Syifaa at 5 months

My baby girl is 5 months already.... alhamdulillah her sleeping pattern has improved a lot although once in a while i still have to review the book again to check if im doing it alright.

Syifaa loves sucking her thumb now, i have been thinking if i should stop her from doing that but most online reading i did says that thumb sucking is good at this age as it is a sign that the child can calm herself and it is also not a major concern until the permanent teeth comes out.

So baby girl, ill let you suck your thumb and if the need arises we will put braces on your teeth : ).

Most Infants Self-Pacify

Most experts agree that a thumb-sucker younger than 5 shouldn't be pressured to stop. Most children will give up the habit on their own before they enter kindergarten.

"Thumb-sucking is an appropriate and useful behavior for very young children," says Linda Goldstein, MD, a Washington pediatrician. "It allows them to comfort and entertain themselves."

In fact, more than three-quarters of infants suck their thumbs or fingers through the first year of life. A child usually turns to the thumb when bored, tired, or upset. It is not uncommon to see a thumb-sucker simultaneously engage in other behaviors, such as twirling a strand of hair, holding onto an ear, or rubbing a blankie.

"Even when the habit lingers past infancy, thumb-sucking is rarely something to be concerned about. It doesn't indicate that a child has emotional problems or that he will still be sucking his finger when he's a teenager," says Sabine Hack, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine.

-taken from http://www.webmd.com/baby/features/breaking-thumb-sucking-habit

Milk Supply

When Syifaa was 3 months++ my milk supply went really low, that one night she was just unsatisfied so i took some EBM from the freezer but baby girl refuses the bottle i had at home which led me to plan B and called my sister for help. She brought different teats that she thought my baby would be ok with but still baby girl refuses milk form the bottle 

which in the end led us to plan C , since my  nephew who was 1yr 10mnth at that time was still being breastfeed, Syifaa had a share of the milk. she actually drank for a few minutes and had a good sleep

So i searched online and found out this website really helpful

http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/low-supply/

Now my supply has been good and i hope it stays that way till baby girl is 2yrs old. Basically what i did was :

1) Drank warm water about 3L a day

Minum air banyak akan increase milk supply tapi warm water, bukan room temperature tapi warm. Sebelum ni susu banyak so i ingat alah sehari dua tak minum banyak tak apa... but NO air memang sangat penting untuk banyakkan susu.

2) Drank warm milk and ate oats in the morning

Untuk yang tak allergic susu, minumlah susu and makan oats, it helped me. 

3) Frequent pumping

Sebelum ni ada pump sikit sebab tu ada stock EBM, lepas tu ingat tak payah lah sebab milk selalu ada. tapi pump tu sangat penting untuk tambah susu. The idea is i quote from kellymom.com is "To speed milk production and increase overall milk supply, the key is to remove more milk from the breast and to do this frequently, so that less milk accumulates in the breast between feedings"

lepas baby habis minum i would pump one breast, walaupun susu tak keluar tapi i pump additional 3-5 minutes. The key to remember is bila breast empty dia akan produce more milk. 

4) Eat dates 

I makan kurma, tak sure ini membantu tak tapi alhamdulillah milk increase. sampai sekarang i makan kurma selang sehari. 

5) Think positive, dont stress and have enough rest

Memang masa susu sikit stress sangat , rumah bersepah rehat tak cukup sebab baby girl susah nak tido masa tu. Jadi agak penat lah.

Syifaa's monthly update

So this monthly update is just for me to review and remember Syifaa.

3 months
she could already lift her head up and i got really excited ahahah, Syifaa on the other hand didn't show any excitement...oh well.. In general she is such an easy baby, she normally wakes up happy, smiling and she rarely cries and If she does cry the only possible reason could be that she has not been sleeping well.

Thats a picture of my baby girl on her first day of lifting her head up high : )

Milk supply went down sometime around 3 months++, ill write on another post on my milk supply next time.

4 months

Syifaa's weight is 7.6kg, she could turn and has been drinking a lot more now. Sleep wise she has been sleeping at 12midnight most of the time sometimes at 10 or 11 at night and will wake up at 10 in the morning, roughly  In between she has about 2 feedings. In total daily she gets about 14 hours of sleep which is not enough for her age.

Her nap time varies, sometimes its just 20 minutes sometimes its 2 hours

At 4 months she should be getting around 15 hours, so im working on a sleep routine for her and i really do hope it works. My friend suggested a book and ill write a review of the book next time when this sleep issue has resolved.

My crying baby won't sleep

And so one month has passed, and suddenly baby S does not want to sleep, the moment i lay her down, she starts screaming so i had to Google 'understanding babies cries' : ).... yes that was how desperate i got and i found this on YouTube which is very helpful. I dont really understand the cries like Priscilla Dunstan does but it gave me an idea that her crying was because of gas.

She actually has her DVD on youtube if you can search 'Baby language lesson 1 part 1'


Anyway, The lactation consultant at the hospital told me that if i breastfeed my baby, i don't need to burp her, but i guess my milk supply was overwhelming that sometimes she swallows the milk with big gulps which i would think she is swallowing air. So now I burped her after every meal and i also Googled on baby tummy massage and that was helpful too. After two days of gassy stomach she actually slept really well. So here i'll include the video which i found helpful


there is heaps on youtube on how to massage babies tummy. 

Syifaa bt Farez

Alhamdulillah my second child was born on the 15th of May 2013, weighing 3.0kg , born via an elective cesarean at 39 weeks.  I decided cesarean as i fear of possible complications either on my side or baby's side, she is much too precious to risk anything at this point of time.

I was in the hospital for 5 days, I had the all clear on day 4 but baby had to stay a day longer just to monitor her health to check if she had signs like my first born which might need extra medical attention but all praise to Allah, she's perfect andI pray she will remain healthy all her life.

Baby girl is one month now

Sleepless nights is not something you would love but all i can say is im thankful and grateful im getting the chance to go through it, as long as baby girl is healthy i don't mind staying up all night. I keep on saying to myself that ' You never know how long this moment will last, so cherish it and be thankful'.

So anyway, i did not have pre-eclempsia this time, so to those who got pre-eclempsia  the first time around, dont worry too much about the chance of getting it again for your second pregnancy because you might not get it at all... Basically my diet was eating alot of fruits and veggies, drinking 2 to 3 cups of milk at least a day and cooking food with less salt (some doctors say this makes no different) but this is what i did and thank god i didn't have to go through it again.

Thank you all for your prayers... may Allah reward you with good health, good wealth (sincerely im saying this) it means a lot that you have prayed for her to be born healthy. Till we meet again on my next post.

Tahniah kepada Jay and Reen yang dah menunnggu lebih kurang sama tahun with me nak dapat this bundle of Joy, To those dalam TTC group yang masih mencuba you guys don't give up, because Allah knows when is best.

Alhamdulillah im at 32 weeks now, Baby S pun dah 1.7 kg last week... She kicks really hard at times and there are days where she doesn't kick that much and those are the times that ill get really worried... oh well Insyallah my baby girl will be healthy when she is out.

Been wanting to sew a whole lot of toys for Baby S but i get tired so easily... Harap Harap dapat jahit benda benda yang ada dalam waiting list ni soon. 

11, 12 and 13 weeks

At 11+ weeks - I didn't feel pregnant at all, no nausea, no sleepless night, a wonderful appetite hmmm sounds like im having some problem because there is NO problem ( haha yeah my state of worry when im pregnant is ridiculous) so i had to ask Mr Husband if we should go for another scan this week (just had my scan a few days ago at week 11 and my next scan is in another 3 weeks). so we both talked about it and though, "Now, what if baby's heart stop beating, there is nothing we can do as we believe we did our best all this while"

At 12 & 13+ weeks - started to feel nausea again at night (i don't  have morning sickness but i do have night sickness) thus its starting to kick in...

Now just 3 days passed my scan (had to do it early for some logistic reason) and im already 14+ weeks while i was having my afternoon nap, i woke up with an insect bite on my leg which gave me bruises but no itchiness. So there you go, my ridiculousness starts to kick in again, and im worried if this bite will affect my precious one inside : ) (yes ridiculous). The thing is I have no idea what insect bit me so this thought of going to the doctor and have it checked etc etc  gave Mr husband a smile and he said, 'baby is gonna be alright'....I guess that is all I needed to hear heheh... well lets just hope he is right.