Firstly, check out BPA and what they can do to humans at wikipedia. There’s a lot of information there.

I use Avent Airflex bottles, which contains BPA.  Now waiting for the BPA-Free version to be on the racks of major shopping malls.

Philips Avent also explains their position on BPA. Basically they are saying no extreme temperature of liquid should be poured into the bottle. No microwaving is recommended as well.

If you want to see a list of baby bottles whether the brand you using now contained BPA, this site has a nice list in pdf for download –>  http://www.thecradle.com/babybottles

If you want a list sippy cups as well, check this out: http://safemama.com/2007/11/22/bpa-free-bottle-and-sippy-cup-cheat-sheet/

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I strongly recommend string and button type clothings for newborns. Afterthat, just swaddle up the baby and you are done!  Fast, easy and need not lift up baby’s head while dressing.  I still remember the time when I had my first baby, I was not confident and are quite worried about carrying my baby, changing my baby etc. I quickly registered that string and button type of clothing work best in newborns.  For button type clothing, do ensure buttons are sewn on well that they will not fall off unless you cut them.  Material wise, get natural cotton or those with high cotton percentages whenever possible, look at the label, it will tell you the percentage and material.  String types as also known as Kimono Baby Wear.

For quantity wise, I will recommend first time parents to buy 5 pieces of short sleeved tops for day and 5 pieces of long sleeved ones for night (if you are lazy to do laundry, you can get more.) I change my baby’s clothing 2 times a day, subject to weather conditions as well. I also think its perfectly ok to buy nice clothing as baby clothes are so cute to begin with. We do need some nice outdoor clothing as well plus a nice swaddle blanket.

Swaddling the newborn is important, and when you cover baby’s lower part of body with blanket after swaddling, do tuck the sides of the blanket under the baby cot or playpen mattress, in a way that you are very confident the blanket will not cover the baby’s face, repeat that every time baby wakes up for feed, its important.  

Note: my tip is based on singapore’s weather.  

Newborns love to wiggle, it is important to note never place baby too high in a cot or playpen so that when they wiggle, the blankets/nappy will not cover baby’s face.  This is taken at Thomson Medical Centre.  Baby’s feet touched the end of the little baby cart she sleeps in from wiggling and waiting to be carried for feed. 

Baby in picture was taken just before her bath (yep, in this picture, she has not taken a bath yet after delivery), that explains why she has an additional towel like clothing, cos she’s not wearing any hospital provided clothing yet.

3 to 4 month old baby
When baby learns how to turnover, and enjoys doing so, you will begin to hate the string and button type clothing.  It is time to get round neck tees for baby.  This will work perfectly well for a long time, so I suggest you buy more of this, you can also get bigger sizes if you see a sale going on that’s too good to miss.  

Swaddle blankets   Instead of buying too many swaddle blankets, we used nappy cloth to swaddle baby and it worked great.  We then used the swaddle blanket to act as baby blanket. Comfort is the key, and it does not mean that you have to buy branded clothing. We do not put on baby’s shorts or long pants on newborns as it may cause discomfort to baby’s belly.    If you need more information on swaddling babies, you can take a look at this website:www.colic-baby-bootcamp.com/swaddling.php Singapore has a warm weather all year round, so its not practical to get swaddle blankets that are too thick.  Here is a picture of my happy baby swaddled up in nappy cloth.

With exception to Chinese New Year where I will buy branded clothing from Kiddy Palace or major supermalls, my baby’s daily wear are mainly purchased from pasar malams (temporary markets that usually pop up around festive corners) and local neighbourhood markets, there are tons of good deals available in Singapore nowadays.  My baby’s round neck tees costs around SGD10 for 3, and they are comfortable to wear.

 

 

 

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My heart goes out to the parents in China, where they are only allowed to have one children (only citizens in farming industry can have more than one child), and now they have to undergo the trauma of possible health problems in their only child, for kidney problems are usually for life….

I remember the incident in China earlier this year on babies being fed (due to heartless people selling phony milk powder) with milk powder that contained no nutrients.  And now, another milk powder incident surfaced, but this time with a death causing chemical.  Best part is, it really took them long enough to bring the matter to light as I read several news on this, there had been phone calls as early as March to SanLu, the main milk powder company who has the highest amount of melamine found in their milk powders.

Is the Beijing Olympics more important than the lives of humans, somemore, their own people, their future generation? 

Sanlu’s milk powders are also Inspection-free Products, a special status awarded by the government to the most trusted food producers.  This really came as a Shock.  It totally crashed the confidence of  their own consumers, let alone foreign consumers.

Nowadays, the “Made in China” brand has been badly tarnished by series and series of food and product scares, as long as a product is made in China, we will automatically link it to “Poor Quality Product” in our head:-

“no wonder this mobile phone has poor finishing, cos its made in China.”,

“are you sure you want to buy this candy? Its made in china, better not”,

“oh my god, the free bag given by <can’t mention names> company broke into several pieces after 3 days of usage, must be made in china, so cheapskate!”.

If you are interested to read more, here are some links I read on this baby milk scandal:-

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/china_loses_face_and_babies/

http://www.hibeijing2008.com/san-lu-contaminated-milk-powder-issue.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/fury-as-china-baby-milk-scandal-escalates-934993.html

http://www.ava.gov.sg/  (AVA Singapore has issued a consumer advisory on diary products, make sure you check it out if you are staying in SIngapore)

I especially like the phrase created by the chinese webizens: Foreign milk costs money, domestic milk costs lives! – This is my title for this post.

- Sweetietots

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I like baby teethers like this, when you see baby starts to drool and keep wanting to put things into his mouth (and he’s just been fed a bottle of milk, you are sure its not hunger), it maybe time to give him a teether.  A variety of teethers is good, introduce one at a time to “prolong” the lifespan of the teether, babies get tired of their toys easily.

  Johnson’s Baby Wipes

This is something I personally recommend, if you do not have a budget, as this is definitely more expensive than most of the baby wipes you see in the market. Why? because this is real gentle on the baby’s skin.  I used a lot of different brands of baby wipes, and this is the best one I came across.  The wetness is just right and easy to use, more importantly, occurances of rashes is so much lower than the other brands. Ear Thermometer

The ear thermometer is recommended by a friend when I had my first baby.  We had several other thermometers like armpit / mouth ones, and we do not like them.  Reason being, a ear thermometer is so much more convenient and fast, its difficult to keep a baby still while you are taking the temperature at the armpit. 

If you are wondering what brand this is? This is from Braun.  Frankly, I liked this brand and are using it. When I bought this, it is about $99 (Singapore dollars). Nose Cleaner

There are times when baby catches a cold and there are a lot of phlegm.  If you do not want to use your mouth to suck out the phelgm, it may be good to use this. I still remember I searched through the baby departments of major superstores and found Pigeon’s Nose Cleaner (there are 2 types, I got the smaller one). 

Basically, you try to baby to sit in an upright position so that the phlegm does not go to your mouth. All parts of the nose cleaner can be detached for cleaning. I tried the other nose cleaners as well (one that looks like a oval bubble), they just can’t work. Baby Socks

I used baby socks instead of booties on my baby. This is because I find mittens troublesome as they drop off easily. There are a lot of cute looking baby socks, if your baby is small sized like mine, I recommend fox baby’s stocks, they look great on the baby. Cooling Sheet (For Fever – and more for toddlers)

This is not to replace toweling the baby or toddler. There are times when I feel that a cooling sheet will work well, and there are times that toweling will be a better option.  Sometimes, I use both at the same time. Ikea’s Baby High Chair

I love this high chair.  Its reasonably priced and very practical. When your baby can sit up straight, you can place baby in this (you may want to add a pillow at baby’s back if you want) during feeding times. 

One note, Ikea sells the tray separately packed from the baby seat and 4 legs. Ok, this will be all for today.
My next post will be on my Baby’s One Year Old Ceremony (Chinese Custom). 
Thereafter, I will talk about Tips on Baby Clothings. 

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When I See Them Smile

When I see them laugh

My spirits heighten, expressions brighten

When I see them smile

I would tell myself, I want to see it again

When I see them smirk

I ask myself, what mischievious have they been up to?

When I see them frown

I quickly wonder, how to make them smile again?

When I see them cry

My head full of whys, will a hug stop the cries?

When they fell asleep

The sweet little face I see, quickly tells me,

“I am my mummy’s sweet little baby.”

~ end

Hope you like it!

With this post, I also wanted to inform I am in NEED of a Much Cuter and Sweeter WordPress Theme!!

Will keep on searching, while I source for more inspirations to blog.

Thanks for reading!

- Sweetietots

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Uncommon baby names came to my mind as well, for I wanted my children to possess a truly unique identity. Therefore, a name that meets all of the above mentioned requirements really is quite a task, for a child’s name will be with them throughout their life.

Here are some of the tips I would like to share when I was choosing my baby names:

1. Tip#1 – Relax, Choose Something You & Your Spouse Like

If you or your spouse like different types of names e.g. I like uncommon ones, basically spun off from those traditional ones that spells differently while my spouse preferred original, traditional ones, try to talk it out with your spouse, make sure both of you do not quarrel over this.

Tip#2 – Start The Search Early

The hunt should not be last minute where you feel pressured, it will affect your decisions and may trigger unhappiness in the family. My family members are concerned on the name we chose for our children. We discussed our shortlisted names with them well beforehand and get their feedback, finally choosing something that everyone is happy with.

Also, the meaning of the name is important to me, so I really took my time to search for something that I think I really like.

Don’t be skeptical about sharing the names with family members as they just want to help to do a check if the name will be appropriate or not, once you talked to them, you will find that they are just concerned and will not interfere in your final decision made by you and your spouse.

1. Tip#3 – Avoid Difficult to Pronounce & “Grow Into” Names

This tip is very important. I have seen names that are difficult to pronounce and people simply give a nickname to that person. Therefore I really encourage not to use such names. A name is lifetime thing, even if name change can be done, but still, it’s a lot of hassle and furthermore, damage is done before a name change can be initiated, ain’t so?

Same for “Grow Into” names. I had a grade school classmate whose Chinese name means “Beautiful” as in “Mei Ren”. However, she is rather dark and a very sporty type of girl, at that point in time, she certainly ain’t what her name suggests. She is often teased by classmates and she really hated her name.

Tip#4 – Check List of What Not to Choose or What to Include

Some families have a middle name to keep to preserve the family’s history, or some family members are taboo if their name is the same/sounds similar as the baby. (This is especially true in Chinese Families, they do not even encourage names that sound the same but character and meaning is different).

Well, I hope you find this useful in selecting your baby name. Happy Hunting!

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Tip#1 – Eat Brown Rice

I remember the times when my first baby came along, I was practically thinking about what food to make for my baby when he reaches 4 months old.

My colleagues recommended me brown rice powder with various Chinese herbs like, Si Shen (a herb stimulates appetite) and little amounts of some other herbs as well for a start, as brown rice is better than the normal white rice.

And I am very glad that my first baby loves it. The only setback was that my first baby could not accept any variations cos the Si Shen Brown Rice Powder had the ikan bilis and ginseng versions. He can only take the Original Plain Version.

When baby reaches 6 months old, I began to worry about his intake of fruits. My first baby does not like crunchy foods, a very good example is the brown rice powder, it MUST be fully dissolved, no lumps, else he will refuse to swallow it. To do that, you have to spend some time mixing well the powder with water, before you boil it. Else you will see a lot of lumps. Due to his picky eating habits, he do not like to eat fruits.

My mother-in-law is the one who took care of my babies’ meals. She will mix some fish or vegetables with the porridge, grind them into puree food and feed my baby. It’s the same for subsequent 2 other kids.

Tip #2 – Eat Home Cooked Food

Let me share the daily meal schedule with you:-

Morning: Baby takes milk.

Afternoon (12noon):

Baby – Home Cooked Grinded (Puree form) White/Brown Rice Porridge with Fish Soup or Lean Pork Porridge

Evening:

Baby – Home Cooked Grinded (Puree form) White/Brown Rice Porridge with Vegetables

Note: Ginseng & wolfberries or red dates & wolfberries is sometimes added to the cooking of the fish soup.  Once again, its really up to you.

Introduce one vegetable at a time (every 2-3 days) so that you will know if a particular vegetable causes any allergic reaction to your baby.

Tip#3 – Eat Fruits During Tea Times

Depending on your baby’s likes, you can give some fruits during the tea times e.g. 4pm or morning, say 10.30am.

My 3^rd baby loves grapes, while my 2 other kids loves bananas.

Hope this helps.

-Sweetietots

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