What can a 2 months old baby do?

Eunice is now 10 weeks old. Only 10 weeks old but EG and I felt that it has been so long that she is with us. :). She's growing so fast. We're observing many different things from her everyday and it never fails to excite us.

So what can Eunice do now?

1. She can smile now. It's the real smile... The previous smilings were only reflexes but now if you smile to her, she'll smile back. Sometimes she'll even laugh (with no sound) with mouth open big. It looks really cute because she has no teeth now.. :P... It just melts our hearts everytime and brightens our days. :)



2. She can do her baby talk. Since her 3rd weeks, I noticed she has vocabulary rather than just crying. Over the time, the vocabulary increases and now she can talk more to you. She can talk to you like she is trying to tell you something. Or when she's not very happy she'll talk like she's complaining about something. :). I bought a clip-on fan for her thinking we might be able to use it on stroller or car seat. While testing, I clipped it on playpen and tried on her and again, she got all excited looking at the LED light changing. The next thing we know is, she started talking to it. Huhuhu... Must be thinking the lights are responding to her. So cute right? :). But it's not cute when I try to sleep her and she starts to talk to me with her sweet sweet voice. It's a big NO-NO to respond to her as she'll think it's playing time. So I had to ignore her... so kesian, but still so cute... :)

3. She can focus now. She can focus on things and follow you when you walk around. We did an experiment on that. EG tried to walk around her playpen and her eyes followed him when he's walking. And she also looked at EG when he went upstair or came downstair. Guess now she's no more heavy short sighted but can see much clearer now. :)

4. She has fwens now. :). EG bought a very simple cot mobile for her in her first month but she didn't give any response to it then. But since last few weeks, she has been looking at them and when we turned the music on, she'll get all excited and her legs started to kick vigorously with her smiley face. In the morning I'll get her to talk to her friends while EG and I are getting ready to go work.

5. She can lift her head up for quite long now. Her neck is getting stronger. It's so much easier to burp her now. She will sit straight for you to burp her (as long as she's not sleeping :P) and the success rate for me to burp her now has increased to almost 95%! :)



6. She wants attention. She cannot sleep in the playpen for too long alone as she'll get bored. And she's start making noise. All you need to do is just to sit beside her playpen and talk to her. She'll be all happy again. :)

7. Now she doesn't want to lie in her playpen IF she's not sleepy. So now I really appreciate the rocking chair that EG's colleague gave us as a gift - which initially I thought it won't be much great use. I'm even thinking of getting a bumbo chair now but it costs a bomb for a small thing like that! :P


8. She now knows day and night (i think :P)... She sleeps shorter period in the day time (max 1 to 1.5 hours), but at night she can sleep for 3-4 hours in a stretch. I think we're consider lucky that now from 7th weeks onwards, she can sleep from 11pm onwards till 3am for feed, and continue to sleep till I wake her up at 6.30am for feed again before sending to babysitter. But sometimes she's still a naughty girl and wants her daddy to hold her to sleep occasionally. It's not very easy when you need to carry AND WALK someone who's close to 6kg for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Pamper once a while is OK but I'm not making it a habit for her either since I think she knows her daddy is pampering her like crazy. :)

9. She's a smart girl now and she knows how to put her hand into her mouth! :P... I don't wear mittens for her unless she's sleeping. And at first she put her fist near her mouth and started licking her hand, and now she knows how to suck her thumb! It's so cute when I first saw it but of course I had to pull it out to make sure it doesn't become a habit for her. :)

EG can even observe that she's now developing her personality. But anyway, we're just so happy with her everyday though sometimes it's tiring. As time goes, we find that baby taking care is getting easier along the way. And to see this little one grows everyday, it just warms our heart everytime.

Parenthood is just so wonderful. :)

Breastfeed VS Bottlefeed

During my confinement, I have already introduced bottles to Eunice due to some unforeseen circumstances. I asked a Malay lady to come and do urut for me during my confinement every 2 days. The massage took about 1.5 hours to 2 hours. It definitely will clash with Eunice's feeding time. So, I usually pumped and get my MIL to bottlefeed Eunice when I did my massage. Sometimes, I also pumped for my MIL to bottlefeed Eunice before she sleeps so that I can have a break. :P

However, after pumping for a few days, I realised I'm getting less and less from pumping. Previously I could easily pump out 3-4oz, but later, I could only pump out 2.5oz max. I got panicked and then I have tried my best to direct latch Eunice as much as I can to re-establish my milk supply. When my massage sessions finished, I never pump anymore and I direct latched Eunice all the time.

When I brought Eunice back to Penang after confinement, for the 2 weeks I have been direct latching her all the while despite her growth spurt and demanding feeding hour (every hour OK!)... Nursing pillow was my good friend then.

I called up Eunice's babysitter to confirm on the date when we're sending her over, and things that I need to pack over. The conversation went on to discuss about her feeding.

BBSitter: "So, how many oz is she drinking now?"
Me: "I don't know wor..."
BBSitter: "You direct latch all the while? Have u introduced her bottle yet?"
Me: "Yah, I gave her bottle during confinement, she's OK..."
BBSitter: "Nevermind, you try to give her bottle again this week and see if she can take it.. but don't feed yourself, get someone else to feed her..."
Me: "OK!"

At that time, I never thought that it will be a problem as Eunice has been sucking hard everytime my MIL fed her last time. And even I fed her with bottles before when I had sore nipples and I pumped out to feed her through bottles. Though many said it'll cause nipple confusion or baby will associate bottles with mummy and reject nipples, thank God it didn't happen to me then. So, I never thought it will be a problem to bottle feed her.

Until when we defroze one of the stocked up express breastmilk (EBM) for her. EG tried to feed her when she started fussing for feed, and I was standing at the side looking. Eunice was pushing out the teat with her tongue and crying. I was shocked to see her behaving that way. I never thought that she'll reject bottle!

We smelled the milk. We thought it spoil as it has some milky smell while fresh EBM is odorless. So we threw away the first 5oz of milk which I collected so susah payah... We took down another 5oz to defroze and thinking of trying again the next day. In the meantime, I found out from internet that defroze EBM does have some milky smell comparing to fresh EBM. So, the milk was OK.

I tried to fed her once also and failed miserably. She's hungry but she refused to suck the bottle teat! And it has been war everytime. So we tried continuously everyday at least once to twice the week before we sent Eunice to babysitter. We tried many methods where I went upstair (I even went bathing so that she can't smell me) and EG trying to feed downstair, or he went upstair and I was hiding in the study room. EG even tried to feed in the guest room thinking maybe the master bedroom also has my smell. But this girl she just cried and cried, kept pushing out the teat with her tongue. EG tried to squeeze some milk into her mouth and she swallowed a bit and kept crying again.

She even pretended to sleep! Gosh... I heard EG telling her upstair "Eunice, please don't pretend that you're sleeping... it's not funny...".. But everytime, she won the battle as she will be crying so loud until EG worried that neighbours will be thinking we're abusing baby at home.

But one thing is, when she was crying, and when I picked her over from EG, she'll stop immediately, and when I lifted up my shirt, she showed her very cute anticipating face again and when she sucked, she sucked really really hard - she's really really hungry.

Because of this - not only I wasted so many oz of my EBM, I was also dead worry that if she will be able to be fed well in the babysitter's place though many told me not to worry as (1) the bbsitter is very experienced and they will spoon feed her (2) baby won't starve themselves. But the thought that she'll cry very loud until give up and give in to bottles since I can't suddenly appear to direct latch her breaks my heart.

Inside me I still couldn't understand why will full direct latching for 2 weeks caused her to reject bottles.

Thank God that my parents came visit on the weekend before I sent Eunice to babysitter. I got smarter and when I'm expressing the EBM, I kept extra 2oz for my mum to feed her rather than keep defrozing the stock up for babysitter. Again, I went upstair bathing when I let my mum feed her.

When I came out from the bathroom, surprisingly I don't hear any crying. I only heard my mum said... "Eunice guai... Eunice good girl... drink your milk..." I didn't even dare to come down or make any noise as I scared she'll smell me again and dun want to drink from bottle.

After 10 minutes, my mum called me and told me that my little girl has FINISHED the milk! I was SOOOOOOOO SURPRISED that I smsed EG straight away. The next day, we tried again with the frozen breastmilk to make sure she's not rejecting the frozen breastmilk now, and again, she finished them all. Gosh, I felt so relief after that. On the 3rd day, I got lazy... I was walking around the house when my mum was trying to feed her. And guess what, this little girl she is just too smart. She didn't cry this time, but she didn't want to drink as well... So I direct latched her again. But I'm already much relief that she's neither rejecting the bottles, nor the frozen EBM. At least now I know she'll be fed well @ babysitter's place.

True enough, when Eunice went to babysitter's place, she can drink 15oz a day with no problem. And now, it has been increased to almost 20oz a day! I have to work real hard in pumping the supply for her!

Anyway, I still couldn't understand why Eunice will associate EG with me and refused to take the bottle from him. And I finally experienced that babies are really very smart....!

PS: Daddy was devastated coz he can't feed his own daughter. But then, we'll try again in near future to get Daddy bottlefeed his cutie pie. :)

Eunice @ Babysitter

I have not been blogging for 2 weeks. No, not because Eunice is taking up all my time. It's mainly because I have been busy with my own stuff. :P

I have sent Eunice to her babysitter 1 week before I started working. When I sent her over, deep inside me I feel very relieved that finally someone is going to bathe her, clean her poo and feed her. I planned out my schedule for the whole week to make sure I do everything that I wanted to do for so long - hair cut, facial, massage, shopping, etc. I even went marketing and cooked nice dinner for EG.

However, when I got back to home, I miss my Eunice so much. I miss her making all the noise at home, miss her shouting at me asking for feed, miss her baby talking to me, miss her yawning sound, miss her direct latching on me, miss her banging her face on my breast when she's hungry, and miss looking at her sleeping in her playpen. How ironic it is.

I even smsed the babysitter a few times to make sure Eunice is doing OK there. I know the babysitter can take good care of her since there're so many good remarks from friends who sent their kids to her too, but I wonder if she fusses, or if she cries, will they entertain her like how we entertain her? I never like to see my baby cry because I want them to feel protected and contented. I read somewhere that it actually helps to build their self confidence.

To my surprise, my babysitter said Eunice has been an Angel there. She eats well, and can play her own and sleep by her own. That's a great news for me.

When we picked her up, they told me she can drink 2.5oz up to 3oz bihourly. And later on after a few days, they tried feeding her with 4oz also she can finish them. Gosh...! I didn't know my baby can drink SO MUCH...

The first night when she came back, she looked SO CONTENTED. I think she has been eating well and resting well there. And on that night, she actually sleeps on her own after I wiped her. That's such a surprise to me coz we used to have to carry her and rock her a bit in order to sleep her. And when I woke up in the midnight, I saw her playing herself and smiling to herself in her cot. That's just so cute. I wanted to play with her for the whole night but I didn't as I know it's a bad habit. I need to make sure she knows it's night time and she shouldn't be making too much noise. :)

After a week there, my baby's cheek got bigger and firmer. Carrying her horizontally might be a challenge now as not only she is heavier, but she also has grown longer. I tend to worry if she's being overfed, but after checking, I found out that babies who are drinking breastmilk will not be overfed since they poo almost after every feed.

Now that I'm back to office, I totally miss being with her esp. now she can start to look at you, baby talk with you and smile at you. That's so cute. I hope she'll grow up faster and her feeding time is less frequent, and we can bring this lil' cutie pie out to do more things together.

First Outing to the Mall

Since I'm pregnant, EG and I have been looking around for baby gadgets. One of it is stroller. Though many told us stroller might not be very useful but looking at the fact that we always go out together, of course we'll want to bring Eunice along. And since we travel to KL quite often esp. to attend friend's wedding, and I also want to bring Eunice back to Miri next time, stroller is in my list for sure as I dun think we can carry her everytime.

We have been looking around for a light weight stroller and the one that won't take up much boot space (imagine if we go KL and the stroller takes up all the boot space, then where am I going to keep all the other shopping stuff? :P). Most of my colleagues highly recommended Maclaren strollers for the light weight but the price is kinda high.

However, after surveying around, EG really likes Maclaren strollers comparing to others as he said, it's sleek, stylish and light. He can carry with one hand after folding it up. So after Eunice is born, we got the stroller. And see how happy the father is! :P

The happy father with the new toy for his princess

The quest sport model

The stroller is supposed to be used for babies from 3 months onwards, but if we have the head support, we can use it for Eunice too! So, we got a Kiddopotamus head support for her and off we went to Queensbay for our first shopping together with Eunice!

See how happy my cutie pie is :D

Overall, she behaves quite well out there. I think she likes to go out (this is my gene) and it's very funny to see her looking around amazed by many many things. It just never fails to make me laugh to see her looking so curiously for the surroundings. Maybe she's just too bored at home, just like her mother me. :P

The stroller is very easy to use and it's very light to push. Though there's no front bar but it's 5 points harness and after EG adjusted the strap nicely, this naughty girl can't even move much inside her stroller. But she's still turning her head left and right to check out her surroundings and it's really cute. :P... And of course, she never fails to get attention from others as well. Almost everyone who walk pass will look at her. :P

However, she only can stand for almost 2 hours and she started to make the LOUD rushing sound - means she's hungry. So quickly EG made the payment for our shopping and off we went home.

But overall, it's a good experience to bring her out. We shall try again next time when her feed is not that often.

Temporary Fulltime Mum

It has been two weeks that I have been taking care of Eunice myself in the day time during weekdays when EG goes work. And when he's back, he'll help to carry Eunice when she fusses, buy food for me and do the housework when I'm tied up with Eunice.

So, many asked - how's it?

The answer is - it's VERY TIRING!

My everyday's job now is - feed, burp, change diapers (oh god!), bathe, carry when she fuss. Everyday feels so short now esp. at night coz I need to battle with her to make her sleep.

What do I dread to do?
Bathe her. It's not easy to bathe a baby esp. when she fusses. Thank God that most of the time she's still ok but it's a BIG TASK to bathe her. Everytime after I bathe her, I'll be sweating like nobody's business. Since now she still can't hold her head up, I'll have to carry her and support her to bathe her to make sure she doesn't fall inside her bath tub. And I need to talk to her when bathing her then only she'll be quiet. Another challenge is this little naughty girl will suddenly poo or pee after bathe and dirty the towel, new diaper, and sometimes the floor or bedsheet (coz I wipe her on my bed on the changing mat so that it's not so taxing on my back). That's really a disaster! But then again, I think babies like bathing in general...

What do I scared to do the most?
Changing her diaper. Baby won't tell you that they are going to pass motion, they just DO IT. That's the scary part. I kena few times with her poo on me when she poo together with gas! My Gosh..! The stain needs to be cleaned & scrubbed off seperately before throwing into washing machine to make sure there's no yellow stain on the clothes. I tried to make it fast but there are a few steps that I'll need to do before changing a new diaper - wipe off, make sure it's really clean, dry the pat-pat, put on some cream to prevent diaper rash, wear the new diaper. Between this, accident happens. Many times she'll just poo and dirty either the new diaper or the changing station, or the towel. Argh....

What do I can't do well?
I can't burp her well. I still can't though I have been trying to learn that from my MIL, EG's aunties, nurses from Columbia Asia, and the pead himself from Island. But I still can't burp her well. The success rate is only 50%. =.=! I seriously need more help in this...

What do I hate to do?
Sleep her. Everyday is like a gamble. I'm seriously not sure how she's going to fall asleep everynight. I just pray that she'll just doze off herself by 11pm without fussing too much! When she fuss, I have to carry her and walk around the room for hours to make her sleep. Sometimes I'm so sleepy that I just close my eyes while walking to take a rest. I'm still trying many ways to see which one works to make her sleep comfortably. So far I think swaddling her half body with two arms out help to make her sleep better. Will observe more and see. :P

What do I like the most?
When she plays with herself. She really looks like the cutest angel when she plays with herself in the playpen or cot. She's calm and just looking around in her playpen / cot quietly like she's trying to find out what's around her. And during then, I'll just call her and talk to her a bit, and continue my web surfing or do some housework or even cook some simple dinner..!

Another gesture that I love to see the most is when Eunice starts to make the rushing sound, I know she's asking for feed. (If I don't get her cue, she'll end up crying loud with tears...) And when I pull up my shirt, you'll see her very cute anticipating face waiting for u to feed her. It's really very cute. And sometimes when she fusses, I'll carry her and she'll start turning her head to my breast and knocking her face on my breast - then I get the cue - she wants to be fed. It's very funny to see her acting in that way - it makes me laugh everytime. :P

Overall, it's a very "special" experience to be a fulltime mother at home now. But it's seriously very tiring. Sometimes Eunice will fuss so much that I can't even go to toilet (when I'm alone at home). Weekend is slightly more relaxing as EG will be at home to at least help to carry her so that I can eat / go toilet / bathe. And now, I really can't wait to go back office to work as at least I can go out for lunch and have a break from all the feeding / changing diaper duties... (OK, I know I'm not a very good mum)

But then again, the thought of sending her to babysitter also aches my heart (and EG's) as I wonder if the babysitter will pay so much attention to her esp. if she fusses. Hmm...

Sleep Train Adventure

Since the 3rd week of Eunice, I suffered at night as my little princess refused to sleep at night and she wanted to be held else she'll be shouting. No, she's not hungry because she's fed before she slept. Yes, if you hold her, she'll be lying quietly in your arm like an angel but when you put her down, she'll transform into a monster!

Sleeping is so important to me. However, since I have this little one which I need to breastfeed on demand, I'm used to wake up few times at night to feed her, to the extent that if she doesn't wake up for feed, I'll still wake up to check on her, or change her diaper. But, I still cannot stand not sleeping till late at night. This little fella can fuss from 10.30pm when I off the light all the way till 3am... then only she's willing to sleep in her cot..! It's really a nightmare for me. Another time, she fussed from 3am all the way to 5am with no reason. I fed her, changed her diaper, made sure she's not too hot or too cold but she still fussed. I almost dieded. Mother in law came and help to comfort her and till 5am, guess she's too tired and she fell asleep finally!

I read up the internet / any books regarding baby sleep almost everyday during my confinement and try the methods suggested. So, after I brought her back to Penang, I make sure I open all curtains in the day time, on the radio / mp3 to make it not so quiet to let her know that it's now day time, and by 9pm I'll start to wipe her, feed her, carry her, but no talking, dim the lights, no noise (EG and I will be whispering) and try to sleep her to tell her that it's sleeping time now. It's a battle everyday. And I make sure she doesn't sleep so much in the day time esp. after 7pm. I'll do everything to wake her up - until the extent to wipe her face with wet towels. Kesian my baby right. But thank God so far she can sleep by 1am. But still we're not very happy about it esp. She'll wake up and fuss or ask for feed. And slowly she has dark circles on both of her eyes. :(

We later found out that it might be caused by evening colic. After the recommendation from my babysitter (yeah, I actually called up to ask for advice :P), EG went to pharmacy and bought Dentinox Colic Drops for infants as he also heartache see me try so hard to sleep this little monster every night. I also applied ru yi oil on her tummy to relieve her tummy pain caused by colic (though I'm not sure if it's really working but I just do everything that might help). So, so far, at least both me and EG can get 6 hours of sleep with some wakes in middle of course.

EG still wasn't very happy because he expects her to sleep through. Everytime when Eunice wakes up and make a little sound, the light sleeper EG will also wake up and look at her moving around in her cot. He said he pity her not able to sleep. And sometimes he'll actually go carry her and try to sleep her for 1 hour - which I stop him after he did it once as it might make it a habit for Eunice to sleep in the future. As long as baby doesn't cry, we shouldn't carry her esp. at night during sleeping time.

I then try to find some lullabies online. It works in the day time (or maybe she's just napping), but it doesn't work during night time. Argh... So I gave up, but I stick to the routine - wipe, change to pyjamas, carry & swing a bit, feed, and expect her to sleep soon.

When we see Dr Dan for checkup, of course we raised this concern. Dr Dan told us she's a baby. About sleeping through the night for 7-8 hours, Dr Dan said she's a 5 wks old baby and he doesn't expect her to sleep more than 3 hours a stretch. And her senses to differentiate day and night will only be activated in 3rd or 4th months. When I told him I tried to not let her sleep so much during day time, he asked "Why... just let baby sleep. She's just a baby..."

Guess both EG and I forgot the fact that Eunice is only a 5 wks old baby (though we felt it has been SO LOOOONG) and we should really give her a break and let her be a baby... :)..

But still, my sleep training still go on (just with less expectation) so that both me and EG can have some sleep at night!

Growth Spurt

What is a growth spurt?

During a growth spurt, breastfed babies nurse more often than usual (sometimes as often as every hour) and often act fussier than usual.

......

Physical growth is not the only reason that babies may have a temporary need for increased nursing. Babies often exhibit the same type of behavior (increased nursing with or without increased fussiness) when they are working on developmental advances such as rolling over, crawling, walking or talking. Mom's milk is for growing the brain as well as the body!

When do babies have growth spurts?

Common times for growth spurts are during the first few days at home and around 7-10 days, 2-3 weeks, 4-6 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months and 9 months (more or less). Babies don't read calendars, however, so your baby may do things differently.

More info @ http://www.kellymom.com/bf/normal/growth-spurt.html

I used to ask my friend who has been breastfeeding for >2 years why many ppl say if we can endure 6 weeks of breastfeeding, breastfeeding will then be a breeze. She said, because there will be a growth spurt on the 4th week.

I experienced the growth spurt on Eunice's first week. And I almost gave up. She was on my breasts for almost 24 hours! And every feed can be >1 hour. And after that I had all the sore & cracked nipples. Moreover, when I was still so new about breastfeeding, I just couldn't help but to think if she's not getting enough and hence the long sucking... later only I found out about this growth spurt thingy...

I suspect now Eunice is on growth spurt also since it's now her 4th week. She was asking for feed from 3pm+ to 9pm+ last night almost non stop. I only had 10-15 mins break to go toilet or take a quick bath and I had to feed her again. And today, she has been also asking for feed from 2+pm till now.

Now, I feel like a cow...................

Eunice Back to Penang!

After a month in Taiping, I noticed Eunice can start to focus on things around the rooms. I told EG I need to bring her back to Penang ASAP so that she won't get any anxiety later when we bring her back to our place in Penang (or actually I want to escape from Taiping after staying there for 1 month :P).

Eunice never really sits in her car seat before though the one we bought is supposed to be used from newborn onwards. When she's first born, she's too fragile. It's too scary to put her in the car seat so I used to carry her in my arm while we travelled from PG to Taiping - Yah dangerous I know but EG was driving like 80km/h on the highway. But thank God everything was fine.

So, after one month, we have decided to start letting her sitting in the convertible car seat that we bought for her (else wasted laaaa) while coming back from Taiping to Penang. I was worried that she'll fuss around in the car seat. However, to my surprise, she has been sleeping in the car seat for the whole journey (daddy was still driving slow so we took almost 1.5 hours to reach PG). I was even starting to get worried that she's supposed to get up for feed so my eyes never leave her during the whole journey to make sure she didn't suddenly get cranky.

My cutie pie in her Britax car seat

She has been again an angel all the way till we were like 5km from our home and she started to scream... Of course, she wasn't being fed for almost 2 hours+ and she normally will ask for feed in 1 hour to 1.5 hours. She must be very very hungry. Quickly I picked her up, calmed her. And thank God it's only 5 minutes to reach home and EG quickly opened the door and I rushed in to start to feed her!

But anyway, I'm really very happy with the car seat! We were looking around and checking out so much before we decided to get this convertible car seat. The price is reasonable esp. since it comes with a base. Looking at Eunice's response in it, it seriously worth all the money that we paid. I used to be worried that the fabric will be hot for her but seems like she's very comfortable in it. This will be her permanent place in my car wherever we go next time! :)

And yeah, Eunice is BACK TO PENANG!! :)