Hubby's responsibility for breastfeeding wife

Dr. Sumayy forward this email to me..

Satu perkongsian yang menarik dr Prof Dr Muhaya:

"Saya berkesempatan utk bertemu dgn ibu kepada seorang ilmuwan agama (ustaz) yang tersohor pada masa kini. Melihatkan kpd kebolehan anaknya dalam menyampaikan dakwah, maka saya bertanya kepada ibunya, apakah rahsia beliau dalam mendidik si anak? Jawab si ibu, sewaktu si anak (ustaz) dilahirkan, beliau telah mengambil keputusan utk berhenti kerja bagi menumpukan sepenuh perhatian beliau utk menyusukan anaknya selama genap 2 tahun. Selain itu, pada setiap malam, apabila mereka suami isteri dikejutkan si anak utk menyusu, suami beliau akan turut sama bangun. Suaminya akan menyediakan susu kepadanya utk minum sambil beliau menyusukan anaknya itu. Suaminya tak benarkan beliau menyusu sambil baring. Sebaliknya, suaminya akan menyediakan belakang badannya utk beliau bersandar menyusukan anak sambil duduk dan memastikan keselesaan semasa menyusu. Bayangkan bagaimana emosi si isteri apabli setiap malam dilayan sebegitu oleh si suami"

SUBHANALLAH.... indahnya alam rumah tangga jika bersandarkan amanah dan kasih sayang kerana Allah. Tak mustahil jika mereka dapat melahirkan generasi yang baik akhlaknya. Persoalannya, siapakah si anak yang dimaksudkan???


Beliau adalah USTAZ DON DANIYAL DON BIYAJID;"

Honestly, breastfeeding was not an easy task. Since breastmilk is so easy to digest, sometimes (make it most of the time) your baby might wake up almost every hour to nurse, esp in hot weather like these couple of weeks.

Eventhough you breastfed her while lying down, who said you did not have backaches once you woke up? I woke up sleepy, tired and sore almost every day, but all gone once I looked at how contented Spiderbaby was.

Breastfeeding needs 2 things:

1) Determination - It's just how much you want it.

2) Support - Especially from your husband to make your hard work feels appreciated. Love might not wake up every single time I breastfeed Spiderbaby like Ustaz Don's father. Fair enough, I am surely nothing like Ustaz Don's mother.

When Khaira was about 4 months old, I discovered that eating chocolate could increase my milk supply. I started to grow a liking towards Oreo and chocolate milk. (Then complained berat badan tak turun ;p) So, it was really really sweet to have Love occasionally bought them for me and even sometimes out of surprise left it on my dressing table.

Today, when I was about to go to work, I found something in my car that made me feel appreciated already.. :)

Random updates

1. Khaira's passport

Okay, we did Khaira's passport a few weeks ago. Did you know you that need the original birth certificate if you wanted to do a passport for child below 18 years old? MyKid tak boleh gune adoi! And if you are wondering how they took baby's photo, actually you have to hold her while she was sitting down, but since Spiderbaby refused to sit, Love had to hold her. Price: RM100 for 3 years, RM150 for 5 years. Of course we did the 5 years though we wondered, bukan ke nanti muka Khaira lain sangat when she turns 5?

2. Mel's reception

Was super duper fun! Met all my Uniten's sweetheart. Had to bring Khaira since MIL not available to babysit her. Siann dia, past her bedtimes. She's a good girl though! Behave sangat!

3. Iza's (and Shariz's, haha) engagement

Awww..

4. Iraqian's breakfast

My colleague cooked everything for us. Sedappp!! Yumm!! :) Realized that they ate too much cheese!! --> Not a complaint. Hee.. Perhaps one day i can make a Korean's breakfast after habis berguru dengan MIL.

5. End of semester

Semester break = holidayyy!! Yay, this time it's Bali! In order to celebrate my break students like every other sem, this sem I bought them some muffins! As for this sem, bought this from Love's colleague, mini muffin, different colours represent different fillings. Sedap okeh!

Ok, tu je, bye!

Colic babies and solid foods

I am more than happy to wake up early in the morning to prepare solid food for Spiderbaby.

First, it was just mashing the banana, then I gave her brown rice, then I put some carrots and dates in the rice.

After a week of having carrot+dates, last Saturday I decided to introduce her to potato. She cosumed it a bit slower than carrot, but finished it to the very last spoon eventually.

Then that night, while I was nursing her (after about 2 hours nursing and sleeping non stop), out of nowhere, she cried at the top of her lung. Never before I heard that kind of cry. And normally she would stop immediately once I put her to my chest, but not this time. I shouted for hubby who was downstairs helping me with my laundry at that moment. He tried to console her, but to no avail.

We decided to call my dad (he's a baby expert), so both of my parents came. Rupanya, Khaira had a bad colic. Since I followed the four days rule (alhamdulillah), my dad said the culprit must be the potato. Kesiann Spiderbaby!!

She was recovering yesterday, but I became more concious on what I fed her. You couldn't help feeling guilty seeing your baby like that, I am glad though Love was there to support me all the time. He kept saying, "We have to try to feed her to find out eventually."

So, today, despite of tons of work to do in the office, I tried to find some times to do some research for Spiderbaby, and here's the list of food for colicky babies, I hope it helps.

Foods which cause a normal amount of gas (allowed):
1. Meat, Fowl, Fish
2. Vegetables: Lettuce, Peppers, Avocado, Tomato, Asparagus, Zucchini, Okra,
Olives
3. Fruits: Cantaloupe, Grapes, Berries
4. Carbohydrates: White Rice, Chips, Popcorn, Graham Crackers
5. All nuts
6. Eggs, Jello, Fruit Ice

Foods which cause a moderate amount of gas (may need to avoid):
1. Potatoes
2. Eggplant
3. Citrus Fruits, Apples
4. Carbohydrates: Pastries, Bread

Major gas producers (avoid):
1. Vegetables: Onions, Celery, Carrots, Brussels Sprouts, Cucumber, Cabbage,
Cauliflower, Radishes
2. Beans
3. Fruit: Raisins, Bananas, Apricots, Prunes, dried fruit
4. Carbohydrates: Bagels, Wheat Germ, Pretzels
5. Peas
6. Green Salads
7. Bran cereal / foods high in bran
8. Brown rice
9. Leeks, parsnips

Source from here

Some other precautious step to take is to reduce the amount of solids she take at one time; but rather increase the number of feeding. And to avoid drinking while eating.

I am somehow sangat bersyukur that it happens now, because I have time to let Khaira try the Heinz food that we bought for her before we go to Bali.

So, for tomorrow, I'm thinking Zucchini. Forget sweet potato and buttersquash nut. I will keep the post updated!

Geek joke #2 - Doctor vs Engineer

Nursing in public

I am still so glad that I manage to breastfeed Spiderbaby for 6 months now.

We all know that breastfeeding is the easiest way to feed a baby. Everytime she cries, I don't have to find hot water or bottle, I just feed her there and then. Even at night, when it gets really sleepy, I don't even have to get out of the bed to feed her. When I travel, I only need one important thing to feed her.. my breastfeeding poncho!

But really, how do you feel about nursing in public?

To be honest, I never at all feel shy about it. I think that the people and the environment I live with nowadays are more open about it. Plus, most of the time people won't notice whatever happened inside my poncho, so no problem there.

Plus most of the shopping malls nowadays offer very convenient rooms to nurse. I especially love the ones in Isetan KLCC, private nursing room with comfortable sofa, memang best.

I normally nurse Khaira in the car on the way to wherever places we are attending, so it will keep her full (and chirpy) for about 3 hours. But if she happened to be hungry and I could not find any nursing room, then this happened..



If you need to nurse your baby in public, here are some tips from me I thought might help:

1) Practice how to cover them!
Haha. Poncho, scarf, hijab, name it. Whatever you use to cover up. But the most important thing, practice! Practice to really cover them up and practice so that your baby will get use to the fact that they need to be covered up when nursing in public. As for Khaira, I introduced her to poncho as early as she was 1 month old.

2) Low key nursing.
Try not to attract people's attention on the fact that you're nursing your baby. Feed her before she made a scene; i.e. crying. We all know that hungry babies are not so patient. What works for me; buat muka selamba and feed her. Kalau segan2, people around us pun lagi segan tengok.

3) Choose the right outfit; ones that is easy to access.
My favourite outfit nowadays: my work shirt with buttons in front. If I have to wear formal, it would be my Kebaya or nursing jubah or kurung, tailor made by my tailor.

4) A good spot.
If you find a comfortable place for you to hide, even better. But, the most comfortable place for me is next to my husband so people won't even dare to give me a second glance. Hehe!

5) Confidence.
The most importat key. Why should we be shy to nurse our baby, we should be proud and thankful. Most importantly, we should educate people around us. Show them that this is normal. :)

All the best, you breastfeeding mommies out there!

Kalau ada tips lagi, silalah share!

Crossing the 3rd item in my 2012 wishlist!

Alhamdulillah :)

Spiderbaby turns 6 months today, and Alhamdulillah, I get to BF her everyday for the first 6 months of her life. A year and a half more to go, insya Allah. Ameen.

Only You know what's best for us!

Khaira's first food!

10 days before she turned 6 months; I just had to introduce her to solids. She was like a newborn again, nursing every half an hour at night for 4 days in a row. OMG! It was damn tiring to get up to work, I thought, "this is unhealthy; for both baby and me."

So, on 7th of April, after lots of research, I decided to introduce her to..

banana!

Why banana? Well, according to my research, here's why:

♥ Research indicates that bananas and their mucosal properties actually help coat the tummy and help aid in digestion.
♥ Bananas are sweet, which may help baby more readily accept the first food experience. The taste is close to breastmilk.
♥ Vitamins: A, C, Folate
♥ Minerals: Potassium, Phosphorus, Selenium, Magnesium, Calcium

Here's the picture of Khaira's first time eating solids.



She needs time to get use to it.



I didn't cook the banana, I just mashed it and I added some water to make the texture thinner. And of course, I followed the 4 days rule; to check for allergy reactions. I decided to feed her solids once a day for now, maybe twice soon. Even so, both meal would be before Maghrib to help ease her digestion system.

As of how much, two thin slices of banana for each meal seemed to be sufficient for her.

And 4 days after that, I introduced her to rice! I decided to cook for her everyday. So, I woke up as early as 5.30 am everyday, anything for the love of my life. :)

For the rice, I chose organic brown rice. Why brown rice, not white rice? Again, according to my research, here's why:

♥ twice the manganese and phosphorus of white.
♥ 2.5 times the iron.
♥ 3 times the vitamin B3.
♥ 4 times the vitamin B1.
♥ 10 times the vitamin B6.

It doesn't take that much time to prepare her rice cereal.

The weekend before, I washed the brown rice, dried them and blended them until they became powder. Then, I stored them in the fridge.



So, every morning, I just boil 10 ozs. of water, mix them with 1 oz. of brown rice powder and let it simmer until 10 mins, done!



Please pray that I'll be given the strength to cook for Khaira and to prepare breakfast for Love every morning. Insya Allah. Ameen.

I just want the best for both of them. And, I want to be creative with Khaira's food, so tunggulah! Will update with more creative recipes for baby very soon :)

Whee!!

*Info of brown rice and banana from google