge (chicken, fish, pork - only stock, no meat at 6 months; add meat once meet pop out 1/2 way)
oatmeal (blend bit more once you get it home)
steamed apples
steamed pears
freshly squeezed orange juice
spaghetti bolonaise (blend pasta with tomato sauce well until mush but can make the pasta strips about 1 cm long as they grow older)- note I made the pasta from scratch with no eggs as well as the tomato sauce
papaya mashed
wow you're a hardworking mama, wheat grass! i never thot of making pasta from scratch!!!!!
my family members are big eaters so to buy pasta sauce means ching ching out the door...easier for me to make own sauce even though it means more time in kitchen and I even have fresh oregano from friends instead of dried
I'm all for organic if I can find it
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