About two or three weeks ago, my baby Clarisse showed me she was capable and strong enough to grab hold of my hand and pull herself up to standing position. And a week later, she could even release one hand and balance herself with just one hand holding onto mine. That’s when I thought I should help her stand up independently.
Is your baby ready to stand?
Eventhough the signs are obvious that she’s ready to stand up, I’m still having doubts. At 8 months plus, are her legs and bones strong enough to support her weight? Is she ready to stand up at 8 and a half months?
From the day baby Clarisse discovered she could stand, which is around 5 months, my mom often warned me not to place her in a standing position for too long. This is to prevent any stress to her soft and immature bones which could lead to risks of getting bow-legged and spinal problems. On the other hand, there are disputes saying that it’s totally not true that a baby who stands early in age will risk getting bow-legged later. These are people who believes that if your baby initiates and willingly stands up, she’s ready to stand irrespective of how old she is. As simple as that.
Baby Clarisse had problems with constipation last week. Her stool was very hard and dry she cried when passing motion. There are two things which led to this I suspect. First of all, since I’m breastfeeding her, it could be that I’ve been avoiding fruits and vegetables when I had a cough last week. That could’ve caused my breastmilk to contain less fibre. Secondly, two days before baby Clarisse’s had constipation, I switched from Bellamy’s Oats Cereal to another brand. For several months, I’ve fed her Bellamy’s Oats Cereal every morning. So I quickly bought a box of Bellamy’s Oats Cereal and fed her in the evening. The next morning, her stool was back to normal.
Having seen the immediate effect of lack of fibre, I’ve got to make sure she gets her daily dose of fibre to promote healthy bowel movements.
Today, my baby Clarisse managed to hold my hands and pull herself up to a standing position. Like always, having discovered a new physical prowess, she gets very excited to try it out and she certainly did countless of times tonight. Of course I’m happy with that but when she kept doing it during bedtime, I wish she’d stop and resume practising it tomorrow morning. I had to pin her down several times just to make her sleep tonight. But I hand it to her for being so determined and anxious to stand up.
For the past few days, feeding my baby Clarisse turned into such an ordeal. Not that feeding sessions in the past is smooth sailing but lately, with all her might, she would twist, turn, yank, mouth tightly shut, blocking the spoon with her tougue and scream her lungs out with every spoonful of oats cereal. On a good day, it would normally take just 15-20 mins for me to feed her. But now, it’s taking longer than 45 mins. Talk about taking my levels of patience and tolerance to the limit.
Three weeks ago, some rashes started to show on my baby Clarisse’s cheeks and around the mouth. I took her to see her paediatrician. She told me it is milk rash and prescribed a mild steroid cream hydrocortisone for baby Clarisse. However, I declined the prescription as I do not wish to apply anything that has steroids on her skin especially near her mouth. Wouldn’t want her accidently swallow some steroids, no matter how miniscule the amount. Therefore, we went home without any prescription medicine.
A few days earlier, my neighbour suggested Hazeline snow (the original one). She applied it to her baby’s face milk rash and found it to be an effective remedy. I don’t know how effective is it because I haven’t try it out.
What I did try is this. It’s an advice from a good friend of mine. I regularly wiped my baby’s face with chinese tea and within days, my baby’s milk rash/salive rash subsided. Much better than using steroids if you ask me.
I’d brew a cup of chinese tea every moring and use it to wipe her face after feeding session or when there’s saliva around her mouth. It might take several days for the rashes to fade away.
For new mothers who breastfeed their babies, here is a video clip giving out some tips on breastfeeding by 2 expects. I found it quite useful for beginner mothers who wish to give their babies a healthy start in life through breastfeeding.
I think my baby Clarisse has entered what is called a missing-mummy phase. She’s a week into her 8th month and typically that’s when it happens.
Yesterday I visited a school mate of mine. She has a baby girl one month younger than my baby Clarisse. When I went into the house, I was surprised her baby smiled when she saw me. I carried her and instead of crying, she seemed so happy.
Her pleasant reaction to strangers is a far cry from my baby Clarisse. And lately, her sensitivity towards strangers seems to have gotten worst. She would cry for mommy whenever strangers try to carry her. When she’s in an unpleasant mood, she’d even cry before someone even touches her. Just a few weeks ago, she was much braver and open to strangers.
Just a few days ago baby Clarisse first called me “Mama”, or sounds like it. Today my husband were elated when baby Clarisse uttered “Pa … Pa …” for the first time. We were in the car and driving about town when it happened. Even though she doesn’t mean what she’s saying right now, we’re very happy to hear it nonetheless. If only she knows how sweet those two words “Mama” and “Papa” sounds to us first time parents.
… or is it? Yesterday, I woke up early in the morning around 5.30am to nurse my baby Clarisse. I went to the bath room after that and when I came back in to the room, I heard baby Clarisse saying “Ma…Ma…” as soon as she saw me walk through the door. She had been making similar sounds for more than 2 weeks but that morning, it really sounded like she’s calling me Mama. So I’m not sure if she’s really calling out to me or just making some random sound. Anyway, I was very delighted to hear something which sounded so close to that heart-melting word, I gave her a hug. She smiled back at me. She never did call me ‘Mama’ ever since though. Bummer!
Having gone through difficulties of bringing up a colicky baby, I’m always scouring for information and remedies to ease the symptoms of colic. I understand that doctors have yet to determine what exactly causes colic in babies so I accept the fact that a cure is still far from being discovered.
Recent studies show that giving your colicky infant Probiotics might help relieve colic symptoms as well as several related conditions such as lactose intolerance, necrotizing enterocolitis, and gastric inflammation.
