Week 23 (63): Summary

So Antonio turned five months last Friday September 18, and my scatter-brain self forgot to mention it in the previous post, after rambling on about breast feeding.

He has stopped putting on weight, tipping the scales at 10.5kg when we weighed him on Thursday September 25, before he received another diptheria, polio and HiB vaccination with the doctor at Puri Bunda Hospital.

The amazing thing is that this time, he started wailing the moment he saw the doctor, even before he was placed on the examination table. He definitely remembers his previous visits. He continued wailing even when we placed him on the weighing scale.

I had to cuddle, rock and coo to him before he would settle down sufficiently for the doctor to administer the shot. Of course, he cried immediately after the needle was taken out, and I had to do my mommy duties to calm him.

However, Antonio was a very happy baby when daddy came home on Friday night bearing a bag full of new baby toys! There were quite a few from Leap Frog - Learn-Along™ Lily, Learn-Along™ Piano, Hug & Learn™ Animal Globe - plus from Fisher Price a Laughtop™ and a Brilliant Basics™ Rock-a-Stack®. All these join the Letters with Lulu toy that Roberto had purchased for Antonio about a month before.

With new toys means a new play area has to be set up. We had previously bought a whole bunch of foam play mats with and without cut-out alphabets. The plain ones were used as a base on the floor, while the ones with the cut-out alphabets were fitted in to cubes and square-based cones.

Rather than try to explain further, we shall let the next few pictures do the talking for Antonio.

You can see Antonio's left hand touching the Brilliant Basics™ Rock-a-Stack®. The Hug & Learn™ Animal Globe is at the bottom left corner. Just behind it is the Laughtop™ with its orange mouse (as in the animal) as a mouse (as in the computer accessory), and Letters with Lulu is partially hidden:



Here, Antonio was busy pounding the keys of the Laughtop™ when he became distracted by the flash from the camera. Check out what we have done with the foam play mats in the background. Learn-Along™ Lily is partially hidden in the foreground:

Week 23 (63): Pictures

September 21, Sunday

Here is a good way of using an aluminium table in an al fresco cafe - as a stand for showing off your baby as he sits up by himself!

Our little one sits up in a trolley, during a grocery shopping trip in a supermarket.

September 23, Tuesday

"If I concentrate and pray hard enough, maybe the bottle will come to me..."

"I got the bottle! But all that thinking has caused my whole head to be covered in perspiration."

Father and son listening with rapt attention to whomever is speaking.

Week 22 (62): Pictures

Antonio has taken to sleeping in this position since about two to three weeks ago. Taken on Sept 15.

Close up of his peaceful face when he is asleep.

Mother and son shot. I love his wide-eyed expression on his face.
Taken on Sept 16.

Looking cool in daddy's shades. Taken on the night of Sept 16.

Week 22 (62): Feeling fortunate for us

When I come across news reports like this one on the contamination of infant formula in China, a whole range of emotions and questions run through me very quickly.

These include:
- Why do the babies' parents not give them breast milk instead?
- Why do companies insist on manufacturing and pushing formula milk to mothers, causing the latter's body to stop producing milk - a natural ability, by the way - and families to struggle financially to afford formula?
- Why do doctors and hospitals not promote breast milk more?

There are many arguments for and against formula milk, but personally I am an advocate of breast milk. Look at it this way: if the female body was not meant to be producing milk, it will not happen!

And while many mothers - myself included - hate being compared to four-legged farm animals, nursing your baby from the breast is akin to a mother cow nursing her calf from her udder until the calf's digestive system is able to take on grass. Similar with the goat and sheep.

I have also seen how other people's babies react to formula milk, such as frequently throwing up within half an hour of a feed, allergic reactions on the skin, and constipation. Seeing how these babies have to suffer through the throwing up or the skin reactions pains me. If I was a baby, I do not want to go through all this.

As for the claims that breastfed babies are more intelligent than formula fed babies, there is insufficient research to support that.

Take myself for example. My mother fed me with formula within two weeks of delivering me as maternity leave granted by the Singapore government in the 70s was only a month, and my maternal grandmother had to take care of me when she returned to work. In fact, she claimed that the doctor gave her pills to stop the production of breast milk so that she would not feel uncomfortable during work hours.

While I may not have the Intelligence Quotient of MENSA members, I am certainly not an idiot. I believe I have done well for myself in life, I have my own opinions, and I am adaptable to changes.

My personal belief is that how each child develops and makes use of their given gifts depends very much on the environment they grow up in, as well as the kind of stimulation and the guidance they receive.

The choice between giving breast and formula milk determines how the baby develops physically, for milk is the main nourishment that baby receives for four to six months or until their digestive system is ready for solids. In fact, there is quite a bit of research available on the Internet, but this article from AskDrSears.com has an easy-to-read comparison table.

When you think of it this way, do you not want to provide the best so that your baby can develop to his/her full potential physically?

Then again, I do understand the hectic lifestyle of city living that all mothers face; remember, I lived for 29 years in the island-city of Singapore. Work demands make it difficult for new mothers to exclusively breastfeed after four months of maternity leave and expressing with a breast pump does not draw our all the milk as does a baby suckling on the breast.

That is why each time a discussion on breast and formula milk comes up, my top emotion is feeling extremely blessed. Blessed that I am able to nurse little Antonio from my breast every meal of the day, as the type of work I do allows me to be home with my baby. Blessed that he latches on easily and well. Blessed that he has no allergic reactions to my breast milk. Just... blessed.

Week 21 (61): Summary

For the past two weeks, we have been hearing baby chuckling out load during play time. It is an extremely pleasant sound that makes everyone present laugh out loud. Maybe we will be able to capture the moment on video the next time it happens.

Plans for distracting Antonio with a toy while changing his diaper have not panned out. His fascination with whatever items we pass to him is short-lived and lasts at most for three diaper changes. We continue with our 'expert' handling of the situation, as per normal.

This morning, he met with Ethan Tait, son of Tanny and Gavin Tait who turns six months on the 21st. The short encounter was quite interesting as it was the first time both boys are mixing with someone else of the same age (only 29 days apart), and also because it goes to show that a Chinese mother with a European/Anglo Saxon father can result in different looks on the infant. The pictures will clearly illustrate this.

Antonio: "Oh it is a pleasure meeting you, Mr Ethan. I finally have someone who understands what I am going through and thinking about, instead of these boring adults..."
Ethan: "Hmm... Do you think monitor lizards can climb on glass doors...?"

Antonio: "Is it time to party? Why are you kicking up your leg?"
Ethan: "See that monitor lizard crawling past the pool? Let us move closer for a better look!"

Antonio: "Frankly, I think your nose is more interesting than whatever is outside. Let's have a taste of it then..."
Ethan: "Whatever mate, as long as it makes you happy!"

Week 21 (61): Antonio sits up

Taken this morning. Antonio sits up on his own, without toppling over, for more than 30 seconds!

Week 20 (60): Summary

Our little bundle, who is not so little thanks to his increasing bone mass, never fails to surprise us daily.

In the past week he has:
- started to 'speak' more ("muum mumm muum", "beh beh" "bah baaa bah" are some of the things we heard);
- differentiate between light and heavy objects such as a bunch of 15 keys on a key chain, a plate, a towel, paper;
- discover that heavy objects make really loud noises when dropped - happened with the bunch of 15 keys on the key chain!;
- sit unsupported for about 10-seconds, falling back only because he was trying to turn and look at the person behind him;
- indicate his preference for one object over another that are held in front of him by focusing his sight on the object and reaching out his hand toward it;
- understand the concept of pulling his play mat toward him to bring the things on it closer to him (at this moment, this is faster than trying to crawl toward the object);
- examine and 'check out' n object by putting it in his mouth - applies also to mommy's fingers, hair and shoulder;
- laugh out loud more often;
- turn his head and establish eye contact with everyone sitting at the table, as if to say "Look at me, I am here!";
- turn his head to locate an object if the person carrying him walks so that the object is out of his field of vision; fall asleep later (any time between 9pm to 11pm) and wake later (10 hours after falling asleep).

Whew!

And I realise that we do not have any pictures of him taking a bath since the ones we took of him when he was a few days old... Time for an update, I guess?