Mummy & Baby Moon

Many parents encounter the problem of baby crying at night and this could make the parents life a suffer. During early months of your baby’s life, your baby sleeps when he is tired and it’s really that simple! However, why baby cries at night? As parents, we always need to understand that our newborn has very tiny tummy and their diet is liquid and it digests quickly. Breast milk digests more rapidly compare to formula. Therefore it’s not realistic for a newborn to sleep through the night till morning without feeding. Newborns need to be fed every two to four hours and even during night time. When the baby is full, you can do little to wake him up when he is sleeping soundly.

We should also learn how to read our baby’s signal. Babies make many sleeping sounds, from grunts to whimpers to outright cries, and these noises don’t always signal of awakening. As a mother, we need to focus our instincts and intuition. When baby is making sleeping noises, they are easily fall back asleep and it’s a tip that you need to know.

After you have learned how to differentiate your baby’s sleeping noise and hungry sounds, you must react fast to her hungry noise. You need to feed her quickly if she is awake and hungry because if you are not react fast and let her cry escalate, she will wake herself up totally. On the other hand, she will most likely go back to sleep quickly if she wad fed fast enough. It’s often easier and take shorter for her to go back to sleep after fed.

There is a good idea to help your baby differentiate the day naps and night sleep so that they could sleep longer during night time. When it is her day time nap, you might put her in the environment with some noises and the room is not totally dark and quiet. But during night sleep, the environment should be more comfortable and need to be dark and quiet. You can also change her into sleeping pajamas at night to signal the difference between the two.

Develop a sleeping pattern is important. Put our baby down to sleep as soon as she seems tired. When she is tired and she couldn’t get to sleep environment, she will cry to show her tiredness. And also when we fix a sleeping time for the baby, she is easier to predict the sleeping pattern and sooner they will follow the pattern and tend to get more quality sleep throughout the night.

I would suggest you to take a look at the Baby Sleep Solution and I’m sure it can help your baby sleep through the night every night!

Sleeping noise by Baby Moon.. ZZzzzz…

There are many types of baby diapers in the market and also flooded with different brands of baby diapers. So, do you know which types and which brand of baby diapers is suitable for your baby? Basically there are two types of diapers which are cloth diapers and disposable diapers.

Cloth diapers - more environmental friendly and less expensive. It is softer and washable. We had used cloth diapers for Baby Moon initially and we save some money since cloth diapers can be reused. However, you know how many diaper changing that require in a day? The fact is a newborn urinates as many as 20 times a day and it’s important to change the newborn’s diaper every few hours to keep her dry and clean for the first few months. Sooner we found that we need time to wash the cloth diapers and we would like to have a more convenient choice.

Disposable diapers - It is more convenient and the disposables come with built-in plastic liners that can protect our bedding and clothing. For convenient and hygience purposes, we then use  the disposable diapers for Baby Moon. Nowadays many moms are using disposables when traveling.

What to take note when changing your baby’s diaper?
Diaper rash - The diaper rash is a rash or irritation on the skin that touches the wet area of the diaper. Many babies encounter the problem of diaper rash. My Baby Moon too. We have used the diaper cream for the diaper rash and sometimes we apply the medicine powder for cooling purposes. We have also tried to get the disposable diapers that allow better air circulate inside the diaper. Another way to prevent diaper rash is changing your baby’s diaper as frequently as possible. Do consult your family doctor if the rash is very serious and make your baby very uncomfortable.

Urine - I also check my Baby Moon’s urine when diaper changing. This is for baby’s health concern. Normally baby’s urine is light to dark yellow in colour. If your baby is drinking more liquid, the colour might be lighter. If you see blood in your baby’s urine, it is abnormal and you should immediately bring your child to the doctor and check whether there is any problem with your baby’s health.

Bowel Movements - Normally your baby’s stools are determined by whether you baby is breastfed or formula fed. If your baby is formula fed, his stools will be more tan or yellow in colour. During the first two days of life, your newborn’s first bowel movement was dark green or black in colour. Your baby’s stools change from day to day and is more depending on what is your baby’s diet.

You know how to change baby’s diapers?
The diaper duty is important and your baby needs to be changed at least three times a day before he or she is toilet trained. There are three basic things you need to get ready for diaper changing - a clean diaper (cloth or disposable), diaper rash cream and a small basin with lukewarm water and a washcloth.

If you have a special designed changing table for your baby diaper changing, please make sure that you have everything you need within your reach. It is dangerous if you leave your baby alone for a second on the changing table and think that he is safe with protective edges. Your baby might turn over and fall from the table!
I always change my Baby moon on the floor with a comfortable padding and this is to reduce the rish of a fall of Baby Moon.

Steps of diaper changing

• Remove your baby’s dirty diaper
• Use a washcloth and lukewarm water to gently clean the diaper area
• If discover your baby has diaper rash, apply the diaper rash cream
• Lift your baby’s lower body by the ankles and slide the new diaper underneath (newborn is fragile, be gently)
• Pull the remainder of the diaper up over baby’s tummy
• Attach the diaper at the sides

Practice make perfect! Enjoy your diaper changing with your baby because this is a good chance for your bonding too. The basic fundamentals of baby care like diaper changing is a must know information especially for first time mothers.

My Baby Moon like books a lot since she was a newborn. When we showed her colour cards, she smile a lot and tried to grab the cards. I started to buy her some books when she was 9 mths old and we also bought her lots of toys. However, she always played along with her books more than toys.

Since she likes books and I try to find out the benefits of reading to baby. Let’s share with you what’s my findings here.

• Although we know that our babies can’t understand what we are reading to them, but we should start earlier and sooner they could understand us.
• It is a simple and enjoyable way for parents to take time out and focus on the family.
• It’s a wonderful bonding experience and foster meaningful one to one communication.
• At birth, the baby’s brain is not fully developed but the more senses are stimulated, the quickier the rest of a baby’s brain will develop. Reading aloud to your baby is an important form of stimulation.
• It is a form of communication by reading aloud to your baby.
• It introduces concepts such as letters, shapes, colours and numbers.
• It gives babies information about the world around them.
• Your child will be able to talk better when the more stories you read aloud to him/her.
• Hearing words helps to imprint them on a baby’s brain.
• It promotes social development. When you read to them, you are inviting your baby to look, point, touch and answer your questions.
• It fosters communication and emotional development. when reading, you child hears you using many different emotions and expressive sounds.
• It develops your baby’s thinking skills.
• It’s a worth learning skill.
• Research shows that the if your baby involve the higher rates of learning at ther early years, this habit of reading will stay with them for a lifetime.
• It helps your child master language development.
• It molds your child into becoming a reader.
• It increased your child’s potential for academic success as well as lifelong success in general.

The most important is the connection between the things your baby loves the most - your voice and closeness to you - and books. This is my Baby Moon reading time again and hope you enjoy your reading time with your child too!

NEWBORN BABY

Congratulations on your newborn baby!! Being awaited for 10 months finally you’ve first met your loves one. As a new parent, we always hope and wish to give our cutie baby the very best. Yes! When it comes to nutrition, no doubt breast milk is the first and the best gift that you can present to your cutie. Breastfeeding is the most intimate and the healthiest way we do with our loves one.  Furthermore, breast milk is the best food that we can provide to our babies as we can assure the best quality of milk being fed, in which, it is unable being substituted by any other infant milk formula.

BREAST MILK VS FORMULA MILK

Breast milk is the perfect source of nutrition for our lovely babies. It contains just the right amounts of carbohydrate, digestive proteins, fatty, minerals, vitamins, acids, lactose, water, and hormones that fit your baby needs and growth.
As we know, formula milk is usually made from cow’s milk. Even cow’s milk contains most of the same components as breast milk, but it is not in the same amount. Cow’s milk has hard to digest proteins and it also lacks the immune factors (the antibodies found in breast milk) that help protect infants until their own immune system fully develops.

WHY BREAST MILK IS THE BEST?

We know that breast milk contains of Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an essential long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids which are important to the development of infants, particularly as regards their eyes and brain. Research shows that breast-fed children score higher on cognitive development as well as IQ test on school age and on tests of visual acuity. For a premature infant who receives breast milk, their future IQ tends to have 8-15 points higher than a formula infant.
Besides, breast milk also contains of valuable antibodies from the mother. This is because when the breastfeeding mother comes into contact with the infection, they makes specific antibodies and these antibodies transfer to her milk which is readily for the baby to receive when they exercise breast-fed. These antibodies may help the babies to protect against infection, for examples, gastroenteritis, respiratory illness, urinary infections and ear infections.
If breast-fed exclusively for at least 4 months, it helps to reduce the risk of juvenile onset diabetes and leukemia, and other allergic conditions such as asthma and eczema. That is why the breast-fed infants are always healthier and having the lower rates of hospital admissions, allergies and other illness than formula-fed babies.
The proteins present in breast milk are easily digested and absorbed by babies and hence, breast-fed infant seldom facing constipation problem. Unlike the cow’s milk as mentioned earlier, the proteins need to digest slowly and that is why the formula-fed baby does not starve as soon as a breast-fed baby will.
As breast milk contains all the nutrients that your baby needs and it is naturally produces especially only for our babies, they will stop sucking at the breast when they are enough for the milk. So, no excessive drinking milk will happen for infants as well as overweight.
Besides, sucking at the breast promotes good jaw development as well. The exercise strengthens the jaws and encourages the growth of straight, healthy teeth for babies.

BREASTFEEDING BENEFITS MOTHERS

Breastfeeding brings a lot of benefits to a newborn baby as well as for new mothers. It may be easier for a nursing mother to lose the pounds of pregnancy since nursing daily easily uses up approximately 500 calories, and hence, reduces the risk for long-term obesity. Lactation also stimulates the uterus to contract back to its original size.
Breastfeeding is the most precious time for both mummy and the baby. When nursing baby, a nursing mother must cuddle and hold her infant closely many times in a day. The skin-to-skin contact is a source of warmth and comfort and nursing baby sense the security from the warmth and presence of the mother in which, it improves the intimacy among mothers and babies.
A nursing mother may reduce the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and fractures from osteoporosis. Hence, breastfeeding improves healthiness of mothers.
No doubt breastfeeding is the most economy and a convenient way. A nursing mother needs more food and calories, but the extra food for her is not as expensive as buying a formula milk for the baby. Besides, through breast-fed, mothers have nothing to wash, sterilize or prepare. No one has to stumble to the kitchen during midnight for preparing bottle milk while the baby cries and a mother can doze while she nurses.
A breastfeeding mother enjoys a quicker recovery rate after childbirth, with reduced risk of postpartum bleeding, and risk of anemia by delaying the return of the menstrual cycle for 20 to 30 weeks.
As breastfeeding benefited both mothers and babies, why doubted?  There are no reasons why a healthy mother shouldn’t breastfeed. Start it from today as your baby deserves it!

Baby Moon is feeding herself

Today is our family outing to beach and this is the first time Baby Moon goes to the beach. There are few things that I bring along to make our trip more enjoyable. Here I share with you the things that I think we won’t want to leave home without.

1. Swimsuit - You can go with or without swimsuit. Some people prefer to have own T-shirt and short pants rather than swimsuit. It depends on your own comfort and if you would like to swim in the sea, it is advisable to put on the swimsuit so that you’ll not end up feeling really weighed down and heavy when you get out. I’ve bought Baby Moon a new swimsuit and I always feel that little girl in a small piece of swimsuit always looks cute. She is very excited when tried it at home. However, when we reach the beach, she doesn’t want to get change.

2. Sunscreen - This is the most important item that you shouldn’t be ignored and must bring along. Too much sun can damage and dry our skin. Apply sunscreen with a SPF (Sun Protection Factor) of at least 30 for children. Paying attention to your kids from time to time and try to avoid sun exposure during the hottest hours of the sun’s rays (between 10am and 3pm)

3. Beach Towels - Bring along beach towels for each family members and it’s always a good idea to bring along extras.

4. Clean Clothes - This is the must bring items and for you to clean up and get changed before heading home.

5. Shampoos - Hair and body shampoos so that you and your children feel clean and comfort after the salted water.

6. Sand & Water Toys - This is a must if you have kids. By nature, kids are active and love digging and building in the sand. I bought sand & water toys for Baby Moon and she enjoys the toys very much.

7. Drinks & Snacks - You can always bring your own food and beverages and have a picnic there. Do remember to bring lots of water, especially if the temperature is high, to avoid dehydration. Prepare your kids favourite food because they easily feel tired and hungry when playing around at the seaside.

8. Plastic Bags - The plastic bags are useful for the wet suits and shoes. You also need plastic bags for the leftover food or rubbish. Do bring several plastic bags along.

9. Camera - To capture the happy and sunny memories. The waterproof disposable cameras and disposable cameras for underwater use are normally available at the beach. You could also bring along your own camera but don’t bring an expensive camera because you might not have full attention for your camera when playing at the seaside.

10. Formula and Milk Bottles - If you are going with your toddler, do remember to bring along the formula and milk bottles. My Baby Moon always needs to have the formula before nap and we would bring along her formula every long hours outing. Today she is very tired and hungry after playing at the seaside for about two hours. She quickly get into sweet nap after taking the formula.

My Baby Moon seems like doesn’t like the sand, she keeps on cleaning away the sand on her legs and hands.

Hi, I’m Baby Moon. Let me share with you my other gifts daddy’s bought me from US. I have new shirts and skirts. Daddy told me now is autumn in US and not much summer cloths available in the market. So I only have two sets of new cloths.

Daddy also bought Mummy Moon a credit card holder and mummy loves it very much. The colour is very sharp and the design is very pretty.

See, I’m wearing my new cloths and reading the story reader!

Choosing a unique baby’s name can be very emotional experience. The most important thing to remember is to love the name. Here are some tips to help you make the right decision:

1. Always consider the last name of the baby. The combination of first and last name is important and when put the two names together should produce a nice combination.

2. Make your baby’s name a balance. If the last name is in longer lengths, then you might consider the shorter first name or vice versa.

3. Unique babynames always a great thing. However, try to think the possibility of trouble that the unique names might bring to your children when they getting older.

4. Avoid name like “Sweetie” or “Honey” because they are not suitable in a lifetime job and it will affect the baby’s entire life.

5. There are research that odd babynames bring negative effect towards baby’s life and they are teased more and less socialized.

6. Too common babynames would make your children more likely to be unknown throughout life. Or it can be a blessing too. Think twice when choosing a common name for your baby.

7. Avoid names that are obvious for teasing when your children is schooling. Schoolmates will always try to make nickname for others just for fun.

8. The meaning of baby name is important to your child in the future. Maybe the meaning is not important for you at this moment, but it does mean something for your baby when they grow up.

9. Don’t rush when choosing baby names. Take your time to get a good name and go for second best many affect you and your child for a lifetime. Always keep searching until you find a name that you are 100% happy with.

10. No need to name your baby before birth. When you see through your baby’s eyes, you will know which name is the best for him/her.

If you have two babynames and couldn’t decide which to choose, try to see if the two names can be combined. Let me share with you a very real story of the combination of two baby names.

My friend Irene has very special names for her three lovely kids and I think I must share with you all how special are the names of her children.
Eldest daughter - Chantelle Lee (Lee Ning Xue)
Second son - Landric Pharaoh Lee (Lee Kai Jie)
Little son - Maximillian Pharaoh Lee (Lee Rui Jie)

Their names are very long tail and special right? Well, let me share with you the story of getting the names for the three kids.

Chantelle Lee - Mummy Irene always likes the name of Chantel and she found out from a baby’s name book that associate names can be Chantelle, Chantal etc. And finally she chose Chantelle because it is a less common name in Singapore and more widely used in Western countries. In Asia, Chantel is more common used. So, she chose special name Chantelle for her princess.

Landric Pharaoh Lee - You must wonder how is the name from and why it sounds so special right? Haaa.. exactly like what I think when I first came to her son’s name. Well, the story is Irene found Landric in a baby’s name book too and the meaning is “A Powerful Ruler”! Wow.. And they decided to add a 2nd name to it also. Since Mummy Irene always have interest in ancient Egypt, so she chose “Pharaoh” - the king of Egypt.

Maximilian Pharaoh Lee - The little prince of Mummy Irene. His name is Maximilian Pharaoh and the name was inspired from Austria. The family of Irene were on a Europe / UK trip this Chinese New Year which included Austria. That time Mummy Irene was about 6 to 7 months pregnant, knowing it’s a boy. When they were at Austria, the tour guide told them the story of ancient Austria and a famous king named Maximilian. That inspired them to give their youngest son this name.

Very special right?! And the family of Irene even think of to adopt “Pharaoh” in their names for the rest of family members and so serious that thinking of getting a lawyer to add “Pharaoh” in addition to their name.

How you think of their names? Is this a good and special idea for you to get a name for your baby too? =)

See them also at “Let’s Be Friend” section.

Last week I have read news about safety of milk bottles in Singapore. Milk bottles which contain BPA (Chemical bisphenol) may cause abnormal development in babies. Since this is concern about the baby’s safety, Singapore’s Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) has given statement that after the test they had carried out, the milk bottles in Singapore are all safe for use.

AVA has advised parents don’t put boiling water in baby’s bottles as hot water causes BPA to migrate out of the bottle at a higher rate. The boiled water should be transferred to milk bottles only after it is cool to lukewarm in a non-polycarbonate container for our baby’s safety. There are study said that hot liquids actually dramatically increase the amount of harmful chemicals released by plastic bottles. This means the boiling water released bisphenol A from the bottles up to 55 times more quickly than the lower temperature water.

BPA-free bottles are now available in the market and parents can consider to get one for their baby. They can also consider to use the glass bottles if they are still concerned about the negative effects of BPA. And for the question of how long should we change the milk bottle, their advise is to change the milk bottles every four to six months.

Newborn babies are at a very sensitive stage of their development and parents should always make sure their baby’s milk bottles are properly sterilized. We should always clean the bottles and confirm it is germ free as the baby’s immune system is not as strong as adults.

Baby Moon has two milk bottles, one for the plain water and another one for formula milk. She is using the two bottles since day 1 and we totally didn’t change the bottles for her. We only change the teats quite frequently for hygience purposes. Since I have read the news about changing the new milk bottles for babies’ safety, I’m getting her new bottles.

OLD Bottles This is Baby Moon’s NEW milk bottles and she is still taking not more than 120ml each time.

How about you? When you are going to get new bottles for your little one? =)

Today just my lucky day! When I login to my Hubpages, I was informed that my Hub: Baby Safety - Traveling Safely with Your Child is the 200,000th Hub published.

I’m happy to share with you all the good news and you can view the announcement at Hubpages Blog.

For me, this is a kind of encouragement and I will continue to put in effort and submit good content articles to Hubpages.  =)

Hi, I’m Baby Moon and I’m so happy because daddy bought me a new kids game - Story Reader when he back from business trip in US. Wow.. this is my new story reader! And daddy bought me 3 different story books.

Story reader is a very cool game, it can be played in three ways:
1. Educational Video Games - I can access fun learning games featured on the last spread of each book. They also included the controller which is perfectly sized for my little hands and promotes hand-eye coordination as well as fine motor skills.

2. Animated stories - wow, the stories come life on TV! When I turn the pages of the book, the animation of the book come life on TV! Spoken words are highlighted on the screen, and characters interact. Daddy says the animated story mode is great for developing and enhancing word recognition skills.

3. Magically read the story - The story reader will read the story aloud as I turn the page! It’s magic because it always knows what page it’s on and only reads the page. I can bring it along when travel in the car or visit to my grandparents.

I’m so happy when daddy and mummy teach me how to play my new game and they help to connect to my big big TV!
Ok, I want to play with my story reader. Bye bye!