January 11th, 2008 | Babies, Children, Diet, Health, Parenting | 35 Comments
G6PD deficiency and jaundice
Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, one of the most common metabolic disorders afflicting newborns, requires special dietary care for both babies and their nursing mothers. Babies born with G6PD deficiency means their body lacks a specific enzyme, G6PD. Without G6PD enzyme, red blood cells have a shorter life spans when exposed to certain chemicals, usually found in food and drugs. Hence when red blood cells are destroyed (anaemic hemolysis) it will cause anaemia, resulting in dizziness, pale-skin, persistent tiredness, headache, tea-colored urine, abdominal or back pain.
Newborns are by nature born with excess amount of red blood cells. Their bodies will break down excess red blood cells and this process creates bilirubin, a waste product which their liver needs to dispose of. Often, their immature liver are taxed when excess bilirubin are required to be disposed from the body. This causes jaundice which is very normal in newborns. However, newborns with G6PD deficiency, with more than normal excess of bilirubin needed to be extracted from the body, taxes the already overloaded liver even more. As a result, they often experience higher and prolonged levels of jaundice than normal newborns.
How do you care for babies with G6PD deficiency?
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January 9th, 2008 | Babies, Parenting | 2 Comments
Ever since my baby Clarisse was born, everyone says I’m going to spoil my baby just because I pick her up and sooth her everytime she cries. Yes, I can’t leave my baby crying without attending to her, and this made us an easy target for opiniated individuals. It’s so easy to jump to conclusions. They are entitled to their opinions but I beg to differ.
You’ve probably heard that studies shown babies less than 6 months old end up crying less when they get a quick and consistent response everytime they cry. By responding to your baby’s cry, they get a sense of being secure and their needs would be met by loving adults. A sense of trust between guardians and babies would grow which makes them feel safe. Hence, babies will grow up to be more confident, independent and eager to learn and explore.
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January 7th, 2008 | Children, Health, Parenting | 4 Comments
Respiratory infections such as flu or a common cold are known to affect toddlers younger than five years old an average of 10 times per year. Those who are sent to day care, nursery or pre-school have a much higher chance of developing colds. On the bright side though, the common cold or flu is their body’s way to ward off viruses and they recover, your toddler’s immune system would’ve developed antibodies againsts these familiar viruses.
Barring complications like severe sore throats, ear infections, high fever or pneumonia, toddler’s common cold or flu usually doesn’t require a consultation with the paedatrician. Viral infections can’t be cured medically. Parents will have to let their toddler’s cold run it’s course and bear with the symptoms. Your child’s body will heal itself. What you can do is to relieve your kids from the discomfort and here are some home care ideas to provide such relief:
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January 1st, 2008 | Babies, Parenting, Personal | 1 Comment
My baby Clarisse can now sit up on her own for more than 5 minutes on a go. And she threw a couple of surprises in the past few days.
First, she suddenly performed three sit-ups in a row from a lying down position. It happened after her bath, while I was powdering her and getting her ready for an afternoon nap. She wanted to roll sideways but I pinned her legs down. And then she pulled herself up to a sitting position just like what grown-ups do in the gym.
And in the past few days, when baby Clarisse is sitting in her baby crib, she would lean towards the side rail, pull herself up from sitting to a kneeling position and admire the room’s view. However, she couldn’t get back to a sitting position afterwards and will slide back to a lying down position. Now that she’s starting to pull off a stint like that, it’s time to make her bed lower and those crib rails higher for safety’s sake.
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December 30th, 2007 | Babies, Parenting, Personal | 3 Comments
When my baby Clarisse was 2 months old, one of my friend said I’m going to spoil my baby for attending to her whenever she cries during the night. She said I should just leave my baby on the bed and let her cry herself to sleep. Similar to what her sister does in the US, that is to train babies to sleep on their own. This way, the baby will learn to “self-soothe” and will not develop sleep associations that require someone else to put him to sleep. They even have a name for it - The Ferber Method, after Richard Ferber, America’s best-known expert on infant sleep. Also commonly known as the dreaded ‘Cry It Out’.
Well, two nights ago, we went out for a drink with her and again she brought it up, “still waking up and tend to your baby’s whims and fancies?”. She couldn’t resist another round of parenting lecture.
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December 28th, 2007 | Babies, Parenting, Personal | No comments
For the past few days, we’re seeing steady improvement the way baby Clarisse balances herself while sitting on her own. She could manage to sit up straight, playing with toys in her hands for well over a couple of minutes on a stretch easily.
While she’s out with us dining out, baby Clarisse can now sit steadily in baby chairs without any padded support for her back. With her hands grasping the handle, it provides her with more than adequate support to keep her balance.
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December 27th, 2007 | Babies, Parenting, Toys | No comments
Don’t you dread when your baby starts to show displeasure when an object is taken away from them? My baby Clarisse, 7 months old, is showing signs of entering this phase now, I’m afraid.
3 days ago, baby Clarisse grabbed hold of a soft toy in Tesco, played with it for a while and when we tried to take it away from her, she cried. It happened again today, when the waiter took away the menu she had her hands on, baby Clarisse threw a mild tantrum. And lately, whenever it’s time to get out of the bathtub, which happens to be her favourite time of the day, baby Clarisse would frown and cry.
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December 24th, 2007 | Babies, Parenting, Personal | 1 Comment
A few days of practise and guess what! My baby Clarisse is able to sit all by herself without any support for 1 whole minute!
Last night, after I came back from my mother’s house, I gave my baby Clarisse a quick bath and put her in the crib. I placed her in a sitting position, my hands beside her ready to catch her fall. To my surprise, she sat wobbly on her own, balancing herself for about one minute. My husband and I were delighted and amused to see her progress. We could see she’s struggling to balance herself, ultimately loosing and falling sideways. But it was a huge improvement compared to before we started to spend more time helping her practise sitting on her own.
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December 23rd, 2007 | Babies, Parenting | 1 Comment
Technology in digital compact cameras have come a long way. More and more features are being put into digital compact cameras but whether it’s useful or not, the manufacturers doesn’t really care as long as it looks good on marketing brochures.
The most important consideration when buying something is figuring how you’re going to use it. Buying a digital compact camera to shoot baby photos? Bear in mind, most babies won’t hold still and say cheese long enough for you to lock focus, compose and shoot. To make matters worst, you won’t be able to use the flash or you’d risk hurting their eyes so you you’ll be constantly dealing with slow shutter speed, and ultimately blurry photographs.
The main problem with slow shutter speed is unwanted movements. Both yours and your baby. You’ll find it challenging to keep your hands steady and your baby still while the photo is being taken.
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December 22nd, 2007 | Babies, Parenting, Personal | 1 Comment
Should my 7-month-old baby be able to sit up independently? Sitting up is a 7-month milestone, but some babies do it better than others. I don’t know if Clarisse, born 2 weeks ahead of schedule, can be considered premature. Premature babies may often lag in milestones compared to other on-term babies of the same age. I wonder if there’s anything I can do to help her sit up on her own faster. Having underestimated the importance of tummy time, which I should have started a lot earlier, I wouldn’t want to make the same mistake here. So I did some searching …
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